Getting My Act Together

At the beginning of the year I was challenged to come up with a word to focus on this year. I couldn't really come up with a specific word, but I had the general idea that I wanted to "get my act together."

I bought a cute planner and decided I was going to be organized. I love my planner and it is a great start, but sometimes it gets lost on the mess of my desk. I wanted to get the entire house decluttered, but stalled out before tackling the bedrooms. I had all of these grand ideas that if I could get the house organized and cleaned, if I could tackle the laundry pile I call Mount Washmore, if I could send out birthday cards on time, if I could finish all of my half-completed craft projects, if I could be on time for everything, if I could get a healthy supper on the table at a reasonable time each night, if, if, if... And guess what? It isn't happening. That is not real life. We have 6 kids and a little wanna-be farm. I try, but something will always be a mess and I can't get everything done.

Just because everything isn't Pinterest-perfect doesn't mean that I am failing. I am such a perfectionist about certain things, as I have confessed before, and I am slowly chipping away, learning to let go. I get to a point where I completely run myself into the ground. So, really, "getting my act together" is more about getting my attitude together and prioritizing.

I didn't sew the rest of the Easter dresses on time again this year. I ordered some fabric that came a few days ago and I didn't want to stress myself out to get them done. So I didn't. Instead, we made a ton of peanut butter eggs and did a lot of cleaning, both of which were very necessary.  We didn't get to any egg hunts besides the ones at family gatherings because of vehicle problems. Instead, the girls played outside and we painted our toenails on the sidewalk.  Probably the most shocking... I didn't give my kids anything in their Easter baskets. It was a personal decision to combat a materialistic attitude some of them have been displaying.  (When did Easter become the spring version of Christmas?)  Instead, we opened resurrection eggs on Easter morning as a family and took turns reading from the Bible.

This Easter I think I found a little more peace. I realized that I can't get everything done, so I have to choose what is important to me. I can let go of some traditions that aren't working, postpone them, or even just take a break from them. I am pretty sure that my kids aren't going to be scarred for life because they missed out on a chocolate bunny. A few years ago I would have been up all night sewing to get dresses finished and baskets filled. This year, I curled up on the couch with a book waiting to shower and relaxed! I can see that part of getting my act together isn't doing more, but learning to be OK with doing less.

Spring Snow

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You can vote for your favorite "greenery" inspired design HERE at Project Run and Play.

The challenge for Project Run and Play this week is "greenery" which is Pantone's color of the year. It is symbolic of spring, rejuvenation, and reconnecting with nature.

We are in the middle of a potentially record-breaking blizzard in PA today.

I was having a hard time connecting with the theme and figuring out how to take some pictures of the outfits, especially with the smaller snowstorm we got on Friday while I was freezing and sewing my little heart out in the sunroom. Then, I realized that the weather perfectly mirrored what I was trying to create. Like the bright blue skies and bits of green grass and daffodils peeking up out of the cold snow to bring new life, I aimed to create something beautiful out of things that were unwanted.

daffodils in the snow

project run and play week 2 outfits

When I looked at Pantone's website to learn more about the color "greenery" I immediately pictured a piece of vintage fabric that I had stored in a box in my shed. It came from someone's attic and had been sewed and used for something else a long time ago. I pictured a full, vintage style skirt with a crisp, white, sleeveless swiss dot blouse.

Vintage style girls outfit

vintage style girls outfit

The skirt is so full!!! The fabric is heavier than quilting cotton, so it holds it shape very well. I added lining and a built in petticoat layer, so this skirt has 552 inches of gathering!!! I used some vintage bias tape as flat piping under the waistband, too.

flat piping made from bias tape

The shirt was a bigger challenge for me. I drafted my own pattern and used some more of that vintage single-fold bias tape around the arms and neckline. The fabric is somewhat sheer, so it adds a hint of color to the edges. I hand stitched the button holes since my sewing machine started snapping needles again. The buttons are from Joann and I was excited because they matched perfectly!

swiss dot sleeveless blouse

To take it a step further, I created a matching doll outfit from the scraps. I made my own patterns for these, too. It is lined, so I just used aqua topstitching around the edges.

matching vintage doll outfit

For the second outfit, I used two old t-shirts to create a new shirt in the same color scheme. I have never made a knit neckband before, so I was really happy with how that turned out. It has sheer, vintage lace under the arms.

lace inset sides

(Yes, I know she has goosebumps. Poor girl! We took most of the pictures in our greenhouse so that it would be a little warmer.)

The beautiful lace eyelet skirt used to be part of a dress I found at the thrift store. I added some quilting cotton scraps to make a waistband that is elastic in the back. I know white is dangerous, but I figure there is always bleach. Something gross and awful happened to it after this photo shoot, so I will probably be testing that out soon. #keepitreal

I whipped up a few headbands to match from more lace and t shirt scraps.

greenery project run and play week 2 outfits

Oh, and the bright blue playhouse is an upcycle project, too. It used to be a chicken pen with weathered wood and a leaky roof! Sometimes, all it takes it a little bit of hard work to bring new life to something that was unwanted. So, even though things may be looking like a winter mess where I live today,  I know that it is going to be OK: spring and all of the beauty that comes with it will be here soon.

Cute vintage style girls clothes made from repurposed materials- there is even a matching doll set!

You can vote for your favorite "greenery" inspired design HERE at Project Run and Play.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me last week! I am so excited to stay in the competition!!! Thank you again to the friends and family, even those with terrible fashion sense, who help me figure things out and give me honest opinions. Thank you to my Aunt Karen who forgot to vote, but gave me one of shirts I used. Thank you to Vicki for saving that wonderful, old fabric for me. Thank you to my friends and family who help me with my vision. Thank you to my husband for finishing the greenhouse before the snow came and being my photography assistant. As you can see by the picture below, one of my models was not as cooperative this week.

Adorable vintage style girls outfits made from upcycled materials

Gardening and Birdhouse Quiet Book Pages

Last two pages!

As cute as the farm scene pages are, my favorite page in this book is the gardening page. We start our own seeds and the kids get to help sometimes, so it was something else I really wanted to include in the book.

I made a little seed box with hand embroidered letters and sewed on some seed beads as if they had spilled. #keepitreal

The flowerpot turned out unintentionally patriotic. I really don't have much navy fabric.

The seed packets were made by printing vintage seed packet images onto iron-on transfer paper. I just sewed up little white packets from the transfers, including seed beads and buttons for the sunflowers inside before sewing them shut.

The little sprout pushes down into the flowerpot so that it can grow. I wish I had embroidered "grow" in a different color. The flowerpot is two pieces of gray fabric fused together with ribbon between them at the spout. I sewed around it for stability. I also had to make my own little hook out of wire to store the watering can in the book.

The last page is a birdhouse, with the front of the birdhouse being a velcro flap. The roof was made of bias tape and I did some hand embroidery vine details.

The nest is made of vintage lace, just like the one in the forest scene for

THIS

book. The little bird is made of felt. This is why my daughter started calling it the "birdie book."

You can see the rest of the pages in the spring quiet book by clicking on the link below.

You can see all of my quiet books by clicking HERE.

With this book completed, I can check the first thing off of my list for the third quarter of the Finish-A-Long! I have since finished several other things on the list and will blog about them soon!

Farm Animals Quiet Book Page

On our little farm, spring means lots of new baby animals. I wanted to reflect that in the spring quiet book, too. I came up with this little sunset farm scene and tried out some different applique techniques. I hand embroidered the fence and some details, then sewed on the barn.

The barn doors are held shut with a round button and a loop of narrow elastic. Inside the barn are some "animal pens" made of little pockets. Those store tiny animals that I cut from a fat quarter print fused to backing fabric. (I also used them to make memory cards in

THIS

book.)

I was going to make felt animals, but this was easier and faster. They are cute and she has fun with them.

The top of the barn has yellow ribbon "straw" and the roof is made of white grosgrain ribbon.

I was going to add even more details, like a mud pit for the pig, but I stopped myself because I wanted to finish the book.

I can't believe these are the first farm pages I have done!

You can see the rest of the spring quiet book pages by clicking on the image below:

Umbrella and Flowers Quiet Book Pages

One of the first ideas I had for a spring themed quiet book page was to make an umbrella with sliding bead raindrops. That grew into the April showers bring May flowers pages.

I had some gray bias tape on hand, but I had to buy a big bag of clear beads just for the few that I needed.

I appliqued a yellow umbrella with the machine, but the handle is hand embroidered with a satin stitch.

Those little duck buttons were just so cute that I couldn't resist!

"April showers..." (wish I hadn't capitalized 'showers') was hand embroidered on a strip of aqua on the bottom. The tricky part was trying to match up "bring May flowers." It isn't perfect, but close enough.

Oh, and those little ladybug buttons were also irresistibly cute!

Under the buttons is a flowerpot appliqued with a machine blanket stitch. I wanted to do something different from the usual ric rac stem flowers I have made

HERE

and

HERE

and

HERE

.

One side of the flowers is from a Vintage Modern print...

...and the other is various scraps, including one from my great-grandmother's fabric and my daughter's first birthday outfit.

I like seeing all the little scraps of past projects in these quiet books.

You can see the rest of the pages for this quiet book as they are posted by clicking on the image below.