As many of you know I have been part of the Curves Complete program for the past month. I have been very happy with it and have been blessed to find such a supportive group of women.

The Curves club that I belong to will be participating in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides walk in May. As one of their fundraisers they are having an auction of donated items. Since I have been making dolls lately I decided to make a pink doll to donate to their auction. I based it on the Simplicity Raggedy Ann pattern that I used here. I wanted to do this to show my appreciation to Curves for the help and support they have given to me and to help support breast cancer research.

I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone to please, please, please stay current on your mamograms and to do monthly self breast exams.

I enjoy visiting other blogs for a number of reasons.  I visit other blogs to learn new craft techniques, parenting advice, tutorials, recipes and inspiration to just name a few.  One thing that I noticed when I visit other blogs is that most of them have these cute little buttons that I can cut-and-paste onto my blog.  My readers can then just click on this button and view some of the blogs that I also enjoy reading.  I always thought that this was great and I wanted one for my blog so I put it on my list of “Things To Do”.

When I was visiting Happy Hour Projects I was so excited to see that Adrianne posted a tutorial on Making A Grab-able Button.  I didn’t have time to try her tutorial when I first read about it but it was something that I definately wanted to come back to.  I am now happy to say that I can now finally cross “getting a blog button” off of my “Things To Do” list.  I sat down tonight to work on it and I was amazed at how easy it was!  I was able to make my button on the first attempt by following Adrianne’s tutorial.

I am planning on starting a Linky Party in the next few weeks and I was able to create a grab-able button for that tonight as well.  I am also planning on doing a weekly Knit Night so that everyone can post about their current knitting projects, completed projects, knitting problems or knitting triumphs.  Yes, you guessed it, I already made a button for that too!

So, thank you to Adrianne for such a wonderful tutorial.  I hope that everyone continues to come back and visit me and please feel free to join my Linky Parties.  I will post as soon as I get them up and running.  In the meantime, feel free to grab my new button in my sidebar if you would like to place it on your blog.

I recently  casted on some new yarn on my needles to make a bellydance hip scarf.  Sometimes when I bellydance I like to where a hip scarf but I don’t always like the noise the coins on the hip scarf make.  I figured that this would be the perfect opportunity to combine both my hobby of knitting and that of bellydancing.

I loaded the boys into the car and we headed off to one of my favorite LYS (local yarn store).  It is one of my favorites for many reasons but one of the biggest reasons is that the owner keeps a toy box there for kids.  She lets the boys bring their toys back by the counter in the open knitting area and I can shop, keep an eye on them and also have them occupied while I am deciding on my yarns.  The boys were all too happy to go with me when I told them which LYS we were going to.

She had so many pretty yarns that it was hard to make up my mind.  I finally decided to combine a mohair and a thin carry-along yarn with sequins on it.  One of the women that work there wanted to see my final choice and when I showed it to her she suggested adding a third yarn for a little more color and she even showed me which one.  It ended up being the perfect blend of colors.  My pictures do not do the yarn colors justice but they are a nice bright blend of greens, bright pinks, turquoise and yellows.

I decided to make a triangle shaped hip scarf.  The hardest part when starting out was the needle size.  I didn’t want the stitches to be tight and small and look like a Winter scarf.  I wanted them to be light, airy and lacey looking.  I found some fantastic lace shawl patterns that would have made beautful hip scarfs but  just didn’t have the time for a project that size.  In the end, I decided on the swatch that I had done with the US19 (15.0 mm) needles.

I casted on 3 stitches and then increased at the beginning of each row.  I will just continue knitting in that pattern until the hip scarf is the length that I need.  Once I am finished with the knitting I am going to take the hip scarf to the fabric store for some trim.  While I was at the fabric store one day I came across some beautiful beaded trim in colors that would match my hip scarf perfectly.  Since I am not sure what the finished size is going to be I decided to wait to purchase the trim until the scarf is finished.  I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I finish the hip scarf.

So far, this is what I have completed.

I have a ways to go with  it yet but if I can set aside a little time each evening to knit it, I should have it done soon.

I just finished week 3 of the Curves Complete weight loss plan.  I lost 4 lbs this week!  Yea!!  That is a total of 7 lbs so far!  I am so happy.  I have been working out at Curves at least 4 times a week but usually more than that.

I was concerned about the meal plan but it has been great.  They really teach you how to combine your starches, proteins, dairy, nuts, veggies and fruits.  The plan is very flexible and I am able to exchange foods that I don’t like for foods that I do like.  Overall I am not hungry inbetween meals and have such a better understanding on how to combine my foods.

When I get home from exercising I watch my Curves daily video for the day and it gives me more encouragement.

I am so excited that I finally found something that works.  I highly recommend this program.  I really enjoy the support of the other women at the club too.  It is a very supportive environment.  This stay-at-home mom also likes the chance to get out and socialize a bit too, even if I’m exercising.

I’m looking forward to this week and losing some more weight!

On one of my many visits to Pinterest I found this great lunch bag tutorial at the Pink Penguin. I cannot begin to tell you how great this tutorial is to follow.  Each step was very clearly stated and had a picture to go along with the instructions.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was for me to cruise through this pattern.  I didn’t really see what time it was when I started this project but the project seemed to take me between 2-3 hours to complete from start to finish.

I was really excited about trying to sew this bag because I thought that it was so cute!  I used Duck fabric for the bottom portion of the bag which I found on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby.  I only needed 1/2 yd so it ended up only costing me $2.00 for the fabric.  I still have enough left over of the Duck fabric to make another one.  I was able to use fabric from my stash for the rest of the bag, I used ribbon that I had in my stash for the cording and I even had some Decor Bond on hand too.

It was sort of late when I started this project but I originally was just going to cut out the fabric.  I really liked how the fabric pieces looked toether so I decided to start the bag.  Then I got so far into it that I just stayed up and finished it.  I was tired by then, and it was late, but it was sure worth it.

The tutorial calls for fabric in the following sizes:

Outer Bag: Two 9″ x 12 1/2″

Lining:  Two 9″ x 12 1/2″

Cover:  Two 8″ x 12 1/2″

Outer Handle: Two 2″x12″

Inner Handle:  Two 2″x12″

Rim:  Four 2 1/4″ x 12 1/2″

If you use Duck fabric you do not need to use a fusible interfacing but if you use a quilting weight cotton you will need the interfacing.  She suggests Pellon 809 Decor Bond.  I had Decor Bond so I just used that.  You will need it for the Outer Bag and two of the Rim pieces.  I used Duck fabric for the outer bag but I used cotton for the rim so I used the Decor Bond on the rim.

In the picture above are the fabrics that I used to make my lunch bag except for the outer handles because I forgot to cut those out.  I did realize it though when I got to that step!  The pink and black fabric is the Duck fabric.  The rest is cotton.

I was doing well on the first few steps but I became concerned when I reached the step to box the corners.  At first it seemed like I was cutting off too much of the bag but it ended up being correct.  I actually liked the way these boxed corners came out.

Then came the handles.

The handles and the rim are next.

I have to admit that I was definately intimidated by doing this step but the instructions were so clear and simple that I just took my time and breezed right through it.

The bottom pieces go together in the next.

Then the rim piece is attached along with the cover and you now have yourself a new lunch bag!

Side view.

I will probably use my lunch bag as my new yarn bag.

I hope that you enjoy making this project as much as I did!

Please stop by and visit the lunch tote and other great projects at these parties:

I have been busy this week organizing my handmade items to stock my Etsy shop, Firehouse Crafts Store.  I should have stock in the store within the next few days so please feel free to stop by my shop and see how things are progressing.  I currently am stocking it with some environmentally friendly items.

I posted my first item in the shop today and it is a set of reusable produce bags.  There are 3 rectangle bags and 1 long bag along with a little sack to carry them in.  I use mine all the time when I go grocery shopping for my produce and I am always receiving compliments.  It feels nice to be using bags that I don’t have to throw away after I unpack the groceries.

 I will also be carrying reusable grocery bags in various sizes.  I started making these last year in an effort to cut down on how many plastic grocery bags I was bringing home.

There are also going to be reusable drawstring gift bags for sale.  These little bags are so great for gift giving as they can also be used as part of the gift.  I tend to be a last minute gift-wrapper so I used to keep a lot of the paper gift bags on hand.  After awhile they were just getting to be so expensive.  I would re-use gift bags that I received but it seemed like they were either not the right size or not the right occassion/print on the bag.  It’s so handy to have a variety of sizes of the fabric reusable gift bags on hand.  I have some birthday themed bags, dinosaur bags and cupcake bags.  Since they are made of fabric they can accomodate even items that are odd shapes and otherwise difficult to wrap.  I seem to get a lot of compliments on these bags too.  Especially from some of the moms at birthday parties my kids have been invited to attend.  They like how simple it is and that it can be used as part of the gift.

I also have some gift bags that just tie and are not drawstrings.

 Finally, I will be having some rag dolls available.  I am still working on those but plan on having some in my shop within the next couple of weeks.  Please feel free to stop by and see what you think!

The other day I began making the doll pattern that I purchased from Oh Sew Dollin.  I posted about creating the doll’s face here.  Today I was finally able to get back to it and finish the doll.

I started out by sewing on her arms and legs.

Once she was put together I sewed her bloomers.  They were very easy to sew and assemble.

After my doll had her bloomers on I sewed her dress.  However, when I had cut out all of my fabric for the doll and her dress last week I failed to pay close enough attention to the pattern.  There were pattern pieces that indicated “Cut 2″ on them and that was no problem.  One cut with the fabric folded and I was good to go.  However, the two pieces for the dress indicated that they needed to be cut on the fold and to “Cut 2″.  I was so used to having the fabric folded in half and only having to cut out one pattern piece in order to end up with two pieces that I forgot, when you cut on the fold, you have to pin it twice and cut it twice to get two pieces.  I had used the dress fabric from my Raggedy Ann doll to make this doll’s dress.  I had just enough.  When I realized that I had not cut out enough pieces, I did not have enough fabric left to cut out two more dress pieces.  Since I had already sewn the front half of the dress and since the doll was just for me I decided, in an effort to save some time, to just make the back of the dress with different fabric.  So, my doll has a green dress front and a yellow dress back.  It’s ok.  It sort of looks like a patchwork dress.

The pattern pieces in this pattern were very simple and the directions were easy to follow.  I just love these little dolls that come out so happy looking!  I think that I will keep her in my sewing room.

In the end I was very happy with my doll, even in spite of her two-tone dress.  It just makes her unique

Today was a crazy busy day.  After Church this morning I really needed to get to the grocery store.  Tom stayed home with the boys so that I could have a little time to myself and be able to get the grocery shopping done quicker.

 When I arrived home from the grocery store I heard the boys playing in the backyard with Daddy.  By the joyful screams I figured that something really fun must be going on.  I went into the back yard to check things out and found the boys helping Daddy dig up an old tree that didn’t make it through the Winter.  Only Daddy couldn’t do much work at that point because the boys were too busy digging in the hole around the tree for earthworms.

I’m not sure if they ever even saw an earthworm before today but when they saw it today they were super excited.  At that point, they each already had a large plastic baggie which they were quickly filling with dirt and earthworms.

I told them that worms are used in fishing and that Papa would like to take them fishing this summer.  The screams of joy must have been heard down the street!  Gabriel made sure to tell me that I was going to need to add earthworms to my shopping list.  I said No!  I explained to him that Papa would buy the earthworms at a bait and tackle store.  He still wanted me to add the earthworms to my shopping list anyhow so that Papa would not forget to buy them.

Matthew was walking around with a clump of dirt in his hands with a big earthworm sticking out of it.  He was walking around telling us that the earthworm was his friend.  Gabriel tried to be helpful by putting the clump of dirt, along with the earthworm, into Matthew’s plastic bag for him.  Matthew didn’t think that was very helpful and proceeded to stand their crying and asking where his friend went.  We then had to dig through the bag looking for his friend the earthworm.  Fortunately, he became distracted when Gabriel found an even bigger earthworm by the tree.

For some reason Matthew did not want to touch the earthworms.  He would pick up the clumps of dirt that had the worms in them and then carry the clumps of dirt.  Gabriel, much to my surprise, loved picking up the worms.  Personally, I was pretty grossed out but I do remember doing stuff like that as a child.  I guess I outgrew it.  Anyhow, everytime Gabriel would pick up an earthworm Matthew would start shrieking because he didn’t want to pick it up, didn’t want Gabriel to stick it by him and he simply just did not like it squirming around Gabriel’s fingers and he wanted Gabriel to put it down.  Other than that the boys had a real blast playing with those earthworms.  Needless to say, they both needed baths before we ate dinner!

I have a feeling that this is going to be a very long and dirt-filled summer!

I recently purchased a cloth doll pattern the other day from Oh Sew Dollin on Etsy. It was just the cutest little doll. Today I finally had a little bit of time to myself so I started the doll. I sewed the doll’s body, arms and legs. The pattern calls for part of the face to be painted on and the shoes and leg stripes to be painted on the doll. I have only painted the face on the Raggedy Ann doll I made so this was going to be a lot of painting for me.

I stopped to the craft store and purchased 2oz bottles of American Acrylic Paint by Deco Art, some paintbrushes and a round stenciling sponge brush. The paint brushes that I had were too thick for this little doll but I found a good price on a package at the local craft store.

After the boys went to bed I set up my supplies and got started. I started by painting the shoes. On the first leg I started with one side and then the bottom of the shoe. I quickly realized that I should have painted the shoe’s strap and along the edges of the top of the foot first. If I would have done it that way then I could have placed the bottom of the foot down on the table for support while I painted the more detailed areas. When I did the second leg I did the detail work first and painted the wider sections of the foot’s bottom and side last. That worked out much better. I set each leg in a tall cup with the foot side up so that the paint would dry without smudging.

I started on the face by first doing the embroidery portions. Once the embroidery was done I painted on the eyes and I was happy with them. I just have to add a little white spot to them once the paint dries.  Then came the blush on the cheeks. I used a tiny round stenciling sponge brush for the blush circles on her cheecks. Even though I dabbed off the excess paint from the sponge brush it was still too dark. Now my doll looks like she has clown cheeks. I tried to fix them and lighten them up but all I did was succeed in making them larger. According to the pattern I need to use a lightweight sandpaper and sand all the painted areas lightly once the paint is dry. I hope that helps tone them down a bit. I thought about adding a bit of white to the cheeks while they were still wet but I was afraid that I would make them even worse so I just left it alone.

Once the face was completed all I had left to do was to paint the stripes on the legs.  I took a narrow piece of paper and wrapped it around the doll’s leg and traced the top of it and continued to do that all of the way up the leg to make stripes.

I used my red paint and I painted every other stripe.  My painting is not the best and I was already not happy after I made the cheeks too dark but the legs didn’t turn out too bad.  They have an antique look to them.  The shoes were almost dry by that point and they looked real nice.

I now have everything drying so that tomorrow I can sand the paint and put my doll together.  I was hoping to make her dress tonight but I’m not sure if I will have time.  That may just have to be a project for tomorrow.

When I was making my Raggedy Ann doll I tried several different methods to attach the hair and I finally found one that worked for me.  It still needs a bit of tweaking in the length but I was happy with the method itself.  I thought that I would share it with you.

I started out by wrapping my yarn around a book.  I made sure that each wrap of yarn was right up against the one before it but I did not overlap them.  The book I used was about 5″x7″.  The size happened to work out for me but in the future I think that I will measure the doll’s head ear to ear, or slightly below, and then use a book about that length.  The width of the book depends on the length of hair that you want.  I did my doll’s hair in shorter layers.

I then placed painter’s tape on the yarn.  I placed one piece on each side of the book and slid my hand acrossed it to make sure that it grabbed each piece of yarn.

Once the painter’s tape was secure I cut the yarn ends on the opposite side from the painter’s tape.

Once the yarn was cut I very carefully removed the yarn from the book.  I removed it slowly because I found that sometimes the painter’s tape sticks to the book if there is a bit of a gap in the yarn.  Once the yarn is opened up there should be an inch or so of space between the two pieces of painter’s tape.

In order to secure the yarn pieces together I sewed a seam down the center of the yarn by stitching in between the two pieces of painter’s tape.

Once I finished the seam I laid the yarn out flat and then slowly removed the painter’s tape.  Since the seam is so much lighter than the yarn I found it easier to try to keep the yarn spread out without letting the piece fold in half.  When I picked up the piece and allowed it to fold in half it was very difficult to try to attach it to the doll’s head so I would end up laying it out flat again and then placing it that way on the doll’s head.

I then placed the yarn on the top of the doll’s head by the seam on the top of her head.  I wanted this doll to have bangs.  Once I had the yarn positioned where I wanted it on the doll’s head I just did a simple backstitch by hand along the seam in the yarn.  I caught 2-4 strands of yarn in each backstitch.

This is what the seam looked like after I had backstitched all of the way across it.  I used two strands of red embroidery floss to match the red yarn so it ended up being a bit difficult to see in this picture.

After I finishing attaching the first set of yarn I folded all of the yarn forward toward her face and then attached a second set of yarn.  I laid the second set of yarn so that it stayed open with the one side hanging over by the bangs and the other side hanging down the back of her head.  I placed the seam about 1/2 to 1 inch behind the first piece.  I repeated this step until the hair in the back was the length that I wanted it to be.  I used 5 sets of yarn for this doll.  I probably could have used fewer sets if I would have wrapped the yarn around a wider book which would have made each layer of hair longer.  Each time I placed a new set of yarn on the doll’s head I left a little bit more space between each set so that the hair didn’t get too thick.

When I was finished sewing on all the sets of yarn I gave the doll a haircut to even out the length of her hair and to trim her bangs.  This is what the doll’s hair looked like from the back when I finished.  You can see that the layers are a bit on the short side in the back.  It just depends on the look you are going for.

This is the front.

It took a little bit of time to do the hair but not as long as I thought it would.  It was actually pretty simple once I started it and I was able to move right through it.  The doll I made was 26″.  I am looking forward to tweaking this method and making many more dolls.  I really enjoyed this project!