Small Bathroom Update

Right before I had family visit I decided to update the guest bathroom. It isn't a huge bathroom but does have a shower hiding behind the door and a pretty large cabinet.

Before: Just a normal bathroom with frameless mirror.

I even painted the baseboards. They were looking pretty worn.

The large cabinet without doors. I did not paint the insides of the cabinet.

After: I spray painted the hardware black. I did buy new handles.

My sweet hubby took the mirror down for me after he found out I got quotes for $100 bucks to take it down. I play the flute and my fingers are precious. I did not want to risk losing one. I spackled the walls a bit but didn't worry too much since I would simply be putting another mirror up.

New mirror from Home Depot. A Martha Stewart mirror.

It was a fairly quick project. There are still a few things I would like to change like the lighting situation in the bathroom. But all in all, it is nice to just have a fresh coat of paint up on the walls and cabinets. Now it needs some artwork on the walls. Sandy? Where are you when I need you?

Machine Embroidery: Lesson Learned

A sweet friend of mine is about to send her 2nd son on a Mission. She asked me if I could embroider initials on his pants, shirts, sheets, pillowcases, washcloths, and towels. I said no problem. I had just embroidered Tyler's mat the day before so I felt pretty confident.

Wouldn't you know it, when I have two or more people staring at me, my machine decides to not cooperate. In actuality, I was not doing it properly. I thought you only needed stabilizer if you had a thin fabric. I tried embroidering the towels without it and ended up with a hot mess around my bobbin and on the towel.

Not to be defeated, I tried stabilizer only on the bottom. Still not working because the towel was bunching up around my machine foot.

Again, I am not one to back down. I like to figure things out. I tried stabilizer on both top and bottom with the towel sandwiched in between. FINALLY! It worked. The stabilizer I used for this project is a tear-away, wash-away stabilizer. Very easy to use and you won't see it after it has been washed.

The underside

The top

Tear away

And you are done!

Happy Mission Brother Espinosa! At least you will know what is yours hanging out to dry on the line.

Nap Mat Tote

I was in Target the other day and saw this nap mat on the end cap.

What really caught my eye was the price tag.

Clearance for $2.24. Regular $8.99

So I bought two. I have two kiddos so it made sense at the time. Now I wish I had bought them all!

I picked up some beach towels at a yard sale for $1 each. I had planned to make Julia a beach robe. Instead I thought I would make a cover for her mat. My mother was recently here for a visit and I told her my plan. She suggested using jeans for one side. She said it would make it easier to dust off after lounging at the beach or park.

I made Julia's rather quickly. It fits pretty snug around her mat. Like I need another person to help me stuff it in.

For Tyler's I decided to square up my jean fabric a little better. By the way, if you don't have old jeans lying around waiting for projects head to your local thrift store. My friend Tiffany recently bought jeans on the cheap. But to get more for her buck she found the largest men's jeans that she could. Very good tip!

I cut three legs off of my pants, squared up the sides and then sewed them all together to form one giant rectangle. I also cut my towel down to the appropriate size. For Ty's I just grabbed a towel from our own beach stash as my yard sale ones were a little too girly.

For fun I embroidered Ty's name onto his mat cover.

I also created a loop/handle so that when the mat is folded up it is easier for these kiddos to carry it around.

His and Hers

"Ready to go mom."

Not shabby for $5.50.

I really wish I would have bought more of the mats. Would make a cute gift if you add a favorite book, coloring book/crayons, or a pair of sunglasses. You could even add a pocket to the mat cover.

Crossover Pinafore

I saw the cutest little girls outfit on Smashed Peas and Carrots. So I pinned it on Pinterest. Then Cousin Jamie told me that if she has a girl she wants me to make her one. Well lucky Jamie and me because Maggie offers a free pattern!

Image from Smashed Peas and Carrots

I thought I should try it out before I make her a few (if she finds out she is having a girl).

I dug through my scraps of fabric and managed to find some black and white polka dot fabric. I wanted to line it with a cute hot pink fabric but didn't have any on hand. I did have a grey and made do. Julia helped me pick out the red buttons.

Excuse the picture on it's side.

I know that I imported it right-side up.

This was the easiest little outfit to sew! For the bloomers I used the diaper cover tutorial by Dana at Made. She also had a free pattern!

Thank you Maggie and Dana for an easy night of sewing. Now I'm crossing my fingers for Jamie or maybe Emily, Jenny, Stephanie, Shannon....... My list of preggers is pretty long this year.

Ruffle Pants

Julia slept in the skirt I made her so I thought it would be cute to make her a pair of pajama pants out of the left over ruffle fabric. I had just enough fabric left to try making Julia a pair of pants. I might even have a little scrap left to make her a matching top or matching skirt for one of her dolls.

I made them a little long so that she would be able to wear them for a long time. Why do kids grow so fast?

I used the tutorial for pants found on MADE and just used the same waistband technique from Altered Cloth that I did on the ruffle skirts.

Ruffle Skirt

I happen to live near Solvang, CA and in Solvang there is a store that sells fabric by the yard for only $1! But you have to check regularly to see what they have in stock and sometimes you have to dig. They happened to have some ruffle fabric. It was only a scrap and not on a bolt. But I did get about a yard and a half of it. I have not sewn in a while but with finding out that 3 cousins, my sister-in-law, and a few friends are pregnant has got me in the mood again.

I saw a cute skirt on Little Birdie Secrets that she found a tutorial for on Altered Cloth. But instead of making it for myself I decided to make one for Julia out of the $1/yard ruffle fabric.

I followed the tutorial and adjusted the size to fit my daughter. I also didn't make the skirt as full. I originally planned to make it really full but then changed my mind as I was sewing the skirt. It was an easy sew and I finished it in just over an hour. In fact I was able to make two skirts in about an hour and a half.

Skirt A

Remember how I said I changed my mind about the fullness of the skirt? Well using the fabric that I cut off I was able to make another skirt. This skirt is slightly fuller and twirls a bit better.

Skirt B

Julia liked Skirt A the best and we happen to know a little girl who loves to wear skirts everyday that we can give Skirt B. Not to shabby for about 50 cents worth of fabric!

I have a little more of this ruffle fabric left to experiment with.

Pink Crochet Bead Socks

While my niece was visiting I thought I would whip her up a pair of pink bead socks. We did a lot of sitting and chatting, her mom and I, so it was the perfect time. Then I forgot to send them home with her! I'll try to ship them off this week.

In the past I have used tri-beads on the socks. I thought these beads looked a little fancier.

Enjoy Gwen!