HAD TO SHARE

My bestie e-mailed this to me and I just had to share it with all of my wonderful readers. 

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Hope it made you giggle.  I know I did :)

Smiles~Beth

DR SEUSS SHIRT {TEMPLATE}

Dr. Seuss books are a favorite in our house.   I could on and on about them but I am sure you already know how great they are ;)

When I realized the author's birthday was coming up (March 2) I knew I wanted to help celebrate the day with a special shirt for Adam to wear to school.

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Wanna make one too?  There is no sewing required :)

Please read entire post before beginning

Here is what you will need:

Shirt (got ours at The Children's Place)

1/4 yard of white fabric (you will have extra)

1/8 yard or scraps of red fabric

Wonder Under (available at most craft stores)

Heat n' Bond fusible stabilizer (optional, I didn't use any on this shirt)

 Scissors

Iron

Pencil

Black Thread (optional)

Templates (below)

Paper (I used cardstock)

When printing the templates be sure to right click on the pictures, save them to your computer, then open your saved version and print.

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After you have printed your templates, cut them out and follow these instructions. 

FYI~I ironed the white fabric to the shirt first and then ironed the red pieces right on top.

If you decide not to zigzag stitch around the pieces, don't worry, it will still look great (and it won't take as long!).

I would love to know if you make one!! 

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I will reply asap.

Linking up to:

Happy Birthday Author

Smiles~Beth

CRAZY FOR PEZZY!

I was the lucky winner of a $40 gift certificate to Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.  I couldn't resist using it towards this lovely 1/2 yard stack of Pezzy by American Jane for Moda.  A big thanks to Randi for the fabulous customer service and to Kristie @ OCD for hosting the Drunkard's Path QAL (where I won the the fabric for finishing this quilt top). 

Oh, the boys just got of the bus, gotta run!

Smiles~Beth

BOARD & BATTEN IN THE KITCHEN

I have needed wanted to change our home decor for a while now.  It took a couple years of bitching begging but I finally got the hubs on board...yay!!  The first step was painting (you can see part of the process here).  Next, with help from one of our more-than-wonderful neighbors, the board & batten went up.  

I didn't do a step by step post because there are already so many great how-to's out on the web. You can check out a couple I found helpful here & here.

BEFORE
 (I had already started to rip down the wallpaper before I realized I forgot to take a pic)

PROGRESS

AFTER

I am SO happy with the way it turned out!  And it will look even better when we get rid of that curio, paint the buffet and replace the kitchen table & chairs (ordered last week!!).  I am still deciding on a color for the buffet.  My original thought was to paint it black but I am tempted to go bolder with a pop of color, maybe orange.  Any suggestions?

Tomorrow, our very handy neighbor is coming over again to help the hubs put trim around the living room window, change out the front door trim to match and start the process of replacing our baseboards. 

I will be sure to post pics soon. 

Linking up with:

Hope your Wednesday is treating you well!

Smiles~Beth

SPARKLE PUNCH QUILT & A CHALLENGE~COMPLETE

You may have figured out by now that I love challenges, especially sewing challenges.  You see, I am a bit of a procrastinater (the kind that waits until the day of a baby shower to finish up binding on the gift and then puts it in the wash 1 hour before the shower and then her washing machine gets stuck on the spin cycle with 7 minutes left and then she is an hour late to the shower...yep, that's me!).  So, when Amy of Amy's Creative Side (LOVE HER!!!) posted another One Thing, One Week challenge I was all over it.  Of course, it always helps when you have a project that needs to be completed anyway. 

Thanks to my middle monster, Sam, for holding this up for me in the cold wind!

This little baby quilt was lovingly made for my cousin's precious bun~in~the~oven, Alexandra.  I knew when I saw this quilt I wanted to make one like it.  When Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! announced she was hosting a QAL (quilt~a~long) using her pattern for the quilt I jumped at the opportunity. 

Back in November I asked my cousin to bring the curtains for her darling baby's nursery to Thanksgiving dinner (I am typically not this organized, seriously!).  I compared the colors to my Robert Kaufman Kona Solids color swatch board and matched the solids up with some prints I had in my stash.  I think it matches the curtains pretty perfectly!

This picture shows truer colors than the ones taken outside

For the back I cut different width strips of the Kona Cottons...grass green, tangerine, dark violet, papaya, bright pink, jade green, peach & snow (some purchased at Fabric.com & some at Hobby Lobby).

You are probably thinking that the quilting is a little crazy.  Well, it is.  I did it on purpose though.  I haven't dove into the world of FMQ (free motion quilting) so that wasn't an option for me.  The random straight lines reminded me of falling stars so I went with it ;) For the binding, I used this super cute black fabric with itty bitty white polka~dots.  I just fell in love with it (seriously, it makes me giddy!). 

Oh, I almost forgot!  I tried my hand at a little hand embroidery, or maybe it is hand stitching, I am not really sure.  Either way, it didn't turn out horribly and I think it added that little something special every quilt needs.  I kept telling myself that all of the mistakes gave it more character ;)

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I want to thank Amy for keeping my behind in gear on this project and Elizabeth for providing the inspiration.

Linking up to:

Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!

Smiles~Beth

MY BABY IS 6 TODAY!!

Today we are celebrating my littlest monster's birthday.  He is 6!  I honestly can't believe it. It seems like yesterday we were blessed with our 3rd son.  Whom I thought for sure was a girl until 2 weeks before he was born.  It was about then I started having dreams that I gave birth to another boy but insisted on wrapping him in a pink blanket and telling everyone he was a girl (don't worry, I didn't really do that.  They were just dreams!).  I think my subconscious was trying to prepare me ;).  Of course, nothing could have truly prepared me for this little guy.

He was the perfect addition and was (and still is!) what made our family complete. 

Some of the things I love about him are:

Those freckles!!!

That smile

His laugh (I wish I could bottle it up!)

His love for his brothers (he absolutely adores them despite the all of the tattling lately)

The 110% effort he puts towards everything he tries

His independence (even though it breaks my heart a little to see how fast he is growing up)

His passion for baseball (I just love to watch him play!)

That he doesn't know how little he is for his age and NEVER lets it him hold him back

He never leaves for school without giving me a great big hug & kiss :)

His stories (he never seems to run out of things to say!)

HaPPy BirTHdAy to my Little Star!

I love you lots!!!

We get to hang out all day together due to a snow day...YAY!

A VALENTINE'S SHIRT {FOR ME}

As soon as I saw this adorable little dress over @ Make It Love It I knew I wanted to make a ruffily heart too.  I figured I wouldn't be able to convince any of my boys to wear it so I made one for myself ;)  The only difference is that I put mine on a shirt rather than making a dress (just happened to have a plain tee laying around...bonus!).

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Those gathered ruffles make me happy.  Can't wait to wear it to the school parties on Valentine's Day!

There are 3 other cute ideas (including tutorials) for Valentine's shirts over at Make It Love It and one is perfect for the little man in your life.  If you have a minute I recommend you take a peek.

Linking up to these great parties:

Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

 

Smiles~Beth

PAINTING {KITCHEN & LIVING ROOM REDO}

It's been a very busy week around here!  Sadly, I haven't gotten any sewing done since Sunday.  But here are a few pics to show you what has been keeping me so busy.



Who knew 3 little boys could put this many dents in our wall!

 

How did I get this job!

The boards and wall in between will be painted white.
A HUGE thanks to the hubby & our wonderful neighbor for getting this done

I have been tearing down wallpaper, spackling, sanding, wiping walls and painting all week.  There is still lots to do but I have high hopes of getting all of the painting finished by tomorrow night (and hopefully the house put back together too!).  Wish me luck!

Hope your weekend is relaxing!
Smiles~Beth