suit coat upcycled to General's uniform

Recently, my three boys participated in a Living Timeline for school.  They each chose a historical figure, dressed as that person, and gave a short speech about their life.  18 kids or so were in the living timeline.  Oldest to youngest, my boys were Thomas Edison, Harry Houdini, and General Stonewall Jackson.

Since Edison and Houdini mostly wore dark suits, those costumes were easily taken care of.




For the General's uniform, I thrifted a grey men's suit coat to upcycle.  I shortened the sleeves and body.  The coat had gold buttons on it to begin with, so I removed them and saved them to use later.




I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of craft felt in half and sew the pieces end to end.  Then I sewed the yellow felt to the underside of the up-turned color.  Once I rearranged the gold buttons the coat looked like this:

Four of the buttons fell off during rehearsal, so I sewed on replacements, and another fell off during the performance.  I guess I need more work on my button sewing technique :)

I loved this opportunity to sew for one of my sons  :)

However, this project has made it painfully obvious that outside of piecing a quilt, my sewing skills are all but nonexistent.  I would like to change that, so I can sew more things for my family.  Perhaps even conquer my fear of sewing clothing  :)

i'm linking up to Show and Tell Tuesday, whoop whoop friday

Happy Groundhog Day!

Hello every one, I missed posting on Ground Hog day because of a migraine  :(
If you missed Phil's prediction, you can check it out here:




Are you familiar with Wild Olive blog?  If not, pop on over and check it out.  I'll wait.

Oh hi, you're back - what did you think?  I know, right?  :)   Mollie's blog is one of my favorite reads :)
When I saw her tutorial for a baby groundhog & shadow, I knew I had to make one!

in my usual last minute style, I didn't even get to start on my little Punxutawney Phil until Ground Hog Day Eve.

all over blogland, people are using minkie to back their quilts.  Never having sewn with the stuff myself, I was curious, and when Joann's had some of their version in the remnants bin it just had to come home with me.  It makes great Phil fur :)




Oh my, I'm over due for a manicure, I'll just tuck those fingernails out of sight, ok?  but Phil's tail is cute, right?  :)




I found it easier to turn the minkie-ish fabric under the needle to follow all of Phil's curves than other fabrics I have tried to make stuffed animals from.




Is that a minkie thing, or does my machine have PMS?

My machine has never skipped stitches before  :(




Here he is, my finished ground hog! :)




and here is a closer look at his butt and shadow  :)



I hope your Groundhog Day was fantastic, and enjoy your 6 more weeks of winter!

I'm partying at Show & Tell Tuesday,  You Flew, Crazy Mom,

ladybug picnic

I had a paper bag.  I kept all my quilting patterns in it.



It finally got too ripped up to use anymore.



So I sewed up a more durable replacement :)





Everything I used I had already in my stash, except the buttons.  They were so thick, I couldn't fit the bag, handle, and button all under the presser foot of my machine, so I had to sew them on by hand. 

Now all my patterns are neatly tucked away in their new picnic-y ladybug tote, perfect for summertime  :)  

{this project also represents more than a yard of long-time stash getting moved out and put to use - that makes me super happy!}
Linking up to Quilt Story, You Flew Tuesday, Show and Tell Tuesday, Freemotion by the River,
 

 

     

sharing my 'to-do' list

Just in case you don't already have enough quilting fun going on, I thought I'd share a little with you :)

This is a great excuse to help kids in your area



click here to join the fun exploring color.

and speaking of color



you should definately head over here if you love the colors of fall.

there are so many great things happening in blogland, I wish I could take part in them all.  But I've already got a long list of UFO's, and January isn't seeming that far away anymore ;)

On the Runway: High-Fashion for your Morning Coffee

Oh my, where are my manners?  I realized this weekend that I never showed the finished pics of the coffee cozy & mugrug sets I was working on.  ( if you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's ok. Look here & here to find out) So I decided to head down to my favorite coffee shop, pick up a couple cups of my favorite espresso drinks, and have a fashion show for you :)

First up is Caramel Way.  She is comfortably attired in a purple cozy adorned with stars and gold etching. 

{Caramel Way turns to the right} The cozy is fastened with a lovely button with a glimmer of gold amidst swirls of dark chocolate and coffee.

Caramel Way is standing on an approximately 6.5" square platform of randomly pieced strips of gold etched and opalescent fabrics with a mitered-corner binding.  Thank you Caramel Way {polite clapping}

Next we have Irish Kicker, who is wearing a cozy of shimmering hydrangea & raspberry print fabric.  The topstitching was done with a matching lilac colored thread that was swiped from the designer's mother, also a quilter {thanks Mom!}

{Irish Kicker turns} A lovely button made of natrual shell keeps this cup of coffee wrapped in luxury.  This cozy's elegant style makes transitioning from office to evening wear a breeze for fashion conscious coffee.

Irish Kicker is standing on an approximately 7" square platform made with a wholecltoh top and strip-pieced backing that was brought around front to bind.  It was quilted in wavy lines with the pilfered thread.  Thank you Irish Kicker {polite clapping}

Thank you for attending our fashion show today :)
Want to dress up your coffee?  I used the tutorial here.
I'm linking to Fresh Sewing at Lily's Quilts.  If you came here from there, Hi! Glad to have you for a visit!  If you didn't come here from there, I'm glad to have you visiting, too! :)  Have a great day everybody!

Now, back to the coffee talk

Yesterday I showed what I've done so far on a coffee cozy/mug rug set for my cousin.  Here is the set for my grandmother (still in progress):

That's the backing on the left, front on the right.  I've had a fat quarter of the Hydrangea & Raspberry print in my stash just waiting for the right project to show it off.  I don't think I would have ever thought to put Hydrangeas and Raspberries together, but it works somehow :)  The whole fabric has a shimmer that you can't see in the photo.  I'm planning to bring the backing around to the front to bind the mug rug.

I need to get a cup of coffee so we can have a fitting session before the button gets stitched.  Looks like tomorrow I'll be making a trip to my favorite coffee stand, Aroma Joe's  ;)

I. love. this. button.

I hope you are enjoying your stitching as much as I'm enjoying this project :)
Happy Springtime!
edited to say I am linking this post to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday.

This is what the best dressed cups of coffee are wearing ;)

I've been working on coffee cozys and mug rugs lately, one matching set for a cousin's birthday and another for my grandmother, just because.  I used a tutorial from house on hill road for the cozys, but did my own thing for the mug rugs.

This is the front of the mugrug for my cousin. I used Fairy Frosts and gold etched fabrics, and tried improv piecing for the first time.  It is still waiting for binding, but here is the back:

the finished coffee cozy:

I like this button bunches.  It is wonderfully sparkly and pretty, but my poor photo doesn't show it off well.

I have more to show you, but this post already has plenty of photos, so I'll leave the rest until another day.

Anyone for a cup of coffee?