Ruffled Heart Tee - Just in time for Valentine's Day

I procrastinate.  It's what I do.  Christmas presents get mailed off in time for Valentine's Day.  No surprise.  Not to my friends anyway.

Not this time!

I found this on pinterest and decided to make one for my friend's nearly two year old daughter.  I LOVE it :)

Was pretty easy.  Used some new knit fabric (need less than $1 worth of fabric) because I didn't have any pink or red t-shirts to cut up, and a $3 wal-mart shirt.  I like how the edges of this shirt are ruffle-y!  I cranked the tension up on my machine b/c I like the how the ruffles are all the same size compared to the other method (pull your own ruffles from long tail threads).

I'm happy with how it turned out, and I'm going to make my own daughter one for next year - she's not into tshirts yet.  She's still wearing onesies and footed pajamas 24/7.

"Accomplishments" as a new mom

I was very determined to finish my toilet paper roll holder the same night I started it.  I told my husband I needed to "accomplish" something for the day, so I didn't feel like my life was a giant waste of time.  Being a new mom, I don't have as much time as I used to...not nearly enough time as I want.  Raising a child takes a lot!  Sometimes the dishes don't get put away, the laundry waits a few more days.  I won't mention what goes on with the trash!  Don't get me wrong, I have time to do all these things while she's napping, but I sometimes lose track of time on pinterest or facebook!  or, I simply don't want to put the dishes away because I'm afraid she'll wake up after taking 2 hours to fall asleep!

Anyway.  I like to make lists.  I like to cross things off the list.  Even if "take a shower" and "brush teeth" are the only two things that get crossed off the list.  I like to feel like I've accomplished something.  That toilet paper holder was on the list and I really wanted to cross it off!

When I got up in the morning, my husband had written this on the bathroom mirror (yes, we leave each other notes in dry erase marker on the mirror!):

This is THE sweetest and nicest thing anyone has said to me in a REEAALLY long time.

So glad I decided to make that guy my husband :)

Pirate Towel

I have this towel from when I was a kid.  It's pink.  It has my name (first AND last) on it.  It's old.  It's worn out.  I love it!

from picturesdepot

Before my daughter was born, I made her a towel.  With a hood.  It was waay too big to use when she was a newborn, but now that's she's almost 6 months old, it's the perfect size!  And I know she'll still be able to use when she's a toddler and (hopefully) beyond.

For Christmas, I decided to make my best friend's almost 4-year old boy a hooded towel.  Didn't happen.  I told her it would be more like a Valentine's present.

from amazon

He likes pirates.  I love Pirates of the Caribbean.   Johnny Depp is the coolest pirate, ever!

Found this:  Pickles Nummy Towel, on amazon.  $32+.  Didn't have great reviews on quality of towel; they said it was falling apart after one wash!  So, I'll make my own!  

This might be the coolest thing I've ever made.  So far.  I have my mom's sewing machine.  It doesn't do anything special.  But it sews, so i can't complain.  For the longest time, I couldn't get it to do a zig zag stitch. I thought it was me.  I finally took it to the "sewing machine hospital" and had a checkup.  The timing (or something) was off, and it's now fixed.  Yay!  That means I can do appliques!

This is pretty much my first project, ever, where I've appliqued anything on.  And maybe that's why I am so excited about it.  It. Is. Awesome!

Here's mine!

I used felt for all the applique stuff - I really hope it stands up to lots of washings!  and some pieces of fleece for the hook parts.

Here's a couple close-ups and works in progress:

The Hood:

I left the bandana tail free so it moves around.  I'm not sure how this piece will hold up in the wash and such, but it was cute, so I left it!

The parrot and the belt:  

I think there is something funky about my yellow thread...i had THE hardest time doing the beak and the belt buckle.  I kept having thread throwup all over the back.  I changed the thread to do the next color, and with no other adjustments, everything worked fine!  Lesson learned on that!

The hook and hand holds: 

There are hand holds on the "inside" of the towel, so you can stick your hand in there and wrap it around you or pretend to stab someone with your hook - not that I encourage stabbing other children!  HA! 

I used a beige color thread for my bobbin color and in most places you can't see the color from the front.  If you look closely at the pic on the right, you can see the yellow outline from the beak.  That yellow thread was a nightmare!

So there it is.  My towel.  That I'm giving away.  So it's not really mine.  But I like it all the same.  I hope the "kid" does too! 

oh, and in case you want to make one of your own...make a hooded towel.  I recommend PRE-washing BEFORE you cut anything!  There are lots of tutorials around for hooded towels...here and here are the ones I used.

I included a pic of the pattern I used for the skull/crossbones and the parrot outline (the feet was a heart).  All the pieces and parts were easy, it was just a little time consuming appliqueing it all on there!  

More Accomplishments! A Toilet Paper Holder!

I doubt I've mentioned how small our house is seems.  The kitchen is the size of a 2x4. If you open the dishwasher there is just enough room to stand in front of the sink.  Not nearly enough room to turn and put the dishes in the dishwasher, though.  Needless to say, there's never enough storage!  We don't have a "utility" closet to store brooms and such.  The vacuum is shoved in the front hall closet, with the 4 coats that fit in there.  The broom, mops, and dustpans are stored in the 1/2 bath that's sort of in the kitchen.  We have a wall thing-y over the toilet where I store a first aid kit (come on!  if I left it in the upstairs bath it would never get used!), a small toothbrush/toothpaste (I'm sometimes too lazy to walk upstairs to do that task) and couple rolls of toilet paper...but it is ALWAYS running out!  Plus, it's totally inconvenient when you are using the toilet when you realize the TP is out!

The other day I was cruising around Pinterest and I found this:

from etsy seller vijako

The $45 price tag was a little out of my bathroom budget, but I had the perfect fabric in the basement that was crying, "use me, use me!"  So I did!

Our downstairs bathroom is decorated with sailboats.  Just some prints that we've collected over the years, and this time, in this house, they ended up in the bathroom!  So I thought this fabric fit in pretty well :)

Haha...looking at those two pics side by side, I guess I should tie mine up higher?  (UPDATE:  ok, I did try tying mine higher and while it looks much nicer, it's not so functional!  the "in use" roll rubs on the holder and it's hard to get the TP out!  So hanging down is the way it stays!)Now there are two rolls IMMEDIATELY available.  And a couple more hidden away.

This was a pretty easy little project!  Two rectangles of fabric (one print, one white for liner).  I think mine were 35"x5.5".  Pinned wrong sides, sewed the long sides (don't sew the short sides if you are going to put ties on it!  Top stich.  Then add bias tape (I used 22.5" long (half the width of my 44"/45" fabric) by 1" wide (for ~1/4" bias tape), some beads and knot the ends.  The hardest part of this project was getting those beads on there!

I like it!  And I finished something.  yay!