Embroidery Season

While I'm sure there are embroidery enthusiasts that stitch all year round, my tendency is to stitch when the weather gets cold. 

Sew Geeky - Studio Ghibli Totoro Dress

Studio Ghibli - they make some of my favorite children's movies& when I saw that this was the theme of September's Sew Geeky I was ON BOARD. 

Kcw - The Last Days + 1; All-Spice Mural Dress

All my dreams of finishing my dress by day 7 were shattered at about 9pm last night. 

I finally realized it just wasn't going to happen, but I kept embroidering until around 10pm. Then I needed a goods nights rest and to give myself today to finish up. 

KCW Day 4 - Skirt & More Embroidery

Day 4

I'm still chugging along getting in at least an hour a day, if not a bit more. It's hard to tell sometimes when I'm able to pick it up for 10 minutes at a time here and there and then again at nap time. 

KCW Day 3; A finished bodice

Day 3

On day three I finished the embroidery on the custom artwork All Spice bodice and then put it together. I'm actually pretty proud of the progress since that embroidery work takes a while. It would normally go a little quicker but I am constantly changing out colors. 

KCW Day 2; Embroidery Ya'll

Day 2 has come and gone, whew! 

I spent all of day 2 having Lily draw her masterpieces onto the bodice of the dress and then allowing her to pick each color she wants the drawing to be embroidered in. While the task takes a bit of time..."I want it in red here, and then this needs to be green, yeah- light green, and then..." lol it's completely fun watching her enjoy the leadership role she get's for this dress. She may or may not be a natural "BOSS." 

Crawford Family Quilt: Earth Day Square

I've said it again and again - in our house, we love Earth Day! 

Family Quilt: The Wedding Square

Another embroidered quilt square finished, woohoo! 

If you missed my initial family quilt post, the main idea behind the quilt was that in the colder months I am more apt to pick up my embroidery and work on a random project. The thing was, I had no use for the embroidery when it was done. I just did it to practice and keep myself busy when I had free time. So, instead of making a bunch of projects that had no use, I decided to start embroidering on a standard sized square and when I acquired enough of them, I will put them together into a quilt. I chose to do a family theme and so the finished quilt will tell a story of our family and hopefully some special things about us. 

Winter Embroidery - Lily's Family Quilt Square

Hi! 

I'm back sharing another square from our "Family Quilt" that is in progress. I really need to trace another square and get working- it's been almost two weeks since I finished this one and I have yet to really nail down plans for the next one. 

I guess I just got busy sewing for baby& trying to catch up on scrap booking Lily's year being a 5 year old. I realized the other day she'll be turning 6 in May and I have yet to put ONE PHOTO in her 5yr. old album. How sad! I also ordered another copy of "The Belly Book" to fill in for this baby. Thank goodness I've been using an iphone app to track different aspects of the pregnancy. I thought to myself, if this baby is a girl she will be awfully sad looking at the pathetic amount of memories captured of her time in my belly. Is it just me or am I the only one who thinks that girls appreciate the memory albums more? 

Winter Embroidery

It seems like each time the weather starts cooling & blankets come out- the snuggling feeling triggers a switch in me that says "you need to embroider." I assume that it's something to do with that slowing down that winter brings. The inevitable "being stuck inside" that urges me to hunker down and watch a movie while I keep my self creating and happy. I'm also sure that if I learned to knit or crochet that this would likely be a time for that. 

Project Run& Play Wk. 2 Candy Challenge

Whew. 

Guys, this challenge was so tough for me. I'm a practical clothing maker, which doesn't work so well when "candy" comes to mind. Candy? Clothing? Add that to my tendency to choose neutral or muted colors and you see my problem. 

I actually considered just skipping this week. 

It. Was. SO. Hard. 

So hard that I finished my whole "Mad For Plaid" challenge outfit and only once it was done decided I shouldn't be lame and went back to the drawing board for the Candy Challenge. 

The Polka Dot Dress by Kikoi in Floral

If you have kids you surely have seen the book series "If you give a mouse a cookie..." The same author also writes "If you give a moose a muffin..." and the list goes on... 

This morning felt like the mom version of this story& I decided to call it "If you ask your mom a question..." 

Why ? 

(you may be asking yourself, or not, but lets pretend you are)

Let me tell you! The conversation started like this...

Lily: "Mom, can I put my polly pockets in the basement so Archer won't get them?"

Me: "Well, I really don't want you to keep putting toys into the basement. What you SHOULD do is clean out your cabinet and get rid of toys you don't use so you can put your polly pockets in there." 

So the story goes... "If you clean out your cabinet, you will need to find space for the art supplies that are overtaking the cabinet." 

Which of course led me to reorganize the art supplies in my hallway closet. That led me to clean out the WHOLE hallway closet that was overtaken by unused shoes. I needed to put those shoes into the garage sale bags. Of course that meant getting rubber bands to keep the pairs together. 

The rubber bands were in my silverware drawer that, upon further digging, was a big mess. So I cleaned that drawer out too. 

In the end, I have three de-cluttered spaces but sheesh! If you would have told me that from the 

get-go, I would have just stuck the polly pockets in the basement. 

lol 

Now, on to my post!

Today I'm sharing a super cute dress called "The Polkadot Dress" sold by Kikoi on her etsy site. 

I was lucky enough to get the heads up for a deal she was running. Pin the polka dot dress onto your pinterest board& she would send you the pattern for free. 

uhhh? Yep. 

So last week I received her dress pattern& sewed it up asap. 

The Ms.Pacman Dress for Sew Geeky

I was on vacation last week and couldn't help but sneak onto blogger to check in on everyone. 

&I'm so glad I did!!

Did you guys know that Max California & Sew Chibi are doing a new series called Sew Geeky?

You probably do, huh.

Well, I was so frustrated that I couldn't create anything RIGHT THEN. 

So, when I got home my hubs and I sat down and looked at all the awesome new patterns I had won during the Fabric Matching competition. He looked through my fabric and threw out ideas (really great ones too!) & together we came up with an awesome design using the Ivy Dress from Peekaboo Pattern Shop . <--- click to visit their shop 

I won a 5 pack of patterns & it is what Lily picked for herself. <3

She's completely thrilled with it. 

KCW check in

I thought I would just jump in with what I've been making during KCW. 

If  you didn't read my first KCW post go HERE to see why I'm still trying to make up for lost time. 

First plush pony

Hi guys! Last week on k.i.d.s. there were so many awesome kid inspired ideas. I loved watching the children draw something to be created. So, i had lily draw me what her perfect lily style my little pony would be.

Screen Printing ZIpper Bags

If you feel like my content is random, you're right! 

I'm nearly always moving from one form of art to another in a ... well frenzy of thought. 

As you may remember, at Christmas time I was all about making zipper bags as diy gifts. I totally LOOOOOVE them& how quick and simple they can be. There's a never ending amount of ways you can make them your own.. this being my new favorite. 

Screen printing!

Freezer paper rocks, right? Personalized stuff too? 

Yep& yep. 

Week 1: Project Run [and] Play : Pattern Remix

Happy Project Run& Play everyone! 

I am so excited to be on my game this season & ready to post about my remix on THE FIRST DAY rather than two weeks (*or never) after it's over. booo for procrastination& perfectionism. 

I promise I don't share them because I don't feel like they turned out great. 

Like last season, I was STOKED to do the white sheet challenge. I almost completed an outfit, a pair of comfy fully lined drawstring pants (dyed burnt orange) and jacket that buttoned up the front. First, my pants didn't have enough rise on the waist & were kind of the wedgie-type. Poor girl. Then the jacket dyed a dull brown rather than the fall leaf brown I was shooting for. & from there I completely lost motivation and never even took photos.

The pants sit in her drawer unused& jacket in the closet. slightly used. 

This season I vowed to be different. 

I went big. 

I went bold. 

I even went detailed. 

... and guess what? I really like what I made. 

Happy Festivus to the rest of us.

Good morning! It's so close to Christmas & I'm really excited to hand so many of my family members a little something I've handmade them. No I didn't pair it with lots of store bought goodies... why? Simply put, because more isn't better. I love Christmas for so many reason: the snow, the family, the thoughtful gifts, the unnecessary acts of kindness, the feeling of a global community. I also have many things I really dislike: my house gets trashed and crowded from all the gifts, my daughter can have streaks of "needing" everything or being sad that wishes don't get delivered to your lap, i DO NOT like to shovel. 

So this Christmas I am focusing on the things I love, and trying to save some stress for myself and others too. Less present, more meaning, more time spent DOING and less time spent GETTING. 

With that said, here are some of my handmade Christmas items. 

<3

my niece syd loves octopuses. and orange.