Worn Out Shower Curtain into Tea Towels

One of the best purchases I've ever made was Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing.  The projects are not only easy to sew, but they're actually useful.  I feel good about giving people gifts I know they'll use and appreciate, and I've made almost every project at one point or another to give as a gift. I decided I'd start off pretty basic with my first Stash Busting project and make these wonderful little tea towels.  I've included a step-by-step photo tutorial below.  I used most of what I had left of a beautiful chocolate brown and cream linen damask shower curtain. You'll need: -...

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Sweet Spring Jersey Skirt

A couple of months ago I bought a lot of bright, floral jersey fabric on super discount at Dirt Cheap.  It's been hanging out in my fabric cabinet since then, patiently waiting for Spring to kick me  in the butt.  Using The Jersey Skirt Tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff and the dimensions from my favorite and most-worn skirt of all time (bought on clearance over a year ago at a Gap after-Christmas sale), I managed to piece together this sweet spring skirt.  I've been itching to wear it all week, and today it's finally warm enough!

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DIY Doily Shirts for Girls

You can probably, by now, sense a trend among the gifts I give to kids.  I have a deep fondness for fun, stylish clothes that are still inexpensive enough to run, jump, eat watermelon, and make mud pies in.  My dear friend Liza's little girl, Holland, just turned five and had a very cool princess skating party.  I made her a couple of fun shirts, using the same process as the doily tote bags I gave as Christmas gifts.

The lace is sweet and girly, but the colors are fun and bright enough that I think Holland...

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Simple Sewing Machine Cover

We live in a very, very old apartment, and at times I feel like it's crumbling down around us.  That's really the only logical explanation for the copious amounts of dust we sweep up on a daily basis.  Well, that and our cats.  Cats (with all their shedding and the litter they track everywhere, no matter how often you sweep) create a lot of uncontrollable dust. Dust is really, really bad for sewing machines! Mine sits in a pretty out-of-the-way cubby hole next to my desk and under my printer, but cats love those kinds of places. As an extra...

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Handmade Valentines

I love botanical drawings, and I've been hoarding these beautiful calendar pages for almost three years.  I decided to finally do something with them and, using some cardboard and scrapbook paper, I made a few valentines to send to a few friends.  I put these sweet babies in the mail today, so hopefully they'll make it to my friends by Valentine's day!

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Why I Spraypainted All My Frames Black

Most of the art (I use the term loosely, for the most part) hanging in my apartment has been acquired at thrift stores, yard sales, antique shops, and from moving friends. Consequently, for a long time it hung rather blandly in a mishmash of antiqued, boring pea-green, brown, and gold frames with no sense of unity or cohesiveness at all.  Sometimes I'm okay a mishmash (see: the assortment of blankets on my bed, the pillows on my couch), but  since the kinds of things I have hanging on my wall are so diverse (you should know that all of...

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DIY Mittens from (Accidentally) Felted Wool Sweater

The past two mornings I've left for work it's been snowing.  One morning my car door was actually frozen shut.  The next day I was almost late because I sat in my car so long looking at the snow.  It's kind of a big deal here.  On these snowy days, by the time I get to work my hands are nearly nonfunctional due to the cold.  This got me thinking: if driving five minutes in the cold sucks, how much  more is walking to school (for an 8 o' clock class, nonetheless) next week going to suck?  I live really...

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Homemade Holidays: Doily Tote Bags

I fell in love with this doily canvas bag tutorial at first sight. I am always in the market for reusable bags to carry to the grocery store, especially ones that don't advertise a something.

I whipped up a few of these sweet bags for Christmas gifts. Ideally, they would be big enough to actually carry something other than a few apples. I guess that's what I get for not reading the fine print on things. Oh well, I still think the bags turned out well--the...

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Our Christmas Tree Saga

Earlier this month we had a wonderful little holiday party, complete with mulled cider, at which we put up our Christmas tree. It was a very normal used pre-lit tree, given to me by my parents, which we used last year as well. I decorated it in golds' silvers, and reds and used some beautiful little fruit and candy ornaments I got very cheap last year. Immediately the cats were, as cats are when it comes to anything new, perplexed and awed. Maybe it's some weird nature thing, but they both immediately climbed the tree. Chowder didn't get very...

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Homemade Holidays: Wreath Roundup

One of my dearest friends moved away recently, and she took her camera with her.  She'd been letting me use this camera for months (what a good friend!), so naturally I'm missing them both terribly.  Kyle is helping me to purchase a new one as a Christmas gift to me (any recommendations?!), but until that happens I'll have to get creative as far as posting goes.  Anyway, I've been drooling over DIY holiday decor all season, and my bookmarks are full of things I can't wait to try for next year.  The thing I'm most excited about is making a...

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