Travel Jewelry Roll-Up

If you're like me, you are always waiting until the last minute on birthday gifts and Christmas presents. The problem is that I love giving handmade gifts...the result is me sewing like a mad-woman (and not always with the greatest of precision), neglecting housework and arriving late to whatever event the aforementioned gift was needed for. So I need to do one of two things: 1) Start earlier on handmade gifts OR... 2) Find some very quick but cute handmade gift ideas. Obviously I'm going to go with the second option. Here's my solution!!

The Jewelry Roll-up!! I love how it turned out. I'm working on a tutorial. I'll get it out soon, long before you need last minute Christmas gifts. This would also be a great gift for a girlfriend's birthday, maybe with a cute ring or pair of earrings. I love the addition of the little screen!

This great print is Joel Dewberry (a fat quarter I picked up a couple months ago just waiting for a great project). The red and brown dot fabrics, zipper and twill ribbon are from Hancocks.

Click HERE for the tutorial!!

Tutorial HERE

My Sewing Area

So I recently found No Big Dill's "Never Enough Orange Sewing Room Reveal" and I was drooling. It is amazing! I love her ideas and how creative and eclectic it looks. I'm all about eclectic decorating. We are renting a little place in New Orleans while my husband is finishing school. We have the space we need, but not enough for a sewing room! I consider a sewing room a true luxury, maybe one day...



For now, the dining room table is my "sewing room." Our living room and dining room are combined so it makes it easy for me to sew and watch Baby P while he plays in the living room, but it makes it a little tough to sit down for family dinner when the table is covered with pins, buttons, and fabric scraps. Here was my "Sewing Room" yesterday.

Yes! My poor fabric stash has been living in a plastic box in my closet or under the table if I'm in the midst of a project. Here's the only part of my sewing area that I'm proud of!

        This is my third baby. (Hubby and Baby P are obviously top of the list). I kept all the original packaging (styrofoam and box and everything) and when we moved back in the summer, I packed her up and made sure she had a safe place in the back of my car. No moving van for this lady!

        So, given my limited space and my need to have all my sewing supplies near where I will be sewing...I decided to clean out this cabinet that I have by the front door. It's a yard sale find from a few years ago. I snagged it for $20 and after a little sanding and refinishing, I love the way it looks. I've been keeping placemats, chargers, cloth napkins and paper products in it, kind of a waste of space. So I cleaned out all the junk and was left with this.

        I also wiped down the inside with a little white vinegar, it had a musty smell and I didn't want musty fabric. And yes, there is a random square cut out of the bottom.

        Here is most of my sewing stuff all organized and put away! The plastic box contains all my trims, buttons, needles, etc... and my thread and clothing labels are above that. The fabric on the left is apparel (seersucker, shirting, corduroy, denim...) and the pile on the right is all quilters cotton. I'd like to get some shelving that I can stick in to help me keep things organized, but I've had a hard time finding exactly what I want. Maybe a specialty closet store? Most of my patterns are in the plastic file box. I also have a reusable shopping bag that I'm going to slip right in the front (over the hole) to keep my partially completed projects in order. All my jersey and home decor weight cotton is staying in a large plastic box in the bottom of my bedroom closet. I only use those things on occasion.

Now maybe we can eat dinner at the table tonight like civilized human beings :).

Baby Photo Album

There are lots of adjustments after having a baby. You get used to so many things being different, waking up at night, picking up the floor hundreds of times a day, gathering snacks, drinks and diapers before leaving the house, lots more laughing and playing, many more moments of pure joy. I will say, however, that those little moments of joy generally do not occur during a long car trip with a baby.


For every car trip we prepare the standard emergency food (in P's case it's blueberries and goldfish), an array of new toys to inspect, a stack of familiar books, and Baby Beluga on repeat (must I say ad nauseum?). After these have lost their magic, what to do? I was lying awake making plans for a trip we took a couple of weeks ago and worrying about how to entertain Baby P. My thoughts kept gravitating to the idea of a soft, baby photo book. P enjoys books and loves seeing faces he recognizes in pictures. Because we live away from family right now, it's nice for him to be able to know everyone when we visit. There are probably places you can buy these (in fact, I just saw one in the One Step Ahead catalogue), but I wanted to choose my own fabrics and it didn't seem like a complicated project. I was right about how much P would like it. Look at this reaction to the first competed page (you'll notice it's lacking a cover, etc...).

 It was a little time consuming (especially if you make your own bias tape like I did), but it was definately worth it and I love that I can change out the pictures periodically. The photos are covered by plastic, protecting them from grubby, Blueberry fingers. It holds five 4x6 size pictures and two (approximately) 2x3's.

Here are a couple more views, I am thinking of creating a tutorial sometime soon.

I'm wild about that colorful chevron print, it's "Remix" by Robert Kauffman.

I was really in a hurry for this, I think it would be cute to do felt applique letters or add another photo sleeve to the front. I just handstitched the letters and added big, fat French knots to them.

This is our dog Leo, Baby P's best buddy. He LOVES pulling back the flap and seeing him. The pictures aren't exactly the right size, I was cutting/folding the edges in the car. I had the book done as we were leaving for our trip, but I didn't have time to put the pictures in.

This was a fun and super rewarding project. P carries it around the house and is thrilled when I plop down on the floor with him and say, "Where's Grammy?," "Where's Jordan?" "Where's Mac?" and let him point. This would be a sweet baby shower or toddler birthday gift as well.

Sparkly Hat

I love those times when you have a weirdly ridiculous experience with a stranger. Either they try to share some kind of inappropriate story with you (I do not appreciate birth stories in the middle of the freezer aisle) or ask you for something off the wall.


Yesterday, I was at Hancocks. It was a delicious day at the fabric store because my husband had come home early from work and I was toddler free with a tall, one-pump, Starbucks pumpkin spice latte in my hand. I was browsing patterns and buttons then made my way over to the trims. I was "minding my own" when I heard a poor man (clearly sent to the store by his wife) painfully describing "You know, those little hooks like on a bra clasp" to an employee. He had no other words to describe them and had to keep saying "bra clasp" over and over, but the employee had no idea what he was talking about and finally said "We don't have anything like that here." Well, for one thing, they probably do have actual bra clasps, and for the other, I know for a fact they had hook and eyes which is what he was trying to describe. He passed behind me and I said, "I think you mean 'hook and eyes,'" the poor man's face lit up and he was so relieved to have alternate vocabulary with which to describe a product he didn't fully understand. Anyway, he went on his merry way and found what he needed (by the way, this is not the weird experience). So I continued browsing trims and gradually made my way to the table of seersucker on sale ($2.95 a yard!!)

I was absorbed in my sale fabrics when a little older lady, who had been browsing trims near me and probably heard my exchange with "bra clasp man," approached me and asked what I thought of two different pieces of gold, sequin covered elastic. She had a small piece and was trying to match it with what was there. I said, "Well, one is gold and one is colored" (it was kind of irridescent with many different colors plus a little gold). So I thought maybe she just couldn't see very well or couldn't reach the trims (she was about 4 feet tall or slightly less, no exaggeration). I pulled out a roll of the same thing she was holding and started to leave, then she began to describe exactly what it was for. The tale she told me involved a cruise she's going to be taking, a gold dress she will be wearing and a navy blue beanie that she intends to cover with this gold, sequin elastic. I'm "Mmm, Hmm'ing" politely and backing away when she asks, "Could you help me wrap this around my head so that I can see how much I will need?" No kidding, she stood there and had me wrap about 3 yards of stretchy sequins around her head in rows with zero compunction. She was really friendly and it was no trouble, but it completely cracked me up. What a thing to ask of a stranger! It was also sort of oddly personal to be putting things on someone else's head.

Anyway! I came away with a funny experience and more fabric than I intended to buy, but what do you do?!

Pattern Review: Butterick 4110

Butterick 4110

Sizes S-XL (13-30 lbs)
Baby Girl dress (4 views), Romper (4 views), Hat and Bloomer

My Experience and Description:

I just completed a really fun project! It was a classic baby girl dress with a big collar, like the ones my Mom used to dress my sister and I in when we were little. After every seam, I held up the dress "oohing" and "ahhing" over the little details and trying to get my husband to do the same thing.

The dress was a gift for my baby niece, they might use it for her baptism in November.  I wanted to use solid white because of the occasion and I also wanted it to be wintery enough for November-no, linen, thin cotton, etc... So I went with a lightweight corduroy trimmed with white crocheted cotton lace, it feels so soft on both sides and I really love the way it turned out.

I thought this pattern was very well written and easy to follow, the finishing turns out professionally and it looks nice inside and out. I like that there are several different options to choose from included in the pattern. No collar, pointed collar, scalloped collar, round collar, long, short, romper, bloomer... I actually made a pattern piece for a square collar. I just used the pointed collar and added straight lines from the shoulder and the point, meeting at a right angle. (I left the back in a point)

I love that the dress closes with buttons rather than snaps or a zipper, there's something very impersonal about a zipper on baby clothes. I will definately be using this pattern for gifts.

There are so many things you could do with this pattern. It would be precious with a white cotton collar and a flowered, striped or gingham print cotton for the dress. There are so many options and it's a very versatile pattern. It could be made in velvet for Christmas, bright patterns for a birthday party, and you could add embroidery to the collar. I really love this pattern and I give it...duh duh duuuuhh...

Five Spools! (out of five)



Things you should know about Butterick 4110:

1) There is a good bit of hand finishing involved. The dress is partially lined, so the bodice lining has to be slipstitched to the waist seam. It would be easy to add a full lining, but it will take a little finagling around the button placket.

2) When sewing/folding/cutting for the button placket, have a good example of a completed one beside you. I find that it's hard for printed instructions (even good ones) to show those kinds of things in the right scale and dimension. I like to have a good example beside me to keep from sewing then ripping over and over again or cutting where I shouldn't cut.

3) Double check all the seams at the neck and waist before you hand stitch the lining, I had sewn a little to close to the edge of my collar the first time around and had to take out all my handstitching to fix it. YUCK!

A little Fall flair!

I love fall, the colors, the temperature, the flowers and the clothes! I love coats and boots and sweaters and corduroy. I love overalls on baby boys and Thanksgiving, thick, hearty soups and hot beverages.

I planted some mums out in the yard this week and filled my galvanized metal planter with a beautiful rust colored mum and some lantana. Baby P really enjoyed them!

These are P's new fall overalls, they're reversible with a lightweight seersucker inside so they won't be too hot. I did a simple little turkey applique on the front and hand embroidered the eyes, beak and "gobbler." I like how they turned out, not sure about the orange buttons, we'll see!

Boo hoo...

No, this is not a Halloween post. I am in mourning.

Here is my baby on Saturday morning.

And here's my baby on Saturday afternoon...see what's happening here?!?

I'm just smiling here to keep from glaring at the woman cutting off my baby's crazy curls. I have to say that she was kind of amazing at cutting kid hair. She managed not to cut him while also NOT cutting off pieces of her own hands. After seeing this process, I was validated in my decision not to attempt P's first haircut myself. Now, I am convinced not to attempt it until he's old enough to bribe or threaten into absolute stillness. He was really good though, even when she brought out the clippers and hairdryer.

He looks so big without the wild locks sticking out around his ears.

He's still a baby.