Peasant Tops

I used to make peasant style tops all the time for my bigger girls back when they were little.  They are super easy and super comfy and really you can use cottons or knits without any problem.

I had to buy a new pattern, however, because it appears that I either gave it away or tossed it, having not used it in awhile.  Most likely the pattern I had was too small of a size currently for even my youngest daughter.  Luckily I found a couple on sale at Jo-Ann's for $1 each in bigger girl sizes.

McCall's 6500
Simplicity 4206  Have to say I preferred this one for the top.

The McCall's pattern was so MUCH wider in the body of the top.  We didn't like that.  And the sleeves were 2 pieces--you can't really see it on the pattern, but the McCall's sleeve has a slit in it.  So if you like that style this would be the one for you.  I did like the length of the sleeve better on the McCall's, but I don't have a problem lengthening a sleeve pattern.   And I did use it for the leggings pattern, just not the top.

For the Simplicity pattern on the first top alone I had to add 3" in length for a size 10.  And even then my daughter would've liked it even longer.

So on round 2 I made the shirt more like a tunic for her to wear with leggings.


She liked it so much she wore it 2 days straight before I told her she had to put it in the laundry.

Details:

• Blue & white floral fabric from thrift store for $1.49 or less--it was about 1 1/2 yds. worth

• Navy leggings from a thrifted knit sheet.  We'll have to make some more before school starts as this daughter refuses to wear jeans of any kind.

NOTE:

I've had a few people ask me about the yardage fabric I get at the thrift store.  I go to Unique Thrift Store near my home and they actually have a fabric section in their store with big pieces of fabric, yarn, patterns, notions, etc.  I tend to go every week just to browse--some days I'm lucky to find good stuff and other times they have nothing that interests me.

Dutch Braid Flower Success

A number of months ago daughter #2 found this picture on Pinterest and wanted me to do her hair the same.



Unfortunately the pin didn't have a tutorial or website to go with it.  Just the pic.

While on vacation the girls were browsing Pinterest with their Aunt Ashlee and found a tutorial for this exact hairstyle.

We watched it.
I tried it once on my daughter's hair and it was a success.


Before this she was contemplating cutting her long hair to shoulder length and donating it.
Not any more.

Amish Buggy Quilt Completed

So it turns out the "technical difficulty" with my new camera was me.
Go figure!
Thanks to hubby for pointing out my error.
He's better about the technical stuff than I am--it's that engineer brain of his.

Anyway, I think I am back in business.
Once again I sent one of my quilts on a journey to get quilted by Lynn.

I took this completed top to our niece's wedding in Nebraska in May. Our parents took it with them to Utah right after that and left it with Emily.  She took it to Lynn where she did a nice job with my quilting request. And then when we were just out there a few weeks ago I picked it up.  Last Wednesday night while everyone was at Church activities I finished the binding and now it is DONE!  Yeah!







Details:

• Finished dimensions approx. 65 inches by 73 inches.
• Blue border cut 2 inch strips
• Brown border cut 3 inch strips
• 7 blocks by 8 blocks--tutorial for block here, though we did 2 1/2inch blocks not 2 1/4 inch.

Rectangle spiral quilting--a little modern touch.

Previous post about this quilt.

{Vintage Style} Bedroom Redo -- Decorative Pillows

NOTE:

Even though Emily has moved to a new blog, this was left in the draft pile and I decided to go ahead and post it while I am figuring out how to pull the pictures off my new camera.

Awhile back my MIL gave my girls these lovely heart pillows straight out of the 80's.  They loved 'em... me, not so much.  

When we started talking about redecorating, the girls wanted to incorporate the pillows along with everything else we were doing.  I told them the pillows could stay only if I could recover them.  Reluctantly they agreed.  

 To do this, I basically cut the seem open on the pillows, detached the ruffle, and used the old fabric as my pattern.   I even reused the pillow stuffing inside.   Worked perfectly.   

I think they are greatly improved!

This post is part of an ongoing series of posts about my adventures in room redecorating.  Follow along with me as I attempt to transform my girls' room into a vintage inspired beauty.

New toy

The night of our crazy storm a couple weeks ago hubby and I had gone out for dinner and then also went and bought myself a new camera.  I'd been saving and looking and received some unexpected "grandma money" and so I finally did it.

However, with no power for 4 days immediately after my purchase and trying to get ready for girls camp, I didn't really get a chane to try it out and enjoy it until we went on our trip.  Too many other things happening in between that time.  I also had to wait on the zoom lens until I got back because it wasn't in stock. Bummer! I sure could've used that lens on our trip. Oh well....

Now I'm trying to figure out how to pull the pictures OFF my camera to post some things. Something isn't quite working right.  Not sure if it is me or the computer or what.  So I haven't forgotten about blogging, I've got pics in my camera and posts in my brain that I can't seem to coordinate together.  I am hoping hubby can help me here tonight.

In the meantime I hope everyone is enjoying their summers.
We've had beautiful weather and been going to the pool.
Gotta enjoy the last couple weeks before everyone is off to school.

Glow Bracelet Mania

One of the activities "planned" for the annual 4th of July Bash held at my Aunt Gayle's in Provo was to provide glow bracelets for the kids once it got dark.  Well, at least 3 of us cousins brought a number of packages to share with the 30 or so kids (ages 1 to 18) that were in attendance.  After all was said and done we figured out that we had 400-500 glow bracelets to distribute.


This is a portion of the family crew.

Who would have guessed that this would turn out to be the hit of the evening?

They were making all sorts of creations.




Playing ring toss like games with each other.
Even the adults were getting into it.


There might have even been a bit of hoarding going on.

So here is that group shot minus the flash with all those glow bracelets together.



This is definitely on the "keep" list for next year's party.

Thanks Tiffany for the pics.

Striped Skirts

Love stripes.
Here are few of the projects that I've put together in the last weeks or months that involve stripes.

A knit chevron skirt for daughter #3 that she wore on Easter.


Did my neck binding technique on the hem of this skirt because once again I had limited amount of fabric and with matching the stripes I could only cut it so long.  We wanted every inch we could get.


I think she might be wearing it sideways in this picture......hmmmm.

Red and blue maxi skirt for daughter #2

We chevroned her skirt slightly based on how much fabric we had and the fact that she wanted it flared and not straight.  Had she wanted it straight we wouldn't have done the chevron style.


When she wore this outfit to Church for the first time she said it was the most comfortable skirt E.V.E.R.
I don't doubt it.
Inspired by this post
Fabric find at the thrift store for $3 or less.

Gardener's Sugar Scrub

Well, I'm back in town.
Whew!
Arrived yesterday evening and today I am trying to recover while doing laundry, sorting 2 weeks worth of mail, grocery shopping since the fridge and cupboards were bare, and generally just pick up and put away all our stuff.

So in the meantime, here is a quick post about an easy gift idea or try for yourself idea.

Last Christmas my sister-in-law Ashlee sent me a little jar of this gardener's scrub.
It sat for awhile until a month or so ago when I had been out in the garden and my hands were a mess.  I remembered her little gift and used some to clean up.

Wow!
Got the dirt off easy-peasy and made my hands so soft.

The kids got wind of it and have since used it for dirty summer feet and greasy bike chain hands with equally awesome results.  Once they found the jar it got used up quickly.

While stopping off in Wyoming last week on our way back home Ashlee was nice enough to give me 3 more jars....and the link to the recipe.  I'm so excited.


pic from onegoodthingbyjillee.com

Seriously, make some up and try it.
Your dirty hands and feet will be so happy!

Gardener's Sugar Scrub

Tall Girl T-shirts

In case you who read this blog haven't figured out by now, we grow 'em tall around here.  I'm 6' 2", daughter #1 is pushing 6' 1" and daughter #2 is 5' 9" at almost 14 yrs. old.  Son #1 is 12 and 5' 6"....anyway, the point is we expect to have tall kids.

We happened to come across these tall girl problems on Pinterest.  We laughed and laughed as we read them as most of them we have experienced first hand.  Or at least thought.  I have always worn heels and always will, much to the chagrin of many people.  Sorry, don't care.  When hubby and I were dating one of his roommates was seriously bugged that I wore heels.  He told me straight up, "You don't need to wear heels."  My response to him, "What do you care?  I'm not dating you."

Some of these funny sayings have been made into t-shirts.  We decided to make our own using some of the quotes that we found.

Daughter #1's top favs:

• Tall boys like midgets.
• People tell me I'm tall like I am unaware.
• The weather is exactly the same up here.

We ended up making this shirt.

And for her BFF

She's a good sport.

Organizing swimsuit patterns

Well, we survived the storm of last week.  We finally got power on Tuesday evening.  I had left that morning with my 2 oldest to head out to Church girls' camp.  Then we survived that, with various problems and teen girl drama.  I don't have a lot to post because of all that and we're heading on vacation tomorrow too.  I was hoping to have a couple posts ready for while we are gone, but not sure that will actually happen.  If not, then...I'll just post when I get back.

Here is one little thing I did get done before all the craziness happen.

In the midst of sewing all of the swimsuits I better organized my stash of swimsuit patterns.  They were in this plastic file folder drawer.  It has a locking lid and a handle so I can haul it around easy.  I am still using it, but I changed out the hanging files and used pocket file folders instead.  It contains all the pattern pieces better.

Then I busted out my label maker.  Love that thing!



Now the patterns are categorized (by style mostly) and labeled and I can find which one I want so much easier.