Ruffle Scarf

I'm not a cold weather person...like at all!

I hate cold.

BUT, I do LOVE a cute scarf!!

I whipped this one up in about 10 minutes.

I am swooning over the ruffles!

So here's how you make one...

{I didn't take pics of all the steps because it's pretty simple}

Lay out your knit fabric with it still folded in half off the bolt.

Cut a strip 6" wide

Sew a straight line 2" from the edge on each side of the strip.

Backstitch when you start

At the end, don't backstitch, just cut your thread off

Then pull the bottom thread until you have enough ruffles and tie thread off in a knot.

Repeat 2" from the other edge

Wrap around neck and add cute brooch or pin :)

Voila!

haha, yes that's a chandelier behind my head!

I'm standing on a chair in my dining room taking this pic in a mirror tehe

I want to make more of these scarves in colors like turquoise and yellow!!

Much Love~

Meredith

Future Giveaway??

I've noticed that I'm nearing 100 followers!

I wasn't really sure I would enjoy blogging when I started at the beginning of the summer, but I do :)

I'm so thankful for all of my followers

And for everyone that takes the time to leave me comments

I love checking my email every day and seeing a new comment!

So to give back and show my appreciation I'm going to do a giveaway when I reach 100 followers!

Doesn't that sound like fun??

Not sure what I'm going to give away...something I will make!

So tell your friends!

Much Love to you ALL~

Meredith

A Little Organization Makes Life Better

Do you have junk drawers?

'cmon, everyone does!

I hate them...they make me frustrated

ENTER...Dollar Tree

They have the best little baskets

Gadgets go from this

To this!

And my super stuffed bathroom drawer goes from this...

To this!

LOL my leg looks a little creepy, like it's miniature compared to the drawer!

That's about all the motivation I've had this week.

Getting up at 4:30am every day is such a drag.

Much Love~

Meredith

Snap Up Sleeves

In case you missed it, I guest posted on Oops I Craft My Pants last week.

Today I'm going to show you how to cutesy up your sleeves, with a little EASY sewing and a couple snaps.

I started with this yucky, boxy, totally NOT flattering shirt.

If you want to see what I did to make it form fitting go here

After I slimmed the shirt up a bit, I shortened the sleeves to 3/4 length. I'm going to be doing a tutorial on that early next week, so be on the lookout ;)

 So I took what fabric I had leftover from the sleeves and I cut 4 strips about 9 inches long and 1.25 inches wide.

Place 2 strips right sides together and with 1/4 seam allowance, sew up one side, make a rounded top and sew down the other side, be sure to backstitch.

 Trim off the excess around the rounded end (say that 5 times fast!)

 Turn them both right side out, press, top stitch all the way around. Now you need to decide how much gathering on the sleeves you want and where you want to places your snap up strips. I didn't want very much gathering on these, but you can do whatever you like (I'm not gonna stop ya). So turn the sleeve wrong side out and sew a little box and X to make it secure. Make sure you aren't sewing both your sleeves together...not that I've done this or anything

 Then place a snap over the little X and one on the end of your strip that's hanging out. Definitely check which way you are attaching your snaps! I used decorative snaps cuz they're pretty :)

OH SNAP! You just made your ugly shirt cute!

Of course you can vary the length of the straps and how gathered your sleeves are ;)

Much Love~

Meredith

How to Shorten Sleeves

I have long arms

Always have

Like a monkey

And I'm thin

So long sleeved shirts are not ideal for me

The sleeves always shrink

This makes me not happy

Just another reason I hate winter

{sigh}

Ok, I'm over it!

I just cut the sleeves off when they shrink in the dryer and make a new 3/4 shirt :)

Here's how.

Start with a shirt the sleeves have shrunk on. {I love this color}

Measure where you want to cut the sleeves. It's definitely helpful to use a straight edge!

I cut about 10" off mine.

Fold sleeve up about a 1/2" and press

Fold it up again another 1 1/2" and press.

Then sew about 1/4" from the first folded edge.

And that's it!

The sleeves on this shirt had large ribbing so it puckered a bit when I sewed it.

Oh well. I'll still wear it anyway, cuz hey, it was a free fix!
Some people would prefer to turn the sleeves under to sew, but I wanted the look of a cuff.

So easy right?

Much Love~

Meredith

A to Z with ME

I've seen this on several blogs lately and thought I'd share.

I know you are dying to know me better, right?

The Family...Me and Mr. Perfect, Sis Valerie and BF Derek, Mom and Dad. Aren't we cute?

A. Age: 29

B. Bed size: King...and it's seriously so tall I have to climb into it
C. Chore that you hate: I don't clean showers. What's the need? It gets a bath every day anyway.
D. Dogs: I have one pitbull mix named Carmen. She's a sweety pie. I introduced you to her here.
E. Essential start to your day: Does cursing the alarm clock count?
F. Favorite color: I love yellow!
G. Gold or Silver: I have both, but I wear more silver
H. Height: 5’7"-ish

I. Instruments you play: I took 7 years of piano lessons...am I that good now, no, but I could be. It's like riding a bicycle for me :)
J. Job title: Photographer (it sounds cool, but half the time I loathe it)
K. Kids: 10 year old step-daughter, and my doggie of course!
L. Live: In the burbs of Kansas City
M. Mother’s name: Sue...also my mother-in-law's name :)
N. Nicknames: Uh, people will occasionally call me "Mere" which I think is kinda stupid, but it's whatever
O. Overnight hospital stays: Had my tonsils out when I was 3. I stayed 4 nights once with pyelonephritis...it's a glorified kidney infection. It was BAD. I had a baseball sized cyst on my kidney. No fun!
P. Pet peeves: Any food noise drives me INSANE!! And I seriously hate whistling
Q. Quote from a movie: "There was nothing wrong with it until that no talent ass clown became famous and started winning grammy's" -Michael Bolton of Office Space
R. Right or left handed: Righty.
S. Siblings: 1 Sis, Valerie
U. Ultimate Vacation: Anywhere with sand I can bake myself on.
V. Vegetable you hate: Peas...I just threw up in my mouth a little
W. What makes you run late: The hubs, the kid, it's never me ;)
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, Sinuses, Back, and I had a CT scan once, does that count?
Y. Yummy food that you make: HA! I don't cook. So, chocolate chip cookies maybe?
Z. Zoo animal: Penguins all the way. 

Yarn Word Art

I saw this yarn covered number

see kate sew

Cute, right?

So I put my own spin on it 

I made this sketch

I transferred it to poster board and cut it out

Then I wrapped it in yarn.

First brown, then turquoise, the a little more brown

It's kinda hard to see the colors real well because I hung it at the end of my hallway

ie...NO natural light...ugh

I "love" it hehe

Super duper easy project, but VERY time consuming!

Hope you likey!

Much Love~

Meredith

Guest Posting!!

I know, I know...

I'm so lame I haven't posted on my own blog this week, but I'm posting on someone else's??

This one single blog post is literally the ONLY thing outside of work, the kiddo's activities, family get-togethers and what little sleep I get, that I've had time for.

I'm so sorry, please forgive me

AND

Go check out my SU-WEET tutorial on 

Oops, I Craft My Pants

Do it now!
You won't be sorry ;0)

And no worries, I WILL be posting on my own blog next week!
I already have things in the works
HOORAY!

Much Love~
Meredith

ANOTHER shirt refashion...

...seems that's all I'm doing lately

Well, here it is anyway

I got this shirt 3 years ago at a Royals game on a giveaway night

Totally didn't fit, go figure

see?

Awful

So I did what I do to all the shirts that don't fit on the sides and fixed it up!

If you want to know how to make a shirt fit your sides right go here

And voila!

Fits like a charm!

Much Love~

Meredith

RAWR Dinosaurs!

Does anyone follow see kate sew?

Well you should.

She's a fantastic seamstress

Anyway, she was looking for a few peeps to test out a pattern for her

Good thing I'm a slave to my phone and saw the email right away so I could volunteer!

The pattern we tested was a Dinosaur! RAWR!

So cute!

Here's how mine turned out

Isn't he marvelous???

My nephew will be receiving him for a birthday present in a couple weeks :)

So her pattern goes on sale today!

Go check it out

see kate sew

Much Love~

Meredith