Wednesday, December 31, 2014

A Bit Out of the Box-A Bra Review

My normal readers may want to skip this post entirely but I wanted to write it to help out anyone else out there that has trouble finding bras that fit.  Don't worry, there are not any pictures of me in the bras!!!

I've had bad luck ordering bras online in the past and was leery of trying again.  But since figleaves.com had them at a price that was already half of what I have to pay to buy them in the store locally, plus an extra 30% off thanks so Cyber Monday sales, I thought it might be worth the risk.

The best fitting bra to date that I have found is the Freya Deco in 30F (for point of reference).

I decided on two Curvy Kate bras (Daily Boost Balcony & Starlet Moulded) in size 30F.  I am really quite pleased with how they fit.  If I was to order another one I may decide to go with a 28F instead since the bands fit perfectly on tightest notch and the cups are just on the verge of being too small.  These styles definitely do not create as much cleavage as the Freya and are therefore more practical for everyday wear.


http://images.figleaves.com/product/870x1113/r705351-p721804-front.jpg

 http://images.figleaves.com/product/870x1113/r709025-p734636-front.jpg

 The third bra I ordered was the Just Peachy Talia T-Shirt Bra in a 30G.  It is figleaves.com's "house" brand.  It was a great price and I had high hopes for it but for me this bra was an overall bust (no pun intended).  The band had no stretch whatsoever and was very uncomfortable.  And despite going up a cup size (I had read reviews that said they ran small) the cups were still too small.  I do not think that going up a size in the band and/or cups would really make a difference for me though since the sides of the cups came up too high and cut into my arm pits.
 
http://images.figleaves.com/product/870x1113/r707644-p733378-front.jpg

 I will hopefully be sending the Just Peachy bra back and exchanging it for something else so there may be another review coming :).

I hope someone out there finds this helpful!!

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Toddler Tool Belt

These photos are actually pretty old.  I was saving them because I was toying with the idea of writing a tutorial.  Maybe someday I'll get around to it but for now I'll go ahead and show these to you.

Squeak loves his tools.  His PawPaw is a handyman and it seems like every time he comes to visit he's helping us fix something.  So last Christmas we bough him his very own set of tools (the plastic kind!!).  After a couple of months I decided he needed a belt to help him keep them all together.  I already had this adorable tool fabric in my stash so I sat down and got to work.

 


He looks so little in this photo (it was almost 9 months ago) and I'm not sure what kind of face he's making here but it cracks me up!!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Told You

That I would be showing off more Washi clothing, that is :).  This time I decided to make a top instead of a dress.  I make it sound like that was my plan all along, but I actually just didn't order enough fabric...

 

 

 

I did have to take in quite a bit of width at the bottom so that I didn't look like I was wearing a tent but I love the end result.  It's good to know I can use one of my favorite patterns for a top as well.  I'm thinking about buying the add on package so that I can make even more styles...

Friday, December 26, 2014

The Final Link Up

I know everyone is busy with holiday traditions but please take a minute to link up any bags you made for this month's Big City Sew Along.  There are some great prizes up for grabs and you don't want to miss out!!

SQUARED ELEMENTS fat quarter bundle - Art Gallery Fabrics




















One person will be winning a fat quarter bundle of Squared Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics provided by A Material Girl Quilts

JUNGLE AVE by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery Fabrics - Fat Quarter Bundle - Complete Collection of 8 Prints





















 And a second person will be winning A Fat Quarter Bundle of Jungle Ave. from Lima Sews.










Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Squeak's New Pillow

I had a few left over scraps from a custom order I did so I decided to make Squeak an oversized pillow to lounge around on while watching tv or reading a book.


As you can see, he couldn't wait to get his hands on it... 

 And sit on it...


And petting it...

Does anyone else have trouble keeping clothes on their kids?  I swear he takes them off as soon as I put them on!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

A Little Washi (Tape) Love

I know your used to seeing my Washi Dresses and I promise there will be more of those but today's washi love is about washi tape.  

I forgot to take a before picture of this little decoration but it was a shabby chic type of green.  Which is pretty, but not really my style.


The fronts of the letters are scrapbook paper but all of the silver on the base and around the edges of the letters is washi tape.  I've had mixed feelings about it before but for this project it worked out perfectly!!

They keep promising that we're going to be moving to a new building so once we FINALLY do I'll give you a bit of a tour of my new office ;)

Monday, December 22, 2014

Is it Nap Time Yet!?

Squeak needed a nap mat to take to "school" at the start of the year.  I had purchased this fabric a long time ago with the intention of making him one so I figured I better get started.  


The front is this awesome super hero fabric and the back is a comfy orange minky.  Wal-Mart sells what they call "travel pillows" but they are the perfect size for a toddler bed or a nap mat.  

 Now Squeak doesn't actually take naps at school but at least he has somewhere to lay down and recharge a bit.  I'm told he can be very entertaining while the other kids are napping...in fact, there are videos to prove it :)

Maybe I should finally get around to finishing the quilt that goes with it...

Friday, December 19, 2014

A Name Tag

I love this little nametag.  I saw one like it on Instagram and decided to give it a shot.


It is applique with pebbling in the background and I free motioned my name on it.  I even found a little charm to add to the corner.  What I forgot though was to add a way to actually wear it.  Looks like I'll be making a matching scrappy lanyard to go with it. 

And yes, I am aware this that this is a cross between a peacock and an owl.  Makes it a little more fun don't you think?! ;)

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Custom Order

This was a fun one to make since I love the colors.

This order for a vendor apron came in through Etsy.


Three large pockets and one small one make it the perfect apron for shows and events.  Even waitresses and hairdressers could get good use from it!!

Maybe I should make one for myself...

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

A Few Small Finishes

These are a new type of pouch I'm trying out at shows...


...a scrapbuster for sure, which I really need since my bins are overflowing, and a few more keyring clutches.



And this little pincushion which I absolutely LOVE!!  In fact it has now become mine :).  I do plan on making and selling more of them.  I have been collecting selvages for awhile now for some undecided project but I'm sure I can spare a few for pincushions ;)

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Indie Trunk Show Recap

I'll keep this one short and sweet after my long winded, photo laden post about Deluxe :)

For Indie Trunk Show I reserved a 10' x 20' booth.  I don't think I'll be doing that again...it felt way too spread out and I felt like I lost out on interacting with some customers and therefore lost sales or potential future sales.  We will also be using a canopy frame to draw attention to our booth at future events.  I'm picking it up this weekend :)

Speaking of future events, I've been trying to get a schedule together for next year.  I've got one show confirmed and one pending so far.  Lots more research to do in that area!!


See what I mean about being spread out too much?

Monday, December 15, 2014

#AlltheSwaps Take 2

I have completed two more swap packages:

The Festive Mug Rug Swap:


This was my first attempt at Economy Blocks and I love them!  I see many more of these in the future :)  This one has a long ways to go so let's hope it gets there before Christmas!!


And the Pincushion Swap:


For this one I decided to do a Christmas themed Log Cabin pincushion.  And I'm sending a cute coffee sleeve with it for good measure :) as well as a few other goodies.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Hubby's To Blame

It started with a texted photo from my husband asking me if I had ever made one of the items pictured.  He was at his mother's house and had found a poorly pieced, old mug rug on her end table.  Sadly I made it for her a couple of years ago.

I had forgotten all about it.  But after seeing it I knew she needed a new one.  I already had all of my Christmas fabrics out so this is what I came up with for her...



Squeak approved :)

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Nearly Wordless Wednesday-Megaman

Made as a birthday present for my brother :)  It's really too big for a pillow like I originally intended so maybe it can be a wall hanging...




Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Planning and Plotting

Sounds pretty ominous especially when you throw in stalking!  But it's all actually just part of the fun of joining in a secret swap :)

I am one of over 950 people participating in this round (holy &$#@!).

Based on the form my partner filled out I have come up with a game plan...


One of the very first quilts I made was the Fractured Pervalong.  It was part of the sew along hosted by Displacement Activity.  It was also my very first paper piecing project!  Now you all know who to blame for my obsession with it.  Needless to say my mini had many, many issues but I think I can do a slightly better job this time around ;)

I used Charlotte's original photo of the layout of the block and created a pattern using Quilt Assistant.  I think this will help me out significantly this time around!

I also got to play with arrangement of the colors until I came up with something I liked.  I've bought the fabrics and plan on starting it this week!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Big City Bags SAL--The Final Edition

Sorry I'm a bit late with this post!  It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here...

This month I've decided that ANY of the 12 bags in the book can be linked up to win a prize.  As long as it was made this month it counts :)  So pick your favorite and get to work.  If you need to make 5 for various Christmas presents (or just because you love purses) be sure to link up each one individually for more chances to win!!

And what will you be winning this month?

SQUARED ELEMENTS fat quarter bundle - Art Gallery Fabrics

 Well, one person will be winning a fat quarter bundle of Squared Elements by Art Gallery Fabrics provided by the wonderful A Material Girl Quilts.  She has some great sales going on so be sure and take a look!

 JUNGLE AVE by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery Fabrics - Fat Quarter Bundle - Complete Collection of 8 Prints

And another person will be winning A Fat Quarter Bundle of Jungle Ave. from Lima Sews.  It seemed fitting that we giveaway a bundle of the fabric that Sara designed since this sew along is all about her.  Lima Sews has my current favorite line in stock--Priory Square!  I'm hoping to order some after Christmas :)

 The Rules
  • We will be sewing the books in the order they are in the book.  Only the bag for that specific month will be eligible for the link up (unless otherwise specified).
  • The bag must be complete to qualify for prizes.
  • On the first of every month I will announce a new project and prize. 
  • You will have from December 26, 2014 until midnight on December 31, 2014 CST to link up your project for a chance to win that month's prize.
  • You can link up more than one bag a month as long as they were both made during the corresponding month
  • Join the Flickr group to see all the projects that have been made.

And here is a complete list of all of the sponsors!!



Be sure and show them some love since they made this whole thing possible!!


Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Deluxe Recap

As I'm sure you all know from my previous posts, last weekend was the Deluxe Winter Market.  This was my second year participating and it was even better than last year!  Great traffic, friendly faces, and for the first day at least, there was great weather.  I'm hoping we get invited back next year...

I'm always striving to improve our booth set up and this show was no exception.

Our booth at this event was 10' x 10'.  Set up started early Friday afternoon and lasted until around 5:30 when I decided I wasn't happy with several of my display pieces and hauled them back home to be spray painted.  Spray paint wasn't the original plan I had for them but when the chalkboard paint/metallic paint/bright color paint (all acrylics, which was probably where I went wrong) that I envisioned didn't work out it's what I had on hand.  And it will work--for now.

I don't have time to make any drastic changes before our next show but I definitely have some ideas that I want to try out before next year.

This is what we ended up with this year...

 Starting from left to right:

 

My newly painted cart is perfect for holding my coffee sleeves and book clutches (btw, the book clutches were a hit and I sold the only three that were made!).  I ran out of my display "cups" so the sleeves on the bottom row were not quite as fancy looking.  I also finally sold that diaper bag that is hanging on the handle!!


 Then we had the tall stack of crates which housed the large and medium journals and the clearance bin, the essential wallets and boxy pouches along with a tray of hair elastics and hanging earring display made from a painted wooden frame and various ribbons.

 


 The small gray bins (which are actually hollowed out books) are the pieces that got the spray paint treatment.  They are scattered throughout the display and hold little kawaii style hair pins or magnets.  The next set of gray stacked crates hold the mini journals on top and the wee wee tee pees and gift card holders on bottom.  Zippered wristlets are in front.  I also have an earring display stand for a few dangling earrings. The pink wire bin holds gift tags.  Next to it is the Keyring Clutch Bin followed by the Wine Tote Tub and Curvy Clutches.

 

 We used two clothing display racks to display the two large quilts I had and the zippered pouches of various size fit perfectly in the gray oversized basket I brought.

 


I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of this checkout stand.  It was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.  The sign is black foam board with white paint marker framed in a wooden frame (all from Michael's) that was spray painted pink.  The crates are unfinished wooden crates from JoAnn's that I painted a mint green.  On top I have a ceramic owl pen holder and a business card holder (both also spray painted).



The back of the checkout stand holds our bags, pens, price tags, and all sorts of other miscellaneous items that we might need throughout the day.



Moving on...the pink three tiered wire rack holds diaper clutches, boppy covers, and drawstring bags.  The teal basket has flower hair pins.  There is another "book bin" filled with 4 different sizes of felt barrettes.  A fire log holder filled with rolled  baby blankets and more stacked crates with crayon rolls and business card holders.  The business card holders were the surprise best seller of the day!  And finally a small pink basket filled with light switch covers and a three tiered wire basket for all of the earbud pouches.


 The end cap seemed like the best place to display the mason jar cups.  And two more "book bins":  one filled with more hair pins and the other with earrings.


Last but not least I debuted my latest Washi Dress.  This was made specifically for this event but I love it and plan on getting lots of wear out of it :)

Thanks for sticking with me through this picture heavy post!  I'll show you our set up for a 10 x 20 booth next week ;).

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Everyone's a Winner!

We had five entries for this round of the Big City Bags Sew Along.  But only three different ladies did the stitching.  I was going to pick two winners but that just didn't seem right so...EVERYONE is a winner.  The Random Number Generator spit out #1 as the first prize winner which is Mara of Secretly Stitching.  She will get the 16 spools of Coats & Clark thread!  Awesome photos Mara!!!

http://secretlystitching.blogspot.gr/2014/11/black-and-white.html

 The second winner was #4-CeLynn.  She will be getting the Paparazzi Bag pattern from Pattern Crush!

http://celynnssunflowerpatch.blogspot.com/2014/11/do-over.html

And last but not least Danette...you will be getting a prize of an undetermined nature :).  And unfortunately the link for Danette's entry doesn't seem to be working so no photo :(.

You can click on either of the above photos to learn more details about the making of the bag.

Ladies I will be forwarding your e-mail addresses to the appropriate sponsors so they may contact you to claim your prizes.  Danette -- I can't get in touch with you so please e-mail me at sewingwithsqueak@gmail.com so I know where to send your goodies :).


Thanks so much to this month's sponsors and to the three ladies above for playing along.

More on next month's rules tomorrow!!




#AlltheSwaps

And I do mean that!  I seem to be signing up for ALL of the swaps.  They are so fun that it's hard to resist!

I've completed 3 swap packages and have three four more in the works.  Here are a few of the items that went with the first set.  I've jumbled them all together to keep everyone guessing about who gets what ;)


Top (left to right):  a drawstring bag using an orphaned Flowering Snowball block I made a couple of months ago (my partner gave me pretty much nothing to go on and didn't comment on ANY of the photos under the hashtag so hope she's happy with what I chose for her); a coaster; the back of the dumpling pouch
Bottom (again, left to right):  cross stitch hoop-I'm pretty proud of this (you can't see it in the photo but I even put cute ribbon around the edges!); a table runner made up of three Christmas tree blocks and a bit of sashing; the back of the table runner (this was the swap partner I really felt like I GOT so I hope I wasn't too far off base!)


The front of the dumpling pouch (pattern HERE) with a wonky star!


This was an idea I was playing around with.  It didn't seem to be too popular so I put it on the back burner, for now at least.  Oh, and this was a rough draft not what I was actually planning on sending someone!  Squeak liked it though ... or maybe he just wanted to have his picture taken :)

Monday, December 1, 2014

Plantain Hack

 For this version of the Plantain Tee I used a double sided jersey knit from JoAnn's.  I had a lot of trouble deciding which side to use!  I decided to make the most of the situation :) and use the reverse side to create a contrasting cuff.

I cut the sleeve pattern piece off 10" from the top of the shoulder and cut a 3" strip of fabric for each cuff.  I then hemmed the cuff pieces at 1/2" then sewed the sleeve and the cuff together with the wrong sides together before finally sewing the sleeve and side seam.  I put it together in that order to help keep cuff in place.




 This time I scaled my pattern down to a medium instead of a large and as always, I added 2" to the length of the shirt.


This photo gives you better idea of the color :)