More Pillowcases

I love making custom pillowcases!  I've made a couple of pillowcases for each of my boys here, here, and here.  My favorite tutorial for these comes from Little Birdie Secrets.  They're quick, easy, they don't take a lot of fabric, and they're super cute. 

So when my sister told me about a service project being put together by a gal that she knows, I jumped right on board.  This lady's son passed away just a few months ago - he was born with a genetic disorder and fought hard his whole life.  From the little bit I've read about him on her blog, he seemed like a wonderful son, brother, and friend.  Her idea is to gather pillowcases to donate to the local children's hospital where her son spent a lot of his time.  She's gotten quite a lot of participation from all over the country which is great to see.  I've been collecting some fun fabrics and have whipped up 25 pillowcases in the past few weeks.  Five of them will stay here for friends and family gifts.  The other 20 are headed to my sister's house tomorrow to give to her friend for the children's hospital.

Here are a couple of my favorites:  I searched all over the Salt Lake valley to find this line of fabric - Happy Ever After.  I actually ended up meeting the designer of the line.  More to come from this line of fabric in the next few weeks.  But I love it and couldn't resist making a pillowcase out of it.

This one is some cute monster fabric - I loved it because it says "Don't be afraid" right on it - I thought that was great to go to a children's hospital. 

Another boy fabric - spaceships. 

And some girly ones - flowers and butterflies.

And birds and more flowers.

And one more that I found just at the last minute that made it in to my pile.  Pirates!  Great for older and younger boys.

And here are my boys showing their personal favorite pillowcases.  This has been a good learning opportunity for them to learn about service and children's hospitals.  They were excited about these and loved helping to pick out the fabric with me. 

My Mismatched Maxi Skirt

I finally sewed something (clothing wise) that wasn't a flop and that I'm not embarrassed to wear outside my house.  I discovered maxi skirts this summer and my life will never be the same.  I {LOVE} them!  It's like wearing pajamas yet you look all fancy and dressed up.  Every store sells them - my favorites have been Target, New York & Co, Eddie Bauer, and . . . well now that I think about it, Target again.  The only problem is that they all look the same - black, gray, brown, even a blue - - - -stripes and plain knit fabric. 

And then I saw these amazingly cute maxi skirts over at iCandy Handmade.  Oh how I loved those - every kind of fun stripe and color imaginable.  And she made sewing them sound oh so easy.  So I got brave and bought some knit in a cute oatmeal/red stripe.  And there it sat on my sewing table for a few months while I tried to get brave again.  Finally, a couple of Friday nights ago - - I mustered up all the courage I had and made myself a pattern and actually cut into the material (that's always the hardest part . . . once you cut you can't go back!).  I read lots of blogs about how to sew maxi skirts (and I'm not a sewing novice).  I read tutorials on sewing with knits.  I wasn't brave enough to pull out my serger - - it scares me almost as much as the Cricut machine hiding away in my craft room!  But all the blogs said you can sew on knits with a regular machine.  So I started. 

Now I do have to say that I was very worried about not being able to perfectly match up my stripes and I didn't want that much pressure.  So I went to iCandy Handmade's tutorial for a Mismatched Maxi Skirt.  It was exactly what I needed. 

The tutorial was easy to follow.  The material was surprisingly easy to sew.  (Although I really should have dug my serger out and used it!)  And in about 30 minutes, I had myself a skirt.  I made the waistband only 3 inches wide (finished length).  And I was worried about making it a little too small around the waist.  When I tried it on after it was finished the waist was a little too big.  So I slept on it and got up the next morning to look more closely at all of my purchased maxi skirts for ideas.  The solution was simple and easy - clear elastic.  I ran to the store, grabbed a pack, and quickly sewed it in to the seam joining the waistband and skirt.  And there you have it - my first handmade mismatched maxi skirt.  I LOVE it!!! 

Here is a picture of the elastic sewn in to the waistband - genius (not to mention no fail!)

I was so happy with my little skirt that I went straight back to the internet and found another knit print with lots of different colored stripes on an oatmeal-ish background.  Another mismatched maxi skirt - done!

Now think of the possibilities.  I just need to get myself to a fabric district somewhere to pick up some really cute knits.  They are very, very difficult to find! I want to do an exposed ruffle maxi skirt from iCandy next.  How can one little skirt make me sooooooo happy?

A New Tasty Dinner: Spinach Manicotti

I try really hard to cook homemade, healthy meals for my little family as regularly as I can (except on Friday nights - I generally have a strict policy of not cooking on Friday nights.  Even mom gets a break on Fridays!).  I'm always on the look-out for new recipes and ideas for dinners.  There are only a handful of recipes that I cook over and over and over.  Usually we're trying new things and very few of them make it in to our regular list of meals we love.  This one made it in with flying colors!

I saw this Spinach Manicotti recipe over at 71toes not too long ago.  It looked like a good one to try.  She makes it without meat/vegetarian so I decided that it might be slightly more well received at my house by browning up a pound of ground turkey with the onions and then following her recipe along from there.  What a hit!  It was truly delicious! 

Everyone, including the boys, gave it a big thumbs up.  I was craving it by the second night - we made enough for a second night's meal.  Here is a close up of all the cheesy, tomatoey yumminess!

I love a great recipe!  Mmmm, mmmm, good!

Candy Corn Cookies

Well this is what happens when you only have boys in your house!  My boys have become lovers of "arts and crafts" (that sounds more masculine than "crafting") and cooking.  They mostly love the tasting part of cooking, but they indulge me still the same. 

I saw a great idea over at The Crafting Chicks for "Candy Corn Cookies" and we decided to try the recipe out this weekend.  The boys give it two thumbs up, especially for the frosting in the middle.  I'll add that the cookies are pretty darn tasty too. 

No candy corns were harmed or used in the making of these cookies.  It is simply the color scheme that makes them "candy corn" cookies.  We had a fun time mixing and rolling and baking and frosting.  Our neighbors are happy too because we gave almost all of the cookies away.  Happy Halloween!

Girly Tool Belt - Aprons

I happen to work with a national organization that holds a big education conference every two years - and our next conference is coming up in a couple of weeks.  One of the fun activities we do at the conference is have a big raffle for items attendees donate along with some big technology items and all of the money raised goes to student scholarships.  When we are out in the crowds selling tickets, we like to wear aprons with lots of pockets to stuff money and ticket stubs in.  We usually just run to Home Depot and buy a handful of aprons - they work and they're easy.  But I knew I could do cuter - if I just sat down and made it happen. 

During a quick run to one of my trusty local fabric stores, I happened upon this great pattern by Vanilla House Designs for "Girly Tool Belts".  I've been on the hunt for fabric and finally just decided to visit another of my favorite local fabric shops and bought up a bunch of coordinating fabric - I love it when they just have it all stacked up in coordinating bolts and fat quarters so I don't have to think about it.  In fact, I just assumed it was all from the same line, but when I got everything home and starting cutting into it I realized they had lots of different fabric lines all put together.  Love it when stores make it easy for me!

There were three different variations on the aprons and I have lots of people to help, so I just kept cutting until I had used up pretty much all of the fabric I bought.

 I ended up with six aprons - three of each variation.  Look at those lovely gray, blue, and yellow fabrics.  I seem to have a thing for gray mixed with various colors lately. 

And here they are:

Each one has three pockets in the front - perfect for holding lots of stuff.  And I think I have to say that this one is my most favorite.  Love the mix of fabrics!  They were soooooooo easy to make - quick and easy to follow instructions.

Baby Blankets . . . . They Never Stop

The one thing you can always count on is more babies being born - and every baby deserves a new soft, cuddly blanket and a new outfit.  At least I believe that.  We have two new cousin baby boys being born this month (one is already here and I'm slow).  For this one, it had to be cowboys!  I searched and searched for this very Riley Blake fabric and could only find it in a super soft minky fabric.  So I paired it with a dark brown minky and sewed it together.  It will be a very soft and very warm blanket!  I was sweating just trying to get it top stitched.  

 The fabric is sure cute.  I should have grabbed a few more yards of this - it is very hard to find now days.

I did have enough of the cotton line to whip up these cute burp cloths to go with it.

Next up is another flannel Peak Hour blanket with large green ric rac.  Love these so much!  And I really really love the Peak Hour line. 

I have stocked up my stash of this fabric line (flannel, laminated, and cotton) - it really is one of my all time favorites.  Anyway - this blanket is so easy yet it looks so fun with the ric rac hanging out.  Off it goes to Idaho.

Note - one tip for myself.  Take the time to carefully pin the top and bottom of these blankets together after you sew the ric rac on.  The last couple that I made ended up with a pretty big pucker in them because I was just hurrying through.  But with this one I decided to take the time and it worked up beautifully.

And off I go for more crafting fun.

At The Zoo - Quiet Book

I love a good quiet book . . . . always have, always will.  I have quite a few patterns stashed away and try to make one or two as I have time.  Or I add pages to my large quiet book that my boys love.  By the time I get around to making all the books I want, I will be the only one "playing" with them - maybe my old-age, senile self will think that's pretty fun. 

 

Anyway - I've had the pieces for this book cut out and ready to go for awhile now.  I finally sat down and got it put together.  This is a pattern from Shelley Wallace on Etsy.  I've made a few of her books before - and in checking her store this morning I see she's added a few new patterns and kits that I might have to add to my collection. 

 

This book is about the animals in the zoo.  Very cute, if I do say so myself.

 

Each page has a little burlap flap that hides the animal underneath and the clue helps you to guess what animal is hiding.



 

We have monkeys and lions.

 And elephants and bears.

 And koalas and zebras.

 

And giraffes and hippos.

A cute little turtle is on the back cover.

 And what could be better than a finished quiet book?  How about two of them?  I figured since I was cutting and sewing one, why not churn out two of them. 

 

And I'm feeling pretty proud that I actually got these finished and off my table.  Now I'm on to more baby blankets that have to be sent off this week and then . . . more fun things up my sleeves!