Yay! My Christmas layout is in Sew Beautiful!

I'm so excited to tell all of you that my Christmas layout is out in the new Sew Beautiful magazine!!! I love it and I hope you all do too! The ladies at S.B. did such a wonderful job.

Here's a sneak peak!
There's little ol me in the profile! Who would have ever thought I'd be in a magazine!!!

Okay, back to earth.Sorry for all the bragging. Hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend.

Adventures of decorating for my parents(mom)

For the past week and a half I've been helping my mom get her guest rooms decorated for her out of town guest. We picked out some of the fabrics way back before the house was finished being built.That was why we chose unusual paint colors for some of the rooms,cause we knew they would go great with the fabrics we chose.The other guest room we had painted a nuetral color so we could decide later how we should decorate it. Found these two paintings at Pier 1 and I begged mom to get them cause I thought they would be a wonderful inspiration for the rest of the room. She gave in to my begging after I found a lamp in the same red on sale.

New sheets,fake mink throw , three red plates and I made a pillow for the bed that would unite all the colors ,I think it all came together!

And look at what I did to the premade Pier 1 curtains to make them longer. Yep,I made lots and lots of ruffles! This was lots of work to do but they look so good! Now that the pain of making them is over I can enjoy them! If anyone is thinking of trying it, it took me 4 1/2 yards(of 54"width) of fabric and lots of patience.But it's worth it in the end! I'd like to make some for my house now.

Mom and I decided to paint this wood stained chair aqua so that we could bring more of the aqua color to this side of the room. I decided at the last minute to embroider the chair seat.Glad I did, cause I really think that it just completes the look.If anyone is interested in the embroidery design, it's from www.emblibrary.com and it sews out beautifully!

This was furniture my parents had in their Master Bedroom when I was growing up. The wood stain was boring and it looked a bit "dated", so mom painted it white and put new hardware on.
It looks brand new now!!! I just love what paint will do to furniture!

I made these very simple tie top curtains for the window behind the bed and could not believe how dramatic they look when you walk in this room now!

This is the guest bath and I am most proud of this room . I begged my parents to let me design the guest rooms and this bathroom back before they started building. My parents didn't give in to most of my demands, but I put up a strong battle when it came to this bathroom.I'm so glad they let me!!! This bathroom turned out so charming!

I posted pictures of the other rooms in the house on my Flickr page if anyone is interested. We haven't gotten to the Master Bedroom and bath yet but I told mom that I needed a break from decorating so I could catch up on my other projects.

So hopefully my next post will be more about cute little outfits!!!

I hope all of you are enjoying some wonderful fall weather like we are here! Bye for now!

My visit to NYC on Labor Day

I know this is kind of a late post cause Labor Day was a couple weeks back but I was just sitting here thinking about my day in the city wishing I was there again. I love NYC! There's so much eye candy! My Sister-n-law is from Connecticut and she had to go for a wedding so she invited me to come along(cause she knows how much I like to visit the city).It ended up being such a fun and relaxed weekend getaway.
I have a secret fantasy to somehow find a way to live and work in the city. Just for a year, so I could get it out of my system maybe. Then I could be one of those people that's "been there and done that". I'd at least like to stay there long enough so I could learn the subway system.Hmmmm, anybody hiring???

This was the beautiful scene from the plane as we were landing in White Plains .

These were my first ever White Castle burgers! Yummy. Here in the South, we have Krystals, which are good, but I really wanted to try a White Castle for the longest time now. Everytime I go out of state I've tried to find a White Castle, but it never has worked out. So finally! Jenn was only joking when she mentioned we could eat there for lunch, but I was soooooo serious!

Delightful colorized beads!!!! I want to kick myself now for not buying any of these! Oh well, I'll just have to go back.

Big Leggo mega store. We went here cause my big brother loves Leggos and all day we went to all these fabric and craft stores. He was such a good sport about it,so it was only fair that he got to go here. Made me feel like a kid again, this young guy greeted us with "high fives" when we entered. It was pretty cool!

I could not believe my eyes when I saw this! Spechler Vogel is one of our vendors! I knew they were from NYC but I thought they were probably in some boring industrial part of New York. Wow, they have a beautiful building.Cause it was Labor Day, they were closed.Boo!

I know this is not a great picture, but this is Purl. They were closed too.Eeeccck! They had such a pretty store front display though. And from what I could see, the store looked lovely! Oh well, another excuse to go back.

Ooooooooooo...... loved this huge wall of buttons they had at MJ trimmings. Can you believe I didn't buy a single button?!?! I don't know what was wrong with me. I didn't buy anything here. I think I got overwhelmed.

And that was it......Now when can I go back???

For anybody wondering,yes, I've been sewing. I've got some projects going that I can't share the pictures yet,sorry. That's why I haven't posted my new things. This weekend I was working on some decorating projects for my parent's house. She has company coming for next weekend so I have been busy busy busy.I can't wait till we finish so I can share pictures of the rooms! Loving how it is turning out so far! Bye for now!

"Celina" Farbenmix pattern sewing tutorial

This is one of my favorite patterns to make. No matter how many times I make it, I always love the results. I begged Toni(she orders our Farbenmix patterns for the shop) to order these patterns for the shop. Did not realize at the time the instructions were in German( I think it is in German).Well, I felt guilty when they came in and I took it upon myself to figure out how to sew the pattern and while sewing, I took pictures so that I could make a tutorial to go along with the patterns we sell in our shop Sew Blessed .
I've decided to share my Celina tutorial because we have had a hard time keeping the printed copies of the tutorial with the patterns in the shop. In the long run, this will save alot of time( and money) to refer here for the English directions.Plus, now everyone will have an opportunity to look at the directions and see if Celina is a pattern they may want to try! Enjoy!

This is my finished Celina jumper. Don't worry, I include instructions on how to insert the trims too! Remember, when tracing your Farbenmix patterns, they do not give seam allowances,you will have to add them yourself. I had a little difficulty with my pattern pieces lining up correctly with the bottom hem, so I included instructions on how to repair that. Another solution would be to add the difference to your original pattern pieces for #2 and #3.

Cut pattern pieces for main fabric:

#1(front top section)-x1 on fold

#2(pocket)-x2 on fold

#4(back)-x1 on fold

#7(front facing)-x1 on fold

#8(back facing)-x1 on fold

From contrast fabric cut:

#3(front middle section)-x1 on fold
#6(Shoulder strap)-x2

#5(hem)-x4 on fold

Cut and prepare the contrast trim. I cut my trim at 1" on the bias(it has to be cut on the bias because of all the curves you will have to sew around), sew the strips together, and then iron it in half lengthwise.

Sew trim to pocket curves on pattern piece #2 at about 1/8".

Place the second pocket piece #2 on top of the one you just sewed the trim to r.s.t.(right sides together) and sew your seams(all my seams were sewn at 1/4", which works well to show off the trim) at the pocket curves only.

Clip curves and turn right sides out. Then press.

Lay your pocket piece #2 on top of pattern piece #3 and pin. Then sew your trim around the top curved edge only.

Fold the pocket piece you just sewed in half and clip the top center. Take pattern piece #1, fold in half, and clip the bottom center(where my scissors are pointing).

Starting with the center marks you just made, start pinning piece #1 to your pocket piece r.s.t. Then sew your seam. Don't worry if the bottom doesn't match up like mine did.

Finish your raw edges. Press. Then trim the bottoms of piece #1 if yours did not line up.

Fold shoulder straps (pattern piece #6) in half r.s.t. and sew your seam around top and side only. Turn thru your bottom opening, press,and then topstitch.

Sew your side seams for the front to the back. Start matching at the armhole down and don't worry that the hem doesn't match yet. Sew your seams for the front and back facings. Finish your edges and press.

Serge, turn under or zig-zag the bottom raw edge of your facing.I got fancy with mine and used some of the stripe trim to finish the bottom edge of my facing.

Pin your facing to your jumper r.s.t. matching fronts to front facing and back to back facing.

At this time, only sew your seam at the top edge of the back to the back facing.

Now, slip the shoulder strap in between dress and facing with the folded edge of strap nudged up to the seam you just made.Do the same for the other strap. Then, finish sewing your seam for the rest of your facing all the way around the top edge.

Clip curves,turn and press. Then topstitch.

If your back hem did not line up, like mine did( cause I had to trim the other piece)trim it to match your front.

Sew the contrast trim to the bottom, tucking raw edges under where they meet up at the ends.

Sew your side seams for both sets of hem pieces #5. Before I do this, I like to check if my hem bands line up with the bottom of jumper dress.That way I can adjust it to fit.

Press seams open.

Turn one hem band set to the right side and then slip it inside the other hem band and sew your seam for the bottom edge( the edge that flairs out more).

Turn and press.

Pin the hem band to the bottom of jumper and sew your seam, then serge or zig-zag the raw edge.

Press seam toward the top and then topstitch above hem band but on the bottom of the contrast trim.

Make your buttonholes for your straps and sew on your buttons. Your done!!!

Wyatt, my super cute boy model !!!!

Whenever Wyatt comes to see us at the shop, we all go ga-ga over him. He is such a sweet baby boy. I asked Christine(his wonderful mom) a while back if I could use him for a photo shoot for one of our store ads. So here are some of the cute pics I got!!! I thought he looked so handsome in the John-John I made. Love this car print, it's by Riley Blake fabrics and I lucked up on finding a car applique embroidery that was perfect to go on the pocket(it's from planetapplique ).