Upcycling- even though I totally hate that word.

I've never liked the word 'upcycle'.

Not sure why.

It just bugs me.

But I actually like to upcycle things quite a bit.

As many things as I can, actually.

It's kind of addicting.

And I need to get used to the fact that I might start using that dumb word more often.

Welcome it to my vocabulary, if you will.

I'll only half-welcome it for now.

Invite it in,

but make it sit in the cramped corner with all the really catty words...

Make it earn its keep.

My usual 'upcycling' includes:

*covering stains on Willow's shirts with fabric appliques to give them a new life.

*adding ruffles to dresses that are too short to make them longer.

*hemming clothes that are too long to make them shorter until she grows into them.

*adding fun trims and things to basic secondhand clothes to make them more 'Willow'.

I am very interested in expanding my upcycling endeavors, however.

I have a few reasons for this:

It's fun.

It saves money.

It makes me use what I have.

It makes me get creative.

It makes me think out of the box.

It sharpens my skillz.

(I think everyone should say skills like skillz- really feel the word; it's way more fun)

It reduces our footprint on the environment (to a degree).

And it makes me feel all cool and stuff.

This is my latest:

I took one of Drew's old button down shirts

- I don't think he ever wore it-

and mish-mashed a few tutorials together to get a general idea of what I was doing.

The best part is: it was REALLY EASY.

You can do this!!!

I really love the way it turned out- exactly what I was going for...

I'm digging the sleeves.

I really loved the inside cuffs of the old shirt and knew I wanted to use them somehow.

So I made the sleeves kind of puffed - and cuffed.

Let's call it puff-cuffed.

Just because it's fun to say.

I took off the ugly/boring grey buttons and

replaced them

with mismatched buttons from my Button Jar.

The Button Jar is sweet.

It never disappoints.

It used to hold Northern Beans, now it holds a wholelotta awesome.

Upcycling? I think so...

The collar was boring.

Most tutorials called for an elastic collar.

Honestly, I hate making finished hems, and I really don't care for making elastic casings.

Insert the ruffled collar.

And I think it's WAY cuter.

If there's a choice between elastic or ruffles- you always choose ruffles.

Always.

Here's the old shirt waving goodbye...

Here's a really quick look at how I did it:

I laid the old shirt out on the floor and made sure it was completely flat,

with no wrinkles- front and back.

I took one of Willow's dresses (that fits) and centered it on top of old shirt.

Once I had good placement of dress- I cut off sleeves and collar.

Then I just used Willow's dress as a pattern.

I traced the dress onto the front of the shirt with a Sharpie marker.

I traced about 1/2" from the edge of dress to account for seam allowances.

After it was all traced, I cut out the dress from both layers of the shirt at the same time.

I'm telling you, this is easy!

*when you place dress on top of shirt, make sure the buttons are in a 'good' spot for you.

Here's what it looks like all cut out:

The sleeves were probably the trickiest part.

On the next dress I'm probably going to tinker with them a bit to get them just right...

Anyways, I knew I wanted to use the

sweet inside cuff of the shirt...

So I cut the sleeves in half and kept the bottom half for my project.

Then, I cut the bottom sleeves down the seam to make them lay flat- or to 'open' them up.

I must have been excited about my project,

because I seem to lack many pics from this point forward...

oops.

Now, I know this is going to scare a few people, but you have to make a pattern for the sleeves.

Don't give up! Please!

It's so easy, you just need to know the basics of a sleeve.

Now, I was just going to seam rip one of Willow's dresses that had the same kind of sleeve I wanted, but I couldn't find any.

Bummer.

SO...

I used this general pattern instead that I found when I googled 'sleeve pattern'.

For real.

It's for a short sleeve, but it gave me all the general info for making a sleeve pattern of my own.

I got to work on tweaking a pattern that fit my opened up sleeve fabric.

Once you've got your pattern figured out,

Cut 2 of them from your old shirt sleeves.

Now all you have to do is sew the pieces together!!!!

Go in this order (with right sides together):

Sew one sleeve onto shirt front.

Sew other sleeve onto shirt front.

Sew first sleeve to shirt back.

Sew other sleeve to shirt back.

Now, with right sides still facing each other,

sew the side seams of the dress together, starting at the sleeves and moving down the side of the dress.

Sew both sides of the dress.

Turn inside out.

You have a dress!!!

If you used the old shirt cuffs when making your sleeves,

all that's left to do is finish the collar and hem the bottom.

I realize the above directions would be much more helpful with pictures...

If there are people who are actually interested in one, I will put together a WAY better tutorial.

Just email me or leave a comment and I will put it together ASAP.

But this is what I have for now... sorry.

I'll also show you how to make these really cute headbands:

These are also super easy, and there's NO sewing involved.

Just some hot glue, felt, fabric flowers, and buttons.

So you'll be able to make matching headbands for all the cute little upcycled outfits you make.

Seriously, let me know if you're interested in a tutorial.

Raid your hubby's old shirts to see if you've got any potentials- then email me.

willowbeanmama@gmail.com

I'm out.

Chasing Charlotte and do.Good

Way back in February

I got an email from a woman named Kelly who was interested in ordering some

WillowBean Creations for her little one.

I get these kind of inquiring emails all the time, but this one was different.

She told me she was in the midst of adopting her soon-to-be daughter from a foreign country.

It sounds funny, but I could almost hear the nervous excitement in her voice

through the words on the screen.

I was instantly hooked, because my family has gone through adoption, too.

I'm from one of those big, intricate, crazy families that's had the fair share of

divorces, re-marriages, and adoptions which results in plenty of siblings,

not unlike many other families, I'm sure.

Step-siblings, half-siblings, adopted siblings...

There's a lot of us.

It's hard to explain to others, really.

And those words- step, half, adopted- I never really liked them, to be quite honest.

We're all just brothers and sisters.

You have no idea how many times I've wished for a Venn diagram when asked how many brothers and sisters I have... for real.

I don't really know where I'm going with this.

Like I said, it's hard to explain.

But what I'm trying to get to is that 3 of my 4 little brothers are adopted.

Which is probably why I felt an instant connection when Kelly emailed me.

Especially when I knew she was adopting her little girl from the same country my brothers are from.

Weird, right?

But wait- it gets better.

So...

Oh yes.

There was an email, and then a couple more emails, and then Kelly told me her daughter's name:

Charlotte.

And then she told me that Charlotte had Down Syndrome.

And I'm sure some of you have heard of my husband's cousin, Kelle, and her blog,

Enjoying the Small Things.

If you haven't, go check it out.

Oh, And get out from under your rock.

Long story short, Kelle's blog is great and fun to read and inspirational and all that good stuff.

Her daughter, Nella, also happens to have Down Syndrome.

I mentioned the blog to the other Kelly

(I know, it's a bit confusing with the same name... stay with me.)

as something she might enjoy taking a look at.

Then she told me that Kelle, and the words on her blog, were partly what inspired her to adopt a special needs child.

CRAZY, right?

I mean, out of all the millions of blogs on the internet,

what are the chances

that she would find both of ours that were connected in so many tiny little ways?

Well, I'm a sucker for small world coincidences like that-

so I was super excited to get to make sweet Charlotte a special present that will wrap her up at night and keep her warm and snuggled.

Over 6 months and 60+ emails later deliberating over the perfect present...

this is Charlotte's quilt:

It's one of the softest quilts I've ever made.

It's big (80x88") and warm and soft and everything you need in a quilt, really.

And it's bright. And fun.

And soft.

I wish you could reach through the screen and touch this.

It's so soft I decided to hand-stitch the binding on this whole thing so I could have it longer.

Not. even. kidding.

Here's a shot of the back:

It's a pieced back with random prints from the front and that solid aqua color.

The quilt is bound in a solid pink, which I think works really well to frame the front of the quilt as well as the back.

And you can see from the back that I machine-quilted 1/4" from each side of the seams.

Here's a special label I made for Charlotte's new quilt:

Congratulations

to Kelly and her husband,

who are still in the process of bringing their little girl home.

You can read more about their story on her blog, Chasing Charlotte.

And thank you for letting me take part in making something so special for your daughter...

***

Here are my October blocks for the Grace circle of do.Good stitches.

2 Wonky Log Cabin blocks...

I haven't made these kind of blocks in a long time, they were super fun and a good way to use scraps.

Maybe there's a new quilt to add to my list!

Happy Thursday... the weekend is coming, the weekend is coming!!

Time-sucking black hole...

The internet literally sucks time out of my life.

And I don't really have enough extra time to share it with the good ol' internet.

It's a giant hour-devouring black hole.

I'm pretty sure I can hear time's rapid exodus from my day

- like a big whoooosh-

and sometimes it's even a creepy screeching sound.

During the day, it's not so bad.

I usually get on for just a 'quick second' to check a recipe or something.

No biggie.

But nights are the worst.

My viable sleeping minutes just tick, tick, tick - gone.

It's terrible.

I really need to do something about it.

Don't even get me started on Pinterest...

I have a love/hate relationship with that pretty little time-sucker.

It really is so. pretty.

Despite the internet, I have gotten some sewing accomplished.

Like I said a few days ago, all my commission pieces are done and gone, and it really does make relaxing a possibility.

Well, if you call it relaxing.

I call it relaxing, so I'll stick with it.

I get to sit and think about what I want to make next.

(I know, I know- living in the moment- but I'm a work in progress, what can I say?)

My creativity part gets all buzzy and jumpy.

I even twitch a bit.

It's a good time.

I've even made a list of what I've been thinking about.

I will share said list with you later- because I just thought of a few things to add.

There's nothing worse than an incomplete list, no?

In the meantime,

how about I share a BOY nursery set with you?

It was all designed around some fave fabrics, a mobile and a print

the customer planned on using in the nursery.

I'm loving the zig-zag thing happening with this one.

Really.

I love the colors, so bright and cheery.

And boy.

And the way the chocolate brown is used to accent all the pieces and bring them together is great, too:

chocolate brown bumper ties, binding and accents in quilt, and bottom border on crib skirt.

LOVE.

I made the zig-zag quilt using the HST method, which is by far my favorite for making perfect zigs and zags.

I machine quilted,

on either side of the zig-zag seams to add emphasis,

using a light grey thread,

and then added lots of extra quilting lines in the

solid brown zig (or zag).

I love the effect it made and it might be my favorite part of the set.

The quilting looks snazzy on the back, too!

And here's the handsome quilt in all it's zig-zagged glory.

(That's a tiny helper, not a huge quilt!)

Working on this set really got me wanting to make a few more zig-zag quilts... we'll see.

But I did manage to eek out a fall-inspired HUGE pillow cover out of some scraps:

Extremely teeny tiny scraps that I can never ever just throw away!

And I got to do some

organic line quilting in bright green

for this one,

which I also love.

Yay!

I added a little strip of trees (Majestic Oak by Joel Dewberry) into the pieced envelope back.

Just for fun!

I love how this turned out, but unfortunately it doesn't match my home decor at all,

so I've decided to try and sell this cutie.

If you're interested in purchasing this 20x20" pillow cover ($28), you can using the button below:

And for those of you interested in buying a custom nursery set,

you can do that using the drop down menu at the right, towards the top.

That's about all the time I'm going to let this darn internet suck from me...

for now.

Happy Wednesday!

Exhale.

Sometimes I forget to breathe. 

And I know some people can turn that into a dumb blonde joke.

Whatever.  

But I just exhaled, 

like really, actually, literally, physically exhaled... 

and it was amazing. 

Like, stars-in-a-jar amazing.

Source: weheartit.com via Madison on Pinterest

Do it. 

Take a big breath. 

And let it ALLLLL out. 

Doesn't it feel nice? 

Mine was more refreshing than a long hot shower, and we all know how much I love those. 

Weird thing, that breathing. 

Source: keraleda.tumblr.com via Madison on Pinterest

breathtaking, right?

***

All commission sewing projects are done and gone

Pictures uploaded to computer

New sewing area (finally) created in new house 

(the hubby was not a fan of me using the kitchen table- so, my plan worked- ha!)

Computer/office nook set up 

(no more computer on chair, mouse on scrap of fabric on table, keyboard on lap)

Last of the boxes unpacked

40 envelopes addressed, stuffed, stamped and sent

Garage sale OVER

Dishes done

Babies sleeping

Laundry going

Hubby out with long-time-no-see best friend

Lights down low

TV OFF

Pandora ON

(sing it, Adele)

writing now...

... and EXHALE.

it just feels. so. good

Source: flickr.com via Madison on Pinterest

Sometimes, I just get way too caught up in what's happening next 

that I forget 

to focus on 

what's happening now. 

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Madison on Pinterest

It's a constant struggle for me. 

I have to realize that 

there will always be deadlines, 

I will always have laundry, 

some thing- whatever that 'thing' may be- will always need to be done,

there will always be DIY projects on Pinterest that beckon my name, 

my inbox will always have emails that need replies,

I will never run out of family members to call, 

someone will always be expecting something of me, 

and my house will never be completely clean. 

And that's ok.

Because there will also always be a 'now'. 

Lots of things happen 'now'. 

And I need to stop thinking about what needs to be done and worry about what is being done, 

because there's nothing like the present

 or something like that, right? 

Source: etsy.com via Madison on Pinterest

I think a lot of women have this problem. 

We try to be everything by doing everything. 

Guess what?

That's stupid. 

And we are a smart bunch, I like to think.
Oh, we can get shit done, if you know what I mean.
But nobody can do everything, let's get real. 

Source: weheartit.com via kait on Pinterest

So, to all of you 

stay-at-home-moms, working moms, single moms, new moms, 

single ladies busting your butts, married ladies busting your butts, 

wives, daughters, sisters, girlfriends, college goers, law school students, waitresses...

sit down, relax, and           exhale.

And know- even if it's just for this moment- that you. are. everything. 

You are doing exactly what you need to be doing.

You are being. 

And that is a beautiful thing. 

And so are you. 

Source: singingthroughtherain.com via ty on Pinterest

***

I was going to post all latest quilts/finishes/sewing projects tonight, 

but then I figured I couldn't post those until I posted Willow's birthday pics from August

(yeah, August), 

and then I started thinking about my Grandpa Paul and how I really need to call him to let him know that I got his letter, 

which got me thinking about all the letters that I sent out (wait-did they all go out?), 

which got me thinking about the new big quilt that's in the works, 

which got me thinking about my blocks I need to finish for my charity circle, 

which made me think about the best way to organize my scraps in my new studioish area, 

which made me think about where in the world I'm going to actually plug in my sewing machine down there, 

which made me think that I never found a bobbin cover for my friend's sewing machine like I said I would forever ago, 

which made me think of her birthday presents, 

which made me think about Willow's party and the lack of post and/or uploaded pictures for the rest of my family to see. 

See what I mean?

EXHALE. 

I'm working on it...

I needed a little boost tonight, 

so I figured somebody else out there might need one, too. 

I tried to be as non-girl-powerish as possible while still keepin' it real. 

Source: live-inspired.com via Rachel on Pinterest

One for you, one for me.

Have you heard of do. Good stitches?

Well, it's a really cool. 

It's a charity quilting bee.

Basically, a bunch of quilty peeps sew a couple assigned blocks a month and then send them across the country to another quilty peep who sews them all 

together into a pretty sweet finished quilt. 

And, since it's a charity bee, the sweet quilt gets donated. 

That's the do. Good part... but it also feels good. 

It's also a good way for me to learn new techniques and try out new designs 

I wouldn't normally choose, 

 a few blocks at a time. 

So, here are my Postage Stamp blocks for August: 

Even though I've done patchwork before, I've never worked with 

such small squares 

(2.5" unfinished, 2" finished).

Turns out, I loved it so much I made myself a pillow cover! 

 The charity bee blocks were only 6x6, 

so I extended the pillow cover with more squares to make it 8x8, 

which used 64 2.5" squares. 

It's a great way to use up your scraps!

I pieced the back as well, and I thought I took a picture, but I guess not...

oops. 

It's made from my stash and super-cute. 

You can take my word for it. 

Anyway, the new cover looks nice paired with my

  Happy Pillow 

and placed on my 

newly painted chairs 

against my newly painted walls 

in my newly inhabited home. 

Love. 

It's just another step forward in trying to live a more handmade life.
Next project for keeps are some handmade place mats for my new kitchen table...
I'll just add it to the list, right? 

I can't find the USB cord...

I've got so many new projects and fun stuff I want to share!

buuuut

I can't find my little cord that's kind of important for getting the pictures

from the camera to the computer.

(It's in a box somewhere- oh, and WE MOVED! <---- fun new thing!)

And I really don't think you'd want to hear about my new stuff,

which probably isn't all that interesting to you,

without a few explanatory pictures.

Am I right?

So, instead of uploading and editing new pictures, I've been going through all the

pictures from the summer.

We had a LOT of fun this summer, and since it's almost over (sniff) I'm feeling the need to document...

And it just so happens that BOTH girls are sleeping right now which means I get to write!

I seriously don't even know where to begin... so I guess I'll start with these:

Why not, right?

We've had some amazing sunset cruises on the lake this summer.

Ah. mazing.

Thanks Captain Dave! (aka Duffman) and Roxy.

Roxy has her own life jacket.

She does.

Not even kidding.

See?

And this is how Roxy measures fun:

She's always down for a good time...

Lake Fun, of course, serves as a prequel to the sunset cruises.

Willow's first tube ride with LaLa.

And so does good food and family.

Willow's version of good food.

Papa Frank, or as Willow likes to call him, "Frankie!"

***

And then of course, there was 4th of July:

Have I ever mentioned before that I LOVE fireworks?

Like, LOVE them. So much.

I wanted them at our wedding.

They cost a lot.

We didn't have them...

I could watch fireworks every day of the year.

Especially the really big ones that you feel in your chest.

The 'Big Boomers'.

Those are the best.

And, if you happen to live in Michigan,

the only- and I mean only- way

to see fireworks is

from a boat.

Preferably a really big boat so that if it's too far out into the river and the

Coast Guard makes you move it

and then it doesn't get anchored properly and starts swinging every which way compromising all the other boats

in the immediate vicinity,

they have to move out of your way, not the other way around.

You know, if that sort of thing were to ever happen.

This boat had a live band on the back rockin' out a dance party. It's what some people like to call 'awesome'.

Sometimes I look around and say, "Really?"

We are some lucky, lucky people...

And if you have friends that are more like family

and invite you to their shindig year after year, where they all fight each other to hold your babies,

you pretty much have it made.

I would know.

Especially when they love your kids and treat them to a mani-pedi complete with snacks and a drink as soon as we arrive.

And what 4th of July is complete without sparklers?

Or grown men doing stupid things involving sparklers in front of small children?

I mean, that's what really makes it a holiday, right?

Basically, I don't want summer to end.

They're just not long enough in Michigan.

Maybe all the gorgeous lakes and pretty sunsets and boat rides are a trade-off for the

few months of warm weather.

Maybe.

Or maybe the trade-off is capturing this face on camera.

Either way, I'm going to be so sad to see Summer go.

Really, very sad.

***

Now for some sewing news, I've been busy.

My two latest nursery sets:

Can you spot the differences?

I am very serious about making my things one-of-a-kind.

But I'm learning that the

more and more the word gets out and the more people I make things for,

the whole 'one-of-a-kind' thing

gets harder and harder.

Remember this nursery set?

Well, ever since then I've had lots of mommas wanting one

(which is awesome!)

To keep to my promise of only making one-of-a-kind bedding,

I've been making little changes here and there on each set.

I want the overall look that people are

originally drawn to

to be the same, while still making sure everything is

original.

So far, so good.

Patchwork is almost always one-of-a-kind,

but I still like to

switch up the quilt backs and bindings

to set them apart from each other just that much more.

So thanks to everybody out there who keeps my little tiny business going...

I love what I do!

I think that's all I have for today...