A Fall Dress

I have had this pattern for several months, and every time I would go to cut it out it just wouldn't happen. I guess I was just waiting on the right fabric. Early this summer, I was roaming around Hancocks on one of my excursions without the kids and found the Pimatex on sale, 30% off. When I saw these green and brown prints, I knew they were perfect for this little dress and even more perfect for fall. Yes, I was longingly looking forward to fall during the scorching heat of the Memphis summer. This Sunday, we are suppose to experience our first real autumn weather, and I think this will be perfect over a sweet little long sleeve shirt for church.  So, here it is, my fall dress for Katie (minus the button). The pattern is The Valentina Dress from Made by Lex.

A Quick One

Not a lot of time to post because I have to run and get kids. We had a restless night and were up very very early, so I've spent most of my me-time today laying around and working on my knitting and catching up on One Tree Hill. But, I did get a chance to start turning this:

  ...In to my version of this:

The pattern is The Valentina dress from Made By Lex and the fabric Robert Kaufman Pimatex found on sale at Hancocks early this summer. Hopefully, it will be done tomorrow!

A Break

I missed posting yesterday because I didn't really have anything crafty to post. I am so worn out with doing KCWC and potty training boot camp in the same week that I took the last couple of days off from sewing. However, I could not not do something crafty so I made a bunch of bows and posted them in my Etsy Shop . I am planning on getting my sewing back on this afternoon since my next door neighbour, Ms Sandy, is coming over to sew with me. Then, I am off to my local Knitting Guild meeting for this month. If you are in the Memphis area, come by the Poplar White Station library for our meeting at 6:30. Bring your knitting and come hang out with us. Tonight, we will be having a presentation on toe-up socks. So, if you want to learn how to construct a sock from the toe-up, come on out and join us!
In the meantime, here is some tutorial link love:

 Made: The Circle Skirt

 Our Daily Obsession: Tank Top Toddler Dress

12 Crafts Til Christmas: Baby Doll Accessories

Prudent Baby: Fat Quarter Apron

Happy sewing Ladies! Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some completed projects of my own.

New in the Shop

Holiday bows are now available in my Etsy shop. I have also added Itty Bitty 2 inch pinwheel bows and medium sized 3 inch pinwheel bows. See shop for details!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Day Seven

Potty training is majorly under way at my house, and with my little potty camper, it feels like I am chained to the bathroom. I swear, she would spend all day in there! Anyway, between hanging out in the bathroom with her and cleaning up accidents (with a little help from my awesome husband), I did manage to get this little jacket sewn. The pattern is The Girly Cardigan from Heidi and Finn. I did tweak mine a little. First of all, the original instructions say to line it. Well, I am kind of a sewing rebel and with this potty thing going on, who has time to sew in lining? So, I left it out. Second, I inserted the ties differently and made mine more of a wrap cardi instead of tying at the front. I just really like that look, so that's what I did. I also did the ruffling as I sewed it on by folding it under a little every inch or two. Katie loves it. She wore it around all afternoon. I hate that I was too busy to get a pic of her in it b/c it looks adorable on her.

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Day Six

Katie went to mother's day out this morning, so it was Caleb and mommy day. However, at least an hour was spent running errands and he only napped for about an hour before we had to pick her up, so I didn't have much time to work on my KCWC stuff. I did get a second coat on this little t-shirt I stencilled for Caleb to match Katie's Halloween top. I used fabric paint and a shirt I found on clearance at Target.

Look how cheap this was!

I also spent a little while watching this week's One Tree Hill online and making these little hair bows for a custom order to go out tomorrow. These are part of my 3.5 inch value pack -  5 for 12.00 You choose colors.

Hopefully, if I have some time this afternoon, I'll get this cut out

 ... to make this...

from Dear My Kids. I'm planning it for Caleb, so I will be leaving off the ruffly pocket and using a button instead of the bow closure. I also plan to make it reversible.


I'm also planning to turn this

...into this..

from Heidi and Finn. I love their patterns and I think the leopard is going to be super cute as a ruffly cardigan.

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Day Five

I bought this fabric at Hancock's last month with this exact little top in mind. I love little holiday themed clothes on little kids, and I love shopping for the fabric for the holiday clothes. When I saw this, I thought it was super cute. The owls dressed up as bats... Love it! The pattern is The Twirl Top from Growing Up with Rosie. I did not have enough fabric to do the ruffle around the bottom like in the original tutorial, so I ended up doing a border instead. Plus, a ruffle would have taken longer and since my two-year-old, who did not take a nap at all today, is potty training and my 11 month old only slept for about 45 minutes total, I did not have much time for sewing anyway.

I'm exhausted and headed to bed soon. See y'all tomorrow!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Day Four

Today, I spent more time hitting up the Hancocks sale and shopping for fabric than actually sewing, but I did manage to get Caleb's fleece hoodie sewn before I picked the kids up from Mother's Day Out. The pattern is All the Rage Raglans by The Scientific Seamstress. The applique template is the Cute Critters Applique Design by Precious Patterns. The fabric is remnants from other projects.

  See ya tomorrow!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Day Three and Sewing Pattern Sale

Today is day 3 of the Kids Clothes Week Challenge and since my children are still napping and my chicken n dumplins are going in the crock pot, I decided to take a quick break to blog about it. Today, I worked on the cardigan I am knitting for Caleb, sewed a pair of ruffle pants for Katie, and cut out a fleece hoodie for Caleb.

The pants are made using Hobby Lobby fabric and the pattern is Boutique Bottoms from Sew Sensible. Can I just say I LOVE this pattern! It is extremely easy and can be done so fast. I had these babies busted out in about 30 minutes with super cute results.

I made them to go with this top that I did last summer. It was a little big then, but will be perfect over these really cute long sleeve white t-shirts I found at Old Navy. They are basic T's, but they have little feminine details like gathering on the sleeve. The top is also made from Hobby Lobby fabric and the pattern is Faith Double Layer Dress Top also from Sew Sensible.

Here is the progress on Caleb's cardi:

 While I was reading through my Dashboard blog list, I came upon this post over at The Sewing Dork. She is giving away a super cute size 2T swing jacket made from the pattern by Dear My Kids. Dear My Kids has also teamed up with the Sewing Dork to offer patterns buy one, get one free. Well, of course I can't resist a good sale, so I popped over to the Etsy shop and bought 2 patterns and got 2 free! I need some good fall patterns that I can use for either a boy or a girl, and here is what I got. Head on over to the Sewing Dork for details!

For the vest, I will probably leave off the pocket and do a button or two for Caleb instead of the bow.

This coat will probably be made in corduroy- pink for Katie, navy for Caleb.

Got this one because ruffle pants on Caleb would be just wrong

And, lastly, this one is for Katie. I have a similar pattern I bought at Hancocks, but she's outgrown it and I love this look.

Tomorrow the plan is to whip up one of these hoodies in fleece. See ya tomorrow!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge Days One and Two

Some of you know I signed up for the Kid's Clothes Week Challenge over at Elsie Marley, and this is my project for yesterday and today. The pattern is The Summer Wonderland Dress from Mani Mina and the fabric is from Hobby Lobby. I know this is suppose to be a week of sewing fall clothes, but since it is still 100 degrees here in Memphis and I have had this dress cut out forever, I figured today was the perfect day to sew it. I did have Katie model it over a long sleeved white t-shirt to give it a kind of autumn jumper look ;)

 
I am not leaving Caleb out this week. For my knitting project, I am working on A Cardigan for Merry from anny purls. I mean, how cute it this?

Mine is going to be in a darker green, super soft, cotton yarn.

Not sure if it counts, but I also made some turkey hairbows to match the turkey jumper that I am hoping to get cut out and sewn this week. We'll see...

As Requested

Many of you know how I love a good recipe, and some of you may know that I love love love fall. However, many of you may not know my appreciation for the awesomeness of breakfast food. Here is a recipe that combines all three. So, without further ado and as requested from several facebook friends, my recipe for Pumpkin Waffles.

You will need your baking mix of choice (Bisquick, Pioneer, etc) and the ingredients as directed on the box for waffles.
Extras:
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 can of pureed pumpkin

Measure out your dry mix as instructed on the box. After you have done that, stir in the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then add your wet ingredients as instructed on the box. After the batter is mixed together, add the whole can of pumpkin. Heat up your waffle iron and cook as directed by the manufacturer. Top with your topping of choice. I just like plain old butter and maple syrup, but I'm sure whipped cream and pecans would be awesome on these too.

Chocolate Chip Brownie Bars

Check this out....

 Yuuummmmm....

After many requests I am posting Paula Deen's recipe for Chocolate Chip Blond Brownies. I whipped these little goodies up yesterday as brain food for my husband who sat for the state insurance licensing exam this morning. Apparently, they worked because he passed with flying colors.

3/4 cup butter

2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips

6 squares of semi sweet baking chocolate

Melt butter in microwave in 30 second increments.  Stir in brown sugar until blended. Stir in eggs until blended. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Then add vanilla extract. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased 13x9 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If using glass pan, bake at 325 degrees to prevent burning. Cool completely. Follow directions for melting chocolate in the microwave on the box. When melted, spread in a thin layer over brownies. Allow chocolate to harden before cutting. 

More of Paula's recipes can be found at her website and at Food Network.

I already have plans for next week. What am I doing? Head on over to the Elsie Marley blog for details on her Kid's Clothes Week Challenge starting September 20. For those of you who know me, you know this will be pretty easy for me to do. Got several things to sew for Katie and a cardi planned for Caleb. Let's fire up the sewing machine and get those needles in position and ready to go!

Lace

The majority of my knitting time is usually spent knitting socks designed by the likes of Cookie A, Wendy Johnson, and Nancy Bush. Lately, though, I have been obsessed with lace... shawls mostly but it seems to be sneaking it's way into my sock pattern choices too.

Traveling Woman Shawl designed by Liz Abinante and knit in Knit Picks Imagination Sock yarn in Seven Dwarfs 

Woodland Shawl designed by The Thrifty Knitter and knit in Knit Picks Gloss Sock yarn in Kenai

 Haruni Shawl designed by Emily Ross and available from Knit Picks knit in Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Gypsy and Risata Sock Spicy (discontinued)

 And, as you can see, it's sneaking into my sock knitting. Rosebud Socks by Wendy Johnson in her book Toe Up Socks for Every Body. Yarn is Knit Picks Stroll in Firecracker Heather. (I love love love Knit Picks. Can't you tell?)