A Valentine's Sewing Compulsion

I'm sure I'm not the only one who sometimes gets that overwhelming urge to make something fairly ridiculous. This shirt was a must, a need.

Originally, I hadn't planned on making Hendrix any Valentine clothing, or maybe just doing some fun stenciling on tshirt. But then I remembered that I had a yard of this hilarious personal ads fabric that my friend Delia sent to me because she didn't know what to do with it. It was 2 days ago when I realized how perfectly destined it was to be a button down shirt for my 3 year old, and I kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner. But as short on time as I was, it still had to be done. 

I mean, is it borderline inappropriate? Maybe? I think it's in that sweet spot between hilarious and way too weird- the one I strive for :) There is nothing obscene on it, just some double entendres. And I figure there is no better time than before he learns to read, for clothing him in an outdated form of texty loneliness. (Do they even have these in papers anymore? Or is it just Craigslist now?)

The sewing is really rushed since I finished it around midnight last night. Threads hanging out, blue marks still all over it, the inside seams a bit of a mess. But I'm so happy I got it done in time for him to wear to school today. It would have been a waste after today!

The pattern is the Oliver & S Sketchbook Shirt in a size 5. He's also wearing his Oliver & S After School Pants from the Ferris Bueller Film Petit. He loves the shirt and totally thinks he such a big boy in it. That shirt is not for the faint of heart, but I enjoyed making it. It's just a lot of steps, some a little finicky, but the end result is just so great. And it's my practice for this month's Film Petit, which will need another Sketchbook shirt. (Oh no, did I totally just give away the movie?)

Smoldering. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

(get more Arrested Development Valentines here. and awesome Wes Anderson ones here.)

Holiday Handmades and Going Viral

The ice cream truck must have been driving by or something.... in November... twice. 

The week before Thanksgiving I decided the kids needed some new thankful duds. Hendrix got a shirt that was already cut out and waiting in the pile of KCWC leftovers. (You remember, the one where I planned like 18 garments and actually sewed 2.)

It's the Easy Linen Shirt pattern from Sewing For Boys. I liked it because it's a somewhat structured woven shirt, but without the real collar and placket. So it was a really quick sew. I used a gray striped linen from Joann. 

And Elsie got her first ever dress sewn from an Oliver & S pattern. For some reason this was momentous to me. Maybe I've just been waiting so long to make one just for her, since I've made two as shop samples. 

And the pattern did not disappoint. It's the Family Reunion Dress, size 18-24 months, made up in AMH Field Study and Michael Miller's mirror ball dots on the contrast. Both are from Sewn Studio. I just love how sweet this design is, especially on a younger girl. All the pin tucks remind me of vintage children's clothing, and it has the most perfect gathered sleeve. 

As if shimmery fabric and glittery shoes weren't enough, I really went for the holiday glam with these glass buttons. They are a little tarnished because they're from the vintage collection my mom gave me, but they are still very sparkly in person. I love them A LOT on this dress. 

Today I also wanted to show you this absolutely gorgeous pillow I received in the flickr Pillow Talk Swap.  It was made by Jenn and she really got me. I love the soft colors, the gray and yellow together, and the great straight line quilting. She used several of my current favorite fabrics, and the pop of aqua in the binding is perfect. We are loving it in the living room!

One last thing! Have you guys seen these guys around lately? It's kind of crazy to me where my little felt Peanuts ornaments are popping up. After they got pinned by a few of the right people, they were featured on Makezine. Then yesterday they were on Huffpost Home (What?!) and today they are on Buzzfeed.

Is reaching Buzzfeed the standard for going viral? Probably not, but it's fun.

Two Thankful Turkeys, and a Winner

Over the weekend we filled a big box with a bunch of food and a frozen turkey for a food drive that a mega-church near our house is running. It's a huge undertaking where families get a box or two or three and a list of what to fill it with, then come back to the church parking lot the next weekend to drop it off in this elaborate drive thru where you are met with cheering volunteers wearing turkey hats and listening to trendy pop music. They take in hundreds of thousands of pounds of food each year, and haul them away in the tractor trailers that line the parking lot. Impressive operation really.

Before we went shopping Saturday morning, I had the kids make these turkey cards at the last minute to put in our box, and took the opportunity to explain to Hendrix what we were shopping for an why. We talked about it the whole time the kids sat in the shopping cart, filling the box. I felt like we had done a splendid job introducing Hendrix to simple acts of kindness and goodness. Yes, we were awesome parents.

Then as we left the drive thru waving to the crazed church volunteers, Hendrix began to weep. Like not the tantrumy, I'm not getting my way crying, but the I'm so sad in the depths of my little 3 year old brain weeping. He thought we had just given away our own Thanksgiving and he had no idea why.

Welp, guess that didn't sink in as well as I was thinking.

Of course, we were able to calm him down and reassure him that we would have our own very blessed Thanksgiving with our friends in a few short days. And I'm sure he will continue to understand kindness more and more if we keep making sure to show him. But I realized it's actually really good right now that he didn't get it. Of course he would have no concept of money and how some families don't have enough and some families have a whole heaping bunch of it. I kind of don't want him to understand that for a really really long time. I kind of want myself to un-understand that, especially on those days when I'm constantly thinking our family is on the lacking side. It's a ridiculous thought.

So I guess this turned into my Thanksgiving-hey-I'm-thankful kind of post, and I don't even do those kinds of posts.  Whoops :)


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Anyway, I guess I should pick a winner for the Modern Designs for Classic Quilts giveaway, huh?

According to random.org, the winner is #7, Allison C who said:

"I haven't tried hexies and log cabins, but it is on the list!"

Congrats Allison, I'll email you!

Elsie's Stocking

Elsie is no longer stockingless. Phew. 

It's inspired by this one I saw from Land of Nod. Mine has a different shape, but I like it's chunkiness. I used that linen I use for everything (like here, here, and here) and felt and rid rac from Sewn. 

I love the graphic print on the inside too. I'm so happy with the way this turned out and how bubble-gum happy yum-yum candy Christmas it is. That is not how any of our other Christmas stuff is, but none of that really matches either. I like our mismatchy stockings for now, but there might be more stocking making going on next year.

I used the leftover felt and some green I already had to make Hendrix his own tree to decorate. Simplest thing ever, but he was beside himself squealing with joy over this felt tree. See Angela's much cuter version here.


I have been sewing gifts like a mad woman all week, but I still have a lot to do. I love the pressure though, feels like college days. I'm sure I won't be checking back in here until after the holidays, so have a very happy Christmas!

Dragon Costume!

Hendrix, who is two and a half, has been talking about having a "bwack fwagon" costume for at least 2 weeks straight now. I thought this would be the last year that I got to choose what he would be, but no. His mind was made up.

At first, I was trying to talk him out of the black, because I was thinking it would end up a little too evil looking for a 2 year old. But black has always been his favorite color, and I guess he was thinking of the main dragon in "How to Train Your Dragon."

But now I'm really glad he wanted black because it was easy to find cheap black sweats at Target, and it just looks super cute with the blue and green accents. He absolutely loves it, and I think it's my favorite costume yet as well. It really is more fun to make what they want. (Last year he was a fox, and he spent his first Halloween as a garden gnome.)

The tail is sagging here, but usually it's very um, erect. I used this tutorial, which is awesome. For the rest of the spikes up his back, I just cut the hoodie completely in half, attached a row of spikes and sewed it back together.

For the wings, I just drew the shape I wanted on to the felt and cut, added a little black trim and the decorative black stitching, and hand stitched them on the jacket. 

Before I sewed the two halves of the hoodie back together, I also cut into them from the top to halfway down each side of the hood, about an inch back from the edge. Then I attached the ears and horns and sewed that back together. This of course took the hood in a little, which is why it doesn't quite cover his huge noggin. But it still stays on fine. I stuck pipe cleaners inside the ears to keep their shape. I think it's definitely the ears that keep the whole costume cute and not too black demon-ish. Nick says they are dopey ears. 

I also added the blue felt on the front for a belly, first stitching decorative scales onto it. I love the way that detail looks. 

The feet just tie around his ankles with black straps. Let me know if anyone would like more details about those or the ears and horns. Those things could be adopted to lots of easy hoodie-and-pants costumes. 

I really love Halloween. Like a lot. It's probably taken the lead over Christmas as my favorite holiday since becoming an adult. I grew up in Florida and I just don't remember it being as much fun there as it is up here. Probably because fall is kind of non-existent there. Here in Ohio, there are so many Halloween and Harvest events going on in October you couldn't possibly do them all. I love it and I'll be sad when this month is over and the holiday blur begins. I mean, I love Christmas too, but Halloween is still about fun and not stress. Anyhow, that's my unsolicited opinion on holidays, so stick that in your back pocket. 

When Hendrix first put this on, he immediately said he had to go fight in the sky. Love this kid.

Blog Detox

I'm taking a little vacation from this blog. Or maybe it's more like continuing a vacation :) Anyway, I just need some time away from the interwebs. Though I love it so, as we all do, sometimes I feel like the interwebs are scrambling my brains and eyeballs. It's summer. I need to go outside and play in water hoses and eat fresh guacamole. Computer screens aren't the most summery-ist.

Plus, I want the stuff I share here to be fresh and interesting and I don't want to ever feel like I have to post anything because of "the pressure." I never intended to make money or anything as a blogger, so when I start feeling pressure to post something just because I haven't in a while, well, that's dumb. There's really no reason to do that. I think we'll all enjoy this more if I never do that.

And then there's the whole blogger's inner dialogue thing. Do you ever start writing posts in your head during the course of your day? Like when something happens I sometimes start figuring out how I would write it for the blog. Then I immediately think to myself, "What is wrong with me?" Also dumb. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does that though. I don't know, maybe it's not dumb for bloggers to do that, but for me, I don't want to take this thing that seriously.

I'll come back in a week or two or whenever I miss you guys and share what I've been up to, including my finished quilt.

Just a couple things before I go...

This gorgeous Loulouthi spread came in the mail today. Yes, I already have plans for my next quilt. This might get addicting, which would make my mom oh so proud :)

If you're into getting gussy for the holidays, or just really like jumbo ric rac, check out this pillow tutorial I did for Sewn, the fabric shop I work in. I'm looking forward to the Fourth... We're free!!! (Picture me yelling that while running around with sparklers in each hand.)

And lastly, Project Runway begins in one short month. Then we'll certainly have something to talk about. Who's with me?

Eric Carle style cards

I'm a bit late in posting our little Mother's Day project for the grandmothers, but it's something you could fit to any occasion or just a fun art project.

Everyone loves Eric Carle books. He does his illustrations by making collages of paper painted in different colors and textures.

So first we did some painting. (Actually the Mr. did this with Hendrix while he let me sleep in, his own idea. Yeah, he's pretty good.)

Then I cut out circles and various flower shapes from his paintings. The textures look so cool on these. 

Then he picked the flowers he wanted to put on each card and painted glue on the back with a paint brush.

I drew the stems and added the ribbon and a cute picture. I think they were a hit!

Has anyone ever been to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art? I would looooooove to go. We are going to Boston in July, but I don't know if I could convince the rest of my family to make the 2 hour drive. If you've been, would it be worth it?

Easter Outfits in the Hospital

Easter morning in the hospital didn't turn out to be such a bad thing. The Easter Bunny brought our baskets straight there, which was nice of him. And mom and dad got to be lazy while all the grandparents got Hendrix dressed and took him to church. Well, I don't know if it's called being lazy when you've been up every 3 hours in the night. Either way, the doctors were eager to let people go home so they signed off on Elsie and I both, and we were home by early afternoon. I'd say bringing home the sweetest brand new little girl is a pretty good Easter.

This is what my neurotic self was working on last Thursday afternoon, the day before we were supposed to report to the hospital for a c-section at 6am. It probably would have made more sense to be packing so I wouldn't be up until 12 doing that, but I have priorities. 

The seersucker shorts I made using MADE's pants pattern, and I lined them with an old gray t-shirt. The bow tie I made like Prudent Baby's version, only I put velcro on the band instead of one of those fancy tie slides. Shirt and shoes are from Target.

Elsie wore the first dress I made her, but I didn't get any great pictures of them together. 

Alright mom and dad, this hospital hallway photoshoot is lame. Let's eat candy. 

Easter: Baskets, Grass, Eggs... and Neuroses

Hi, my name is Jessica and I have a problem. I can't leave well enough alone. Why did I get caught up in this unnecessary Easter basket makeover project the week before having a baby? Who knows. Sometimes making things just gets a little compulsive. I'm sure some of you can relate. This craft blogging thing is really one big support group for a very neurotic bunch. It feels good to admit.

I found these baskets for the kids in the dollar section at Target. They are not spectacular, but really are a pretty cute find. They didn't need a makeover, but in my neurotic state I decided they did. 

I was inspired by Delia Creates to spray paint them. Her painted gray baskets look awesome. I had this yellow paint that didn't work for another project. Turns out it didn't work for this one either. So no thanks, I don't want the Easter baskets looking like a fungus-infected toenail. 

Thankfully, I also had some red paint leftover from this project. At first, I thought I wouldn't like it because it's not exactly the most Easter-y color. But after I made the gray liner I loved the color combo. It's a manly basket. And I was actually smart enough to leave the girly one nude. 

To make the liners I just used the old ones as a pattern to figure it out and added the bias tape trim. And even though it was completely unnecessary, I do love the way they look now. Hopefully, they can be used for many more years. 

Now a word about Easter grass. It's evil. Everyone knows it. Does anyone even buy that stuff anymore? You end up still finding pieces of it around the house in October. Good grief. But my baskets are quite deep, and goodness knows I'm not filling them with that many goodies. I need some kind of filler. 

We recently got a new coffee maker that uses special filters, so we have about 200 of these lovely unbleached ones sitting in the pantry. 

DIY it:

1. Take 3-4 filters at a time and separate the edges out, but keep them stacked. 

2. Cut between every second ridge, leaving about an inch of uncut area in the middle.

3. Bring the fringy stuff together like a flower and staple at the bottom. 

Fluff them up and it only takes a few to fill up a basket. I used five of these quick clusters. And the best part is, they are in units that are big enough to locate and dispose of. They won't be migrating around your home well into the yuletide. Well, unless you have the kind of home that appears on Hoarders or something... then you really should find a support group, the non-virtual kind.


Now the baskets are ready for the kids' bunnies and a few small treats. We just need to decorate some eggs. I'm thinking we'll try this method. How do you do your eggs?

Getting a Jumpstart on the Easter Bunny- with Bunnies

This week I made these little bunnies, which I saw on MADE, for the kids' Easter baskets.  (Wow, it's really kind of weird to be thinking in terms of "the kids.") 

Looks like my surgery is scheduled for Good Friday, which means we will most likely still be in the hospital Easter morning. So I'll put these in baskets ahead of time with a few other small treats, and Easter is ready to go. 

I did all the face embroidery with stitches on my machine. I'd love to learn a little hand embroidery someday, but for now I am just fine with the easy way out. I kind of like the girl bunny more, I think because I made her limbs chubbier and eyes lower. 

I'm usually not this good at planning ahead, but this is really just my way of procrastinating making H's birthday gift. His birthday is Wednesday and I really can't decide what handmade gift to go with. I like the idea of a big car playmat, but I just can't get that excited about it. Maybe a better idea will come along... maybe you have it...