~a bow-tie for pre-school graduation~

 Today's the BIG DAY!

My little man graduates pre-school.

For his program tonight the teacher has

asked the kids to dress in their best clothes.

Alright...for us that translates into a pair of

jeans without holes and a shirt with a collar. 

We aren't church going folk so he doesn't have

dress clothes. I made a trip to the local thrift store

and got a white button up shirt for $3. I brought it

home and bleached the heck out of it and it

looks good as new. I let him pick the material

he wanted for the bow-tie.....he chose the red with

white polka-dots. Thru pinterest (of course) I

found a great tutorial at "A Lemon Squeezy Home"

(click here to be directed to tutorial)

It was SOOO easy.

Finished in a matter of minutes and using

all materials I had on hand.

 

 Fabric, felt or interfacing, thread and velco 

are the only materials you need.  

He looks so handsome and adorable in it.

I'm pretty sure I'll be bawling thru the whole 

ceremony tonight......... 

 

Wait until you see how adorable the book I made

him turned out! Come back tomorrow to see it.

~self-binding comforter~

I don't know about you guys, but to me,

there's nothing like a blanket made especially

for you by someone who loves you.

Wrapping up in a handmade blanket is 

equivalent to that person wrapping their arms

around you, protecting you and loving you.

When my little guy was born (5 years ago) he 

got so many beautiful blankets. From bassinet to 

crib to toddler bed; I had sizes and shapes for each stage....

handmade from loved ones and given to me at

my baby showers.

(I remember each and every one of them :) )

It was only natural that when he moved out of

his toddler bed and into his "big boy" bed that I

wanted him to have a comforter made just for him.

About a year prior to this, my husband came home

with some adorable fabric with John Deere tractors

arranged to look as if it was camouflage

disclaimer: my hubs doesn't go to the fabric store...

he found it for $1/yard at our FAVORITE secret

treasure store and couldn't pass it up. He got 

like 5 or 6 yards of it.

 

I knew immediately once I set my mind on making

the comforter that this was the material I wanted to use.

I wanted something very easy and simple.

I have made a lot of the self-binding baby blankets and

I thought, "Why couldn't I make the same style, just bigger?"

So....I did.

Do you know how easy this was?

I used a queen size sheet for the binding/back fabric.

The most difficult part of this project was finding a place large

enough to lay it out and pin it....

and bending over to do it (I was very pregnant 

when I made this last year).

I just laid out the sheet then placed the quilt batting

down on top of the sheet. Next I laid the flannel camo

fabric down and pinned it all around.

I don't have a link for a self binding tutorial but I'm

sure there are a ton swirling thru

the blogosphere. If you can't find one

and you're interested in making one of these let me know

and I'll try and get some instructions to you.

The trickiest part is the corners.

You basically have to do it the opposite

way you think it should be done. 

For the pillow case I just took some of the fabric

and ironed on a chubby monogrammed "E".

I gave it to him for Christmas LAST YEAR.....

YES-it has taken me this long to blog about it.

He loves it.

And I love finding him wrapped in it

all warm and snuggly :)
Some nights when I tuck him in he
smiles and says, 
"Momma-you made this blanket for me because
you love me don't you?"

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

"Yes E...as a matter of fact, I do love you."

Total cost for this was under $20.

~my gnome is cuter than yours~

My little guy decided what his Halloween costume would

be months and months ago.

After watching Gnomeo and Juliet he was 

determined to be Gnomeo for Halloween.

In case you aren't familiar with this cartoon let me assist:

 Super easy and adorable. 

It seems that box of fabric my Mom gave me this past

summer happens to be the gift that keeps on giving.

I knew I had the supplies for the belt but I

thought I would have to go buy a big piece of blue

felt for this. Guess what was in the box?

A BIG PIECE OF BLUE FELT!

Praise the Lord in song.....preferably an Elton John song.

(he did all the music for Gnomeo and Juliet)

I winged the whole thing and loved the way it turned out.

My little man is thrilled and can't wait to wear it!

As far as the shirt goes...I just took a large piece of felt
and folded it in half. I got one of my little guys shirts and set it
on top to measure the length I needed to cut. 
 
I then cut a hole out on the top of the folded piece of felt for
his head. I should have taken a picture but you are going to 
be cutting the end that is folded. There will not be a seam at 
the shoulders because you just sew this up the sides now and
slip over their head. Is this making sense now? 


Next I took two half circles (more like ovals) and
sewed them to the front of the neck opening
on each side to make a collar.


The belt is made from some brown fleece I had on hand
and the buckle is yellow felt that I hand stitched on. 
It is fastened with Velcro.

For the boots I just bought a pair of men's black socks at

the Dollar Store and slipped them over his little work boots.

Total cost for this costume......$1.

This may be the cheapest Halloween yet.

He wants me to be Juliet and Dad to be Tibbles (the mean gnome...haha).

We'll see what happens with that. 

One more off that list!

-duvet cover

-child's cupboard re-do

-felt food for kids

-birthday banner

-kids slippers

-boys pirate party

-baby girl romper w/vintage corduroy

-leg warmers

-wall art for family

-hot shirt for momma :)

-hand made rings

-owl bookends

-play mat

-zipper purse

-state love art

-Halloween costumes

~child's duffle bag~

Awhile ago I made a duffel bag for my little guy.

I finally got around to taking pics of it

(sorry it took so long Mom).

 

 It's made from vintage denim that I got 

from my Mom's fabric collection.

The only thing I had to buy to make this

was the 1" braid trim that was 

used for the handles.

The pattern I used was Sunrise Designs-T108

The pattern was also vintage.

Check it out with the link above....it's funny.

It's got a zipper to close it which is nice

because kids are always shoving 

tons of random items in their bag.

As you can see, it's nice and roomy.

There is also a pocket on both sides.

I think the pocket is E's favorite part of the bag.

It was easy to sew and I would say it's intended

for a beginner to medium skill level.

The denim I used has some stretch to it and 

because of that my circular ends didn't match

up exactly. I had to take a pinch on each end

and sew it together so it's a bit puckered

on each end at the top by the zipper. 

It's still totally functional, just not as 

polished looking as I prefer.

It's the perfect size for my son and he loves it.

I think he's decided that it will be his

new "school bag" this year.

 

~jammies~

It was a Christmas tradition in our family growing up
that we all opened up a new pair of jammies on Christmas Eve.
It's been one of the traditions I have carried on
with my own family.

Here are the jammies I made for EJ this year.


Just some little flannel pants with an appliqued shirt
to match it. He's really into pirates and ships right
now so I think he'll love them.
I bought the t-shirt at Walmart for $3 and
made the applique with fabric left over from the pants.

The pattern I used was:
New Look #6131

This is a great project for beginners.