Another Pinterest Inspired Project!

Lately, I have been addicted to making stuff out of things I already have and leftovers from other projects. I think it's a great way to clean out things I can before the New Year begins! With that in mind I made a pair of adorable little leggings for Aubree the other day after seeing these pants on Pinterest awhile back:

Source: makeit-loveit.com via Dori on Pinterest

While they follow pretty much the same "pattern" as most other tutorials to make baby pants/leggings, I liked the cute reverse applique, as it was one of those simple things that I probably never would have thought of on my own!

I have a TON of old t-shirts since my sister and I recently cleaned out our closets and anything that was stretched out or stained or not worthy of donation has made its way into my stash. One of those was a shirt my sister had probably held onto since middle school. I don't have any "before" pictures, and I am horrible at taking progress pictures. (I get in the zone and forget!) Here is my version before I put the waistband on:

And here is my chunky monkey trying them on for the first time:

I decided not to add any ruffles or "flair" to the bottom, as I think the print itself is busy enough. I just used the bottom of the t-shirt to be the bottom hem and it worked out wonderfully I think.

I apologize for the "deer in the headlights" look and the blurriness of the photo. Still need a digital camera, but my iPhone will have to do for now. Aubree is at that stage where I can't get her to sit still for a picture unless she can see herself on the screen-- and that usually results in funny faces anyway ;) The pants do seem to ride up a bit on the inseam, so next time I will have to remember to add a bit extra, but overall I am quite pleased as this was my first time attempting pants! (I did make a pair of boxer shorts for my mom in high school but that.... is another story!

Cullen's Birthday!

I have some new things I have been working on, but have had no time to finish any, so unfortunately I have no crafty pictures to share right now!

What has kept me so busy? Well, my sister came to visit all last week, and Cullen's second birthday was on Friday. All week was spent going to the zoo, and getting stuff ready for his big party we had on Saturday. The party was a huge success, and he had a blast! I used raw edge applique to make him a cool birthday shirt: It had a 2 on the front and his name on the back!

My sister made him a cool Halloween themed "cupcake cake":

And he had lots of fun with all of his buddies:

Poor guy still got a bit of sunburn, even with SPF 50 slathered on! (And Nevaeh is wearing the pillowcase dress I made for her a few months ago!)

I still can't believe my little man is two! Shaine and I were looking at pictures from his first birthday, and just marveled at how much he has grown, and learned, since then.
He knows all of his shapes, colors, most of the animals and the sounds they make, and we are working on numbers and letters. He says "please" and "thankyou", gives his baby sister hugs and kisses all the time, and helps mommy every chance he gets. He is easily the best little boy I could have asked for. While I can't wait to see him grow and learn more, this is such a fun age that I just want him to stay where he's at for awhile longer!

Hopefully, now that things are settling down and returning to normal, I will be able to get some things done. I have a few WIPs, and lots of pretty new fabric I haven't even played with yet!

T-shirt Memory Quilt

This is the top I pieced together out of Shaine's old army t-shirts (and one of mine that snuck in there!), and some old uniforms that were torn:


When I first asked him for the shirts to make him a memory quilt, he said "What would we do with it?" And when I explained that it would be around the house and he could take it with him for training, and that it also serves as a show-off piece (the desert camouflage, for example, hasn't been issued for a long time, and shows that he deployed in the first waves, the jungle camouflage started getting phased out in 2005, and he has the digital ACUs as well), and then he really started getting into it! When I sketched it out as far as which squares would go where, he actually had input, and the uniforms were his idea and he chose where each one would go. I am going to applique a few of his more important patches onto it, and back it with some simple black flannel, and do some straight-line in the ditch quilting lines. Shouldn't take too long to finish! I love that he likes it so much!