Swimsuit Mania

School's out in less than a week for us and the public pool opens on June 7th--my kids are crazy to think that summer is just about here! We just wish the weather would act like it is going to be summer too--Monday morning we woke up to 40 degrees!! BRRRRR!

I've been making my girls' swimsuits for quite a number of years now. I was trying to think when it all started....I tend to have the mentality of seeing something and saying to myself, "I can do that just as well if not better." Also, I got tired of not being able to find swimsuits that covered my girls' bodies sufficiently. We don't do bikinis at our house and we don't do belly showing tankinis. Sometimes that limits your options for purchasing swimsuits. Another problem has occurred as the girls have gotten a bit older--they are tall and skinny and so finding suits that fit that body type can be difficult too.

The picture below is something new I tried just this year. A halter style tankini for M. I may have to adjust it some once she actually wears it in the pool. We'll have to see. She is my one daughter who is way more fashion savvy than the others. I think you can still see a faint hint of tan line from last year (racerback style suit). Too funny!! Anyway, back to swimsuits....my favorite swimsuit patterns are from Kwik Sew. I've have used other pattern companies, but the Kwik Sew ones tend to fit better in my opinion. I am currently using Kwik Sew 2606 and 2605. The only difference between the two racerback style suits are one is for girls sizes 8-14 and the other for sizes 4-7. The baby sized pattern in this same style is unfortunately now discontinued--Kwik Sew 2512 sizes T1-T4.

I love making little baby swimsuits as baby shower gifts. It isn't something you normally receive, and it is just so fun to see itty bitty swimsuits. I usually wrap them up and put them in a plastic bucket along with some baby sunscreen. They have always been a hit with the recipients. This is a cute little 1T suit. (It may be heading to baby L. for this summer) I made it from the remaining fabric below that L. picked out for her suit this year.

This is the other piece of fabric for one of the suits that L. picked out this year. I had enough left over to make a baby 2T size so one of the cousins will probably be getting a little care package here soon.

Other styles I've made are: Kwik Sew 2422 which appears to also be discontinued. I've used this basic tank suit tons of times for little girls. This one happens to only be sizes 4-7. Looking on the Kwik Sew website it looks like Kwik Sew 2725 and 2724 may be the replacement patterns. Those patterns go clear up to size 14.
Miss B. already has about 4 swimsuits for this season, however, one of the last times I was at one of our local thrift stores I was browsing thru their fabric and found this piece blue floral piece--with sparkles!! It is gorgeous and it was just big enough for a suit her size and it was only $.40/piece. AMAZING!! At that price I couldn't pass it up. Since then I've found 2 more cute striped pieces for $.50/piece. So if you haven't ever thought of it check out your area thrift stores and you may find some fabric deals to die for.
We do sort of have the philosophy at our house, for better or worse, that every girl needs at least 2 swimsuits a year. It usually ends up to be at least 3 apiece for my girls, I must admit. You just never know what kind of mood you may be in for the day--so we need to be prepared.
This is also the 2nd year that I've "taught" (loosely put--more like been the moderator/help line) a swimsuit class for a group of ladies from our church. Here are a couple pictures from our class night a week or so ago.
Last year's swimsuit of the season was this hot pink/orange/purple floral tankini that 5 of the girls are wearing. We actually had about 15 different little girls with this same fabric. It was great when we got a bunch of them at the pool together. Most of my girls' best friends do not have sisters, so they think it is so great to match with another "sister".


HAPPY SUMMER everyone! Stay safe and enjoy the great outdoors!
You can check out my shop and see what I have currently for sale.

Origami

Over the weekend I bought this origami instruction book (complete with paper). I'm so excited because I've wanted to learn how to do this for years. I wasn't sure how the paper was going to look (ugly colors/patterns???) because it was all sealed in a box. Luckily, I like the papers (nothing too fancy. Basic primary colors and a couple of cute, simple patterns). One of the things I keep seeing in my favorite mags/blogs is an origami mobile for baby's room. Most of them use the origami cranes. I'm loving them!

So I just might have to replace L's current mobile from IKEA (below).



Or I'll just make some decorative items. Who knows....
See book details here and stay tuned for the results of my paper adventure.

Displaying children's artwork

When you have 5 children--3 of which are in school, it sures makes for a lot of paperwork that they bring home. I cannot possibly save every project or piece of artwork that they create and bring home. I do try and take pictures of lots of them before I throw them away--and we do save a number of the really "special" ones.

This past week M. (3rd grade) brought home a couple of different pieces of art that she has created and didn't want me to throw any of them away. We ultimately kept 3 different drawings that she had made and I told her that if she really wanted to we would frame one of them. She was thrilled. Part of the reason I did this is because recently she has been acting like she feels like the ugly stepsister or something. I don't know exactly why...but anyway, I was trying to do something to help her feel that she really is special in our family.

This is the drawing that she chose to frame. Charcoal drawing about 11 X 17--we cut it down some.I bought a poster display frame at Jo-Ann's, half off for $4, a large piece of black construction type paper for $1.29 and then a package of specialty brads, also on sale, for $1.79. I didn't even use all the brads. Then we made it look like it was double matted (just using paper) and attached the square brads in the corners just to give it a little something extra. She is very pleased with it and is trying to come up with the name of her piece. The artwork is actually an animal made up of various different parts of many animals so the name may be something foreign sounding.
I also added scrapbooking stickers I had on hand to mark the date that she made it. Once she determines if this piece has a name then we'll add that too. She also signed her name in the corner as any good artist would do. Not a bad little project for $7--and priceless as far as helping my daughter's self-esteem. She told me she wants it hung up in her room. I was thinking I would hang it in the dining room--but if she'd prefer it in her room that is fine with me.

Matte Cutter

My matte cutter is quite possibly the best purchase I've ever made. Seriously. I use it all the time. And it saves hundreds.

I've been cutting photo mattes all day today. Working on building a gallery wall above the couch in living room. This will include the print you see in this photo (stolen from my nic-nac shelves), those lovely needlepoint states, a few miscellaneous photographs (the ones with bright, happy colors), and Our family motto.
****Just last night Jeff quoted our motto in response to my food storage woes. That's all I needed to put things into perspective.

I'm also going to recover all my pillows in red fabrics.

...More denim quilts

Alright Emily you asked for it. Here are two of my denim quilts. The first is the one that I use on a regular basis. In fact, I normally just keep it in my van so that I always have it available for park days or whatever. I took this photo of it out in my van just this afternoon.

The only thing that I did with this blanket is the same thing that our mother did with the ones we grew up with--cut off the legs, split open the seams and try to square (or rectangle) them up as much as possible. Then I sewed them all together and serged the edges with a final serge around the entire outer edge. No backing or anything else. After I don't know how many years, some of the serging is starting to fray around the outer edge, but it has had TONS of use.
Later, after a number of my friends wanted one for themselves and I helped them, I decided to add my embroidered initial in one of the corners. Let me just be a sewing snob for one second--although I guarantee I would be able to tell my sewing handiwork apart from others, the initial was added as an easy way to tell each family's from another. I think that I did an initial on my friend Cindy's blanket once she finished hers. And I also think I did an initial on Ashlee's blanket when she and our brother got married. She'd have to confirm that one.

This kind of blanket is so easy. With mine being stored in the back of my van I use it constantly. Just as a note--you need about 9 pairs of adult jeans to make a good size denim blanket that you can use for picnics, beach, watching the fireworks displays, etc.

The second style I did was for L.'s room. I did more along the lines of the Martha Stewart style that Emily posted about. I actually undid one of the two other blankets I had made (one for the van and one for inside the house--that was great for picnics in the living room) so that I would have enough to make hers. I cut various strips of denim and sewed them together. You can see the various sizes and colors of denim that I used for hers. She is a horse nut and so this went perfectly for what she wanted to do with her room.

I topstitched randomly on the seams (every 3 0r 4 seams) using a denim double needle and denim topstitching thread. It really does make the look of the quilt.Since her room is downstairs and it remains pretty cool there all the time, I just backed it with a really nice piece of fleece. She loves it and says that she stays nice and toasty.

One of the best thing about denim quilts is that you really don't worry too much about any wear and tear, and you don't worry about staining (that just adds a little character to the blanket anyway). Our mother's old denim quilt had manure--yes, you read that right--manure stains on the quilt from a couple of pairs of our dad's old Wranglers. Nobody seemed to care.

Denim Quilt

I am trying to get myself motivated to work on my HUGE pile of denim, so I'm posting this to help move me along...

I am a huge fan of denim quilts! Our mom made a denim quilt probably 30 years ago that she still uses today out of our dad's old Wranglers. (She didn't even bother to back it, finish off the outer seam, or really cut the jeans down to a particular size--just cut the legs off, opened up the inner seam and sewed them together.) I'm sure there was a time that I was embarassed for her to pull out that blanket and use it in front of me, but now that I'm grown up I can't imagine not having one.

My hubby has a job to which he goes through (or should I say ruins) his jeans at record speed. I think we buy at least 4 new pair every fall. So my stash of old jeans is always increasing. In fact, I don't even send half decent pairs to the Goodwill because I think "I can use those for something!"   I'm sure most of the time my hubby thinks I'm nuts. He'll say shocking things like, "Why don't you just throw them away?" To think I could ever let a good, sturdy piece of quality denim go bad. No Way! :)

So, back to quilts...I am always on the lookout for cute/fast ways to make a denim quilt. Believe me, there are lots of talented ladies out there who are making dang cute blankets. I'm just not sure how easy and fast they are. I do try and make a mental note of the cutest ones and say to myself, "now that is one I should try someday."

So far my favorite "easy" way to make a denim quilt came from Martha Stewart, of course! In her October 2005 issue of Living she dedicated a whole article to denim. I was drawn to her denim quilt because it was different than most quilts, not patchwork or blocked, but rather laid out like hardwood floors.

Here is a picture of it from that article.

I made 2 matching quilts like this for my boys bunk beds a few years ago and have since decided that it is an easy way, even for beginners, to make a pretty denim quilt. So, yea for Martha!

I made mine even easier than she did because I didn't even put batting in the middle. I just made the top, backed it with a twin top sheet, and finished off the edges. I figured with the weight of the denim and it being a bedspread, I didn't need it to weigh 100 pounds. I wanted my boys to be able to use theirs during summer as well as winter. Without the extra weight of the batting, I also didn't have to "tie" it or quilt it in any way shape or form--even better!

Here is my quilt:

Quilt Top

Quilt Back--with awesome blue ticking sheets I found!

Finished edge!

Slowly, But Surely

Ok, this post is more to keep myself motivated with this project. It is so slow! I've just been working on it a bit each night after L goes to bed. But it's starting to come together. Can't wait to hang up on our freshly painted walls.

Landscaping End...

...for now. I have planted and moved around just about every plant that I want to for the season. I may do a few more here and there, but I think that I need to see what they are going to do and then possibly tweak it with a few changes next Spring. I also have a couple more landscaping rocks to place, but nothing major. I am happy with how it turned out and I think that it will be great. Eventually my gardens should have some of these specimens.

Columbine...
Phlox...mine already looks like this. It just spreads and so next year I should have more ground covered. I may also go buy one more little flat to divide up between the two beds and that should about cover the areas that I want.Feather Reed Grass...I am excited to have some of this against the backdrop of my lattice. I don't know if it will get this big this year, but I am hoping. This can grow to be 5' tall.The little kids and I planted the flower boxes and pots with some annuals and they look so pretty and make us happy out on our patio.

I also took care of my raspberry patch this week--pruned out all the dead stems and then dug up the strays and handed those out to whomever wanted to start their own raspberry patch. Now we can just look forward to the end of June/July when the raspberries arrive. YUMMY!!!

Oh No!

Today I pretty much can't stand our paint color, but there is no way I'm starting all over. I don't know what happened, because I loved it as we were painting a couple days ago. Something's amiss though with this color. Jeff says it's old lady. He's right. Or maybe I just need to get stuff on the walls. Maybe because right now as the midday sun is shining through the windows it looks mint green. Nice. I guess we are going to have to live with it because neither one of us wants to do this again for a long time. I am so disappointed because I really thought I was ready to go bolder...I see stuff in magazines all the time that I love because it looks so happy and fresh. Argh!!











THE INSPIRATION:
magazine pages I've collected










after looking at these maybe I just need the warm (orange, red) accessories to pull it all together. ?????

Paint Preview

Living Room Paint color BEFORE...



....and AFTER
I'm so excited! Can't wait to get all the pics hung up. I will post more photos when I get the room all put together. Jeff has been working hard all day. I tape. He paints. It works out nice.
It feels like a completely different house. Yes!

Butterfly remix

Ok, I rearranged the butterflies and I like this much better. I kept trying a few ways surrounding the "DREAM" letters, but it just wasn't working out. This way totally works for me.

I had a painting hanging here that I took down. This is better.


here's a view of the whole room and how it all works together. I may still add a few more butterflies.

Landscape Project Update

Well over the weekend hubby and I got the lattice privacy screens put up. Actually, more than for privacy, they are for damage control. Our chocolate lab loves to run right through my garden area (and sometimes the kids do too) and I've tried placing large flower pots, etc. in the path without success. So this is what I've had to resort to. However, I am very happy with it too. We put solar lighted post caps on each end and they work awesome and make me happy. Now this week I get to get serious about moving some of my plants in the back to the front, and buying the remainder that I've been planning on. I'm planting two rose bushes for the first time ever. I hope they don't drive me crazy with a lot of work and care. I'm trying to plant mostly perennials so that the work can be done and I can just enjoy looking at them.

This raised flower bed area between the two screens is where I plant my tomatoes every year. It has great southern exposure. The dog also loves to lie in the sun here too. Last year I had to put up a little fence. Everyone thought it was for the rabbits, but no, it's for the dog. We'll see what happens this year too.

This is the back garden. I've already planted one rose bush. I'll have to adjust a couple other things this week to accomodate what I have in mind. But I am excited to get it all put together and the kids are excited to plant some flowers too. Z. brought home a sunflower plant from school and M. is bringing hers home in a week or so too. We might have to have a family gardening activity tonight.

Butterfly Dress

I came across this browsing the internet....can you believe it!! Adorable. Any suggestions on what to make the butterflies out of? Felt? Tulle? I really can't tell what they are made of, but I'd like to try this dress.