2013 Top Blog Posts

I hope you had a merry Christmas! Last night I got back from Boston where I was getting acquainted with my newest granddaughter. Here's a photo of her in a knit hat her great grandmother made for her mother. So happy I saved it.  

She's a beautiful baby who has a lot of people that already love her.

I wanted to thank you for reading my blog.  Did you notice my new blog design?  My daughters had it designed as a surprise for my Christmas present.  I'll admit I accidentally ruined their surprise because I went to complete a blog post right before I left on my trip and noticed everything looked different... Nonetheless, I am so amazed at this kind, thoughtful gift and very pleased with the new look. 

Without further ado, here are my top five blog posts for 2013:

        1.  Lace Hankie into a Doll Top - A super easy pattern to make for a doll.



2.  Five Christmas Gift Ideas - What did you give to your neighbors or co-workers? 



3.  Christmas Neighbor Gift Ideas, Part 2 - Apparently, you like my gift ideas.



4.  Sweet Cotton Candy Dress - Do you like children in vintage clothing?

5.  Fall Ensemble - I love sewing for my grandchildren, especially when they fit!


What was your favorite post?                                                                                                    

I'm always busy creating so I hope you'll continue to visit with me and comment now and again! 

Happy 2014!
xoxo Grandma
  

Six Gifts to Make Using a Sock

With Christmas right around the corner, money gets tight this time of year so, why not use what you have to create toys? We all seem to get those stray socks in our laundry room, although I don't get as many as I use to now that my children all live on their own. So, here's what you can do, if you have a sock or two (or ten) hanging around:  

1) PLAY FOOD:  From the tutorial "Play Donuts From Dollar Store Socks." For complete directions to make these donuts visit Inner Child Fun.

2) SOCK PUPPETS:  I've made these several times for three and four-year-old children that I've taught for my church. The children really love sock puppets and somehow, each time I teach this group of children, I always find more socks without mates.

Supplies Needed: 

• sew-on wobbly eyes
• feathers
• socks
• hot glue 
• felt in white and red
• socks 
• For complete directions, please go to Sew Busy Making Sock Puppets.  

3) DOLL LEOTARD:  Watch this Youtube which shows a young girl turning a sock into a leotard. The only difference in mine vs. hers was I didn't like the raw edges so I hand stitched the socks edges so the leotard had a finished look.

4) DOLL HAT AND MITTENS: for directions on turning a sock into a hat and mittens, go to this post.

5) DOLL TIGHTS: for one of the best tutorials on making a knee sock into tights for an 18" doll, go to Peachy Tuesday.  Here's how my tights turned out.  In retrospect, I should have used a stretchier sock. These tights were super easy to sew but to get them onto the doll, well, that took a little while...it felt like it took more time than it took to sew them up...ha ha!

6) STICK PONY: I use to have a stick pony, did you? This one is made from a sock, felt and a dowel.  It was really easy to make.  Go to THIS POST for a tutorial on how you can make one too.

xoxo Grandma

Long-Legged Santa - FREE Pattern & Tutorial

About 25 years ago,  I made four long-legged skinny Santa toys for my children. Now that all my kids are married, these Santa's have moved into their homes. While at my daughter's house over Thanksgiving weekend, I realized how much my grandchildren loved holding this soft decoration-turned toy.

I've recreated the pattern so you can make him too. He's pretty timeless and a great way to bring holiday cheer into your home. Maybe these skinny-legged Santa toys will become a Christmas heirloom for your family, like the ones I made years ago. Go ahead and download this free pattern HERE and have fun creating memories for your loved ones. The pattern is free and it's my gift to you. (Print the pattern at full image, do not shrink this pattern. The pattern is for your own personal use only.)

Long-Legged Santa Tutorial:  Cut out all pattern pieces.  Sew together the body leaving the bottom open a few inches to turn the fabric right side out.  Next sew together the arms. Turn right side out and stuff all pieces.

Sew together the legs, turn these pieces right side out and then stuff the legs.

Sew the legs closed by turning the seams so they match in the middle. Now sew the legs onto the body with the feet pointed up. Stitch the arms onto the upper torso of the body.

Now for the fun part, the face!  Using a permanent marker or black paint, draw on his eyes and now add a little blush onto his cheeks. (Make sure you make his face on the side with his feet pointing up.)

Lastly, hot glue his hair and beard in place. (For the hair and beard, I used a product from Hobby Lobby called artiste which is 100% wool roving.)  

Sew Santa's clothes - Sew his coat and pants according to the pattern.  a time saving tip is to use fleece for his coat and then you won't have to hem the bottom of the coat or the sleeves. Instead of elastic around the waist of the pants, I folded the top waist 1/4" and hand stitched a running stitch, gathering the waist as I worked my way around the waist band.  The front of his coat can be decorated with buttons and or patches can be basted onto the sleeves. Add a little bit of batting to the thumb of his gloves then place them onto his hands remembering his thumbs should point up.  Add a bell, white cotton ball or button onto the point of Santa's hat. Place his hat onto his head by adding a little glue around the perimeter of the opening.  Now, wrap his scarf around his neck. You did it, he's finished.  Isn't he lovable?

Merry Christmas!  I hope you enjoy this pattern. xoxo Grandma

Smocked Dress for a Toddler

I know this is a busy time of year, so today I've just got a couple of photos of my granddaughter in the smocked dress I made back in October to share with you.  These were taken while I was in Knoxville for Thanksgiving.  I think it looks pretty cute on her! Though she was much too busy to let me take too many photos.

Enjoy spending time with family this holiday season, I've enjoyed spending time with mine and am excited to meet my newest granddaughter.

xoxo Grandma

Toddler Party Dress for the Holidays

Chances are you've had a holiday party to gear up for. My family has a few in the works, and I thought I'd create something festive for my granddaughter to wear.  Here she is dressed in a moss green party dress I created using the Spring Fever free pattern from Me Sew Crazy. I changed the pattern slightly by adding lace cap sleeves, two layers of lace around the back bodice and a hand sewn flower onto the front bodice out of a beige chiffon drapery sample that a friend gave to me. (I actually originally made these flowers as decorations for my oldest daughter's wedding reception...so fun to find another use for them.) 

Lastly, I  made her the cutest headband. But of course this busy girl would not leave it on her head. She just did not appreciate all the time I put into making this accessory!  She's got the tiniest waist and so I tried it as a belt and she quite liked it in that spot. She kept telling me "pretty." The ivory belt-headband has two chiffon flowers formed out of different shades of beige chiffon, some pearl ribbon that I refashioned by pulling off of a darling greeting card someone made and & sent to our home and a few leaves which were made out of the same moss fabric.  The dress fabric was a super large drapery sample given to me by another friend. I'm telling you, if people would stop giving me their hand-me-downs, I'd get my sewing closet cleaned out! 

Secretly, I love that people think of me and share!  That's what this season is about - sharing and giving.  So thank you to all of you for reading this post.  I hope you get to dress-up and party this Christmas season.

xoxo Grandma

Linky parties joined: Threading My Way, The Life of Jennifer Dawn, Creating My Way to Success

Sea Glass Jewelry Giveaway

I don't know about you, but I love sea glass!  While visiting Israel this year, I took many walks on the beach near my son's home, while my grandchildren took their naps. While taking those walks, I found a lot of sea glass. This year for Christmas, I've been making jewelry using these treasures, and I'm giving these creations as gifts to friends and family (hopefully I didn't spoil the surprise). I think it's a symbolic way to give a gift that is from the same country where Jesus was born. 

If you want to learn to wrap glass, this is a really good youtube video that taught me how to do it.

And because it's the holidays, I've made a couple extra to give as gifts to my readers. Interested? Here are the RULES:

• Sign-up to follow this blog.
• Share this post (or your favorite post from my blog) on Facebook or Pinterest.
• Leave me a message telling me that you signed-up & who you share this post with.

1-9-2014 - FYI winners were Lorain Potter and Xela Grow.  

Thank you to all those that participated.

Here's an interesting tale about sea glass:
"In the old days, and I mean the old days, because sea and beach glass has been around as long as we have had glass, it was said to be "Mermaid Tears". It was said that every time a sailor drowned at sea, the Mermaids would cry and the sea glass was their tears washing up on the shore." from Beach Glass Jewelry Website 

xoxo Grandma

As seen at these linky parties: The Life of Jennifer Dawn, We Did it!, All Things Pretty

Boys Hoddie

Do you ever start projects that make you want to pull out your hair?  Well, this is one of those. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because the end result left a smile on the recipient's face that was worth it to me. This particular project was transforming one of my husband's old plaid shirts into a little hoodie for a four-year-old.    

In addition to the plaid shirt, I also used two fleece baby blankets that I got for a dollar each as the lining, and for the front pockets. I added a monogrammed "J" onto the front, which my grandson thought was pretty cool since that's the first letter of his name.  I finished off the cuff and the ribbing with a little left over knit grey fabric.

This project came about a few months ago, when I was working on a plaid project that I was having major problems finishing. I set it aside, rather annoyed at myself. Then two weeks ago, I finally figured out how to finish it.  This is what the shirt looked like after I cut off the sleeves:    

   

To explain exactly how I finished it is a tad complicated, because I only kind-of used a pattern.  The "kind-of" part was the problem in finishing this project in the first place. The first hood I originally made for the jacket was too small and I didn't have any more of the fleece to make another hood. 

So, as I was cleaning my sewing area, I found the brown knit hood that I had removed when I made my grandson's aviator jacket a few months ago. I took this hood in an inch and it fit perfectly onto the neck of this once "set-aside" project. Glad I decided to finish it up, because it turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

This little four-year-old grandson of mine really liked his new hoodie - can you tell by his smile?

If you're brave enough to try making a men's shirt into a boy's hoodie, I strongly recommend using a pattern.

xoxo Grandma

Linked to the following Parties: Threading Your Way ~ Clothes for Boys , Creating My Way to Success, We Did it Wednesday, All Things Pretty, Project Run and Play