Little Outfit

I just had to make Sloan a little outfit for her upcoming vacation.  I bought this fabric a while back and have been keeping it until I could sew.  The color is so pretty but I'm not sure what to call the color.  It's not purple and it's not eggplant.  It's just a pretty color.

If you see straight pins in my shabby rosettes that's because I have not really finished them.  I will have to do that tomorrow.  I googled "toddler skirt patterns" and I found this one.  It is very simple ( which I love).  You can find the tutorial HERE.

Then I went to work on a matching top.  I have been wanting to use the tank tops that I bought so I grabbed the white one.  I used the same fabrics as in the skirt.  Then I pulled the green color out of the main pattern and used a green thread for the monogramm.  It shows up well on the dark fabric.

TA-DA!

A complete outfit for my little grand baby girl.

XOXO,

Karen

Red, White & Blue

If you were to visit my house this week you would see a lot of Red, White & Blue.  We are getting ready for a Big 4th of July!  I hope you are getting ready, too.  None of my decorations are breath-taking or designer style but they are just what we like at our house and most of what you would see has been done by me.  So enjoy the humble tour of my patriotic decorations.

How does your family celebrate the 4th of July?

Happy Tuesday!

XOXO,

Karen



Baby Kaleb and Baby Elizabeth

This will be an almost wordless post as I have spent the last 30 hours with my children and grand children.  We had the most fun ever and I am exhausted :)  I wanted to share a few things that I stitched last week for two sweet babies. 

I made burp cloths and onesies for them. 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

XOXO,

Karen

I'm Home

 I arrived home from Atlanta yesterday afternoon and I had a wonderful flight home.  The skies were sunny and no rain in sight.  Atlanta weather was absolutely gorgeous while I was there.  After the cool front moved in it was low humidity and temps were in the low 80's.  Just right for enjoying a short vacation with family.  We always spend a lot of time just visiting and catching up on family news.  We swam every day, shopped a little, cooked out, watched the entire Season 5 of Mad Men and oohed and aahed over my great-niece, Ella.

This morning I made a snack for our Bible Study Luncheon tomorrow.  It is July 4th Bark.  You can find the recipe Here.

Before I left, we finished this little project.  I saw it on Pinterest and just had to have one just like it.  I have a good bit of brick left over from building our house 25 years ago. 

We used some of that brick and placed it in the ground on its side.  Then filled the center with river rock.  The hardest part is getting a perfect circle.  I googled how to get a large perfect circle in order to find the best method.  I used a piece of string with a golf tee tied to each end.  If you want a 5 foot circle make your string 2.5 feet long. I put one tee in the middle and stretched the string out to find where each brick should be placed.  Yes, it took some time but I wanted it perfectly round (as nearly as possible).  I really want another one like this in my yard with pink begonias in the center.  How pretty would that look?

I told you I would share pictures of Atlanta but I didn't want to carry my camera with me so no pics of Atlanta.  However, I can share pictures of the great deals I found there.  I had been searching for garden stakes just like this one.  I found them on ebay for $25 each and almost ordered one.  I'm sure glad I didn't because I found the same one at Tuesday Morning for $9.99.  What a deal!

I found this one also.  I love fleur de lis.  It was $7.99

I don't think I'll ever pay full price for anything.  I'm going for the bargains :)

My sister-in-law loves Home Goods and so do I.  If I'd been in a car it would have been full of pretty things.  But when you fly you can't buy much extra.  This rode home in my lap.  Simple white serving pieces are so versatile.  I'm thinking salad dressing, maybe orange juice in this little pitcher.

We went to another Tuesday Morning near Buckhead Saturday.  I found these adorable polka dot pillow cases.  I will monogram some little girl's name on these.

And last but not least, I stocked up on more burlap.  I have several more things I want to make out of burlap.  There are 3 different colors...natural, cream and white.  At least I have a choice of colors now.

It's good to be home again!

Have a great Monday!

Karen

Anniversary Pillow

 My daughter saw a pillow like this on Pinterest and talked about how much she liked it.  So I went to YouTube (if you're not using YouTube for how to's, you're missing out).  I searched how to stencil on burlap.  Little did I know it would be so very easy.  So I practiced "my painting technique" (hehe) and it came out nicely.  Remember that this is a Shabby Chic/French Country look so it doesn't have to be perfect.  In fact you want it to look like it's been passed down from a grandmother or great-grandmother.

So here are the steps to make a stenciled burlap envelope pillow:

1) decide on the size pillow you want (I use pillow forms instead of fiberfill).  For this I used a 12"x16" form.

2) cut the front panel 1" larger in length and width.  So for a 12"x16" pillow I would cut my front fabric 13"x17"

3) Now make a stencil using your Cricut or any electronic cutter or buy a stencil.  I made my numbers 4".  I used my Plantin SchoolBook cartridge.  It is really a great cartridge.  Love the basic alphabet and numbers.  Using a temporary fabric adhesive, I adhered my stencil to the fabric.  (the spray will evaporate on its own in a few hours and leaves the fabric just as it was before spraying it.

4) I used white acrylic paint and a sponge brush.  My daughter wanted white numbers but I think black would look great, too.  I dabbed the paint on, remember it's a Shabby Chic look.

5) Let it dry.  Only takes a few minutes.  During this time I prepared the back of the pillow.

6) I used Muslin fabric for the back for 2 reasons: I ran out of burlap and I thought the Muslin would give it some stability.  My burlap is a loose weave so I was afraid the stitches might not hold too well but I was also out of burlap :)  It worked well.

7) Cut your back fabric 1" longer in length and 4" longer in width.  This gives you the extra fabric for the envelop opening.  So for a 12"x16" pillow I cut my back fabric 13"x 21".  I was adding 4" to the 17".  Does that make sense?

8) Now cut your back fabric in half vertically.  Hem the inside edges that will be the opening. ( You may want to watch a video on YouTube for that part)

9) Put front fabric and back fabric together (pretty sides touching each other).  Pin and stitch all around the pillow.  I used a 1/4" seam.

10) Clip your corners so that they will turn easily.  Turn pillow case to the right side, insert pillow form and voila a beautiful DIY stenciled pillow. 

I'm going to do a large initial pillow also for my daughter.  We will use a 14"x14" pillow form.  So I will cut the front 15"x15" and the back 15"x19".

Easy, easy!

I found this jute at WalMart the other day.  It's called Jute but it looks like burlap to me.  Maybe that's what jute is but I love it.  I'm thinking bows or making a wreath.  What do you think?  It is only 67 cents a yard.  I'm sure I'll think of something.

I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow :)

I'm heading to Atlanta to visit family.  It has become a summer ritual to visit my brother and his family out there.  He and my sister-in-law moved from Winston-Salem three years ago and I'm so happy they did.  Now they are much closer.  I plan to take lots of pictures to share.  My sister-in-law loves to shop and so we'll hit Ikea, HomeGoods, Tuesday Morning and all the other fun shops.  Maybe I'll get some good ideas and bargains.  Have a great rest of the week!

XOXO,

Karen

Envelope Pillows

 I saw this on Pinterest and fell in love.  I adore Americana anything especially flags.  In fact I have about 4 flag pillows already.  Anyway, I wanted to make this pillow and the pattern was for sale.  Ok I want the pattern but it was not in pdf format or instant download like most patterns these days.  I was not waiting for it to arrive "snail mail", I had to make it or at least start it right then.

 I don't know that anyone could pay me enough to make another one especially without a pattern.  I started by buying the pillow form...12x16.  Then I did a little math (very little math) to see what size ruffles that would fit on a 12x16 pillow.  Then I remembered I don't know how to make an envelope pillow so I went straight to YouTube.  The first video was perfect and easy to understand.  Then I went to work making ruffles and trying to get them to fit perfectly on the front fabric.  I won't say it was fun but the end product is definitely worth the trouble.  I did monogram the 5 stars on the blue section.  It was a 2 session project for me. 

It's adorable sitting at my grand babies little white table and red chairs.

 Ok I couldn't stop with one pillow.  And one with no ruffles is soooooo easy!  This is left over fabric from Grayson's birthday shirt...black & white chevron.  I had my back porch in mind when I stitched the extra large initial in red ( I have lots of flags around my house and yard right now and the red will match them).
 

 I feel like I've learned something new by making an envelope pillow!

Look out Halloween, LSU football season, birthday gifts, Christmas etc, (you get the picture) because I'll be making pillows for every occasion.

As soon as it cools off outside I'll be in my white chair on my back porch enjoying the beautiful summer weather and my envelope pillow :)

I hope you've had a great weekend.

XOXO,

Karen

Summer Time Stitching

Summer Time Tees

I found these great V-neck fitted tees at WalMart.  The style and quality are great.  I was looking for a pocket tee but they are no where to be found for females but I really like these better.  I wanted to stitch something that my daughter would like.  I think the V-neck is more youthful than a round neck.  I will be going for more of these tees today.

 Black Tee

 Fancy font 3 initial monogram

 Little something for Grayson

I wanted a very subtle July 4th design.  I wanted the design to be towards the bottom of the shirt and slightly tilted.  I searched for the perfect design that would be summery and would look good in red, white & blue.

I found this sailboat at http://www.ggdesignsembroidery.com/

She has great designs that stitch out beautifully.  I have quite a few from her shop.  I added his name in girls are weird font. I think it works well on the striped shirt.  I want to go to Old Navy for some other striped tees.  I think they are on sale right now.  If you get there before I do buy some for me :)

Enjoy your weekend!

Karen

What A Week!

I've had a busy, busy week with VBS, Summer Bible Study and Grayson but it has been a great week.  I will share my week with Grayson later.  Right now I want to show you who also came for a short visit this week.  Sloan and her mommy came to check on Grayson, help with Bible Study and VBS.

You can see who really liked the activity chair.  Grayson sat in it once I think and climbed on it a couple of times but Sloan loves it!  So it is her chair now.  She had a cracker break and watched a little Yo Gabba Gabba.

My two favorite girls

Sloan's mom put her hair in pig tails...little bitty pig tails I must say.  If she leaves it down it looks like a mullet....no mullet for my baby girl.

Lemon Cake

One morning when Grayson was busy watching Disney Channel, I was able to bake a cake.  I saw this recipe on Pinterest and wanted to try it.  It is a light recipe if you follow the directions.  It calls for low fat buttermilk.  I had regular buttermilk left over from another recipe which I used so mine is not exactly light. 

 It is a delicious cake and the recipe can be found HERE.

 I also made pickles that morning.  These are called Fire & Ice.  My husband and I love them.  They are so easy to make.  I was able to get 4 pints with the recipe.

Fire & Ice Pickles

2 jars (32 oz each) dill pickle slices

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic for each jar

Drain and discard juice from pickles.  In large bowl, combine pickles, sugar, pepper sauce and pepper flakes; mix well.  Cover and let stand 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Spoon pickles into 4 pint-size jars; add a clove of garlic to each.  Cover and refrigerate 1 week before serving.  Keep refrigerated.

They are hot, sweet and yummy!  Bet you can't eat just a couple :)

We're about to take Grayson to meet his mom and dad.  I don't know that I am ready to give him back. (Tears)

Have a wonderful weekend!

XOXO,

Karen