I. Love. Crafting.

     It's true. I love crafting! I just can't get enough of anything crafty.....I just can't! My sister and I were making the yearly returns that always happen right after Christmas. We took an :ahem: little side trip to a clothing store to see what sales we could find! While my sister shopped in the front of the store, I immediately went to the back of the store where I knew the sales would be. I found some SUPERB sales!!!!!!!!!!!! There were racks that were labeled $2!!! Although I don't normally like (still don't) clothes from Rue 21 even I have to admit that $2 is pretty good. :D So....since I didn't like the styles as they were I thought of the possibilities. :sigh: Ohhhhh the possibilities!

     So anyways, to cut to the chase......I found this cute dress that wasn't so cute. :P haha! It's a chocolatey brown dress with spaghetti straps. I would definitly have to wear something under it as the bodice is eyelet without a lining. The back panel is shirred along the top and it has tie backs. I LOVE tie backs. But, in my opinion, it is borderline trashy looking, and I don't do trashy! It would definitly have to have something worn under it, and then it would look okay.....but it's just one of those dresses that can make anyone look pregnant. (I don't do that look either! :D) (The skirt is lined....it's just being contankerous in the 2nd photo)

     So I am mulling over some ideas about what to do to it. I am definitly going to wear the origional bodice (it doesn't have any pleats, or darts, or anything to give it shaping) around my waist instead. I am trying to decide though if I want to make it into a dress, which means I need to make a new bodice; or if I want to just have a high-waisted skirt, which would require lining the very top of the dress. Either way I need to think about how I am going to get it on since there is a zipper on the side. Anyways, what do you guys think? I need some input! I think it's interesting too how it makes "Flo" look smaller when the bodice is worn around the waist!

Meet Flo!

I recently turned 17 :does happy dance: and my parents got me a dressform! It was my dad's idea actually! I was really surprised! I had NO idea what was in that box! My brother and sister promptly named it Flo. After the fish in Finding Nemo. If you don't know which fish I am talking about then...then...shame on you! haha! :D Actually it's okay. Fast forward to 6:01 in this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS8ygkytY9o) to find out what I am talking about.I have adjusted it and pulled a to-tight-to-actually-wear t-shirt over it to cover the cracks. I have gotten to use it once for a slip that I made. I need to take pictures of that soon too. Anyways, just as a note of caution, when adjusting the height, take the body OFF the stand before adjusting. Otherwise the whole thing comes sliding down and will slam down on your hand. Don't ask me how I know that! :D I can't wait to make another dress with it! I am working on a Vera Bradley inspired purse right now that I hope to have finished by the end of the day! I'll try to take pictures of it as soon as it is finished!!!

Patchwork Pillow

I whipped this fun little pillow up the other day. I followed the tutorial from here: http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2009/10/tutorial-scrap-buster-fall-pillow.html
It was a lot of fun to cut into my scraps and play with the arrangement!! I think I will make another one eventually, maybe on a light color background and bigger like the one on the link. Allison has SOOO many great tutorials!!! I really want to make her "Seeing Red" quilt. It is soooo cute!!! I think it would look great in our living room!!!

Fabric Giveaway!

There is a really cool fabric giveaway here: http://everydaybeautiful.typepad.com/everyday_beautiful/2009/10/oldies-but-goodies-fabric-giveaway.html
Go check it out!!! There is some really cute fabric and fun projects on her blog, so you might check that out while you are there!

Step 1 - admit that you have an addiction....to making buttons

Well, I think I have made enough for two whole bracelets. I am sooo excited!! We are having an official sewing day tomorrow to try to get a bunch of things made to sell to benefit 4-H! Hopefully we will be able to get a lot of the sewing done, and will be able to make some of these buttons!! If anyone would like one, we can do a custom order if you want! :D

I would really love to do some bracelets like this or this! Maybe we will be able to do some like that too! They are sooo cute! :D Tomorrow we are going to be sewing like 30 yards worth of pajama pants. :P. :D

My name is Rachel, and I am addicted to....

....fabric covered buttons! Aren't they ADORABLE?!?! And they are sooo easy to make too! We are preparing for a craft sale to benefit 4-H and ordered 100 of these cuties! :D They are to make these! The buttons are 1/2". So that puts the HUGE paperclip in perspective! That thing is ginormous!!! We are going to attempt to make some bookmarks out of those, not to mention 30+ yards worth of pajama pants and multiple other smaller things. To say we are busy would be an understatement!!!

Tickled Pink

Well, I finished my second quilt! I've decided to name it tickled pink. I think my sister actually came up with that a while back. Anyways, I followed the quilt-along here: OhFransson. It worked out really well. If I were to do something differently, I would probably cut the pieces a little bit bigger so that I could use a larger seam allowance. I think I would also probably invest in a quarter-inch foot. :D Anyways, I LOVE IT! I have it draped over my bed right now.

     I've also recently completed a couple more vintage dresses from the 50s! I'll try to take some pics of them soon.
Thanks to Elana for taking these pictures! If you haven't seen her photos on flickr, you should really go check them out. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sourpatch007/

Earring Box

After visiting my grandma's garage to pick up a vanity/nightstand (which I need to take pictures of), I found these boxes that I instantly thought would be perfect painted white and used as an earring box! So, I did that, and it turned out pretty cute. It incorporates my earrings (which are my favorite piece of jewelry!) into a piece of art. My sister didn't realize it was to hold earrings until I hung it up! :D Haha! Oh well. Here are the pictures. The full length shot is pretty blurry, but let's just say photography isn't my thing! ;D Anyways, it turned out nice, and I'm pretty tickled with it!
On another note, we opened my grandma's pool Monday, and are looking forward to a weekend of swimming!

Tatted Earrings and MY KEYS!!! Yay!

Dad recently bought a truck that was intended for me to drive, but it needed some work, sooooo, he we finally finished working on it and he gave me a set of keys and I got to drive it yesterday! I LOVE it! It's smaller thatn the suburban, which makes me happy, but bigger than a car, which makes Mom happy! :D Anyways, after carrying around the two keys (one for the door, one for the engine) all day, I decided that I should probably make myself a keychain! I've made some for gifts before, but I like this one best, since it is pink! :D The outside fabric is some polka dotted fabric that I love! The inside fabric is a pink damask that I love even more, especially because it was part of a giveaway I won from Pink Chalk Studios! I can't wait to use it! It fits over my arm so that I can slip it on and still be able to carry stuff if I don't have a pocket to put it in. If anyone wants one, I'm open to custom orders! :D

I also have been busy doing some tatted earrings. I got the pattern for the chandelier-ish ones I online. I can't seem to find the website right now. Anyways, I like them, and they're pretty cute. They are probably 2.5"-3" long.

The ones in the rings I made from my own pattern. The rings are 1.5" in diameter, I think. I made an extra pair, and will be attempting to sell them sometime soon.

Skirt made from Old Jeans

I've had a pair of my old jeans torn apart for awhile waiting to become this skirt. I finally got around to it last night. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be! I poured over a couple of tutorials here: http://blog.christyscreations.com/?p=441 and here: http://www.savvyseams.com/clothing/jeanskirt.php . I was wanting to follow the second one and put triangles in the sides, but Elana and I decided it didn't need them. I left the bottom unhemmed, but I did sew a ling about 3/4" up to prevent too much fraying.

P.S. Sorry the photos are so bad! I took them late last night, and the lighting wasn't very good.

Okay, here are some pictures of the bookmarks, and some pictures of the other dolls. Each doll really has a personality of its' own! It's kind of funny. I actually had a couple more that I didn't see until after I took the picture, so they aren't in there. The bookmarks are made of solid beech wood. They are 6" long x 1.5" wide x 1/16" thick. They have been glossed and are absouletly gorgeous! We burned a couple, stamped a couple, and left some blank. The 3rd and 4th from the bottom are burned. This is a scan, but it still doesn't do them justice. It is hard to capture the richness of them! We are going to try to sell these, so if you want one, let me know. We can change out the tassel at the top as well. Oh, I forgot to mention this, but they are pretty strong. I tried to break one in half and couldn't do it, I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying it's really hard! :D

Clothespin Dolls

Hey Everyone! I know I've been absent lately, and I'm sorry! Fortunately, the craftyness hasn't stopped and I have some things to post about! One of my recent favorite projects are some little clothespin dolls. I originally made these to sell at a local festival for a fundraiser for 4-H. We didn't sell a lot, but we did do a lot of face painting. So, I've got 11 of the 12 dolls I made left!  :D So, I thought I'd post them here, and get your opinion on them, and let you know that I have a couple of them listed on bonanzle: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/southernknitwit Nathan and I also made some wooden bookmarks that are really cool. Well, okay, he made them, but it was kinda my idea in the first place, and I helped him with some of the designs. :D They turned out really neat! They are cut from beech wood and are absouletly gorgeous! Not to mention the 15 bluebird boxes we cut and helped paint to sell. I can't believe more people didn't buy them! They looked really good, and we were selling them for only $10!

Driver's license! Yay!

I got my license today! The DMV station we went to was suppossed to have the easiest test, and boy, they weren't kidding! The had me basically drive around the block! It was ridiculus, but that's fine with me! I got to drive to the sewing meeting today with Elana. I've decided she's a bit of a stick in the mud! "No talking!", "No singing!", "No radio!" That's okay though. It was kind of fun though, and I'm sure I'll get more used to it! :D

On the crafting front, I got some vintage patterns from an antique shop for $3 apiece! I got a couple of them, one of them is a sundress that I can't wait to make. I'm not sure what color to do though. Which reminds me, I don't think I ever posted pics of my first dress! Oh, I'll have to do that!
We're participating in Arlington in April which is a festival around here that they sell handmade goodies at. The 4-H wildlife team is setting up a booth and we are going to do full face painting and sell some bluebird boxes that we made and are going to paint, and some wooden bookmarks that I'm really excited about! They are cut from beech wood, and are soooo pretty! :D
I'm also going to make some clothespin dolls. I'll try to take a pic of them before the festival. If they don't sell there, I'll post them in either my bonanzle booth or my etsy shop which I'll have to reopen. Oh, I might list some bookmarks as well! Anyways, I'm hoping to get to go to Hobby Lobby here in a minute to get some supplies for the dolls.

FYI: Giveaway

Cheryl is having a giveaway here: http://quiltingmemoriesfortomorrow.blogspot.com/2009/04/100th-post-and-giveaway.html She is giving away a book about cathederal window quilts! I can't wait to look at the rest of her blog!

Fabric Giveaway FYI

Fabric giveaway over here: http://mandmstudio.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-fabric-in-shop-giveaway.html She's giving away 4 yards of fabrics!

Robotic Competition

I just realized that I never posted a picture of our robot! Here's a picture:

His name is Nehemiah. He has a personality of his own (no kidding!) and can (hopefully) build a model airplane in three minutes.

If you get some extra time, you can check out our youtube videos too.

Part 1

Part 2

Pink hearts! and mushrooms!

     I think I posted about this, but I recently won a couple of giveaways. This is one of them. Pink Chalk Studios was giving them away! {sigh of contentment} I LOVE the damask and the mushrooms! Yay! Just found out that the mushroom fabric is Alexander Henry. I may have to order somem more of that! :D Have you seen some of his other fabric? Oohhh.
    I finally finished that dress. It took about 30 hours! Yikes! I did have some issues with the darts and stuff. But it has two pockets, so it's all worth it! :D I got some pictures of it, but they aren't very good, and things have changed since then. Soooooo, I will try to get some pictures soon.

Giveaway and update

Hey Everyone! Thought I'd give you a heads up about a giveaway going on here: http://adayinthelifeofthechristensons.blogspot.com/. Head on over and enter!

I finished my dress and will post about it as soon as I can get better pictures of it. I LOVE the pockets. I also won 2 giveaways! I need to post about that and my swap fabrics! But, posting about all of that is getting set aside since I'm wanting to try to make a 3-ring binder cover!

Oh! We got 10" of snow this weekend! That is the most we've had in 20 years I think.

It CAME!!!!

I ordered a vintage 50s dress pattern from ebay last week, and was anxious to get it. It came on Friday (last week, yes I do procrastinate! :D). Somehow, I managed to talk my Grandma into taking me to Hobby Lobby to get some fabric!! She is always dressed nicely, and picks out good clothes, usually! :o) I learned one very important thing, do NOT ask the fabric cutting lady what she thinks of your fabric! ;) For some reason, I asked, and she said, "Well, I guess it's a matter of taste." Ughhh!!! It's pink, and it is pretty bright, but it's not any different than wearing a red dress. And I can wear a sweater over it when it's done. The fabric has some cream and black swirls. I got some really cute cream buttons to match, and can probably wear a black belt with it. Anyways, the pattern (which I copied on to tissue paper) said to do bound buttonholes, or to hand sew them later. So, I decided to do bound buttonholes, which are working out pretty well. I still have to do like 10 more, so I'll let you know. I did have some fitting issues. The pattern was supposed to be to small in the bust, but it was too big. I had to do a major adjustmant of the darts. After that, I was excited because it looked pretty good. I stitched the back to the front and it fit at the top, but didn't fit at the waist by like 4"!!!! That was really frustrating! I ended up taking the back darts out, and adding triangular shaped pieces to the side seam. I don't think they are very noticeable. I might have enough room to put smaller darts in the back though. The skirt is pleated, versus gathered, which makes me pretty happy, since pleating doesn't poof straight out as much. It also has a pocket!!! I LOVE pockets! I can't wait until it's done, it is definetly the hardest thing I've ever sewn. It's good experience though!

Peasant Blouse

So I stil haven't uploaded pictures (or even taken the pics for that matter) of the paper cuts that I did, but did manage to draft a pattern for a peasant shirt and sew it. It needed a little something else, so I decided to add a shiny bow/belt. The neckline is suppossed to be round, but it turned out kind of square which is okay with me. It looks better on me in person! These pics kind of make me look like a sack of potatos. And yes, those are my paint pants. We are trying to get a bunch of rooms painted. The tutorial for making your own pattern is here: http://www.thingsofcloth.com/documents/Adult-size_Peasant_Blouse_Tutorial.pdf It's a pdf. There is some questionable language in it, nothing too terribly bad I don't think, just words that I wouldn't say. Let me know what you think!

P.S. I need to remember not to tie the belt too tight, as it's hard to breath with it too tight! :D

Fabric Giveaway FYI

Hey y'all, I just found this really nice fabric giveaway here: http://fabricfamilyfun.wordpress.com/
She is giving away a $50 gift certificate to her fabric shop!

Reduced Price Silhouettes

Hey Everyone,
Since the silhouettes weren't selling (or maybe I'm just impatient!:)), I decided to reduce the price from $30 to $20. Hopefully I can start selling some, since I would like to save up for a truck. And yes, I want a truck! :) I have been doing some paper cutting, that I'll try to post tomorrow, or maybe later today.

P.S. My bonanzle booth is here: http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/SouthernKnitWit

Bonanza Noon January 18th - 15% off

January 18th (Sunday) at noon CST I am having a bonanza (sale) for 15% off. Drop in and take a look! See ya' then!

Custom silhouettes now listed in my bonanzle shop: bonanzle.com/booths/southernknitwit

I will mostly do black on white or white on black. Other colors will be available by request.

Finished Tatting Projects and a Quilt to Raffle off....eventually

I decided to just throw away that tatted heart that I had issues away. It just wasn't worth it to me. So instead, I made two more in that pattern and another in a different style. I also made a couple of butterflies. I bought two new shuttles. They are the ones without the bobbin, which I've decided I like quite well. The only issue that I have with them is that it's hard to connect picots. (which is pronounced peecoh and not picket! :)) I was having issues with the other one with my thread getting pulled between the bobbin and shuttle and getting dirty. It's pretty frustrating.

Mrs. Debbie and I decided to make a denim quilt to raffle off at the 4-H speech contest at the end of Jan. This is supposed to be for a club fundraiser. So far, I have put together the blocks, but she is going to quilt it. That is good because that is my least favorite part! It's going to be a twin size when we are done. It's taking up about half my bedroom right now. Each denim block is 6" with a strip of batik fabric on two sides. This makes it look like it has sashing. The batik is from a jelly roll. I still need to rearrange the blocks so that there is an even distribution of each pattern throughout the quilt. I needed 130 blocks. I thought I had enough, but when I got it all laid out, I was short 4. I found a strip of 4 that was half put together, so I need to put another strip of batik on it. I am SOOOO sick of sewing those blocks together.