A Giveaway!

Penny at "Sew Take a Hike" is having a lovely giveaway. She is passing on a thrifted gingham apron, a cherry bag, a copy of Cook's Country, some CUTE fabric and more! Go check it out and leave a comment here to enter. Enjoy!

It's been a while!

Wow, I just realized how long it's been since I've updated my blog! Sorry! I haven't been up to much in the way of sewing lately. The weather has been amazing and Peanut loves to be outdoors. We spend one or two days a week at the beach and the rest of the time we're in the backyard or neighborhood park. William loves the sand and I soak up a little sun (30 minutes immediately followed by sunblock). :)

I started a knitting project last week that I hope to have finished by fall. If any of you are still curious about the 'mystery' crochet project, it's still in the works. It's on hold for a little while, but I hope to have it finished in the next month or two as well. I've just always wanted to learn how to knit and I found a great sweater pattern that looks complicated, but is actually fairly easy (so far...). The hardest part is keeping track of which row I'm on in the pattern! I started keeping track with a sticky note, which has been has been a big help :). Aren't sticky notes great?! I had to learn a few new stitches for increasing and decreasing, but Google and YouTube have been extremely helpful. I've finished two pieces and I'm almost finished the third. Once it actually starts to look like something I'll post a picture.

I hope you're enjoying the summer too!

A Chain of Giving

I'm a fan of reusing and recycling. I have a tough time throwing things away when I think they could have a new and better purpose. I try not to be a junk hog, but I do hang onto things that I think could have 'a second life'. If I can't find a purpose for it, then at least I can donate to a local thrift store or give things away.

This past week I was the happy (Happy HAPPY!) receipient of a chain of giving. This may be a little tricky to follow: My friend's grandma's neighbor is moving and decided to down-size her fabric/craft supply. She asked her neighbor (my friend's grandma) if she wanted the stuff or if she knew of someone who could put it to good use. My friend's grandma accepted the stuff and decided to pass it along. I'm not exactly sure what happened next. From what I understand 'Grandma' was talking to here daughter (my friend's mom) and mentioned the craft supplies. My friend's mom thought of me and so I got a call a couple days ago to come pick up some free stuff!!! 'Grandma' called it 'craft supplies' on the phone, so I didn't really know what I was going to get. But I love all things crafty, so I readily and greatfully set-up a pick up time.


Peanut and I made the trip to see my friend's grandparents. We had a lovely visit. Peanut ate some freshly picked peas straight from the pod - he thought it was pretty cool :). I was able to poke through one of the boxes a little, and I was thrilled that 'craft supplies' meant fabric. Woohoo! I couldn't wait to get home and dig through everything.

Well, I got home, put Peanut to bed, and got to work...well, more like 'play' :). I couldn't believe what I found! There wasn't just fabric - there were tons of different kinds of trims and ribbons, a Tupperware full of buttons, some lace, finished collars, and - perhaps the most exciting find - some vintage patterns! Not only were there some cute patterns, I found an amazing apron pattern - I can't wait to try it! I've been looking for a vintage-ish apron pattern for my sister-in-law. I actually gasped when I saw the pattern because it is perfect. Yay!
The icing on the cake is that for the price of a little gas I was able to get all these wonderful treasures. Now I just need to think of some projects 'worthy' of all these great things. I'd love to get some ideas from you. Thanks for reading!

Baby Stroller Cushion and Quilt

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you have fun plans to celebrate. I'm just glad the weather perked up a bit after the thunderstorm and torrential rain yesterday! I'm not going to complain about that bought of rain because we did need it, I'm just glad it's sunny today :).

Here's my latest completed project. It's a custom order for a stroller cushion. My friend recently had a baby and bought one of those great jogging strollers. She loves the stroller but thought it didn't have enough padding for her baby. There is a metal bar right under where the baby is supposed to sit - poor baby bum! So she asked me to make her a cushion.

She picked out the fabric which is brown, maroon, pink, and lime green. I found a coordinating minky dot fabric in pink. The cushion has two sets of holes for upper straps and a funky hole thingy for the buckle strap. I made it this way so it would fit both the stroller and the car seat as well as be adjustable for when baby gets bigger.

What my friend doesn't know is that I made her a matching stroller quilt as well! It will fit the stroller nicely and not be too bulky for carrying around. I hope she likes it!

Hmmm...Mysterious...

Here's a crochet project I started a few days ago. It's not something I typically make (you know, an afghan or a sweater). I'm not finished yet, but I'm kinda excited about it. I just had to give you a sneak peek. :)

What do you think it could be?