:: a happy nest ::

65 roses project : update

My brother's big hike is THIS weekend. Sadly, I'm much further behind on the project than I had hoped. Thea and I have both been sick, and with her on spring break last week, I didn't have much time to focus on much but being a mama.

The good news is that fundraising for the hike stays open until May. I'm planning on finishing photographing everything next week, and I hope to have all of the items up on etsy by Friday.

I've been having a lot of fun sewing up these sweet shirts for little girls. One of the fun things about having a collection of vintage sheets is that so many of them have pretty roses as a part of their design.

I picked my favorites, and have been sewing them on as appliques.

I've also been making a few different styles of earrings and bobby pins.

At this point, I actually have well over 65 different things to list. I am going to offer them all up and sell as much as I can.

As I mentioned before, 100% of sales will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

It is so important for the CFF to receive donations because the CFF receives no federal dollars for research or development of a cure. Your dollars are highly utilized to develop therapies that help manage CF and hopefully will one day cure CF entirely. As I mentioned before, $.90 of every dollar donated to the CFF goes to RESEARCH to FIND a CURE for CF.

Here is a video that my sister-in-law's friend and fellow CF mom Rebecca Fish made to raise awareness:

 

Again, you have my deepest gratitude for your support of this project.

celebrating.

Yesterday, our sweet little girl turned THREE!

Last week, we had lots of fun getting ready to celebrate.

I made her a birthday shirt.

And a special birthday crown.

We made cupcakes, and used this fun teplate to make happy flags to top our sweet treats.

And we made our own crayons to give to Thea's friends from her preschool class.

I think I had as much fun (or more) as she did!

What are your favorite ways to celebrate your little ones?

 

grateful monday.

Feeling grateful...

For three years on this wild and beautiful ride of mothering my sweet curly-haired girl.

That I am on this journey with my love.

For amazing friends.

For happy celebrations and thoughtful gifts.

For perfect spring days.

For yummy cupcakes.

For blooms everywhere.

For my mom.

For today.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

 

the 65 roses project : take 2.

As many of you know, in October 2009, my niece Caroline was born with cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening genetic disease that primarily impacts the lungs and pancreas - leading to severe lung infections and reduced ability to absorb fats (and more importantly fat soluble vitamins) that, taken together, substantially reduce life expectancy.

Caroline has the Delta F508 gene mutation. This mutation is considered the most severe CF mutation because it affects BOTH the respiratory and digestive systems. We are so grateful that at 18 months, Caroline has remained incredibly healthy, and is a thriving little girl.

Last year, to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, my brother and his friend Matt hiked 30+ miles through the mountains of North Carolina. In support of his fundraising efforts, I made and sold 65 fabric roses - raising $1000. Last year, my brother and Matt raised over $30,000 for the the CFF.

When my brother told me the significance of the phrase "65 roses," I knew that this would be the theme of my fundraising efforts. "Sixty-five roses" is what some children with CF call their disease, because those words are easier for them to pronounce. You can read the story about how this phrase was adopted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation here.

This year, my brother is a hike leader and the group of participants has grown from 30 last year to over 80 this year. Last year, the group raised $160,000. This year, they're almost at $300,000!

 

I was so happy to learn that $.90 of every dollar donated to the CFF goes to RESEARCH to FIND a CURE for CF.

 

This year, in support of my brother's fundraising efforts, I am making several types of roses - sewn fabric roses (two styles in various colors), earrings, hair clips, and sewn t-shirts. Those pictured in this post are a few examples of what I will be offering for sale.

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing more about Caroline's daily life as a kid with cystic fibrosis, as well as a bit about the good that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is doing  - including how they recently advocated for my brother's family when Caroline lost coverage for her care at UNC.

 

 

I hope you will check back for updates. Thanks in advance for your support of my family, and of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

starburst shirt.

A sweet, dear friend recently had a birthday, and I wanted to make something extra special to let her know how much she is loved. Lately, I've been experimenting with the reverse applique technique. When I put together this stencil and these knit fabrics, they reminded me so much of her, and I knew what my gift would be.

I used a store-bought shirt and another thrifted knit material for the contrast. The stencil is from a template in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.

I'm really in love with this technique. I'm using it for another very special project that I will be sharing with you soon. The hand stitching is so calming - it's good medicine for the soul.

I hope your week is off to a good start!

grateful monday.

Feeling grateful...

For sunshine and warmth.

For long walks with my loves.

For visits with dearly loved friends who live too far away.

For fingerpaint.

For fun camera apps on my phone.

For my cozy bed.

For happy blooms.

For good, good friends.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

my happy place: studio tour

 

Over the past few months, I've been working really hard on my studio. It had become really cluttered and pretty much unfuctional. When I walked in, I felt frustrated and overwhelmed. It was time for a change.

Up until the new year, this room was still set up as it had been in my days of making jewelry. The room was crammed with all of my jewelry supplies and tools, and my growing collection of fabric and linens were scattered about, piled in bins, and without a proper home. As I was putting this post together, I couldn't find a before photo, but I will add it when I do - so you can see just how unsightly it was.

The progress was slow going, and it often felt like I would never finish. But now it is pretty much complete - or at least close enough to share. I love this space so much. It has been amazing to feel my creative energy flowing again, just by creating order in this space. When I walk in, I feel peaceful and settled, yet inspired. Everything has a home. I've been working really hard to keep it nice and neat, and to put things away when I am finished working with them (this is really hard for me!).

I am so incredibly grateful to have this space. This room used to be the garage, but when our house was renovated in 2002 (before we bought it), this room was made part of the house's living space. I think it was designed to be the master bedroom - it has a full bath and two great closets, along with a window seat and cedar chest - but we couldn't make that work with our furniture and how we were using the rest of the space in the house. It has been an office, my jewelry studio, and now it is my sewing studio and fabric shop.

So, let me show you around. I'll give you the quick tour and then share some details.

This is the view when you walk into the room. Straight ahead is my sewing table with my regular sewing machine and serger. To the left is the printer, sitting on a set of drawers that holds paper and other office type supplies. And you can see a little bit of the corner where all of my thread, ribbons, rulers, and a set of drawers with most of my sewing tools. That big basket holds all of my vintage linen scraps.

This view shows my cutting table and the bathroom.

This dresser sits on the wall opposite my sewing table, and holds all of my packaging supplies and non-sewing craft and art supplies.

This metal bookcase is right between the dresser and the bathroom door. It holds my sewing books, my vintage pillowcases, and a few more packaging supplies.

Opposite my cutting table are the closets and window seat, which looks out into our front yard.

And a quick peek into the bathroom.

And now I'll share some of the details.

Above my sewing table are embroidery hoops with some of my favorite vintage fabrics.

This is one of my favorites.

Behind my sewing machine sit large jars of fabric scraps, sorted by color.

Next to the window, I hung little metal bins, which hold my ribbon. I picked up these little bins from Target's dollar section.

I punched two holes in the bins and used little "L" hooks to hang them on the walls.

This is another view of the wall beside the cutting table. I'm not crazy about the lamp, but I haven't found another affordable one that provides enough light.

Lots and lots of thread.

This is another view of the cutting table. It is from Ikea, and it is just the right height. Inside, the shelves hold more fabric - thrifted sheets, burlap, batting, as well as my patterns and other larger items.

The shelves above the cutting table hold jars of buttons and vintage tins with vintage sewing notions. The bar is from Ikea, and is home to my scissors and rotary cutters.

Buttons, sorted by color.

This frame is above the three-drawer dresser. I thrifted the frame for a couple of dollars, painted it white, and then sanded it to create a distressed look. I used colored twine to create a place for hanging bits of inspiration and other pretty things I want to have in sight.

A closer look at the frame.

I took some sweet little flower cabachons and glued them to mini-clothespins for hanging my bits of inspiration.

Another shot of the flower clips.

This is the closet on the right, which is home to most of my vintage linens. As part of the studio makeover, I built and painted these shelves in the closets.

To keep the fabric nice and tidy, I cut foam boards sized to fit my shelves and then organized the sheets by color.

This is the closet on the left, which is home to all of my other fabric.

To organize this fabric, I wrapped the fabric around comic book boards and sorted it by color. I had several of these metal bins on hand, and they were the perfect fit for the size of the fabric "bolts" and for my closet space. Once I realized how perfect they were, I went back to Target to look for a few more, and snagged them on clearance. Lucky me!

This paper star was a gift from a dear friend several years ago. I love it so much. It hangs from the ceiling above the window seat.

This window seat is one part of the room that I haven't finished yet. I am planning to make a cushion - I just can't decide on a fabric. Thea doesn't mind though - it's one of her favorite spots in the house.

So there you have it - a peek into my creative space.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

birthday number shirt tutorial.

A while back, I saw a blog post about a mama who made her kids a fun shirt for their birthday, telling the world how old they were that year. The idea stuck with me. I made one for my niece's first birthday. Another sweet little girl in my life had a birthday last week, and I made one for her too.

I used the reverse applique technique, and I'm just in love with it. I'm working on a few more shirts using this technique. For this one, I took pictures as I went along to show you how I did it. It's so easy! And you don't even need a sewing machine.

Here's what you need:

store-bought t-shirt sized to fit the birthday kid

coordinating fabric of your choice (can either be knit or woven - I used woven for this project but have used knit for others and both work just fine)

thread - either craft/button thread or thick cotton floss

needle in a size to work with thread

iron

lightweight heat and bond

number template sized to fit your shirt

water soluble fabric pen

spray bottle with water

 

Ok, here we go:

Start out by creating your number template. You could use a stencil or even freehand it. I picked a font I liked in my word processing program and enlarged it. To make it the right size, I ended up enlarging it on a photocopy machine.

Cut your fabric to correspond with your number template, making sure it is about one inch larger all around than the template.

Iron your t-shirt and fabric.

For the next step, I did this the hard way (by placing the template between the front and back layers of the t-shirt and then tracing the number onto the front of the shirt - see photo below).

It would be much easier to just cut around the number on your template, center it on your shirt, and then use the fabric pen to trace around the number.

Here's a closer picture of the tracing:

Next, take your contrasting fabric,

and center it under your traced number (between the front and back layers of t-shirt):

Pin the fabric to secure it to the front of the t-shirt, making sure the contrasting fabric stays flat and doesn't pucker:

Starting from the inside, use running stitches to sew around the traced number:

Turn your shirt inside out and trim the contrasting fabric just outside of your stitching. This is what mine looked like when I was finished:

Trim any longer threads (I didn't photograph this step).

Next, take a small pair of scissors,

and carefully pulling the t-shirt fabric away from the contrasting fabric, make a small cut in the t-shirt fabric.

Starting at the cut you just made, use your scissors to cut over to the edge of the number, and cut around the inside of your stitches. Cut about 1/4 inch away from your stitches. Because knit fabric doesn't fray, you don't need to do anything else to finish these edges.

This is what mine looked like after cutting:

Use a spray bottle to wet the fabric, which will remove any ink markings.

Let the shirt dry.

:: I didn't take photos of the following steps - so sorry - but I will add them as I complete another shirt. ::

Turn your shirt inside out. Carefully cut away the excess contrasting fabric around the outside of your stitches - leaving about 1/4 inch of fabric outside the stitches.

Put the interfacing over the number/contrasting fabric and trace around it, about 1/4 inch outside the edges of the contrasting fabric. This is so the interfacing will completely cover the contrasting fabric and your stitching. Make sure that the silky side is up and the knobby/glue side is against the shirt.

Using your tracing as a guide, cut out the interfacing.

Carefully position the interfacing over the number/fabric on the inside of the shirt.

Follow the package directions to secure the interfacing to the shirt (you will use your iron).

This is the inside of my shirt when I was finished:

And you're done!

Please let me know if you have any questions or if anything isn't clear. Happy sewing!

grateful monday.

Feeling grateful...

For sunshine, breeze, and wide open windows.

For hundreds of blooms in our front garden.

For ice cream cones and a sweet little ice cream shop in walking distance from our house.

For afternoon walks. And that my wee girl still likes riding in the carrier on my back.

For a day of creative fun working on this year's 65 roses project (thanks, Mom!).

For a new haircut.

For my sweet girl's wild curls.

For thrifty finds.

What are you feeling grateful for today?

 

{hello there}

Well hello there. Encouraged by my friend Megan's words, I'm coming out of my quiet space.

The past couple of months have been a complete blur - it feels like our family has constantly been sick, and I've been feeling pretty lost and unsettled in my mama shoes. While sleep has always been a struggle for my sweet girl, we've really been having a time for the past couple of months. Exhaustion combined with some very challenging behavior issues have really left me feeling physically and emotionally spent.

I'm so grateful for a wonderful circle of support surrounding me at this time - of course my amazing husband - and my mother - and my amazing mama friends who have been there - witnessing, listening, gently encouraging, and sharing their own stories and stories.

We're finding our way - one day at a time - sometimes one moment at a time. We're finding a new rhythm, and I'm trying to take gentle care of myself as I work my way through all of the wild emotions that have been surfacing. My sweet girl is certainly my greatest teacher, leading me to a deeper understanding of myself as I search for the best ways to nurture her unique spirit. I am breathing it all in, trying my best to keep my heart wide open.

In my {few} spare moments, I've been working on some fun things. My studio is just about finished - or at least finished enough to share. We've been getting messing with lots of art. I've been doing some sewing that has really been feeding my spirit. And, I've been working on a 2011 65 roses project. I hope to start sharing details next week.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!