Christmas Coat

I started to make a coat for Lucy several months ago, and I just finished it yesterday! It was SO fun to work on and SUCH a cute pattern. My mom bought me a great book by Anna Maria Horner for my birthday, and I just fell in love with this hooded jacket.

I actually ended up using the same main fabric as the jacket in the example photo because I loved how charming it was :). I love that the coat has buttons, but didn't require any buttonholes!

I chose a super soft pink flannel for the lining.

It fits her perfectly! If you're really observant, you'll notice that in the photos of Lucy wearing it, there are pockets on the coat. I decided to add them because the "finished" coat, seemed like it was missing something. I LOVE the pockets!
Lucy seems to really like her new coat too. It's especially good for pretending to fly.

Lucy's Apron

It was so much fun to be able to make this project for Lucy! I finished the whole thing in one day (except for adding the velcro, which took me about 10 minutes the next day). The advent calendar had me so bogged-down that I didn't even want to sew (which made me realize that it was time to set the advent calendar aside for awhile).

It took some playing around with different fabrics to decide on the final color combination. This is the one I ended up going with.

And here's the finished product!

I used a nice, long piece of velcro so that it can adjust to fit her as she grows.

I love how all of these patterns work together. The color palette is so much fun.

Here's a shot of the back for those of you who might want to make your own little apron :).

I can't wait to give it to her for Christmas!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Oh Advent Calendar. You are/were so much more work than I expected. That's why I reluctantly decided to set you aside until next year.


Maybe I'll have more motivation in a few months.

Paper and Lights

There are two fun new things going on in our dining room. First, Dave gave me these awesome pendant lights for my birthday a couple months ago (I know. It's taken me FOREVER to post about it!). I really love them, and I love how they bring the room up a notch.

Even after the new lights were in, we both felt like the dining room was way too stark and colorless. My solution: wallpaper! Before you get too scared, just look at how beautiful it is! It's from Hygge & West and it's called Daydream.

We're planning to have the back wall (the one with the colorful canvas on it right now) papered as soon as the wallpaper comes in the mail. Can you picture it?

The colors in the photo they have online are not very accurate. Here's a pic of the sample they mailed to me. It's going to be so whimsical and soothing at the same time.

Now I just want to get some sort of sisal rug in there, and put a few things up on the wall.

It's a Start

Hello long, lost blogging friends. I'm finally HOME! That means more time for blogging. I'm supposed to be watching Lucy right now, so I'll just post one photo really quick.

Here's a little dress I made for a friend of mine. She gave me a t-shirt of hers that she wanted me to make a dress out of for her beautiful daughter, Millie. Lucy modeled it for me before I sent it off in the mail.

I have many more projects in the works, so I promise to make an effort to show you my handiwork.
P.S. I just ordered wallpaper for the first time in my life. Maybe that will be my next post :).

I Was Wrong

I thought I was being so creative and smart when we bought the coffee table to go in the kitchen nook. I thought, "Why would we need another place to eat when we have the bar right there, and the formal dining table one room over?" It made a lot of sense in theory. Little did I know just how much we'd end up eating around that little coffee table with our plates on our laps. I found out that I just don't care for eating with my plate on my lap.

So my poor, understanding husband agreed to let me get a real kitchen table to put in that space, and we moved the round coffee table into the office.

I really really love it. We found it at World Market, and just picked it up today!

Racer-Back Dress

I made this little yellow dress for Lucy a while ago, but I had a hard time getting my act together to grab my camera while she was wearing it. It's been great during the hot hot summer here in Phoenix. I just love making these little t-shirt dresses! I first got the idea from this tutorial.

I used the ruffle effect like I've done before, and I love the way that the vertical lines look against the horizontal stripes. By the way... this is the very first time Lucy has ever "smiled" for the camera. Basically, it's her first fake smile :). Doesn't she look so grown-up?

Here's the fun little racer back.

Ruffles are so easy and make such an impact! I love it.

If you have a little girl in your life, you should totally make her one of these! They take less than an hour and are so super cute.

Fabric Makeover

I had the idea awhile back to buy an inexpensive well-made love seat and have it reupholstered. I was under the impression that it would much less costly than it actually was, but in the end I have a really pretty piece of furniture.

I bought this Ethan Allen love seat on craigslist for $125. Here's the before:

And here it is redone! I'm really happy with the overall effect.

Call me a picky perfectionist, but the placement of the flower designs are not where I expected/hoped they would be. The symmetrical design makes it look very retro and less modern, but I've decided that that can be cool too. The back is the most bothersome part... but everyone likes owls, right?

Now to find a big rug to tie it all together.

Sheet Skirt

I have been sewing a little bit, but I haven't been blogging. This week is all about playing catch up.

I posted a long time ago about this fabulous elastic I found for super cheap at a fabric store here in Phoenix. I used it in a skirt for Lucy, but I also made a little something for myself.

I bought this sheet a year ago at a thrift store because it was so wonderfully and whimsically retro, and I FINALLY used it to make myself a skirt (see the cute little pink butterflies?).

The really cool thing about it was that I used the existing finished edge of the sheet, so I didn't even have to hem it!

I'm thinking I can wear it with a long-sleeve t and some tights for the fall. And now that I think about it, this skirt probably cost me less than $1 to make! This gal would be proud :).

summer dress!

Here's another tutorial that looks fairly simple. She didn't even use a sewing machine!

Jeans

Since I haven't been home recently to do anything crafty, I decided to post more tutorials that I've run across recently. Check out this one about how to take in the waist of your jeans. Love it!

I've added Freshly Picked to my blogroll. I just found it, and I just love it!

Strawberries & Ruffles

I ran across this brilliantly sweet tutorial today.

I also found this awesome tutorial for a ruffly blouse. I can't wait to get my hands on a sewing machine so that I can make a few of these cutenesses.

Not So Much

Sometimes I have great ideas that don't quite pan out. Like this skirt I made for Lucy.

I thought it would be cute and frilly and feminine, but instead she looks like a peasant princess. This is good motivation to start her collection of dress-up clothes.

Obsession

It seems that I have a new love in my life (pictured below).

I've been going crazy with cans of this stuff. I also have another mirror (or two) that I'm thinking about painting this same color.

I decided to paint the one remaining frame in the living room that was not yet "heirloom white."

Before:

After:

It's so fun to be home!

More Craftiness!

We just finished hanging a bunch of family photos in white frames down our hallway. I totally love it!

But then, the two Elizabeth Foster pieces we have suddenly looked out of place in their heavy brown frames. The problem was, I really liked the brown frames. It was a super hard decision, and some of you will probably scold me for this, but I decided to paint them!

The look is SO different.

This frame was especially pretty and it hurt me to paint it white... but I love it!

It just fits our decor so much better.

So are you all mad at me?

Lucy's Room

It's been slow going in terms of decorating Lucy's room. We've been in and out of town so much, that it's been hard to get important stuff done (like decorating :).

I found this Pottery Barn Kids map at a model home furniture outlet.

It looked a little too boyish, so I added some ribbon (it was actually Dave's idea!) to make it more feminine.

Then we looked through our calendar, and marked all the places where Lucy has been.

And THEN I reframed a cross stitched scene that my mother-in-law made years and years ago. She was going to get rid of it, but I thought it would be really cute in Lucy's room. I couldn't find a frame that would fit it perfectly, but I like how quirky-cute it is.

I was planning to nail the paper mache letters to the wall, but I really like how they look just set on top of the picture frame.

Isn't it cute? Her room is almost done!

New Skirt!

Yesterday I got to sew! And, oh my, was it glorious. I had bought this super cute this super cute greenish yellow fabric several months ago, and I FINALLY got the chance to use it.

I also got a bunch of yards of this black and white striped elastic that I love. I used it on a skirt for myself as well (but I haven't taken photos of it yet). I bought it for something like 50 cents per yard, so of course I got a ton of it.

The elastic is three inches wide, so I decided to sew the fabric on top of it to make it appear thinner.

This might be my favorite thing I've ever made for Lucy.

A friend of mine also suggested that I sew a big fold into the back so that I can let it out as Lucy grows. So smart! Even if it starts to get a little short, she can always wear leggings under it.

Embroidery

I've been trying my hand at some embroidery recently, and I've REALLY been enjoying it. So far I've only done a few onesies, but I'm looking forward to tackling a little pink hoodie next. My mother-in-law just bought me an AWESOME book about embroidery with tons of photos and illustrations. She found it at a thrift store... what a treasure! I wish I had taken a photo of it to show you all its magnificence. Perhaps that will be in a later post.

So with all that said, here's my first attempt... I took the photo in the car right before I gave it to a sweet friend who just had a little girl.

This is the one I just completed. I got the pattern from this delightful store on etsy.com.

It's such a cute little graphic!

Here's a question from an inexperienced needle-worker: is there anything I could or should attach to the wrong side of the design so that it won't fall apart in the wash or irritate baby skin? I use the wash-away stabilizer while I'm stitching, but that's it. Does anyone have any insight for me?