Sunday, December 30, 2012

Happy Holidays

Jess and I hope your last few days of 2012 have been good. We have gone quiet here, choosing like a lot of you out there, to really be present in the moment. 
The main reason I am breaking my silence is to show you one of my favorite things that made it's way into my holiday decor this year. Compliments of my husband. 

See,I went a bit crazy and turned one entire wall in our house into a chalkboard wall.

 I had very definite plans about what I wanted on the wall. 

Life happened. My plans didn't.

I let go of my expectations and got this gift in return.

I came home from work one day to find he'd begun an amazing drawing. Now that it's finished, I am unsure as to whether I can ever change it....
It is a drawing one of our most favorite places on earth.
It is the view we had, most years, from the window of our Gasthaus.
We miss it.
This year we have enjoyed decorating.
Lighting things up.
Hanging out together.
Sometimes doing our own thing.
Pondering over a puzzle. 
(Holy cow Mom, this one's hard)
And grabbing hugs under the mistletoe.
I also managed a bit of sewing. Pulling out some of my hoarded and doing no one any good, Little Folks Voile, now I, and a few other people have fun scarves to help keep them warm. 

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday. 

Thursday, December 13, 2012

These Boots Weren't Made For Walking.....

Baby girl needed something to keep her feet warm. 
Jess and I found some lovely wool fabric at the Jacksonville Quilt Fest. Then she found a shoe pattern she liked here. 

We had to make some modifications to the pattern. The calf was not quite wide enough and Jess asked me to leave the lining out of the foot area and attach it in the shaft area. It made a huge difference on how they fit on Bella Boo.
That black leather tab is hiding the elastic I added at the top.
Matt even got in on the design by requesting leather soles for this pair. This is recycled leather from an old jacket of his. I love recycling!
The pair below was the first set we made and we were working out the kinks.

They are usable but a bit more clunky.
I almost wore the wool out trying to get them right....
This girl seems to be growing so quickly. Before I know it, she will need boots for walking!
My girls, I love them so.
Yes, I got this girl some jeggings. It just seemed right with the boots. 
Now I need to get a couple more light-weight boots done and an all leather pair done, and a fur lined pair, oh and a fur on the outside pair and......

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Quilt Collaberation

So, started a quilt for my guest room. As I was making the top, Jess started making a baby sized quilt with my extra, just because. Mostly because, this rail fence style quilt had been calling to her.
I think it's out of her system now.... ha ha.
I love it but I already have a big quilt in these fabrics that, no, is not yet finished.
The fabrics are mostly Michael Miller with  touches of Denyse Schmit, Riley Blake and Kaufman Kona.
I got distracted from finishing my big quilt, by making the quilt back for this one. Well, I got distracted by that and a few hundred other things. Simple straight line quilting finished it up.
It's always fun to work with Jessica. I am thankful for her energy Every. Single. Day.
We are putting this one up in our shop, hoping someone else will love it too.
Jess is not the only fantastic helper around my house.
P.S. Apologies for the blurry photos. I think I need a new lens. Or new eyes. Or both.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Lauren's Bridal Shower Invite

I (not so recently) helped host a bridal shower and I was in charge of the invitations. 
I was (who am I kidding- still am) severely lacking in time when I made these- Bella was 3 months.  So I relied very heavily on my Pinterest boards for inspiration... I wish this design was my own....just trying to keep it real here. 
 I ended up using a Minted invite that had been featured on a greenweddingshoes.com inspiration board. With a few change ups it really fit the brides style to a T... Her wedding color was Purple and she would be carrying Mums. 

I had them printed at Office Max... because it's the closest printer. And then used vellum envelopes and washi tape as a seal
I really love doing graphic work and even though I do wish I would have had more time to be original I really love the way that these turned out. I guess that is the nice thing about doing things for friends... 
I do have another invite if I can get it photographed... which could mean you will see it a year from now!
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!


Monday, November 19, 2012

Super MAC

 Uber and my Dad had Micah wearing one of Bella's bibs as a cape a few weeks back. So I thought I would make Micah his very own cape... since a used bib seems a slightly gross way to be a super hero. 

I had pinned a super hero cape at some point that used t-shirts (I don't have time to find it and link to it at the moment) I didn't check the link out other then seeing it- so I am not really sure if there was a tutorial or not. I just made my own up and it was simple enough. I decided to go reversible. 

 Which actually made it super simple because you have no seems to hide. 
The M and MAC I just printed up in publisher and then used steamaseam to hold it in place while I zigzagged it on. 
Super simple, quick and hopefully will one day be fun for him. At the moment wearing it seems to be close to torturous... not sure what the deal is... I think he may be feeling more villain then hero- ha!



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Crochet Needle Case

Another thank you gift. This one is super, super late... I made it for the cousin who makes each of us our Christmas stockings
I looked at different tutorials around online-  I am not a crocheter and really had no idea where to begin. I ended up modifying this pattern 
I changed up the dimensions and added a top flap so that hopefully nothing will fall out. 
I raided Moms needle stash for the picture- I guess I need to make her one next!
It's nice to get stuff off of my to do list!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Knit Bandana Bib

Is there ever something you want to do, you think about it for awhile and no solution comes? Then one day you may be doing something you think is totally unrelated, the answer is there and you actually say AH HA out loud to yourself?

Our Bella drools. A. Lot. No worries, we still love her. She wore bibs all day but some were more for the time when she's eating, very cute but way too big. Some were a thin stretch terry that lasted for about three seconds before being soaked through, they weren't cute and they weren't functional.

I started seeing bib bandannas around blog-land and thought that would be a super solution and with all the different fabric choices, they would be cute. Then my next thought was, they will NOT contain the drool. Fast forward a couple of weeks later when I was trying out a new knit wash-cloth pattern. It's started on point and when I was halfway through, I had my ah-ha moment. I finished it off as a triangle, put some velcro on as the closure and when Bella showed up the next day, put it on her. She wore it all day. The bib was wet, her clothes were dry. A serious success! (Can you tell I'm a wee bit proud?) She now has several in different colors to match her clothes. They still cover some of the cuteness that Jess dresses her in but, at least they look like an accessory instead of screaming baby bib.



It's been several weeks since she started wearing them and they really do work. Since they are knit and with the direction of the knit they stretch and move with her. She doesn't mind wearing them, so apparently they are comfortable.

If you knit, these are simple. You already know better than I do how to make these. If you don't knit, and you want one, I will be putting them up in the shop soon. 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Needle Book

A lovely woman that we know from church recently took the time to show Mum and I a new skill. One that we have always wanted to learn and are very excited.  I am really hoping we can practice it more soon so we can show you how bad we are at it! Well me- I think Mom is actually going to be really good at it. We just both have other projects we are in the process of finishing up so we can have time for this one. 
But regardless of how slow we are at working on the skill I wanted to make a thank you gift. We really appreciate people giving their time up to show us things.  


 While we were visiting she mentioned her abundance of needles all scattered about. And Mom mentioned a needle book to her and she seemed interested, so I decided a needle book would be a useful gift. I find it so hard to make and give people things- I want them to be useful for the person. Not something they are going to be trying to figure out what on earth they will do with. Especially when you don't know them that well. 


I am beyond happy with the way it turned out. I made it differently then my last ones (make me want to make myself another one!) 
It's larger- about 6.5 x 4 inches and I added a button closure. 

 This one has felt pages with the most common needles embroidered and attached at the top of each page.