May 2015 Mystery Challenge: People and Moments Throughout History: Frank Lloyd Wright

Welcome to another round of our Mystery Challenge! "People and Moments Throughout History" 

I was given:

Frank Lloyd Wright

A little bit about the challenge: If you haven't seen or heard about it before, a bunch of crafty bloggers get together and swap 'ideas'. Mostly it is 'round robin' style. We bloggers create something inspired by that idea and then blog about the creations during a blog tour! Check out the last round: February Mystery Challenge Round Up over at Friends Stitched Together.

I have had so much fun on the last 2 challenges in which I participated! I am glad we decided to increase the frequency of their occurrence. This is what I have done in the past.
February Challenge: Black and White
August Challenge: Cover-Up


My Challenge:

I was given the challenge of Frank Lloyd Wright. And boy what a challenge that was! I kept bouncing around with a pillow, modge podge coasters, clothes, paper piecing... I could not decide! But then I thought about self-care sewing, my capsule wardrobe, and the fact that it is May! My birthday and Mother's Day occur this month and it is the perfect opportunity to sew up those pieces I am missing.

1. I need a skirt to trade out for a dress that I will not wear. I wanted a khaki pencil skirt. But the Knit Pencil Skirt by Jocole was perfect and I already had fabric in my hoard stash supplies! Score! There was an extra bonus of the pattern being half off about a month ago! Love those little extra surprises!

2. I thought about creating a whole new wardrobe and fit in along the lines of Frank Lloyd Wright's time era. but I needed to fit in that pencil skirt idea! Enter the Jocole Peplum! More fabric from my stash, and it was a super light weight jersey knit. Perfect for our hot summers.

Several places said the peplum came around, and the pencil skirt started to be more of what it is today, around the 40's. It fits... Right? It's in the end of Wright's time... I'll go with that. :)

Detail!

I created a freezer paper stencil repeat inspired by the design on the gate and windows of Wright's Robie House. I added the stencil around the bottom by the hem of the skirt, just enough to add interest, but not to over whelming or over powering. subtle. plus I can carry this over to the next season! Yay, silhouette!

On the top, I was going to do an emblem, or something along the bottom... but it just wasn't talking to me, so I just left it.  I had a hard time between purple and white and decided to go with purple. I really haven't felt well these last couple weeks with this on and off again sickness. I haven't had much energy for anything... But, Little man says it looks good on me. :) That always lifts a moma's spirits!

Seriously, so much fun. And... such a challenge. I love it! It's great to push the mind to see what it can create!

Come back so you can check out all the awesome bloggers who have joined us on this challenge! everyday for the next 2 weeks we are sharing our incredible projects around these ideas and themes.

5/25│ The Berry Bunch - Frank Lloyd Wright │ Sew Not Perfect - Lucille Ball, I Love Lucy

5/26 │ Create 3.5 - George Sand

5/27│ Zoe and Ted - Suffragetes

5/28│ House of Estrela - Woodstock/Fall of the Berlin Wall  │ Pen Seb Rox - Piet Mondriaan

5/29│ Friends Stitched Together - Impressionist Movement │ Wining Wife - Judgement of Paris

5/30│ Super Stay at Home Mommy - Madame Tussaud │ Keep Calm and Carrion - Jackie Kennedy  │ Gloria June - Florence Nightingale

5/31│ Sofilantjes - Andy Warhol │ Busy Little Bee - Marie Antoinette │ Amanda Rose - March 9, 1959 Barbie

6/1│ Pienkel - Bianca Jagger │ Huisje Boompje Boefjes - Anne Frank

6/2│ Taking it Up a Notch - Queen Victoria │ Amazing Adventures with Bubba and Bug - 1964 New York World Fair │  Kelly's Sewing Creations - Steampunk Mary Queen of Scots

6/3│ Mae & K - Tesla │ Pretty Little Blog - Moon Landing │ Knot Sew Normal - Lutie Eugenia Sterns

6/4│ Sew Starly - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II │ Hibbadoray - Amelia Earhart │ Sew Far North - Countess Markievicz (1868-1927)

6/5│ Made By Sara - John Dillinger/Roaring 20's │ Friends Stitched Together - Prohibition/Roaring 20's

6/6│ Country Bella - 1900's World's Fair/Art Nouveau │ Lulu and Celeste - Rosie the Riveter

6/7│Sew Domesticated - 1960's/Civil Rights Movement │ Rebel and Malice - French Revolution/Joan of Arch │ The Fabric Hoarder - Gypsies

And one more picture for the road. At the end of the day I was so happy to be wearing this outfit. so comfy!

So what do you think? Did I meet the challenge well?

August Mystery Challenge: Cover Up

Did you see the challenge I did last month? We swapped a yard of fabric and had to create something from it. If you missed that post, you can check it out here! This month it was an idea that we swapped, fun!!

My Theme is Cover Up. So I did a hooded towel for little man! My first time sewing with terry cloth, and my first time using the serger that my mom gave me! I wont lie. It took me forever to thread the darn thing. Then it took a while to figure out how to get a seam. Once I got the hang of it, it was fun. I did learn that you cannot get 4 layers of terry cloth through the serger. Just in case you were wondering...

So thankful for the ladies putting this together. I would not have attempted this without the little push!

I gave Ula over at Lulu and Celeste the theme of morpho butterfly/rainforest.

I got my idea from Irene over at Sugaridoo. You should check out her Shop on Craftsy, I love her amigurumi patterns! So cute!

I knew what I wanted to do the moment I got the theme from Irene. I have been meaning to make little man some new hooded towels because he loves his hooded towels, but he has outgrown all the baby ones which is most of them! They really should make those baby ones a little bit bigger.

I bought 3 pretty decent sized bath towels from Walmart. There were only a little over $2 per towel. Not bad when considering a hooded towel is about 2-3 times as much.

I used one towel to cut out the hood and a contrasting towel for the spikes. I cut the other towel in half and sewed it back together with the spikes... I was going to stuff those spikes with poly-fil, but hubby thought that would be a little silly for just a towel. so, no stuffing. The colors... Nikolai picked out the colors. I didn't even realize they were kind of Christmas-y until putting them in the washing machine. I love it. :)

I just used my triangle ruler for the spikes, but took them in at the bottom so they were kind of like a jewel shape. it was fun sewing them together using the serger. I had to go back over some of the seams so many times. But I still think they turned out cute. Little man says it looks like a stegosaurus. So stegosaurus towel it is.

and so proud of my first time serging!

And one more... I think this picture is one of my favorites!

We had to hurry, this thunderstorm cloud was moving in! I love desert monsoons!

Don't forget to check out these other lovely ladies and what they came up with for their mystery theme!

Friends Stitched Together - History of Flight - 8/17

Felt with Love Designs - Under the Sea - 8/18

Knot Sew Normal - Fruit - 8/19

Friends Stitched Together - My Little Pony - 8/20

The Berry Bunch - Cover Up - 8/21

Pensebrox - Titanic - 8/22

Tangible Pursuits - London Dapper - 8/23

Rebel and Malice - Disco - 8/24

Sewing Sober - Espionage - 8/25

Sugaridoo - Musical Instruments - 8/26

Lulu and Celeste - Morpho Butterfly/Rainforest - 8/27

Paisley Roots - Classic Summer Movies - 8/28

Create 3.5 - Morocco - 8/29

Mae&K - Solar System - 8/30

The Sewing Sparrow - Safari - 8/31

Happy Sewing!

Why I Sew: It's My Meditation and Some of my History

Some awesome bloggers have put together a series stating the reasons why they sew and GYCT has a linky party for others to join in with their stories as well. It's some pretty amazing things, these wonderful women and their reasonings behind why they sew. 

I know I have shared, at times, why I sew. It is relaxing for me. It is my stress and anxiety reliever. But I guess now I will provide with a bit of background.

I made my first outfit when I was younger. It was for girl scouts. I don't remember much about it, but I still have the pattern, folded, in the tiny envelope, with the rest of my paper patterns...

Simplicity 8953 *affiliate* pattern copyright dated 1994

Skip ahead several years and I wanted to quilt. My inspiration? My great-grandmother's quilt.

1930's fabric, completed (?) 1950's

So, my mom enrolled me in a quilting class with her at a local fabric shop (which is now closed! The horror!), and I sewed up my first quilt!

My first quilt, 2006

I learned so much from that class. And I have leaned so much since then. I attempted 1 shirt and 2 dresses for me, 2 dresses for a friend and felt that I failed miserably. Here was one I wore to a friends wedding.

B4919 Butterick *affiliate* retro '52 sewn in 2007

Then I sewed up Nikolai's Quilt and then the 2012 Craftsy BOM, Not to mention the numerous clothes I have sewn up since November when I really starting sewing clothes again.

I love sewing clothes for my kids. I love that I can make them something that is purposeful.

I even have branched out to bags! And those are so fun!

But really, I love the sound of the machine. I love the listening to it whir. I get lost in creation, in the noise and the focus that it takes to take pieces of fabric and turn it into something amazing! I find it incredible relaxing and an amazing stress reliever.

I discovered these last few months that I almost need to sew. I was sick a few months back, the kids were sick and I wasn't able to take the time behind my machine with my foot on the petal to listen to the mechanical workings of the cam and gears. I was lost. I was stressed. I was pent up and frustrated. Once I was able to sew I relaxed and felt calmer. It was amazing.

Why do I sew? To relax, to calm down. It is my meditation.

Why do you sew/craft/create?

Don't forget to head over to GYCT's a linky party to see who is contributing and those that were in the blog tour! :)

Happy New Year, Welcome 2014!

Wow! Cannot believe that it is 2014! Just, Wow!

Hope that you, readers, had a fantastic holiday! Ours was way crazy as usual! I was busy sewing up some homemade gifts up until last minute. Is there any other way?

Here are some of the things that I made...

Pajama Eater pattern by Sew Fearless... The middle one is a sock monkey!

Cloth Monster Bookmarks - 3 total

It was a busy time, though enjoyed with family. :)

I do look forward to this new year though! So far I plan on continuing with the Virtual Book Club for Kids! I still think Nikolai enjoys the books and activities. Just reading together is fun!

I am preparing a post for this fun sew along hosted by RaeAnna of Sewing Mama RaeAnna and Veronica of SewVery. You can look for the post on the 16th of January! :) Eeek, I am so excited! :)

All the lovelies are going to have some wonderful projects for you, so don't forget to check them out too on the week of the 13th-17th! :)

Sew Like My Mom

Get Your Crap Together
Kid Approved
Shaffer Sisters
Welcome to the Mouse House
Paisley Roots
House of Estrela
Ali Cat & Co.
Climbing the Willow
Handmade Martini
RanaMamaDesign 

Also, I have started the planning for what I am going to sew up for the Kids Clothes Week the last week in January! Ambitious? I think so, but then you have to start somewhere right? It's mostly 6-9 month stuff for Samara. You know, because I don't like to do laundry and try to push it to at least once a week. Oh, and a couple more pants for Nikolai.

At least planning means I might be more likely to accomplish some of it. At least, that is, if I can get to the store and pick up some more thread (I just cannot bring myself to use variegated thread, or my thread already set aside for quilting, on clothes)...

What's funny, is that aside from a few things, most of these patterns are Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop patterns! (affiliate link)

I also have a pattern test to show off once the pattern is released! Also from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop. (affiliate link)

I am very excited about this upcoming month and I am sure hoping that the rest of the year comes in pretty similarly.

Little Man's 3-Year Dinosaur Birthday Party

I cannot believe that my little man is now three years old! Crazy!

Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop's Classic Polo (affiliate link) Repurposed from an old shirt and fabric!

We celebrated with a dinosaur cake, a '3' on his shirt using dinosaur printed flannel, and making hand-print stegosaurus' with family and friends! What more could a 3-year-old ask for in a birthday party? I don't know, but I do know that my little man had fun!

I cut triangles from felt for the kids to use as the back plates. I think it added a neat texture element to their hand-prints. :)

cousin's looked awesome using the triangles to create a tail!

name letters tutorial here.

The chickens seemed to be a main attraction! :)

Pants were pattern flip blogged about here.

Images cut with cricut, pressed into frosting to imprint, then outlined with frosting... Love how it turned out! Brandon does such a great job!

I think he was a little embarrassed 

My sister-in-law took the pictures! She does such a good job! :)

*affiliate link

Now to start planning Samara's first birthday... Only 7 months to go! :) Hahah, right...

Until next time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!