Out With The Old, In With The New

My trusty old sewing machine died on Monday.  It was a sad, sad day.  I learned to sew on this machine when I was 9 or so.  During summer break in high school on the nights my friends didn't really have anything going on, it was just me, the sewing machine and Mr. Darcy, ohhh Mr. Darcy. Then I got married and my mom got a new sewing machine.  I'm not sure if she really wanted a new one or if she did it just so I could have her old one, but either way it was really nice of her to pass this one off to me.  It would be interesting to see how many hours I have put on that thing.  The past three years or so the stitch quality has really gone downhill just due to the amount of wear and tear.  It also developed a short in the power cord.  Justin kept fixing it somehow with Gorilla glue and as long as it didn't get bumped it was just fine.  Well, on Monday I went to turn it on and nothing happened, it had shorted it's last short.  I have been reaserching sewing machines over the past year and have found that Berninas' seem to be the best quality machine out there.  Lucky for me, Bernina just opened a store in St. George. 

I am the proud owner of a new Bernina.  And let me just say, "It's stinkin' awesome!"  I'm soo happy I'm going to cry!  I still have a lot to learn on it, like the knee-lifter and button-holer, but I'm soo excited!  I'm soo glad I have a husband who understands that a good sewing machine is a NEED.  I can't wait to get going on my projects.

(Hello pretty feet all lined up in your pretty accessory case.) 

Unfortunatly it didn't come with a ruffler foot and a walking foot, but that's ok, I know what to ask for for my birthday and Christmas. :-)

The Best Baby Wrap Ever!

Alright all you baby mama's, you have got to check this out! This is the most comfortable, most inexpensive baby wrap you will ever see! I just made this yesterday and have used it soo much already, I can do laundy and dishes with it on because I can bend way over and the baby doesn't budge.  Can you tell I'm excited about it? I have a store bought Mei Tei type sling but my back aches soo much by the end of the day, plus Maddy gets scrunched down in it after awhile.  To make this all you need is 5 yards of fabric by 30 inches.  You'll want a fabric with a little bit of stretch to it. I used an old jersey knit bed sheet that I had on hand. I'm not super picky about color because you can't beat free-ninety-nine (those are clouds on the sheets, not clorox spots, just to clarify).

 

Step number one (after you get your fabric cut and sewn together). Take the middle of the fabric and hold it at your waist.

Take the tails and throw them up around your back criss-crossed. Does that make sense? You'll want to pull it a little tighter in the next step.

Then you take the tails over your shoulder and . .  (Please excuse my mini-assistant, she wants to demonstrate as well.)

Tuck the tails under the strip of fabric that is around your waist.

Now your going to take the tails and cross them and then . .

Tie a double knot around your back.

Pick up your little schmootzy-poo and put her legs in the straps that went over your shoulders.

Now your going to take the fabric that was around your waist and pull it up over the baby as far up as you want to go.

And there you have it, the best baby wrap ever!

Thanks to my cousin Chels for sending me the instructions on how to do this.  Every mom needs to know this!

And since we're on the subject of baby slings, you've got to check out this video!

Fun Fabric Flowers

With spring in the air I wanted to make some fun fabric flowers for my girls. I saw the instructions on how to do fabric flowers on another persons blog but the way they made them was a little more tedious than necessary.  So here is my easy version of fabric flowers.

Your going to need 4-6 squares of fabric for the petals.  For the white flower I wanted big petals so I did a four inch square.  For the other flowers I did a three inch square.

Fold your square in half so it's a triangle, with the wrong sides together.

With your sewing maching, baste around the raw edges.

Pull on your loose strings so it sinches the square up into a little petal.

Once you have as many petals as you want your going to take a button . .

and squirt a lot of hot glue on the back and attach your petals.  Be sure and clip your loose strings first though.

And that's all there is too it.  For the printed flowers I used a regular button and then cutesied it up with a scrapbook metal flower on top. Once you get your flowers done just hot glue them onto a hair clippy and your all set.  I made all three flowers in under an half hour - so this really is a fast and easy way to make them!

Linking to: Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, and Sew Much Ado.

Fun Hairstyle Blog

A lot of us have little girls with a lot of hair.  Sometimes it can be hard to figure out what to do with alllll that hair.  Check out Mommy + Daughter Hair for some awesome tips on how to do cute hairstyles.  She's also going to have posts on big girl (mommy hairstyles) as well.  I can't wait to try out some of her fun ideas on Macey.  The poor little thing looks like a orphan most days.  I wasn't blessed with the hairstyling know-how that most girls are.  Chelsea is a cosmetologist and works in a busy salon, with a diverse client range in the Las Vegas area. She's also the oldest of nine, eight of them being girls, so she knows her stuff! Be sure and go on over there and leave her some love!

Cute Scrapbook Paper Pens

Cut a strip of paper 3/4" inch by 3 1/4" inch.

Roll the paper long ways and wrap it around the ink stick thingy (that's the technical term for it :-) and push it up in the pen.. Now no one can steal your nice pens again!

Registration and Insurance Card Organizer Tutorial

The other day Justin noticed that the auto insurance card was not in the jockey box (or glove compartment, whatever ya want to call it.)  I know I put it in there, but my guess is that it got thrown out with the In-N-Out napkins.  So I had the insurance guy print up some new ones and came up with a solution to make sure it doesn't get misplaced again.  I made these little auto info organizers for the vehicles.  So, if ya like my idea and want to make some for your vehicles, here's how I made them.

Your going to need:

- (2) 9.5 inches squares of fabric

-(1) 9.5 inch square of heavy fusible fabric

- Extra wide double fold bias tape

- 4 x 9.5 inches of clear vinyl (you get this on those big rolls by the tablecloths you can buy by the yard)

First you take you piece of vinyl and sew a strip of binding tape along the top.  You don't need to fold the ends under because it will be hidden at the end.

Iron your fusible fabric to the backside of one of your fabric squares.

Now your going to put your layers together.  First put your piece of fabric with that you just ironed right side down, then your other piece of fabric right side up on top of that.  Then take your vinyl pocket strip and put that along the bottom.

Sew right down the center. 

Put your binding around the edges, and your done! Rinse and repeat for as many vehicles as you have. It's super easy to make and could save ya a ton of stress if you were to ever get pulled over (heaven forbid!).

Linking to: