Valentine's cutie outfit

 Having a baby girl really gets me excited about sewing. I couldn't resist trying out Homemade by Jill's cute and easy tutorial to make an infant jean skirt out of a pair of old jeans. This was especially timely, because I have finally decided I am ready to clean out and donate and consign most of my old maternity clothes, but I am holding on to some items that really aren't fit to be donated or consigned but are perfect for re-purposing as baby clothes! What could be more fun than making an adorable jean skirt for my little girl out of scraps from old maternity jeans and a nursing tank :)

I thought it turned out so cute that I decided to applique a matching onesie. There's that Valentine's fabric again that I used for my table runner and Mom's Valentine's pillows. It's hard to see in the photos, but the fabric has the cutest sparkly hearts, so I just ironed on some Heat-n-Bond and cut out a few hearts and then ironed them on to the onesie and skirt and stiched around the edges with some hot pink thread.

This is a really easy and inexpensive project and can be adapted for any holiday. I'm already thinking I have the perfect gingerbread man fabric for Christmas. Maybe I'll do Shamrocks and Easter bunnies too :)

Valentine's Pillow Covers

When I got back into sewing, some of my first few successful projects were pillows. I kept sending my mom pictures of my finished work and she mentioned that she loves throw pillows. When Christmas rolled around I had a really hard time deciding what to get for her because although she loves lots of things and loves to shop, she tends to buy what she wants when she wants it, so I told her she was being enrolled in the "Throw Pillow for All Seasons Club." I started her with 2 pillow forms and these winter pillow covers. They are made from some nice, soft flannel. The snowflakes on the white cover are just appliqued on with heat-n-bond and then I stitched around them in white.

I told her there would be additional pillows for holidays and changes of season. So, now that she's received them, here are the Valentine's covers. I love the fabric, the hearts are all pink and red and sparkly!

And here they are in their new home :)

Next up will be spring!

Last minute Valentine's party

We have family in town this week and there's been a lot going on, so it's hard to schedule things, but I really wanted to get my FIL together with my relatives that stay nearby, so we decided to have everyone over tonight for pulled pork.

I love to entertain and decorate for the holidays, but since we didn't really have anything planned ahead, I had not bought a thing for Valentine's. Instead of stressing about it, or wishing I had sewn the Valentine's table runner I'd been dreaming about in my head, I decided to just pull together whatever I already had in the house and make a 30 minute Target run.

Luckily I had already bought a pork butt and put it in the Crock-Pot first thing, because we were planning to eat that tonight anyway, company or not. So, all I had to do was pull together some fast sides, decorations, and dessert. Fortunately, the pantry was already stocked with tortillas, black beans, and rice and there was cheese, sour cream, beer, and soda in the fridge. I even had some red and pink sprinkles for cupcake making.

I ended up grabbing a few things at Target and the grocery store and was able to whip up this cute table for my buffet (using a plastic tablecloth and the valentine fabric that I used for my mom's pillows.) I didn't even sew the table runner, just folded it under and stuck a vase and some plates on top of it.

The pork was delicious and everyone had fun :)