Sprightly Sewing

    I was asked at a birthday party for my nephew how I keep my sanity. My children are young. They are playful, smart, loving, funny, destructive, prideful and full of energy. They are just as kids should be. To the world it seems I have too many. I go to Starbucks and hear things like "you need that coffee with all those kids don't you? I know I would" Or "you must be tired with all those kids" I go grocery shopping and hear things like " Are they all yours? you're done now right?" With stares and nasty looks. My kids could be on their best and sweetest behavior and I still hear this everywhere I go. People ask how I do it, or say it would make them crazy.     I have 1 lovely girl, and 4 handsome boys. I hear comments like " you need more girls" people even go as far as saying to my kids, "your mom needs more girls."      I am fed up. So here is my answer to everyone... God the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, The God ...

Alphabet Flash cards     I decided to make a flash card matching game.  My little guys are 6,4,3, and 6 months. So it is perfect, plus they are a lot more durable then those paper flash cards and match games. Since I know the baby will end up trying to eat a few! hahaha So here is how we play, its just the same old basic games first lay the fabric cards face down.  Big A little a That is right, find the little letter that matches the big letter. Easy right. Then we play beginning sounds.A is for apple. Or B is for bee...   This is how I made them.    Step one is to gather your felt or whatever fabric your going to use. I used felt because it is cheap and thick, it kind of holds it shape. It is also super easy to work with.    Step two is to cut out your squares.               You will need two squares per card. Step three is to cut out your ...

Doll making! I started making dolls. I had no idea they were so much fun. I made this pretty in polka dots one with my own pattern ...   I had made it for my cousins daughter. She loves it. Because little girls love dolls! God made them that way. :) So then I made another for my niece, but I don't have a picture of that one. :( Then this past week I made these two lovelies with a pattern I purchased on Etsy. I am now working on a new pattern of my own, making the head like the Waldorf dolls. Those are flipping cute. :P anyway I just wanted to share, and when I get my pattern how I want it, I'll share it with you. Have a great day and God bless ~Abby  

So this is not about sewing, This post I mean.  Since it is my blog I can post about other things though so it is okay :)    The house is ours! Do you know what means? It means that now we have a lot of work to accomplish in making this house a place we love to be. Today we planting many of my flowers, tomorrow and next weekend we are planting the big stuff, which include... grapes, oranges, apples, cherries, plums, almonds, peaches, berries and more. I am so excited. these plants have been in pots FOR_EV_ER. We have painting to do and things to fix. We even have some changes to make to our barn, to make it a nice place for our many chickens. Oh the yummy eggs!   So that's my post for today, just one of excitement. my next will be some other sewing project I felt like working on...maybe men's jeans (yep I' am on to my 4th pair for my hubby, who loves them!) or maybe... Baby dresses. Who knows! ~abby

  So your first step is to pick the fabric you want to use. Then you will cut out a piece of each the same size. I made mine pretty big so it could be used into toddler age. After you have cut your squares you need to decide how big you want your ruffles. I wanted mine about 2 inch or so. So I cut 5 inch wide strips. I cut enough to go around my square 1 and 3/4 times.   Now you place the strips wrong side together and sew on the ends. You will end up with one very very long strip of fabric.   Now you iron down your seems. prep is important for a beautiful outcome.   Then you fold your strip in half length wise and iron it down.   Now people have a few ways to ruffle. Some use a long stitch and pull the thread. Some use that insane ruffle foot. (I have one, too scared yet to try it!) I do it like this... I use both hands and gently bunch up the fabric as I feed it through the foot. You can look up how to ruffle on Google or You tube and f...

Hey there!     I am the luckiest woman alive. My husband said I could re decorate our room in Shabby Chic! He doesn't mind if it is super girly and floral. He says as long as I am happy. Isn't that the sweetest?!?! So here is the first thing I made for my new décor. A new lamp shade.  I am unsure what bedding I want to get or if I just want to make my own, so I went with all white. You could use any colors. I saw one similar to this for sell on some site and fell in love. Here is the kicker about my shade that makes it extra special...Its removable so I can wash it. Now if you want one like this...keep on reading :)      That shade was super ugly and plain right? What is this part called anyway? Yes my tracing is kind of sloppy. But it gets trimmed off after I sew it. :P Mine had six total sections.     That's it. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. remember you could use any colo...

This is how I did mine, and you can find all sorts of blogs explaining how to do this if mine isn't clear enough. Happy box covering to you! :) Comment and tell me what you think :)