Emily Guerra

Let me just say…SHEW!!!!  As much as I love vacations I love being home just as much. Especially after a week long vacation in Florida visiting family. There is no place like home.

Me and the kids went to Florida to see my sister, her family and my dad, stepmom and sister. It was long, exhausting, fun and makes me really wish that we all lived a little closer together so that we could visit more often. But now it is time to head back into our old routine.

Lots of swimming!

Watching the shows at Seaworld.

Eating and playing with the cousins.

We had a really great time. To bad it is over but grateful that we are back home.

This past weekend Dana from MADE came down to Whipstitch which is a fabulous sewing/fabric/ lounge… I love it.

Anyways, there was a meet and greet on Friday night and my and my friend Tiffany from Simply Modern Mom were able to go. Dana was here on Friday night for a meet and greet and then on Saturday for demos and a class. I wasn’t able to make it on Saturday due to my husband getting bitten by a yellow jacket, to which is he severely allergic.

I forgot my camera, can you believe that?! But was able to get a group shot of all of us on Friday night. Thank you Tiffany for the picture!

Had so much fun!

It is sad to say that I don’t remember everyone’s name that I meet that night. However I can say that just talking to everyone was so much fun and it is amazing at how much we all have in common with each other.

If you want to see more pictures of that weekend you should check out Dana’s Blog here and Tiffany’s blog here.

One for J and one for N. They love them.

Since we are leaving this weekend to visit family I figured that having something to keep them upright in their carseats would be good for them. So here are the neck pillows that I made for the kids.  I had made them and stashed them so that they wouldn’t play with them before the trip. I wanted to keep the novelty of them if possible.  Unfortunately for me, they found them and was running around the house with the pillows around their necks. They looked goofy for sure.

I made a little tag for each one so that neither of them can complain about the other having theirs.

for my kids of course…

Me and my kids are going to be traveling to Florida in a few weeks to see family. I wanted to make sure that I was able to keep them entertained without the seeming necessity of movies and video games.  So I scrolled through my blog reader to see what I could be inspired by.

I came across these posts which I loved.

This is the Scrap covered Clipboard from Dear Fii found here.

Then it was the how to Make a Magnet Chalkboard and travel bag from Fireflies and Jellybeans found here and here.

And this one here from Smashed Peas and Carrots. Chalkboard cloth, How awesome is that stuff. I bought a yard.

So I had all this inspriation and was thinking of something that my kids would be able to handle since they are both still pretty young. Since they will also be carrying backpacks, I wanted something that would fit inside and be easily portable without a lot of mess to go with it. Or at least too much of a mess, they are kids after all.

I came up with this.

Here is the front of the clipboard. J loves Cars. He picked out this fabric.

This is the back with the Chalkboard cloth has been glued to the back. I used E6000. Since this is the first time that I have glued something like this down, next time I will take more time and not leave so many marks where the glue is. Or bubbles…

And in the middle pouch, which I have closed with a snap, is the flannel eraser for the chalkboard on the back of the clipboard.

I really hope that this will keep them entertained as we travel. Or at least enough so that I can have a turn listening to the radio or an audiobook while we are on the road.

As always let me know what you think.

I have always wanted to try my hand at dying something, anything. I did tie die once but that was long ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Before I started I check out the tute that Dana from Made had made to give me some idea of how it would work. Check it out here.

Recently my husband handed me some shirts that I am planning to refashion anyways but they were slightly discolored. The white ones especially. They really weren’t white any longer. So I decided I would dye them first to see how they turned out.

Before:

the blue one is 98% cotton and 2 % spandex, the middle white one is 100% cotton and the one on the right is 65% polyester and 35% cotton.

Here is what the shirts looked like in my sink. I didn’t quite trust my washing machine. It is evil. I know that it would have held on to some dye to use in my next wash of clothes.

The top is the 100% cotton, middle is the 65% poly and 35 % cotton and bottom is 98 % cotton and 2% spandex.

I don’t believe that my sink was really big enough for the fabric to move freely in. I now understand why the directions say to constantly stir or agitate the fabric.  I ended up with some blotchy spots but not enough to bother me or what I make out of the shirts.  But also you will find things on the fabric that you might not have noticed before just because they didn’t dye to match the rest of the fabric.

I really liked how this one turned out. My husband could have worn it again except for the small part that didn't dye and I don't know if it is part of the fabric or something else.

You might not be able to see it as well but I believe that it is a part of the weave.

This is the 100% cotton

Blotches on the sleeves. Thankfully I am turning all these into short sleeved shirts for me.

This is the 98% cotton, 2% spandex. A nice dark shade, but this was already a blue color before I dyed it.

There are more blotches that I missed on this shirt on the sleeves and some on the back.

I found that in doing this in the sink there just wasn’t enough room to move the fabric around in to be able to get a good coverage.  The next time I dye, and I will dye again, I will get a large plastic tub that will give me plenty of room to move and swirl.

I really liked how I got three different shades of blue depending on the type of fabric. I used RIT Royal Blue dye to try the first time around. I figured it would be a good color instead of pink or orange first. Especially if I make a mistake and end up dying my counters.

I think I just picked up another hobby. Let me know what you think and I will show you what I make out of the shirts. Hopefully before summer is over.

My brother requested that I send him a computer sleeve for his laptop. He is over in Afghanistan at the moment and wants his laptop.  So here is what I made.

It has two snaps, and is made in olive green fleece and

man fabric. I love this man fabric.

closed and ready to go.

Recognize the outer fabric? Let me know what you think.

I really wanted a skirt that is silky and can be worn next year after the babe is born.   I found this at Joann’s. I am not to happy with the print but there wasn’t much of a selection anyways. I need to find something that would work with what I already had on hand. I am afraid that the large print make my derriere look big. Which is why a picture of the back was not taken.

It is hard to take a picture of a skirt when you can't see where you are aiming.

Out of the dozen’s of pictures that I took, well ok  five pictures that I took,  this as the best one.  Because this is a stretch knit and has a 2″ elastic waistband it will grow with me into the summer months.  Next spring and summer I will take in the waist and wear it then.

Let me know what you think.

I hope that everyone had a fabulous Mother’s Day.

I wanted to show real quick what the kids made for all the moms in our lives.

A keychain made from Shrinky Dinks.

I drew out the hearts and had the kids color them with colored pencils. Then cut them out and shrunk them. Not to bad. I really like Shrinky Dinks. They are are cute.

Did you guys see the previous bowling shirt that I made for the man?  You can see it here.

Well this summer I am going to make the same shirt for the man and a matching one for my son. How cute will they be?! Matching shirts. When I am finished I will definitely get pictures.

This is the fabric that I will use on the front panels.

The print is huge!! I had to put the tape measure down so that you could see how long the car is. The print looked a lot smaller in the pictures online. I got the fabric from Fabric.com. Fab place. The rest of the fabric is in the electric blue. Just like the color on the car.   I can’t wait to start on these.

I finished the dress for N last night. Thankfully she was kinda cooperative and I took some pictures.

This is the face that she makes when she sees a camera.

This is from a Simplicity  patterns 7407.  This is an older pattern that my mom gave me. I was going to make the gathers a different color but  wasn’t able to locate something that would look good in the same material. Apparently the cherries were pretty popular.

Here is the back. I like how it crosses in the back.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I love it.