He Sowed She Sewed

I was contacted by the marketing coordinator for the book “Sew Red.”

It is a wonderful compilation of sewing projects and I am itching to try ALL of them.  And it just hit the shelves a few weeks ago!  How cool are we to be able to take a look at this book?

Look at all these projects ranging from dresses and shirts to quilts and purses.

This book includes 30 renowned sewing and quilting designers are featured including Ty Pennington, Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink and Suede, to name a few. In addition to their styles they offer commentaries on their experiences with heart disease and tips and tricks to lead heart-healthy lives.

This book is dedicated to raising awareness in preventing heart disease.  Did you all know that heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the US?

I may have a book giveaway for this in the very near future, if all the stars align.

I usually like to have one project to show from the book to show you, but I am afraid this kid will be born before I get my act together so I am just going to show you this incredible book and hope for the best.

Go and buy it and hopefully soon I can have a book giveaway so you can give the extra book to a friend.

What a great cause of preventing heart disease.  It even has healthy recipes and helpful ways to keep your heart healthy-

Thank you to Cassandra the marketing coordinator for thinking of us and to Laura Zander for making such a wonderful book.

There was one morning when we didn’t have ECFE to occupy us so to make morning a bit more eventful we made super hero capes.

I was looking through my fabric and found this silver/shiny stuff.  Pretty out-there huh?  I love having a solid stash of fabric that meets most of my random needs.

Aleah and Sophi chose the fabric for the letters and crowns on their capes.  Aleah loved the cupcake fabric and needed to have the star below her A too.

Whenever they put their capes on they run all over the house.  What fun is a cape if it’s not flowing in the breeze.

I bet I didn’t even use a yard of fabric to make these and it took about an hour, mostly because of my helpers =)

Let’s just say I was inspired by a certain movie, except backwards =) I did the dress first AND THEN the curtains

 I kinda felt like Maria from the Sound of Music

I bought enough fabric to make Aleah this dress back in November and loved it so much I decided to head back and make curtains for the kids play room:

The curtains really tie the room together

Not impressed by my picture taking, thanks for humoring me babe

What a trooper, if I got paid to do this whole blog thing I would have to give her a BIIIIG cut of the dough

One of my best friends is pregnant and due in the middle of August. A while ago she gave me some of her older clothes since she was going to donate them anyways.  In the pile of clothes I found a shirt that I knew meant a whole lot to her, and then got to thinking.

I decided to make a baby sleeper and surprise her.

Cut off the most of the sleeves of the shirt and pinned the sides and remaining sleeves a couple inches inward:

After sewing along the pins I added some elastic to the bottom of the shirt.  I used the seam that was already there and threaded the elastic through.

I cut the extra sleeves apart then sewed them to each other to make a cut hat.  I can’t remember how big a baby’s head is so I make the top adjustable.  It is simply tied together with some yellow fabric.  If it is too big or small the tie can come out and easily sized to fit perfectly.

And here is the finished product, can’t wait to see her little babe wearing this!

Yes, my friend is from Iowa, and very proud of it.  Go Hawkeyes! right?

This is my favorite sign from Iowa, heck yeah Fields of Opportunity!

Sophi got a wand for her Birthday along with some fairy wings.

Ever since, the girls have been fighting over the wand.

Instead of teaching them to share I decided to make another wand.

It is now part wand/part cat toy.

The wand was made with a stick from the great outdoors, some scrap fabric and some ribbon from a thrift store.

Now they are going around the house turning things into bugs.  Not sure why this is the go-to thing to be changed into.  Maybe they could magically clean the house.

I made this skirt for the daughter of Aleah’s gymnastics teacher.

I sewed the strip of fabric with a basting stitch when it was inside out then turned in to the right side.  This made the strip of fabric curl into a flower when I pulled the basting stitch tight.

I was running short on time (and I am lazy) so I used my sewing machine to attach the flower to the skirt.

Sorry there aren’t any cute kids in this post

I was at target the other day picking up some odds and ends.

Since Sophi has started potty training we need some more kid undies around the house.  I went looking for them and when I found them I was quite surprised.  I could buy a seven pack of princess underwear for $10.99

At first I grabbed two packs.

But then I looked into the cart and realized that was $22 worth of kid underwear.  Not cool.  I put one of the packs away and decided I was going to try and make some.

This first pair I made out of an old pair of pants with some horrible knee stains.

I like the waistband on the pink pair because it is so comfortable for her.

The blue pair I simply threaded some elastic into the bottom seam of a t-shirt after I traced and cut out the pattern.

The girls are SOOOO cute when they are wearing their new underwear.  Wish I could show you pictures of the girls wearing them, but this is not this kind of website =)

I saw a headband I liked on pintrest and decided to give it a whirl and try to make it.

This is the picture I started with:

The headbands I liked were the ones on the right side of the pictures

cut a long oval out of

Next, set your machine to the make the longest stitch and sew about three inches down the center of the oval

after you have sewed down the middle you need to pull the thread to scrunch up the oval into a gathered circle

Make about three circles and then attach them to the headband that will be two or three inches wide.

What a cutie pie

Here is a pair of pants I made for my girlie:

How lucky am I to have such a beautiful and cooperative little model

I think it is amazing the things a little kid can get away with wearing.  Pretty sure anyone over the age of 5 would look pretty ridiculous in these pants.  But she can pull these off, don’t you think?

She is one goofy gal