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Projects! Projects! Projects! {Sewing and Garden Projects}


Spring is here and I’m ready to get started on those unfinished projects around the house as well as start some new ones. Starting in my sewing room, I’ve got several new fabrics each with a finished product in mind. So, now I just have to get moving on all of them.

My yard is a constant work in progress but I’m working toward the long term goal of creating a small edible garden in my front yard. So far I’ve purchased blueberries, rosemary and various other herbs.

Using this fabric to make a button shirt for my son.

New Fabric for baby quilt

New Fabric for kitchen tea towels.

New fabrics for tote bag project.

New Plants for the edible garden; Blueberries and Rosemary

Friday Find! {Vintage Childrens Wooden School Chair}


This morning I spent most of my time chauffeuring my three year old to school and my husband to work. After almost an hour and a half of driving time I got home and realized that I forgot to send my son’s backpack to school with him. So, I had to jump into the car again and drive to his school to drop off his backpack (another 40 minute round trip). By the time I finished all this around town commuting it was already 10:30 am.

With my morning almost gone and my productive juices drained, I decide to blow off the rest of the morning. My next stop was my favorite local garden center to look for some veggies and a vintage/used furniture store that I’ve wanted to visit for some time. My slack paid off this time. I found the cutest little children’s wooden school chair! There was no way I was leaving the store without this little chair. I love the patina this little chair has so much I’m not sure I want to paint it. Would you paint this little treasure!? I can’t decide!

Vintage Childs Wooden School Chair

My Friday find! {Children's Wooden School Chair}

Four Leaf Clover Find!


I found this four leaf clover on a recent walk at the Arboretum near my house. According to tradition four leaf clovers bring good luck to their finders, especially if found accidentally. According to the legend each leaf represents something:  the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck.

Maybe it will bring me some much needed good luck!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Black Bean Brownies {My Other Love, Baking}


Recently, I found this Black Bean Brownie recipe from the Food Network website. I saw them featured on the show Ten Dollar Dinners and thought it would be an interesting recipe to try out for myself.  Although, at first I thought they sounded kind of strange I really wanted to try making them.

My first batch did not turn out so great but the second batch was devoured by me and my husband the same day they were made. I followed the recipe exactly although I did prefer using the vegetable oil over the olive oil and I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour.  Also, blending everything inside the blender did not work for me (maybe because my blender is a dinosaur). I only pureed the black beans and vegetable oil in the blender then stirred the rest of the ingredients in a regular mixing bowl with a whisk. Overall it’s an easy and yummy recipe.

Happy Valentine’s Day!


My husband and my son. My two favorite people to love. Happy Valentine’s Day!
photo by shamsandcoverups

Wordless Wednesday {Valentine’s Day Cupcakes}


Cupcakes made with love

Read more about my love affair with cupcakes here.

5 Places To Find and Download Free Machine Embroidery Designs Instantly!


1. Embroider This! has over 200 free embroidery designs to choose from and if you are already a member you can go directly to their Free embroidery designs page and enter your name and e-mail. If you haven’t been to the site before you may need to create an account to log-in. They also have free project ideas with complete instructions and templates.

2. Embroidery Designs.com  has many free machine embroidery designs available for download plus offers a huge library of search-able designs. You will need to log-in to your existing account or create a new account with EmbroideryDesigns.com to download your free designs.

3. Husqvarna Viking website  has many free designs with project instructions. Note that these designs are only available in the .vp3 or .hus formats.

4. Urban Threads has a few free designs for download. Their freebies change periodically so you will need to check in from time to time  to see what’s new there.

5. Designs In Machine Embroidery magazine has a few free designs to choose from often in conjunction to their latest magazines which is great because you can see the project designs and instructions in detail. These are usually only available for a limited time so grab them while you can.

These are just a few of my favorites. If you haven’t downloaded designs from any of these websites before make sure you read their terms carefully and check to make sure you are downloading the correct file type for your embroidery machine.

8 Pretty Ideas for Fabric Scraps Storage


Every project I sew no matter how big or small always has little scraps that end up in pile on one corner of my cutting table. And each sewing project I complete grows this pile into a little mountain of color. Once it starts to interfere with my work space I move the mound into a big storage bin never to be seen again.

Here are some great storage solutions that keep your scraps organized and in plain view for endless inspiration.

scrap bucket

 (Directions to construct the fabric bucket & the embroidery designs can be found here.)

 Great idea to fold scraps and display them in an apothecary jar. Check it out at Prudent Baby.

Prudent Baby Fabric Scrap Storage

 Large glass jars of fabric scraps by your sewing machine can help inspire new projects. Check out the studio tour at A Happy Nest.

fabric scrap storage

 Great way to organize these beautiful fabric scraps and save self space in your sewing room.

blue and green scrap

 Love this simple vintage wire basket for fabric scraps storage.

Vintage Sheet Scraps

 Fill up a wonderful vintage suitcase with scraps or fat quarters.

a suitcase full

 Store scraps in a lovely vintage enamelware casserole dish. 

fabric scraps

 Organize scraps in these cute drawstring bags and hang them on the wall for display. Blogged here.

bags for my fabric scraps

Easy DIY Dinosaur Halloween Costume


This was such an easy dinosaur costume to put together! I love this idea from the DIYcostumes shop on Etsy. And, the best part is that you can easily take all the embellishments off the sweat suit so your child can wear it after all the trick or treating is done. DIYcostumes also has a great hand sewing tutorial for this costume online but I always prefer to use a sewing machine whenever possible. The whole project only took about an hour to finish.

1. Basic  hooded sweatshirt.

2. Cut your squares and a triangle from craft felt.

3. Layout your pattern on the back of the sweatshirt. I used an air erasable pen to make a straight line down the back of the sweatshirt.

4. Sew on all the spikes and tail.

5. Sew the felt on to the front for the belly of the dinosaur.

Here’s what I used to make the costume (costume size is 3T).

Materials:

3 – 8 1/2″ X 11″ craft felt pieces

Cut the squares for the spikes:

1 – 5″ X 5″ square

3 – 4″ x 4″ squares

1 – 3″ X 3″ square

1 – 2″ X 2″ square

1 – 5″ X  7″ Triangle for the tail

For the front I cut out two 3″ X 7″ rectangles and rounded the corners using a plate from my kitchen.

To sew on the spikes I used a wide zig zag stitch to attach them to the sweatshirt and the same stitch on the top and bottom of the spikes to make them stand up. To sew on the tail and the belly pieces I used a machine basting stitch. All of these stitches should be pretty easy to remove once we are done using the sweatshirt as a costume.

Happy Trick or Treating!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin!