Pink Flowers and Polka Dots

Well, after some hazardous mishaps and a pin head melting to the collar, I finally finished this toddler dress the day before the competition!




The pattern is McCall's 5791. I made a size "large". That means I don't exactly know what size it is, but I would guess it's somewhere between 9 and 12 months. (I tried to compare it to this darling 7 month old, and she decided it was fun to hold the hanger and wave it up and down. So stinkin' cute!)



This was my first project with piping, and I just adore the end result. It may become a fixture in my sewing projects. :o) It also provided the perfect opportunity to add more contrast giving the dress more interest.



It went pretty smoothly, and I was very surprised and pleased with the scores I got. All-in-all a good experience, though it was a little stressful to finish the day before competing!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Hope you are having fun and wearing green! :o)

Summer Inspiration

Wow. I can't believe I haven't posted in a month! I'm so sorry to all of my dear blog friends! I'll try to get back into the habit of posting regularly!

At the moment I seem to be in a dresses mood... summer dresses. With flip-flops... Or cute hemp-heeled sandals... Bright colors, full skirts, perfect for almost any occasion, and lots of fun to wear!

There are great selections at two of my favorite places to shop - Old Navy...





...and Target.





Yes, I like stripes. Can you tell?

I'm thinking about trying to make my own knit dress this year, but I'm not sure if I am brave enough to work with stretchy fabric.

In other words, I'm very excited today because I've pulled my flip-flops out and am hyped about wearing them again, and Celtic Thunder's newest CD finally arrived from Ireland; it makes me happy. :o)

Anchor Bag

My old cross stitch bag was just a freebie I got from a homeschool conference. It worked fine, but it was very small, making it hard to fit everything. Even finding anything without completely emptying was hard! So when I saw these bags at Forever 21 for $1.99 I decided it was time for an upgrade.



My "cross stitch bag" carries stuff for my cross stitching, quilting, and any other portable project I'm working on, so the larger bag is much nicer! I'm loving all the extra space, and the anchor is totally me! How perfect!

Last January Craftings

Okay, I didn't get all of my January Sew 12 hours posted while it was still January... So here is a conglomeration post for the final hours in the January portion of the challenge!

Firstly, two more days of cross stitching resulted in most of a yellow flower...



A friend helped me make my very first pair of earrings to give to another friend for her birthday! It was so fun, I may have to get some tools and start making more jewelry! And I think Amelia likes them, so I'm happy. :o)



And the last hours went on this toddler dress I'm making for a competition. I've never entered anything I've sewn in a competition before, so I'm a little nervous... But hopefully everything will go well!



Hooray for the 1st month of my challenge being completed! I'll try to get my hours posted more in sequence this month... We'll see how it goes. ;o)

Hours 4, 5, and 6 - Bed Quilt

Remember that nautically inspired quilt my sister and I are working on for our bedroom? Well, I decided it was going to be finished this year (completely through the hand quilting), and after my *clears throat* success *shuffles feet* with such goals last year, I've decided to put in a lot of work early this year. We've completed 9 squares, so only 7 more to finish!



Hand piecing is nice because we can keep our hands busy while chatting or watching a movie. :o)

Hours 2 and 3 - Owl Gloves

Days 2 and 3 of my Sew 12 Challenge went to my fingerless gloves with the cabled owl. They are finished and I simply love them! However, they are a bit too small for me, so I'm going to give them to a friend. Am I not a very friendly, giving person? lol



It's good to be knitting again! Though I had trouble deciding if knitting really counted for my Sew 12 Challenge. I finally decided it's more of a crafting challenge for me...



And, just so everyone knows, I really have done several of my challenge hours; I just haven't gotten around to actually posting them. I'll try to get everything up while it's still January!

Hour 1 - Pink Rose

My first hour of sewing for the Sew 12 Challenge went on my Paula Vaughn cross stitch. One of my 2012 Resolutions (which, by the way, aren't terribly "resolute"...) was that I would finish this cross stitch. So when I was chatting with my family for a couple hours last night, I created a couple more flowers, the larger of which is this pink one.



Time to put the yellow flowers around it... :o)