Organizing and Planning

The past couple of weeks I have been focused on gathering, organizing and planning.  I have been trying to get my sewing/craft room organized, which I am still working on but it is coming along nicely. I am waiting for Papaw to finish up my one needed shelves to go behind my sewing machines to put jars of notions and spools of ribbon and trim on. I can’t wait for that to go up.  I can’t wait till I have it all perfectly organized.

I have also been working on trying to come up with a good solution for a homeschool work area for Doodlebug for this school year, instead of just being spread out where ever. Last year much of our class work was done kicking back on the loveseat in the upstairs den area. Our upstairs den area connects with our kitchen and it seems to be the hub of the house.  It seems to be where we gravitate to the most. The space is a good size space but not huge and trying to come up with a workable solution was a bit of a challenge. I had run across an old fashioned desk ages ago in a little antique shop in a town that my mom and I meet at sometimes for lunch. I went back a couple of weeks ago in hopes that the desk would still be there. It was but with a big sold sticker on it. Needless to say, I didn’t give up. We went through several of the antique shops and I found this old drop side table that works out wonderfully for a work area. Doodles can pop up one side of it easily when she needs to sit down and get to work and pop it back down when she is finished for the day. I also like the idea that she has a creative space to gravitate to when we are just in there in the evenings. She already seems to love to pop up the table and pull out her drawing pad or grab a book.  I also think the table will be great for the holidays. Being able to use it as an extra table in our dining room, when our table in there will be wonderful. 

Over the past several months, before we finished our last school term, I had been reading, researching and collecting the school books and materials we were planning on using this school year. I am so glad that I planned a bit ahead. It helped take some of the pressure off when getting geared up this school year. We have had several weeks of just summer fun and down time and the pre planning sure helped there.

We are all signed up for enrichment classes. I think Doodles is going to have a great time on fun Monday’s with our homeschool network group. I never knew how wonderful being a part of such an active group could be. Signups for the enrichment classes were pain free. The group of parents that organize and arrange the classes, field trips and activities for our network are awesome. I am in awe of their commitment to make sure our group is one of the most well organized groups in the area. I feel so blessed that our family is a part of this group.  We were even given a piano for Doodlebug from one of the families in the group. Doodles will be starting piano lessons on the 24th. She is so excited about learning to play. She loves her piano.

We officially start back with school lessons on the 22^nd. We have been doing so many things throughout the summer that is still focused on learning but most of the time, didn’t involve a book. We have read quiet a bit this summer but have enjoyed outings to historical locations in the area. We have also focused on the goodness that summer brings, gardening, taking care of our chickens, catching lightening bugs, fishing and staying up late, just because. 

She loved the pigs at a homestead farm we visited. Now she wants pigs too.

Doodles learned to make fried green tomatoes this summer.

So, we will have to work on getting back on a bit more of a schedule this next week and we are looking forward to all the wonderful things that fall brings.

Hope you all have had a wonderful and blessed summer!

Scrap Box Skirt Project

In May of last year, Doodlebug got her first sewing machine. Since then, I have been trying to find ways to get her excited about sewing. She likes to sew but if it takes a bit too long, she passes it over to me and asks for help and the next thing you know, she is gone. So, I thought I would try and inspire her to practice her seams by sewing together blocks to make a funky little scrap box skirt. We had so many bright and colorful scraps in her box and I had quite a few scraps left over from a few summer outfits that I made her this year. Doodlebug loves bright, jazzy, mix match clothing so, I had great hopes she would be excited about this project.

We dug through the scrap box to pull out pieces to cut. Our only requirement was that the pieces were big enough to cut a rectangle from, color was not a consideration. We decided on a basic size and stack cut blocks using the prior block as our pattern. We did not concern ourselves with making sure they were a perfectly cut block, as long as they were close that was good enough. After all, Doodles is only seven and the project was for practice and the seams will not be perfect anyway.

When we finished cutting, this is what our stack looked like.


We didn't want to cut too many blocks of the same piece of fabric and we had very little of some of the fabrics, that wasn't a concern.

To make it more fun, I decided to add a bit of randomness to the project and we tossed all of the pieces into a paper bag, shook it up and started pulling our blocks out without looking and stitched them together however they came out of the bag. It was fun. Doodlebug seemed to enjoy it too.


I sat her machine up beside mine and I sewed some too right along with her. I figured if I helped her stitch blocks it wouldn't take too long or she may lose interest.

We stitched the blocks together to make rows. We had no idea how many we would need so, we just stitched until we felt as if we had enough, keeping in mind, we would be gathering each row. After the blocks were stitched together, I went over them with the serger to prevent them from fraying.





Once we felt we had enough to make a very full skirt and would be long enough, we gathered the sections and sewed the rows together. We folded over the top section to form a casing for elastic and stitched it around, leaving an opening for the elastic. We added the elastic and stitched the casing closed, made a very narrow hem and we were finished.

I am going to see if in the future, I can inspire her to think about all the things she could make by stitching together her scraps and mine as well. It was a great opportunity to talk to her about how many years ago folks had to stitch together scraps and such to create useful things they needed such as, patchwork clothing and quilts.She said she really wants to make a quilt sometime. I think that would be a fun winter project.

Blessings!

Words of Wisdom and Tid Bits of Daily Life...

Remember always that you are just a visitor here, a traveler passing through. Your stay is but short and the moment of your departure unknown.

None can live without toil and a craft that provides your needs is a blessing indeed. But if you toil without rest, fatigue and weariness will overtake you and you will be denied the joy that comes from labor’s end.

Speak quietly and kindly and be nor forward with either opinions or advice. If you talk much this will make you deaf to what others say and you should know that there are few so wise that they can not learn from others.

Be near when help is needed but far when praise and thanks are being offered.

Take small account of might , wealth and fame, for they soon pass and are forgotten. Instead nurture love within you and strive to be a friend to all.

Truly compassion is a balm for many wounds.

Treasure silence when you find it. While being mindful of your duties, set time aside to be alone with yourself.

Cast off pretence and self-deception and see yourself as you really are.
Be of good cheer and with this understanding, summon strength and walk on.

Faith is like a lamp and wisdom it is that makes the flame burn bright. Carry this lamp always and in good time the darkness will yield and you will abide in light.

This was written by Buddha. I know I will be adding a copy of it to my Inspiration Journal.

Since our break from school, I have been doing a bit of sewing for Doodlebug and Doodlebug has been having a blast with summer activities. It is so good to see her enjoying her summer so.

Below is a photo of a little country girl top that I made. She is really into wanting to dress like a country girl these days.


I am still intending on adding an applique of a chicken to the bib top and making a little pair of ruffled leg capri pants to go along with it. I think I will add a farm animal to it too. She loves it and it fits pretty good. I made it from a McCall's pattern that I had not used before. I was not pleased with the pattern. I had to make quiet a lot of adjustments. I will be adding a note card to that pattern envelope with all adjustments needed so, that won't be a problem again.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and also too, I hope all the dads have a wonderful Father's Day!

Blessings!!!

DoodleBug Makes Her First Skirt

Wow, OK before I start let me say, I am getting behind here since I bought my serger. My blog is not the only thing that has gotten behind since the serger came home, laundry, sweeping, mowing...OK, I must stop or I will be on a huge guilt trip and I really don't want to go there. Pleasure trips are more my cup of tea.

Well, Doodles finally got a chance to make a skirt for Fluffy and try out her machine. She is counting down the days of her last couple of weeks at school. She has big plans to spend a lot of time with Mamaw doing a bit of sewing this summer. I think that sounds like a fun way to me to spend some of those hot summer days, inside sewing with my best friend.

Well, here are a few photos of her process with her little sewing machine.


She first took a few measurments of Fluffy.


She cut a strip of fabric allowing a bit for gathering around the top of the skirt.


We were very careful with her using the iron. I wanted to teach her how much better her sewing would look if she got into learning to press her fabric and even showed her to fold under her hem and casing and pressed before we went to the machine. She needs a small iron of her own. I do wished I could find her Papaw's travel iron. That one would be perfect for her.

She did really well for her first sewing project. She has been drawing and painting since she was very small and I think because of that fact, she has very good fine motor skills for her age.











She did well making her seams and it was a simple little plan of sewing a casing and a hem then closing the back seam, adding ribbon through the top casing and wah la! Fluffy has a new skirt. She wants to make a purse next. This should be fun.

A Few New Creations

A little dress that I made this evening out of some thrift knits and a little yardage. It is a size 6X


On the way to school one morning last week, Doodle Bug and I designed this dress.

She wanted it for a bathing suit cover up and I tried very hard to duplicate what she was seeing in her head. I made her this little racer back dress and it was more time consuming than I had thought but fun. She hasn't seen it yet and I do think I am going to turn it into a mulit media dress before it is all said and done. I think I want to fabric paint a few little shells on the beach. I also thought adding a few surf splashes to the waves might be fun and for sure, the sky needs a few clouds. I will post another photo of it after the fabric painting is done.

Below are a couple of little dresses made from thrift knits that I picked up at a yard sell over the weekend. I did have the Good and Plenty candy T. Using another smaller dress and a section of a bright pink T, I created the little 3T/4T with the flowers. I used the tail of the dress and a sliced section and added to the Good and Plenty T to create this little fun play dress. It is size 7. I think Doodle Bug will like this one.


Now I need to get busy and spend a little time working on patterns and sizing. I have a few ideas I would like to try out for someone a little smaller than Doodles. I think I will have her to help me design it too. I am really excited to see she seems to be into helping design some of the dresses and she had really been wanting to try out Mamaw's sewing machine. We decided for her kindergarten graduation gift to get her a Hello Kitty Janome sewing machine.


She will be thrilled to have her own machine. I have tons of little easy sewing projects for her to get her started. I recieved an email today that said it had shipped so, it will be hard to put it away until graduation day. I don't know if I will be able to wait.

Now I need to get busy sorting some knits and getting ready to do some screen printing. We will have fun with this next screen printing day. We will be screen printing aliens. I found a piece of very cute and colorful knit and we are printing our one eyed alien design on the tops. It should be cute. I know it will be fun.

Blessings & Hugs All!

Screen Printing Fun

Yesterday we spent a several hours screen printing on old t-shirt knit. It will be turned into upcycled dresses and shorts for the kids. I thought I would be on my own with the project but as it turned out, the gals thought it looked like fun and they really got into it. I think I may invite them over again when I have more to do.



Screen printing is great fun. I think next time we do a bit of printing, I will print watermellon slices and strawberries. With summer coming, I have summer fruits on my mind. I can't wait to get some time now to turn our screen prints into a few outfits. It is such fun. I am trying to come up with a few new patterns and I going to make shopping bags out of t-shirts as well. I have a great idea for that one.

The yard is calling and needs much attention too so, I will be doing some outdoor work in the next few days too but I think right now I would much rather be sewing.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Read across America day is today, March 2nd. Today at school, the kids were allowed to wear their pj's and they get to listen to books being read to them all day. It is to be a truly relaxing and fun day.

I wanted to add to my gal's fun by making her a very special pair of pjs. I made her a pair of THING 2 pjs. It was pretty easy. I basically just painted her shirt with acrylic paints mixed with fabric medium and stitched her a pair of pants out of red fleece. I was a bit stumped when it came to the blue fuzzy wig until a walk through Hobby Lobby provided me all that I needed to make this whole outfit come together as well as finding the materials for the wig. I made the wig out of a baby's jersey knit skull cap and blue boas. It took longer to stitch those boas down than it did to make the rest of the outfit.

My gal really loved how it turned out. I was so glad. Hope you like the photos. I am looking forward to hearing about how her silly fun day went. I can't wait till she gets home.

Silly Thing 1 & Thing 2 socks were a must.