first offering for the silent auction

A friend of mine asked me to make a couple of the funky boutique dresses that I have finally started producing (thanks to my inspiration, Tori!). With her request, she also brought me a huge bag filled with fabric remnants from projects she has done in the past (she is a quilter and a crafter).

Let me just tell you, I could not wait to get my hands down in that bag of fabric!

Here is the first offering, a halter front dress with an elastic waistband in the back. It can be a dress for when the winner is a toddler and a fun shirt with leggings as she grows older.

front view

back view

I. Absolutely. Love. the purse fabric with the black background!!

sneak peek

fabrics used for "the birthday dress"

No. 5 has a birthday coming up on "Mawch Fiff" and to help her celebrate the whole month leading up to it, I have a little dress in mind.

finally gave birth to this idea

oooh I just love these fabrics together.

brown, orange, white, and aqua

A-line dress

scallop stitching detail on the sleeves

I wish I had taken the chance to make this dress back in the fall, but I made it big enough so that #5 can wear it for several years, first as a dress then as a tunic. Even though it is made with lightweight fabric, you can bet your sweet tart I am going to layer it over a turtleneck and tights and put it on her this week!

le lapin

C'est un lapin.

I know I know, it looks more like a triceratops than a bunny.

Just don't point and laugh. She might get upset and take bites out of the legs of your furniture when you aren't looking.

a surprise for the surprise

There is a new little pink package that surprised her mommy and daddy recently. Since everybody loves surprises, I decided she needed a car seat quilt... just a little something to keep her cozy on those cooler days.

I loved the paper doll backing fabric so much that I cut one of the girls out and made a quiet dolly for church.

Mommy can also use the mini-quilt for a changing pad or something to put down for a little "floor time." When sweet baby girl grows into a toddler, she can use her blankie for her own dollies, wrapping them tenderly and putting them to bed. If it lasts that long, her mini-quilt can be made into a pillow sham and she can use it on her teenage bed.

Over the years, I hope she knows that it was made with love and prayers for a beautiful childhood.

file under: favorite things

Y'see, I have these towels which are my absolute most favorite towels in the

whole

entired (hat tip to #5) world.

However, it seems that I have loved them to pieces. Literally!

Here you see that one actually has a rip in it.

Oops, did I do that?

However, because I am too cheap to buy new towels....

I now have towels that are even better than they were this morning.

Mended.

Lovely.

Designer even.

what's under the needle......

While at Goodwill over the past several months, I have picked up pieces of clothing with interesting fabrics with the intent of making something. Course, I had no idea what it would be, but the intent was there nonetheless. The last time I was there, I found the most wonderful thing to date: a circa 1960 paisley woman's summer weight robe. Amazing fabric. I knew my older daughters would rather die a thousand deaths than to be caught dead in the thing, so its days as a robe were numbered.

Narrowing down the fabrics to work with was a challenge. To go with my amazing paisley score, I added two men's shirts - one a 3xl orange and brown stripe (great cotton!) and a Old Navy size M red-orange Hawaiian number. To compliment the three fabrics, I grabbed a few scraps from previous projects.

Next, I began the search for just the right pattern that would both showcase each of the interesting fabrics (which were intended to stand alone) and merge them well.

Enter the knot dress.

... which shall, at least in the case of this dress, be called

The So-Ugly-It's-Cute Knot dress.