Martha and Lilly

Martha Stewart is doing a Lilly Pulitzer themed show today! It is really cute- the whole audience is wearing Lilly, they did a Lilly inspired craft and showed how they get the inspiration for and how they make the fabric prints. They also did a fashion show and are going to show how to make a Lilly inspired floral arrangement. If you missed it, you might want to look for the re-run or sometimes they repeat episodes on different channels?
The whole show is pretty cute and makes me really anxious for spring...and anxious for my figure to come back!

I LOVE IT!

I discovered a new blog thanks to Mrs. Preppy. It is called The Long Thread and it is exactly what I have been looking for! She has lots of projects and crafts and features an weekly "Make it Monday" where she shows a new project you can do! In times like this when you are stressed by work, the economy and even global and environmental issues, sometimes you just need a source of silly happiness and I think projects and crafts can be a source of relief or creative release!

Craft Project: Bermuda Bag

I had the day off today and decided to try out the sewing machine Big Guy got me for Christmas.

I took one sewing class this past fall- so I had some limited sewing experience- (I never had a home economics class in high school.) I had to read the instruction manual, and I did some practice work on a colorful strip of fabric as you can see:





I really wanted to do something crafty and was inspired by the madras plaids in the purses I talked about in my previous post, so I bought some wooden handles and fabric at the store. What I didn't buy- unfortunately- was a pattern, and I couldn't find anything online. Since it turned into a pretty nasty day- I couldn't go to the store and buy one, so I thought about it a little and decided to dive right in and go for it!!! I used the grocery store circular to cut a pattern.







Then I used the paper to cut out my fabric- I used the polka dot fabric for the inside lining and the plaid for the outside...

And Ta-dah!!!!!!! It turned out ok! I still need to figure out how to finish the top seams and then I need to sew the buttons and make the button holes, but I think I did a pretty decent job for a first try--- plus I have a lot of extra fabric for another try if things go bad!

Midwest Pup wasn't really interested in the purse making.... he pretty much slept all day. He is currently curled up inside my shirt. What a bum.

Have a great weekend everyone. We are looking at houses in Wilmette and Evanston (Northern Suburbs) tomorrow morning so wish me luck! Have a nice Easter Sunday if you celebrate it! PDD- thanks for the help with the craft project!

Craft Project Success!

My Friday night craft project was a success! We had so much fun making these ribbon ornaments. A friend and I made a night of it--drinking wine and watching ELF and Love Actually. It was so much fun. The weather was so crummy all weekend that this provided the perfect escape-we stayed in again on Saturday night and made a few more- however, I must admit that there was more wine drinking than crafting that night! I wanted to share the final product with you all in case you wanted to try them yourself! I will say that you need a LOT of ribbon. It takes almost a whole spool to do one ornament. It was worth it because we had a great time making them. Here are two of my favorites.