Quaint and Quirky

March Lists Day Five

2013-03-05T15:42:00.003-05:00

My list for day five is:

Colors I Love

Here's mine:

March Lists - Day 4

2013-03-04T14:00:00.000-05:00

Today's List:

People I'm praying for

Here's mine:

Aydan - Aydan is a little boy from my town who has battled cancer. He has been a terrific fighter, but unfortunately he contracted a virus and his body has had a hard time fighting it. His parents found out that his cancer may be back. If it is, it's the end of his short road. Here's his facebook page: Aydan's Army
Pray for him if you get the chance.

Pop is my grandfather. His body is also in rough shape and an aneurysm in his stomach is causing loss of circulation in his foot (among other problems).

Jerralyn and Jackie are my two former Secret Prayer Sisters. I still like to pray for them both!

Ahhh, Nick. Nick Vujicic is a man born without limbs. He is absolutely inspiring and motivational. A big prayer of his was to find a wife. He was really looking forward to having a wife. At the end of prayers for years, I would add, "Please help Nick to find a wife." Well, I looked today and not only did he get married last February, but this February his wife had a baby boy!!!!!!!! I was giddy to hear this. Now, I can no longer pray for Nick to find a wife, but that's so exciting!

Who are you praying for? Let me know in the comments and I'll join you in praying!

Will's Birth Story

2013-03-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Will's Birth Story - Six Months Later!

Just like with his sister, Will's due date came and went with not so much as a contraction. I had never felt a naturally occuring contraction and couldn't really remember the pitocin-induced ones that I had with Amelia. However, I was awakened one Tuesday morning five days after I was due with some pains that seemed to be coming and going. I started timing them with my phone contraction timer, but around six in the morning, they subsided altogether.

Nevertheless, when I woke up that morning, I called my mom to tell her that I had been having SOME kind of contractions. She left work early to stay with Amelia and me. The contractions picked up again, but they were short and far apart for most of the day. Mid afternoon, my mom went home for a bit, but promised to come back when I needed her.

Around dinner time/ Josh coming home time the contractions really picked up, but I knew I had to wait for the 5 minutes apart, lasting a minute, for an hour. They weren't anything that close together or long. Josh came home late because (get this) he stopped at the hardware store to pick up shelves for my craft room closet (my second-favorite decision of the day).

After dinner, the pain was getting a bit unbearable, but the contractions were like 10 minutes apart and I could still walk and talk through them. Still, I decided to call the midwife and alert her that I was in labor. Being my second baby and because I had had off-and-on contractions all day, she decided that I should come in (my favorite decision of the day).

Josh hadn't packed a thing, so he was throwing clothes and toiletries in bags while I was being mean and in pain and we waited for my parents to come take our baby girl.

While in the car, my contractions jumped from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. We never even came close to the 5-1-1 guideline. Thank GOODNESS the midwife had me come in anyway! Josh decided that this was a great time to drive 95 miles an hour down the highway because he "didn't get this experience with Amelia."

We arrived at the hospital around eight or eight-thirty. In triage, they called my midwife (who was at the hospital anyway) to check me and I was already seven cm. I had expected, mmm, four, maybe five. She was pretty shocked as well, since I was still pretty functional. I was very much looking forward to the epidural, so they rushed me up to delivery so I could get that in a hurry.

However, the anesthesiologist had just been rushed into a c-section and they were very doubtful that she was going to make it in time for me. Grrrreat. I know there are lots of stalwart drug-free laborers out there. To quote Elphaba, "I'm not that girl."

Not happy

They prepped me anyway, just in case, and the midwife offered to break my water so that I could have a quicker drug-free delivery. No thanks! With Amelia, I never got to the "Wow, this really really really hurts" portion of labor because I was induced and was always in control of my pain. I got the epi at 4.5cm with her. With Will, I most certainly got to the, "Wow, this really really really hurts" portion and I did NOT want to experience something called the "Ring of Fire" while still feeling my lower half.

Happppyyyyyy

Miraculously, the anesthesiologist DID make it in time to give me my epi and I was completely happy and pleasant after that. The midwife broke my water (she asked me if I wanted him born that day, or the next and I chose that day because the next day was an ugly prime number and I hate prime numbers), I was fully dilated, and they got me set up to push. Ten minutes later, a little before midnight, Will was born. He was tiny - almost a pound smaller than his sister absolutely miraculous!

Nursing went MUCH better with him. It wasn't without its complications, but, overall, it was a much easier experience!

March Lists - Day 3

2013-03-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Day Three of this list project is here!

Food I Wish Were Healthy

Here's Mine:

For the most part, we try to eat food that is unprocessed. We aren't crazy insane about it, but in general we try to make things from scratch, so no Cheetos or Oreos. Wouldn't it be amazing if delicious things like these were good for you? I wish I could say, "Amelia, you may get down when you finish your Cheetos." Or, "Your diet needs more greens. How about some green M&Ms?"

Which food items do you wish were healthy?

March Lists - Day Two

2013-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Day two is about technology. I want to remember what websites occupied my time at this season of my life.

Day Two's List:

Websites I Enjoy

Here's Mine:

Truth be told, I don't *love* facebook, but it does occupy my time, so I added it to my list.

Northpoint.org is Andy Stanley's church's website. It's absolutely my favorite church (although I've never been!)

Quietudeblog.blogspot.com is Laura's blog and it is so calm, lovely and quaint. I want to live in her blog.

Beckyhiggins.com is the home of Project Life, which I love. It's a great website for ideas!

Dana-made-it.com is Made's blog and a super creative, bright, fun place to hang out.

Designsponge.com is a fantastic resource for decorating ideas.

Where do you like to hang out on the Internet?

March List Project

2013-03-01T16:56:00.002-05:00

I read on another blog about a challenge of making a list a day in March. As a fan of lists, I was intrigued and inspired. I'm going to make my own lists each day in March. If you care to join me, come on by every day for a new list! Grab your journals, make it your facebook status, blog it, tweet, record it however you want!

I do Project Life, and I designed these cards to fit in the small 3x4 pockets. Every six days, I'll put a PDF up to download, so if you do Project Life too, you can print them.

Day One's List is:

Things you are looking forward to

(I know the grammar isn't the finest there,

but I couldn't word in any other way without seeming pompous!).

Here's mine:

What are you looking forward to?

My Name is Will

2013-02-28T21:14:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! My name is Will and I turned six months old today. My Mommy hasn't blogged in a long time. That's because I don't let her sleep. In fact, I slept through the night for the very first time last night! Why sleep when the world is so new and fun??

My sister is kind of crazy. She's two and she's good at it. She likes changing her mind and making messes. I can't wait until I'm two! My Mommy also hasn't blogged in a while because my sister is so crazy and my Mommy spends all her time on Pinterest trying to pin activities that will keep my sister's brain and hands occupied.

This is my family when we had a blizzard. Brrrrr. I hated the snowsuit. I hated the hat. I hated the boots. I like to cuddle and be cozy. Who needs snow? That's my dog, Levi. Remember him?

My Mommy promises she will blog again. We have a new house (well, I don't, I've always lived here) and my Mommy has some fun projects going on. She'll be back with some fun posts/updates/my birth story, etc.

Bye for now!

Inside Out Skirt Tutorial

2012-10-11T23:04:00.000-04:00

As promised, here is my Inside Out Skirt tutorial! You can see the original Inside Out Skirt here.

To start with, you will need fabric, tulle, and elastic.

Here's how to calculate what you need. For elastic, you will need a waist measurement. I can just measure Amelia's waist, but I usually reference the following standard clothing size charts:

The Children's Place - good for skirt length
Gymboree - good for waist measurement and inseam length

The waist measurement is pretty important because the width of the fabric you need will be double the waist measurement. I used 20" of elastic for this skirt. That means I need fabric that is 40" wide. [When using a 44" fabric, I usually don't bother cutting off the extra 4" - it just makes it a tad more full.] If you want less full, use less than half. [Confession: This skirt is actually less than 40" wide and I definitely think I would have preferred a fuller skirt.]

For length, you take the finished measurement you want and add 2.5 inches.

For the tulle, you need the same width as the underskirt fabric. Then you need the length of the skirt multiplied by 4 (so you will have four layers of tulle on top of your skirt). Here is an illustration, with the measurements I used in brackets.

Step one: Cut everything out.

Step two: Sew the underskirt. I used my serger for this project. If you do not have a serger, you will just need to do a few extra steps.
1. Serge the bottom edge (no serger - fold under 1/2," then press).
2. Fold up the bottom edge so that you've used 1" for the hem and press (no serger - fold up another 1/2," then press)

Wrong side of the skirt showing

2. Sew in place, close to the serged edge.
3. Serge the top edge (no serger - fold under 1/2," then press).
4. Sew the short sides of the skirt together (the back seam) using 1/2" seam allowance.
5. Fold over approximately 1.5 inches and press.

Wrong side of the skirt showing

6. Sew in place close to the serged edge, leaving approximately 2 inches NOT sewn near the back seam.
7. Top stitch close to the top edge of the skirt.

Right side of the skirt showing

At the end of this step, you should have a hemmed skirt with a casing at the top, but you do NOT insert the elastic yet. Set the skirt aside to work on the tulle.

Step four - make a tulle tube
1. Take the tulle and sew the back seam using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. This is the loooooong side. Essentially, you are sewing the side of the skirt that is 4 times longer than it will be at the end.


The side I sewed, was the 48" side, using my measurements from above.

2. Cut off most of the seam allowance.

3. Now take the tulle and fold it in half, then in half again. Make sure you line up the seam. When you are done, the top of the skirt will have 2 folds and the bottom of the skirt will have one fold and two loose ends. Make sure that you fold so that the RIGHT side of the tulle ends up on the outside!

See my purple striped sock?

4. Now slide the tulle over the underskirt so that the 2 folds end of the tulle tube is at the top of the skirt and the back seam of the tulle lines up with the back seam of the skirt. The tulle should be considerably longer than the underskirt. This is okay. You will give it a tulle cut later.

5. Pin the tulle on the underskirt. I like to place the folded edge of the tulle about 1/2 way between the two stitching lines at the top of the skirt.

6. Stitch over the existing seam on the skirt. That way, you keep the casing for the elastic big enough to put the elastic through! Make sure you leave the 2 inches unsewn that you left when sewing the underskirt!

Now you should have one skirt, tulle on top, underskirt on bottom.
Step six - Time to finish!
1. Insert the elastic through the casing.

I like to anchor one side of the elastic to the skirt with a small safety pin.

2. Overlap the ends of the elastic by about 1 inch and sew the ends of the elastic together securely.
3. Sew the remaining 2 inches closed on the skirt.
4. Cut the tulle at the bottom to the desired length, either longer than the underskirt, the same length, or shorter! I experimented with this skirt. See the pictures below!

4. DONE! Take cute pictures and send them to me!

In the above skirt, the tulle is longer than the skirt.

Then, during a potty break, I cut the tulle shorter than the underskirt.

Barrette for sale in my shop!

One more - 'cause she's cute!

Shabby Apple Giveaway WINNER!

2012-08-22T16:06:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Patricia, who wrote, "I like Shabby Apple on facebook and love the Bernini dress!"

It was interesting to me to see how many different dresses you all liked from Shabby Apple. There was no runaway winner to that contest!

Remember, all Quaint and Quirky readers will get 10% off their orders by using this code:

quaintandquirky10off.

Patricia, I'll be contacting you shortly!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Giveaway Update

2012-08-22T13:37:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the delay. I thought I would be able to announce the winner by now, but we finally moved (Yay - pictures to come!) and I was separated from my desktop (being stored at my parents' house) and my laptop (missing cord and laptop doesn't function without the cord). The cord has been found, so I will organize the entries and post a winner as soon as possible. Thanks for understanding!

:D

Shabby Apple Gift Card Giveaway!

2012-08-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited about this giveaway!

Shabby Apple is an absolutely adorable online clothing shop. I'm pretty sure that they are the clothing embodiment of Quaint and Quirky! Their fashions are vintage, modest, feminine, fun and liveable. Shabby Apple not only offers regular women's clothing, but maternity, new mom, child, and preteen styles as well. I was so happy when they contacted me to give away a gift certificate on my blog!

One winner will win a:

Yes, a $75 Gift Certificate to Shabby Apple!
Here is the fine print:

To enter, you MUST do two things. Like Shabby Apple on facebook: Shabby Apple's Facebook Page. Next, visit Shabby Apple's website and pick a favorite piece (or outfit). In your first comment, tell us which item you like the best!

If you'd like additional entries, share a link to this giveaway on facebook and/or twitter and comment again telling me you did so (one comment for each one). Make sure to leave a way to contact you!

I will keep the giveaway open until Friday, August 17, 2012. I will then pick a random winner and announce by Monday.

This contest is open only to those with US Shipping addresses.
Shabby Apple has also generously offered all blog readers 10% off for one month using the code quaintandquirky10off !

What would I pick? Maybe this:

or this:

Have fun dreaming about what YOU would buy!

Safe (Eggless) Cookie Dough

2012-08-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

My picture of the egg aisle in a Paris grocery.

My pregnancy diet and my non-pregnancy diet are not much different. I don't regularly eat many of the things "they" tell pregnant women not to eat - with one exception - raw eggs in cookie dough. I love cookie dough so much more than the actual cookies themselves, but the raw eggs scare me enough to make me not eat cookie dough while pregnant. I know that people have differing view points on raw eggs. When we were honeymooning in Paris, they kept the eggs in the regular food aisles - not refrigerated at all! It's my understanding that it's because their eggs go onto the shelves fresher than in America. Anyway, it's not a risk I'm taking just to eat some cookie dough, so I made the cookie dough egg free! These are also good if you want some cookie taste without turning on the oven on a hot day!

Eggless Cookie Dough Recipe

(Note: these are not for baking - just for eating refrigerated)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
Heaping 1/3 cup sugar (I just don't level the measuring cup)
Heaping 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/8 cup flour (I just fill 1/2 of a 1/4c. with flour)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt (slightly less if you use salted butter)
1 c. chocolate chips
2 TBSP milk

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla. I cream them for a long time.

Add the flour, salt, and baking powder. The baking powder isn't really necessary because the cookie dough doesn't need any help rising, but for taste purposes, I add it in. Blend it all together.

Add the 2 tablespoons milk. You might need to add slightly less or more, depending on your location. Two usually works for me!

When the dough is a good consistency, add the chocolate chips.

Mix it all together!

Place spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and refrigerate or freeze.

Enjoy!

Now, I might have to go make some more!

DIY Maternity Shirt

2012-07-17T07:30:00.000-04:00

Repurposing is my new creative hobby. I go to Old Navy or Target and check out their clearance section. Usually with things on clearance, they don't have average sizes, but they have x-small or x-large or xx-large, etc. The x-large sizes are perfect for repurposing because they give you the most amount of fabric to work with. You still get the cute fabric and you can rework it yourself, usually using the decorative elements and sewn edges that are already there! I bought this shirt last year on clearance at Old Navy. It's XXL and I originally wanted to make a cute summer dress for Amelia. Instead, I found that it would make a great maternity shirt with *very* little effort.

Materials:

Too large for you shirt (button down works great - could be a man's shirt too!)
Thin elastic (around 1/4" - mine was slightly smaller) in a length that at least goes around under your bust. There's no measurement for this, as it depends on your width and the stretch of the elastic.
The regular stuff - scissors, thread, pins, machine, etc.

Original Shirt

For step one, I cut off the sleeves because I wanted the shirt to be sleeveless. The collar was high to begin with, so I didn't really need to alter it at all. I didn't shorten the shoulders at all, so the shirt ended up as a slightly longer no-sleeve shirt (if that makes any sense). I cut the sleeves right after the seam.

The next step would be to finish the shoulder seams. Since I left the manufactured seam in, I just folded the seam to the wrong side of the shirt and top stitched. So, at the end of this step, I had transformed an XXL short sleeved shirt into an XXL sleeveless shirt.

Fold over seam and top stitch to finish arm openings.

Next, I tried on the shirt and marked on one side with a pin where I would need to take in the underarms. Since this shirt was already see through and I knew I would have to wear a tank top underneath regardless, I wasn't too worried about the width of the sleeves (and what you could see underneath). I just went for a comfortable arm opening width.

A pin holds the new arm seam together.

At the same time, I marked with pins where I wanted the elastic to go. I went for right under the bust for a nice empire-waist.

Mark with a pin where the elastic should go on the shirt.

Next, I took the shirt (wrong side out) and drew an angled line from my arm hole pin down to midway down the shirt. The angle of the line isn't crucial since the shirt is getting gathered at the end. You just need to cut away some of the width from the upper part of the shirt.

NOTE: I didn't cut at this point. I sewed on that line, then tried the shirt on again. THEN cut. That way, if it doesn't fit, you just have to get out your seam ripper, not your trash can! :D

So, draw line, sew on that line, try shirt on, make adjustments if needed.

Draw line, sew on line, try shirt on, then cut leaving 1/2" of seam behind.

When I knew that one side of the shirt was good, I cut off the extra part of the shirt, leaving 1/2" seam allowance. Then I used that on the other sleeve as a template of where to draw the line (adding in 1/2"). So, essentially, do to the other side what you did to the first sleeve, so both will be even.

When your sleeves are done, draw a horizontal line across the front and back of the shirt where you determined earlier that the elastic should go. Your pins should still be there as your marking.

Purple line indicates where the elastic should go.

Next you are going to take your elastic and sew it to the wrong side of the shirt along that line.
1.) There is no need to measure your elastic. I just took a length of elastic that I knew would be more than enough and used that.
2.) Starting at some seam, sew your elastic down securely (front stitch, back stitch, front stitch).
3.) Pull the elastic as you start sewing. The shirt fabric should be flat, but you need to pull the elastic taught as you sew. That way, when you let the elastic go, the shirt fabric all gathers up. Sew it all around to where you began and secure the other end of the elastic. Cut off any extra elastic (you should have extra elastic!).

Pull the elastic with one hand as you sew!

Note: My button-down shirt is no longer a full button down shirt because I sewed the elastic all the way around the shirt. If I didn't sew all the way around the shirt, it was going to gap where the button holes were. You might have to do this as well if you need to!

End result: A tunic-style, no-sleeve, partially button-down, empire-waisted, elastic-gathered maternity shirt for a 34 week prego!

Try it!

Favorite Inventions

2012-07-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to do a blog post about favorite inventions for a while now. Here are some of mine. They aren't in any particular order, just the way I thought about them.

#1 Dishwasher

The inside of my dishwasher where I found Swiper the fox one day.

I have known life with a dishwasher and life without a dishwasher. I have also known life with a portable dishwasher that hooks up to your sink because that was my only option when I realized I could not handle life without a dishwasher. I don't necessarily hate washing the dishes. I just need the dishwasher to hide the dirty dishes so that they aren't in the sink and I don't have to constantly see them and think about them. But do you know how much TIME the dishwasher frees from your day? It's priceless.

#2 Magic Eraser


Picture courtesy of mrclean.com

Seriously, is this thing magic? I don't believe in magic, but I do believe that the Magic Eraser is magic. Have you seen it take crayon off...everything? Dirty little finger prints off...everything?

#3 The Epidural

The nurse explaining the epidural to me using the student nurse. Just give it to me, okay?

Sorry all you natural birthers out there. I salute you, but I could never be you. With Amelia, I went as far as I possibly could without an epidural. My wise friend Kelli shared a tip with me. Pick a Bible verse for labor. Memorize the verse and say it with every contraction. When you can't remember the verse anymore, it's time for the epidural. Most of my dilating occurred while taking a nap. I was never mean. I pushed for like 10 minutes. It was lovely. If the "Ring of Fire" happened, I was blissfully unaware of such thing.

#4 Press and Seal

Image courtesy of glad.com

I should be a spokesperson for Press and Seal. Really, I should. My relationship with plastic wrap is extremely volatile. I fight to get it off the roll. I fight to get in on the dish. I fight to get it back on the dish. It really isn't good for anything. Press and Seal just sliiiiiides off the roll, stretches onto the dish and stays there. If you spend much time baking cookies and you accidentally drop the plate, Press and Seal will keep your cookies safe. If you are out of clean food containers/plastic bags/whatever you use to hold food, you can make cute little pouches with the Press and Seal.

I've told you mine. What are your favorite inventions?

This post is not sponsored by dishwashers, Magic Erasers, epidurals, or Press and Seal. ;D

Bathroom Remodel

2012-07-05T23:49:00.002-04:00

Okay, why am I showing these pictures now that I'm moving? I don't know, but I'm joining the link party at Kelly's Korner to show people pictures of my bathroom. Don't ask. When I'm crazy busy and stressed, I do odd things.

ANYWAY... here is a "Before" picture of our bathroom from when we moved into our house three years ago and an "After" picture:

It looks a little...cleaner...no?

We added a bit of color with some teal hand and bath towels, but really it could be any color any day of the week!

I painted the soap dish at one of those paint your own pottery places with my friend Teresa.

We like a little French flair in our bathroom!

Thanks for looking. Believe me, there is a LOT of work to do on the bathrooms in my new house. A LOT. Stay tuned for before and after pictures! :D

Shared at I Heart Naptime

Purse Making Books for Sale

2012-07-03T15:58:00.002-04:00

I'm selling some of my sewing/crafting books before I move in order to downsize. I put them up on ebay, but I thought some of you might be interested. I would sell them to blog readers for $5 each, plus $3 shipping. If you want both, I'll discount the shipping. US only please!

Both books are in "like new" condition (they look brand new!).

If you ARE interested, send me an email with which book you want to quaint and quirky at gmail dot com and I'll send you a Paypal invoice.

Changes

2012-07-02T16:58:00.002-04:00

Oh the changes that are coming in my family this summer...

Change #1 - My husband is starting a new job.
Change #2 - We are selling our current house (it sold in four days!)
Change #3 - We are buying a new (to us) house
Change #4 - As previously announced, baby #2 is joining us in August

I think there should be a legal limit to the # of stressful life-changing events one undertakes in the span of one month.

Scarily, this means I need to create CRAFT ROOM 4.0! Aaaack! Seriously?

So, GOODBYE to this:

and this:

and my yip yap barkity bark bark neighbor dogs and the motorcycles that speed down my street

and HELLO to new possibilities and decorating opportunities and family memories!

The Inside Out Skirt

2012-06-27T16:22:00.000-04:00

Although my life is seriously chaotic right now (more about that later), I found time to make Amelia a new skirt. The tulle wasn't interested in hiding underneath in this skirt. It wanted to come out and play!

If there's any interest in a tutorial, let me know! :D
(Update: There is interest - I'm working on a tutorial!)

I got the navy tulle as 50% off a remnant, which came to a whopping 75cents. The polka dot fabric was lining fabric from Joanns, that was like $1.99 for a yard. I used 12 inches, so this skirt essentially cost me a little over a dollar to make. Whoot!

I like the waist.

A little Jackie O? Except Jackie would probably be on her yacht, not in her backyard. Or maybe her yacht would be in her backyard. Here, we have a water table and a slide.

Bow available in my Etsy shoppe! I think "shoppe" is much more sophisticated than "shop." Non?

Done with her modeling career. She wants to play with her water table.

Shared at I Heart Naptime
Shared at Mommy By Day Crafter By Night

Giveaway Day Winners!

2012-05-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

The time has come to announce the winners for Giveaway Day! The winner of the skirt is:

Nichole said: "This is adorable!! Grace would look so cute in it! :) Great job! And I love your blog!!"

The winner of the vintage sewing supplies is:

She said, "I'm just having fun jumping around different blogs taking part in the giveaway. Your giveaway is very generous! Thanks for chance to win a bunch of cool sewing stuff!"

I hope winning made it even more fun! :D

It was so interesting watching the different favorite tools go by as the entries came in. I had my blog statistician (me) figure out which tool was the most popular. It was either going to be the rotary cutter or the seam ripper and it was seriously like watching a good basketball game. One side would get ahead, then the other side would go for a good run and catch up or go ahead. In the end, the rotary cutter finished strong and won with a total of 43 votes to the seam ripper's 38 votes. I agree with both tools. I can't imagine sewing without either my rotary cutter or my seam ripper.

Thank you for entering the contest and I hope the winners enjoy their prizes!

(And if you didn't win the skirt, but still want it, you could stop by my etsy shop. Just saying... :D)

A Map Pillow

2012-05-24T14:04:00.001-04:00

Josh and I like maps - maybe a little too much. The playroom in our house is a bit of a travel theme. This is mainly because before it was a playroom, it was a "man room" and we mainly just moved all the toys in there and called it a playroom.

Our couch needed pillows and I had the idea to incorporate something local and mappy into one of the pillows. I cut the pillow front from some home dec weight fabric. Then I used my Silhouette to cut a map of Rhode Island out of freezer paper.
Side note: I <3 Freezer paper!
I found using the vellum setting on the Silhouette worked perfectly.

Technical note: Since it is recommended to cut freezer paper shiny side UP, I had to mirror my map image in Silhouette studio.

Shiny side down, I ironed the outline of the map onto the pillow fabric. I painted it using Plaid fabric paint (two coats were needed). After it dried, I sewed the rest of the pillow! It really needs a pillow form one size up, but it might be years before I remember to buy one...

I'm just trying to figure out what to Silhouette on a pillow for the other side of the couch. Anchor? Compass? Bicycle? We have a boat, an airplane, and a train on the wall already. What do you think?

Linked up to: Homemaker in Heels
Tatertots and Jello
Family Ever After

Target Skirt Alert

2012-05-23T13:46:00.001-04:00

Public Service Announcement time!

Oooh, I was shopping in Target today and I happened to find myself in the kids' clearance section (it's funny how that happens, isn't it?). I saw these cute knit skirts marked down to $1.50 ! ! !

RUN... don't walk... to Target and buy some! In lots of sizes! Maybe I'll sew one to a t-shirt or tank and make a dress for Amelia. I'll let you know.

Don't be mad at me though if your Target hasn't marked them down. I don't know how Target markdowns work. I just know that at MY Target, they are $1.50. And please don't go to my Target, because I'm probably going back and buying more. : D

(Oh, and the pictures are not mine. They are from the Target website.)

Simple and Inexpensive Toddler Game

2012-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Amelia has a thing for matching. Shoes, socks, matching songs on Pandora to toys or pictures in books (like, if the Itsy Bitsy Spider comes on Pandora, she has to find a picture of a spider in a book - same thing with Winnie the Pooh, etc.).

I made a simple matching game for her by just cutting some flashcards in half. I had the flashcards from when I taught preschool and I know I got them at the dollar store.

The BEFORE cards

I spread all the pieces out and she finds the matches.

As you can see, sometimes she picks up the pieces with the wrong hands. She's learning to switch them so that it makes a perfect picture!

Ten minutes of toddler fun!

Giveaway Day - Handmade Girl's Skirt

2012-05-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Update: Winner is #55 - Nichole! She said, "This is adorable!! Grace would look so cute in it! :) Great job! And I love your blog!!"

Welcome to May Giveaway Day on Quaint and Quirky!

Today I'm giving away a lovely floral printed ruffled skirt. I've fallen in love with pre-ruffled fabric and I'd like to share one of my recent projects with it! Amelia's is getting a little too short for her now, but you can get the basic idea.

The Prize: One ruffled skirt in your choice of size - 3 months to size 5 (you pick the size 3, 6, 9, 12, or 18 months, 2T, 3T, 4T or 5T).

How to enter: Leave a comment. Any comment will do, but if you need a subject, tell me about an outfit that you love to wear.

The contest will close Friday, May 25th at 3 PM and I will announce a winner by Sunday.

Feel free to follow or come back and look around, etc. :D

Giveaway Day - Vintage Sewing Supplies

2012-05-21T06:30:00.000-04:00

Update: The winner is #164 Farscapegirl. She said, "I'm just having fun jumping around different blogs taking part in the giveaway. Your giveaway is very generous! Thanks for chance to win a bunch of cool sewing stuff!"

It's Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!

Today I will be giving away some vintage sewing supplies handed down to me. It's sort of a conglomeration, but vintage sewing supplies are fun to use and display. I have many more of these supplies in a glass jar in my craft room.

To win, please leave a comment. Any comment will do, but if you need a topic, tell me about your favorite sewing tool. :D US Only please.

The contest will close Friday, May 25th at 3 PM EST and I will choose a winner by Sunday.

Enjoy your stay, feel free to follow and come back and look around!

Repurposed Shirt into Baby Dress

2012-05-18T15:51:00.000-04:00

Mmm... The best laid plans of mice and men, right? I made Amelia's Easter dress this year from an old blouse of mine. It was an oooolllllddddd Odille Anthro blouse that I had seen online, LOVED, ordered, and tried to pretend that it looked fine on me. However, I finally came to the reality that my long torso and that short blouse just did not mesh well. I couldn't part with it, so I saved it. Fast forward many years. I finally broke down, got out the scissors, and gave the blouse some new life.

I took pictures along the way so I could do a tutorial about general ideas for repurposing blouses into baby dresses.

I didn't upload the pictures, apparently.

So now, no tutorial, but after some desperate Googling, I DID find a blog where someone was selling this blouse. Obviously the seller did not know how cute it might look as a baby dress! ;D Here is the blog link: Striped Odille Blouse

Basically, I left the neck opening completely alone (it was fairly high and tight, so it worked) and cut the blouse where I wanted the bodice of the dress to end (plus 1/2inch seam allowance). I figured out how long I wanted the skirt and measured up from the hem (leaving the hem the way it was) and added 1/2" seam allowance. So basically, I cut a strip out of the middle of the dress. I removed the sleeves, and brought in the bodice until it fit. I gathered the top of the skirt until it was the size of the bodice, then sewed them back together. I left the hem of the sleeves alone, but cut and gathered the top part, reattaching them to the arm hole. I used the belt loops from the original blouse and the belt became the dress sash (unaltered). The strip I cut from the center of the dress became the hair bow!

It would be so much better with pictures...

Oh, well, I'll just have to snip into another old blouse of mine!

Thanks for looking!

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