Flocked

I’ve always loved chickens. I rescued one when I was 13, though now I’m pretty sure it didn’t need rescued and ended up chicken napped, and have raised them off and on since then.

It makes me feel like the little country girl I always wanted to be, living the farm life milking cows and stuff, but we always lived in town. Now I get to wake up to chickens clucking. I send the kids to gather eggs, 6-8 every day. I pawn off eggs to all our family members that visit.  The neighbors hate us since we still live in town and have 8 chickens in our backyard that like to hang out against the fence 5 or so feet from their bedroom window in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I should send some eggs over but I’m kind of afraid they would end up on my house.

When I’m sewing in our dining room I can see them running after bugs through the window.  See Betty (or “Nugget” depending on which kid you ask), she likes the new dress set I just finished for Kennedy.

When I ran across this chicken fabric it had to come home with me. It was one of those sale things I grabbed because it was cute and had no idea what I was going to do with it.

I needed a plastic bag holder and thought it would be fun to add a little something. It hides in our laundry room but every time I see Mr. Rooster and his harem it makes me smile. Sometimes you just need a fun fabric that you wouldn’t really use for anything spectacular but it makes you happy. Next time I get out of the sticks and see a real fabric store I might have to buy more, he’s growing on me.

Have a great weekend!

Little old lady and her new dress

Ms. Ashy pants turned 10 ten days ago. That’s practically 12. Then 18. Then 26.  It seems like just last year I was telling Cody over breakfast that I thought the baby was coming that day and he assured me she wasn’t. I’m positive it was last summer that they announced over the golf course that Mr. Baxter needed to go home- his wife was having a baby.  He barely made it. Well maybe not barely since she came 3 hours later but I was right and she came. That’s what counts when I tell the story.

We celebrated and I allowed her to get older again. I need to stop doing that.

I’m in a dress making mood lately so I let her go first since she was the birthday girl. She picked a really easy style and we got it done last week. She’s not fond of frilly gathered numbers anymore. A part of me cried when she stopped liking tutus and pink wasn’t her favorite color anymore. Then I realized how fun it is to sew more grown up styles in bold prints. Thank goodness she still likes bold. Can’t cut me off cold turkey!

I guess that happens when you get so old. You start wanting more grown up things to wear.

It’s just a simple cut around dress with a cinched up waist but to her it was the dress that made her feel 10. I get it. I’ll gladly support her new wardrobe choices as long as I get to keep making them and she still wants to wear them.

Love that Ashy girl.

Crafty crafty.

A little happy something I’m bragging about today- last week I was lucky enough to be featured on The Craft Warehouse Design. Create. Inspire. blog!

I’m really embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize The Craft Warehouse had a blog, considering I shop there all the time. They have some amazing stuff on there by some super creative people. They have sewing, paper, crafts, you name it they have a really cute idea for it on there.  I found another blog to stalk.  If you aren’t stalking them to you should go check it out. If you already know about them you can stop by and say hi and see my little face and know that this chick got pretty darn excited to be there.

If you're a pinterest-aholic (aren’t we all!) they are there as well.

Have a happy Monday! I am!

Pillowcase nightgown tutorial

They are so easy it’s embarrassing so I thought I would just write out what I did with some of my super fantastic hand drawn pictures instead of making you wait until I feel like making another pair, which might be until the weather gets a lot warmer.  A little lame but hey… here goes!

They are basically a modified pillowcase dress made out of knit. Easy peasy. The two I made were about a girls size 10 so my directions are based on that. Tweak away for bigger or smaller sizes. I made mine with my serger and my machine but I have made them with just my machine before. Use a ball point needle and you’ll be fine since they don’t need to stretch.
First I cut out 2 pieces of fabric for the back and front. I used the width of my fabric for the width and measured from the chest to the knee for the length.   So each of my pieces were about 55” wide x 30” tall. I know that’s a ton of fabric width wise but that’s what makes it look good, especially for knit. For adult sizes I would keep the width the same just adjust the length.
Grab one piece for your front and measure from the top down, on the fold, 1 1/2”. Cut from that mark up to the outside edge corner like so. You only need to do this to the front piece. The back should be straight across the top.
Now you mark the armscye by measuring about 2 1/2” from the outside edge toward the center and 5” down from the top. You want to round the bottom corner so it’s more of a “J” shape than a rectangle and cut through all thicknesses for the front and back piece.
*If you want to make ruffling easier you can sew gathered strips of 4” wide fabric to the bottom of the front and back pieces here and sew them together when you sew the sides up. That’s what I did but forgot and had to edit that in here.*
Now put the front piece on top of the back piece with right sides together and sew down the straight sides.
Fold the armscye edges under toward the inside 1/4” and then another 1/4” and sew along the outside edge.

Fold the top neck edges down 1/4” and then another 1” and sew close to the edge for the front and back. Don’t sew the sides of that seam shut, this is the casing for the tie.

For the neck tie cut a strip of fabric the width of your fabric (55”-60” long) by 4” wide. Fold in half right sides together and sew along the open edges rounding the corners as you go. Leave a space open in the middle for turning. Turn right side out and sew the opening shut.

For the ruffle cut strips of fabric 4” wide and sew them together right sides together. The amount of strips you need will depend on how gathered you want it and how big you are making your jammies.

Sew the ruffle on the bottom right sides together then topstitch to keep it laying nice and flat.  Thread the tie through the casing in the neck and tie in a big fat adorable bow.

I’ll try to answer questions in the comments for all to see. Hope your Monday just got a bit better!

The trifecta of sweetness

Making baby gifts has to be one of my most favorite things ever. If I can’t make them for myself that is. There’s just something so gratifying in being able to play with baby stuff even if you don’t have a reason to have it around yourself. It’s almost like getting ready for a new baby again without the sleepless nights and stretch marks. Win win!

Since I’m not making anything for me baby related anytime in the near future I’m so glad I have a brand new niece to play with. Jake just doesn’t look good in pink and he’s already 30 lbs so it wouldn’t cover him anyway, sigh.

Bubble gum pink swiss dot, floral flannel, and coral lace. I loved it so much I cut out two. There’s another baby girl I was going to give it to but I can’t let it go just yet. For now baby Kyla has one and since she lives too far away and I don’t get to snuggle her I get one to stare at until I’m ready to move on and gift it.

I’m getting itchy to sew more baby stuff so I hope I get some more nieces and nephews soon. Hurry up family!!!

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

The Outies

 

A fancy camera does not a photographer make. Photography takes knowledge, talent, and the patience of a saint. I’m fresh out of all of those.

This is the best I have of our Easter dressy shots. All my pictures were out takes. All I asked for was to look at the camera and smile. I wasn’t naïve enough to think I could control their body movements or hand positions. If they stand close enough together and no one is pulling hair or rolling on the ground writhing in picture pain I call it a win.  All I care about are the faces. Please. Pretty pretty please.

 

I begged. Sneezes don’t care. Jake and Jeremy don’t either. After 5 shots they expired and turned into pumpkins. And then there were 4-

I bribed them.

I threatened to sell them to the circus.

I told them I would set them free with one smile, just one teeny weeny little smile.

One of them, bet you can’t guess who, kept sneezing. At least I got three of them to kind of smile right.

And I was left with this when I begged/pleaded/threatened/bribed head spinning in circles to get just one last good one.

I was going to take individual pictures to show off the dresses I made (the first, second, and fourth dress, mom made the third) but I didn’t have it in me.

Next year.

Next year I’m not letting them have their Easter baskets until I get one good picture! Might be weeks until they get to eat their peeps ;o).

Hope your pictures turned out better than mine!

A little snippet

 

Things are happening.

Stripe, swiss, floral, and gingham things! Haven’t flexed the ol’ sewing muscle in too long. Not that my sewing break was intentional but that happens to the best of us.

Back to the machine I go!

Shabby Apple Winner!

Today is the day my friends to see who gets to wear their very own Shabby Apple Boogie Woogie dress!  Mr. random number generator picked #42.

Erika W.Jan 30, 2012 07:18 PM

I like them on facebook and love this dress! Thanks for the chance to win!

For the rest of us who didn’t cross our fingers tight enough there’s still a 10% off coupon code everydaychaos10off to help ease the pain of defeat. Congrats Erika and thanks Shabby Apple for the awesome giveaway!

Travel accommodations.

Don’t forget the Shabby Apple dress giveaway ends tomorrow! Enter here if you haven’t.

A little something I whipped up for my favorite 5 year old this week. A quick wallet using up some scraps and pant zippers during nap time. Quick=wonky but I think it turned out pretty cute.

I asked her what she wanted to carry in it since she’s not packing Benjamins most of the time. Toys of course, duh! So this trifold has a cash pocket, a coin pocket, a card pocket (just for fun since she doesn’t pack those either), and a pillow and blanket pocket.

I want someone to pack me to the store in bed. If only all princesses were this lucky!

The zipper is my favorite part.

Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Shabby Apple dress giveaway!

***Giveaway is now closed***

While I’m plugging away at a few projects I thought now would be the perfect time for a giveaway! With Valentines day right around the corner who doesn’t need a great new dress?

Shabby Apple has a great site filled with amazing women’s dresses, little girls dresses, even maternity dresses and swimwear.  I love the vintage inspired styles, especially this navy blue Champs Elysees dress and the super cute scalloped Red Fox dress. I would go into the woods more often if I had a dress like that.


The one thing I’m always on the look out for though is a really cute little black dress. I found this black Boogie Woogie dress and loved it.

Today I get to give away this dress to one of you lucky ducks! Here's what you have to do to get your hands on your very own Shabby Apple Boogie Woogie dress.
To Enter- Go now to Shabby Apple on Facebook and "like" them, then come back and leave a comment on this post letting me know you did.  If you don’t want to do the Facebook thing, no prob. Just head over to Shabby Apple and tell me what dress is your favorite. That's it!  One entry comment per person please.
The Nitty Gritty- The giveaway will go until Thursday Feb. 2nd and the winner will be announced on Friday the 3rd.  You must have a US shipping address and there will be no exchanges for the winning dress.

Shabby Apple is also graciously giving my readers a 10% off coupon code! Just use code everydaychaos10off at checkout. Just in time to find a new dress for your hot valentines date ;o). I’m a sucker for a sale, but hurry this code is good for 30 days only.

Have a fantastic weekend and good luck!