Emma's Window Phase 3

I have finished the 3rd and final stage to Emma's window... the curtains! It took me forever to find fabric that I loved. I used Fairgrounds Modern Texture Yellow from DS Quilts Collection by Denyse Schmidt.


The purpose of the curtains, other than being adorable is to keep her room warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and to keep all the light out. Therefore, I backed the curtains with a thick black-out liner.

Here is a detailed look at the top back of the curtain
(Sorry, the thread sticking up is driving me crazy too)


This is a detail look at the bottom back of the curtain.


The finished curtains closed.


The finished curtains open.

I am super happy with how they turned out. I wished the finished pictures looked better, but I was having flash problems with my camera. I think after another steam the curtains will hang even better. On to the next project...

Big Girl Bed

We recently bought this toddler bed at a neighborhood garage sell. It was in pretty good shape, but I couldn't resist painting it the shade of blue from a stripe on her wall. It turned out super cute and more importantly Emma LOVES it!

Accent Table

I recently refinished my Great-Grandmother's accent table. I had found the table in the back of my Grandmother's wood shop (aka storage area). She used to use it to hold all of her grandchildren's pictures. I had forgotten to take before pics, oops. Either way here is the finished table. It made my Grandmother more than pleased that I am using her mother's table.

Art Bra

I recently finished making/designing a bra for 'Creative Cups for the Cause' 2011 Art Bra Contest. I thought I had a good design idea, but wasn't sure if it would come across the way I wanted it to. I think it turned out well and most people got it right away. It was way more complicated than I thought it would be because the bra material was hard to work with... hot glue was the trick.

The bra is called 'Like'.

The Backyard

Hi there. I have a lot to post about. I have been very busy with a list of projects I wanted to complete before it got to hot to want to do anything. Adam and I have been working on our backyard literally from the moment we moved in (about 2 years ago). I have spent many an evening pulling weeds... totally worth it!

THEN:

The picture above and below are photos of the house about 6 months before we moved in... it is super hard to tell cause they cut the grass so short, but there was barely any grass in the backyard the day we moved in, just tons o weeds. (they didn't leave the playset)

NOW:
This is our backyard this Easter. Grass! The yard even looks better today.
The picture below is of a new canopy we just put up last night.

Emma's Window Phase 2

I have Phase 2 of Emma's window project compete. Phase 2 was to build a valance to house a curtain rod. You might be thinking to yourself...Why not just hang a rod like any normal person would? That is a valid question 1.) I always make things way more complicated than they need to be (I blame genetics) 2.) When they designed the window in her room they didn't take into consideration that you need to have a third bracket in the wall to support the weight of the curtain(8 ft. long), but there is no where to mount this bracket (unless you put the curtains up to the ceiling). With big thanks to my dad and to my brother in law we got it done. Now to begin Phase 3: Sewing Curtains.

Detail View

I was using my dining table wrapped in paper to paint the valance on.
When I was finished Emma was more than excited to color on it.

Top Secret Project Complete!

I made my first quilt! I had thrown a baby shower for a friend (Michelle) last summer. After the shower I had kept all the fabric we used and told her I would make her something with it. Here is that something. I am very happy with how it turned out. I hope she likes it as much as I do. I definitely learned a lot about quilting from making this one and I am looking forward to making another.

Here is the front of the quilt. I got the idea from a quilt I saw on a blog, but changed it to fit the size of the quilt (45ishx60ish) and the number of patterned fabric I had. The three patterned fabrics were the ones used at the baby shower then I just added the neutral for the sashing and the espresso for the binding.

Close up of the quilting on the front.

This is the back of the quilt. I had to seam two pieces of fabric together to get a piece big enough... not easy to do with this pattern (at least for me).

This is a close up of the binding and of the tag I made. Hand sewing the back of the binding took waaaay longer than I thought it would. By the time I was done I got the hang of it... it should go quicker next time. For the tag I used the neutral fabric and placed it in an embroidery hoop then sewed it using embroidery thread with colors that match the fabric.

Emma's Room

Since Emma has been old enough to sleep in her own room we've noticed that the windows in her room make it either extremely hot or cold depending on the season. The arch on top of her window also lets in so much light during the day it is almost impossible to get her to nap in there.


This is part 1 of the solution. We cut out a wood arch and painted it. The side facing the exterior of the house is just a medium neutral brown color. It took me forever to decide what to paint on the other side. It eventually came to me 'what would Emma want if she had the words to tell me?'.
Emma loves owls and is obsessed with the moon, so this seemed perfect. Part 2 of the solution includes putting a shelf under the arch that extends the length of the 3 windows and putting trim on the shelf to conceal a curtain rod(or track). Part 3 is the making of the curtains.

cards

I made these scrapbook style cards for my Mother Of Preschoolers (MOPS) group. The ladies in MOPS are creating these cards for a program called Kids Link Downrange which provides military children with the means to communicate regularly with their deployed parent. I made two sets of 9 cards. In each of the envelopes is the card I made and a postcard that the deployed parent can write back to their child on. I hope the child that gets my cards enjoys them.

birthday, happy holidays, halloween, valentines, easter

father's day, mother's day, first day of school, 4th of july

Tablecloth, napkins, placemats, oh my

I just got finished making my niece a tablecloth, 2 napkins, 2 placemats, and 2 napkin rings. She loves to play tea party so this worked out perfectly. I brought her gift to her today. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the napkin rings with me.

Tea Time! She is very politely using her napkin.

Pillowcase

After making the book slings for my niece and nephew for Christmas, I had some fabric left over. With some of the left over fabric I made my nephew a pillow case. It took about 20 minutes start to finish. Pretty simple project. I think I'll end up making my niece a tablecloth and napkins for her play table... we shall see.

I am really happy with how it came out. Perfect for a 5 almost 6 year old boy.

Just a close up of the hem...
I did a stacked hem (not actually sure what one would call this)
I thought it looked nice.

He LOVED the pillowcase.
He wanted me to take a pic of him with it.
This made my day. :)

Whoop!

I started a project for a good family friend of mine. She wanted a pair of TAMU overalls for college in the fall. We started this project back in the fall, but we just wrapped it up this past week. The top of the overalls are more in the more traditional yell leader style and the bottom part has her own flair.

Owl Blanket

I came across the owl fleece at jo-ann's and I couldn't resist buying it. I ended up making this two sided fleece blanket for Emma. It was one of her Christmas presents this year. The idea being that when she gets a toddler bed later in the year it will work as a comforter.

Owls on one side and flowers on the other it is soooo cozy

Emma on Christmas morning loving her new blanket

Book Slings

For Christmas I made book slings for my sister's children. I think they turned out pretty awesome and they seem to like them too.

niece's book sling (by far the longest ruffle I ever made)

nephew's book sling ( he is into the the solar system)
( this works really well for him since he sleeps on a bunk bed)

Emma's Birthday Belated

I am just a little behind in posting these pics from Emma Brithday :). Everything turned out perfectly.

emma in her adorable birthday outfit

Emma wearing her cape at the kids table


some table decorations


cupcakes!