Long Sleeves

Well, I have finally had a chance to make a long sleeve shirt that is just so comfortable. Too bad it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit today! Thats ok, I will get a chance to wear it soon enough. I had this white shirt that I love wearing. I even wear it to the gym it's so comfy. I knew I need another, maybe many more.

Now, I know I said I would do a tutorial on long sleeves, but this shirt was SO easy to trace that I didn't have to draft my own sleeves. I can however, give some tips on tracing clothing and adjusting your pattern...

I had to do some fixing...

So I did...

And I made this...

Picture courtesy of C. It's so comfy and the material is so soft. I don't know how to make things on fabric yet, but I want a little pint in the lower left corner of the front. Any ideas on how to do it?? I want some kind of grey animal, maybe a giraffe or elephant or monkey.

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Resurrection Eggs

I have not been doing any Easter crafts yet this year. Then today when I realized Spring Break is next week for C's preschool and Easter is in a little over a week, I decided I had to get the kids prepared for Easter. So, tonight when my meatloaf was in the oven, I had some time to kill. That's when I decided to make Resurrection Eggs with the kids.

This is C's cover to our eggs. He is learning to sound things out and writing his letters. The first letter is a backwards J. The top of the J is folder over so you can't see it.

Resurrection Eggs are basically plastic eggs filled with items to remind you of the story of Easter. You can open the eggs in order and tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. We had a list of items we needed to collect for our eggs so I sent the kids around the house and outside looking for those items.

Here is our list:

1. Bread (we used a real piece of bread) - Jesus had the passover meal with his disciples. He took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks to God and shared the bread with his disciples saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of Me."

2. Coin - One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus by telling the chief of priests where he was in exchange for 30 silver coins.

3. Purple Cloth (I cut a piece from my fabric stash) - Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. They dressed him in purple.

4. Thorns (we broke a piece of the roses) - They made a crown of thorns and put it on his head mocking him.

5. Rope, leather strip or twine (all we had was pink rope) - Then they whipped him.

6. Cross (we got a little stick broke it and used thread to hold it together) - the soldiers gave him his cross to carry up the hill.

7. Nails: The soldiers nailed him to the cross to die. (C is looking for a nail in his work bench.)

8. Sign - (we wrote a little sign and put tape over it to kind-of laminate it): Then they mocked him by putting up a sign that said, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS"

9. Sponge - (I only have dobies, no sponge in the entire house. So, I sewed a square of white terry cloth): One of them soaked a sponge in vinegar and tried to make him drink it.

10. Spear - (C drew one, but I think I'm going to have to get Mr. C to carve one out of a stick with his knife): One of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus' side and just then blood and water poured out.

11. Rock: After Jesus died, Joseph took his body, wrapped it in new linen sheet and placed it in his own new tomb he dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.

12. Nothing: This is the best part! Jesus isn't there anymore. He is risen! Now we are saved, we are forgiven.

I have been wanting to make one of these each year and just never got to it. I am so glad we did it tonight. I hope it will hold up and last for years to come. 

My little tradition I do every Easter is buy the kids a new bible if they have outgrown the one they have if not, a book about God. We didn't buy a new bible last year, so I'm going to look for one with more detail then what we have this year. I do love the one we have though, it's, "The Lion Read & Know Bible." The stories have much more detail then the smaller ones like "The Beginners Bible." There are also more stories in it.

What are some of your traditions for Easter? How do you share the story with your children?

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Hobo Sac's

More Hobo Sac's! Yep, the same pattern I got from Made. Last week I mentioned that C loved the homemade present we gave to a friend so much that he said it was the best present we ever gave. He loved it all, well all but the skirt. He has been asking me to make him a sac ever since. We had another friend that had a birthday and I knew she would love the make-up so we made her some of that and C was telling me I needed to make her a sac also. So I made her a sac and he kept asking when I could do his. Of course I had to make his right after. I just couldn't not do it. You know when they are so sweet asking you to make something that they absolutely love, how could you say no?

Here are the 2 new sac's. Now I just need to do one for L. She waiting so nicely for her Hobo Sac.

C wanted the this fabric that I made his cape out of for L's birthday party. I messed up on cutting the capes I made so I had weird pieces of scraps left. So I had to piece it together to get enough fabric. Can you see that little seam hiding behind the pocket? That's why I added this little extra pocket, to hide that little seam. I knew Cole wouldn't mind because he LOVES pockets. He had it full inside and out within 5 minutes of me giving him the sac.

Here is the birthday sac. I do have to say, I love giving a present in the Hobo Sac, there is no waist. No trash from the wrapping and it's SO cute! Yes, we had to do the make-up again. I just love that stuff. It was funny, the mom was a little nervous when she saw it thinking she was going to really have to regulate the use of it. Then I told her to feel it. That's when she realized it wasn't real. She was very happy and so was her daughter.

Another way to not waist any part of the present, I buy a book instead of a card and write a happy birthday note on the book or an index card and tape it to the book. Card's get trashed, books get loved.

One more picture of C's sac. He just loves it.

These are just so much fun and so quick and easy to make. I have said that I don't like making the same thing twice because I get board, but these are just too easy.

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Car Organization

Here is a project I have had in mind for probably about a year. I finally got so annoyed with stuff all over my car that I set out to actually do the project this weekend. With L being sick sleeping most of the weekend and C with is grandparents, I had plenty of time. 

I use to have these ugly faded seat back covers. I always thought they needed pockets in them, but they were also a bit too small and the ties at the top were a bit too far apart. See how it pulls and makes it bunch up? So, I decided to make custom seat back covers.

L went shopping with me Friday just before she got really sick and picked out her fabric. She was totally set on this pink with polk-a-dots. It actually was great because it went well with the black for the cover. I picked C's fabric, blue and black are his favorite colors. But, I really don't think it matters because he is just so excited to have pockets. He LOVES pockets.

Look at that mess on the floor! Then, look how nicely everything has it's place.

Again, another mess in-between seats where the jackets are kept... Until now, there is a nice pocket just perfect for that jacket.

Here is a picture of both seat back covers. C's bottom pocket is a bit heavy, so I may add some boning to the back behind the bottom pocket.

Yes, L has tissue and C has an extra pocket for toys because L is constantly asking me for a tissue. She can't stand having anything in her nose and blows it probably about once every car ride.

Look what I made with just some of the scraps of fabric...

Isn't it lovely boy bias tape? Plus, I still have a ton of fabric left over.

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Sew Much Ado

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Quilts

First, let me tell you the reason for this post. Before I had my own blog, my friend showed me this little crafting blog, Sew Much Ado. Ha, ha! Not so little, anyway, she said I should try something she saw on it. I had never read blogs before and I was instantly hooked. I didn't know what following was, but I would check her blog every day and started looking forward to her "Flashback Friday." I liked Flashback Friday so much because for one, now that I'm older I really appreciate history and secondly, I never really knew much of my own family history. So, when Abby stopped doing her Flashback Friday I had to contact her and tell her I missed it. I did and told her about my quilts. She mentioned it would be great for Flashback Friday. Well... I became inspired.

First, I want to show you this little priceless (to me) item I have that was my grandma's. My dad had it for years after my grandma died, but it was my oldest sisters. When my dad died, she said I can have it because I sew and she doesn't. She may take it back some day, but in the mean time I am enjoying it.

Ok, now on to the quilts... If you've been following my blog, you know by now I am not a quilter. I absolutely LOVE them, but as I have mentioned a time or two, I don't like sewing squares, things that become a square or anything to tedious or complicated. I'm just too impatient. It's funny though, I have always admired quilts and looked at many of them with awe.

When I was a kid for as long as I can remember there were hand made blankets all around either sewn by my mom, my grandma on my dad's side or crocheted by her. My grandma was deaf, so we never talked much, but I very much admired her. I remember every Christmas getting a matching crocheted blanket and slippers. I loved getting those and wearing them all the time. Maybe that's where my secret obsession of cozy blankets comes from, those wonderful hand made blankets from my grandma.

Then when I was a bit older I remember going over to my aunt's house (dad's sister) and she had these old quilts on all her beds. I could just sit and stare at them being amazed and wondering how they were put together and how long it must have took. I never remember expressing what I thought, but when my grandma died, I got one of her quilts. It is such an interesting quilt made from scraps. That was what caught my eye right away. I recognized a brown and white checkered pattern from a baby blanket I had. It was so cool. My grandma just took scraps from all the things she made in the past and made this very unique quilt. She was green and crafty. This quilt became my bed spread for a couple years. I think it was made in the 70's.

It's very cool, each bunch of scraps were made into a square, then sewn together as a quilt. I never really thought about "being green" back then. But, that is one of the reasons I loved this quilt so much, something cool to do with the scraps.

You can see how much it is falling apart. I don't really know the best way to fix it. I don't want to add a new back, but I'm afraid just sewing the ripped parts will make it worse.

Fast forward a few years after my grandma died, I was at my aunt's house and she brought this quilt and a bible out to me and said I could have it. She said it was made by my grandma and she thought I should have it along her bible that she wrote in. Oh my goodness! I was SO excited. Both were such an amazing gift. I have now learned from my wonderful readers that this is a Cathedral Window Quilt.

This quilt was hand sewn. Can you imagine? The entire thing hand sewn. I have no idea how old it is or why it was sewn by hand.

I absolutely love the fabrics, I wish my aunt could find an old stash of fabrics from this quilt. Some of my favorites are the green above, the blue and white below,

the paisley below,

and this flower print.

I was never able to talk to my grandma because I never learned sign language, but I always knew she was an amazing woman. She was an extremely hard worker, a strong Christian, and a poor, but giving woman. She loved quilting and crocheting, I love sewing and knitting. I guess I do have some history in my blood that gave me the love of handmade.

My grandma used to sit in-front of the TV that would be blaring, she would have no idea because she couldn't hear and she would just crochet away. She wouldn't even have to look at her work, she would count by feeling. Maybe that's how she made this quilt also, in-front of the blaring TV she couldn't hear. It must have been her way to relax, using her hands to make something so beautiful. Funny, she used her hands all day long to talk also.

I am honored to be over at Sew Much Ado for this post.

Yellow

My bestfriend's little girl LOVES yellow. So, I thought it would be cool to give her a hand made, yellow present for her birthday. I wasn't blogging at the time, this was when I would take pictures on my phone and e-mail them to her. Therefore, all I have are camera phone pictures.

I went to the thrift stores to see what I could find in yellow and found this shirt. I thought it would be perfect to make one of those shirt-tutu things. That is my attempt at it. Not bad for dress-up. The purse on the other hand is pretty cool. I wish I had more pictures of that. It really turned out cute.

This picture is so tiny because the quality is so bad, but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looked like. I lined it with some bright yellow flannel I happened to have on hand.

It was so much fun making this hand made gift and because it was all yellow, the little girl loved it. Now, if I see cheap, cute, yellow fabric I buy it for her next birthday.

Handmade gift

Ok, so I was totally inspired by Ladybug Blessings to do a completely handmade gift. I had a ton of fun doing it and there was no waist. That was all cool, but the best part was, on the way to the party, C said, "Mommy, this is the best present we've ever given somebody."

So, here is what I did...

There is some fake makeup inspired by Playing House. No toxic chemicals on any kids face with this and it was super easy to make. My 5 year old did one of them.

The little unicorn thing is what I call "Art on the go." I have seen many different versions of these things, but this is my version. It has vinyl in it for a chalk board, chalk, crayons, a pencil and paper.

Then I made a little dance skirt. My little model wasn't into modeling today.

Last was this little Hobo Sac. Yes, it was made from the tutorial by Made.

I used the Hobo Sac as the gift bag to hold the present.

I don't have a picture of it, but the only part that was not Homemade was the card that actually wasn't a card at all. I always buy a book and use that as the card. I just tape a little index card to it with the happy birthday message to it. That way, a card isn't just tossed out in the trash to fill up the land fills.

Well, I hope you are inspired as I was to give homemade. It's quite a lot of fun.

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