Our Many Talents

I caught the quilting bug

2011-02-09T07:24:00.001-08:00

It started out with me asking myself a simple question "What do I want to make for the kids for Christmas this year?". Of the three gifts they get from us one of them is always home made. Believe me when I say every year that gets harder to do. This year I didn't want to do something that costs a lot because our budget is pretty tight from all the medical bills we have had this year.

I remembered that about 5 years ago I had bought sheets to use for the backs of some Levi quilts for the kids but when I finished cutting up all the Levis we had I didn't even have enough for one quilt so they all went into a box and I started collecting Levis from friends and family. I figured I should have enough by now and decided that would be my project.

I was a little worried since it was after Thanksgiving and I was scheduled for surgery the first week in December but I went for it anyway. It's only 5 quilts I can do that right?? (maybe)
All the girl's quilts have the same bright colored flower print used as an accent and then they all have a color from the pattern on the back of the quilt. The one above is Madison's with a light pink background, and I even have some of the girls old pants with light pink designed on them that I used on hers. You can see one of the squares just up a few squares from where the back is folded over.
Harrisen's favorite color is green and I had this cute green plaid to accent his with along with a few squares of a solid green. his has a navy background with the green binding.
Bailee's is the dark pink and I had some jeans with dark pink on them I used on hers though it's harder to tell in the picture. The point of the fold points to one of them, it's kind of an R shape on the pocket.
Alex's is lime green, her favorite color.
and Kirsti's is teal, her favorite color.

I'll have to post pictures of the others later since I haven't taken them yet ha ha
Mike's:
Mike's dad's:
Mike's mom's:
My mom's:
and for my best friend Eve:

as I was going through fabric to figure out what to make the ones for mike's mom, my mom and Eve I came across these that I wanted to make for my home, not that they match my living room or anything but I like having a quilt to throw over my while I'm watching TV on cold winter nights.
I love the bright colors
Now I'm working on another one in various shades of blue for the guest room Yeah me! I'm having fun.

Skirts

2010-05-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Alex's last project before she got her Young Womens Medallion..
She made skirts for all the girls in the family and we all wore them the day she got her medallion. Good Job Alex!!!!

A cute headband

2010-05-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

I found this cute headband and just had to make one....
But only one, my hands hurt from cutting and sewing all the leaves. But I like the way it turned out and I wear it all the time.

Bead watches

2010-05-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at the cute bead watches that are in style right now...
A black and silver band ...
and this one (though for some reason the picture doesn't look that way) is pearls and silver.

Not as chunky as the ones you see around but just right for the person it was made for.

Hats and flowers

2010-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

The past few days I have been suffering from a bad tooth. I finally had it pulled but that is another kind of pain as well. Needless to say I haven't been able to follow my normal routine. Thus I had to figure out something to keep myself entertained and keep my mind off all the house work I should be doing. Here's what I've been doing (along with a few chick flicks and naps he he he). Hats and flowers... This is Madison Modeling the first hat I made along with the first of this style of flower The hat was a bit smaller than I had hoped so for the next one I added a few rounds to the top.
and as you can see Bailee is modeling what turned out to be a floppy style hat. Not exactly what I was aiming for but I really like it....and so do my girls. I'll have to make more of these.
This green one is my favorite! I love how cute it turned out...but I stitched it with a different type of yarn and it is way too small for my girls. I think next time I'll add one extra round at the top and maybe get a happy medium of the too small and the floppy hat.
This is the new flowers I have been making. Way cute and WAY easy. I think it is the simplest I've done yet. The single layer (below) is quite small but I like the dainty look of it. The double layer (above) Is a better size for older teens or adults and a fun twist with the gem as a center.
As you can see I have been able to keep myself entertained while I recover from a bad tooth.

Boutique flowers

2009-12-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun making these flowers and decided to try my hand at selling them at a boutique. Here are some sample pictures of the flowers I sold at the boutique.

The thing I like best about them is that they are for all ages. Babies and adults and all girls in between can wear them. They look great in hair on purses and on clothing. Cute!

Alex's costume

2009-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

Alex needed a costume for student government this year. So we decided to use a pattern for a dress that my friend gave me.

Fabric is getting pretty expensive especially the nicer stuff like brocades that we wanted to use. so instead of buying fabric by the yard at $15.99+ per yard we used one of these found at the local Wal-mart for $9.99. There was plenty to make the dress using only one tablecloth.
So after about a day and a half of fitting the sewing in between jobs and family activities we had planned this fall, we came up with this...It has a train in the back. Kind of hard to see from the front though. so here is a better shot...
The pattern called for eyelets to lace up the back...uh yeah Well I didn't really want to buy the tool for one project so I improvised and did this....
Pretty amazing what you can do with a little thread, some fancy trim, and one of these...
We will get more use out of the dress than just for this Halloween's activities as Kirsti needs a dress this same style for a play she is in that will be in January and Alex's friend is having a "Princess" party next month that everyone is supposed to dress like a princess.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to sew dresses for my girls.

Wood words

2009-07-27T13:55:00.001-07:00

I used my birthday money to do something fun...

One seasonal item that I can have up right now...

And one non-seasonal that I can leave up. I hope one day to be able to surround the "Family" one with pictures of family, past and present, in varied size and shape frames.

And in addition get more seasonal ones to replace the "summer" so I will have something up year round.

Baby shower gift

2009-06-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

My cute cousin Carrie finally, after many years of waiting, adopted a baby girl. She is adorable and they call her Kate.

Several months ago I made a diaper bag for another cousin when she had her boy and at the baby shower Carrrie asked me if I would make her a pink one if the adoption went through. I was more than happy to hear it was time to make one. I'm so excited for you Carrie!!!
I wanted to do more than just the bag so I was going to do some cute Binky clips to match. but I couldn't figure out a way to make it hook to the kind of Binky she uses. So I decided to make some bibs instead...an idea I got from my friend Stephanie.

They are simple, made out of a wash cloth, which is bigger and more absorbent than a regular bib. I used a ribbon and clips (similar to what you find on mitten clips for kids) for the part that goes around her neck. then I decided (totally optional) to add some matching applique's to the wash cloth.
As you can see I liked the way the flowers turned out way better than the heart which was my first attempt.

It was a fun project and I was surprised how fast it was to do.

Poineer attire

2009-05-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

I have to have pioneer attire for Trek this summer. I finally finished one of the dresses.
I'll add more pictures when I get the others done.

Bags

2008-12-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Want to see what has kept me from doing aNyThInG for the last week or so. . .

I made scripture bags and a matching tote for each of my girls.

Well and one for me of course! I've seen bags similar to these around and I love them but they are super expensive so I decided to make some. But hey guess what. . . you can't get a pattern for what I had in mind so . . . I just made one up! Actually I made the pattern for three sizes but opted for the largest and the smallest bags.

And my favorite feature . . .

Are you ready for this?

The front pocket on each of the large bags ( the one big enough to use for a school bag) has a clip sewn inside so they can put their house key inside and it would never fall out! Not that my kids ever have much need for a house key, I am usually home when they get home, but it would be nice for them to have one just in case.

The new Bathroom

2008-09-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

We finally have the down stairs bathroom done.
YEAH!

Here are some before pictures.

It's hard to see but because of some plumbing problems in the bathroom above we had to replace portions of the ceiling and walls. Which was okay with me because the tile only ever went up about 8-12 inches above the tub. We could never use the shower without damaging the sheet rock on the wall. I wanted to go all the way up to the ceiling with the tile so the shower could be used. With 7 people and only one shower it was kind of a pain.

Mike had surprised me while I was at girls camp by tearing out the old tile so we could get started. I was a little worried about tearing it up whit Harrisen watching. I didn't want him to think he could take a hammer to the new stuff when it was done.

Here are some shots of the FHE where we enlisted the help of the whole family to tear up the old flooring.

Harrisen had a blast but the girls wished we would have done something else that night.

Uh, yeah, we forgot about taking pictures of the process until all that was left was the last little bit of grout. Mike did a great job of cutting the tile outside in the back yard and handed the pieces through the window to me as I needed them.

Don't look too close, I generally don't do anything but pull my hair back when I'm working on something like this.

Tile is done. waiting for the grout to dry so we can put it all back together. (And I can't figure out how to turn this picture sorry)

Harrisen was thrilled when I told him he could help me paint. He thought that was the best job ever. Even better than pulling up the old floor. He stood in the sink and painted everything he could reach from there.

Here is the finished product. . .

We still have a few things I would like to do once Mike gets a job and we have the money to do so. I would like to replace the cabinet and sink but for now this one works just fine.

Although we tease them about trading and giving them the other bathroom because this one turned out so good. Now the girls have their own bathroom to shower, do hair and get ready, and I get to keep their messes out of our main bathroom.

We had a few hang ups along the way that were pretty frustrating to deal with. Like the fact that we were 7 tiles short and since we bought the tile over 18 months ago there was no more tile that was the same or even close enough to look okay. But in the end we were able to trade for different tile and we all like the new tile a lot better than what we had originally. so it all worked out okay in the end.

Boy are we all glad this project is finally done.

JAMMIE TIME

2008-07-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Harrisen has been growing so fast!
He has out grow all of his pajamas. I really hate buying pajamas too. They are expensive, don't last long, and who really cares what they look like anyway, you wear them when you are sleeping for Pete's sake. ( Sorry that was kind of a tangent huh.)

So I spent the day today sewing more pajamas for the little guy. He got 7 new pairs, (that should be enough I hope,) and I just bought plain (clearance) tee shirts to go with them. they each have a different "theme" anything from baseball or basketball to Race cars or cowboys. His favorite are the helicopters, which he insisted on wearing first.
Although Harrisen HATES tags on his clothes, he really needs them to be able to tell witch way the pajama pants go. So, I solved the problem by using a soft white fabric and sewing it all the way down. No flaps tickling in the back of these pants. I even used a permanent marker to write the size on it, just in case we give them away for hand me downs later.
It took a good majority of the day, ( I was easily distracted from today's project for some reason)but we got it done and Harrisen is sleeping happy tonight.

Flag football belts

2008-07-17T20:42:00.001-07:00

I decided to start up a blog dedicated to the wonderful talents My family has been blessed with.

Alex and Kirsti helped me make Flag football belts. Mike has been wanting them for a while now for the full post on this project, see my family blog. I posted it there before I thought of doing this blog and I don't really want to start over with it. there will be more to come soon. (I hope)