my bargain dress

Anybody else out there like to browse around in TJ Maxx/Marshalls, searching for the crazy clearance items that are almost like them paying you to take things out of their store? I'm the girl wandering around muttering to herself, trying to figure out if three dollars is too much to pay for a picture frame with a scratch on a corner or no glass. (My husband would say yes, indeed, it IS too much, seeing as how we have no less than 40 picture frames [I just counted] propped up against the walls of our dining room, waiting for me to put them somewhere that makes sense).

But wait. This post doesn't have anything to do with picture frames. Notice the title. It says DRESS.

So, I was wandering around TJ Maxx this summer, hoping to find a dress to wear to a wedding in September. It's not that I didn't already have any dresses. I have a few. But none that were really wanting me to wear them to a wedding. Well, one would have been great, but that dang zipper won't go all the way up…what's up with that??

I have tried on a few dresses in TJMaxx by one particular designer/studio and really really liked the graphic design patterns of the dresses, and the fabric that drapes perfectly, and the colors and the styles…but just never wanted to spend $40 on a dress that I didn't really need for anything. Does that make me cheap? Frugal? Whatever. I couldn't do it.

But then…on the clearance rack…for no reason I could see…was one of those dresses.


You can see the "original" price here (I don't know where on earth they actually sell for a hundred and eighteen bucks!). You can see the great color combo, the great fabric pattern design, the fun understated ruffles…oh, and the plunging v-neck that threatened to expose my belly button for all the world to see!! Who wears these things like that?? I mean, really? Is that necessary? Drives me batty, sometimes, the secrets girls don't keep.

Moving right along. Do you see the clearance tag here? That says $10? That meant I had to try the dress on to see what could be done about it. Turns out it pretty much fit perfectly everywhere else.


And there was a double ruffle going all the way around the neckline, so I could do some discriminate snipping, and use the extra to fill in that crazy vee.


It took a little bit of sticky stuff to keep the ruffle together while I sewed it in place, and it's a good thing it's ruffley, so I didn't have to have it all perfect and everything, but I was quite pleased with my $10 bargain dress + an hour or so of effort. And I already had the perfect accessories (bought on clearance another time, another place, of course!)


And just so you know I do smile. I just didn't think my head was going to be in that picture when I took it! Here's me and my sweetie at the wedding. Don't we coordinate nicely? :)

the buttercup bag

If you frequent sewing blogs at all, you've probably seen the free pattern for the buttercup bag, created by Rae of Made by Rae. I tried my hand at it a few months ago with a fat quarter I had laying around. I love the colors in this fabric, and hope that I can find more of it one day. I'd love to build a quilt around these colors!


This first go-round, I didn't have a magnetic snap, so I didn't use any kind of closure at all. Since I was using quilting weight cotton, the bag is pretty floppy. But pretty :) and it went together easily…I only stumbled when it came to sewing the liner to the outside…I have a very hard time getting this step right! Something about how my brain is trying to see the end result, instead of trusting the instructions and just going with it.


It eventually came out just fine. Though I wish I had used brown thread to do the top stitching. It's in the back of my mind to rip it all apart and do the brown one of these days. We'll see.


My mom thought the bag was kind of cute, so when I was visiting her recently, she picked out some fat quarters for me to make one for her. Thanks to this tutorial I found, I decided to attempt a zipper closure. And it really wasn't all that hard. I also added interfacing to the outer fabric so the bag had a bit more substance and didn't just flop everywhere like my attempt number one.



I even made a flower pin to dress it up a bit.


And that's about all I can think of to say about that. :)

how to make a quilt (jen style)

1. Browse crafty quilting blogs for months, looking for inspiration.
2. Drool over all the really amazing fabrics that are out there to choose from.
3. Decide that you must start making a quilt. today. right now.
4. Drive to the Wal-Mart in the next town, since there are NO fabric stores in your town, and you've heard this WM is nicer than the one in your town.
5. Search WM high and low for fabric.
6. Find none, as for some reason WM has gotten rid of it's fabric department.
7. Fume.
8. Head to Goodwill.
9. Get 4 or 5 100% cotton mens shirts and a bed sheet.
10. Make quilt!

Okay, so I did eventually drive to Columbia to get fabric for the back and the binding, but the front of this quilt is made from old shirts and pillowcases and a bed sheet! If I don't immediately follow through on a creative urge, it never gets done. Heck, even when I do follow through on a creative urge, if it's something that takes more than an afternoon, it often doesn't get done.

Enough about my process. I finally gave the quilt to my dear friend (whose baby is only a few weeks away from arriving!).

So I can share the pics with you :)

1. Choose your pattern. I decided on the a baby sized stacked coin quilt. Inspiration aplenty is on Flickr. There's also a tutorial from Moda.

2. Choose your fabrics. I didn't really follow any one tutorial or set of directions. Just used my graphic design "skills" and a bit of math to figure out how many pieces to cut how large. Mom & Dad weren't finding out ahead of time if it's a girl or boy, so I tried to go generic without going the pea green & sunshine yellow route.


3. As I found out later, it pays to be really, really precise in your cutting. For the most part, I did good. A few times, though, my pieces were too small. I thought I'd just do smaller seams to make up the difference. It was a pain. And nothing lined up, really. But I didn't mind. And I don't think the baby will, either.

4. Lay out your pieces, try to make it look random yet balanced, then take a picture. The picture helped me keep sewing things together in the right order.


5. Don't lose your glasses. I'm officially old enough to need them for sewing and sometimes reading. How did that happen?


6. Basting a baby-sized quilt wasn't so bad. Not sure how I'll do if I ever graduate to a full-sized quilt!


7. Quilt it! This was actually fun. I didn't even try to keep my lines straight. I think this is my favorite part of quilting…the texture that the actual quilting process gives to the blanket. I used clear thread, since my front was so light and my back was so dark. I didn't really want the thread color to be showing. Though I sometimes like that look. My walking foot was vital to this step.


8. The binding wasn't all that bad. I used Heather Bailey's tutorial for this. I'm not great at the hand sewing part of it, but hopefully I'll improve with time.


9. Hunt around for a cute quilt model. Good thing for me, I live with one!




10. You have a quilt! Now wrap it up and give it away!


So, from the first photo I took of my materials to the final photo of the finished quilt, it was 3 months and 10 days. Somewhere in there, you just may find yourself waiting to get the right materials/tools for part of the quilt (my walking foot), so you'll have time to make a matching bib.

more pretty rocks

My husband and i recently spent some time in Colorado Springs. He had a class to take for work, and it worked out for me to be able to be there with him. Colorado is one of those places I've wanted to visit for most of my life, but just hadn't made it yet. It's a stunningly beautiful part of the country and I'm so glad we got the chance to be there. I loved waking up and looking out the window to see Pike's Peak every morning (the non-cloudy mornings, anyway). Like this one.


It just so happened that some dear friends of mine were there at the same time (us from SC, them from Czech via NY…love the "coincidences" the Father arranges!) I got to spend some time with the whole family at the Garden of the gods…an open-to-the-public free city park with some truly jaw-dropping scenery. We mostly kept to the paths, but some of the rocks just asked to be climbed. Even when the sign said no.


One evening Dave & I drove through the park and took a "wrong turn." When we started heading back the way we meant to go, I found my favorite shot of the day: (go ahead and click on it…it looks better big!)

This next one made me think perhaps I had stepped into Narnia. That rock just needs Aslan to breathe on it and it will spring to life…


Always fun seeing what kind of lens flare you can get, shooting into the sun…


And even when surrounded with huge beautiful things, it always pays to keep an eye out for the small beautiful things…the little bits of beautiful the Creator scatters around.


Oh…and credit where credit is due: I've been playing around with some photo processing goodies I found here. The Narnia shot above uses her "Boost" and "Quick Edge Burn" actions. The rock climbing photos started with her Vintage action…tweaked into something different afterwards. Fun stuff that she's got done so I don't have to do all the niggly steps involved.

learning to be crafty

A couple of Christmases ago, my family gave me a sewing machine. I had discovered the world of crafty sewing blogs and was getting mildly obsessed with having my own machine to try out some of the tutorials I was finding.

Now that I am married and not punching a time clock 40 hours a week, I finally have time to pursue my crafty dreams. Some people could have handled the craftiness and a full time job, but not me. Not in my apartment with no clear surface areas! I now have an entire room to dedicate to all my creative making urges. The bummer is that I just happen to live in a town with not even one fabric or craft store.

There are tons of tutorials out there for making baby gifts. Quick to make, and using a minimum of fabric, baby gifts are a good way to learn some basic sewing skills…and it just so happens that babies are being born all over the place. It's not hard to find one who could use a few burp cloths & bibs. So that's where I started.


There's not all that much baby fabric out there that is non gender specific, so I just went looking for something pretty and not pink. I love green anyway…especially these springy limey brights. I have a few shirts in these colors. Too bad there wasn't much left over from the gift :)


The bibs were made with a pattern from the book bend-the-rules sewing by Amy Karol…one that I bought around the same time I got the sewing machine, as it seemed like it would be my kind of book…not too crazy technical, nicely designed and easy to read. I think I'm going to go back through it now that I'm actually doing more sewing and see what other projects she's got that I want to make.


I had fun with some decorative stitches on my machine and managed to come out with something I wasn't embarrassed to give away. And the mom says those burp cloths sure do come in handy. I'm just wondering about those bibs…the neck hole seems awfully small…

pretty rocks

Some quick favorites from my morning hike in the garden of the gods. I tried to set up a timer shot to get me in…you can see just how successful I was with that…the shadow shot will have to suffice :)

I'll have to visit again in the afternoon/evening to catch the light on the other side of the rocks. All around, a breathtakingly lovely place to be. Just wish there weren't so many people around!!

i wish you could smell these pictures

Green growing things on my deck. I took the first 4 pictures when I first planted my tomatoes & herbs…back in early May. I didn't really know what I was doing, but picked up a bunch of seedlings and some gravel & some potting soil and went to town. Two kinds of basil, some rosemary, some chives, and two different tomato plants. For the smell of the herbs alone, it is all worth it.

The sweet basil makes great pestos. The rosemary is amazing with roasted potatoes. The lemon basil has just about the best aroma ever. I put some into my iced tea sometimes, just for the smell.





A couple of months later, I've got grape tomatoes ripening, and the tomato plants have sprouted up above the deck railing. I'm hoping I actually get to eat some of these!!




and some fun sun flare, just for kicks.