A Simple Project and a Vintage Find

Several months ago I saw a cute friend at a party who had taken a plain cardigan and swapped out the plain buttons for some eclectic ones.  Before I went to S. Korea I found this cute cardigan at Target, and I knew that I wanted to find some cute buttons to embellish it.  My mom caught wind of my idea, and she of course wanted one too.  I still haven't sewn the buttons on my cardigan, BUT I've got some down time here at my House in the South, so I tackled my mom's last night.

I'm pretty pleased with the results.  I only brought 3 outfits with me on my 3 week trip, so I will be borrowing this while I'm here!!

On to my vintage find.

I've been organizing some things for my mom while I've been at her house, and I stubbled upon this...

I know I should have ironed it, but, well, I'm on vacation.  

Let me give you a close up

a little closer

I'd say this took just a little bit of time.

I'm thinking since I found it in the back of a closet that maybe my mom will let me take it home with me.

Back to laying on the couch doing nothing late at night a.k.a. vacation!

Home in the South

I arrived home to my house in the South on Wednesday, and have been busy finishing the pillows above.  I sewed them before I came, but I still had to handstitch the binding.

As a reward for finishing them yesterday, my parents watched my little ones today, so I could sneak off to a little fabric shop in the Atlanta area called Whipstitch.  Dana from MADE did a demo a couple weeks back at Whipstitch, so I knew that while I was in town I'd need to find my way to this shop.

While the store was very charming and had some great fabrics, nothing compares to Happy Quilt.  I got to go to Happy Quilt twice on my trip to S. Korea, but sometimes I wonder if I will ever return to that slice of heaven on earth!!!

Of course I couldn't leave empty handed, so I bought myself some Tina Givens (right) that I've seen and have longed to have in my stash.  I'm thinking it will be a good throw pillow fabric.  You know because I need some more throw pillows.  I also couldn't pass up the Joel Dewberry (left) fabric because I got two yards for $10, and that seemed like a screaming deal compared to other fabrics in the shop.  I also really like Joel Dewberry, but don't have anything of his stuff in my stash.  Now I do.  Happy day!

I'm not sure what's on the horizon for sewing from me in the next couple of weeks.  I'm on vacation at my mom's house for a little while.  Stay tuned, but please keep your expectations very, very low!

I'm alive!

Things have been pretty crazy in my life.  A whirlwind trip to LA and forgetting my clothes, driving to and from LA, celebrating the 4th, my birthday, and trying to get ready for a big trip to my house in the South, and on and on.

BUT, I have been working.  I lasted posted that I was thinking of making some dresses for Grace.  I decided to postpone that until after my visit to the South.  Instead I made my mom 2 pillows that she's been wanting.  I thought pillows would make her happy, and isn't it nice to make someone's day!?!

I also haven't finished these completely.  I just need to finish hand stitching the binding. I think that is the perfect activity for me while I'm at my mom's house.

I might have more to say about my Round of Applause Pillow on another day, but it's too late tonight.  Sorry.

Now I must get some sleep because I have A LOT to do tomorrow.

Too many options.

I purchased the newest edition of Stitch magazine on Friday night.  There are several patterns I'd like to try.  Too bad that the patterns weren't included in the magazine, but rather I had to download them and then print out 27 pages to make this dress.

It so precious, right?  I'll be spending my evening taping my pages together, copying the pattern pieces to my freezer paper, cutting out my pattern, and then FINALLY cutting out the fabric.

Dear Stitch Magazine,


Next time please don't get my hopes up that I'm going to get a new pattern when I buy your magazine.  I was just a little bit annoyed sad when I had to download and print 27 pages to make the sweet wrap dress.


Your Fan,


Elizabeth


After I printed all 27 pages, I started to wonder if I should try to make this dress instead.

I bought this pattern a couple of weeks ago, but I'm slightly intimidated by it.

Dear Oliver + S,


When you say something has a difficulty rating of 3 scissors, what exactly do you mean??


Yours Truly,


Elizabeth


I'm also starting to get anxious about my big holiday coming up.  My kids and I are going to my house in the South to visit my family.  Does Grace need a whole new wardrobe before I leave?  Should I be pulling late nights to make new dresses, skirts, and appliqued shirtts???

Dear Bahama Mama,


Do you want Grace to look darling in all new clothes when I come to see you, or would you prefer I work on a new throw pillow for you this week?


Love Your Daughter,


Liz

Enough with the letter writing.  I need to get to work!!  

Tootles for tonight!

A Rescue Mission

Last week I discovered Centsational Girl.  I live in Northern CA, and so does Kate, the brains behind Centsational Girl, and I'm thinking Kate and I need to be friends.  She's got mad skills at rescuing old furniture.  I was so inspired by her work that before my long run this last Saturday I found a garage sale that I could run by that I thought for sure would have something for me.

And I found this waiting for me.

A lone chair for $7.

I set to work on it Sunday night and tonight I give you my finished product.

Ta da!!

I used this tutorial as my guide.

I bought this fabric in Korea, and I knew it needed to be on display in my house.  it makes me so happy.  I love warm colors, but the blues in this fabric is my new favorite color.  I'd love to share the name of this fabric, but I'm tucked in my bed, and there is no way I'm walking all the way to the laundry room to get a name!!  If you really need to know, please leave a comment.

I love my new chair, but once I finished it last night, I decided it still needed a little something.

So I made a little pillow to go with it.

Project completed!!

I am still alive!!!

Liz has been steering this ship all alone for the past month or so.  Seriously, when was the last time I posted?!

This past week, my kids were gone to camp with their grandparents, my husband had flown back to Korea to close up shop there, once and for all, and I was left alone with a few days all to myself.  Although I imagined my time would be filled with sewing, I'll admit that not having my own sewing "stuff" has stopped me more than once from settling into any of the projects I had at one time imagined doing.

But since I was supposed to meet up with my grandma one evening for dinner, I decided I really wanted a new shirt to wear.  Not finding anything that I really wanted to buy at any stores, I remembered that I had packed something in my suitcase from Korea:

This gorgeous steely grey bow, shirt adornment, all pre-made and pre-attached to a tulle backing, just sitting in it's quintessential Korean cellophane wrapping, waiting for my attention.

I found the shirt magically the day before.  It was a tissue thin, elbow lengthed sleeve shirt at Target, waiting to be purchased for $7.  It was the perfect color grey.

After maybe five minutes of sewing I had a new t-shirt to wear to dinner with my Grandma:

And to seal the deal, I believe I had three total strangers approach me on that day to tell me they liked my shirt.  I liked it too.  But it made me miss Korea.  Just like when I walked into a local quilt store here in Springville, and looked at a bolt of fabric that I hadn't seen before.  As I inspected the bolt to learn more about it, my eyes grabbed hold of the phrase, "Made in South Korea".  I nearly burst into tears.  I wanted to turn to someone and say, "I totally know what this means!  I was just there."  But there was no one there to tell it to.

I miss sewing.  But I miss just about everything about my old life.  Mostly because I haven't settled into my new life yet.  I'm in transition.  A new shirt makes me happier for a day.  But I soon remember that that feeling of forgetting something, or wondering what I'm doing, or thinking I was about to say something, is really all just symptons of the transition.

I'll find my grove again.  Please excuse me for a bit while I'm looking for it. 

My shirt is cute though, isn't it?!

Interim

After gluttonously sewing away my nights last week on fun projects, I had to attend to some business tonight. Let's just say the project I'm working is a little more challenging than I had anticipated.  But, I'm helping a friend out, and I'll profit a bit from it as well.  I have 13 yard of the above fabric along with 12 yards of muslin, and I'm making panel window treatments out of the fabric.  That is some serious yardage.

Okay, I hope to be back in the next day or two to share something a little more creative.  While ironing 12 yards of muslin, I had a great deal of time to ponder what I should make next!  Get so excited!!!

Tootles for now!