Ahhh, finally finished!

This is the image I like to see when thinking of my children...laying joyfully down together and drifting peacefully off to sleep. It never happens, but then, these are my hopeful thoughts. I just finished this gigantic pillow a few days ago. Isn't it great? Look how big it is and how it fits both kids, although they rarely practice the art of sharing. Nonetheless, I have a picture to prove it for now.

I think Cade is showing her how to put puzzles together.

I have spent the last 4 or so weeks working on their room. I had a vision of a coordinating boy/girl room, but still wanted them to have their own wall to dress up. I was shopping one evening with my mom and came across these two differing, yet matching bed sheets. I've learned that sometimes, sheets can make fabulous fabric for decorating and sewing. So, we bought the king size sheets and matching floor rugs and headed home to brainstorm. Mom and I came up with ideas for the bed skirt and closet curtain. I was no doubt intimidated by working with a pattern, but it all worked out. Well, the pattern was for the bed skirt, the curtain was no biggie; it just required doing some simple math.

Without making it too girlie, (if you saw her previous bedroom, it screamed girlie, so this was a little more neutral) I went with orange and green stripes for the curtain. It was the easiest thing I've ever done and still super cute.

I appreciate that the curtain hides her clothes and makes the room easier on your eyes. Girl has some clothes, but really the bottom rod is winter and bigger sizes. We lack storage, so everything hangs in there.

Cade's curtain done in khaki and red. Classic.

He only has one rod. :)

This pleated bed shirt was super easy too. Again, the pattern was scary, but mom walked me through it and it turned out perfectly. Really proud of the bed skirts.

Cade's with red trim and I made it a little shorter since his bed is lower.

Now, this beast took me a long time. Each piece is sewn together one-by-one and therefore, took lots of time. Although it's all straight stitching, it still required some well thought out planning. It's 44x35 and the back comes together like a pillow sham, overlapping in the middle. It's nice and squishy.

At this point, I was pretty much done with my initial projects in the room. The problem was, I still had plenty of fabric left over. What to make? Blankets. What else would I have done with the fabric and who couldn't use 1 more blanket in their stack of 12? Besides, this one matches. I made each kiddo a new blanket with left over fabric and minky. I despise working with minky, so the project was a stretch for me to make. It was nice when it was all done though.

Would you believe that I still had more fabric left over? Seriously. It just so happened that the amount left over looked just like a pillow case. This was all the fabric I had! It was perfect and I couldn't resist making them and adding them to the colorful mix that I had now created. I made little pillows first with the left over fabric from the deck of the bed skirts. Then, I just sewed up the edges of the fabric and slid the pillow in. I anticipate having to wash them, so this was the perfect plan. I am done!

Mckinley's wall

Cade's wall

I don't know where it has come from, but I'm yearning for more projects to do. I've really enjoyed this new hobby of sewing...it's so rewarding! Luckily, I have a great teacher, my mom, whom I call often to help and walk me through the scary stuff, like how to read the language on the patterns. She's encouraging and gentle with me, even when I'm frustrated over something so trivial. One day, maybe I can be as talented as her!

My next project is to make Mckinley a nap mat for school. That's right, she starts Mother's Day Out in November. It will really be a mother's day out when both kiddos are in school for 6 hours Tuesday and Thursday! After that, I hope to make personalized Christmas stockings for my family. I'm sure there'll be other projects too in between!