Madison Dress in Aneela Hoey's Posy

simply addicting:)

Wordless Wednesday (ok 4 words)

Newest mommy made Dress

Birthday Dress

I wish I could say I took the time to write you a tutorial for this dress. It all starts with a onesie and once you have your groove down and your girl's measurements, you can pump these out within 30 minutes.  

The belt is made out of this gorgeous stretch velvet I found on etsy, and I have a sweet little matching yo-yo head band for Elise to wear too. I'm thinking bout doing an Easter dress this style for her too.

Whale Softie

So every little seahorse needs a friend right?!?!?! 

What better than a whale to swim along with! Ok, yes another birthday gift:).

 This one whipped out super fast and was so much fun. I love how his tail curves back to his body.

 

I showed Brian a few examples of what I wanted and he was able to draw it out for me...with a few little tweaks.  I'm hoping to have a pattern for him up soon. Great for beginner softie makers.

and done!

Here is the finished seahorse! I showed you him unstuffed and he fully came to life once he was stuffed!

I have the pattern up in my etsy shop for resale.....i.e. cheap.......if anyone is interested. There are so many variations you could do for this sweet little guy.

Under The Sea!

So with operation Birthday under way, there has been a lot of sewing. I keep getting more and more ideas of gifts she NEEDS:)...ok more like mommy wants to make her. Here is the quilt that started it all........and by all I mean the softies and theme for her party.

I love the sea creatures. The panel repeated once too, so I cut the repeat off and turn it into a skirt for her, but that's another post. It's a little big so it will be the perfect zoo skirt this summer! Have to be styling while in the aquarium! 

And a close up. My lighting wasn't the greatest, but it will do.

As for the back I used a bed sheet I picked up at the thrift store. Goes so well with the purple up front! Love it!

Ok last picture for real!  

 

I used Leah Day's quilt as you go technique and am totally in love! I feel like I can tackle large projects and not have a jacked up back with puckers and what not.

WIP - Seahorse Softie

I am fully in operation Elise's birthday. She loves aquariums. fish, the ocean you name it, so we have having an "Under the Sea" themed birthday party. I made her a dress and a quilt to go along with the theme which I'll show soon and last night when I couldn't sleep I started working on this little guy.

I used scraps from other little projects and of course some ric rac!

So, now just to stuff and ladder stitch her new friend up. I can already picture her holding him by the tail carrying him around.

I based the shape off of this pattern, but didn't really follow the pattern for no real reason, just didn't. I added also ric rac little spikes to the back instead off sewing in the spikes as part of the body. I really like this change!

The original one is adorable! 

I think he would be so cute using Echino prints!

Introducing Ava

I'm so excited to introduce you to Ava the fox. She was created after Sew to Speak announced their theme for their annual softie contest. I had her face in my head immediately and with the help of Brian, drafted her out and she was thus created.

 

I am so thrilled with how she came out. I was able to pull everything from my stash which made it even better because it was pretty late at night and no stores were open when I was itching to start sewing. And, it's hard to have to wait sometimes to go buy fabric when you want to start like now!

She has little mary jane shoes and her skirt is made out of vintage fabric with little pink roses on it that I picked up at a flea market originally for a dress for Elise. That's still the plan, but even sweeter now that she'll match her little fox. 

Elise saw her in transit when we were dropping her off at the store to turn her in and was just itching to get her hands on Ava......which thrilled me even more because after the contest is said and done, she'll be Elise's to snuggle up with and invite to tea parties along with Ruby Lou.

So, if you live in the Columbus area please swing by Sew to speak Dec. 8-15 and vote for Ava.



Also check out other great ideas here at Savy Southern Style and I'll also be linking up later this week.

Entry sneak peak

As I mentioned yesterday I've been working on something little to enter into a local competition. Sew to Speak, my favorite LQS is hosting their annual softie contest. This year's theme is fox. I had way too much fun all over pinterest looking for inspiration.....even my sister thought I was going a little loonie before she learned what I was doing. 

Here's my sneak peak of Chloe......or Ava....I haven't quite decided on her name yet. That's the last thing I need to decide before I enter her...and well drive there to drop her off. Which means...fabric might accidentally fall into my arms again. 

I picked up her skirt fabric over the summer at my favorite flea market. It's a delicious rose print that just called to me for a dress for Elise. I pinched a little of it because it was just too perfect for little miss fox and reality is this fox is going to end up being for Elise so I thought how cute to have matching little outfits.

Ok, so without seeing her face.....

which will proudly post later.........Ava or Chloe?

Baby Redwood

This is one of my favorite projects that was made over the summer. We found a huge lot of redwood furniture on Craigslist early summer and Brian spent a good portion of his free time sanding, re-staining, fixing and then hunting for cushions so we could have a complete set on our patio. We had a gorgeous Sunday afternoon spent it with friends and it was pulled out once more before the nasty winter finally sets in..

Before:

After:

Brian took one of the ricketiest adult chairs and salvaged all the good pieces and turned it into a"baby" chair. More like a toddler chair but next to the full size chairs it's a baby. I made fun little cushions. We have one more chair to turn into one this size. So we'll have a set of two....for Elise and a little friend or a doll:).

Here is the chair naked.....we (he) kept the original design and look even down to the metal support for the bottom.

I think I'm already daydreaming of next summer.......and it's only November.......I'm doomed this winter.


I'm linking up here and here today! Check them up....lots of great ideas!

stash building.....i promise

I realized my time is coming short for mailing in my fabric to a swap I'm participating in. It's a rainbow fat quarter swap where each person was assigned a color and they mail in 8 fat quarters and then receive a bundle of eight back in 8 different colors. I was assigned yellow....I don't really do yellow. But yellow it is.

 

I ended up, grabbing the 2 fabrics on the left - "from little things" by Sarah Fielke and "Seaside" by October Afternoon for Riley Blake for the swap. The other fabrics accidentally fell into my pile.........riiiiiight.

......and so did these......

i mean just look at this one close up

 

How could you leave it behind? Poor little fabric sitting on the shelf...no one to love it in their stash.

The Field Study fat quarter, I am super excited for because that one I'm making something for myself....yep myself. I think I'm going to pair it up with some of my hand dyed fabrics.  

Those cute little whales on pink and the anchors......I wanted this whole line. It was so adorable. I think those two will be a summer dress for Elise. I can already see the little butterfly sleeves out of the anchors and maybe a sweet little ruffle too. I know I really need to get back to my Christmas sewing and stop day dreaming.

Wonky Hippo Quilt

 Yeah....it's finally done! My (ok, Elise's) wonky hippo quilt is done!

 

I did pretty simple straight line quilting with a fun yellow to orange variegated thread...that almost has a little purple in it if you look close but not enough to be distracting.  I like the way the color change makes the borders move a little. I think it's an in person thing though. 

 

These blocks were so easy to make and very quick! I used some special store bought fabrics, pulled from my stash and have one hand dyed fabric in there too. 

And what great product goes without a little quality assurance testing.....

 

I think it passed. 

Christmas Stocking

 I realized this week I haven't made a single Autumn or Halloween inspired quilt/craft/anything. I've had Christmas on my mind for the past at least month......maybe two. I'll be ready for December though:).

I finished last week's project and Elise's stocking so makes me want to make a new one for myself. The main fabric is by Riley Blake who I love all things Riley Blake for Elise. She already had a few dresses from various pattern lines and at least 2 quilts.

I trimmed the cuff of the stocking with little pink pom poms and think it finishes off the stocking perfectly with a little bit of whimsy. When I showed Elise she squealed and tried to grab it....which made me feel appreciated. (ok really she just wanted to eat it. We're at the stage where everything gets chewed on)

And yes, I was totally snuggling up to the fire yesterday, it was a little chilly and the perfect day to start one when lounging at home.

Not sure which project is going to be tackled this week. Hopefully I have my wonky quilt to show you! Who knows maybe I'll dine into my stash and pull out something more seasonally appropriate.