A break...

This summer has been pretty crazy.  Well, if I am being honest, the past year has been crazy.  Things are not always "picture perfect" around here.

I know you can't tell by the pictures, but these pretty little girls and their big brother can be a real handful!

 OK- maybe you can tell by the pictures that they are a little bit naughty




They are also pretty demanding of my time right now (unless I let them run wild and trash the house) and I know that these days are fleeting because they are growing so quickly.

(The corn is growing, too.
My husband is awfully proud of that sweet corn since the above pictures were taken just two weeks after these pics)

I have been weathering a bit of a storm within myself lately, too. So, I am needing a break. 

So, I will be scarce for awhile, although I will miss checking in with my blog friends every day.  I am just focusing on more important things.

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. 

It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Sew Full of Summer Guest Post

I am guest-posting today over here:

I made a tutorial for a T-shirt nightgown that I whipped up for my daughter last week so head on over there to check it out!  She has lots of great giveaways going on all week, too, so make sure to check out the other posts in the series to enter.

Finishing Along

This Quilter in the Gap Finish-A-Long really has me on a roll! I am even finishing things that aren't part of the challenge, just other things off of my pile of uncompleted projects.  I finished this new bag for my sister- she chose the fabric, oh, um, about 6 months ago.

I used the Tohoku Tote pattern (found HERE) and I did mess it up a little bit so that it is shorter, but overall it went OK.  And I LOVE the bow!

I also finished up the Refashion dresses in my UFO list on the sidebar.  The pics I took stink, but they were adult-sized, formal party dresses (super short ones!) that were unworn and free, so I took them in to add them to the girls dress-up box as a dress and skirt. So, that means that I have met my 12in2012 goal of finishing half of my UFO list!  I did all the easy ones on the list and I have realized that I missed quite a few projects when I made that list, but HOORAY anyway!

Speaking of UFOs, here are my 3rd quarter goals for the Quilter In The Gap Finish-A-Long.

What do I have in that picture?  A jungle quilt, heart table runner and extra block, purple and cream quilt, clutch to match the maxi dress I made for my daughter, ninja turtle quilt, and braided rag rug. That is a hefty goal for me, considering that it is nearing canning season and it is also time to cut out ornaments for my etsy shop.  So, I will do my best!

Do you have any projects hanging around waiting to be finished?

Red, White, and Blue

This months' Color Your World Challenge was Red, White, and Blue.  I was feeling particularly patriotic for Independence Day this year, too! 

From the food...

Got the idea HERE.  To make these, I just did three separate batches of rice krispie treats, stirring the food coloring in before the cereal, and spread them in a 10 x 15 glass pan, one layer at a time.

Cherry pie in a blue pie pan with stars cut out using cookie cutters.

...to the dresses...

...and I even spotted some red, white, and blue around the farm.

The color tractors are supposed to be! ;)  

Oh, and I totally missed last month's color, yellow, but I meant to finish my yellow kitchen curtains in time.  They are so bright and cheerful and they make me smile. :) So, to make up for that, here is a picture of me, in my new yellow dress.  This might be just a little bit staged. :) 

Linking up! Click on the button below to join in the fun...

Hair Flowers Galore!

Last week I put together a raffle basket full of flower hair accessories.  I got to try out a lot of new ones so I thought I would show them off and post the links where you can find out how to make your own! You can also see my pinterest board where I keep adding cute ones I would like to try!

This one is my FAVORITE!  We actually kept this one and you can find a tutorial on how to make them HERE.

This one is so sweet!  I put it on a plastic headband instead, but the directions can be found HERE.

CraftinessIsNotOptional is one of my go-to blogs for sewing ideas and that is where I found the directions for this one (Click HERE)

and this one (click HERE).  I have made these before- so easy!  

I used the same technique for the center of this one.

I used my own tutorial to make the fabric petal flowers.  (Well, not really. I didn't look it up. I just remembered how, since I wrote it!)  Anyhow... click HERE to see it.

These next two were made from silk flowers I got on clearance at Michael's.  BUT, I had to glue each layer of petals together at the center so that they won't fall apart.  Tedious, but cute!  No tutorial- that is pretty straight-forward. A felt circle underneath holds it on the headband.

This one is three different types of fabric rosettes.  I made small versions of the frayed edge flower from THIS tutorial, but I gathered the opposite edge for the green one to make a different texture.

Rolled rosette tutorials are everywhere, so I don't have a specific one to link to.

For this one I used scraps from a flower girl dress that I hemmed for a friend.  The petticoat netting added a different texture. I just held the white cotton scraps and netting together and rolled them together, but the netting strip was longer, so the outer few rounds are just netting.

The rest of these I just figured out on my own after seeing lots of cute pics of hair accessories around Pinterest and etsy.

The hardest part BY FAR was putting it all together!  I STINK at arranging gift baskets.  And I HATE cellophane.  I think it took me longer to arrange the basket and cellophane than the time it took to make all of these flowers combined. You can go ahead and laugh at the pitifulness.  I added some shampoo, hair detangler, hair spray, and a brush and comb set.

At least the hair flowers turned out cute!  Thank you to all of the talented ladies who shared such awesome tutorials!

All-American Dress Tutorial

Just for fun, I decided to make dresses for all four of my girls for Independence Day.  I designed this high waisted halter style and it was sooooo easy to make! Really!!

OK... here goes a little tutorial.

I make my bodice patterns by tracing shirts that already fit the child well and adding seam allowances.  For this one, I also made a V-neck and a high waist- only about 3/4" below the armpit. 

Cut two of them out, sew the right sides together, clip the curves, and notch the V-neck.

Then just flip and press. Top done.  Easy!

I am about to get a little sidetracked here... bear with me.  Originally I was hoping to put a bigger dent in my patriotic fabric stash from 10 years ago, but I couldn't find fabric that I liked for the bottom- plus I am cheap- so I tie-dyed a plain, white, flat sheet.  I used Rit Dye and a lot of the red washed out. :(  I mixed more dye and brushed concentrated dye on using a foam brush.  That helped, but most of that washed out as well and made my whites more pink.  I decided to call it the "faded" look. I have pictures of this process, but I will spare you since I have just wasted a whole paragraph talking about it already.

Back to the sewing part now... For the skirt part- take the measurement of the bottom edge of your top and double it- that is your width.  Then, measure about how long you want the dress to be and add 3-4"- that is your length.  Cut two of those (front and back).  Sew a gathering stitch along the top edge of your front piece.

Pin right sides together with the bottom edge of the dress top.

 Sew and zigzag or overlock. Front done- see how easy this is?

 Now for the back... Press the top edge in 1/4"...

 Then press under again  and sew a casing that is a little wider than your elastic.

Cut a piece of elastic a little smaller than half of the chest measurment.  Push it into the casing and zigzag over it several times to hold it in place.

Do the same on the other side so that your back looks like this:

Sew the sides of the dress together and zig zag or overlock the edges.

Almost done!  Now for the straps... go back to the top of the dress and measure the width of the shoulder 1/4" below the top edge.  Double that and add 1/2" seam allowance.  For example, the smallest dress measured 3/4" at the shoulders, so I doubled that to 1 1/2" and added 1/2" to make 2".  Then just cut two straps the width you just figured out by whatever length you want.   Sew the long edges together with the right side facing inward.

 Flip and press the straps.  Turn the bottom edge in about 1/4" or more and slide it over the shoulder of the halter top.

 Sew it in place really well- I went over it several times to make it stronger.  This is the hardest part to sew- be careful that it doesn't slide around as you are sewing and that the edges match up.

Topstitch close to the edge around the entire top- from one armpit, all the way up and around the straps on both sides, and back around to the other armpit. Take your time and try to keep a nice, even line.

Finally, hem the dress!  It will be uneven because the casing in the back makes it shorter than the front.  Just trim off the excess and even things up.

See?  It wasn't hard.  I whipped up all four of them in no time. :) I even had time to make flower hair clips to match.

Happy Independence Day!