Projects of 2012

It seems odd that we will be starting a new year in just a few days.  2012 has flown by.  So what did we do this year???  It is nice to look back and see. (click on the photo to go to the actual post)

Sewed some dresses.  All scrap material I had on hand, cost: a few hours of my time. 



I spruced up a couple chairs with paint and roses.  They now reside in front of my sewing table.  Cost: zero, the chairs came with a table I had bought at a thrift store eons ago and I just had them in storage. 



I crocheted a cardigan that I still love out of bamboo cotton yarn.  Cost:  $30



We made our straw bale mini greenhouse garden.  It worked fantastic last Spring and now I need to toss in some lettuce and spinach seeds to get started.  Cost: 6 bales of straw at $7 each.  The lumber was scrap we had on hand and the plastic was too.  Total = $42.00



I bought an incubator to hatch chicks.  My first batch of Swedish Flower hens.  This was so much fun I did it again with Black Copper Maran eggs.  Cost for incubator about $150 (which worked great!), the eggs ran about $50, this is a new breed to the US so the hatching eggs are pricy, but a hen alone if $50 to purchase so the eggs were the way to go. 



We built a faux pew bench from plywood. 



One of the most popular posts this year was this on of the old buckets stacked and planted.  I did enjoy this all summer.  I think I would like to make a real fountain out of buckets this next summer.  



Another highly popular post was this one on How to Paint a vintage saloon sign.



I also shared tons of signs I shipped out to my wonderful customers.   Now I am working hard on a new website, trying to improve and make it easier to navigate.  

I am looking forward to another productive and exciting year!
Have a great day. 

  





 

A Bit of Sewing.

Not long ago I mentioned being in the mood to sew.   I have a fancy dancy sewing machine, plenty of patterns from when my girls were little (I sewed all their dresses) and a stash of fabric that needs using up.

So one rainy day I spent some time in my sewing room.    I wanted to make something fast and easy so I chose 2 patterns I knew would fit the bill. 

First was a pattern I had altered from a button down the front to an easy jumper that buttons at the shoulders and I added the ruffle at the bottom. 



I used my easy ruffling trick of zig zagging over some crochet thread then pulling it up to ruffle the fabric, for me this is easier than the two rows of basting stitches. 



The dress was done in a couple hours so I started on another.

I have a ton of white denim, I got it years ago for some project or other, I think I made some tote bags but found I just did not enjoy that much.   I thought it would be cute made up into this jumper pattern.



To add interest I just appliqued the large funky flowers on.  The pattern came with the appliques.  The pattern is by New Look and it is number 6578.  A super fast and easy pattern, the most time consuming part is the embellishments, the rest whips up in no time. 

While going thru my fabrics and sewing supplies (I was trying to organize my sewing space) I stumbled upon my silk ribbon embroidery stash.  I started doing silk ribbon embroidery in the early 90’s, it was very easy to learn and the results are worth the small amount of effort you put into it.

I had some linen in my fabric stash and thought the little jumper dress would be lovely made from it with the silk ribbon embroidery along the neck line for the frou frou. 

I mapped out my design with my water soluble pen…



Then I embroidered away.  It took me a couple hours to do this design…



Here is the back..



To make sure the ends do not come loose when washing I seal it with fusible interfacing.



The interfacing will be hidden by the front facing. 

And voila…a lovely little jumper dress that was quick and easy but with a special touch!

The silk ribbon embroidery holds up better than you would think in the wash. 



Here are all three together..



Now I am in the mood to sew something for myself.. I loved working with this linen, actually it is a linen blend, 55% linen and 45% rayon, it is easy to work with and is less wrinkly when worn than 100% linen. 

JoAnn’s has it on sale right now in stores at 30% off so I picked up some more.    Now to work on a dress for me.