Rolled Roses...

Last weekend I made it back to the classroom for a little refreser course on flower embellishments. I always love taking classes, but only in subjects I am interested in. Otherwise, I get way too bored, way too fast. Miss Marian taught 4 different types of flowers and I have become addicted to 1 in particular, the tattered rolled rose.

I have found that I can roll these little roses while I watch my kids swim, they swim for hours and I can only swim for so long. So when I get out, I grab my bag of fabric scraps, a needle and thread and roll my little heart out.

These are great because they are so versatile. I have made them into headbands, hair clips, pillows and have added them to a few tank tops. When adding them to shirts you have to stitch them on by hand, but it only takes a few minutes. There are so many tutorials but here is my favorite from "Everyday Chaos." The only thing that I do different is I hand sew them as I roll instead of hot glueing. I find that glueing doesn't allow me as much control.

and of course, I had to add a few ruffles...

This rose is a little different but same over all concept. You can find the tutorial here at "Tea Rose Home."

A few of these are hanging right now at Sweet 'N' Sassy, with a few more in "progress" for next week. I am attempting to add tulle under the skirts to make them a bit fuller for the older girls. We'll see how they come out.

Rockstars & Cheetos

Wow. I'm with Robin. I thought I'd have tons of down time this summer, and would have lots of time to get to all the crafty ideas I've been storing in my brain. Not that I'm complaining, we've been having lots of fun in the sun!

I had bought the recycled t-shirt Sienna Dress Pattern from Lil Blue Boo a few months ago, and FINALLY have got around to trying it out. I've made two dresses for Charlie so far, and I can't stop looking at all the t-shirts in my closet, scheming up more possibilities.

I picked out these three shirts to start out with...

... and this is how it turned out.

We call it the 'Rockstar' dress.

Rockin' out to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'

I still had leftover t-shirt remnants, so I found another orange t-shirt to transform.

We love Cheetos!

We've also dropped off a few more items at Sweet 'N' Sassy this week... with plans for more next week. We're planning on really beefing up the collection so that there's more sizes to choose from.

These are girls tie appliques out of lace. There's ribbon or lace stitched around the neckline, with a button for a tie pin. I love these, so I'm excited to see how they do in the shop!

...and of course, some more boys tie appliques!

Hope to have some more fun things to post soon...

I'm Back...

I have been a little MIA lately. I honestly thought with the kids out of school, I would have so much free time, little did I know, it would be the complete opposite. I finally sat down to finish a few projects for Sweet 'N' Sassy and delivered them this morning. I am trying to use more of my vintage stash because it is over flowing, and I just like vintage materials, it is my way of recycling.

I have been pondering the idea of turning a onesie into a dress. I looked and looked at ideas, and finally gave up, looked at my materials and started with my own concept. I knew what I wanted it turn out like, I just didn't know where to begin. Here's what I came up with.

I think it is very sweet looking, I really wish Nellie could fit into it, she was a very sweet baby. Jaime was right, we need a little baby model, if she would only have one;)

Since Nellie is too big for this one, we made one in her size.

It is not a dress, more of a tunic. It also makes a great bathing suit cover up. I have this great Miami Vice looking material that I plan on converting into beach cover ups soon, well as soon as I can get around to it anyway.

Put Me In Coach: A Baseball Tee Re-fashion

This is a t-shirt that I've had on my mind for a while now. My mom bought a baseball tee from Anthropologie that had lace trim in the seams, and I thought to myself... 'Self, I could totally make that!' So when I found this blue and gray tee marked down to $3, I thought it was a good time to give it a try.

Now, I am not a pro, but this is how I did it....

I turned the baseball tee inside out and got one of my favorite fitting shirts out of the closet. Then I placed my favorite t-shirt on top of the baseball tee and lined it up to the collar, sleeves and seams.

I used a chalk pencil to mark a line about an inch off my favorite tee.

Grabbed my scissors and cut around the chalk line... no turning back now.

Got out my lace stash and chose the trim.

Cut on both sides of the sleeve seem.

I turned the raw sleeve edges under and pressed (pictures were blurry, sorry!). Then pinned the lace trim to the pressed sleeve seams.

Headed on over to my sewing machine, and sewed the lace trim to the seam.

Originally, I was planning on only adding the lace to the front seams. But then decided to totally commit and do all four.

Put right sides together and pin.

Sew seams, trying to remember not to sew the sleeves shut!

Making a sleeve hem... I wanted to go with two folds, but I didn't leave myself enough fabric. Next time.

Finished product. Subtle embellishment, just the way I like it!

Really hate posing for photos... but I can take one for the team.

Of course I needed a little red for the 4th of July holiday, so I made a this headband with red bandana fabric.

So that's it! I've been wanting to experiment with jersey and t-shirt re-sizing and re-purposing... so this was a good start.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend!

"The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day."

Another break from sewing today... because my parent's apricot tree is LOADED with fruit. I'm crazy about preserving, mainly jams and marmalades, so I started with a batch of apricot jam today.

My mom dropped this box on my doorstep a year or so ago, and I've been using it ever since. We have access to lots of fruit trees, berries and gardens, so I rarely have to buy any fruit or vegetables to can...

Apricots are one of my favorite summer fruits, but they don't last long on the tree... because the birds love them too! So we're trying to preserve and eat as many as possible.

Making jam was a little intimidating

at first, but it's quite painless, and it

tastes SO much better than the stuff

you can buy at the supermarket.

I found this recipe, and chose it because it didn't call for peeling the apricots. I don't mind a little work, but peeling the skin off seemed unnecessary to me.

So the apricots get washed, seeded, roughly chopped and everyone gets thrown into the hot tub.

... stir and add some heat. The sugar melts and things come up to a boil pretty quickly.

After a 30 minute boil, we're ready to do a gel test.

I like to put a small glass plate in the freezer when I start to make the jam, and by this point it's cold enough to test. Just drop a little bit of jam on the plate and wait a few seconds to make sure it sets.

The jars also need to be sterilized and hot when the jam is ready to be canned. Seems like a lot of steps, but it's just a matter of timing! I put the jars in the dishwasher and start my water boiling at the same time... that way everything is ready to go by the time the jam is done.

The lids also need a little soak in hot water, to ensure a good seal.

Jam in the jars before lids are on...

Lids on, everyone in the hot tub again. The recipe called for a 10 minute water bath, and I usually add a couple minutes more... so we went for 12 minutes.

The finished product.

Now I get to hear the symphony of 'pings', when the lids clamp down as the temperature cools.

I got 9 and 1/2 half pint jars out of this recipe... and it's gonna kick my PB&J up a notch!