Projects! Projects! Projects!

I know it's been a while since I have posted anything new on here, but I have felt so blessed to be so busy that I haven't had time! After I made that diaper bag, 2 days later, I got a text from someone that loved it and wanted one exactly like it! Along with that, a lady asked me to make 2 shirt blankets out of her late fathers shirts. She was going to donate them to the goodwill, but then decided to keep his memory alive and make a blanket out of them. She said that it will be nice to be able to wrap herself up in his shirts and still be able to feel him. And then...Curtains! A friend of mine has been waiting on her curtains to be made by someone else but was having a hard time getting a time to do it. I took the job of course!

So lots of cutting...lots of sewing...and I will be posting pictures soon, so that's it for today. Just didn't want to be forgotten :) Happy Saturday!

Decluttering my Life

As I browse Pinterest, I seem to find a lot of links to other blogs that involve decluttering and/or organizing your closet, kitchen, bedroom, LIFE, etc...And they are always from these organizing gurus that have been at it for quite sometime and really know what they are doing. I love be organized and love to shed my crap, but really...sometimes it really just seems almost impossible b/c where the heck to you really start to declutter and take back your life. In the age that we live in, we just have stuff. We have stuff in drawers and stuff on our floors. Stuff here and stuff there. We just have a bunch of useless stuff, and if you are like me, you want to just throw it all away and start over. Doesn't that get expensive though? Don't you just end up sometimes buying the same thing that you just threw out!?! Decluttering is hard, time-consuming and not very practical for day to day living b/c you have better things to do than take time to just go through your crap.

We move a lot so I have found that we don't have just a bunch of useless stuff, but we have enough to be a little irritating. Our homes aren't always the biggest so there hasn't been a lot of room to put, well, anything. We have a few big pieces of furniture, but we aren't decked out. We have a couch, a dining room table and 3 beds. Everything else is just throw away crap/furniture that will go elsewhere when it comes time to move again. But as I really start to look around, I find that I have accumulated more than I thought. We still have full boxes out in the shed of things that I need, just not right now. When you don't know when or where you are going next, it's just pointless to unpack everything you own. Unpack the things that you use day to day and that will work.

I should have taken a before picture of the shed, but I was too anxious to get in there so here is the after!

Nice and neat right?? Trust me...It wasn't like that yesterday. Here is my get rid box(es)

No matter what, I am getting rid of the stuff in these boxes. I don't care if I have to donate them or just throw it all away. I don't NEED this stuff. 

So there you go. Day 1 of decluttering! Have a happy Tuesday :)

The Shower Curtain

Ok, so one more post for the night and then I am done. I have been putting off this particular for whatever reason, I don't really know, but here it goes. I am not an expert sewer, but I have learned in my craft how to do things and how to do them well. The more I practice, the better I get. My first project was an easter basket for my kids. Something small and easy. I am not one to tell others that they can't do something, but oh man! Did I witness a disaster of a sewing job that I did end up fixing. A lady had taken on the task of sewing a shower curtain that had a chevron pattern that hew customer wanted to match up perfect. That right there was a job! Here is the before...

Now, if you have an eye for mistakes, you should see where they are. The chevron isn't matching at all and the bottom is way uneven. That's not even the worse part because that could be fixed.

Whoever thought that this was an acceptable button hole was sadly mistaken.

I had to take the whole thing apart and start from scratch. Just taking it apart took a little over an hour. I got in a full episode of Supernatural so that will tell you that it takes time and effort and even more to fix something that should have been done right the first time. After I got the whole thing disassembled, I was a little nervous about the butchered holes on the corners and the uneven pattern. I was given an extra long piece of fabric that was cut off to finish off the hack job. If that gives you any kind of clues, the seam wasn't even in the middle of the curtain. Ugh!

(you have to know that I was doing this out of a favor to a very good friend of mine or I would have charged a lot more to do this job)

So the first thing that I had to do was pin, pin and more pinning.

Can you tell where my seam is? I sure hope not! I topstitched the seam just to make sure that I got it perfect. My edging foot is the bomb! Just sayin.

I did that to both sides along with cutting off the excess where the hacked button holes were. I was so happy that it turned out!

As you can see, I don't have a ton of room. I work with what I have. My friend wanted to see what I had done so that is why one of the pictures, one of the hems isn't finished. Chevron matched up! I was pretty proud of that. And here is the correct way to do a button hole!

Just to show off my cool new photofy app, I'm gonna recap the button hole!

And here is the shower curtain hanging up!

So there it is people! A custom shower curtain. It took me total about 6 hours to take apart and fix. Let me tell you though, if you want custom items, you had better be ready to pay for it! Like I said before, I did this as a favor to a friend. She did pay me, but not as much as I would have charged anyone else for the time. Don't get me wrong...I loved this project. I was so excited when I got the chevron to match up and the button holes to look like they did, but it took time!.

Ok, really now...have a happy day! Stay in touch for the next fun project :)

An Easy Sunday Afternoon

I started a new project yesterday with the intentions of finishing it today, but I got 2 orders yesterday that I wanted to finish to get out Monday. I fully succeeded :) As soon as I posted the Fold Over clutch, I got an order for one with a wrist strap.

I wasn't sure how tricky the strap was going to be since there is a fold over part to the clutch, but it was easier placement than I thought.

Then there is the special order zippered chevron teal and yellow pouch/clutch. I am so glad that I had enough fabric to do this project. I'm about to run out of certain patterns that goes with other patterns that I have. Does that tell you how much I sit at my sewing machine!?! Anyway...here it is!

I love my MADE IN THE USA tags that I got here.

I added a fusible fleece interfacing to this one for stability, and I really like that I did that. I feels like a better quality product. I always want to make sure that my customer is happy :)

As for my current project that I have not finished yet, maybe tomorrow. I think that my kids want my attention. Have a happy day!

The Toddler Maxi Skirt

I had been wanting to make a toddler maxi for sometime and finally decided that it was time to do so. Well, I got the fabric, unfolded it and saw that I didn't have enough! Yikes! So I sewed it in tiers. 2 tiers to be exact. My daughter wears a 5T right now and she is so long, but after seeing that I really didn't have enough fabric to make a proper maxi, I improvised. It's a completely straight cut. Not flowing like every girl would like their maxi to be, but she still thought it was pretty and wanted to wear it to play in. Unfortunately for her, I'm not a mother that just allows their kids to play in whatever they want. She had to take it off so that she could play. Anyway...here it is!

She is a little diva!

As stretchy as a jersey knit is, I still had to sew a slit up the back so that she could move a little more freely. It's for sure not perfect, but it was a fun 20 minute project.

The Tutu Dress

I decided one day that I wanted to try something a little different. Something that didn't require me to cut and sew, cut and sew, etc...That brought me to thinking about what my little girl would want mommy to make. I asked her one day who her favorite Tinkerbell fairy was. Of course she would say one that I didn't completely expect at all. The Pirate Fairy. Really? That was the last Tinkerbell movie we saw, but she knows what she likes. So, I was determined to make her a pirate fairy tutu dress. Well, it didn't really turn out how I wanted it to, but it did turn out beautiful and she took the stage!

She is my little model for sure. She will strike a pose when she knows that I am taking her picture. 

The Pirate Fairy wears a dark green outfit with a brown belt and some really awesome looking boots. Unfortunately I ran out of the green, so it's not more of a pretty princess fairy tutu dress. This is up for sale in my Etsy store

It was a really fun dress to put together, but now I am on a mission for more! I have been searching Etsy and any other websites that would have sell dresses like these, and I cannot find the fairies dresses, as in all the fairies from the Tinkerbell movies. I have the supplies to work on Tinkerbell next so until next time! Happy crafting!

Where it Started...

Ok, so maybe I won't go back as far as where exactly I started to sew, but I will start from our move to CA and why I love doing what I do.

I'm a stay at home mom so obviously that I means that I do absolutely nothing all day long! HAHA! I hope that you know that I am joking. Between making sure the children are fed, bathed, clothed, and not getting into any trouble at (rolls eyes), I have to keep up with daily household work i.e. laundry, dishes, sweeping, cleaning, making sure the husband has a nice ironed shirt for work in the morning...BTW, I hate ironing, but it has to be done, and at last but not least, dinner when the husband gets home. I have a confession though. I don't always have dinner ready for when he gets home. I try, but I usually get preoccupied. By what exactly? What this blog is going to be all about. My sewing, crafts and more.

Moving to CA has been a huge adjustment b/c it is so expensive. There are no more random shopping trips. I don't even go to Target as much as I like (and I love Target). I'm watching what I spend at the grocery store and make sure that I don't drive too much just so I don't have to put gas in my car.

Good thing I already had a fabric inventory built up! I was a fabric hoarder! Ok, so maybe not that extreme, but close to it. I always start with Pinterest. I am always able to find fun new projects to do on there. Hi, my name is Mary, and I am a Pinterest Addict.

Anyway, one day, I decided that I didn't want to carry around a large wallet anymore and wanted make one for myself. And so birthed this...

Pretty nifty huh? I sent a picture to my sister, and she asked if I could make her one that fit 2 iPhones, a few credit cards and her earphones. Of course I could! So this one was birthed...This isn't the exact one that I sent to my sister, but you get the idea. I made myself one after that, and that is all I carry around.

This particular clutch was made by request of a friend, and yes, it was paid for. 

So here is where this blog is leading to. I am working on these items and more to make and sell. I have excellent prices and do stand up work! If I wouldn't buy, I won't try to sell it. Got it? This blog is also for your enjoyment. If you just want to stop by and read of all the fun things that I get to do and everything that I am learning, that's great! I am here to aspire and inspire. I am so excited to get this project started with you all, and I hope that you stick around long enough to see the big things that I have in store! Happy Sewing!