Recycling: One Stained dress - two projects

Hello!
If you read my blog you know that I love to recycle my daughter's clothes.
It is a great way to turn something old into something new, cute and useful. Even better if you can turn it into two brand new projects.
Here is the dress. The before picture that I remembered to take this time.

It was a cute dress that got ruined when I washed it together with a black velvet blouse. The pink parts got all stained...completely ruined, what a shame!
I put it away to think of what to do with it. The embroidered parts were still perfect.

I had almost forgot the little dress, when one day looking in one of my several plastic storage containers I found it and had not one, but two ideas.

First I cut out all the embroidered parts. I went and got my pink chenille scraps and some pink corduroy. I sewed  chenille borders on the two parts with gray background and made a corduroy back. Pink pom-pom trim was used all around the pillow.

 

 

Now, the project using the picture with black background. I don't have any during picture.
It's a simple tote bag  - little girl size.

Again, I used corduroy and chenille. These two projects were given to my daughter with her other birthday gifts this week. Brenda will use this tote bag to take her scriptures to church. Not bad for an old stained dress, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Hollyhocks, berries and a new apron

Yesterday we got our first hollyhocks! This year I saved them from the snails, and recently from rust.
They are doing well now. I like the color. Last Summer we had pink ones, not many because the snails ate most of the baby plants. Was just one left. I planted more latter and  would love to have some  pink hollyhocks this year, but with assorted seeds, you never know.
More on gardening. Well, Grandma's garden.

My mother-in-law has a boysenberry bush in her backyard.

Very pretty, isn't it?  Now every Sunday when we visit Grandma we pick berries. Lots of berries.
Because of her Parkinson's and other complications she can't pick as much as she used to. She can't bend and her balance is not very good. She falls a lot.

We try to help her with these small things. She used to be very active and it is very hard on her not being able to do simple things.

We end up with more berries than we can eat. They are very good. We make smoothies, or cook them with sugar to serve warm over pancakes or ice cream.
I am freezing a lot too . I will try to make a pie or a cobbler.

Now, a little bit of sewing .

I had this fabric for a looong time! It was a fabric panel with all the parts printed on.
I  made one small change . I added a muslin back so I could have all  the seams  inside.
It came out nice and I really like it, it's perfect for the 4th of July.
Thanks for stopping by!

Ana Paula

Spring wrap-up

Hi!
With Brenda's birthday just around the corner, it's time to think about summer.  Her birthday is around when summer starts. Not too hot, not rainy... she will always have a beautiful day. Brenda is a lucky girl.
So, I will share some spring stuff that I had not posted before.
First, my birthday cake and my birthday flowers.

I made this rose cake using a bundt  chocolate cake mix and it was delicious!

The cake  pan I used is from Nordicware. The flowers were very pretty.
Another cake. It is our annual Easter bunny cake. Brenda has to make it every year.
It is a tradition.

You can find the recipe here .

Around Easter we had a tea party . We invited a couple of Brenda's friends and asked them to bring a doll.
The dolls had their own table.

Here are American Girl  Felicity and Laura Ingalls waiting for their guests.

They had  treats and the table was set with china and real flowers.
Brenda and her friends had a pretty table too. I made some Easter basket cupcakes.

Here is Brenda waiting for her guests. 

Another view of the table. Simple, but cute.
Before eating they watched a Strawberry Shortcake  tea party  manners movie.

They did their best to act like little ladies at the table. They had a fun time!
I forgot to take a picture of the party favors.  Easter candies, bubbles, and a  chocolate Peter Rabbit  inside a mini Easter basket.
We are having a good time this Spring, but it is almost over. School will be out at the 24th and start again in September. We are planning some fun stuff to do around here.
Keeping an only child occupied during summer is a bit of a challenge sometimes, but we do our best.
Have a good end of spring!

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Brenda's Cooking Class.

Last Christmas, Brenda got a cool cookbook from Santa:  Kids in the kitchen by Gooseberry Patch. It is a very cute cookbook with lots of easy recipes and even things like homemade face paint , bubbles and dog biscuits.
She can't  really do sports or other physical activities because of medical restrictions due to her Neurofibromatosis / Pseudoarthrosis. We are planning other after school activities for her in the near future, but for now I decided to have a "class" with her every Tuesday when Dad goes to Cub Scouts.
So, every week we pick something new to do. Most of the time it is a little craft, and we always have a little treat at the end, like cookies or ice cream. Sometimes we cook something, and eat our creation.
She really looks forward for the classes, and calls it girl's time.
So, some weeks ago I told her she could pick any recipe from her cookbook.
The day before the class we went grocery shopping and she picked all the ingredients she needed.
You can see how happy she was making the recipe she picked:  Cups of dirty with worms.

Please excuse my mess. I had bags of fabric all over and the sewing machine on the table.
Happens when you live in a small place.
But, we had a great time and had lots of dirt to eat! :)

Thanks for stopping by !
Ana Paula.

Blog Update

Has been a while since my last post.
I was just not in the mood for blogging. But life goes on, and life is good.
A couple of days after my last post, a boy from our community took his own life. He was 15 years old. We know the family and it was devastating as you can imagine.
It felt like he was everybody's kid. What a tragedy. Now, after the funeral, things are going back to "normal". For that family  and many other people, life will never be the same. Heavenly Father in his infinite wisdom and compassion will take care of them. We pray that they can find comfort and peace.

So, not much of crafting going on here.
I am starting some projects for Brenda's birthday later this month.
But, I was able to make a little gift for a boy  from our church  that turned 8.
In our faith, the kids are baptized at this age.
I found this cute craft at Rachel Berry's blog. Here is how my first CTR towel turned out.

The lds kids are very familiar with this shield. CTR stands for Choose the right, and is related with a very special day : The baptism day.
Sorry,  I don't have a picture of the towel tied with a bow and the baptism poem, but Rachel has it all on her tutorial.
The boy loved it ! His parents and grandma liked it a lot too.
A sweet little gift and very affordable. I got a nice white towel at Home Goods. I had the blue fabric and other materials at home.

Life is made of both sad and happy moments.
Let's try to  focus on the happy beautiful moments.
Like a lovely foxglove from my little garden patch. Spring is a miracle!

And, when life gets hard, because it gets hard many times, lets remember that we are never alone...
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!
Ana Paula

Ivy Letter Topiary

Hi!
I wanted to make a big initial  letter to display on a shelf , and when I found this cool idea
on  Family Fun magazine, I  decided to give it a try.
Great gardening craft to make with kids!

My problem was to find a rectangular pot that fitted inside a pretty container. Good luck on that!
So, I got two small ivy plants on two pots,and put inside a loaf bread pan as you see above.
When it is on the shelf, nobody will see inside, right?
I made the letter using sticks and twine. The magazine asked for 12-gauge covered floral wire, but the sticks worked better for me.
Now I need to be patient and wait the ivy grow and cover the letter. As it grows, I will tie it on the sticks.

Let me tell you, next time I will start with longer ivy plants. :)

If you don't have the magazine and want to make it, you can find the directions at the Family Fun website.
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Cross Stitch Spring Sampler

Hello!
I have done lots of organizing and cleaning around our home. It is a never ending job. But I found some time for gardening and  sewing.
Today I have something special to show you, my latest sewing project.
The pictures came out a little odd... I think was the angle, but here it is.

Pretty, isn't it? I love this Janlynn pattern. I had to have it.
No, I did not stitched it, I have to tell you the truth. I have done big patterns before,but nothing as big as this.
I think I  would take the rest of my life to complete something this detailed because I am a very slow stitcher.
Since I wanted this sampler badly, I cheated and got a finished one on e-bay. It came from Canada and is beautifully done by a exceptionally talented cross stitcher.

It is a very exquisite design. A collage style sampler including all the spring holidays, gardening and even spring cleaning.

I tried to frame this the way I always do, getting a frame and a mat at Michael's, but it did not work. I had it for over two years and finally decided to make it into a quilted wall hanging.
It was hard work for me. I really love quilts, and admire people that can quilt especially because I cannot really do it. I wanted to make a fancy wave border and make  seams to machine quilt it.  I did it after several attempts. It was the first time I did a quilted border like this. It is not perfect, but I am very pleased with the results.

I think is great when you go out of your comfort zone and try new things.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula

Cross Stitch Lavender Sachet

Hello!
I love lavender. My sister in Brazil loves it too.
I am sending her a late birthday gift, and decided to include a lavender sachet.

The pattern is from Rico Designs. I made some changes. It was charted for Anchor, but I found  a conversion chart for DMC online.

Another change I made: A ribbon bow instead of the cross stitched  from the original.
I used lavender satin for back and lower part of the front. I also used some lace and tiny beads to add a little more to this very simple design.

I added lavender buds to the filling. I am sure she will like it. :)  Smells wonderful.
Now, I need to make one for me too!
Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula.

Selvage Pillow

Hello!
Some time ago I had a post about some pillows I wanted to make.
This week I checked one out of my to do list! Here is how it turned out.

Since I found the Selvage Blog I wanted to make something "selvage".
I started collecting the selvages (fabric borders).

I had more than enough for a pillow.
First, I cut a piece of muslin  of the size I wanted for the finished pillow. Then, I started putting the selvages over it, overlapping the frayed edges until I was happy with the look.

 

 After that I used the rotary cuter to make the strips of fabric even with the muslin base.

Then I started  to sew the selvages on the muslin base. Sorry about the blurry picture.

It is an easy and fast project.

I made the back. I used a natural cotton fabric. After sewing front and back together, I turned it and inserted a pillow form.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ana Paula