All about the cake

So my good friend Karla's oldest son graduated from 8th grade this past week, and it was all about the cake. She has held onto a Martha Stewart magazine for 4 years waiting to make this cake.

She made the scrolls from eggs and sugar and rolled them while still hot. The ties are sourpatch candies. Didn't she do a great job?! I made a few decorations for the party as well. Her son went to our local catholic school, so I took some of his worn out uniforms and turned them into a ...

Table Runner

She had a local lady do some embroidery on scraps of the shirts and pants before I worked them into the runner.

I also made this Banner.

Once again we used some of his uniform. The navy pants were a great backdrob for white letters.

Finally, I made some napkins at the last minute ( very last minute- I finished them that morning)

I made 4 of these and each one had a different center design.

Karla is an awesome cook, so there was plenty of food.

Her son of course cared more about hanging out with the guys than all of our cute decorations and awesome cake.

Here we are so proud of ourselves and Cole of course!!!

Happy Celebrating!!

Rhiannon

NO- I didn't fall off the edge of the earth!

O.K. so I took a little break from posting, sometimes it is just needed. There was no real reason for the break, I was just living life without my computer on my lap everyday. I was still sewing and creating. I caught up on some needed fall cleaning and spent a lot of time outside with the kiddos. Those of you who live in the Midwest, will probably agree that fall is too short to not take advantage of the gorgeous weather before winter comes.

So,  here is one project I finished while I was away.

I got this skirt idea from my friend Shannon. My mom has been wanting me to make her one for about 5 months now. I finally got it done. My inspiration came from...

this Guy.

 This is my youngest brother Sam. Sam left us on January 1st, 2009. My mom always says that one of her fears is that people will forget Sam and how he was so full of love for everything. This inspired me to make her a skirt that was full of memories of Sam and things he loved.

One of Sam's favorite candies.

Sam love spending the day with friends at the Down Syndrome Society's  Buddy Walk each year.

Sam had a love for all things Disney, especially the villains. Captain Hook was by far one of his favorites. We took many trips with Sam to Disney World and I can still hear him saying "HOOK!" all around the park waiting to meet his favorite villain. And cheering when he appeared at the show in front of the castle.

I think the hearts represent Sam the best. He had so many problems with his heart throughout his life and had to endure multiple open heart surgeries. He also had the biggest heart of anyone I know. He truly loved everyone. Go figure- unhealthy heart, but full of love.

Sam always enjoyed golfing with my parents and friends. He had even perfected his Happy Gilmore Drive, it was pretty cute to watch. I loved making this skirt, and hope it gives my mom the opportunity to share some great memories when she wears it.

Happy Memories!

Rhiannon

Gettin' Girly, Y'all

Ruffles are all the craze in the refashioning world. I suppose I'm a little slow to jump onto this craze because I don't have a daughter and because I'm not much of a girly girl myself. The other day I was cleaning out my closet and found a couple sweaters and tops to add to my (ever growing) pile of things to refashion. When I looked around the net to find some inspiration I kept coming across tutorials for adding ruffles to stuff. Spruce up your cardigan with ruffles! Spice up your tank with ruffles! Girly up your top with some ruffles! Alright already, I'll try it.

I took this top....



(which is actually a nice shade of lavender)

that I haven't worn in over a year

and used this tutorial from Tea Rose Home

and some dark purple cotton jersey I had on hand

and made this....


Here's a slightly blurry close-up of the RUFFLES!!


This project was much more fun that I thought it would be. I like the wonky ruffles, the slight color contrast and really love that I have a "new" top, one that I'll wear more often than once every 18 months.



The chickens and dog are totally unimpressed by the ruffles. Oh well.


~Megan

A lot of first.

We have been very busy since we returned from our visit with Megan. I hope to post more pictures soon, but for now a few "first" will have to do.

My Blue M&M had his first football game, which meant my Green M&M needed something to wear. I know some moms get nervous on the day of a game, wondering how their child may do. Not me, I just want a good picture of them looking cute in their uniforms. Just kidding-sort of !

I do think he does look pretty cute. Now because they won't let me make any alterations to his uniform, (Silly rules-what would a couple of appliques hurt? ) I made a dress for my Green M&M to wear. 

Using my LBB pattern I combined some old team shirts a friend of mine had given me. She has 3 boys that have participated in many sports and were willing to part with a few of their old t-shirts.

I have been experimenting with a different collar then the pattern calls for. With fall settling in here, it is nice to have a thicker collar. I think I had 3 mom's ask me to make one for their daughters. Looks like I better round up some more shirts.

Miss Green M&M had her first day of school.

She was very excited to start school.

She also had her first dance class.

I was excited for this. Once again, it is not about how well she does, but how darn cute she looks in her leotard. So there you have our big week of first.

Any first you would like to share?

Rhiannon

Super Heroes

My super heroes and I made it to Megan's! Here are some pics from our trip so far.

Did someone turn on the wind machine?

First stop the beach.

I don't know who had more fun, Grandma or Green M&M.

Megan is such a great hostess that we usually don't want to leave. I gave her a clutch I made as a thank you for showing us such a good time. I used this tutorial by Lex. I had found these vintage quilt squares at an antique store and was waiting for the right project. I love how it turned out.

We are trying to get the kids to sleep, so we can enjoy some wine and sewing. Hope I have some goodies to post tomorrow.

Happy Vacation!

Rhiannon

I Heart N.Y.

One of my best friends just had her second baby last week. Her older son in going to be 2 next month. Now, I know a  lot of mother's choose to have their children close together for a good reason, I am not one of those mothers. I think mothers who have children this close in age, are crazy  braver then me.

 We could not wait to get our hands on the little guy. Here he is with my Green M&M. She could not get enough. Being around new babies does put me in the mood to have one, then I go home to my children (who are 5 years apart on purpose) fighting over who gets to turn off the t.v., the mood quickly goes away. So when I say women who have kids close together are braver then me, I mean it. My friend Casey has decided to prove it. She is leaving for New York on Thursday. Why ? Because both her and her husband are originally from there. Let me break this down for you.

Cesarean on Thursday

Released from the hospital on Sunday

Packing and taking care of newborn and 2yr Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Drive to New York (with 1week old, 2 yr. old , 2 dogs and a husband) on Thursday

Did I mention-We Live In Illinois!!!

See what I mean by Crazy Brave.

 I picked up a couple of t-shirts at Goodwill, and made the boys matching hats for the trip.

My friend Shannon showed me a version of these hats. I changed it up a little bit and ended up with these.

Seriously, does it get any cuter?

Now, if only they would stay like this forever.

Happy Babies!!

Rhiannon

Made with Love!

After the death of my brother Sam, the local golf course decided to rename their parent child golf outing in his honor. It was held a couple of weeks ago, and I believe it is the biggest turn out they have had for this event ever.

One of Sam's favorite activities was golfing with his family. It is a great way to celebrate his life.

My mom had some really cute t-shirts made for the day, and I of course could not help but make this dress out of one for my Green M&M.

The shirts had photos of my brother golfing on the front.

I found this shirt with golfers on it at my local thrift store. It worked perfect for the back of the dress.

I added some orange polka dot ruffles to the bottom. Everything is cuter with polka dots!!

I think of Sam everyday and miss him so much. It is nice to have a day to celebrate him and the beautiful person he was with others.

My husband golfed with one of our good friends and his son.

There was some intense Tug of War after dinner.

Green M&M and I spent the day with my grandma. We are not golfers.

Happy Memories!

Rhiannon

Where has the week gone?

Wow, it's Friday already. I am feeling like our blog name is so true this week. I have so many great blog post running through my mind (almost too many), and having a hard time getting them posted. So I apologize for the long post, filled with lots of pictures.

Here is what we have been up to.

We went to visit family in St. Louis last weekend.

They took us to a great park by their house. It had this great fountain for the kids to play in.

They had so much fun, we went both days we were there.

If you ever make a trip to St.Louis, you have to visit the City Museum. It is amazing. They have salvaged items from the city to build a giant playhouse for kid and adults.

We had so much fun, but it was a little crowded. I promised my Blue M&M that I would take him out of school on a weekday and go back. Shh! Don't tell his teacher.

I will also go more prepared. I will not wear a skirt and will definitely wear tennis shoes.

We also stopped by the zoo. The zoo is located in a  gorgeous park and is free!! Score.

Blue M&M got to feed the sting rays. It was pretty cooool!

And of course all good times come to an end.

I stayed with my great hostess and tour guide Laura. She is a fellow sewer, so we had to stop by the fabric store and make some goodies while the kids  her daughter slept.

I made this dress for Maria, I wanted to get some better pictures, but she was not in the mood.

I used the basic pillowcase dress pattern and just added the waistband. I used the same technique Dana used on her  shirt dress.

O.K here are some other things we've done this week.

We had to say good bye to my brother Donnie. Boo hoo!

We picked vegetables from the garden. Now what to do with it all?

We made Joy's peanut butter and jelly cookies. Yummy!!

We did some babysitting for this little guy.

So my not so new year's resolution is to post more that once a week and photograph more before and afters of my refashions. We will see how that works out.

Happy Weekend!!

Rhiannon