t-shirt pillows

Jay was getting rid of some clothes a while back and as he was going through making piles I was also making my own piles.  He would throw a t-shirt, polo or dress shirt one way and I would snatch the ones that I just couldn't let go.  If you are like me then you really get attached to certain things.  Some of the clothes that he was getting rid of I have certain memories of; a shirt he wore to an after prom (yes, he has some old clothes still around), the shirt we got engaged in, a shirt that I remember him preaching in and so on.  Even though he was complaining that I was a pack rat and that I should be on the show hoarders, I stilled scored some shirts that I wanted to keep around for a little longer. He made me state the purpose of each item I was hoarding and I knew as soon as I saw these three shirts they would make cute summer pillows.  So, here are the shirts and pillows.

After a bit of cutting, sewing, pleating and fluffing this is what I came up with.  I had one of the pillows and bought the other two from Walmart for six dollars a piece.  Twelve dollars for three pillows is not bad in my opinion!

This is my personal favorite.  Jay wore this shirt a whole bunch.  I never really liked it as a shirt, but I think it makes a really cute pillow!

As for the other shirts that I put back I have plans for them to become one fabulous quilt.  I have still never made a quilt for myself, so I am taking a bunch of Jay's old dress shirts and making them into a chevron quilt for myself.  It is going to be one of my major summer projects and my next quilt along!

-melissa

how to destroy a quilt

Last year I was over the moon about getting to visit a quilt shop in Seattle where one of my blogging "friends" teaches.  Jay was a super good sport about going out of our way as I slowly paroozed the store until I found something that I was happy with.  My biggest mistake was when we put the house on the market a couple months ago I wanted something to fill the wall space above my sewing machine.  So, very quickly I threw together this quilt.  I had in my mind what I wanted, it just did not turn out right.  Combine that with some bad accent color choices, a poor quilting job and hanging it up the cheapest way I could.  It was bad, real bad.

I was embarrassed anytime someone came into the office and looked at it.  I was also sick of Jay bugging me about the embroidery I did on it.  I call the vacations our Mr. and Mrs. trips and he says that it seems that we won some beauty pageant or something.  Anyways, the quilt had to go!  I didn't want people thinking this is my usual work...

So, I decided to trash it.  I started cutting and playing with the fabric a bit.  I got two blank canvases from Michaals for cheap and decided to do some decoupaging.  It has been since Christmas, I think the decoupage missed me!  First, I laid out the pieces.

And then started gluing.

I like this better than the quilt.

All of the fabric is from the quilt, except for the space needle.  I left the batting in the petals of the flower to make them have some depth. The flower is suppose to be the state flower of Washington, the rhododendron.  I am calling it artistic perspective, also known as I have no clue how to make a rhododendron from fabric!

It fills up the space in the office just as well and I am glad that ugly quilt is not glaring down at me anymore!  It was a mean quilt.

-melissa

crafting with burlap

This spring has been pretty busy, but we took some time out this afternoon to make some beautiful burlap flowers for Tristan and Brooke's wedding that is less than two weeks away.  The flowers were quick and easy to make thanks to this blogpost that I found.  If you love burlap you should definitely give it a try...I am already dreaming up a new summer wreath or centerpiece of my own.

In other crafting news I have been working on a surprise quilt, here is the plan and I will put the finished product and its details up when I finish.

Let's get one shot of Abby in, I feel like she is never the star anymore!  Isn't she pretty!

This crafting/photography/blogging break brought to you by a good nap by little C.

-melissa

here comes peter cottontail...

Most children are frightened of an oversized rodent sitting in a rocking chair wanting tons of children to sit on its lap.  Charlotte is not most children.

We went to Williamsburg yesterday, did some shopping and stopped off to see the easter bunny.  I really had my hopes set on a photo shoot with a real live bunny.  But I am really glad that we decided just to stop and say hi to the big guy.

She thought he was amazing.

And cried when it was time to go.

She was sad until we gave her these silly foam ears.

And then some delicious goodness from Sno-To-Go.  Soft serve ice cream mixed with a snow cone...amazing!

He thought so too!

Coming home, she was exhausted after a long day!

In honor of our cute little bunny meeting the easter bunny, here is my super simple directions for bunny cupcakes!  You need candy for nose and eyes, I used jelly beans this year.  Small marshmallows for the cheeks, and big marshmallows cut in half and dipped in sprinkles for the ears.

And tada, you have one bunny cupcake that kids of any age can make!  I have been making these for years with my school kids and they always love them!

Hope everyone has a great Easter.  We have plans for the zoo today with some besties and then a delicious dinner planned for Sunday.

-melissa