Girl’s Sewing and Crafting Weekend Retreat

Breakfast & Tassels

Our girl’s weekend began Friday morning when I picked Misty-Jade up from the airport.  From there we found a wonderful breakfast at the Henhouse Cafe in Gilbert where many traditional foods are served with a Mexican flavor.  We shared a Santa Fe omelete and a lemon blueberry mascarpone pancake.  The food was awesome and followed by a short shopping trip to the mall.

Later in the day Gramma and Misty-Jade made tassels for her blanket and the DIY tree branch to decorate her bedroom while I began preparing fabric for our pillows. The chunky tassels are super easy to make, and directions can be found on many internet sites.  We used directions from Design Sponge.  The tree branch was spray painted white before attaching tassels.

Making Tassels

Orange, Blue, and White Tassels

DIY Home Decor made from a Tree Branch and Tassels

Marble Dipped Vases and a Blanket

Saturday morning Misty-Jade created marble-dipped vases.  It took a few tries to make it work, but the end result was perfect!  We did find that the nail polish will flake off, so we’ll see if we can find a sealant to spray on them.

DIY Marbleized Glass Vase

DIY Marble Dipped Glass Vase

Black, Gray, and White Nail Polish Floating in Water

After finishing the vases, we began working on the blanket.  One side was cut from navy blue fleece and the other was cut from white Shannon Cuddle fabric which feels very luxurious!   A monogram matching Misty-Jade’s bath towels was embroidered in the corner.  Then the tassels were tacked to the navy fleece before sewing both fabrics together to form a cozy blanket with just the right feel and weight.  I’m sure she’ll appreciate this blanket on cold, snowy Utah nights!

 

Cutting Blanket Fleece

Sewing Blanket Tassels

Blanket with Monogrammed M

Finished Blanket with Orange Monogram M

Finished Cuddle and Fleece Blanket

Blanket Made with Shannon Cuddle and Fleee

 

We ended our day with an outing to the Harkin’s Theater to see the “Lion King” followed by a swim in our pool.

Waffle Breakfast and Pillows

Sunday morning began with healthy Easy Oat Waffles.  We grind our own grains ensuring our flours are fresh.  One of my favorite sites for healthy and organic foods is Forks Over Knives.

The rest of the day was used for finishing the blanket and pillows.  My mom and I love pillows but have found that there’s not enough room to store all the different pillows for every season or holiday.  Envelope pillow cases solved that problem, so now we only have to change the pillow cases which are much easier to store.  The DIY directions by So Much Better With Age are super simple and easy to follow.  I also found a tutorial at sew4home that helps to maintain the square corners of the pillow.  You can see the difference in the corners of the beige pillow in the pictures.  Each pillow front was embroidered with a fall design before construction.  We’re making five more pillows before September with additional designs.

Black and White Gingham Harvest Time Pumpkin Pillow

Fall Bicycle Pillow in Red on Black and White Gingham

Harvest Time Pillow on Sparkly Home Decor Fabric

Pumpkin Embroidery

Relaxing and a Birthday Celebration

A girl’s weekend retreat would not be complete without relaxing, cooking, watching movies and just spending time together.

Relaxing on the Sofa

Birthday Cake

Our Completed Weekend Projects

All of our projects for the weekend!

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White Cuddle Rose Easter Bunny

2018 Sew Stitchery Expo

I took the beach house and headed up to Puyallup, WA a few weeks ago to attend the Sewing and Stitchery Expo.  The shopping was incredible, and there were way too many seminars to choose from!  I went home with a multitude of  patterns, tools, and ideas to keep me busy for a couple years:)

I’m in Love with the Bunny!

I fell in love with the purple cuddle rose rabbit that was sitting in the  Carol’s Zoo  booth.  The pattern was purchased, and I finished the rabbit a couple weeks ago.  The rabbit was made from Shannon cuddle rose fabric in snow white, and the eyes and nose were purchased from Carol’s Zoo.  They can also be purchased in bulk online.  Carol had made plastic templates of her patterns, so I bought the plastic at Joann’s thinking it would be easier to use than paper for tracing the patterns onto cuddle, minky and fur fabrics.

Cuddle Rose Fabric

Template Plastic Info

Plastic Rabbit Template

Seam Tool

Purple Rose Cuddle Rabbit

Carol’s Zoo Rabbit Pattern

The plastic templates were perfect and made tracing very easy.

Rabbit Pattern Tracing

Patterns on Fabric

Finding the Straight Grain on the Fabric

Cut Rabbit Pieces

A minky and cuddle workshop was offered at the expo where participants were given many helpful ideas for working with these fabrics.  Since the fabrics are slippery, the presenter suggested using lots of pins or clips.  I purchased a box of Clover’s Wonder Clips and was very pleased with them.  I probably over clipped the rabbit, but it didn’t slip while sewing.  After the rabbit was sewn together, it was stuffed with just enough fiber fill to give it shape, but loosely enough to cuddle with.  A yellow ribbon was chosen for Gymhawk colors, and it works for Easter too. The Easter card was made with my Silhouette Cameo.

Fabric with Wonder Clips

Front of Rabbit

Ready to Sew Front and Back Together

This Rabbit Needs some Stuffing!

This Bunny is Just Too Cute!

Easter Bunny and Card

Best Friends Forever!

The rabbit was shipped to its new home in Iowa and is now best friends with the most well loved green bunny.  Fourteen years ago the ER nurses gave the green rabbit to Misty-Jade after she broke her elbow.   The rabbit has been to every gymnastics meet since, traveled all over the country, and rescued several times after being left in stores.  She now has her own ID tag!   I only wish I could thank the nurses who gave the rabbit to her.  The rabbit helped Misty-Jade get through surgery, a year of physical therapy, and a change in gyms.

The Green Rabbit

Easter Bunny Arrives in Iowa

Good Luck Gifts for the Gymhawks!

My daughter, Misty-Jade, is a member of the University of Iowa gymnastics team.  Every year parents volunteer to support the team by sending Hawkeye Honey gifts  to the girls at each meet during the season.  The first year I sent a bag of goodies with things from or made in Oregon.  Last year Misty-Jade and I decided on cups with the team’s theme for the season.

2017 Hawkeye Honeys

This year she wanted me to machine embroider socks for each of the girls.  There was no way that was happening!  So, in the end she decided I should sew drawstring backpacks for everyone.  A couple weeks before she needed these, she found a pattern that worked perfectly for this project.  The directions can be found at Pockets full of Wonder.  We chose four different beautiful cotton fabrics made by Moda and Quilting Treasures.

Pressing and Pinning Seams

Completed Seams on the Backpacks

Drawstring Bags Ready for Logos and Cords

Drawstring Bag Seams Pinned

My original thought was to machine embroider the logo and 2018 team theme, but decided vinyl would be a better option.  I used Siser easy weed heat transfer vinyl and am very pleased with the results.

Gymhawk Bag on a Fun Cotton Print

Gymhawk Bag on Watercolor Fabric

Finished Gymhawks Drawstring Bag

Gymhawks Motto on Finished Bag

Peeling the Polyester Layer from the Logo

Gymhawks 2018 Vinyl Logo

Weeded Vinyl Logo Ready for Use

The last step was putting the cord through the top and loops at the bottom.  Misty-Jade filled the bags with St. Patricks items for good luck.

Finished Hawkeye Bags Ready to Mail.

Completed Gymhawk Drawstring Bag

Cording the Gymhawk Drawstring Bags

Paracord Ready for the Gymhawk Bags

Hawkeye Drawstring Bags

Last weekend the Gymhawks were at Rutgers for the Big 5 meet where they placed second and earned a spot in the evening session at the Big 10 meet.  They left for Illinois today and will compete Saturday at the Big 10 Championship!

Photo by Iowa Women’s Gymnastics