Yooohoooo!

Argh....I've been busy doing different goodies and obviously not blogging. 

I decided I "had" to clean my sewing room so I started making piles on the floor to re-file my fabrics from bridesmaid bags, craft projects, etc.  And then I started to work on some other projects before I actually got anything put away.  Sigh........THIS.....is still waiting for me!  lol

I swapped out some blocks for my Yahoo group.  I think I have enough of these blocks to make a nice size quilt.  I have to go in search on my other blocks I did the last two swaps to see just how many blocks I have.  I can't wait to go to my retreat next month, not only to see my friends in Indiana but also to get some sewing time to play with these blocks!

Some of the things I've been doing while being "absent" the last few weeks is I made some table cards for my friend's daughter's wedding.  I printed the wording with my computer on cardstock and then cut a little embellishment out with my Cricut machine.  I got the pretty rose paper at Michael's.

The bride-to-be will have a photo booth and asked for a sign they could hold up to put in their thank you notes.  I cut several signs but didn't remember to take a photo of the finished product.  I cut apart the Mr. & Mrs. and put the couples new married last name underneath it, I did the "just married" on the other side of the sign and did a few different fonts that said "thank you" so they could have a variety.

I went and helped my friend Anna put together some favor boxes for her nieces wedding she's going to next month.  The wedding is on the east coast so she packed these all up to be mailed and they'll add the little flower on top once the boxes are filled with chocolates. 

She cut the shapes out with the Top Note die from Stampin' Up! and we glued two match boxes inside.  The will fill them with eight Hershey's Nuggets.  They aren't glued down yet so they're a little wonky.  :o)

Then....I had purchased a onesie die and cut out about 100 of these little cuties.  My girls are doing a craft show in a few weeks so I thought I would make some "clotheslines" to sell.  I will include 10 onesies, the bakers twine and clothespins.  I made about seven 'kits' for either a boy, girl or generic nursery print cardstock.  This onesie isn't a finished one.  After this photo, I added three little brads where the snaps would go.  They're so darn cute!!!

And FINALLY back in the sewing room!!!  I cut out enough 'kits' for 14 make up bags for the craft show.  I am using the Little Glam Bag pattern.  It's so easy and uses such a small amount of fabric, it's perfect to clean up the scraps in my stash.  Too bad it didn't even make a dent!

Soooo, will all of this to do, I might be gone for another little bit but I will try not to wait too long to post again. 

Rosettes and busywork

Remember these?  It's called a 'pattern'.  :o)  I haven't done any garment sewing in a very long time.  This isn't really a garment though.  It's for a costume I worked on for my oldest daughter.  She wants to be Lucy as in Lucille Ball for the Halloween shower.  I could not find black and white or navy and white polka dot fabric at Joann's (so I could use my coupon) but I did find brown and white.  My daughter said the show was filmed in black and white so Lucy might of been wearing a brown polka dot dress and who would know?  LOL

I keep forgetting to take a picture of the finished dress.  I guess because it is just hanging on the hanger.  I don't need a dress form for as few times as I make clothing.   Also, it didn't come out as full a skirt as it looked in the pattern.  So our "Lucy" will have to add an apron or something to give her a little more gather.  (I'm such an amateur!)

My artsy daughter Kelley has been making logos for friends who are crafty.  She made her sister Stephanie one and then this one for Becca.  Becca is a former co-worker and makes shadow boxes and cake pops.  She wanted a little tag to put on her filled orders.  She is a tanned girl and Kelley captured that with this drawing.  Becca loves ladybugs and wanted a cupboard in the picture.  Kelley printed some of the logos on round labels to get Becca started.  Pretty cute, huh?

With the Halloween shower lurking, we decided to try our hand at making 'rosettes' or florettes, pinwheels or lollipops.  Whatever you want to call these accordion folded circles, we made them.  These measure about 12" and will either be hung behind the food table or put on sticks like lollipops.  I'll try to write up some directions with a picture or two soon.  They're super easy!

We had some small 2" strips left over so I made these small rosettes.  They measure 4".  Kelley thought we should make one more and put a ribbon behind them and use them as a little corsage-type decoration for the moms and bride-to-be.  We replace the spider with a more 'cutsie' decoration.  These have been big on greeting cards and all kinds of decorating.  I want to make more but that will have to wait.

Last night I worked on a box/holder for wedding cards at the reception.  I need to paint it but can't wait to show it to you.  I cut out the shapes with my cricut.  Soooo cute!

Shower Invitations, round two

My girls came over last week and we had an assembly party to put together the invitations for my youngest daughter, Ashley's bridal shower. The two older girls are hostessing the shebang for their little sister. As with the wedding invites (that are being put together as we speak) and save-the-dates, Kelley created the invites. We all took on a task or two and they went together likity-split!

*Update* - There was a picture here but I was put on restriction and told that I can't post pictures until the invitations are received by the people invited. (That was from Kelley. She's such a party-pooper!)

*2nd Update* - We went to dinner for Ashley's birthday on Tuesday. The girls talked. The entire theme of the shower changed!! The date changed. The people remained the same! lol

I guess the only picture I can share with you is Kaya, Dave and Ashley's baby. Dave's mom calls it her grandcat so I guess as the other-mother, it's my grandcat too. Argh........I am NOT an animal person! At least she is a good girl. The picture is a little dark because I didn't know if the flash would freak her out. lol

I hope to share some of this Top Secret information with you soon. Imagine, putting me on no-photo-detail!!!!! Hmpf!

Brenda's Shower (lots of pictures!)

Well, we finally had the bridal shower for my daughter Kelley's friend, Brenda. I'm sure if you have kids, you know sometimes there are a few that seem like your own. Brenda is one of those girls. Besides being one of Kelley's best buds, we joke that she is also like my middle daughter's twin sister. They are so much alike. Anyway, here are some pictures of the decorations and guests and of the bride-to-be......
Kelley used quilts, pennants, tea cups and paper lanterns to decorate the backyard.

Her colors for the shower were pink, red and little bit of every other color.

We found a few teapots at yard sales and thrift stores and tea cups from my collection and at a wholesale place. Kelley gathered things from all over the house to decorate with a shabby chic kind of style.

We had pink marshmallows left over from a craft project and they looked perfect in this thrift store container. We put straws in a milk bottle and put flowers from the 99 cent store in some of the teapots since it was in the 80's and too hot for a warm drink! Kelley mixed colored and clear sugar sprinkles for the party favors. You can see a close up picture in my last post.

We had pink lemonade and peach tea (yum!). The peach tea was the Market brand from Target and was so delicious and refreshing....and sugar free! The clear cups were also from the dollar store. I think there were about 10 in a package. They were a cute little shape, perfect for a tea party.

The plants in the yard filled in pretty nice by the time we had the party. I thought the bougainvilleas were goners but they're both coming back nicely. Don't you "love" the orange hand chair? That was trash-picked chair by my middle dd from her high school days and it's still here. lol We're a classy bunch, eh? This picture shows a good shot of Kelley's pennant. She used some cute fabric Stephanie got at a discount fabric store and some eyelet I've had since they were little girls (and needed to be used up a LONG time ago). Kelley cut them out and stitched two pieces together (except for the eyelet ones) and I chain sewed them together using double fold binding.

Here's another shot that shows the set up pretty good.

You can see the sun was bright that day. Kelley made name tags in her artsy-fartsy program. The vintage quilt they are on is one Stephanie bought several years ago at a thrift store in Hollywood when we went to see Wicked. Kelley bought the badge and personalized it for Brenda who's married name sounds like a Marvel comic character, Mrs. Brenda Blank. :o)

We put the food out at the last possible moment. There were cranberry scones, pumpkin scones, chicken Caesar salad, fresh fruit platter and also bowls of cherries and strawberries for use of their wonderful red color.
Brenda greeting some of her guests....

....having deep conversations and showing off her bling. :o)

A little peek at a few of the games.......He Said, She Said and a word scramble.
There was also a "guess who brought this lingerie" game. If she guessed wrong, she had to put it on. What a good sport!
You can't have a shower without a something RED, right? I got her this red pitcher, perfect for her own peach tea!

It was a good time. Good job, Kelley! And thank you mother nature for keeping the heat at an acceptable 82 degrees and a nice breeze blowing all afternoon.

And in case you are wondering where I was during this shower......at the food table, of course! Those dang scones were delicious!!! lol

Wedding Shower card

We're finally having the bridal shower for my daughter's friend Brenda this Saturday. Brenda had emergency surgery a while back so the 'surprise' shower got postponed and now she knows all about it. Me and Kelley can hardly wait to have this shower. I'm sure now that Brenda knows about it, she's excited too....we hope. LOL
I got into my room to make a card. And of course, you might as well do two cards if you're cutting paper for one, right? I had two different kinds of doilies so tried some layering but it seemed like something was missing. I'll show my kids and they'll say something like, "Oh, you just need one of these" or "you should've...". It's okay though. Hopefully, the bride-to-be will love the card and the present even more. :o)

Kelley made some little party favors with jars from Michael's (50% off...woohoo), colored sugar and a tea bag. The red and white polka dot background is a washtub sort of container that Kelley got me for Mother's Day. We'll use it for a party ice tub and put cute little bottles of drinks in it.

Off to go cut out a few more of those bridesmaid bags. Multi-task, multi-task......times a flyin' by!