Stop staring and start sewing!

Dress er' up

Some tenants of one of my parents' apartments moved out and they left this shapely little dresser behind.  It's harder to find old furniture in Arizona (compared to Portland where there are terrific estate sales with truly old things) since most people are recent residents.  There are few old attics with tucked away treasures waiting to be re-discovered.  So I was thrilled to get my hands on this fairly old dresser and since I have no emotional attachments to it I knew I could do whatever I want to it without feeling the least bit guilty.

Here's the before picture.  The mirror was attached to the back before my dad dis-assembled it and brought it over here.  I really fell in love with the curves and the ornate feet.  I washed it down and sanded it to "knock the shine off" and that was pretty gross.  The former owners were heavy smokers so the cleaning and sanding just brought all those stale smoke smells out and ew, pretty stinky.  But cute for sure.

I mixed all my old cans of primer together and had enough to do the job.  So far I've kept it off the carpet (at this point the baby was napping so I was moving as fast as I could to get through this because babies and paint don't mix.  Well actually they do, and that's the problem).

Now for the fun part.  And I love it already!  I did most of this with a big paint pad (I love them and they are far superior to rollers for walls too, no splashing and easier clean-up).  I took a risk and tried the Kilz brand at Walmart (I'm a Behr enthusiast) and it did a great job.  It took 2 coats and dried fast (I was in a sunny room) and cost less than 9.00 for the pint.

Now for the tricky I-should-let-a-man-do-this-but-I-don't-like-waiting part. 

The mirror weighs a ton (or thereabouts) so I got the 50 lb cable at Michael's.  I don't know how much it weighs but I figured if it weighed more than that I probably wouldn't have been able to lift it so that sounded about right (I do keep waiting for a loud crash in the middle of the night though).  I think I did this right.

I love it!  I keep peeking down the stairs just to look at it!  I can't get the middle right drawer to shut because the mirror was so heavy that it warped the dresser a little so I'm going to have my super handy hunny take a look at it but not until I'm done staring at it (maybe in January sometime).  I definitely need a chandelier now (something tells me my little 9.00 paint job is going to turn into something bigger)!

Those crazy craftin' kids

I'm truly grateful that my daughters like to craft.  They get invited to a lot of birthday parties but I haven't had to buy a gift for a couple of years now.  I have a wicker basket where I toss all my too-small-for-me-but-too-big-to-throw-away fabric scraps and they're very skilled at making fun and magical things with them.

My 14 year old (who just had her birthday yesterday and I can't believe she's 14 already!) made this darling purse for one of her friends.  She took the bottom of the leg from a pair of jeans, some fabric pieces, some beads, some embroidery thread and lots of imagination and voila' (or walla!)!  She also made this jingly little button bracelet and I don't know what's in the gold wrap, it could be limburger cheese for all I know (but the wrap sure is nice!).  I think her little friend will be tickled to get something so cute and made-just-for-her (except for the limburger, I'm not sure how that's going to fly).

That's an elephant in the lower right-hand corner (from an IKEA duvet that I fell in love with).  The checked heart came off the same fabric and the big flower is from some Tracy Porter fabric that I absolutely love (and Jo-ann's carries it).  Ca-ute!

I'm going to keep those girls very busy during Christmas break.  And maybe I won't have to buy ANY gifts at all!!

Oh and I'm cleaning out my Christmas stuff on ebay for low, low, low prices (make an offer, I'm feeling very "flexible"!).  I have something super fun planned for my last big get-that-sewing-machine-before-Christmas ebay push (my goal is to list them this week).  If you like Heather Bailey (and really, who doesn't?!) you're going to love this!

The day after

Apparently those turkey-tryptophan induced comas don't affect humans only.  Schnelly better rest up because the decorations are coming out and it's about to get real crazy around here.

This is my favorite cat picture though.  I love the scruffy looking cat and the confident mouse (he looks like he's the real boss here).

I mean it.

Really.

A tweet little outfit

Here's another favorite. 

I love the way these fabrics don't match but look great together.  The little birds remind me of the ones on the Partridge Family bus (C'mon get happy!).  The mommy bird is proudly leading the babies around with a velvet ribbon and the last baby is just kind of dragging the ribbon behind him.  I stitched around each bird with a bright orange to make them "pop" (most overused phrase of the last decade, but hey, it works).  Oh, and I just love the way their little stick legs turned out (I can hear the little "click, click, click" as they walk).

This would actually be kind of cute on a grown up girl's skirt, don't you think?

Anyway, I'm working on some super great stuff and hopefully will take a break from sewing for money soon so I can tend to my begging children who are walking around in threadbare clothing (it's getting a wee bit embarrassing). 

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

This is my Fender Stratocaster.  Isn't she pretty?

Keeping busy

Here are more darling picture of Lucy in some of my outfits from this last week.  I loooooove the first one the most.

I grabbed this taffeta for fun and it was marked down to around 6.00 a yard so I was planning on getting enough for one dress.  Well the guy at the counter says "Hmmm....3.00 a yard?  That's nice!"  and I said "What?!  Did you say 3.00??  Stop cutting!  Make that 5 yards please."  He had already made a cut in it but I promised him I could work around it and keep measuring please.  I love the way this dress turned out, so simple and feminine.  Hopefully it will sell (fingers crossed).

Is she just beautiful?  Look at that hair! 

And remember that terrific Santa lace??  I made this little outfit with it and I really didn't like it at all.  In fact when I was done I just sort of folded it up and set it aside because it just didn't knock my socks off.  But once I got the pictures my friend AK took (you seriously have to take a look at her clippies, they are ART) it actually looked darling.  So I went ahead and listed it, but I'm only selling this one because, truth be told, I don't want to make it a second time (I'm working on some things that seem to have sock knocking off potential so it's time to move on). 

Love this shot!

Here's one more outfit I made out of this darling Christmas kitty fabric I got at the thrift store for under 1.00 for all 4 yards!!! 

But what I really want to show you is this amazing hair clippie.  It's made from ribbon and she also does Grinch ones (looks just like him!) and Christmas stocking shaped clippies.   No matter how close I look I just can't figure out how she does it!  Fun!

Only 8 more days until Thanksgiving!!

Too soon for Christmas decorations

But not too soon for this.  Trader Joe's makes these yummy little fake oreos.  They taste just like oreos but they are good for you (I know, just play along here).   Lo and behold, I just found out they have Christmas Joe-Joe's!  My hunny brought these home and usually I'm pretty irked when he deviates from the list but I will overlook it this time.

Hubba hubba!!

On an entirely different note, look at what my 15 year old has been up to:

Aren't they just the cutest??!  I think they are actually sweet little "book guards" and if you reach for one of her precious, dewey decimel ordered (except for those few underneath) books, they will turn into little demons (kind of like Jack-Jack) and bite your hand off.   You can find a link to the tutorial for these right here.

She keeps asking who she should give them too. 

I just smile sweetly and bat my eyelashes (oh please, oh please, pick me).

Zoo monkeys and their mommys

We decided to get some fresh air after a week of the flu so we left our little sanitarium and headed out for the zoo.  We got there at 3:30 only to find out they close at 4:00 now because they are preparing for Zoolights.  Well we ended up staying until 5:00 anyway and we were almost the last to leave.  It was beautiful, quiet and most of all... cool.  Nice.

Here is a darling picture I took of a mommy and baby inside the monkey forest.  Is that the sweetest little face or what?

Here's another cute little monkey baby and his mommy.  He has a cute face too (even with pretzel goo on his chin).

It was nice to leave the dishes, laundry, and sewing behind and get a change of scenery.

One thing I've been wondering is why do they call it a "sanitarium" when you know it's teeming with germs??   Hmmm....

Excuse me while i borrow your child for a moment...

I sent some of my outfits to a friend for modeling.  My girls are too big so I have to borrow other peoples children (I try to make it worth it).  The anticipation while I wait for the pictures is nerve-wracking because I never know how my outfits will actually look on a real person.

But look at this!  Remember the set I said I kept having to go back to my sewing room to look at because I loved it so much?  Well here's why:

Doesn't she look like a princess in it??

Look at this face!!!

Her names Lucy and doesn't she look exactly how a Lucy should look?

I love this detail shot (you know how I know it's a "detail" shot?).  And look at how cute this tulip lace that I got in my earlier excursion looks agains the orange fabric.  And it's vintage lace and everyone knows that when it's vintage, you can charge more (haha!  Actually that's a pretty darn reasonable price!). 

I have more that I'll post later because the Lucy cuteness has only just begun!