Crafting Lately...

My sewing machine has been getting a workout lately (and has been showing its age in the process...grrrrrr). Anyway...I'm pretty proud of my two latest projects, so I thought that I would share.

First project: A Beach Robe for Lucas

We are heading to Destin with the family in a few weeks, and I wanted to have a beach robe for Lucas to wear so we didn't have to worry about keeping a towel around for him. It has also been great for the Natarorium and after baths. (So great that I might just make another one!  At least a long sleeve one for winter...)

I got the pattern for this from Dana over at MADE. Love that blog! I bought a $4 quick drying towel from Target, 2 packages of edging tape, and I was ready to go. The pattern was really easy, but my little cheap sewing machine did NOT like all that fabric. After several fights and broken needles, we made it through with flying colors. The sizing is big on Lucas right now, but I was afraid the smaller size would be tiny, so he will just have to grow into it.

Here's my little man modeling after a bath...we think he looks like a boxer about the enter the ring:

On Friday, I sat down to whip up some new covers for my living room pillows. Those things were SAD, people!  Seriously! My once cute velour pillows now have ripped seams and stuffing coming out everywhere, so this was a dire need. I found cute coordinating fabrics on sale at JoAnn's the other day, grabbed them up, and finally put them to use. My machine was much happier to be stitching this fabric, let me tell you! Anyway...they aren't perfect, but they are a major step up, and I am particularly proud of how straight I managed to get the stripes to come out. Plus, they are just slipcovers, so I can remove them and throw them in the wash if I need to!  Woohoo!!

Christmas Wrap Up: Crafting

I love Christmas decorations.  It's kind of an obsession. (no one's fault in particular...MARSHA BRESSLER!) Since we have only been in the house for three Christmases, I am still at the beginning of the process of collecting all the decorations I would someday like to have. The first year, it was pretty much just getting stuff for the tree (an 8 ft. prelit one that the previous owners of the house just LEFT in the attic for us...thank you very much!). Last year, I did the mantle and entertainment center...I would put pictures of those, but they are currently trapped on our desktop with the broken mother board.  Super. This year, I got to do a few more "crafty" things, like these:



These hung in the master bath. I love how shiny they were, but next year I want to add bows or something at the top to really finish them off. I also need to paint the backs so the wood doesn't show in the mirror.



Close up of the glitter!



I am proud of this one...I bought some alphabet blocks at a consignment sale back in the summer. They came in ziplocks, so I needed somewhere to keep them. I sewed this reversible back out of scrap fabric I found at JoAnn's.  Super cute!  And very useful so far!



My mom also helped me with a very special project...Lucas' first stocking. For as long as I can remember, my sister and I had these felt stockings that were hand sewn by my mom and grandmother. We were soooo sad when we finally had to replace them a few years ago. So, one of the first things I wanted to do was make one for Lucas. Mom and I started when I went to visit in October, and I finally finished a couple of weeks before Christmas (not in time to get it embroidered with his name, but, still...) Here is our masterpiece:

I enjoyed this little Buscilla kit a lot. So much, that I bought some little snowmen to sew for Lucas' bathroom mirror.  There were six of them, but I only have a pic of this one:

My crafty Christmas post wouldn't be complete without a shout out to my sister-in-law Nancy, who made these AWESOME fabric blocks for Lucas. They match the quilt that she made him for his baptism gift. I love them...next time we have a kid, he or she is getting a LONG name so we have even more cute blocks!