Raining Cats and Dogs!

While it has been an exceptionally rainy few months, I'm not referring to the weather at the moment. Instead, I'm here to introduce two more sock creations!! First, using only one sock per animal, and the tiny ankle socks to boot, I made this adorable pair of kitties!!

I used the arm seam method I had seen while in Taiwan earlier this year. It was easy and I love the look it creates!

Then I added a little crochet flower with a pearl bead in the center to make one girl and one boy. The idea was for each of my kids to have one, but Pretty had other plans when she saw them.

One for the right hand and one for the left!

(this face was too funny to keep to myself.)

I had to take them from her and fight her off to get the shots of just the cats. They are just the right size for small arms to hug!

Then the "Dogs" part. I bought the cute little blue dog while in Taiwan, and always planned to recreate it, but it wasn't until my mom called me Sunday morning to tell me we were celebrating my nephew's birthday that night at dinner that I was inspired to go for it. I knew he would love a dog, so I went to work.

It turned out great. Obviously much bigger since I'm pretty sure the blue one was made from little kid (if not baby) socks, and mine was made from a pair of women's normal dress socks.

I added a few details not found on the blue one, like a little tail.

And some french knot freckles. This dog was so fun to make, and my nephew did love it. He even tried to share his ice cream with it. Now that's love for a 6-year-old.

big things coming up!

Just FYI, I'm sewing like crazy because I've got something awesome to show you all. But I need another day to get ready. Awesome stuff, I promise! In the meantime, enjoy this picture as a teaser:

death to pleating!

Once upon a time, I saw a super cute pleated dress for a baby. I thought to myself, "I could do that," then came home to try it. 

What was I thinking?

This took me an hour or so to complete...

That's right, 4 inches of pleating. . . 1 hour. This dress was supposed to be for Pretty's 1st birthday pictures (which still have not been scheduled). Instead, I am finishing it for Easter.

In the interest of full disclosure, it got easier after the first 4 inches because I figured out how to do it better. I also let go of having perfect pleats... Wish me luck!!

Sad news. And Good News!

And it's the same news!!

I wasn't picked to be featured on the Celebrate the Boy. (sad face). But!! This means that the Rockin' Boy Slippers will be posted as soon as I put the tutorial post together!! Wahoo! Check these cuties out!

So comfy and warm, and great for napping:

i'm pretty sure he's drooling in this picture...

Coming Soon!

Giveaway Alert! (closed)

 Let me tell you all a secret. 2 in fact.

1. I have made the coolest toddler slippers ever, but I submitted them to Dana and Rae for their Celebrate the Boy month (last year's stuff here and here). I am waiting to hear back as to whether I was chosen to be featured or not. If not, I'll post them right away, tutorial and all. And it's killing me not knowing!! Cross your fingers for me!

2. I have secretly been waiting for my "followers" to reach 100 and then I would do a celebratory giveaway. Right now the number is at 78. But today I looked at the number of "subscribers" there on my FeedBurner, and BAM! 125!! I don't know how many overlap, but it doesn't matter! 

I'm doing another giveaway!

This time, if you win I am going to let you pick your prize. I'll make you a Sock Monkey, OR a Sock Cow, OR a Football Pig. The reason I decided not to make it before, is because this way you can pick colors for a boy or girl!

To Enter:

• Leave a comment telling me if you prefer following or subscribing, even if you do neither with my blog... (1 entry)
• Blog about this giveaway and leave the link in your comment (1 entry)
• Follow my blog, new or old. This can be "following" or "subscribing"(1 entry)

Please leave your email in the comments! 3 tries per person! The deadline is Saturday, Jan. 22 at 11:59pm MST. 

Good luck!

I'm opening a shoe making factory. and other stuff.

While I am sewing and working on projects every day, I don't really have anything new to share. As the title suggests, I'm currently making shoes. Tiny, adorable baby shoes. About 6 pair. . . This is what happens when everyone I know decides to procreate at the same time!

I am also working on Christmas ornaments for my advent calender AND real ones for my entire side of the family. I'll tell the whole story behind it all when they are done, but here's a bit of a preview.

Can you guess what they will become? If you can, you are amazing, because there is still a piece to make, then some assembly.

And lastly, I'm working on a cute little sweater upcycle thing that worked, but not quite. So I need to try again before I feel I can share with you how to make one. But let me tell you, it will be worth the effort (and the wait)!

Good night bloggin' friends!

I'm trying to dye. And I'm doing it badly.

I saved basically all of Hero's baby clothes. And after going through them to pull out what I can for Pretty, I look at some of these stained beyond the "that's nasty" point and wonder why I kept it at all. There were some once white onsies I found in the stash that were a gross looking yellow (which doesn't say much for my laundry skills, but that's not the point here). 

I decided, since I was going to try to dye some lace fabric from white to black for my Mad Hatter hat, I would toss these yellowish and stained onsies in the batch and get some black onsies for undershirts for Pretty!

Now, I'm not sure where I went wrong, but they turned out dull and splotchy... Anyone know why that is? Because I don't.

These two are the worst in the bunch:

Do you think if I were to dye them again, it would fix the problem?

And to add to my failure in dyeing, my white lace turned into a very beautiful silver gray. I really like it and can't wait to use it, but it's not what I need for the hat project. So I had to go buy some black stuff.

Isn't is pretty, though?

And the hat is almost done! Just some finishing details and I post it soon!

I must be MAD!

Only two more costumes to go. Mine and Jake's. Finishing Jake's isn't going to be that tough, but mine . . . Let's just say I might be trying to work outside my ability. Here's the thing, this is the first time in my adult life that I have REALLY WANTED to dress up for Halloween. I spent a lot of time at thrift stores, fabric stores and others gathering these items:

All to make me into my own version of this:

(found the image here)

My plans include me making my own Mad Hatter Hat... wish me luck!!

Halloween Teaser - Pretty's costume

Let see if you can guess what Pretty is going to be for Halloween. There are two clues.


Clue one: These are the supplies.

Old white t-shirt, red fabric, plastic, pink Rit dye, and stuffing.

 Clue two:
When I asked Hero, "What should Pretty be for Halloween?",  he said, "Pink."


*no guessing, Aud, since you already know.*

Halloween Costumes Part 1

I am not much of a Halloween person. I've never really gotten into the whole dressing up bit. I guess I usually just feel dumb about it. But when I had Hero, I was all for dressing him up! 

2007:  He was only 4 months old, so I put him in a chili pepper sleeper of my sister's that ended up being too small, so he kept sticking his foot out the seatbelt hole. And I'm horrible and have no pictures of it...

2008: I actually made him a costume! This was at the beginning of my new-found joy in sewing. I was all excited to make my little boy into an adorable panda. Sadly, I made the whole thing and it was too small. Talk about FRUSTRATING!!! But I was able to add a panel to the inseam of the body suit that gave it just the bit more it needed to fit. And I had to make an entire new hat. Isn't he cute?

simplicity 2506

Not wanting to go without any sort of costume, I dressed up this shirt with an iron on printed from my computer. That's right. I went all out.

2009: I borrowed costumes for Hero from my sister last year. A clown for some indoor parties we went to. I even purchased myself some wings and antenna, and Jake wore the same ninja costume he's been wearing since we got married 6 years ago...

For trick or treating, we went with my sister and her kids. Look how awesome she is! She made all the costumes here, plus she carried her 1 month old in a basket wrapped in a furry blanket with his face painted up to be Toto.

2010: Well, I'm not so awesome as to have the costumes ready, but here's what I've got so far.

I have finalized ideas for me and the kids.
I have bought supplies for all of Hero's and half of mine and Pretty's.
I have tried to figure out what my husband wants to be because he is sick of being a ninja every year...

I'm starting on the sewing today and I'm excited!! Stay tuned because this year, I'm going to dress up and go all out for it too... I hope...

Cleaning and Teasing

Yesterday, I had both kids asleep at the same time!! And what did I do? A smart mom would take a nap...

My top thread kept catching and binding around the bottom, so I pulled it apart and cleaned it. I even pulled out my manual to make sure I did it right! Now it works so great. But the time it took me to do this put my project finishing time off by a day. I hope to have something to share with you by later today.

In the meantime, you may be able to figure out what it is with this picture. And maybe not.

KCWC: Day three

Time Spent: 3pm - 3:30pm and 10pm - 10:15pm

Pretty kept waking up just when I was getting into my groove. Both times. And after she woke up at 10:15 with teething pain, and spent an hour up, I was done. (And then, to add to my fun, she woke up again at 2am and stayed up until 4... teething is crappy).

Project Sewn: top/dress for Pretty

Status: cut out, marks transferred, and that it. fail...

There's just not much to show today. Here's how I left my ironing board/project table last night... Hopefully I'll do better today. 

(do you like the fabric? very fall, eh?)

Buggy Preview

Check out what I've got coming up!

Tutorials to come!