Even the fact that I couldn’t get a decent picture of it seems significant.

I am always thankful that each day starts fresh! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Okay, I am at it again! This is the second of my three pajama shirts that have sleeves that are not as long as I would like them. I don’t want them to go to my wrists, I want them to go down to my knuckles and keep my arms completely warm when I sleep! I have thought about replacing them, but reading this book and watching the crafting community using what you have in April made me think about what I could do to solve this problem without running straight to the store for new pajamas. The first step to making your sleeves longer is to cut them off. I know, it is a little counter intuitive, but go for it!

Then sew in some some extra fleece to lengthen! I used contrasting thread so that I could put together a tutorial later.

And viola! More comfy pajamas… and all for free, using what I have on hand.

I am starting to see potential all over the place, such as the fleece hoodie the boy is about to outgrow! I may not have to buy my kids new clothes for awhile! And I am going to throw this into the “Everyday Creativity” Whip-Lash competition on Whip-Up. Go check out all the fabulous stuff people are making by following the links on the right side of the Competion page.

I have a couple of fleece sweatshirts that I use as pajamas. I like them because they keep me warm along with the fleece pajama bottoms that I made before we returned from the tropics to the wintery northern United States. But the sleeves have felt just a little too short. I guess they weren’t really too short or I would not have tolerated them as long as I have, but since I wanted my sleeves to hang down to my knuckles to keep me warmer, they were still a little shorter than that desired length. So I set out to make them longer. With some scraps of fleece I had on hand, I added a few inches to each sleeve. I think they look kind of fun.

I have two more shirts that I plan to do this to, and I realized the Boy has a fleece hoodie that I could extend the life of by adding some length to the sleeves. I am excited because it was relatively easy and I like the length of the sleeves now! Yay!

I was thinking about entering it in the Whiplash competition over at Whip up, although I have to say I am quite confused about the parameters of the competition and the meaning of the theme Everyday Creativity since I haven’t had a chance to read the book they are giving away. Slight Catch 22 there! It sounds like humor is a factor, although I am not sure this qualifies as humorous even if the Man laughed heartily when he saw what I was up to! Has anybody read the book? Can anybody enlighten me?

The warm weather we have been having has had me outside cleaning up the yard, trying to get flower beds ready for planting, and potting some seedlings. So this is what most of my creative energy this week has been used for.

I have also noticed that the house is in desperate need of a top to bottom spring cleaning in every room. The problem is that this means that I keep putting off some of the regular cleaning thinking that I will be doing a thorough cleaning soon… but I haven’t gotten to it yet, and the grime is building up. Today, I decided to get things prepped by at least making sure things are relatively organized before I start some deep cleaning. I got distracted when I decided I really wanted my fabric in the studio and not stashed away in a closet. I have been keeping it in the back half of the Girls closet, and having it on hangers has been working for me for years. But even though we make the girl clean her room a few times a week, I still feel like I am wading through a landfill to get to that closet. And I can’t get to it after she has gone to bed.

And so, of course, moving that fabric became essential for getting the house cleaned up. After I got all my ribbons, trims, and bias binding organized I was amazed how much seeing what I have inspired my creativity and made it easy to find things when I needed them. I am hoping that being able to see my fabric will also help keep me from forgetting about all the lovely projects I have planned for this loot.

It seems to be color week in the crafty blogging world. I pondered what I had that was yellow for yesterday and couldn’t come up with anything until… I was shocked to check my email and realize that I sold my first handmade offering on Etsy. Since today’s color theme is blue/turquoise, here it is! With some yellow thrown in for yesterday, which I missed. This tote bag has all of these colors!

So I spent the morning getting it ready to ship. It was very fun knowing it was going to someone who wanted it, and also a little sad to let one of my creations go. Silly, I know. So I know that I should really be cool and casual about the whole thing, but well I don’t think I care about being the snooty professional I would have aspired to be a few years ago. Right now, I am just tickled. Here it is all folded up with tags.

And I had fun making labels for the mailing envelope. Don’t they look cute.

I was a little sad when the post office clerk put big swatches of clear tape over them. C’est la vie! I need to get some more stuff up in my shop. I have a few things just waiting to be finished and photographed. Anyone else feel this way about that first sale?

Today, among other things, I ran around gathering supplies. A few things from my mom and a few from the store and I should be ready to jump right in tomorrow morning, because tonight I am tired! So for today, a little preview of what this girl will be wearing. I believe big pieces of furniture should be clothed in neutral colors. That way you can change your wall color and spice things up with pillows, and when you tire of the look it is easier and cheaper to just repaint and get a few new pillows for a new look. But neutral is not really my thing! So it is hard to focus on finding something neutral when I have the opportunity to do something fun like this:

But this fun print isn’t upholstery fabric. I do have a few other upholstery fabrics that might be fun. This one is, but I don’t have enough to do a whole sofa. I also noticed that because it is chenille it gets worn off a little and I don’t want to reupholster a whole sofa just to have it look like it needs to be redone in a year.

So this fabric I really love…

… but I am not quite sure I am ready to commit to having it on the sofa forever. It would dictate the style in any room and I don’t like being restricted like that. So the deep red that you see in the background of all these pictures is the actual color that my sofa will be wearing. It is about as neutral as I get these days. I am very excited to start making pillows to spice it up. And I am glad it is neutral enough that I will have lots of options for lots of different styles. I also found it for $1 a yard, so it was a pretty easy decision since most upholstery fabrics are $10/yard and up, so since I need about 15 yards… you do the math! Currently, I am wondering if I will ever get sick of red. I am starting to think it might be my color for life!

The Girl is going to an overnight birthday party tonight for a friend. It was the perfect chance to try out this skirt design. I have so many fun fabrics and putting them together is so fun. I also have been collecting a lot of rickrack, cording, lace, and bias binding from places like freecycle and the goodwill store in our neighborhood. It was really fun to mix in some of those elements and use the pom pom trim! I also finally figured out how to use the gathering foot on my sewing machine. What an amazing time saver!

Here is the Girl modelling it before it gets gift wrapped. She is much tinier than most of her friends so it shouldn’t be this long on her friend and she had to hold it up so it wouldn’t slide off her miniscule hips. She likes it and I hope her friend will, too. They might all just think I am crazy. And I guess, I have been realizing lately, that I am okay with that.