Back in the Swing of Things

I just realized it has been almost 2 1/2 years since my last blog post. So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. I've been divorced, promoted twice, and remarried, quit my said promoted twice job and went back to school in Interior Design. After a very long hiatus, I'm finally getting back the things I love to do. Here is a simple collection of what I have been up to for the last 30 months.

virtue aprons

For my young women's lesson on Sunday I made aprons for the lesson handout.  It was based around Proverbs 31:10. I made them red to remind the girls their value is far above rubies  and white to remind them of virtue. The girls loved them. And I just can't decide which one is my favorite. 

A Day of Sewing

So work lately has been crazy thanks to this nasty cold weather. I work for a disaster restoration company. Because of the cold snap there have been so many homes with frozen and broken pipes that as the scheduler  I have been putting in long hours. I was worn out this week to say the least. A little grumpy, a lot tired, and my house was a mess. We ate out almost every night this week because by the time I got home from work I was not in the mood to make dinner. By the time Saturday came around I decided I was taking a day to do whatever I wanted. I still managed to get all the laundry done, groceries bought, and a load of dishes in the dishwasher. I managed to eek out some projects that I had wanted to get done. 

I was finally able to check this off my list. I wanted some bean bags for my toy room since I have the nieces and nephews over frequently. I also wanted some to use when I sew. When I am cutting out large pieces I like to use the bean bags instead of pinning the large piece. I generally only use these when I am cutting said piece out on my rotary mat with my rotary cutter. 

 This I finished late Saturday night. It was a belated Christmas present for a dear friend. I had gotten her something for Christmas, but it didn't seem to fit her personality. I went back and forth what to do for her. Finally yesterday, it dawned on me. Rachel loves to cook and her favorite color is orange. Thus the idea for this was born. I gotta admit. The bow in the front is fantastic and turned out just how I wanted! She loved it so much she hugged me 3 times. She would hug me, look at the apron and then hug me again. She's so fun.

And last, we did these vases for the weekly youth meeting on the 9th.  I hadn't posted these yet so thought I'd include it. It is tin cans wrapped in canvas and burlap ribbon I found at Wal-Mart with embellishments. My favorite is the one with tulle and the pearl button.

linking up with Amanda Jean at Finish it up Fridays

Christmas Presents Part 2

Here's the second part of the homemade Christmas presents I did this year. This blanket is for my niece Madalyn as part of my mother-in-laws eternal present to her grandkids. I had so much fun working on this and the elephants are more iron-ons like the ones done for this blanket here. I call it the Jungle Elephants quilt since the green and purple batik fabric kind of reminds me of the jungle. It was a big hit. 

 Because these ones are white, I needed to enhance the lines. I hand stitched the black thread on all four. It really made them look great. This one was made from all scraps I had left over from a blanket I did in the same color scheme for Christmas for a friend's daughter two Christmases ago. 

 I loved the purple polka dot fabric I was able to find for the back. LOVED IT!!!

Purple seems to be the choice color for this post, much like red was the theme for the last one. I didn't do that on purpose. Haha. This apron is for my 13 year old niece Holland. Purple is her favorite color and I couldn't ever get her to narrow down exactly what she wanted for Christmas so this is what she got. I love how it turned out. The straps and pleating are actually done in cream even though they look white in the pictures. It's so cute if I say so myself. :) And I love that Santa got me this adjustable dress form for Christmas. It was fun to use it for this project. 

I was so excited how the pleats turned out and how even I was able to make them. Hope she likes it. I haven't been able to give it to her yet. 

Linking up with Amanda Jean's Finish it up Fridays. 

Surprise!!!

Not only did the Easter Bunny leave this two awesome kids great surprises, but dear old Aunt Tiff snuck down to their house literally in the middle of the night (their mother was still awake) and left surprises for them too. They had a surprise for me as well. They had colored eggs for my husband and I because we weren't able to make it to the egg dyeing party.

Little Miss "A" has been asking her mother for an apron for a long time. And this year, I finally helped make that happen. Her mother didn't even know it was coming. Their mother was expecting a Harry Potter snow owl look-a-like for Mr. "L", but that was just not panning out. This sweet boy has been bouncing back and forth between Harry Potter and Star Wars. So, instead of an owl, he got a Jedi inspired cloak instead. The best miracle of all was that I didn't have any measurements written down for either one of them except for the ones still floating around in my head from the dress I made for
 Miss "A" here .

The cloak to me about 3 hours start to finish and I made it completely out of a twin sheet. Using as much of the hem lines throughout the sheet as much as possible to save time. 

Little Miss "A" doesn't know it, but she actually picked out the pink fabric for the main part of the apron. About a year or so ago, her mother secretly handed me the pink fabric and told me to use it for something since she doesn't sew.  There was about a yard of fabric, so I used it for her apron. I had never found anything else I wanted to use it for. Thus, this apron was born. The strings at the back are made from the same striped fabric as the neck tie. Would you believe it took me longer to do this than it did for the cloak?

I love these kids. I love having them as neighbors, and I love being their Aunt.

I'm linking up to Finish it up Fridays with Amanda Jean And Family Ever After