Daddy’s Girl! (Deployment Project #179)

We are ready….so ready!!  That phone call cannot come soon enough!

I’ve been talking with the kids about Daddy coming home, I love to listen to their excitement and their expectations.  Charise was quite worried the other day.  She was worried that Daddy would not be able to find her in the crowd.  I’m not quite sure what she is imagining in her mind, but this was a big concern of hers.  I thought I could ease her worries by making her a little outfit that will definitely stand out in the crowd!

There is no doubt in my mind that Daddy would be able to find us no matter what we are wearing, but Charise feels so much better.  Glad she knows what she is going to wear - - I still have no clue what I am wearing!!  

Every morning this Daddy’s girl runs downstairs and takes another link off our countdown chain and then announces to all of us how many days we have left (tomorrow is her last day to report any numbers to us!!)

Don’t you love those corker bows on her little piggies?  Daddy just melts when she wears her hair in piggies - - and she knows it, so she requested that she wear her hair in piggies to pick up Daddy!  I had my new blogger friend, Heather, make us a set of red, white, and blue corkers!!  She sells them on her site and they are fantastic!  Great quality, great price and she is so fun to work with!!!  You should go and check out her site!!

OK - - now, I’m off to finish that bedroom!  Just to let you know how crazy I am right now, I decided to re-upholster a loveseat for at the end of our bed.  I decided at 7:30PM that it was the wrong color and I wanted to change it, so I got the kids to help me rip the fabric off and by 9:00 we were finished with the entire re-upholstery job!  Don’t worry - - when I finish it all I will share pictures!

Now, I gotta go and work!

UPDATE!!!!  He's home and we are gone on vacation as a family!!!!  The reunion was wonderful and Charise looked so cute at the airport waiting for her daddy!

I'm linking up to the CSI project today - - but unfortunately, the button will not work for me - -- at all!!!  -- like I said, we are on vacation and I am using someone elses computer - - it is not cooperating!!

ok - -- off to enjoy my hubby!!!!

Cameron’s Room (Deployment Projects #177-178)

OK - - just a quick post tonight - -probably with lots of pictures!  I have finally finished Cameron’s room.  I think boys rooms are tough.  Not so much when they are babies, or even toddlers, it’s that 9 year old, going on 10 that I have found tough.  I had lots of ideas of what I wanted to do, but Cameron is now developing his own creative ideas and opinions.  That’s hard for me.  One, it tells me he is growing up, and I really don’t like the thought of that and two, it means I need to allow him to express his ideas and not just do what I want to do!

I learned that Cameron is a very neutral guy.  We must have gone shopping 10 times looking for a comforter.  I would point out something I liked - - he would hate it every time.  You know what he wanted?  Plain brown - - he let me choose between a lighter or a darker brown!  I learned that he doesn’t like color - -except blue.  He doesn’t like patterns.  And he doesn’t like my idea of organization.  He is a no nonsense, either it’s right or it’s wrong, no frills kind of guy!

He wanted an adventure room.  I’m still not sure exactly what an adventure room entails, because every time I would suggest something he would, in his sweetest, most kind manner tell me, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings Mom, but that’s not what I was thinking of having in my room.”  He was so concerned about hurting my decorating feelings - - it was so sweet!  Finally I told him to just start pointing out things he liked and we would make it all work.

I don’t know if it all really works together, but it was a process and really, it was more of a process of a mom letting her son grow up and express himself, and a son learning how to voice his opinions and not worry about disappointing his mother.   Does the room have things I would change if I were just decorating it myself?  Yes, of course.  It’s hard working a frog habitat, legos, rock rugs, and all brown into a room.  But he loves it and really, that is what it is all about.  A room for my little man to love hanging out in, a room to bring his friends to, a room to feel comfortable in!

 

See these mini cloches?  They were Christmas bell ornaments that I bought on clearance after Christmas.  I took the bells out and they turned into perfect small cloches to “highlight” the bug collection.  The picture on the right is what is under the cloche on the right!

Nothing helps set the theme of the room like an Adventure pillow with the definition of adventure embroidered on it!  I used zipper edging to trim it out and a pieced together back to give it a very “adventurous” feel!

 

If you look closely, you can see his two fire belly frogs hanging out in their habitat!

The wall next to Cameron’s bed it like an ever growing bulletin board.  We put up “invention” pictures and shelves to hold treasures.   And of course pictures of him with his favorite people!!

 

*In non decorating news, we are so close to Handsome Hubby coming home for R&R -- - I think I will only have one more post before he gets here, we’ll see!!  I have been super busy finishing up orders - - in fact, in the past two days I have made 18 pillows and I have 11 more to finish up by tomorrow night.  I still have our bedroom to finish, and in a perfect world, I would have a whole week of posts showcasing the bedroom all pre-written and ready to post while Handsome Hubby is home.  But who am I kidding?  That would be a perfect world! - - I certainly don’t live in one of those!!

Some Tips!

I have been working like crazy around here!  I’ve been trying to finish up customer’s orders so that they can have them before Handsome Hubby gets home.  I’ve been working on our bedroom, finishing up Cameron’s bedroom, trying to get this house in order, and realizing I definitely need to go grocery shopping before Handsome Hubby comes home!!  One week - - -eeeeaaaaakkkkk!!!  We are sooo excited!

Are you sick of hearing about that?

Sorry - - you may just not want to visit my blog for a couple of weeks if you don’t want to hear about Handsome Hubby and our excitement!!

Anyway, as I have been working on all these projects this week, I learned a few new things that I wanted to share with you and I thought I would introduce you to one of my tools that help make the job easier!

Now,  my first tip may not come as any huge surprise to you, you probably already do it, but I just realized it this week - - (I have been sewing for 10+ years and never thought of this!)

TIP #1

When you are making cording and attaching it to the first surface (not your final attachment) change your stitch length to the longest possible stitch.

By doing this, you can make your cording in half the time and attach it to your first layer in half the time!

Just remember to put your stitch length back to the proper length before you put your final piece together! 

 

TIP #2

Did you know there are different weights of drop cloths?

I totally did not know that until this week!  I stopped by Lowes quickly this week to pick up another drop cloth - - not for painting of course - - but I grabbed from the top shelf instead of the bottom shelf this time and didn’t know until I got home that there were different weights - - and a big difference between the two!  I picked up a heavier weight one and it was so hard to work with!  I always wash and dry my drop cloths before I work with them and even after washing it twice it was still incredibly hard to work with!

I would say that the heavier weight would work fantastic for a re-upholstery project, but it is definitely too heavy to be sewing with - - it does not hang or drape well. 

So, my tip - - - check the weight of your drop cloth before you buy!!

By the way - - do you think the drop cloth manufacturers are wondering what the heck is going on since they have seen sales double since the blogging world decided that drop cloths are the answer to all decorating dilemmas?

AND NOW FOR MY HELPFUL TOOL:

Have you seen these?  Do you have one?  It is a bias tape maker (ok, that may not be the technical name for it, but it should be if it isn’t!)  I use mine all the time.  It is a simple little tool that you pull your fabric through, ironing it as you pull it through, and when you are finished, you have perfect bias tape that matches your project perfectly!!

Here’s how it works:

1.  Cut your fabric in 2” strips

2.  Take a piece of tape (I usually use scotch tape, but I used electrical tape so you could see it - - and because that was what I had on hand!) and attach it to the end of your strip making a 1”-2” tag.

3.  Slide your tag end into the wide end of the tool

4.  Using a straight pin, pull the tape tag through the end of the tool (the tape tends to be a bit stiffer than just the fabric and therefore it is easier to push/pull through than just trying to make the fabric go through)

5.  Once your fabric is through, hold the little handle (this is so that your don’t burn your hand as you start ironing)

6.  Iron along the folded edges, pulling the fabric through as you move your iron along.

7.  Keep pulling until you have pulled and ironed all your fabric through the bias tape maker.

Tahdah!!  You have made your own bias tape!

Now, all you have to do is attach your tape to your project.  Just make a little sandwich, with one half of your tape under your project, then folding the other half around to the top, you can sew right along the edge of the tape attaching all the layers as you go!!

Wasn’t that fun?

Now, if you are still looking for some more fun today, Head on over to the CSI Project - - they are having a furniture re-do link up today!  I’m linking up some of my projects today - - jump over there and get some inspiration from all  the projects!!

Ramblings and Pillows (Deployment Projects #171-176)

Did you know that we are almost…ALMOST in the single digits for our countdown for Handsome Hubby to come home for his two weeks of R&R?  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  Am I ready?  YES! and NO :(  I am so ready to have him home, so ready to have him next to me, to see him interacting with our kiddos, to cook and bake for him, to just sit and look at him!  I am not ready to send him back after those two weeks.  I’m trying not to focus on that, but it is in the back of my mind.

I am also not ready with all my projects.  Seven months 175+ projects and I am still not ready?  Yeah, I know, underachiever!  Actually - - my number one project since he left is to do our bedroom.   I have not decorated or hung pictures, I’ve hung about 5 different sets of curtains but no permanent ones, I just cannot focus on that room!  But, time is running out - - ALMOST single digits here - - I gotta get me some motivation!!!

Don’t hear me wrong here, Handsome Hubby is really not going to care what the bedroom looks like.   It’s just something I really want done before he gets home.  So, knowing that I have an entire bedroom to design and decorate, what have I been doing?

Making pillows!!  I have some more pillows to put in my etsy shop.  These ones are really fun!  They have vintage images “printed” on them.  They really aren’t printed, it’s a process called sublimation.   Here’s how Wikipedia defines it:    A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a computer printer which employs a printing process that uses heat to transfer dye onto a medium such as a plastic card, paper, or fabric. The sublimation name is applied because the dye transitions between the solid and gas states without going through a liquid stage.

So anyway, my aunt has one of those fancy printers (and her own blog!) and she printed these images from Graphics Fairy onto my fabric and they turned out fantastic!  I just love how the fabric absorbs the color instead of it sitting on top or having the sheen of an iron on transfer.  And these can be washed!!

 

I also made an embroidered number pillow.  Four is our number - - four of us in our family.  I’m going to offer custom embroidered number pillows in my etsy shop, so if you have a favorite number and you’ve always wanted a pillow to go with it, I’m your girl!

And, last but not least - - I should have posted this last Sunday.  I just wanted you to know that I was patriotic on the 4th.  I made this dress on Saturday, when I wore it on Sunday, I kinda felt like I should be singing and dancing everything - - I felt like I was in the musical “Oklahoma” - - I’m still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

Well, that was a lot of rambling about nothing, but I have successfully put off working on that bedroom for yet another hour!  Gotta get motivated!!