Waiting on the Edge

I made it back from South Carolina.
It was a nice trip to see some missed loved ones and get my mind off things here at home.

Not that there's anything here I want to forget, but we are right on the edge of fostering.
I am getting impatient! :)

We've finished everything for our license and are just waiting for it to be issued and for our phone to ring.
It's very exciting and we're just ready for the ride to start.

I spent today knocking out some projects to make life easier, cozier, and prettier once our little one(s) get here.

My first project was recovering a baby bounce seat that was given to me.
It was all pink and not my taste at all.

But it was perfectly fine so I simply made a stretchy cover for it.

Then I turned the leftover fabric into a fleece blanket with some mustard yellow crocheted edging.

My last project was sewing in elastic around the inside perimeter of my tote bag turned diaper bag so I can keep things tidy in there.

All these projects keep me busy but just make me want a little person around here more.
I hope I can stay patient (and not drive my husband nuts) and just continue to wait on God's timing.
It's been so perfect so far-no reason to rush Him now. 

Super Simple Slipcover

 We live in a rental with rental beige walls.
Plus our furniture is mostly beige...... along with a beige ottoman.
Are you sensing the same beige overload I am?
So, I wanted to make a slipcover for the sad looking ottoman and CHEAPLY but stylishly break up the beige.

I finally came across a cover I could easily make myself and would be simple to put on and take off. 

And I liked how it looked kind of rustic and not-perfect.

I can do not-perfect. 

So here's a step by step on how to make this SUPER SIMPLE SLIPCOVER! :)

Materials:

1. fabric (felt works good for this project because the edges can be left raw without unraveling)
2. Embroidery thread and needles
3. tape measure
4. yard stick (or some straight edge)
5. White chalk to draw your cut lines with

After measuring all my ottoman sides, I drew them all out on my fabric. 

Then cut them.

Once I had all my pieces, I pinned them together on my ottoman. 

You see how the raw edges are sticking out?

That's where the sewing gets done.

:)

Then using your embroidery thread, blanket stitch all the seams. 

If you don't know how to do a blanket stitch, check out this video. 

And here's the finished product. 

It's got my stamp of approval. 

Hello dolly

I was web browsing yesterday and followed a link to the toy store,  The Land of Nod. They have so many wonderful toys and things. Everything is super artsy and lovely and...... expensive. Cha-ching. I came across the doll section and just loved these rag doll type dolls. again, cha-ching. Of course I was like I could make that! So I did. 

Here is the inspiration doll. Sweet right?

So first I cut out all my fabric pieces from an old pillow case. 

(btw, I only used materials I already had. This doll was free.)

I hand sewed all the peices together.

 I have a machine but it's a little under the weather plus

 I like doing something like this while we watch a movie or something. 

After sewing all the pieces together, the dear needed a dress. 

I made one from a sleeve of an old sweater = 

striped maxi dress with a cowl neck. Adorable!

The hair was kind of tricky.

I made a pony tail style out of an old sweater tied with a bit of green yarn.

I love the flowy-er dress on the inspiration doll but I think I'll save that for later.

After stitching on a face with some felt and thread, she's looking lovely.

I absolutely love the way she turned out and I saved $128 by making her myself. She'll be a great addition to the toy box I'm putting together for our house.

I'm always collecting pics of crafts that I really want to do. Lately I've made a list of some that I REALLY want to do. 

Plain, white shoes drawn on w/ marker (sharpie probably)

Adorable. 

I think maybe the easiest of all.

A round of felt, stones (I found some just like these at the dollar tree), and hot glue

Not really what I would call art per se but would definitely look good.   

This too would also be easy i think.

I didn't see a how-to but from what I can tell,

just draw a map onto the fabric, secure in a hoop,

and  sew straight lines from a border to the other.

Alternate colors and direction of thread.

My sister bought me some of these for Christmas.

I have a collection already and I don't know what would

be a good addition, design wise.

I wanna do this but with round petals 

That way I can just use my circle cutter

:)

I've bought materials (or have materials) already for half of these things. I just need to like, set myself a deadline or something for each. Or maybe a craft night. Oooooo. that would be fun.


Tonight's youth so I'm gearing up for that. Hope your day has been fulfilling and good. 

Ally rocks!

Ally (my awesome sister-technically-in-law-but-more-like-for-real) bought me some fantastic fabrics when she went to the covered bridge festival (I'm telling you, it's a big deal in these parts.)

Here they are

Ta-DA!!!!

What will I make? Oh, the possibilties.

I very rarely actually buy fabric. Usually I just reuse fabric from clothing or any fabric-y thing we throw out. So I have a feeling that these lovelies will sit for a while because I don't want to "hurt" them. Ha....I'm dumb. But I know that that's what will happen. I must wait until the perfect project comes along.  

I love how they've got a scandinavian feel. I really want to go to Sweden one day. And Switzerland. I love scandinavian art. The whole aesthetic really.

So she brought them over and hung around for a bit. That's always fun. She stayed and finished watching First Kid with Adam and me. Have you ever seen that? It's got Sinbad in it. It's dumb too. But it's one of those movies that Adam grew up with so it's nostalgic. We both really like Sinbad though. He was so funny. And those outfits. Ha. The 90's. Who's idea was that.

I love these fabrics, I love scandinavia, I love Ally, and I like Sinbad.

We have small groups tonight. My day will be looking forward to it. Crazy Love is rocking my world.

rain and birthday presents

It's been rainy here lately but it's been nice to stay inside and do cozy things

Leaves floating in a puddle

Peeking out into the day

It's my niece's 4th birthday and we're going to a party for her tomorrow. I really wanted to make something for her. I looked for inspiration online for awhile and didn't really find anything i thought she would like. Then "DING!" lightbulb went off. I would make her! So I sketched out a Hannah doll.

Half way through, the thought crossed my mind that I should take pictures of the process but...eh, I'm not really a photographer. 

I think she turned out pretty cute.

Freaky image. Kind of looks like an image under the influence.

Of what I'm not sure.

It's also Ally Kay's birthday today too. (She's 23!) ka-razy. I made her some warmers. There's one big one and four small ones. They're just sewn up rectangles of rice that you pop into the microwave. She's always cold so the small ones can be something  for her to carry around in her pockets for warmth. They stay warm for about an hour or so. They're also really good for heating up then sliding them under your covers before you get into bed. They get it nice and warm for you.

Today I finally got my car cleaned up. It was kind of driving me crazy. So now it's nice and smelling clean.

We're driving to Anson and Rachels tonight. We're going out for Ally's birthday tonight then staying for Hannah's tomorrow.

I better get this house cleaned up so we don't come home to a mess. That's one thing we hate. Leaving for a night or more and coming home to a messy house. Boo.

So, later : D