Old into new

I GOT THIS BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE CRAFTSMAN ROCKING CHAIR FROM MY SISTER!

**Double click on the pictures to enlarge**

after much elbow grease and refinisher, it looked like this.

With these tools I began to take off the leather,tacks and
Several layers of burlap and some kind of straw-like substance.

the chair had a nice set of springs in pretty good shape.
check out the 100 yrs. of dust!!!

I was very pleased to find out that there were finished slats

in the back! I will not cover over those.

I'll be back with more !

some cuteness

Thanks to some of my favorite blog sites and their fun patterns,

I've been sewing some cuteness!

This super soft frog was made with a free pattern from: Lilblueboo

I had fun with the tongue! Look close, it has dragonflies on it.

TIME'S FUN WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FLIES!!

This cute little chick hand puppet washcloth (Wow that's a mouthful) is one of my creations.

Having 2 grandsons ages 4yrs. and 9 weeks, I 'm thinking of Easter and wouldn't this look cute in Oliver's Easter Basket??

I just used 1/2 of a yellow cotton washcloth and some ribbon for the beak and wings and extra fabric for the eyes and in no time I had this little chick!

For this Hip, Hippie Onsie,

(Another Oliver gift) I diluted some acrylic paint, tied up the Onsie and dipped it into the paint.

I squeezed out the excess and made sure not to let the colors run together.

I let it hang dry and ironed it to set the colors.

Using the instructions from Homemadeby jill, I stenciled the PEACE sign in bright green paint.

You Guessed it!

Oliver needed a bib for his 1st. Valentines day and St. Patrick's day So....

Mimi made him a reversible one!

This little cutie was a FREE pattern from Beeper Bebe

It's so easy!

I made mine out of yellow minke fabric.

linked to get your craft on @Todays creative blog

Thanks mom

Socks Beautiful Socks!

I love the look of hand knit socks,

but the tiny yarn and 4 needles kept me

from knitting a pair of my own.

I made my mom this (sock sack) . It's for sock knitters!

find the tutorial here

and she made me these!! Aren't these beautiful?

THANKS MOM!

Heeeeere's Oliver!

I just wanted to welcome our newest family member.
Oliver Joseph Dixon, was born Jan 14, 2010 at a whopping 8 lbs and 20 inches long.
Baby, mommy,daddy and Big brother are doing well.
Here are a few pics.

Connor turns 4

Happy Birthday Connor!

It's been four years since our little man came into the world.

Once again, I was honored to be chief cakebaker. Connor wanted a golf cake, so....Mimi made a golf cake. Connor loves golf and has his own real set of lefties (only in golf though?) I took pictures of him a couple weeks before and chose two.

Here's how I did it:
The cake is two cake mixes--half chocolate half vanilla. Just mix each mix in separate bowls. Then, if you have a willing hubby, pour both mixes into your pan at the same time, and voila a perfect split. The decorating is the fun part.

I dyed coconut for the "rough," used green frosting for the"fairway," and green sugar for the"green." I poked a straw into the green to make the hole. Then I cut a piece of straw to go back in the hole to make the cup. I used one very small gum ball for the golf ball. The flags are all printed, laminated, and cut out. I glued them to sucker sticks. For the candles, I used four practice balls. My hubby drilled a hole in and I glued each to a tee, using white fimo clay to hold the candle in place. I printed the photos I took of Connor, laminated and cut them out, and selected one to put into place.

As you can see by the by the smile on his face, Connor loved it!

Some Projects, PDF and Patterns

Here are some of the things that I've been working on.

Sock Sacks

This Sock sack tutorial is from http://terryatkinson.typepad.com/

The original use is for holding yarn and needles while making socks. The small loops on top go around your wrists as you "knit away," but your yarn won't "get away." Sorry I couldn't help it. I made 2 out of 2 fat quarters! Just in reverse. Very quick, very fun.

Thanks Terry.

The big gulp cozy

I have made quite a few coffee cozies, but my daughter S. asked if I could make something to keep cold drinks from sweating as S. does not drink coffee. I came up with something like this only smaller. It's the same concept as a coffee cozy, but has terry on the back. S. then asked if I could make her friend one for a Big Gulp.

I have made a PDF but I can't get Blogger to accept it (hmmmfp)

Well here it is! Thanks for the help Christina!

http://sites.google.com/site/myblogtutorials/home/tutorials

These adorable bags are fat quarter friendly!

This free PDF http://thehappyzombie.com/blog/?p=368

for the Poochie Bag comes from the Happy Zombie.

The pattern is easy to read and easy to make.

Thanks Monica!

Manicure Kit

How about this neat Manicure kit cover as a Holiday gift for a teacher or friend?

go to get a free PDF download!

You can give it empty, or get some manicure items and fill it like I did. Quick, easy and fabulous!

Love the Alexander Henry Apples + Pears fabric.

Here is a Dear Rabbit.

I love Betz's cashmere bunny!
but I needed to changed up the pattern a bit, I added a tail (using the top half of the ear pattern I made a tail pattern. )I sewed everything so it could be given to a new- born, and not worry about things falling off. The bunny is made of soft Minke, the heart is suede, and the eyes and mouth are embroidery floss. I filled it with soft filling.

I got this pattern/Tutorial from http://blog.betzwhite.com/2007/03/cashmere-bunny-tutorial.html
Thank You Betz!

Here is one of my baby toys

You know the crinkle toys?
Well, I re-purposed that bag that is in the cereal box to make my own. I opened it up and wiped it clean and then cut a square 4x4 (same as the fabric squares).Then I cut 9 pieces of coordinating ribbon, folded each in half and pined to the right side of one piece of fabric, and sewed all around to secure. Then, I layered the 2 fabric squares' right sides together (ribbon facing in), pined the bag square to the top, and sewed the four sides--leaving a small hole to turn the project. Next I pressed the fabric, added a very small amount of batting, stitched up the opening and top stitched 2 rows. As a final touch, I added a teething ring.

She got it!

Now that S. has received her gifts, I will post them. She and A. were in need of a table cloth so...we (S. and I) went to Joann fabric and she decided on 4 different fabrics. I decided to make 4 tablecloths...well 2 double sided.They only took 45 min. each! Pretty quick and easy. 36x36. With the left over fab. I made 8 coasters double sided too. The zippered bag of last post was made from the scraps.