Zippy Wallet Remix

This is actually the first zippy wallet I've made in months! I saw this photo and just loved the look of linen. It was a perfect match for the gift I was making. I didn't realize how fun these are to make, I wish I could make a hundred!

In case anyone out there is curious, just thought I'd share my zipper source. I should keep it top secret, haha, so I can keep all her zippers to myself, but...

Anyway, I buy all my zippers through Zipit on Etsy. It's really awesome for me because she lives relativley close by. Jennie is the shop owner and she is AWESOME at customer service, plus the sizes and color selections are great.

happy baby with her happy quilt

Just had to share this precious picture of this quilt in use!

Looks like one happy camper. Such a cutie! Do you think this will make her addicted to fabric?

here we go: my creative space

If you're stopping over from Bloom, thanks for stopping by and make sure you take a look around!

The sewing room/play room got finished up last month, somehow I just couldn't bear to edit the pictures. I was afraid how bad they would turn out. It's such a sunny room I didn't think it would photograph well. Anyway, I'm happy how these look and glad to finally share it with you!

I did start off with a majority of the pieces in the room being ones I already owned. I made a fun trip to Ikea Twin Cities to pick up the expedit bookselves and rug and a few accessories. The wardrobe is fill with my clothes and shoes (not fabric like you might think, or like I might LOVE). Our house has only one closet! Apparently back in 1950 there wasn't much need for closet space, go figure. So anyway, I get this wardrobe while my husband gets the lone closet. The red chair I stole from my daughter's room.

I had gotten this bookshelf as a window bench type seat. It provides some nice pretty storage space for books and toys and all things kid. I do hope to put some drawer inserts in place of the white boxes, you know, to store more art supplies and paper and tons of tiny toys that seem to accumulate in the blink of an eye. I adore the prints I purchased from Printspace. And of course our indistructable kids craft table is a must have.

Here's my main workspace. I was lucky enough a couple years ago to get the desk and chair and wall shelf, I love having such a nice BIG desk. I spray painted my thread rack and bulletin board frame an off white to coordinate with the room.

Here's a closeup of the window bench seating area. I thought about making some cushions for on top, but I figured they be tossed on the floor a majority of the time. I think I'll wait until the girls get a little older and maybe even when they decide it's not so fun to color on the furniture.

This lovely unit stores most of my fabric and notions. I love it! The drawer inserts in the bottom are the best, they don't look like much, but compared to what I was using, they're great and it makes thing really easy to find.

My fabric stash. Up top I have the jars filled with buttons, zippers, and extra spools of thread. The basket contains my grandma's vintage fabric.

An extra set of shelves never hurts. Just a few pretty items to look at and some extra needles.

My workhorse sewing machine, gifted to me by my Uncle (and you won't believe my luck here), a sewing machine repair guy!

One of the best things about this room is that I think it'll be really easily converted back into a bedroom once my daughters get a little older and need more space. All the furniture is really versatile and will work with any decorating scheme they might dream up.

About the Paint:

The blue is Behr (from Home Depot): Balmy Seas

The green is Behr (from Home Depot): Grass Cloth

That about wraps it up, I have a whole set of pics up in my flickr photostream, please take a look at those if you want to see more. I added a bunch of notes as to what stuff is hidden where.

more potholders

I had a request from my sister-in-law to make some potholders for her mother. I really liked the way they turned out. Her only request was to include her mother's favorite color: yellow!

I definitely wanted to try out the 'house' type block as well as the wonky log cabin block. They were both really fun. I used Tallgrass Prairie Studio's wonky block tutorial, just because I had no idea what I was doing. I mostly just looked at her pretty pictures.

And have you seen this quilt yet? It's amazingly detailed, I can't even imagine how long it must have taken to make.

Flannel Jammies

Once again I had to try Handmade Mommy's 15 minute jammie pant tutorial. Although I think they took me longer than 15 minutes, but not by too much, plus I serged the edges, so maybe that makes up for it. :)

I messed up Natalie's first pair by making them too tight, so they only lasted a week or so before I noticed they were about to rip at the bum area. I used a different pair of pants to trace this time and I like them, they have a nice wide leg.

As for the side cargo type pockets, I used Made by Rae's Pleated Pocket tutorial. I did scale down the size of the pocket by a few inches, but I loved making them. More pockets please! It was a great tutorial on a super stylish pocket that'll go with all sorts of projects.

Potholder Pass

Slacker mode here on the potholders for Amy's Potholder Pass. I just couldn't make up my mind on what to do, there are way too many options for potholder designs out there. And Robin didn't seem like she'd be too hard to please since I love all the potholders she picked out in her flickr collection.

I loved this wonky star and had to try it! There are many cute projects that use a wonky star. The tiny prints are from Leicen. I had been saving them for a while not sure what I was going to make, but they seemed to be calling out for a potholder!

The only coordinating fabrics I had on hand were white and linen, but I love the way they look.

I used this tutorial over at The Sometimes Crafter for the string block. I have to make more of these using my scraps - the scrap bin is overflowing!

Hope you enjoy them Robin.

busy boy quilt

Here's the latest quilt I just finished last night. For a baby boy born in January! I think I realized why I love to make quilts -- to be able to sit down on the couch and watch tv for a couple hours to attach the binding by hand. I love it! I think I would attaching binding all day long if I could. No kidding...

The fabrics came mostly from fabricworm.com which I had gotten last summer. Thanks goodness a baby boy was born so I could dive in and use it up! I love the Alexander Henry 2D zoo print so much for babies, and I'm glad to see they put out a couple more color ways, yippie.

I decided I should name the quilt the busy boy quilt because I think the fabrics are a little busy. I actually got a little disoriented when I was quilting it, the fabrics seemed to blur together. But I think it'll be okay, it should see a lot of tummy time action and keep the baby entertained for a bit - maybe.

Just for fun I'm tucking in a couple onesies I had made a while back, hopefully the little guy will get to wear them a bit - after all it's still very much winter here.

happy valentine day

happy valentines day. we made the valentine wreath with tutorial from Sew Much Ado

noodlehead embroidered

Came across 2 Green Monkeys the other day. Sarah, the owner had sent me an email about my daughter's drawing and letting her embroider it! I had actually planned on trying to embroider it myself (which would have probably taken forever), but this sounded like the next best thing.

I have plans to make it into a patchwork type pillow for Natalie's room. I think I'll love it and so will she. I'll be sure to share the finished project when I'm done. In the mean time, go check out her site and all the items she has to offer!

up in the air

I just had to make these two last backpacks. I couldn't help myself. There's no boy that they're being made for, no special requests, just for fun. Is that wrong?

I just love being able to use up all these old khaki pants around here, now just to do more projects with them.

I'm sure I'll find some little boy to pawn these off on. Maybe I won't have to buy any boys birthday presents for a while.

Meanwhile, I do feel kind of up in the air right now. I'm really amazed/flattered by how many new followers and subscribers that joined Noodlehead recently. I love it and I'm glad that you like the same stuff I like! However, it is a bit intimidating I have to admit. Nonetheless, I'm pushing on. My to-do list is a mile long, the laundry is piling up, the tutorials in my brain are beginning to get crowded, and my husband has been missing me coming to bed on time. Other than that I can't wait to share a few things with everyone soon, including my new sewing/playroom. Wahoo!

toddler bed fitted sheet

Emily recently upgraded to a toddler bed, she was having too much fun climbing out of her crib so we decided it was a good time to make the switch. Of course I turned to my trusty old friend Ikea for a toddler bed.

Unfortunately I didn't really think about getting a sheet or any bedding to fit the bed, ha, joke's on me. The nearest Ikea is over two hours away (which is fun once in a while, but...). Anyway, I decided to try and make a fitted sheet. I found a great deal on some fabric at Sew, Mama, Sew! and thought it went well with the pillowcases I had made a while back. I used these instructions and it worked great!! I started with 2.5 yards of fabric which turned out to be just perfect - with a little bit leftover for some other fun projects down the road.