A Christmas Dress

One thing that was on my Absolutely Must Do Before Christmas List was to make my little girl a dress. I've been wanting to make her one for a while now and Christmas seemed like the perfect excuse. I've never made a dress before, although I've sewn quite a few simpler articles of clothing. I found a Butterick pattern for a cute party dress that didn't look too hard and after going Christmas shopping made a pit stop at Fabricland. I picked out some deep red satin and some really pretty embroidered organza. I couldn't wait to get working on it!

The pattern itself was quite simple and I was making the plainest dress. I sewed up the skirt first and then started on the bodice. Everything was going well, until I realized I was going to have to gather the sleeves. I'm not sure why that didn't occur to me sooner! (Not that it mattered - I still would have bought the pattern!) Gathering is not my favourite thing to do, but my mom told me if I hand basted the sleeve the gathering would go a lot smoother. And it did, but as I was gathering 5 miles of sleeve into 3 inches I couldn't help but think if Marilla had told Anne of Green Gables to make her own dress with puffed sleeves, if she wanted one so badly, Anne probably wouldn't have mentioned it again. I did, eventually, get it all gathered and I did get both sleeves sewn in. (Twice!) And if I thought gathering the sleeves were a pain, the skirt was worse!

I didn't quite get the dress done before it was time to leave for my parent's farm, which is where we were going for Christmas. I just had to hand stitch the lining of the bodice down and attach the ribbon - which I forgot to bring with me!!!

Regardless, the dress was still so cute and she looked like such a little princess.

My mom found an old flower girl dress and took the bow off of it for me to use.

I made a size 3 so it is just a little bit too big for her. It should fit her for a little while at least, which was the plan! Now that I've made one dress successfully I'm sure it won't be hard to find a reason to make another! Like my brother's wedding next fall!

Froggy Rag Blanket

Quite a while ago, not long after my kids went back to daycare, one of the daycare workers asked me where I got my daughter's frog blanket. She said her daughter absolutely loved frogs and she had been on the lookout for a froggy blanket for a while. So, fast forward a few months and I come across my scrap frog flannel. Now the thought had crossed my mind a couple of times to make her a blanket, so when I found the flannel, I thought - why not!? It is always nice to know you are appreciated and she has been so good with my kids, and has given my daughter some hand-me-downs and it is Christmas time! The perfect time for random acts of kindness, as my dad reminded me!

I didn't have very much frog flannel left, but luckily I did have 4 or 5 different kinds, and I used them all! I also had a couple meters of bright green with flowers that I had bought forever ago because I loved it. I used it to pull all the frog flannel together and make it a more little girly. It was a good thing I had that flannel stashed away, otherwise I wouldn't have had enough fabric to make a blanket!

It took me a little while to figure out a pattern with all my different squares. When I did finally did come up with something I was happy with, and I can't believe I'm admitting this, I sewed it together wrong! Somehow the whole pattern was shifted off center and I just don't know what happened! I laid out the top, laid out back, flipped over the the back squares, and moved the top over, sandwiching in the batting. My oldest was helping me, but I was monitoring him closely. There was one time when the boys were driving their trucks over the squares on the floor and they mess up a bunch of them but I thought I had it back together properly. I guess that might explain the last couple of rows, but it certainly doesn't explain the rest of it! Clearly I should not have been sewing and probably sleeping instead! Once the pattern was laid out I was just concentrating on one row at a time and by the time I noticed it was wrong it was almost done and too late to correct it. I didn't have time, or energy to seam rip the whole thing and honestly it turned out fine anyway. So if anyone asks - that is how I planned it!

It is hard to see, but instead of doing the traditional X across the squares, I only sewed across it once and turned each square to create a chevron quilting pattern. (Which also might of contributed to my to troubles - but I thought it would look neat - and it did!) My squares were only 8 inches so I thought it would be enough to hold the batting.

The back...again, I can't explain what happened to the pattern - the blue diamond should be in the middle...

I left it at the daycare for Rachel before Christmas and between sick kids and holidays we haven't been back yet. I did get a Facebook message from her, though, and she said her daughter loves it and takes it everywhere she goes!

The Craft Sale

Last year my sister and I were talking about how it would be kind of fun to put a table in at a craft sale. The more we talked about it, the more excited we got about it. So much so that we actually decided to do it. And then for the next 6 months we did more talking about it then sewing. The lists we made were very impressive! I think the biggest problem was that we didn't know where to start. We didn't know what people would be looking for, or even if they would like our stuff. But as the day drew closer we stopped worrying about it and got to work, otherwise our table would have been pretty empty!

For the most part, we stuck with what we knew - baby blankets! My sister made other baby related items such as car seat covers, toy giraffes, and receiving blankets. I made a couple of simple card table playhouses, fleece throws and bags. We also made bath salts (they were a big hit!), sugar scrub and recipe-in-a-jar mixes.

On Pintrest I saw a picture of a strawberry purse, and it didn't look too complicated, so I drew up a pattern, and made a few.

I had the purple fish fleece throw that I made a while back, and I made another one in blue. I also made a couple more ladybugs. I love these throws! I recently came across a few more fleece throw patterns and I hinted to my husband that perhaps they would make a good Christmas present!

I really wanted to make some card table playhouses because I think they are so great. My kids love the one in our basement. As a matter of fact I tried to take it down the other day to clean up the basement and my almost 2 year old daughter wouldn't let me! I wouldn't have had time to make actual houses like I did before, so I was glad when someone (maybe my husband?) came up with the idea of using camo fabric and making forts. I happened across some pink camouflage, and then got some regular green/brown camouflage. It was definitely my husbands idea - I remember now!

I also made some hobo lunch sacks, of course! The pattern is by Gingercake and it was used with permission. My mom told me that my littlest sister wanted one for her birthday, so she got to pick her's first.

And here are the other ones - sorry about the awful picture! I was in a rush!

And some tote bags. These are so handy!

I also sold the three baby blankets I made in the spring.

It sure didn't seem like I had much stuff, but when put together with my sister's stuff then tables sure filled up fast!

The craft sale was a month ago, and it was Thursday to Saturday. We discovered 3 days was a little long for a small city. (Especially when you are sitting beside the arcade games with the repetitive music!) They first day was the busiest, the next 2 were quite a bit slower. Overall we did really well, considering we had no idea what we were doing! Some things that we were sure would sell didn't, and other things that we were positive wouldn't sell did, so I guess you never know. You just have to wait for the right person to come by. We were very happy with how our crafts went over. It definitely was a confidence builder. We received so many nice comments - one lady actually said our sewing skills were "magnificent"! I wouldn't go that far, but we did have nice stuff! And a little different from the rest of the tables, which I think helped draw people in.


Would we do it again? Probably, but if we did I think we would try to find a one day sale, perhaps in a busier center and see if that would make a difference. And start preparing a little sooner!

Pressed Flower Cards

This is my PIF (Pay It Forward) project for 2014; I've been working on it all summer. When we bought flowers for the flower bed I tried to pick ones that would press nicely. Then I dried flowers using my flower press that I got for Christmas last year. It worked really well, much better then using phone books.

My original plan was to make coasters, but they didn't turn out very well. I used Mod Podge and stuck the flowers to tiles. Initially, they looked so nice but as they dried the colour of some of the flowers faded away. They looked awful. So I scrapped that idea and decide to make cards instead. I wasn't really looking forward to coating them 5 million times with Mod Podge anyway.

I have this collection of card paper for card making, complete with stickers. I picked out some paper that I thought went with the flowers and after that it didn't take long to put them together.

I made up some envelops and stuck the matching stickers on them,

bundled them up and mailed them to my PIF friends!

I like them! Next year I'll be drying more flowers!

Cute Pink Birthday Bear

This past weekend I made a cake for my coworker's granddaughter's 1st birthday. She brought a card to work of a cute little brown bear wearing a pink skirt and asked if I could make a bear like it. I said I would try!

Using the 3d teddy bear cake pan always is a little nerve racking. I'm never certain if it is going to turn out, but once it is in the oven there is nothing you can do but wait! I always put in a more cake batter then it says to a make sure it fills the whole pan. Luckily it turned out pretty good even though I had to bake it a little longer, because the cone inside was a bit crooked and it wasn't baking evenly. It is hard getting that cone in there! You have to put it in, and then twist it around to be able to get the tabs caught under the pan so that it doesn't rise out with the cake.

Despite the challenges it is one of my favourite cakes to make and I get to use my favourite tip #233 that makes the bears looks so fluffy! It takes a little time, but it is worth it when it turns out looking so real.

I had to recruit my husband to help with the skirt. He's such a good sport! I had this really long piece of fondant and I couldn't hold it with out it pulling apart and attach it to the bear at the same time. He held it for me while I stuck it on, trying to bunch it up to create a ruffled look. I was really happy with how it turned out, I was a little anxious about it!

Such a pretty pink cake for a pretty little birthday girl! Thanks for asking me to make it and I'm happy you liked it!

Three In One Birthday Cake

My neighbour asked me a little while ago if I would make three birthday cakes and combine it into one. Her birthday, her dad's birthday and her daughter's birthday are all within a couple days of each other and she wanted a cake to celebrate them all.

I decided against a tier cake because I wanted to make sure each person was equally represented. The idea popped into my head of making a cake that looked like a table top with three cakes sitting on top. The more I thought about it the better I liked the idea. I still think it was a great idea, but it turned out to be a little more work then I anticipated! My neighbour is a quilter so it was easy to come up with a theme for her cake. (She makes amazing quilts. I can only hope that one day I'll make a quilt like the ones she makes.) Her dad is an retired farmer. That was simple enough. I struggled a little with the daughter, but then found out she likes to cook, so I went with a cooking theme.

For just about all the cakes I make, I will draw it out in Paint first just to make sure it looks the same as the image I have in my head! In this case there was so much going on and so many different colours that I was having a hard time putting it all together. So, in Paint, I drew it out and experimented with the colours and came up with something that worked.

It helped!

I did all the colour flow on a couple different evening earlier in the week. Friday rolled around and I got to baking cakes. Three little ones and a big sheet cake. It was a lot of cake. I started decorating after the kids went to bed. My brother and his family, and my sister were visiting so we chatted as I decorated. Then, as it got later, they went to bed and soon it was just me and my sister. She offered to help, so I put her to work.

The first cake was for Lorne, the farmer. Since it is harvest time I made a red combine (he drove International) and wheat stocks on a nice sunny day, perfect for combining. Because I didn't want to cover the whole cake with tiny wheat stocks I stuck some grasshoppers on the back!

The second cake was for Colleen, my neighbour. I wrote her name with a spool thread, got my sister making fondant quilt and put a sewing machine on the back.

For Kimberley, I need to find a recipe that would fit on my tiny cookbook. I came up with shortbread cookies. When I was leaving home I copied as many of my Mom's awesome recipes as I could and I only wrote very basic instructions. This is the shortest recipe I have! On the back of her cake there are a set for measuring spoons.

I put it all together, and here is what it looked like...

...the Happy Birthday sign is a fondant napkin. The only thing was wasn't happy with was the "table". The table cloth didn't really turn out. I should have did it a little differently.


Top view...

Back view...

All in all, I was pretty happy with it,

And more importantly it went over well with my neighbour and her family!

Fish Fleece Throw

I didn't accomplished much over the summer, too busy enjoying the nice weather! Now that things are settling down (well, sort of!) maybe I can get back to some projects that have been collecting dust. Or maybe start some new ones! ;)

I think I started this throw away back in June. I finally finished it a couple weeks ago and am just getting around to posting it. It is from the same Simplicity pattern that I made the ladybug from.

I was planning on make the clown fish, but I couldn't find orange fleece anywhere. Instead I went with purple.

I think I like it better with purple! But then I like everything better with purple!
I also have blue fleece to make another one. I think that will look nice too.

This is the back, but it makes a very nice front!

I can't find my spring loaded scissors so I had to do all the snipping with my sewing scissors. It didn't take as long as I thought it would, but I did have to take a couple breaks to rest my hand. I've looked everywhere for those spring loaded scissors. There was time when I was going to lend them to a couple of my sisters, but I don't think I actually did - probably just put them 'somewhere safe'!

Hopefully the blue one won't take me as long!

M&M's!

My birthday finally rolled around! The last one of the year for my family! (Although the boys are convinced their sister's is last because it is in the winter. Her's is in January and I've given up trying to explain the calendar to them!)

This year I decided to make my own cake. I was trying to remember the last time I make my own cake, and honestly, I couldn't. Which makes me think I never have. My mom always did before I was married and now my husband usually buys me a Blizzard cake, because he knows how much I love Blizzards. He was feeling a little bad about me making my own cake. He says "I would make you a cake, but let's face it - I just can't make that." as he gestured to the disaster on the table. He is right. I don't think anyone can make a mess like I can! He actually did make me a cake one year. It was teal and purple and he used my happy feet cake stand! It was fantastic!

A friend of mine has been sending me pictures of cakes she comes across, and the last one was of an open M&M package. I loved how simple and bright it was, so I decided to make it for my birthday. I did make it a little different instead of having Red and Green (are those their names?) flat on the cake, I made them 3D.

It turned out so nice! I think it is the brightest cake I have ever made! It was a definite hit with the kids. They kept stealing M&M's off of it when they thought no one was looking! Good thing there were lots of them!

Pretty In Pink

My little girl is growing right out of her sleepers. She only has a few pairs of pajamas that don't have feet in them, and even those ones are getting a little small. I have a couple of pajama patterns and some flannel, so I figured it would be fun to make some for her. I had a week off and kids and I went to visit my parent's. I was planning on bringing the flannel and a pattern to make my daughter some pajamas while I was there. Of course, I forgot it.

So I was telling my mom how I was going to do this and she suggested we go rummage through the shed to find the pattern I had used to make pajamas for my sister when she was little. Almost everything is in the shed, flannel included, the trick is finding the right box!

We were lucky enough to find a piece of flannel just big enough and the pattern too! I cut them out one evening and sewed them up the next afternoon and then dug through the button box to find 4 matching buttons.

My mom even had a tag for me to use!

She tried them out when we went camping the next weekend. They fit her pretty good, with room to grow!

My mom sent me home with a few more old patterns for nightgowns that I really want to make, they are just so adorable! That will be a fall project, the summer is too busy already!

A Diego Birthday Cake

It is a nice compliment for someone to ask you to make a cake similar to one you've already done. Which is exactly what happened with the Diego cake I made for my son's birthday! A lady I work with told me a while ago she would probably get me to make her grandson's birthday cake since his mom had just had twin girls and would be busy with them. His favourite right now is Diego and so she asked if I could make one like Anthony's birthday cake. I starting thinking right away on how I could improve the cake. I did make a few changes, but I kept the same layout, just changed the bottom tier to a 10 inch round cake instead of square.

This time I decided to put the Bobo Brothers on; the mischievous monkeys that are always causing trouble for Diego. Luckily you just have to yell "Freeze, Bobo Brothers!" and they start behaving again. I wish that worked for my kids!

Paw prints around the back for Diego to follow to help the animals in trouble.

Rescue Pack and Baby Jaguar were a must since they are Deigo's faithful sidekicks. I was a little hesitant to put Diego on in case he broke in transport. So when it finally stopped raining long enough for my co-worker to come and pick the cake up, this is how it looked!

I told her she would have to send me a picture of the cake with Diego on top, and here it is!

Little Joshua was "absolutely thrilled!" with his cake. Apparently he dragged each new arrival over to see it! That is probably the best part of making a birthday cake for a little boy or girl - their reaction! It is an important day for them, so might as well make it extra special!

Care Bear Baby Blanket

I love Care Bears, always have, always will! They were super popular when I was little and for my 4th or 5th birthday my Grandma gave me a Care Bear book. It had stories, colouring pages, a photo gallery of all the Care Bears and their cousins. I spent hours looking at it; wore the pages right out! So, when I saw this Care Bear panel there was no hesitation! I knew I was going to buy it. Actually, I bought two. With the coordinating fabric and fleece, of course! It is all or nothing with me! I also have Care Bear pillow squares that I think were bought on a separate Fabricland shopping spree. It was many years ago, I can't remember! But don't worry, I have plans for it all!

My sister was looking though my stash a quite a while ago and came across the Care Bear panels. She really like them too. They are Care Bear after all, who wouldn't like them? I told her that if she ever had a baby girl I would make one for her. And so, if you read the post a couple down you will know she recently had a baby girl! I kind of had it in my head that the baby was going to be a boy so I wasn't in a rush to make the blanket. Until, that is, a couple days before my niece was born and I had a dream that it was a girl! One of my first thoughts was - I am never going to get that blanket done on time! And I didn't. At least not for her baby shower, but I did get it done for her Baptism!

I hand quilted it, and got it done the night before! I may be a bit of a procrastinator, but I always meet my deadlines! At least almost always! Lucky for me baby panels are pretty quick to do. If you don't do the hand quilting, and just do ties, panels are probably fastest way to make a baby blanket. And there are so many cute baby panels hanging on the walls at Fabricland. The hard part is picking one out!

I love how hand quilting puffs everything up!

And matching fleece for the back!

As soon as my sister pulled the tissue paper out of the bag she knew what it was! There may have been a few late nights, but it was well worth it!

Lunch Bag

I've thought about making myself a lunch kit for quite a few years now. I actually stated one when I was in grade 12, but didn't like it so I never completely finished it. Several years later, I was surprised to find one of my brothers using it for his school lunches. Even if it was ugly and didn't close, I guess it still worked!

I started looking around for patterns and the best one I found was this one by Virginia at Gingercake Patterns. It was exactly what I was looking for. I wasn't too keen on spending $8 on a pattern for such a simple project, but I had attempted to make my own once already and it didn't turn out so well! And I really liked this one!

I bought one of those pre-cut bundles of coordinating fabric from Walmart, sat down one evening and sewed it up.

In the end I'm glad I bought the pattern, it is cute, easy to follow and it turned out how it was supposed to! And now I have an awesome lunch bag, and the pattern to make more for my family! No more paper bags in this house!

Baby Shower!

My sister and brother-in-law recently welcomed a baby girl into their family. I finally got to meet her last weekend at her baby shower. She is a sweetheart!

You can't have a shower without a few games so we played the "Nursery Rhyme Quiz". There are several versions of this on line. I found one I liked and printed it out.

I had the guests bring baby pictures of themselves and we had a fun time figuring out who was who. It was a little tricky but everyone did a pretty good job at guessing!

We also played a baby version of pictionary. I wrapped up a bunch of baby/little girl things (socks, hair elastics, bubble bath, pants, shirt, shoes, sidewalk chalk, a couple toys, headbands, baby food, etc.) and then wrote what was in the present on a paper and taped it to the outside. The person drawing picked a present, read the paper and had to draw it. The rest had to guess and the one with the winning guess got to unwrap the present for my niece. It was a lot of fun! There are lots of talented ladies out there!

Naturally, I had to make a cake!

The fondant kind of faded on the drive there (a couple hours drive), which surprised me because it pretty over cast. I should have added more dye to it from the beginning to make the fondant brighter, but I thought I had already added a lot and it was getting really late so I called it good enough. I actually had my husband helping me out. He rolled the little balls and did an excellent job! And a rubber duck is the perfect topper for a baby shower cake!

I forgot to plan the punch, so the night before the shower, after I'd finished the cake, I was searching for a quick and easy punch recipe that was pink and I came across this recipe. Best punch ever! When I got to the city I had to stop for a few things - include the punch ingredients. I couldn't find cranberry ginger ale (they probably don't sell it in Canada!) or raspberry sherbet, so I bought 7-up and berry sherbet. It was so good. Probably the best punch I have ever had, and I've had some awesome punches! I am a huge ice cream person, (and chocolate person! Although, strangely, chocolate ice cream is not my favorite!) so this punch recipe was an amazing find for me! I really can't believe I'm only finding about about it now! And you can use a different kind of sherbet for every occasion! And it gets all foamy and like a bubble bath...

so, of course, I stuck another duck in it for my new niece!