Disney Dresses

I guess now I can say that miracles DO happen!!!  Lol*  I don't know what has come over me, but I have been bitten by the dressmaking bug.  Oh heavens.  I think my Mother about fell out of her chair when I called her for help!  In the past I always saw dressmaking as sort of tedious and boring...and with three little girls at home I don't know why I didn't do this sooner!  But in any case I'm sure glad that I have found some joy in sewing clothing for my children, and now I'm OBSESSED!!!  Move over quilts, you have competition!  ;) 

Here's what I made for my daughters...the Ariel dress is for my oldest to wear at Disney...my very first pillowcase dress!  This was SO much fun...I made this yesterday in between a TON of shopping and running around, so I can tell you they whip up in no time at all.  I made it longer for her because she is a bit older, and she's going to want to make sure everything is nice and covered and comfortable when sitting and riding rides.  I still may make a little pair of shorts to go underneath, I haven't decided.  If she wants to ride a carousel horse she'll need to be comfy too and in this dress that might be difficult.

 This one is princesses, sort of, and I made it for my middle daughter but not so much for Disney.  It was more of an experiment, to see if I could make it!  I didn't use patterns for either dress, I sort of just winged it.  The pillowcase dress is INSANELY simple so you definitely don't need a pattern for that...and this one I just made up as I went along.  I'm so happy with how it turned out!  My middle daughter has a princess themed party to attend in about a week...I cannot seem to find any of her old Disney princess costumes, so I think this will be an appropriate substitute!

 I found the most adorable buttons at walmart with pink castles, gowns, and crowns that say "princess"...but I decided just the lone stars looked best.  I just tied the ribbons on...I may change these in the future.  She wanted rapunzel but I couldn't find ANYTHING rapunzel to add to it, so she gets all the princesses.  Lol*  I'm really hoping at least one girl at the party comes in a party dress so Abbey won't feel left out!  I'm a little nervous about that.

 The crown was a $1 find in the bins at Jo-Anns and I found the septer at Dollar Tree...I think I may add some more princess ribbon to it and some dark purple ribbon so they match a bit more.

Yay, this was so fun!  I am off to get these girls ready for Easter breakfast with family and then come home to make more dresses!  Woohee!  :)

Autograph Books

Quilty sewing has haulted as I am currently on a Disney kick.  But do no despair (ok I know nobody is dispairing over my lack of quilting) as Bonnie Hunter is visiting my quilt guild in June and I will surely rekindle the obsession very soon!  That and quilt guild is tonight so when I see everybody's quilts I'm sure to want to run right home and sew.  :)

Lookeee what I made!!!  A couple of autograph books for the girlies, and Minnie lanyards!!!  I am so proud of those silly little books.  I went through a bunch of old scrapbooking stuff I had in my crafty stash from years ago when I was on a big scrapbooking kick.  It's all heavy weight album paper and cardboard scraps I kept for just the right project...I went through and cut each piece by hand and hole bunched each piece by hand!  Lol*  All 150 pages of them!!!  Found the keyrings at Walmart...they have colored ones for $4 in assorted sizes and hooks come with them.  Then I just glued ribbon until I couldn't stand to look at ribbon or jewels any longer.  I used Disney Princess plates from the party section for the princesses!  Ohmygosh this was so much fun!  I was a little nervous the girls wouldn't be that into them, but I knew I had done alright when my middle child told me that she wanted to sleep with hers because it was her favorite thing.  **Mush**

We ordered pins to trade at the parks for the lanyards that should be here towards the end of the week.  Woot!  What fun!  :)

More Kitchen Adventures and Working in the Garden

More cooking going on here.  My parents gave me a cast iron skillet that they don't use because I had been wanting one.  I was so thrilled not only to receive something that could be handed down to my children, but a skillet that had already been "broken in" and had a bit of seasoning to it!  I am discovering the very interesting and fun world of cast iron cooking...I have used my wonderful skillet nearly every day upon receiving it.  Here is a little picture of yesterday's experiment...

Corn bread!!!  Lol*  I am so fascinated by the fact that you can bake RIGHT in the skillet.  Lol*  The cornbread came out good but not sweet enough for my liking, so I will have to add a little more sugar next time.

In other happenings I've been spending most of my time outdoors.  Usually in this area we are still getting regular snow in March, so the temperatures of 75 and 80 we've been having are such a treat.  I've been spending every moment I can getting a head start on some of the outdoor spring cleanup.  Lots of painting and moving of brush...nothing exciting!  But keeping me busy! 

Here's a few random pictures, as I like ot add those.  The first bloom for the year in my garden...hyacinths...they are much more blue in real life.  Usually the daffodils flower first...what a wierd spring!!!

Tulips well on their way...these are one of my favorite flowers.  I cannot wait to see them bloom...

Irises would probably be my all time favorites...I have bunches of them all through the garden but these ones were the first to be planted when I started gardening.  This year I layered thick newspaper and mulch around them to see if we can't get those weeds under control.

More pictures soon...the baby calls!

A Secret Project and Rambles

I can't show what I'm working on but I'll show you just a lil' snippet to prove that I am sewing!  Had the most wonderful birthday the day before yesterday and still recovering a bit from it!  I am officially 31!!!  Lol*  I was going to say I don't feel like it...but, I'm a tired Mommy of three...so truthfully I feel older than 31!  :)  I'm still sort of juvenile about my birthday where even though I know I'm too old for a lot of nonsense, I still sort of want a lot of nonsense.  Lol*  Last year sorta stunk because we had a close family member pass away the day before.  So the day of we spent with family making plans and preperations for a funeral and that was just so sad.  I am happy this year nothing too terrible happened...though my middle daughter did smoosh her fingers in the door at McDonald's and I ended up spending a few hours in the emergency department with her.  Nothing broke thank goodness but her heart and mine!  My little angel is much better now, though enjoying a bit of extra attention, and my Husband went out of his way to make a little "fuss" for me.  :)  That was so sweet and, you know, sometimes you just need to feel important and thought of! 

So the birthday is all over but we are planning a trip to Disney soon so I have something new to look forward to!  I see lots of mouse ears and minnie dresses in my future...  ;)

I'm a Lucky Birthday Girl :)

Thank you my Handsome Husband :)

I love my birthday wheelbarrow!  :)

Cooking, Eating, Sewing...

I'll admit, I am not the greatest cook, but I am really working on it.  I've got two or three things down - I make a mean semi-home made stromboli, to die for BBQ pulled pork, spicey and creamy pumpkin roll, and I rock out a few great holiday cookies that gets the family talking and munching each year.  The only problem...I can't feed my family stromboli and pumpkin roll 365 days out of the year.  Lol*  So I yesterday I finally mustered up some courage and tried something new...something that didn't even end in "helper".  :)  I made fried chicken!!!

Now some of you pro's at cooking are probably rolling your eyes thinking, "really?", but this is a recipe I have always been afraid to try!  I am always quite nervous about not cooking the meat long enough and poisoning my family!  I've never really done much cooking with anything other than boneless skinless chicken breast or ground beef/turkey/pork so I'm awfully proud.  I made glazed carrots for the Husband and served cauliflower, carrots and ranch dip to lighten it up a little for me and the kids (who opted out of the dip).  The very best part?  EVERYONE ate it!  Lol*  It was so good, and I'm feeling very confident now!  :)  I won't be making it often due to the nearly 800 calories in each piece, lol*, but it will be a great once in a while addition to our menu.  

Tonight's experiment?  Baked BBQ chicken wings...wish me luck!

Garden Walk, Garden Junk

Working out the dimensions of a quilt design for most of the day.  What a great day to be sewing.  It was cool and rainy, but still warmer than it should be this time of year.  I had the doors open a crack so I could smell the fresh spring air while I worked...and the rain.  :)  Got the police scanner app working on my tablet...oh joy to me is a cup of coffee, a fresh rotary blade, stack of precuts, and silence intertwined with the criminal happenings of all the county.  Lol*  It was a good day.

I think I may have enjoyed too much coffee though as I can't get to sleep!  I'm keeping the husband awake too with my tap tap tapping on the keyboard, but I'll try and get a few pictures in before he grumbles at me to quit...just some garden junk and random garden pictures.  Everything is still pretty sleepy this early in the year.  Not much coming up other than tulips and hyacinths.

This is a vintage gas can my Dad gave me...ironically the vast majority of garden junk in my garden is from my Dad!

My hydrangea...in it's fourth year?  Fourth or fifth I can't remember...

Tulips I planted in this bucket last year and forgot about...

More garden junk...these weren't from Dad...yard sales, thrift shops...

A sleeping garden bed in need of some grooming...

Mean old black eyed susans gobbling up it's neighbors...

...a foxglove baby hiding beneath the debris...

Another bed in need of love...lots of last years strawberry vines and that big brown bush you can barely make out are my hot pink Knock Out Roses.  They are GORGEOUS in the summer.

I guess that's it.  I'm tired now too.  ;)  My weekly walking buddy has canceled on me for tomorrow morning so, back to sewing in the morning.