sponsor giveaway: the quilt shoppe

GIVEAWAY now CLOSED
the quilt shoppe has the sponsor giveaway slot this month. lani is the woman behind the quilt shoppe name. and she's been my longest sponsor. thank you lani for your sponsorship and not only that but the friendship that has evolved because of it. ;) she's good people and i'm super lucky to have her as a sponsor, but even luckier to call her a friend!
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my new design for a pillow

created just like my other pillows here and here, this is my way of designing exactly what i want for the look i'm going for.
oh but why am i making new slip covers do you ask?
this slip covered pillow was created ... *drum roll please*
for my new to me...
leather couch.
yes, remember when i whined talked about wanting leather couches and not being able to part with the money that i had saved up for it? hmmm? yes, well little miss heather emailed me right after that post and started flooding my email inbox with leather couches found on ksl classified.
and instantly with the first one she sent a link to, i fell in love, not just with the look (it's EXACTLY what i was looking for) but with the price as well.
yes, ladies i got that couch for $145.


if you knew me in person when i got my other couches (they were new 12 years ago) then you would know, and understand why, my nickname that my husband gave me for the the first 10 years of our marriage was "couch Nazi". i do not do well with "new and nice" things lets just leave it at that.

so this new to me couch may have a few cat scratches, and yes, it has been loved by two other families..but it's perfect for me. our family.
so heather, thank you so much, and my family thanks you too, because we got a nice enough couch, but not too nice that i start twitching every time the kids or the husband come within 4 feet of it.

come monday we will be having our monthly sponsored giveaway. trust me you'll want it.
have a good weekend.
we'll talk soon.

check out what's on sale and i want at burgundy buttons!

guest tutorial blogger: Mique of thirty handmade days

i'd like to introduce mique of thirty handmade days. we met while being on sytyc together and as we emailed back and forth we found out we have a LOT in common... we both grew up in the southern california (S.D.) area, and we both graduated around the same time from each others rivaling high schools...do you remember all the trash talking we used to do to about each others schools? no? me neither. i was just asking. we both understand the meaning of spending all day at the beach and eating REAL mexican food from a hole in the wall restaurant, and what a REAL fish taco should taste like. oh yes, get a couple of san diego girls talking about burritos, days at the beach,and wearing flip flops all year long, and you have this instant bond that others don't get unless you've spent some part of your life living a hop skip and a jump away from the border and the beach. mique, i'm excited to have you on here and even more excited to have you show your adorable tutorial you've made just for V and Co readers! take it away mique!:



I was beyond thrilled when Vanessa asked me to share a tutorial. Though it did shake me up a bit as to what to make (the queen of tutorials, asking me to share? yikes, no pressure). I've had a few ideas in my mind for awhile and when I saw the napkins I knew that I could create something for my daughter to wear.
Being in the LA area, we're lucky to have mostly sunny weather throughout the year (even in February!) But I think this shirt would look cute with a long sleeve white shirt under too; a little layered effect never hurt anyone right?

I saw a stack of cloth napkins on Clearance at Target for $1.74 for 4 and decided I could do something with them. Didn't anyone else see their hidden potential? Apparently not. Here's what I came up with:

What do you need?

1 sewing machine
1 iron
scissors
pins
water soluble pen
1 shirt as a guideline
(2) 20x20 cloth napkins
1/2 yd coordinating fabric
elastic cording or elastic
Buzz Lightyear cd player with creativity producing music (optional)

There is some variance in this tutorial-
my daughter is 8 and I was able to make one ruffly shirt with the above materials.
Ready? Let's go.


First, with napkins right sides facing and using the shirt as a guideline,
mark the armholes and neck. Cut.


Sew sides together with 1/8" seam allowance.
Use coordinating fabric to create bias tape
(or you can use pre-made bias tape).

Pin bias tape to the arm holes and sew to attach.


Change your stitch length to a basting stitch and
fold coordinating fabric in half, wrong sides together.
Baste along the edge to create a ruffle.

Pull the thread carefully to create a ruffle. Even it out along the way.

Match ends up and sew so you will have a ruffled circle now.

Pin the ruffle to the front of the shirt.
Set your stitch length back and sew to attach the ruffle.

Here's what it should look like now:


Next fold the hem under 1/2" and press.


Sew a straight stitch leaving a small hole to feed elastic cording.
For this shirt I used elastic cording but you could use regular elastic also.
Sometimes when I can't find my darn safety pin I improvise with a paper clip.
(now you know that I cheat)

Just tie it the end and thread your elastic through the hem.
Remember to leave a small hole and take the safety pin off (or paper clip)
then tie the ends of the elastic together.
Like so:

Making sure the elastic cording is tucked in, sew the final hole together.
Ta-da!

Mique Provost
www.thirtyhandmadedays.com

thank you so much mique!
i'm so in love with this and am already thinking up of some cute combination of fabrics i want to put aside for katie's shirts!
next week we have another guest blogger as well as a sponsored giveaway. fun stuff people fun stuff.


v and co loves her sponsors and welcomes newbie forever you!

comments closed

i should win best mom award for this

so last week at aprox 8:22 pm the night before the 2nd grade play (which my son was to be honey bee #2) i'm not kidding the kid comes up to me and says

second noise maker: "uh mom, i need a honey bee costume...for tomorrow's play."
okay keep in mind we live in a town of 500 people with NOTHING around us. i'm not joking when i say "middle of nowhere". the only thing that might remotely have something that could help me in this predicament would be our "grocery store" that closes every night at 7. yup aprox 1 hour and 22 minutes ago.
me: panic setting in "W-what? what do you mean you need a honey bee costume?"
second noise maker who's about to lose his life:" i'm a honey bee...and i need a costume. for the play. tomorrow."
me: laughing uncontrollably "no, you're kidding. did your dad make you say this?" not laughing anymore.
all eyes are now looking at the man i married who is silently laughing and trying really hard not to say anything. but can't hold back anymore says:
"come on honey you're crafty i'm sure you can whip something up.
by.tomorrow.morning. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
me: glaring "i don't need your help."
me back to the child who i gave birth to who is about to have it taken away by me as well: "uh, why didn't you tell me before now?"
the child:"i don't know? i didn't really know till now."
me: "likely story. go to bed. i'll be over here trying to figure something out."

and so i did. two wire hangers, hot glue, and some tights (which i kind of liked but had to sacrifice) created the wings.

and yeah okay so they look like i made them while smoking crack and drinking...but i wasn't i swear.
a t-shirt turned inside out and some black masking tape was made into his "body".
and you know what's even better? a lot of the teachers at the school read my blog. so they know i sew and am capable of "crafty" things. so this post is for you teachers who were looking at my kid that day and thinking "what in the...i thought she was crafty."

during the whole play all i could think was as i looked at the other honey bees "yup. that kid's parent had more notice than me...so did that one. aaaaaand that one too."


when i saw him afterwards (which he did a smashing good job at being honey bee #2 in-spite of my costume) i also saw his teacher and told her sorry about the costume we only had so and so many resources and blah de blah. you know what she said?
"well, we had extras we told him he could use but he wanted to wear yours."

*tears*
okay you can live a little longer honeybee.


v and co loves her sponsors and welcomes newbie kid giddy!

a big 'ol fat thank you

MARCH.
really? already?
okay fine then.
march is a good month for me.
it's my anniversary of marriage month.
it's my spring cleaning month.
it's my lets bring in color to my house month.

itching for change in the weather month.

i want to move furniture around, i want to change my walls. i want to make new quilts,
and i'm excited that maybe spring is so close and just around the corner.

are you ready for a new season?
so am i.

but first i have to say thanks.
not just to you guys that come and read my horrible grammatical mess of a blog and like it, but to the sponsors that make it possible to continue and progress in the blogging world,
AND to my guest bloggers that will, for the month of march, come and debut some fun tutorials for you all.
and last but not least...my family for seriously giving me so much material. (love you)

so to all of you.
thank you.

please say a big huge hello and thank you to my sponsors:
1.the quilt shoppe 2.*shey*[B] 3.fat quarter shop 4.terrace hill 5.the rusted chain 6. sanctuary arts 7.madison reece designs 8.green fairy quilts 9.maddy sunshine 10.made 11.burgandy buttons 12.what's your virtue 13. kid giddy 14.forever you 15. lil boo blue 16.lisa leonard designs
and of course:
blogher
amazon
and endless shoes and bags

we'll talk soon.
;)