Men, Men, Men, Men :)

I don't often sew for men.

From time to time I'll sew some pajama pants

or a shirt or two.

Last year for Father's Day I made mug rugs for my guys.

The year before it was cup cozies.

So I thought why not make a few mug organizers

geared more towards men for the shop?

It's a fun little gift and you can combine it

with an awesome pen

or fill it with their favorite snacks.

I think I'll make one for my hubby

as a safe place to keep his reading glasses.

(Not that he's getting old and needs glasses to read or anything :)

I liked the idea of the wine corks

paired with quilter's linen. 

And I don't know about your man,

but my hubby has a watch addiction :)

Then of course there are the Trekkies :)

And last but not least,

the handy men....God bless 'em :)

I also wanted to share something AWESOME with you all.

Maybe it's just me

but from time to time

I knock my bobbin box onto the ground 

and my bobbins go flying all over the room.

And of course they unravel

as they are flying everywhere.

Drives me nuts!!!

Anyhoo...

I came across this awesome bobbin box by Dritz

when I was at Joann's the other day.

It holds 28 bobbins and sells for $7.49.

But as I always say: I never pay full price!

I whipped out my 50% off coupon 

and scored this beauty for $3.75!

The foam holds the bobbins in place.

Can you do this with your bobbin box?

It just makes me sooooo happy :)

So I'm off to buy another one

because as we all know,

28 bobbins is just simply not enough :)

Oh...I almost forgot to mention

that the lid snaps shut so even if I knock it down

those babies aren't goin' anywhere!!!

April Showers Blog Hop!

Welcome to day 3 of the April Showers Blog Hop!

I'd like to thank Madam Samm of Sew we Quilt for all  she does

and our cheerleader Erin of Sew at Home Mummy!

We were challenged to make a mug rug that showcases

something that inspires us in April.

For me it was this adorable fabric I found

 that has these darling egg cups on it.

Eggs make me think of Spring and new beginnings.

It also reminds me of  breakfasts

of soft boiled eggs sitting in the most adorable egg cups.

Being from Holland,

egg cups are part of everyday life.

I've not noticed it as much here in America.

At least not with any of my friends growing up.

But we always had them in our house.

We had several different sets with matching spoons.

I have a cute set of 4 that I found on ebay 

with silly faces from Germany

that I just had to buy for my 4 grandsons :)

Each one is a different color

and each one has a different silly face.

I guess I'd better get some girly ones

now that the 2 little princesses have arrived.

My mother has the most beautiful

wooden egg cups with delicately carved 

and hand painted flowers that rise up

and hover over the egg.

For this mug rug

I fussy cut a small portion of the fabric

that had my favorite egg cups

and added co-ordinating fabrics

for the top of the mug rug.

I back-stitched the outlines

and drew some flowers and vines

for embroidering around the edges.

That little chicken and lamb just get me every time!

You can click on the photo to see more stitching details.

This little chickie didn't make it to the front

because there wasn't enough room

so I added her to the backside :)

Now I have a fun little mug rug to bring a smile to my face

when I enjoy an egg for breakfast !

Don't forget to check out all the other amazing crafters:

Hayley @ Mrs. Pickles

Karen @ Sew Much 2 Luv

Mélanie @ Les passions de Cliodana

Cindy @ Quilt Doodle Doodles

Jamie @ Busy Bee Quilts

Judy @ That Other Blog

Regena @ The Distracted Domestic

Amy @ Domesticity and other Ponderous Things

Denise @ My Whittle Adventures

Heather @ a Reformed Heath'n

Marica @ ~Englating~

Beautiful Springtime!

Today I tagged along with my Daughter

and Daughter in law as they took all 6 grandchildren

on a homeschool fieldtrip to the Flower Fields

in Carlsbad, CA.

I had to get up before the crack of dawn

for our 2 hour drive to Carlsbad.

But as you can see,

it was well worth it.

There were birds of all kinds

and even CHICKENS!!!

I'll admit it,

I have chicken envy.

Maybe one day I'll have a chicken or two.......

I'm in awe of God's handiwork!

The children learned about different kinds of flowers

and where they came from

and really enjoyed smelling the roses.

My Mom came along for the adventure as well :)

My 3 oldest grandsons,

Elijah, Caleb and David.

Little Miss Evie wanted to smell every single bloom :)

I love it when the little girls hold hands.

I can only image the fun they will have growing up

just 7 weeks apart in age :)

Miss Evie and Miss Sofie love love love their Oma :)

How cute is this?

Elijah, the oldest,

looking after his cousin Evie, the youngest.

Makes my Nana heart happy :)

Now it's "man time".

Just 4 cousins...hangin' out :)

Elijah, Caleb, David and Gabriel.

What a blessed day!

Finishes and A New Begining :)

Hard to believe that it's already April.

Does time go by faster the older you get?

It sure seems that way to me.

Anywho.....

thought I'd share a few finishes with you.

The first one is a LK Flip-it #F24 May.

I changed out the colors to make it a bit more vibrant.

Don't you just love that little snail charm?

Then I finished #2 in the Little House Needleworks

"Sheep Virtues" series.

I can't wait for #3 to arrive!

I just HAD to add red.

After all....it is my signature color :)

And now I'm on to a new little LK chart.

So what are YOU working on??????

So "Egg-citing"

And the giveaway winner is......

Congratulations to Denise who wrote:

"That is fabulous! I love it 

and I think it's my favorite of your projects -

 along with the ironing board cover,

 the needlebooks, the aprons, etc. :o)

Just awesome and a great idea! 

I wouldn't want to poke pins in it!"

Your eggs will be on their way today!!!

Thanks so much for everyone who played along.

I enjoyed reading all your comments!!!

Have a blessed Easter everyone!

All Buttoned Up :)

With Easter quickly approaching

I couldn't resist making dresses for my little granddaughters :)

I used "Fly a Kite" by October Afternoon

in mint green  for Evie

and "The Simple Life" by Riley Blake

 in pink for Sofie.

A while back I found this adorable old pattern at a Thrift store

for 50 cents and checked through the pieces to make sure 

it was complete.

It's McCalls 8191, probably from the 80's.

Someone had already used it before

and circled the size 4 on the outside of the envelope.

I started cutting everything out

and when I got to the collar piece,

(which of course was the LAST thing I cut)

I realized that who ever used this pattern

only needed the size 4

so she threw away the size 2 and 3 collar pieces.

*ugh*

All the other pattern pieces were multiple sizes

so I had no problems there.

Anyhoo.....

I used my printer to shrink it by 15 %

as was able to make it work.

I love using old patterns

and making them current by using modern fabrics.

With children's clothes its easy to do.

And last but not least,

I decided to use covered buttons.

With the Dritz kit it's super easy to do

and having matching buttons gives the dress

such a custom look that I just love!

It only takes a few minutes to do 

and it's really fun!

If you've never tried it

I highly recommend you do!

You can buy the kit in the size you need

and it comes with the buttons as well.

If you need additional buttons

you just buy the refill.

The button kit was $2.99

and the refill was $1.99.

Much cheaper than buying fancy buttons.

Voila!

Cuteness all buttoned up :)

Side Kicks :)

So I made some more project bags

and this time I decided to make a few

"Side Kicks".....

What is a "Side Kick"?

They are smaller bags that match,

and they have smaller wool felt hearts :)

They measure 5" x 8".

The perfect size for your embroidery scissors

and some floss.

My daughter and my dear friend Marcia use the project bags

to carry their Bible study materials in

and the new smaller size will be perfect for pens and highlighters.

My daughter in law just told me that she wants

one for her Bible study books too!

Come to think of it,

I should probably make myself a set for Bible study........

The problem will be which fabric to choose :)

Too.....many.....choices.......!

(or maybe I should keep the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird....

after all, it's all the fabric I have left and I do love it sooooo.......)