It's that time again

Around these parts February means school auction time. Last year I made a couple of a line skirts and was asked if there would be more this year. Sure, why not?

These are quick and easy to make with a flat front and elasticized back. I am so in love with that Kaffe Fasset print down there at the bottom. And this ribbon is the best! A garage/Estate sale find. I got a bag with about three yards for 50 cents. Score! So they are on their way to the auction ladies today.

I have one more cut out because I couldn't very well make these and not get one done for my girl. I bought this Kaffe in a blue color way too and it is gorgeous. His colors are incredible.

Gifties

First off, I want to say thanks for all of the great fun comments on the Hanging Vase Tutorial over at Sew Mama Sew! It was so fun to read all of the nice comments. I do hope that if you make one you add it to the flickr group I have just created. I would love to see what you guys come up with!

As you can see from the hanging vases, I am a big fan of embroidery. My kids are also big fans of embroidery and I have been wanting to make it easier for them to do it whenever they feel like instead of coming to me and having to ask for me to get the stuff together for them. Plus it is just fun to have your own set of something that you love to do. I found these great sewing baskets at a rummage sale last fall and kept them just for this project. For Valentines Day I filled them full.

They each got their own scissors, hoops, threaders, floss, pins, fabric fat quarters, tape measures, transfers and other bits and bobs. I also think this is a good exercise in taking care of your things as the scissors are always walking away around these parts and this will help them to keep track of their very own pairs. I love that my 10 year old son loves to embroider and was happy to find these muscle car transfers for him. How funny is that? Aunt Martha's "Road Rage!" embroidery transfers! My eight year old girl got days of the week puppies- also a good fit.

I was pleased that they were both excited about their gifts. I am going to get some pillowcases for them to embroider. My girl and I had a sick day home one day a few weeks ago and had such a nice day bundled up on the couch with our embroideries. Meanwhile, in other exciting news, this is our bathroom:

Or I should say that was our bathroom. The bathroom, laundry room and kitchen have been gutted and are being put back together. Our house is such a mess but I know it is temporary and in the end I will have drawers in the kitchen that don't have gaping holes in the bottom where all the utensils fall out. The kitchen was original to the house which was built in 1962 so things were a bit worse for wear. I hope this new kitchen lasts as long though!

Summer project idea

Later today there will be a tutorial for these hanging vases over at the wonderful Sew Mama Sew blog. Kristin had asked me if I had any ideas that would be good for summer weddings and I had been thinking about this idea for awhile so I worked it up and think it would be perfect for summer weddings and parties! The one with the 8 is to celebrate my little one's upcoming eighth birthday and she really has enjoyed it. We hang it from a hook in her room full of flowers and she can look at it from her bed. Typically in all of her youthful energy, flowers get knocked over in her room but this cute vase has the added bonus of being knock over proof! I am going to make a bunch out of vintage sheets to hang around our yard for the summer months. I hope you enjoy this project and send me photos of ones you make!

One more valentine!

These are my favorites because I really am more traditional when it comes to Valentines. I love the red and the pink and the glitter. I worked up a sheet with both of these designs on them so enjoy! I am giving these to my pals along with the yummiest Fleur de Sel Caramels dipped in deep dark chocolate. I found the recipe right here and people freak out when they eat them. Just really watch your temperature or you will have caramel hard candy which is not quite as good. (It is really only good if you don't have any fillings. Any fillings that you want to keep in your teeth, you should just throw the hard stuff out!). I use Lindt Excellence Dark 70% to dip them in and it is so nice and dark that it really balances the sweetness of the caramels. I just cut the caramels into rectangles and dip them in the melted chocolate with two forks and let them dry on a wire rack. I found this cute stack of glass dishes at an thrift store and I am going to fill them up with caramels, put the tag on and give them away. Perfect for the teachers and for my girlfriends who get into this type of thing.

I also saw these cookies on Velvet Strawberries and I think they would be perfect Valentine cookies. I might make them heart shaped if I can find a small enough heart cutter in my stash.

So I hope you enjoyed the printables and I hope everyone has a really fun Valentines Day! Here is the download:

Hearts on a String Valentines Cards

Valentine week

I cooked up another printable for you. It feels a little less traditional. You could certainly gussy it up with some glitter but I didn't this time and didn't even miss it. It folds together like this:

so that when you give it to someone they get to unfold it and have all the beautiful stuff on the inside. A good metaphor, if you ask me. Then the fold allows it to stand up nicely on its own. If you would like to print it out, here is the link:

open heart valentine

and later in the week (friday or saturday) I will post one more valentine printable. Small ones this time. Plus I will link to some amazing recipes that I will be making for my sweetheart.

One little mention about printing- I had a friend over who lamented that her printer won't print out as nicely. I have a nice printer but really it is not too high end. I find that if you experiement with different papers and use your printer's tool to select the right type of paper you can get nice results. That goes for any printable you might find. When you go to print it will have a dialog box that will ask what type of paper- photo paper, cardstock, etc. and you will find that it really does make a difference.

Enjoy!