I'm SEW crazy!

My organizing craze has hit a few walls. I thought I finished all of our rooms... then the kids decided to bump up a size in clothes. Lydia is just starting to head into 4t and Grayson is going into 18m. That means going through the totes, purging, reorganizing, giving away, and placing the keepers back into their designated totes in the attic. They don't normally hit a change in size at the same time so it's a bit overwhelming thinking about it. I'm thankful all of the clothes that are the next size up are already in totes in their closet.... that'll definitely help.

My room is still always needing a lot of attention. I need to get rid of our ginormous dresser that's taking up all of our closet space in a not so helpful way, the side tables that collect random things, and the desk that really is just a giant junk drawer that never gets used. That all can't really happen until I buy furniture better suited for our needs.... so its all on hold.

I started working on the closet in my living room. I think it's going to be a bit of an ongoing project. It's full of random crafty sewing stuff haphazardly stacked all on top of each other in such a way that I feel like i'm losing a game of Jenga whenever I go in there. I've definitely made progress, though, and I hope to eventually build some shelves in there when I'm through. Maybe it'll even get used as a coat closet again!

So... this is where all of my sewing and crafty things are ending up:

It's an old hutch that I found at goodwill and fell in love with! I have hopes of repainting it some wonderful, vibrant, new color eventually. Until then it will get some use!

It's currently stacked super full of fabric, but eventually I will have done so many projects that it'll be dwindled down enough to look a little more like this (my original inspiration!!) :

My only fear was that the space behind the sewing machine wouldn't be big enough for large projects... but I just made a quilt top without any issues and plenty of room to spare! My kitchen table is right in front of the hutch so I use that for all of my cutting and my ironing board is right next to that. It's like an instant sewing room whenever my dining room isn't in use for a meal! The clean up is super easy & I can even sew  something really quick when the kids are awake if I need to! My dining room looks pretty cluttered now, but my heart is too happy to really mind!

Seeing all of the fabrics laid out and so accessible has really inspired me to start sewing again! I've re-found the joy in it that I seem to have lost in all of the work it took to unload an entire closet to find something or to pull out the machine. Now I'm seeing endless projects that I want to do and I really feel like I can do them! It's a wonderful thing! Here's a few things I've made just this past week!

A skirt for Lydia... I made it so that it should fit her until 5t and I left some extra elastic in the band to let it out in the waist if I ever need to.

This is the top of Lydia's quilt I pieced together this week. I think I'll still make another boarder or so around it to make it a true twin size, but I LOVE how it turned out. Every picture I've tried to take makes it look a bit strange and like the colors don't match, but if you saw it in person... it's a whole other story! I just picked up the batting today, the binding is already cut, and I have the back piece all ready to go! 

This is a little crib size quilt I put together a LONG time ago. Back before I understood ANYTHING about quilting. It's horribly pieced together and bunched everywhere because I had to 'fix' so many mistakes. I didn't have the heart to throw it out, though, so I started finishing it up instead. I added some flannel to the back, some polyester batting I had around the house in between, and then I quickly 'stitch in the ditch' quilted it with my machine and quilted some flowers/hearts/stars in the large squares to help it look a little nicer. All I have to do is bind it now and it'll be done! It's not perfect, but I'm still glad I took a chance on keeping it around. It'll make a nice little quilt to take to the park without a care if it gets a stain or two.

I made this little dress for Lydia with some jersey knit fabric I found whilst going through the closet. It was a quick sew, but I found that I hate sewing jersey! My machine thinks it needs to eat it. Not so awesome.

I got the idea from pinterest and just altered the tutorial to fit my needs. Here's the link: 

Dolman style shirt

I went shopping today at Joanns & I let Lydia pick out a few things to sew with. We agreed on some pink pom pom edging for something (I'm thinking a dress!), cupcake shaped buttons that look good enough to eat, and spools and spools of lace trim I found for only $1/each! There was plenty of fabric I was dying to buy, but nothing I felt I couldn't live without. It's hard to buy more fabric when I have so much still waiting to be used at home. I have to be reasonable despite my crazy urge to run out of the store with arms full of lace, taffeta, and sequins! I did justify one purchase of fabric though...Before I had left the house to go to Joann's I was planning on buying some cute swim material to make Lydia's summer suit, but when I got there... they were all solids. Super lame. I guess if we want polka dots and cute vintage inspired prints then we'll be looking online! So no fabric was bought today! phew! I did make some unnecessary purchases if you want to call them that? Lydia left the store with two paint-able bird houses, two 'color your own' wind chimes, and a stack of stickers that we found in the $1 section. I always buy an extra so we can invite a friend. Why not if they're only $1? Such an easy insta-activity for a rainy day play date.

Here's what I did with a little bit of the lace trim we bought today:

It's a little 'puffy' skirt I made out of some yellow gingham. It's lined with muslin, gathered on the sides, and has 4 layers of purple, pink, and white lace on the bottom. It's a tiny bit wonky (it was hard to tell until it was on her), but with a few pins and stitches it will be just right! I was inspired by some cute 'southern bell' dresses I saw online the other day. It's very Easter-y and I hope I can find a little white shirt & dress it up to go with it for the big family Easter egg hunt! 

I'm not sure what I will do next... maybe a dress? I keep walking over to my desk intending on making a dress and always walk away with something different so who knows!

....and last but not least... ME! I took this super long- not so wonderful- never going to be worn- red scarf and tore it apart, sewed it, and made myself an infinity scarf! The striped shirt I found at goodwill, but it's one of those 'petite' style shirts & I'm a long wasted kind of girl... so I altered it to fit before I left the house today. I might as well add that the jeans and belt were also goodwill finds and the cardigan was an upcycle I did a while back too! I'm loving how 'acceptable' it is to be upcycling things now. My wallet is also very thankful :) I'll try to find the tutorial I used for the cardi, but it's really just cut down the middle & stitch!

I should probably apologize that all of my photos are horrible, yellow, and blurry because they were taken with an iphone...but it is just easier to grab than the nikon so you all will have to forgive me!