Gingercake

School House Tunic in AMH Voile

I can't imagine that other sewers have not made this easy tunic in this same fabric before but I am really happy with the result.  I bought the school house tunic from Amy awhile back when she first got it in her shop.  The pattern calls for 2.5 yards of fabric and in AMH voile that is not cheap!  I did notice the the voile comes in 54" width though and I was able to make do with only 2 yards AND I had to make the 14/16 since I have a growing chest and belly this summer.  HINT HINT!

 

The pattern was great and the fabric was wonderful- soft and beautiful with the prettiest drape.  Perfect for summer!  I think it was worth the $$$ since I'll wear this happily many times this summer and hopefully next year too!

Thank you to my lovely mom who gave me my beautiful LONG pearls for Christmas this year.  They are so elegant and I love how they really dress up this tunic into something special.

Marion's Delicious and Simple Date Bars

I have sewn some things but it is raining like crazy outside and there is no pretty light to take pictures with so I thought I would share my grandma Marion's date bar recipe which was a big hit at our house last week. This picture were taken a few days ago when the skies were bright and lovely!

My mom used to make these and always told me they were from my dad's mother, Marion.  I always loved them and when I made them the other day I was so pleased that my girls love them too.  Cal is not really into sweets unless it's ice cream so he refused to even try.  But he did have a great time making them with me before the girls got home from school.

My dad is older than my mom and grew up during the great depression and the forties.  I like how this recipe reflects the simple basic ingredients a cook would have had in her pantry without having to go to the store for something special.  The only thing you have to remember to get is the dates!

Marion's Delcious Date Bars

Turn on oven to 350 degrees.

Date Mixture:

1 package of chopped dates

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

    ~combine above in a small sauce pan over medium high heat and cook until soft stirring every minute or so.  Total time should be about 5 to 7 minutes.

    ~in the meantime, combine together the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl

1 1/2 cups Quick Oats (but I have used regular also and it was fine)

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter softened

    ~mix with your fingers until crumbly.  Spread 1/2 the mixture into a greased 8" x 12" (or 9" x 13")  baking pan.  Use your fingers to press the mixture down gently.

    ~spread the softened date mixture evenly over the dry mix.  Then spread the remainder of the dry mix over the dates.  

    ~Bake 35 minutes until golden brown.

    ~let cool for about 10 minutes, cut into squares and serve to your family!  

Yummy!  We had them for snack. dessert & breakfast the next morning!  A simple and delicious treat without a bunch of junk ingredients to feel guilty about.  Do you have a favorite old recipe that you still make for your family?   I could love to hear about it!  Hopefully I'll post some sewing pictures later in the week.

Crafternoon with Rachel and Michelle

Last week I took a break from sewing up skirts and dresses from KCWC and my 2 friends Rachel and Michelle came over for crafternoon (name creation from Michelle!).  Really, crafternoon was all about sewing since we were at my house and as you may know, sewing is kinda my thing.

Rachel, a beginner, brought over her brand new One yard wonders book (pretty cute book!) and we chose a simple purse for her to make.  No pictures yet since she has a little bit of hand sewing to complete the bag. Michelle has some sewing experience and we went through my scraps and she made a really cute bird pillow to match her other throw pillows on her couch.

Didn't she do a great job on the bird wing?  I love it.  Photo courtesy of Michelle.

I made pillows for myself based on the ones I saw on Country living cover this month.

They look easy enough, right?  I swear my brain had to bend every which way to coordinate the stripes correctly!  The other girls tried to help me and after cutting many incorrectly, I finally got it right!  Although my pillows make squares and the country living ones make crosses.  I really like how mine turned out and they give a more modern touch to my decorating.

After I got that one together, I realized I had cut enough incorrectly to make a 2nd pillow!!  Can you see how the center of the above pillow is dark and the one below is light?

Yep- making this pillow was all about that center match up.  It was a delightful treat to realize that all the scrapped pieces were not a waster after all!  Anyone else ever casually attempt to sew something and find out it it much more complicated than you thought?  Well I love the look of my new pillows and would never have treated myself to finally making them if it weren't for crafternoon with Rachel and Michelle! Thanks ladies!  Hope to do it again soon!

Easy Knit Dress- Last day of KCWC

I made this dress on Saturday morning.  It was FREEZING here!  I actually wore long underwear that afternoon to the girls soccer games and I was still cold!  So this summery dress seemed a bit out of place, but yesterday afternoon it warmed up enough to take a few good outside pictures.

I basically followed the warhol dress pattern from MADE.  Super dooper easy and a great way to build your confidence with knits.  Just use your iron, ball point needle and beginners can easily accomplish this.

I bought this fabric to make a skirt for myself.  It's from Joann's- in the back of the store red tag section.  Not much of a deal at about $9 a yard but it was the nicest knit I could find there.  The skirt for me may still happen but it will have to be a lot shorter now!

I knew my almost 8 year old would like the tie at the shoulder and it is a clever and easy way to finish the dress.  I think maybe I made it a bit too long- any thoughts about that?  She doesn't seem to mind and seems happy.  She did not like this fabric at all untilI I made it into a dress and then suddenly she decided it was pretty and she could wear it.  Sometimes we have to take risks to sew for our kids, right??

She had no serious modeling bones in her body for this photoshoot and that is why her face is cropped in the above pictures.  Here is one where you can see how she really was acting as her sister danced around like crazy behind me.  

A great FREE pattern to try if you want to attempt a cute summery knit dress!  

Tee Shirt Nightgowns- KCWC day 2

My Father in Law gave my husband a bag full of XL undershirts.  He said "just toss them if you don't need them!"  I wanted to pass them on to the goodwill but my husband wanted to keep them "just in case".  Hmmm.  A year later the bag was still untouched and I finally looked at them- nice quality lands end white undershirts surely could have some use, right?  I washed them and bleached them and finally dyed them tangerine orange and sunshine yellow.  Now, THAT was something I could use.  

Super soft peachy tee shirt material makes a pretty cute nightgown.  I used the existing hems for the sleeves and bottom hem and since I haven't tried to make necklines with knits (yet!), I made an easy peasant dress collar.  Finally,  I cut out a heart for some other scrap knit and zig zag stiched it on to give some extra cuteness.  I used my serger (thanks again Mom!) for the sewing up the sides.  This was a fast project!  Certainly under an hour.

We took these pictures this morning at about 7:30 AM.  Isn't the light pretty?  She slept in the nightgown last night and loved it.  Here is one last shot for you of the nightgown in jumping on the bed action.  My daughter wanted to make sure I included this one.  This is how all our photo shoots end these day with requests for "action shots".

More about how to take jumping pictures here.  Not the most exciting sewing project ever but I liked using some of the hand me down undershirts (and I have plenty more of this "fabric" now too!) and it was fun to experiment with using RIT and all that.  Have you been making clothes for your kids this week?  I am finding myself wanting to sew other things but I am trying to stay on task!

Gingham Dress : KCWC day 1

We'll see if I make it through the whole week but I did start off on the right foot!  I started Sunday since it was rainy and cold here and the kids wanted to watch Harry Potter again.  I couldn't pass up 2 unexpected hours to myslef- right?  When making this, I was inspired by this dress and this dress.  I love how you can make gingham and plaid prints play around when on the bias.

 I decided to build on an existing pattern that I had.  A simple peasant dress from ManiMina.  It turned out to be pretty blousy for Anne- 2 of her could have fit in the size 5!  So I did ruching around the waist (with 1/4" elastic) which made all the difference and was such an easy fix.

In order to use the fun diagonal pattern that is created by putting the gingham on the bias, I made bias tape binding for the sleeves and neckline.  I also made ties at the sleeves for an extra detail and the pockets on the bias too.  I used the extra neck bias tape as a loop for an oversized button in the back.

She put some leggings on after out pictures and I liked the outfit even better!  Looking forward to seeing her wear this all summer.  Are you doing Kids Clothing Week Challenge?   

Postings and Plans

Yeah!  I just finished posting all my vintage linens in my gingercake shop.  That baby is sorely neglected since I love to thrift but don't really love to list.  I don't know why- etsy has made listing a LOT easier.  It's just all those dang tags!!!  Etsy shop ladies know what I am talking about- right??

These 2 awesome pillowcase sets sold quickly!

I just read this excellent post on thrifting if any of you are interested.  A great read and really good tips.  It is true that small town thrifting can be A LOT more successful especially for vintage sheets and retro finds.  Cute kid clothing?  Not so much.

Cal is a great companion at the thrift shop although I admit that my time is pretty short.  Another reason I rarely go into the clothing section- he just doesn't have the patience.  Once he has found his .50 cent truck/ army man/ sword/ tractor, he is ready to go!  But I have plenty of time to cruise through the sheets, crafts & knick knacks.

Here are 3 adorable 40s/ 50s apron patterns I found some months ago~

If only I looked that cute in an apron!  And here is some amazing fabric that I thinking about making an apron from.  I have 10 yards of this fabric!!

The fabric actually came from another vendor when Karen and I did the Fleatique last summer.  It was her mother's and although I wish I could use it myslef, it is just not going with my turquoise, yellow & red thing I have going on in my kitchen.  

I also regularly find bunches of rick rack, elastic, bias tape, and fabric that I use for trials and kids clothes.  What about you?  Are you visting your thrift store?  

My VERY BEST FIND EVER were these 2 chairs that I realize I never shared here...

Those are 2 original Charles Eames/ Herman Miller chairs.  I bought them for $2 each about a year ago.  I knew they were valuable but not until I got home and looked up their history did I actaully feel guilty for paying so little for them.  

Honestly, Cal and I usually find a whole lotta nothing at the thrift store but some days seem to be non stop treasure!!  Check out my shop if you are interested in any of these items (ahem- not the chairs though!).

Lastly, next week I am going to try the Kids Clothing Week Challenge again!  Who wants to join?  I need to make some PJ pants, shorts and simple dresses.  NOTHING fancy- just a couple of easy useful things that I have been putting off and need to be done!

 

Minis in the Shop

I felt the need to stock up my Gingercakesews Etsy shop.  Just some mini crayon folios but once I got started I ended up making 9.  They are so fast and simple!  I should have followed my own instructions though since I added the flap to the wrong side!  Darn that over confidence!  They are still cute and fun though but would have looked a little nicer with the flap on the pad side- not the lumpy crayon side!  

Minis are so handy and always sell easily.  Plus, with summer travel coming, who doesn't need some extra help for kid entertainment?  Making multiples of these is fun and easy- try it out if you already have the pattern.  

Next is finally adding all my thrifty finds to my vintage shop.  I have some bright and fun finds that I am excited to share!

National Parking with the Kids

Since we had NO snow days (truly a miracle) off from school this year, we had a break from school of 10 days.  That is pretty crazy for our school district and I took advantage by planning a trip south to see my parents for easter.  We decided to take our time on the way down and made several stops with our big destination being the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  

We stayed the night before in Gatlinburg which was crowded but really cute.  We got going pretty early and drove into the park at about 8:30.  This was great because although there were still lots of people around (turns out spring break in the smoky mountains is busy!!), we seemed to be ahead of most crowds for almost the entire day.  

After a stop at the visitor's center where we got maps, talked to nice park rangers, and watched a short nature movie about the park, we decided to take a short hike to Laurel Falls.

Elsie will earn her hiking badge for Brownies for this little excursion and I am hoping Anne will get one too for Daisies.  For some reason earning badges is a big motivator for kids!  These girls were serious hikers!  This hike was on a paved trail but it was longer than we expected and our 4 year old boy had to bring out his umbrella half way up the trail.  Not sure how this helped but somehow it worked to keep him going.

I was laughing but his big sisters did not like this move one bit!  "But it's not even raining and he looks WIERD!" they complained.

We finally got to the falls and they were really stunning.  A cool mist was blowing off the water and since there had been a huge rain the night before the water was fierce!!  We were all impressed and agreed the hike in was worth it.  

Next we made our way over to Cade's Cove.  The drive over to that section of the park was so beautiful and followed closely next the Pigeon River.  We took a break and the girls waded out into the water.  Cal does not like feeling cold and wet yet so he stayed on the shore with Mommy & Daddy.

 Finally we arrived at Cade's cove and I wished that I had packed a better lunch because we stopped to eat out meager snacks at the best picnic location- complete with more water to play in and fire pits and grills.  It would have been fun to have something good to cook up there!  

Cade's Cove really did take my breath away.  It is so beautiful and calming.  The gently rolling fields and then the dramatic rising mountians surrounding the pastures was just gorgeous.  No wonder these people didn't want to leave but were also adamant to protect the beauty of their land.

We stopped at the cabins and churches.  We saw a gravestone that had the man's name and then below it was engraved "murdered by confederate rebels".  Cade's Cove's commmunity was a pocket of Union Support during the civil war even though they lived deep in the southern United States.  It really made you imagine the independence of the people who lived in this beautiful place. 

The girls were interested and excited.  YES, they got tired when we had to walk far but they felt the excitement of visiting such a beautiful and natural place.  Travis and I also loved it.  I wished I had planned to have cold drinks and a better lunch but a mom can't always do everything perfectly, right???

Cal was still a bit young for really apprecaiting this adventure but he was a pretty good sport considering he is only 4!  We would stop to get out and by the end he looked at me like I was crazy.  He liked the water though and spend lots of times throwing rocks in there.

The loop we took was a small section of the park and we are all looking forward to going back someday.  What we did was great for kids though and it gave them a wonderful taste of what the national parks are about.  Enjoying the natural beauty of our country and supporting the efforts to preserve it.  Make the trip with your loved ones if you can!

She just wants to feel pretty

I admit to some complaining here on my blog about not being able to make clothes for my oldest daughter.  Although I realize that she is almost 8 and will soon not want my handmade dresses anymore, I think I have figured out something about her finally.

She doesn't want to make things that are trendy (like her boots and leggings & graphic tee shirts), she just wants me to make her something that feels pretty.

We are going to Atlanta for Easter.  She is REALLy looking forward to being able to dress up and feel fancy.  She thinks everything about Atlanta and her grandma down there are fancy and beautiful and my big girl LOVES to be fancy and dressed up.

So this isn't my most fashionable or even clever design.  It was quick and simple.  I used another dress to make the pattern top. I added these simple gathered sleeves. I added sew on snaps to the back and a long tie.  I made a simple ruffled detail down the front.

I used more of the fabric from my 90 something year old friend Theo.  Thanks again Theo!  It is such beautiful and sweet fabric- a little sheer and the the flowers are textured.  Anyone else making easter dresses?  I am starting to think fancy dresses may actually be easier than simple school day dresses- especially this style!