To Quilt Or Not To Quilt???

I've been wanting to make a quilt for some time now

But quite frankly, it scares the crap out of me!

It looks like there's SO much work involved

All the cutting...

And sewing all the tiny pieces together...

And binding...

And whatever else you have to do

AHHHH!!!

Anyway, I have a childhood friend who's having a baby at the end of the year and I thought maybe I would start with a baby quilt for her. Then I might not feel so overwhelmed?? But still make a decision on whether I like quilting or not.

So I need some advice from my lovely readers...

Do you quilt?

Do you like it?

Is it easy?

Am I going to have to sell a kidney to support this hobby?

What's this about jelly rolls and charm packs??

What's your best resource for a first timer?

Should I buy a walking foot?

HELP ME PLEASE!!!

I would really love you for it :)

Much Love~

Meredith

Shirt Refashion Tutorial

So I recently refashioned one of my shirts for work

It was big and boxy and hideous

I refused to wear such an ill-fitting shirt

But my boss is being a stickler on the shirt thing this year, which I understand

So I had to fix them 

You can find my previous post here

I had a comment from this lovely girl Kalliemack

She suggested I do a tutorial

Well here it is....

Turn your shirt wrong side out and lay it out flat.

Make sure to line up all your seams on the hem and sleeves

yes I realize this photo is totally crappy :(

Next take a shirt that fits you well and lay it on top as a guide

Again, make sure your hem and sleeves match up perfectly

At this point I would use a water soluble marker and just draw an outline for sewing, 

but with a black shirt, it's better to use pins.

To keep things looking professional, measure the same amount on the sleeves and armpits to be cut off. This will keep your shirt from looking uneven or wonky.

Also try and make the sides as close to identical as possible.

So then you just sew where you drew your line, or put your pins.

I used a regular straight stitch.

I also backstitched several times and the hem and sleeves to give it extra strength and durability.

Last, use pinking sheers and cut off the extra fabric.

Turn right side out and marvel at your sewing abilities!

You can do this to just about any shirt that doesn't fit your form properly.

I did this on a previous refashion you can check out here

Now find all your boxy, frumpy shirts and make them new again!

Much Love~

Meredith

Chef Coat Tailoring

A friend of mine is the General Manager at an On The Border in my area

She asked me to turn her long sleeved chef coats into short sleeved ones.

Ok, no biggie.

I decided to use a double needle for this one

I've never used it before and I had to get out my manual to figure it out

I have to admit...I don't like it

Don't get me wrong, I think the end product looks fantastic and it definitely saves time

But I just didn't like threading both needles and winding multiple bobbins.

Yuck, just a pain.

Oh well, I conquered it

Here's what I started with

...sort of...

As you can see, I had already chopped off the sleeves of the other 2 before I remembered to take a picture

Ta Da!

See how nice the double needle stitching looks!

Much Love~

Meredith

VERY Late Pinterest Picks {Week 5}

I'm such a bad blogger

I don't feel like I've done anything on my blog this month

August has been a VERY busy month at our house

I just finished up ANOTHER 55 hour week

I was sick half the week too

UGH!!!

So here I am posting my Pinterest Picks for this week...

....2 days late.

Sorry people

So here goes

This week I'm sharing something FUN!

I love funny, witty sayings

These are all from my Words board

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Haha This is what I feel like when the weekend starts!

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I may be 29, but I still call my mom for all kinds of stupid things...do we ever stop doing that???

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You know, I'm kind of a big deal.

If the shoe fits!

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Who can relate to this one?!

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AMEN

So go check out the rest of my board Words

I promise I won't be a crappy blogger this week.

I already have posts lined up!

Hooray!!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 4}

This week I have the CUTEST play kitchens to show you!

My kiddo is too old for one, but should I ever have a little girl, I'm totally making one!

Check it

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Aren't they just soooooo stinkin ca-ute??

Maybe I'll make for myself since Mr. Perfect does all the cooking ;)

I can pretend I'm a great chef...then just eat his food

Ok, maybe not, but I still want one!

Check out the rest of my board HERE

Much Love~

Meredith

Work Shirt Refashion

So I have a closet full of "work" shirts that I'm "supposed" to wear

Do I wear them??

Uh, no.

I hate them.

They are all boxy and don't fit me at all

My boss orders more of them every year and I just hang them up and wear something else

Sometimes I feel guilty for doing this.

Everyone else wears theirs

But I just don't

And when I do, someone always asks "why are you wearing that shirt??"

I think they've come to expect me not to wear uniforms

Well the time of year has come when my boss once again asked for shirt sizes

As always I say WOMEN'S SMALL!!!

Haven't gotten this round of shirts yet so we'll see what they're like this year

However, he seems like he's going to be a stickler on this shirt thing this year...at least for now

Hope he doesn't mind that I refashioned my old shirts!!

Here's what I started with...

BLEH!!

HIDEOUS!!!

See why I despise these shirts {I hope he never stumbles across my blog}

See the terrified look on my face??

See the longer hem in the back?

One thing you can barely see is my boobie bumps! Sheesh!

SEWING MACHINE TO THE RESCUE

BOOYAH!

Now THIS I can handle

I have another shirt like this in black that I will FOR SURE be doing the same thing to

Hate your clothes too??

Change them!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 3}

Welcome to Week 3!

So if you haven't red my bio before {you should ;) just sayin} then you don't know that I am a photographer by day 

I work for Lifetouch

I take school photos, and seniors, and sports, and dances...

blah blah blah...you get the picture {no pun intended tehe}

So this week I'm sharing with you some pins from my Amazing Photos board.

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SWOON!!!

I have an innate L.O.V.E. for photography

Hope you enjoy

Be sure to check out the rest of my board

Much Love~

Meredith

Chair Covers

My brother-in-law teaches seminary in the mornings at his house

He asked me to make these chair covers with the kids names on them

He wanted me to make 14 of them!!!

14!!!!

Holy smokes!!

This happens to be a super busy month for me each year and I was a little worried about this project

BUT, he's family and he's done a lot for us in the past

So this is kindof what he wanted

I've been thinking on how to best accomplish 14 of these

Then on Sunday while I was brushing my teeth, I thought, painters drop cloth!!

So here's how it went down...

{I'd like to apologize for the crappy photos now...I don't have much time to write this and I figured just doing the post was more important than stellar photos...hope you agree}

 Lay out drop cloth...draw lines for cutting...cut...I laid the 2nd one on top and cut them both together

 I had 4 long strips like this...I took each one and hemmed the cut edges...some had pre-finished hems from the edges of the drop cloth...then I just stacked them and cut my sections

 Fold in half, right sides together and sew up the sides...add a snap in the center...and voila!

 Use super spiffy neon fabric markers to write the kids names {I'm missing 2 still}

Stick on chair and snap! Oh snap!

This isn't the chair he's using, this is mine, but I thought I'd test it out.

I'm sure they'll look way better on his chairs, not so tight on the sides, but whatever.

Now the kids know where they're sitting every day.

Mission accomplished!!

Much Love~

Meredith 

Friendship Bracelets!!

Remember a couple weeks ago I told you about signing up for the Friendship Bracelet Swap??

Well I made by bracelets and shipped them off the end of last week!

And I'm here to show you the loveliness 

Don't they remind you of high school??

I secretly want to go back...sometimes...sshh...don't tell

I was grouped up with 3 other girls

So far I've received 2 of their bracelets

When I get the other one I will do a post to show them off too!

Much Love~

Meredith

Pinterest Picks {Week 2}

I'm back friends!!

{Doing the happy dance}

This week has been EXHAUSTING!!!

Worked 58 hours and didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked

BUT, I'm refreshed and ready for a productive weekend!

So here's my Pinterest Picks for the week...a day late...

WREATHS!!

I see so many drop-dead-gorgeous wreaths in blog land

I REALLLLLLLY want to have on my front door

There are 2 problems here...

1. My door faces south, with no shade, so any wreath with glue, melts and falls apart in the sun.

2. Mr. Perfect thinks wreaths are tacky (he's obviously delusional)

So I'm stuck admiring everyone else's wreaths and being super jealous

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Ahhh, SWOON!!

Aren't they lovely??

Maybe someday I can have a wreath...maybe

To see the rest of my "Wreaths I Love, but Hub's Wont Allow" board, click HERE

Hope everyone had a great week!

Sooo glad to have time to be back on my computer :)

Much Love~

Meredith

Sad News

Right now I have nothing to share

I have several large projects I'm working on for some friends and family.

I'm working on adding a ton of new stuff to the shop

AND

I'm working 60+ hours this week

EXHAUSTING!!!!

plus I HAVE to watch the season finale of the Bachelorette tonight ;)

Don't worry, I'll be back!

Much Love~

Meredith