I'm still here! We just returned from a little trip to grandma's and now I'm nursing an awful cold. The children seem to take these horrible head colds in stride. I, on the other hand, look like I just got hit by a bus.

I made these two bracelets for a good friend's birthday last week. Yes, I am a woman in my 30s making friendship bracelets for a woman in her 30s. And yes, my husband laughed at me. But whatever. Learning how to make them again made me a little teary about my camp days. Also they are, I believe, stylish--as ridiculous as that may be.

I went with the chevron style and the boring old stripey style. I tried for a more grown up color pallet, but really they are going to look like friendship bracelets no matter what colors you pick.

This was another pattern that got cut out a while back and then abandoned on the ironing board (and hidden by the heaps of shit piled on top of it). Patterns that use bias tape to finish necklines and armhole (armices whatever) usually look so simple, but then they always want you to make your own damn bias tape.  That is when this project stalled.

But making bias tape is really only difficult in my head. Once I got started, it only took a little bit of the afternoon to finish. I've been looking longingly at this dress since I got the Naomi Ito book years ago. So, it feels good to have it done...

...and the dress feels good on-- I can tell, because she's been wearing it at every opportunity. The fabric is this super lightweight cotton lawn I found at Joann's of all places. Why I didn't make myself something out of it, I don't know.  There might be just enough left to make a super stylish shirt for me out of the book as well.

Speaking of books, I'm slowly updating my library page. By the end of the summer I hope to have all the projects I've done listed under all the books I've used. That of course means going through 4 years of posts, so have a little patience :)  (there are no projects listed...yet). I've also added some books to the elsie marley amazon shop. There aren't an overwhelming number of books there, mostly because I try to recommend books that I would actually buy (being a bit of a cheapskate means it takes a lot to get me to shell out for a book) but that means there are some really, really good ones there!

Please don't laugh at my first foray into animated gifs. I have no idea what I'm doing, obviously.

Would you like to get on board for August? There is a bit of time (and a bit of space) left! Elsie Marley has over 4500 subscribers and a bunch of followers on twitter and pinterest too. All I'm saying is lots people read this blog! And the lovely people who do like to see what indie shops are out there. Drop me a line if you'd like to show off your shop (or blog) on Elsie Marley:

elsiemarleyblog@gmail.com

The sponsor spots are 125 pixels square and #25/month. See? Totally affordable. And I'm laid back about it all, so there is no reason to be afraid. I don't bite.  So email me already!

This spring I stashed a few sticks to make hangers out of, but then the project fizzled. I wanted to find big hooks I could screw into the stick, sort of like extra large cup hooks. Only they don't make extra large cup hooks. Miss Maize Hutton had a better idea: just take the hook part off a wire hanger and use that. Now I have to go find those sticks. Maybe even crochet over some!

I know there are a bunch of tutorials for little girls' skirts out there, but this one by Hagar of Sepa Designs for the Charm Stitch blog is particularly lovely. The ribbon, pintuck, and elastic detail make for an extra special skirt. The beautiful Naomi Ito fabric doesn't hurt either.

The directions for this table are in (horribly translated) German, but you can kind of get the gist of it. And if you do, you'll have a fabulous table made out of 2x4s. I think this would make a very nice tall table for the entryway.

Is that skirt you bought made for 20 year olds? Add a little color block hem and you are good to go. Not being a big fan of knees, this is my favorite tutorial. She's got a tutorial for adding pockets as well!

I dont' know where we got those lick and stick play stamps when we were little, but they always were around. And they always had those fantastic 60's graphics on them.  Most probably didn't make it into this century, but happily Terri has made a tutorial for you and your kids to make you own.

That should keep you busy. Have you found any good tutorials on the interwebs these days?

My kids wore their winter pajamas most of the chilly spring, but then it got hot all of a sudden (then disgustingly hot) so I had to whip up some summer pajamas super fast.

So I made one from a pink stripey pillowcase...

and one from a yellow stripey pillowcase. There is a stripey green one in a thrift store somewhere waiting for me, I know it. So no trifecta of cuteness.  But the baby did get some little man pjs from an old sheet.

For a while there my children were barely clothed during the day, much less at night, so the pajamas were forgotten. But now that the heat has stopped being so punishing (at least for the moment) the pillowcase pjs are back in rotation.  Speaking of summer, Mary Frances has a lovely post about midsummer, go see...

Here is a little shirred top I made for my daughter from an old men's shirt. When I started I was trying to make something more like this, but the yoke was a leeetle too tight. Luckily there was just enough length to cut it off and try something new.

That damn elastic thread everyone raves about seemed like the best bet for actually coming out with a wearable top in the end. I've tried it before, but there are so many conflicting explainations on how to use it--wind it loose, wind it tight, wind it not too loose and not too tight (that one is particularly helpful, thank you), pull it to gather, don't pull it, iron it, steam it. Whatever. I already screwed up the shirt once, so I didn't have much to lose by screwing it up again.

But hey! it's not so bad.  I have no idea how I wound the bobbin (not too loose and not too tight--sorry) but it worked well enough. Definintly of the homemade varitey.  She likes it, but elastic thread is not all that pleasant against the skin--anyone have any ideas for lining shirring? Or have any horror stories about elastic thread?

stringing pompoms and blasting the air conditioning on a disgustingly sticky hot day. I think we'll hang them in the kids' room when the baby wakes up. Michael's has awesome colored pompoms by the way. I might even go back for another bag.

straight from the trash and super stylish. score!

There was a brief period after KCWC where I was riding a sewing high.  Many things got cut out a few things got half done and then it fizzled. This top didn't help with the fizzling. I just kept screwing it up at every turn.

The fabric was supposed to be this orange linen with sort of hand drawn white flowers. Pretty, right? The problem was flowers don't grow sideways. Damn. It took me a while to pick another fabric I like, because I'm trying to find a place where my kids and I can both be excited about the clothes I make. I don't want hyper stylish kids dressed in all gray, but I don't want them to have free range picking out the fabric. Does that make me a mean mom? whatever. I'm the one sewing it. Also, I get to make the rules, so there.

I picked up this fabric at a swap (thanks Lil!) and though there wasn't as much as the pattern called for it worked out okay. It hangs a little weird in the front, but I'm probably the only one who notices. The pattern is awesome by the way. It's a free tutorial called the apron top tutorial. The yoke is so  simple and pretty. I bet it would look great with stripes. It was originally a halter top, but my daughter can't stand them so I went with a criss cross deal. Jump! Jump!

I'm here. I haven't fallen off the earth, I've just been sucked into summer with three little kids and all it's sweaty, whiny, wet and happy craziness. I keep waiting for things to slow down a little so I can get some projects crossed off the list, but then yesterday I realized the crazy is not going to let up until summer's done.

So I'm going to try to take that minute here and there my kids give me and to get something accomplished. Like their room. It's still far from done and it's starting to wear on me.  The overhead projector came out yesterday and I started to draw a map of our neighborhood on the big board.  Nothing like a big junior high flash back in the middle of the day.  If you are too young to remember the drone of the fan and the slightly burny smell of the overhead projector well then you are just too young aren't you.

If you've got a keen eye then you spotted the bumper I made in the first picture. And here is the bunting bumper (rubber baby bunting bumpers!) in all it's glory. Take a long look, because I will never be making one of these suckers again. You know when you are dreading doing a project and then you start and think, hey, this isn't so bad, kind of fun even? Well this wasn't like that at all--it sucked the whole way through.  But thankfully done and off the list.

Painting the dresser is next. Any thoughts?

Here are the first few posts about the room if you need a refresher:

• before
• during 1
• during 2