Friday, July 26, 2013

crafty celebration


Yesterday was Melissa's birthday. To celebrate, she had a crafty party at the scrapbook store today. Ally baked cupcakes and put them into these adorable oven boxes. We bought them here. They were so much fun and easy to make. I think maybe we should buy some of her other styles too!

Anyways, back to the party. It was a gray, rainy morning, but wherever Melissa is there is sunshine. She just brings it with her! 

 We all made this beautiful layout. The flower had a zillion tiny pieces. Or maybe it was a hundred. A lot, for sure! I need to find some perfect photos to showcase in my layout.
 Ally is a whiz at crafty stuff.
After we scrapped, we all went out for a lovely lunch. Happy Birthday Melissa! Thanks for the wonderful day!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

craft camp day four

Today the girls learned to do counted cross stitch. All of them made a good start on their butterflies and understood how to finish them at home. It was so much fun to watch the light bulbs go on over each of their heads as they understood how to read the chart and make the picture come to life on their fabric. These girls learned a lot in a week! So proud of each of them.

And now, I shall take a very long nap.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

craft camp day three


Today the girls finished two projects. First, they made felt bookmarks. They learned how to make lazy daisy stitches to embroider flowers on their bookmarks. It was tricky but they all mastered it! We used this tutorial.
Next we made button bracelets. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to teach them these. When I made my sample, I got the thread tangled around the elastic many times. It was frustrating! I decided we would work in pairs, one girl holding the elastic while the other girl stitched on her buttons. It worked like a charm! As you can see, they all finished their bracelets and wore them home.

Tomorrow is our last day together. I've had a great time with these young ladies.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

craft camp day 2

Well the girls all came back today! I think that means they are having fun. Today they sewed their shrinky dink buttons and some extra buttons onto burlap and added embroidered stems (and leaves and clouds and ponds.... I love their imaginations!). Then they all made pom poms using this tutorial and tied them onto pony tail holders. The morning went so fast!

Monday, July 22, 2013

craft camp day one

Four happy girls arrived at my house this morning excited about learning to sew! We had a great time and all of them enjoyed the projects....

 Today we practiced sewing stitches on cardstock sewing cards and using shelf paper with holes (the internet is full of ideas for sewing with kids!). We also made buttons from shrinky dinks to use in a project tomorrow.

you can download these to print here 

Check back tomorrow to see what else we do!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

teaching kids to sew

After working with junior high girls on sewing projects for a year (and yes, we plan to continue! Their summer schedules have been crazy) I decided it would be fun to teach a group of younger kids to do hand sewing projects. So, in a couple of weeks, I have four 10-12 year olds coming for "sewing camp" at my house!

I've been having fun making up sample projects and kits for them. Here's a preview.....

 I still have a few more samples to make up (the girls are coming for four mornings and I don't want to run out of things for them to do) but so far my favorite project is a button bracelet....
I'm thinking I might just wear this every day! I look forward to sharing details about our projects with you in the next week or two.

Hope you're having a crafty weekend too!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

baskets received

Since I was on vacation last week, I didn't get to attend the McKinney Modern Guild meeting when our baskets were exchanged. I have a confession to make. The day after the meeting, I was poking around on pinterest and Facebook searching for pictures of the basket I received. I was delighted when I saw these sweet baskets made with my scraps.....

I picked them up from the quilt store the other day. The maker didn't include her info in the package. I hear they were made by Stephanie and I am trying to get her contact info so I can thank her. I love them! They go perfectly in my red/white/black kitchen...
 and a side shot so you can see the pretty patchwork...

I plan to keep them full of silverware, just like she gave them to me. A perfect idea! Thank you Stephanie!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

crafty tuesday

Since I had a date with Mickey Mouse last Tuesday, we postponed Crafty Tuesday until the second Tuesday this month. And, silly me, I completely forgot to take pictures. By the time Melissa reminded me to get my camera out, some folks had left. Raquel was all packed up and ready to go....

Trae was carefully stacking her elongated hexies so they would stay in order (and Melissa was "watching"). ...
I did a bunch of little projects today, including crocheting this fancy dish cloth...

So another crafty Tuesday is in the books! I'm so glad we started doing this almost a year ago. I love having my crafty buddies around me.

winning!

I've been on a winning streak lately! Here are some of the fun things I have won online in the last couple of weeks:

This awesome pattern from Cinderberry Stitches....
 This fabulous book....
 and all of these awesome bag patterns....
I've been eyeing up that Aeroplane bag for a long time, admiring all of the wonderful versions online. Can't wait to make one!

I have a feeling my lucky streak will end soon. I sure am thankful!

Monday, July 8, 2013

vacation

The Z clan all came together last week for fun times in California!
 We went to see Mickey Mouse ummm I mean this guy....
My awesome "little" brother! And his wonderful family....
 We did also visit Mickey Mouse, 2 presidential libraries, a ballpark, Warner Brother's studios, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive.... yup, it was a busy week! I didn't squeeze in much sewing time, but I did put together 5 hexi flowers on the road....

 Back in the groove this week. I have lots of projects on my to do list. What have you been up to?

Friday, July 5, 2013

July stitch along

Our July theme for bring 'n brag is patriotic. Well, since I have folks stitching along all around the world, I didn't want to presume you would want to stitch up an American flag! I thought and thought about it, and then it came to me! I would stitch the American pastime, Baseball!

 My family loves baseball. We love to go to games and cheer for our favorite teams. Steve played baseball into high school and I loved to go to all of his games too. I even stitched up a baseball themed fabric flower to pin to my purse when we went to a game last week...
 And now we have seven stitcheries all done! I hope you'll add your finished blocks to our Flikr group. I'd love to see what you are stitching....
you can download a free copy of the baseball stitching pattern here.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

fabric baskets

Last month at the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild we swapped bags of scraps. We were challenged to make a fabric basket with the scraps and return it this month to it's original owner. I received a delightful assortment of scraps from Joy and Sam, a mom and daughter who work at one of the quilt shops. I wish I had taken a picture of the form they filled out, it made me giggle! It said something like "Mom and I will put sewing notions in the basket and share it. Until I leave for college in the fall, then I will steal the basket". Obviously Sam wrote the note! Well, I knew right then I needed to make two baskets, and there were plenty of scraps. 

I had an idea for the bigger basket but I wanted to try it out on my own scraps first before cutting into theirs. So, I made this basket for Trae's birthday....

The patchwork part is English Paper Pieced with elongated hexies. I filled it up with gluten free snacks (since Trae is also gluten free) and attached a chalkboard tag that Ally made for me. 

Since I really liked the way it turned out, I did a similar one for Joy and Sam with their scraps...
I think that frog is my favorite part!

And tucked inside, is a smaller basket also made from their scraps. So now they can each have their own basket....
 I filled them up with goodies.

I hope they like them! I sure had fun making them.