The date night that never was...

I'm feeling rather sorry for myself.  Stand by...because I'm about to whine in 3...2...1...

I am never alone.  Except on my way to or from work.  I have a child attached to my hip at most times of every day.  And usually it's more than one, it's usually all 3.  Now, don't take that the wrong way.  I ADORE my children.

I work really, really hard.  I work part time outside of the home which requires me to actually do a wee bit of work everyday from home in terms of just checking and responding to emails, etc.  I run my own business.  That requires me to sew, list, sell, create tutorials, submit articles, and lately, pick up and work on my portfolio again (yes, yes...I'm one of "those" - like a million others - wanna be textile designer).  To enhance what I can do in communications at both my day job and also in my dream job, I've started taking classes at our local art college.  On my wish list of classes for the summer is a basic figure drawing course.  I haven't done that since high school...

And art, is something my mother always told me to do.  I was too stubborn to listen...but I digress, that's a whole other subject.  I was still whining.  So, let me finish my pathetic little whine session.

I think I was saying I work really, really hard.  I serve my community in an "official" capacity (we'll leave it at that) - belong to our twins club, the local art guild, active in our church, oh, did I mention I have 3 kids?

I know.  Big whoop.  Like, who doesn't do all these things?  I'm just sayin', I'm never alone.  I can't even tell you the last time I was alone in my house.  I can't remember.  It's been since before the baby was born and she's 21 months now.

And the gardener and I ('cuz that's what I call my husband) - the last date we went on included the baby.  Not much of a date.

On occassion, I'll stop somewhere on my way home from work for an hour or less maybe to run an errand.  But what I need is some me time.  ME!  Or ME and the HUBS.  He doesn't get any time either because while I'm at work during the week, he's at home with baby.  And while he's at work, I'm at home with the baby.  And when one of us gets home, the other may run out for an errand.

It's just the "moment" we are in in our lives.  I don't want to complain...ok, yes I do.

I love my life.  I'm just pooped.  If I had one day a month - a full 8 hours - to do whatever I wanted and I didn't have to fix dinner for anyone or do laundry or work or sew for a whole day - LUXURY!  Man, what I would give to have that one day a month.  Heck, I'd settle for every other month at this point.

So, our date night that never was...our 12th Wedding Anniversary, Valentines Day.  Spent, me with the kids, the husband at work.  One of his Rangers called off sick all weekend and he had to cover his shifts.

To make myself think that we would really be actually going on a real date sometime, I made this fabulous necklace inspired by this...

...and here is a great tutorial that got me started on this whole fabric roses thing awhile ago...I've made little pins and hair barrettes but I just hadn't made the necklace I wanted yet.

So my date night that never was...well, here's what I would have worn on my neck.

A few things I did differently than the tutorial.  I used a polyester type of fabric.  I used a hot glue gun and dabbed a dot of glue on every turn.  I twisted and folded my fabric constantly as I went around.  Then, I cut with pinking shears, a felt circle the size of the rose.  I mounded it with glue and pressed the rose into it when I was done.  I pressed it really hard to try and flatten it out a little too.  Then, I sewed each flower and bead to each other to make it one big piece.

I love it.  And like usual in my quest to afford to only work part time so I can be home more with kids - I have one for sale over in my etsy shop.  (you saw that one coming a mile away, right?).  I can do it any color or combination of colors and fancy do-dads and lace and bling so if you'd like one for your date night (good luck with that!) I'd be happy to make one for you!

If you want to make one with me - well, join me for our next sewing class.  We'll be making some accessory bags and learning how to make these into pins to adorn our little bags - and I promise, we always have fun!

Now, if I could just arrange some time away...

{ps A THANK YOU to Bernina Sewing Machines and their fab blog for featuring me in their favorite blogs links this week - check them out!  They have super fun things over there!}

xoxo,

Trish

Uncomfortable

Funny thing this whole faith thing, isn't it?  I mean, for those of you that believe in a higher power, whatever it may be, do you ever get those moments when you just go..."Ohh, freaky?!".

And by that I mean, a message just seems to totally stick in your head and motivate you?

I thought that for Monday, I would blog about how cold it's been, how I just can't seem to warm up and how I made myself this scarf.

And I started to plot out a few quick instructions I would share on the scarf so you could make one too.  Plotting as I woke this morning and got everyone up and going.  And then, as we always do, we headed off for church.

I totally love our worship service.  I grew up in a very traditional church where our service was the same most Sundays.  And my current church still offers that however, we opt to go to the contemporary service.  For one, my kids are in sunday school and so this is the service we can go to after their class.  Second, our dear close friends happen to be the worship band leaders.  And they totally rock.

And this Sunday, there were little video snippets that played before church began.  No music.  Just text. Asking if we were really "here".  What were we "hoping for"?  Hoping the service didn't go long?  Hoping to go home soon to eat lunch?  Hoping to sit back and just observe?  It was honest and uncomfortable.

Every Sunday, it's like this.  Something that stops you and grabs your attention and brings you for a moment into clear focus about why - just WHY we are sitting there in church.

And every Sunday, it's the same.  I'm hoping to get out of there soon.  Hoping the baby will sit still enough for me to grasp part of the sermon.  Hoping to go get a coke soon and hoping to get home and sew in the afternoon.  So much to do before the week starts.

And every Sunday, most Sundays, it's something like that first message - am I REALLY HERE - that makes everything around me disappear, makes my eyes focus on the cross, brings tears to my eyes and makes me remember what has been given to ME so I can have children, lunch, a sewing machine, a big glass of coke...a life.

Much of today's sermon was focused on doing what we've been asked and doing it when we are too comfortable.

Too comfortable in our chairs to get up and share a message with someone who really needs it today.

Too comfortable to not just write a check for money but to go out and give of our time.

Getting uncomfortable.  Doing things that are hard.  Doing things we'd probably rather not do but then again, hey, I'm pretty sure Jesus wasn't very "comfortable" dying on the cross but He did it anyway...for me, for you - for all of us.  And asks us to just do one little thing.  Tell others about Him.

Google this.  Jeremiah 1:4-10.

And it's not comfortable for me to do that.  Because people come here from all over the place and from lots of different perspectives.  Different religions.  Or no religion at all.  Everybody has a journey that led them to where they are.  And this is mine and I'm doing what I feel that I'm called to do.  I hope you'll allow me to do that now and again with you and I'd love for you to do that with me as well, with all of us.

Sharing faith can be very hard.  Uncomfortable.  Is this really the right forum?  Should I talk about this here?

Of course I should.  Of course you should.  Of course this is the right forum.

Which is why I thought when I wanted to write about how cold I've been - how I can't seem to get warm lately because of our freezing temperatures - how "uncomfortable" I've been in my sewing room (I even talked about this at my sewing class last Friday!) - that today's message and my message - seemed to have a purpose.  Right?

{Yep, so Thursday (here comes the "how to make a scarf" bit) - I cut scraps of fabric 6.5" wide and whatever length they were, stitched them together using a 2.5 stitch length.

Pressed the seams to one side and top stitched.  Once I had a long enough strip of around 64" or so, I layed it out on some fleece I had.  Cut around it, pinned and with right sides together, stitched it on leaving an opening for turning.  Turned it right side out.  Pressed it.  Topstitched all the way around and closed my opening.}

Then I wrapped it around my neck and that's where it's been every day since.  Making me more comfortable on those cold uncomfortable days.  See the analogy here?  I sure do.

xoxo,

Trish

Baby legs - oh baby!

Why am I the last one on earth to find out about baby leggings?  Seriously?  They are so cute!

I was off in blog sphere somewhere and commented about these cute little leggings and "oh, where did you get those!?".  Handmade.  From a pair of ladies socks.  For serious.  So cute.  So easy.

I found a couple of tutorials I liked here and here.  And you don't need a sewing machine to make them.  You could do this by hand if you must.

And I made some.  Even just bought a pair of St. Paddy's Day socks to make more - ya know, for the Irish in me.  (it'll make my Dad happy to see my girl in shamrocks!).

Yep, there ya go!  Go make ya some baby leggings for the baby you love!  (and add a hat too! )

xoxo,

Trish

sew it up sunday {love on a limb}

Sew it up Sunday (formerly known as Make It Monday - a little name change to make the google searching easier for my projects) kits are available HERE. Each month, I feature a different tutorial and invite you to sew along with me and make something new.  Our February feature - a bit early - is inspired by Valentines Day.

For February, I made a table topper for our dining room table.  You can adapt this to make a doll quilt or a table runner by adjusting the size.  You can also do this in all kinds of bright colors for a spring /Easter table top.

Materials besides the usual sewing machine and other doo-dads:

Doll blanket : 6 qty of 6.5" squares of varying fabric, 1/4 yard of flannel, 1/4 yard of backing fabric, scraps for applique.  (assemble square to lay 2 x 3).  You can increase the size as needed.

Table Runner: 15 qty of 6.5" squares of varying fabric, 1/2 of yard of flannel, 1/2 yard of backing fabric, scraps for applique. (assemble squares to lay 3 x 5)  You can increase the size as needed.

Table Topper: 36 qty of 6.5" squares of varying fabric, 1 yard of flannel, 1 yard of backing fabric, scraps for applique  (assemble squares to lay 6 x 6)  You can increase the size as needed.

If you are quilter, forgive me for what you are about to read.  I fudge all the way through this project.  I'm a mother of 3, a baby who is on the go and my sewing time is limited.  I make no promises with this tutorial...give it your best shot.  I'm just sharing how I do it to get the look without all the work.  Sew at your own risk.

The directions are the same essentially for each item - the doll blanket, table runner or table topper.  You can expect the table topper to take roughly two nap times to complete.  What?  You need that in real time you say?  Sorry...about 4 hours or less.  You can expect the other two to take substantially less time than that.

1. Cut your squares.  {my sample shown here has used mostly Moda's french general fabrics with a few others thrown in - I think they are perfect for this "season of love" we are in}
2. Lay out all your squares until you get them in the design order you like.  If you've never "quilted" before...we are going to sew these in rows.
3. With right sides together sew the square from your top row, far left to the neighboring square with 1/4" seams.  Press your seams open.

   

4. With right sides together using 1/4" seams, sew the next square on and continue until your entire top row has been sewn together with all of your seams pressed open.
5. Repeat for the rest of your rows.

6.  Take your top row of squares and with right sides together, pin your second row to the top row.  You                 see where we are going with this?

7.  Sew each row to the next and so on until your top is completely assembled.

{applying your applique}

Once your top is complete, you are going to sew on your applique picture of the birds with their heart on a limb.  Click here to download a pdf of the applique pattern pieces  Love on a Limb

For the doll blanket, you will cut out 2 birds, 2 beaks, 2 wings, one limb, and 3 hearts of varying sizes.  You can place the scene in the center of your blanket.

For the table runner, cut out 4 birds, 4 beaks, 4 wings, 2 limbs, and 6 hearts - 2 large, 2 medium, 2 small.  You can place them at either end of the runner.

For the table topper, cut out 8 birds, 8 beaks, 4 limbs, and 12 hearts - 4 large, 4 medium, 4 small.

I didn't really give you the heart pattern - remember from elementary school how you fold your paper (fabric) in half, draw your half a heart and cut?  You can figure out that part, right?

You will also need to cut some ribbon.  One that will loop over your limb and one to tie into a bow.

I use a little stitch witchery to "glue" my applique pieces all down so they don't move while I'm stitching.  Place your bird beaks a little under your bird to hold them on better.  Place your wing on your bird, birds on their limb and your hearts all together.

Take your one piece of ribbon and BEFORE you "glue" or stitch your limb down, run your ribbon behind the limb.  Stitch all your applique pieces on.  I used both a straight stitch and a zig zag stitch and leave all my edges raw for that vintage look.  I looped my ribbon over the limb, sewed it down and then put a few stitches through the center of the ribbon bow to hold it together.

That's it.  Be patient.  I found that applying all of these appliques to the table topper took as much time as piecing the top.  If you have any questions - zip me a note!  But, be creative.  This is just the basic idea.

8.  Next, lay your completed top on top of your flannel.  Typically, in quilting, you use quilt batting.  Since I was using this on my table I didn't actually want all the loft that quilting creates.  I wanted to have some heft to it and lay flat on my table and so I choose to use flannel.  

9.  You want to make sure you have both layers pulled taut and everything smooth.  Pin your layers together and cut your flannel the same size as your top.

10.  Quilters - close your eyes.  You won't like this a bit.  I didn't quilt the top at all.  Instead, being lazy and needing to finish quickly, I simply did some decorative random stitching around the top to hold the layers of flannel and the top together.  You will see my random stitches in some of the photos.

11.  Next, the backing.  Being cheap and thrifty - I had a new bed sheet that I bought on clearance for pennies.  I used that for my backing.  This isn't a blanket (well, for the table top / runner at least) where          you will see both sides because it's flat on your table so if you can use some inexpensive plain fabric -               that works great for your budget!)  Lay your top onto your backing fabric and cut to size.

12.  Pin all 3 layers right sides together and sew around all sides using a 1/2" seam allowance.  Leave an opening about 8" long for turning.  I know, I know...this is not how to quilt.  We are cheating -                         remember?!   Who has time for a binding?  The baby is waking up soon!

13.  Turn your table top right side out.  Press and make your edges all nice and crisp.

14.  Now, our "binding" is really just a top stitched border.  I go around twice.  It'll do.  Be sure you have your opening securely closed.

Well, there you have it.  A doll blanket, table runner or table topper with some sweet little applique.  Pretty and nobody will know you totally fudged the whole quilting process - well, except for quilters who are cursing my name I imagine after reading this (tee! hee!)

Next month's {sew it up sunday} project will be some softies.  They are so much fun - I've been collecting some great beaded necklaces to adorn mine....you'll love this little project!

Hope you enjoyed this one - please share and link back to me.  Leave me a comment and let me know so I can come visit you too!  Don't forget, I do have a few kits available in my etsy shop for this project.

AND when you've finished your project - go click over there =>>> in the sidebar on my Flickr page.  I have a group for Sew It Up Sunday projects.  I'd love to see what you come up with!

And check out all the other goodies at Get Your Craft on on Today's Creative Blog

xoxo,

Trish