Ribbon stash.

I finally caught the virus that's been tormenting the kids lately (and the adults since we don't get any sleep). Now I know why they screamed that their head hurt and just wanted to lie on the couch all day. That was how I was feeling until the doorbell rang and I got a big surprise. 

Look at those boxes just bursting at the seams. Ribbon. A belated birthday present from my sister Rebekah.

Opening box 1.

Shock and awe.

Opening box 2.

Testing (or tasting) it.

Tying up the boys (who named this kind 'Pirate Ribbon').

Sorting...

Sorting...

Sorted! That shoe rack that didn't hold shoes very well is great for ribbon. It looks like we will have to think up some projects involving this beautiful stash.

Thank you Rebekah!!!

(If you're wondering where this came from, she found a ribbon factory not far from her house in West Virginia and got this dirt cheap. Wish I were so lucky.)

Indy's new collar.

Santa brought us another child this past Christmas. The puppy kind. And like it was when all the other children came along, I have had lots more work to do. But I can also sew for this new child, I have discovered. Just this past week he outgrew his first collar. Poor baby, see how uncomfortable that must have been?

And now, isn't that cute (and manly)?

I didn't take pictures while I went along, so I'll just have to describe how it did it. It was really so easy that I don't know why everyone doesn't sew their own dog collars :).

First I cut a piece of fabric 4" wide and about 30" long. I was just guessing about the length and I ended up cutting some off later. This fabric was kind of thin, so I cut a piece of matching fusible interfacing which I ironed to the wrong side. Then I folded the fabric in half the long skinny way and pressed, and then opened it out and pressed the edges in. Finally I folded it back along the first fold and pressed, making a 1" strip kind of like super wide bias trim (except not cut on the bias). Then I stitched along both sides, close to the edges.

The "hardware" was not hard to find. I had a leftover 1" D ring from an earlier project which I used, and at Hobby Lobby (my new favorite store), I found this buckle:

And this strap adjuster: 

(2 came in the package, but I only needed one)

Then I sat down with the old collar:

And fiddled around with my components until it looked like I had the new parts assembled the same way as the old. At this point, the pieces were only pinned together. Then I very carefully tried the new collar on Indy (our new child) so as not to poke him. I had to make several attempts so that it would fit him perfectly at the new collar's smallest setting. It should be able to grow with him and extend quite a bit.

Viola! Now I'm thinking of making a matching leash.

Tutu cute.

This week my little sister came to visit me and we have been having way too much fun. We both love to sew, so of course we found a project. One night we stayed up until midnight sewing, chatting, teasing my husband, and watching the movie Knight and Day. The end result was these petal-filled tutus for our three little princesses.

This very cute tutorial was our start, but we decided to make three layers (only one filled) and we just put on ribbon bows instead of flowers. (And we used 3 yard lengths of tulle for each layer instead of 2 1/2 if you decide to try it.)

I got to show my baby sister how to use a serger and I think she's going to start looking for one too :).

A "just in case" skirt.

I'm getting ready for a quick little trip to NYC this weekend. I just wrote that like I do it all the time, but actually I NEVER get to do anything like this. I'm meeting up with a college roommate that I haven't seen in over 10 years. So I'm packing, trying to see how much I can fit in my carry-on because I don't want to waste time or money checking a bag, and I suddenly realize that I could use a skirt, just in case. I'll wear jeans and a cotton top. Then I've packed slacks, a sweater, and a couple more tops in a grey/black palette (plus the necessary undies and pj's). What I wished for was a simple knit skirt that could go with the things I've already packed. I do not want to go shopping again. Black friday did me in, plus the thought of taking kids in the dressing room with me kills that idea.

So I went to the stash. The knit section ;). I found this soft cream colored double knit.

Perfect. I cut two pieces to make a simple tube, serged the sides:

 (I know, my sewing table is piled high right now. Too many projects, never enough space). I had to serge the sides a few times, playing around with how much ease I wanted. But now I have a simple long skirt, "just in case."


 No hem, I just serged the bottom because I didn't want to lose a single inch off the length:

And no real waistband (just elastic serged on) because no one will see that part:

Yay, now I think I have everything for my trip!

Sewing-wise, this was a nice break from the getting-ready-for-Christmas marathon I'm in right now.

Where have I been?

I have been so excited for the past six months to finally plan, measure, and pick out tile for a new floor. My husband took a week's vacation and I naively believed that we would get most of it done during that time. Yeah. Well, it has been one month and one day since we started and we are maybe half way done. Maybe. Probably not since each step is taking about 10x longer than I thought it would.

So since I'm not one of those super bloggers who plans and writes for six months in advance... and I very sadly packed away my sewing machine because there was no room for it (it might be driving me into depression to not sew, seriously)... I decided to post some pictures of the floor project.

This is the front rooms right before my lovely mother in law helped me grout them on Friday. We both worked like dogs so now I can stand in these rooms and see a light at the end of the tunnel.

(of course we still need to remove the haze on the tiles, and sand, paint, and reinstall the base boards. blah)

And here's a picture of my almost unusable kitchen. Tools everywhere. This makes me want to go live with my sister in Tallahassee until it's done. But the kids must go to school...

And here's my super husband with his brother who constantly amazes me with his generosity of time and effort. That guy has worked on our floor like it was his own. Here they are leveling the family room. There is now one row of tile in this room. Small victory!

Finally, here's my little hero. Many hands make light work, huh?