Thrift store plaid shirts recycled

I went to the little thrift store in our town and bought a few large plaid  men's shirts for 50 cents each.
They are just big enough to make shorts for my grand sons. I was able to make a size 2-3T for them.  I cut out 4 and have already made two of them. They love to sleep in these.

Here are a couple of photos.  I should have taken a picture of the shirts before I cut them up.   The sleeves on them have a lot of fabric too but I don't need it.  If anyone wants the left over fabric from the shirts, let me know and I will send it to you.

another pillow case dress!

These are fun and easy to make!
I made this one a little while ago!
sweet

Cute burp cloths

I had these cloth diapers that I never used.  They were washed and dried to allow natural shrinkage. These burp cloths measure about 17" X 14".   I added fabric to the middle to make them pretty!
Here is one laid out flat.....

Here are a few that I made.   I may put some in my Etsy store but if you want to order some just let me know by leaving a comment here on my blog.  In the Etsy store they will be $5.50 with free shipping in the US (lower 48 states only)

Trista models her new pillowcase dress

Here is the little princess that I made those pillowcase dresses for!
she is soooooo sweet and she loves her new dresses.

Another pillowcase dress.....

I love these cute little dresses and they are so easy to make that I had to make another one.  It took just about an hour for me to make this one.  I am still slow!
I used 5 fat quarters.  I cannot wait to see this on my little friend!  I will have to take a photo of  her with the dress on and post it.

Here is a photo:

First try at making a pillow case dress!

I  had some fabric left over from the little quilt I talked about in my last post.   I found a simple tutorial online about how to make a pillowcase dress.  I always thought they would be difficult to make.
It was not hard to do at all.  I plan to make a few more!
click here to go to the tutorial I used.....
http://www.themotherhuddle.com/tutorial-fat-quarter-pillow-case-dress/

Here is a photo of the dress....front and back
Let me know what you think of it.

front

 back

A sample quilt to try out a design!

I am working on designing a quilt for a special friend's three year old daughter.  She gave me some ideas of what colors she wants and  showed me a sweet little crown she would like  on the quilt.  I was not able to find the exact fabric she wanted but I picked up a few 1/2 yard pieces of fabric and came up with this.
It is only about 25 inches square so her daughter will be able to use it for her dolls.   I will work on the "real" quilt over the next couple of weeks once she decided if these are the colors she wants.

What do you think of it!

Magic Mirror helps me to change the needle in my sewing machine!

I broke a needle while quilting the other day and I had a hard time replacing it because my fingers are so swollen because of RA. and I could not see!

I wear glasses and when I bend down to look under something it is hard to see anything.  I needed to see the little hole where the needles goes.  After much thought I decided I needed a little mirror to help me see what a I am doing.

I could see the needle but not the hole it goes into.

I pulled out this case of eye shadow with a little mirror in the cover.  I broke the cover off.

the little mirror slid under the foot of the machine easily.

I was able to see exactly where to push in the new needle!

This mirror idea worked great for me!

I am pointing to the little hole where the needle goes. You can see it clearly in the mirror!

Dresden plate wall hanging!

I finally finished my dresden plate wall hanging.
We put it on a blank wall we  have in the breakfast area.
Let me know what you think of it!

My 'Wee Folks' pin wheel quilt

Here a couple of pics of a pin wheel quilt I made using a Moda

"Wee Folks" charm pack.   I also used a Moda "white" charm pack.

Another triangle block

I put the light box to work again and made another of 'Victoria's' triangle blocks. ( see previous post)

I want to try to make more of them.

How to make a light box when you need one in a hurry.

I decided I needed to try the triangle block that Victoria over at http://www.15minutesplay.com/ posted. It took a little more than 15 minutes but it was fun to try a challenge.  My points are way off but for a first time I think it looks ok.

To make the paper patterns to sew the fabric on , I traced the pdf that I printed.  My printer stopped working for some reason and I only had one copy so I had to trace them.  I do not have a light box but I have a sewing machine table that has a clear inset for my machine.  Here is how I 'made' my light box.  It worked great.  I guess out of necessity comes invention..

Papae and the boys!

I was looking through some photos I have on the computer and decided to share some with ya'll.  My DH and the babies have a very close bond.  Here are a few photos of them.

this is Ephraim's 6 week old photo....this was his birth announcement photo  He was born on 11/11/11 .

This was taken at 10 weeks old. He is smiling and gooing since he was about 5 weeks old. 

Here is a photo of Alden and Ephraim together.  Alden is 32 months old and Ephraim is 9 weeks old in this photo.  those BumBo chairs are great.... when the babies can hold up their heads they can sit in these little chairs for short periods of time.  Ephraim loves it.

This is a photo of Alden and Reed.  They are 5 months apart in age.  I took this a couple of months ago when they came to spend the night together with us.  I sewed some Thomas the Train fabric onto their t-shirts.  They love to wear their little boxers to sleep!  Better than any PJ you can buy!

Here is a photo of Reed with his Papae.   sweet  huh?

 Here is a photo of Alden with his Papae.  another sweet pic

 They love to sit on their Papae!   we love these babies so much!

A picture does not have to be a perfect shot to be special

I took this while our older grandsons were watching their grandfather cut grass  in the front yard.  Not a perfect picture but so cute!

I took this one last winter. My husband and our younger grandson were walking together to go look at the cows in the back pasture. Notice his gloves....they did not fit at all but he insisted on having them on!  too funny...

I love it!  A very special moment together.

Finally organized!

Thanks to my new QBFF,  Elisa,  I now have an organized sewing studio.  I hope she realizes how much I appreciate all the hard work she did for me.  Now when we get together we can sew in a pleasant place.  I might even win a prize for getting my fabric so organized!
Here are some photos you have to see!

Here is the fabric wall.... all organized and folded nicely....

Here is the closet.... two rows of Christmas fabric.....

Bins of scraps to go through.......

 Design wall and threads...  working on a pin wheel quilt!

 Quilting frame .....it's time to quilt my Dresden plate quilt....

Looks great doesn't it?

I am determined to keep it looking like this.

Thanks Elisa!