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How about a bunch of stuff....


I hope you all checked out the link for the Train Stop Dress giveaway by Kathleen of Grosgrain. Not that I want you all to get in on the action I would really love that dress. Can you believe she makes them and then just gives them away. Wow. I have this theory that there are people that have more hours in their day than others...She is definitly one of those.
So onto the other randomness for the day...
A few nights ago I got in the car after work and started to pull out, for some reason I looked at the odometer and what did I see... Super exciting. This is Annie modeling another handmade gift. It's basically the same dress as this one but a bit more refined. I shaped the top piece of the bodice and gave the front a bit more fullness, which I love. I used some clearence fabric from Joannes and the ribbon was a piece I picked up in New York here. The fitting was easy on this one, it was for my 7 year old niece, Ally and she is the same size as Annie. I went with criss-cross straps for the back because well I just love them. A few more shots. I've been really trying to clean-up my act while sewing, paying attention to loose threads and wonky seams. My new found love for this is the french seam, easy to do and no raw edges. I really am planning to do a little tutorial for this dress. The more times I sew it the more I learn. Next one is going to be in linen with maybe some freezer paper stencils or some free motion sewing....hmmmm I do need a darning foot for my machine.


Posted by mary at 11:38 AM 5 comments Links to this post

Train Stop Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!



Posted by mary at 11:40 PM 0 comments Links to this post



I was just sitting here pouting a bit about feeling like our days are getting away from us and there has been very little to post about when I came across this little swap. Something I definitly have time for.

It's a mini book swap hosted by molly coddle. It's simple send one book to another family, get one book from another family. Go check it out. Posted by mary at 10:40 PM 1 comments Links to this post

4th of July Fun... I totally dig the 4th of July. It's all about fun and family and friends and yeah, food. We had all of the above and more. Hope you all enjoyed yours.

The new kidmade challenge is up, a few days late. Oh well, go on check it out. And I added a button for a new flickr goup, all about free or almost free fun for kids.

Posted by mary at 5:39 PM 4 comments Links to this post

kidmade and a homemade gift. The gallery is up for the Take Only Pictures, Make Only Art kidmade challenge. Please go and check it out. All of the submissions are amazing and inspiring. I really can't put into words how beautiful the work is. The July challenge should be up later today. Just to add a bit of randomness, this is a little top I made for my niece for her birthday. I had bought myself a little dress at Target and loved the style. I decided I could reconstruct it. Other than coming out a bit smaller than I intended it worked out great. I was even able to do some shirring for the back. I have tried this in the past without any luck. The top was only 3 pieces and the straps. I think there will many more of these to come this summer. It's the perfect wear as a dress or top or with a long sleeve shirt and a pair of jeans kinda dress. I have come to the conclusion that I really enjoy sewing more when I don't use a pattern, I seem to always mess up the pattern and then become frustrated. Making it up as I go along seems to keep the flow going.
Anyone want a tutorial for this? I will try to pull one together when I make the next one.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. Lots of food, friends, family and fireworks.

Posted by mary at 9:02 AM 3 comments Links to this post