Stop staring and start sewing!

Snips and snails....unfortunately not

This is what we're dealing with here...nasty stuff, eh?  And check out that stinger.  I think this is going to be a bad year for critters since we had such a mild winter and now summer is heating up earlier than usual.  Don't tell me to get a bug guy because Joey actually got his exterminator license about 6 years ago when he was between jobs and trying to keep busy until something in his field became available.  So I just beat the crap out of these things with the nearest shoe while screaming at the top of my lungs (the kids are getting used to it).  The crunchy sound is actually quite satisfying.

 

In the meantime I've been re-organizing the boys room (horrifying stuff in there too) and sorting out all of their outgrown clothes.  I'm so glad I've been able to turn their highwaters into shorts because now they each have lots of new pants to get them through the summer and I didn't have to spend a dime.  I was going to do a tutorial but then I found this terrific tutorial here and it's perfect (why reinvent the wheel?).  This would be adorable for girls pants too.

 

They're happy, I'm happy (win win).  They can wear these like crazy and I won't care about wear and tear because I've already gotten 2 pairs of pants out of each pair.

 

And I'm getting so close to finishing their quilts!  I've got Skate's quilt sandwiched and ready to go (made a run for more basting spray last night, I really like that stuff).  I was thrilled when my friend Jamie recommended this 114" dotted fabric for the backings.  It's so much softer than the sheets I was planning on using and the dots have just enough whimsy to look cute but not babyish.  Yay!

 

I'm hoping to get their quilts finished in June (can you believe it's almost here??) and hopefully start some embroidery samplers with the girls to keep us busy this summer.  I have lots of good intentions (fingers crossed).  Keep on sewing!!

McZip it (a cool new advertiser)

I was so excited when Matthew from Mczips wanted to advertise on my blog because he sells zippers. Neat, colorful zippers!  Every color you'd want and even a variety of shades within each color. 

You can get zippers by the yard.  You can order 10 (for only 5.00).  You can even order 5000.

 

These zipper ship from Germany but he's got great shipping fees.   He ships within 2 days of receiving the order and shipping to the US usually takes 2-9 days depending on where it's going (and whether it's a weekend or not).

 

Matthew is offering my blog readers a 10% discount on any orders (even if you order more than once) for a limited time.  Simply mention my blog when making your purchase and you'll receive a 10% refund.  So run over to McZips and check out the rainbows of zippers!

Right brain meets left brain....

I came up with a great idea for all the sewing supplies I like to keep within arms reach while I'm working.  The idea came a few months ago but, in my usual fashion, we just got around to making it happen. 

I have this corner of my table, over by my serger, where I just kind of let stuff pile up and I don't even sit over there any way (I just scoot my serger to the middle of the table when I'm using it).  I realized that would be a great place for a drawer and nobody would even have to know it's there.  This picture is actually much tidier than it usually looks but these are a few of the items that just sort of float around my table without a home.  Things like turning tools, bodkins, fray check, seam rippers, etc.

We got the supplies at IKEA.  The drawer (the Trofast) was only 3.00 and we found the drawer channel in their "as is" department for only 1.99.  Score.  Joey cut the metal channel piece to the right sizes and drilled some holes to mount it.

I love this.  My table is just a cheap door covered with laminated fabric (IKEA again) so I don't feel bad putting holes in it, especially for such a great cause.

So here is the drawer in place.  You can't even see it from the top.  I wonder if I could hide some chocolate in there without it being discovered?  I'll give it a try this week.

So now all of my miscellaneous stuff has a permanent home and my table is so much tidier.  Yay!  And when I'm done sewing for the day I can just sweep everything into the drawer and shut it.

Back soon with more stuff!  I've been having fun sewing (even hemming pants and not whining about it) so I can't wait to share everything.  Have a great Monday!!

Too much of a good thing?

Well, if you've read my blog at all you know how much I love spray paint.  So far I've been crazy about everything I've painted.  I'm not sure about this last job though. 

I was over at Heather's and saw she had spray painted a frame on a painting she found at a thrift shop.  It looked fantastic so I though "Dang.  I should do that with a couple of mine".   Now I love these two paintings I bought at a thrift store a few years back.  They were priced at 30.00 each but I knew 1/2 off day was coming up so I stashed them behind a big mirror and when Joey went back they were still there so he paid 30.00 for both of them.  Score.

I love the vibrant colors of the paint but the frames were so bland.

 

I took them out of the frames and, using Rust Oleum's Lime Gloss spray paint (Home Depot), I painted both of them.

 

Here's the result.  Pretty bold, right?  I put the couch back against that wall so it made a little more sense but I'm not sure if I like the green paint on those frames.  I like it better than the brown frames but I'm wondering if another color would be better?  I'm planning on painting the wall yellow and I'd love to put a white slip-cover on the couch but I'm not sure if those would help this situation look right.

Opinions appreciated.

I hope you're having a great weekend so far.  I'm making throw pillows and feeling very crafty about the whole thing.  Yay for making!

Remains of the party...

I had a fun sewing party over here on Friday.  Bari brought some of her new, beautiful LilyBelle fabric and my BFF (Best Fabric Friend) Jamie joined us for a lovely day of stitching.  It was so much fun to play with Bari's fabric and I'm so happy she's with Art Gallery Fabrics now because the quality of their fabric is amazing.  It's so soft and silky, sort of like a lightweight lawn.  We got a few things accomplished and had a nice break for lunch and cupcakes.  After they left I scoured my sewing room hoping that maybe Bari had forgotten a big chunk of fabric but alas, this is all she left me.  It will have to tide me over.

 

And I finally finished my boys' quilt tops!  What a relief.  I know I still have to get the backing (using sheets again) and batting, etc. but I feel so accomplished already.  I used a different fabric in the middle of the tops and bottoms so I could tell them apart.  Asher picked the airplanes and I picked the little boy print for Skate.  I've really loved making these since the plaids are all from my Grandpa's shirts.  He's been gone 6 years now and I've shed a lot of tears making these quilts.  One of the plaid squares has a couple paint splatters on it and I love it since he was always making, fixing and painting.

 

I'm debating which fabric to use for the binding but I'm leaning toward the green Fresh Cut fabric on the right just because it's a soft print and I'm planning on painting their room green.  I'm really looking forward to the binding part (it's my favorite in spite of the sore fingers I get).  I'll just pop in Pride and Prejudice and find my happy sewing place.

 

I cleaned out the rest of my yardage and pre-cuts and put it all in my etsy Fabritopia store at super low prices (below wholesale on most of them).  Be sure to check those out.  And if you're looking for some great Mother's Day gifts I'm cleaning out my Hipster Haberdasher (getting rid of the slow stuff and adding some new stuff) store so there are some great markdown's on iPad and iPhone cases (Kindle cases too). 

Oh, and run over to Jamies blog because she's giving away a stack of Jennifer Paganelli's Crazy Love fabric (that's just crazy)!