Transitions and Change

Hi readers. I have decided to change things up just a bit. I will be moving all my blogging over to Mulholland Homestead. I hope you will follow me over there. You can read all about the details and changes over there now. You will continue to see more of the same things you saw here but also some new things as my interests have changed slightly over the years. Hope to see you over at Mulholland Homestead.

Dresses for the Girls

(Photo from Blake Collins)

I know Easter was a few months ago but I made dresses for the girls and wanted to share them here. We did not take good pictures of the girls in their dresses that day, but you can get the idea. I used a fun animal print fabric I picked up at JoAnn's for the main portion of both dresses. You may recognize the fabric from this blanket which is how I used the leftovers.

Dressing sisters in matching outfits goes back decades but since there is a four year age gap Sydney usually likes to have a little individuality. So I used a different color solid to complete each dress. Sydney picked out pink, of course, and Violet received green. I used the Ice Cream Dress pattern from Oliver + S. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. I did make a few small mistakes but I learned alot along the way. For example, I didn't secure the side seams of the dress well enough and now after a dozen washes Sydney's has begun to come unraveled. They both have enjoyed wearing them though and it makes me happy to see them.

An Irish Dress

Sydney is about to begin 1st grade. But while she was still in Kindergarten, her class did a performance of It's A Small World. The teachers asked each of the kids to dress in traditional clothes from a country of their choice. Sydney decided on Ireland so we went to work on an outfit a couple days before her performance. She loves getting dressed up for any reason so she was very pleased with the result. I think she looks adorable but the sewer in me see the things that could be better.

I just made a longer version of this skirt, with a little lace at the bottom instead of ribbon. Then I made her a quick little apron. I just cut out the shape I wanted, hemmed around all the edges and added a little tie. That gray striped fabric is from my mom's stash from when I was a little girl. Finally I made her a little vest. It was my first attempt at making a vest and I just went for it without a pattern so it is a little bit too small. We wanted to add some cording to lace the vest up so we were able to make it work though. To top off the outfit we braided her hair in a crown and added a few flowers.

Baby Quilt: Pink and Green

Some friends are expecting their first child any day now. Amy made all the bedding for their daughter so when it came time to make her a gift I knew just the colors and fabric to use.

The animal print on the back of the quilt is from the same line as the fabric she used for the bedding. For the front I just used fabrics I had in my stash. Some of the fabrics are from Anna Maria Horner, some are from Denyse Schmidt, and the rest I just picked up here and there and don't remember the names of. I used the same pattern as these quilts.

The binding I made from some leftover Kona solid. I really am enjoying sewing binding on by hand. It feels like a few moments of peace to create something beautiful.

A Simple Skirt

Sydney is very tall for her age. As her doctor told us at her recent check-up: "She's the size of an average 8 year old." Yep that's my girl...well her daddy's girl. I love her beautiful height but it does make buying clothes for her a little tricky sometimes. Especially since most skirts for little girls are getting shorter and shorter these days. And while I'm tempted to go on and on about my frustrations with that I'll continue on to a lighter note.

After some searching for skirts she could wear to school (they need to be mostly navy, light blue, white, and tan) and not finding much selection I decided to make her one. I made this little skirt for her a while back and she wore it quite a bit throughout the spring. It is perfect for her and makes everybody happy. Her school is happy with the colors, Mom and Dad are happy with the length, and Sydney is happy to have a unique skirt to wear to school and show off her individuality.

It is from the Lazy Days Skirt tutorial. It was so easy to follow and super simple. I will definitely be making more of these for the coming school year. The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner which I had in my stash and the ribbon is just a basic navy ribbon I picked up at JoAnn's.

New Pillows

I made these pillows a few months ago but just realized I haven't shared them here. The pattern is Anna Maria Horner's Love Emblem pattern. She also has a free pattern to make two different size quilts using the same pattern. They are beautiful. This was my first try with such a challenging pattern. All those different triangles and points and fitting it all together was a bit overwhelming. In the end, they didn't turn out perfect but I like them and learned so much in the process.

For these pillows I used her Folksy Flannels Collection along with some solid cream flannel I picked up at our local JoAnn's. It makes them very soft and snuggly. For the backs I just used some Kona solids. For the stuffing I mainly used the stuffing from the pillows we already had on the couch. This saved some money. Plus, we didn't need more pillows just different ones.

I like the idea of making new pillows every few months to give the room a fresh feeling. Hopefully I'll find some time to make up some new ones this fall. I also like trying new things and pillows are a good size for trying new patterns or techniques or color combinations. Do you have any favorite patterns for pillows?

Flannel Patchwork Ball

Yes, I know it is March so please excuse the next couple posts. Last Christmas I wanted to make Shane and the girls each a handmade gift instead of buying gifts and I wanted to share them here too.


Up first, is the littlest Mulholland, Violet. I made her a little patchwork ball. The pattern is from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner. It is all hexagons and pentagons sewn together. I thought it would be confusing and that I might have a lot of taking out stitches and resewing but Anna gave clear, concise instructions and diagrams. It was so much fun to make. I used a bunch of her different flannels which made the ball super soft and cuddly. I think half the time Vi uses it for a pillow.


As you can see not all my corners match up very well but luckily Violet doesn't mind.

Baby Quilt: Pink and Orange

One more baby quilt to share. This one is also for a friend who is due in about a month. These fabrics are Anna Maria Horner prints that I had in my stash along with some solids.


Like I mentioned before I want to keep trying new things with each quilt so I decided to add a little hand embroidery for the quilting. First I used my sewing machine to 'stitch in the ditch' and then used thick embroidery floss to add detail. I just tried to do some straight stitches around different portions of the patterns in each piece. It really added a handmade feel to the quilt. I think in the future if I decide to do this again, I'll try to add even more.


The pattern is the same as this first quilt. I really love this pattern because it is super quick and so fun to pick out prints since it is designed for six fat quarters. The back is an Anna Maria flannel and I tried my hand at making and attaching binding again. This time the binding went much better and I feel like I'm understanding the process much more. I think my favorite thing about this quilt is the colors. I must confess that I wanted to keep it. I hope little Alli loves this quilt to shreds.


I have one more baby quilt finish that I'll share once I get pictures of it. And since I have more friend's expecting there will probably be more quilts to come this year. I really love making this size quilt. It is just fast enough to feel satisfying and keep me interested in each individual project.

Baby quilt: Pink and Black

Here is another baby quilt for yet another friend about to have a baby, a little girl. I had all these pink fabrics already and the black and white came from my mom. She probably had the black and white check since I was a little girl. The pattern is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones. I really like how easily it all came together.


My goal has been to try a little something new with each quilt since I'm such a beginner still. So this time around I decided to tackle making and attaching binding. It came out alright for my first try. I think the fabric I used was a bit thin and something a little sturdier would work better. I used the same check fabric for the back and since it is a bit thin I added some cotton batting so it would be a little warmer. Hope you enjoy Baby O.

Hearts and Needles

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a weekend of heart shaped food including toast with hearts cut out and filled with eggs. We call these birds in a nest but I'm not sure that's an official name for this food. We also made homemade pizzas in heart form.


Today is a no school day for Sydney. The girls have been having a fun day playing together. While Vi was napping I decided to work on a little hand-stitching.


It is so lovely to look down at this fabric (from Anna Maria Horner). But so much better to look up to find Syd has joined me with her own project. She knows how to make a mama feel so loved.


The only thing that would make this day better is having my Valentine here with me. But alas, a day of love is not a holiday for the movie making folk. :) I'll just have to wait until dinner.

Blue Crocheted Granny Square

This was a wedding gift for yet another wedding this past year. One of Shane's closest friends from college was married a week after my sister. This blanket is just a giant granny square with a couple different shade of blue and some cream too. I liked how simple yet soothing it looks. It is a perfect size for a lap blanket.

I also made another one of these for our landlord for Christmas. It was a dark hunter green and this same cream color in big large stripes. Of course, I was finishing it up right until we gave it to her so I forgot to take a picture.

Appliqued shirts

A few months ago I made these two appliqued shirts for a couple of our favorite little boys.


This penguin was a birthday gift for our friend Ryken.


And this little owl onesie is a just because / surprise gift for a cousin's son.

I do love making these. They are easy, quick, and it's fun to use fabric from my stash. I hope to make some more this year. I also have some other ideas to applique these little birds on some other projects. Do you have any fun ideas?

Crocheted Halloween Costumes

I have wanted to make Sydney's Halloween costume since she was a baby. This year I finally got the inspiration to really go for it. She really wanted to be Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon, which of course made Shane really proud. We actually looked around for a costume for her but couldn't find one anywhere. We did see some girls wearing pre-made ones on Halloween so they must have been available but maybe just sold out. Either way, with Shane's encouragement, we decided to make Sydney an Astrid costume ourselves.


First I picked out some yarn and crocheted the vest/shirt for her. It is two different yarns, one aqua color and a tricolor, that I crocheted together. I just chained enough to fit around her waist and slip stitched to the first chain to make a large loop. Then I just did rows of double stitch up her torso. I was worried the double stitch would be too big and not tight enough for a shirt but because of using two yarns and a H hook it worked out great. Once I made the tube big enough for her torso I just winged it to go up around on shoulder and then attached it to the back. Then I crocheted the other side. I was in a hurry so I didn't keep track of stitches or anything like that. Basically the poor girl had to try it on every hour or so as I went to make sure it was going to fit correctly.


The skirt is a faux leather I picked up at Joann's. I just made myself a little template and cut out all the pieces by hand. Then sewed them onto a waist band piece. I didn't really have the time to finish the skirt well so we just cut belt loops right into the waist of the skirt and put her brown belt on the inside of the skirt. It worked perfectly. Plus, this method means it is adjustable so she can wear it again next year if she wants. The skirt also includes a basic tube of brown cotton fabric for the bottom layer. The 'studs' are just silver buttons I found and sewed onto the skirt. The little skulls and the studs on her shoulders are clay Shane mixed up for me that we baked in the oven until set, then we just hot glued them into place.


The shoulder pieces are made for cardboard, hot glue, spray paint, and more of the clay for the spikes. And to finish it all off I made her headpiece from a scrap of the 'leather', extra buttons, and verco. Viola! Astrid.


Next up was Violet. We thought it would be cute if she was a little dragon. We talked and sketched some ideas for a little beanie and spikes as well as other details but in the end time limited her costume to just wings. It worked out because at 15 months she wasn't really liking the idea of a detailed, cumbersome costume. I just used some Red Heart soft green yarn. Once again I just sort of winged it without a pattern (sorry for the pun.) It is all double crocheted as well which made it come together quickly. Shane helped me add wire (from a wire hanger) then I just added a couple buttons to attache the harness.


I was happy with how they turned out and I look forward to making more costumes for them in the future. It was also good to try my skills at creating something with no pattern to even base it off of. Definitely a stretching experience.

First Quilt

I have been wanting to make a quilt for years and finally worked up the nerve to give it a go. This first one was for a close friend who had her first baby this past November. I used this super easy and fun pattern from Kate at Two Little Banshees, which uses six fat quarters for the quilt top. It was a great first pattern for me. I love the colors and fabrics. The back is a flannel from Anna Maria Horner. The front is cottons and mostly from her too. I learned a lot on this first quilt and know there is a lot of growing and practice still needed but overall I was happy with how it turned out. It definitely has given me the inspiration to make more quilts and do more sewing in general.

Cherilyn and Jake

I know it has been a while since I blogged so get ready for some catching up. While I haven't been on here much I have been creating and making new stuff. I'm looking forward to sharing them and getting some feedback too. So without further delay...

(Photo property of Cherilyn)

Congratulations (belated though it is) to my sister Cherilyn and her new husband Jake. They were married this past October. Cherilyn is my only sister whom I love dearly and Jake is a wonderful husband for her. He really brings out the best in her and for that I love him too.


I made them this crocheted blanket for their new home together (yes it is an old picture because I forgot to take pictures of it completed). It is something you may have seen a glimpse of all the way back here. It was definitely a labor of love but I think it will be a nice blanket to cuddle under for a movie. It is big enough for two to use for just such an occasion. This is my first attempt at a chevron or zigzag pattern. I really like the look of these and think I might make one for our home too. I'm thinking a bunch of bright colors. Maybe something for on Violet's big girl bed since it will probably take about that long to make. :)