Sleeping Or Sewing: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Looking back at the year

Wow! What a year!

This time last year there were so many things I didn't even think I would be doing this year. It's strange thinking back at how this year transpired. Most contributed by inspiration from other blogs. Thank you all. You can see "My List of Inspiration" on the bottom right side of these post.

Out of the blue I started this blog the day after New Year; which now has a fantastic 62 followers; whom are not related to me, nor have I ever met. You visit, read, and occasionally comment. Thank you! How cool, and weird is that? Plus I've written 130 post, including this post. Which is very weird in itself since I'm pretty anti-social. I'm not much of a talker, but I do think I write somewhat better than I speak. My mind thinks faster than I can talk, and words always get tangled up on my tongue.

vintage sheets

I've started thrifting at local thrift stores, garage and estate sales; in search of vintage loveliness. Also, I started selling on Etsy, with 55 sales this year. I've even started collecting vintage sheets.

The strangest thing this year, to me, is I'm attempting a quilt....well the vintage sheet thing is pretty out there too. Soo many sheets! I'm up to 62 sheets, not counting pillow cases or sheets I've completely sold out of on Etsy. You can view some of my collection on Flickr, and buy some fat quarter bundles on Etsy.

Accuquilt Go! Baby

The quilt thing, to me in the past, didn't seem like my cup of tea. For whatever reason it wasn't appealing to me. Maybe all the cutting, or it just looked like too much work, and the cost of fabric. I can't imagine how much a quilt from regular/retail fabric would cost (well, yeah I can imagine). Then I won my little Accuquilt Go Baby. Then my daughter wanted one of my vintage sheets for her bed. Then it went from there. I started a quilt using the Go Baby to cut over a thousand squares in hopes to make my daughter a vintage sheet quilt for her bed.

Three 9x9 blocks for my vintage sheet quilt

My current goal regarding the vintage sheet quilt is to have it done my February 1st, my daughters birthday. Seems like that's really close, but it should be do-able. I just need to get off my hibernating ass (Christmas has me drained), and get to work.

This is a not a complete list but I figured it would be cool, at least for me, to see what I accomplished sewing wise this year.

full apron

bags/purses/totes

1 full apron

7 half aprons (two of which were Christmas presents finished on Christmas Eve, and I didn't take any photos of them)

star fruit pillow

7 folding coin purses

14+ bags, purses, totes

4 clutches

3 pin cushions

9+ zipped coin purses

2 eye mask

1 on the go organizer

tooth fairy pillow

1 chalk board mat

1 Christmas Stocking

6 lavender pillow sachets

1 storage fabric box/bag

1 dress (attempt)

1 pencil skirt

1 tiered skirt

1 Halloween costume (skirt, vest, peasant top)

10 goodie/party favor drawstring bags

1 tooth fairy castle pillow

1 tooth fairy monster tooth pillow

1 star fruit vintage sheet pillow

1 alteration of a bridesmaid dress

4 shirt hem (shorten the length of the shirts)

5 magic jean hems

tiered skirt

storage fabric box/bag

1 dress hem

1 lego drawstring bag

4 pot holders

1 pajama pant draw string bolster pillow

eye mask

star fruit pillow

clutch

Damn! This is kinda crazy. My goal for this year was a project a
week, which I know I didn't accomplish, but does it count when you have multiple sewing projects in one week? That's over 90 items created/things done, and those are just the one's I remembered or were reminded of when I referenced back through my blog. I had forgotten some of the stuff I blogged about, like the pot holders and the monster tooth pillow. Sadly I also haven't posted everything I've made.

I'm not one who really likes to set goals, since I'm a spur of the moment/last minute type of person, but I really do want to finish my daughters vintage sheet quilt by February 1st. Plus, this might seem kinda lame, but I do want to put myself on a budget to get myself out of debt, it's just I tend not to be disciplined to well in that area. Sigh.

Wow! This has been a crazy year. Lets see what 2012 has in store for us. Do you have any goals for the New Year?

My Fav Friday - Childhood Flashback; McDonalds Playground

OMG!!!!

How sad is this? My son, 8, just brought me up a little Lego character that reminded me of the McDonald's Hamburglar.

This was our conversation.

Me: Oh how cute it looks like the Hamburgler.
Son: What? What did you just say? I don't understand what you are saying.
Me: The Hamburgler. You know from McDonalds?

Son: Huh? What is that?
Me: One of the McDonalds characters like Mayor Cheeseburger, and Grimace.
Son: Huh?

I proceed to pull up a picture of the Hamburgler on Google, and he's still clueless. OMG!!! He's never seen these characters I grew up with. I use to love to go to McDonalds when I was little and play on the metal playscapes they had.

Do you remember the Mayor Cheeseburger tower? I loved climbing in this metal wonderland. There is an opening at the base of the tube with a ladder that leads up to the cheeseburger jail, where you could crawl around in a circle, or you could continue to climb up to the holes in the hat and look out. Do you recall I said this was metal? So this was the most fun in the summer when it was super hot, and you got to cook yourself while paying inside. Ah, what memories. :-)

Then you have the whiplashing fun of riding a Fry Guy or Filet o'fish.

Then there were the lovely, burn your butt, and back of thighs, in the heat of a desert summer, slides.

This one (below) holds a close place in my heart, not as much fun as the Mayor Cheeseburger tower, but I'm reminded of it on a daily basis....seriously. I've been scared. Literally. Now I'm not sure if this is the exact model, but it was the same set up; slide and stairs side by side. I was a kid, and doing things I wasn't suppose to like climbing over and jumping off the back of the playscape, then proceeded to crawl underneath and I hit my head on a metal corner underneath the slide.....and started bleeding. Nope, no stitches necessary, but I have a lovely little scar, reminder of it on my head a few inches up from my forehead. Ah the nostalgia of it all.

Do any of you have fond memories of the McDonald's playgrounds from way back when?

Giveaway Day winner!

This was such a fun giveaway. I'm glad I asked the question I did, "Do you procrastinate or do you keep a list to get things done ahead of time?"

I loved all the comments, and I'm sooo glad to see so many of you procrastinate as much as I do. For example I should be starting some of my Christmas gifts(6 days left, I'm running out of time), and not roaming the web. Yikes!!

Now, on to what all who entered are waiting for. Who won this small vintage sheet clutch?

Mr. Random Number Generator selected

Lakota from Faith Hope and Charity Shopping!

Congratulations Lakota!

Thank you all who entered Giveaway Day hosted by Sew Mama Sew.

My Fav Friday - The BEST hot chocolate

Mmmmm....

The second it starts to get cool....not cold...cool....then it's time to break out the hot chocolate.

Whoa!!!

Wait!

Not just heated up chocolate milk...no no no, legit, hard-core hot chocolate.

The best, most deliciousness hot chocolate is non other than....

Abuelita from Nestle. YUM!!!!

Have you not tried this rich, warm, goodness?

Gasp!! You must. It is wonderful.

My mom disappointed me a few weeks ago by offering me some hot chocolate. I eagerly accepted, and was alarmed by what I drank. It was not Abuelita, and I was not prepared for that. How could she? She served me a powered mix hot chocolate. It was like being handed, and drinking tea when you were expecting a soda. Blah!

I'll let you know in advance this does take a little more time than just throwing some chocolate milk in the microwave. It's takes about a 20 minute to make, but sooo worth it.

You know....I've never read the instructions on how to make this, but I'll let you know how I prepare it. I start off with a disk/block of Abuelita chocolate and melt it over heat with a bit of water (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan I'm using). I use water and not milk because I don't want to cook my milk.

Yikes! It started to boil while I was messing with my camera. No worries it didn't burn.

Once the block is fully melted I add milk. No measurements I just eyeball it. If I add too much milk I just add half a disk of chocolate, but then gotta wait longer for the disk to fully melt in the milk.

Let the milk heat up to the temperature you want. I like mine hot. I then blend it to fully mix the chocolate with the milk. The chocolate can tend to be a bit grainy at the bottom if not mixed well. I use to hate this part when I would have to pour it into a blender, but last year I bought this handy dandy hand blender, so now I can just mix away in the pan I prepared it in. Mmmmm.... look at that frothy top.

Add some marshmallows, whip cream, and a fancy glass doesn't hurt either, and enjoy. Yay!

Giveaway Day (week) via Sew Mama Sew

Giveaway is closed
Eeek! Giveaway Day is here again via Sew Mama Sew!

Talk about doing things last minute, like I did in my last post. I just saw yesterday that Sew Mama Sew was having another Giveaway Day today. So I had to crank something out to participate in this fun giveaway day(week).

For those of you who don't know, Sew Mama Sew host a day for all blogs and shops, who opt to participate, to give something away. All blogs, shops, and readers can go to one location to obtain a list of new blogs to read, and new shops to shop, with a bonus, the chance to win goodies in this week long event.

Now I can't wait to tell you about my giveaway...

One of my most useful items that I've made is my small clutch. I use it everyday, and for me it's better than a standard store wallet. I can toss my dollars, coins, and credit cards into it. This biggest plus for me is a place to put my coins. With most store wallets the section for the coins is limited to very little. I don't know about you, but I tend to need a bit more room for more than just 10 coins. That is one reason why I started making my folding coin purses, to hold more change, but I moved on up to the clutch when I made this little lovely, out of vintage sheets.

My everyday wallet/clutch.

I love how vintage sheets just seems to blend in so well with one another. I got over 50 vintage sheets posted on my Flickr page, and you can pick your own bundle of 10 vintage sheet fat quarters from my Etsy shop for only $10.
Giveaway is closed
So for this giveaway I have a fresh off the machine small clutch, also made out of vintage sheet goodness. Perfect for a casual night out when your traveling light. Throw in your ID some cash and your favorite gloss. Use it like an everyday wallet like me and throw in all your cash, coins, cards and receipts. Need a case for your reading glasses? Then this is just for you.

This could be yours!

This giveaway is open internationally and to enter I want to know one thing. Do you procrastinate or do you keep a list to get things done ahead of time?

I'm a last minute type of person, but I do think way in advance (sometimes) on things I want to do, but then procrastinate. I know I'm not alone, but I want to see how many

procrastinators are out there, and those of you who don't procrastinate maybe give a tip to help get over this procrastinating hurdle.

Please one comment per person. A winner will be chosen at random via random.org. Entries for the giveaway will no longer be taken after 5 p.m PST December 16, 2011.

Have fun hopping Giveaway Day via Sew Mama Sew!!!

Giveaway is closed

Owl purse

I recently saw a new favorite saying "If it wasn't for the last minute I'd get nothing done.". This is sooo true for me. For one I procrastinate, and two there are times I don't know what I want to do until I have little or no time left to do it.

My daughter was going to her cousins house this weekend for a birthday slumber party, and I waited and waited to buy a present. My daughter has all these ideas on what to buy, but most of them didn't seem good. She did mention a toy shop that I hadn't been to before so I stop by it just to check it out. It's a small local shop, so I purchase a gift certificate so that my niece could pick out what she wants.

But now, this is where the agony lies. A gift certificate is not much to wrap or unwrap, and might not initially seem like much to a 9 year-old. So now I start to feel like something else needs to be added to the gift, and I think I got just the thing.

It was last month, I think, when I purchase this Lola the Owl Pillow Pattern by Gingercake. I've been following her blog now for quite some, and I've been eyeing it. I finally broke down and purchased it since it now includes instructions on how to make it into a purse. Granted I've made plenty of purses and know the routine of them, it was just a little extra to have on those days my brain is mush and I go blank.

The brown fleece is for the lining.

So the night before the sleepover I decide to make this for my niece, and my daughter has opted for the purse. We start to go through my stash of fabrics, and I ask my daughter what colors to pick...she said blues. Ha, I don't have too many blue combinations so this is what we come up with.

I might rethink next time combining purple, orange, and black on a project if it's not Halloween related.

Over all, I'm very happy with the pattern, and my first sewing machine appliqué project, but my fabric (color) choices look too much like Halloween. A lesson learned for next time.

Thank you, Gingercake for such a cute and super easy pattern.

Oh check Gingercake out, she had great patterns and a wonderful blog. I've also worked up one of her On the Go Organizers, which was my first project this year and first blog post.

Pulling out Christmas decorations

It's like Christmas morning for me, as I'm going through my Christmas boxes I'm finding the new things I bought last year during the after Christmas clearances.

Like...

Little white penguins and feather boa ribbon. Oh my!

Yay! This is so much fun.

Until, I look down and see my mess.

A drawing transfered onto a stocking

It's officially been a year since I've become blog crazed. No, not since I've started my blog, but since I've become obsessed with reading blogs, and sewing more than I've ever sewn before.

Last November, 2010, I stumbled upon Prudent Baby, and became obsessed. Everyday,sometimes a couple of times a day, I would manually go to their website to see what was new.

With the nudge of Prudent Baby I created my first table runner, that was entered into their table runner contest, and with that runner I had my first run with bias tape.

As Prudent Baby featured other blogs I would check out and read those blogs too, then try to remember what site I visited that had that great tutorial. It wasn't until late December when I found Blogger where it made my on-line browsing life so much easier by lumping all the blogs I wanted to read into one location. Yay!

So this time last year my own blog wasn't even a thought in my mind, however, I have a project to share with you from back then. A project I was pretty please with.

Our family pet is named Honey. This project was created by merging a Chow and Bull dog together. Ha!! Just kidding, she wasn't a planned pregnancy. We snagged her from a cousin, who suspected her parents neighboring dog got into their back yard. The black/purple (chow) tongue confirmed this suspicion when the pups were born. She'll be 3 this coming January, 2012, she is the best dog we've(I) ever had, and yes she is fixed. We all love her, and my daughter is obsessed with her.

Meet Honey our Chow/Bull dog mix. Doesn't she sit so cute, side saddle like?

My daughter is always drawing pictures of her, and last year she went into a Andy Warhol phase where she would draw the same picture of Honey over and over again, in different colors.

2010 Honey bee

As Christmas was getting closer my daughter (at that time 10) was set on getting Honey a Christmas stocking. We have plenty of stockings from previous Christmas clearance sales, but nothing Honey appropriate, and I wasn't going to pay full price for a new stocking, not even for a cheap one. So of course, being the crafty type, I figured I'd make one for Honey. I already had all the supplies I needed; fleece and felt.

Hmmm.... but what would say Honey? Aside from writing her name on a stocking?

You know how that saying goes right? About stepping back sometimes to get a different perspective on things. Sometimes you're too close to see what needs to be seen. Well the same goes for arts and crafts. I'm wondering and wondering what to do for Honey's stocking, then I unfocus on my blank stare into oblivion and focus on the collage of drawings my daughter has around Honey's bed....

That's it!!! I'll make a drawing into a stocking!!!

I looked at the drawings and decided upon one that I thought would be best.

I took the selected drawing and made two enlarged copies that I could use as a template for the felt. One copy was cut out for the main silhouette shape/outline, and the other copy was used to cut out the shape of the face and eyes.

The brown face and ear pieces, once traced on felt and cut out, were then glued onto the tan felt body.

Next the black and white parts of the eyes were glued into place, as well as the red collar. I made the stocking out of red felt, and white fleece; glued the Honey felt onto the stocking, and viola that was it.

My daughter was sooo happy with this stocking. Of course she drew it. I love it as well.

What kind of stocking making plans do you have brewing in your mind?

Ahead of the game...at least for now.

Yay!! I'm sooo proud of myself.

It's silly, but I'm soo happy that I got a stocking completed already, and it's not even December.

This will look sooo cute next to my little black Christmas tree, once it's decorated. Well I hope it will look cute.

Now, what I need to do next is stop procrastinating, and get my Christmas decorations out. You know time starts to fly. I want it to be worth the work and have my decorations up for the whole month and not just a week or two.

Is anyone done with Christmas decorating yet? I know here in the U.S. some get decorations up Thanksgiving weekend. When is the start time for others to get decorations up, for you non-U.S readers?

Oh, and yes my stocking is up against two stacks of my vintage sheets. :-)

Thrift Share Monday November 28

Thanksgiving down. Whew! Bring on the 5 birthdays before Christmas. Yikes!!

Well I did a little unexpected thrifting this holiday weekend. The kids were off Wednesday so I took that day off as well to make it a 5 day weekend. What a nice long weekend. So Wednesday I decided to hit up some thrift shops, and I'm sooo glad I did. I found some unexpected goodies.

My first stop was at a shop I don't go to much, since they are closed once I get out of work and are out of my normal driving route. So I am sooo glad I made this stop. The score I made wasn't vintage, but was new, and perfect for timing for Christmas.

As soon as I walked in I spot a bin of Lego grab bags. No, not used Lego pieces they bundled themselves, but new Legos of random pieces, 1 pound at $1.50 per bag. Holy *bleep*!!!

Now I don't know if you are a Lego shopper, but I have an 8 year old son and two nephews (5 & 7) so Legos are usually on their Christmas and birthday list, so I shop Legos often. The small itty bitty little bags to make a single item like a car, or some other small figure will usually run $4-5, for 40-50 small pieces. So what did I do? I bought 12 grab bags of Legos. Then my mom went back and bought 9 more. You know I'll be cursing the day after Christmas when all these little pieces are scattered all over the rug and I'm stepping on them, but at this price who could resit such a great bargain. Twelve bags filled up one paper grocery bag for $18. Whoot!!

Look at all the little heads!