I’ve Moved! July 6, 2009

I’ve Moved!!!  After much consideration and several hours of throwing around ideas my husband and I decided to just GO FOR IT! So here  we are I’m the proud owner of www.madebylulu.com . There isn’t much on the sight right now except temporary banner. However, my webmaster – (and most wonderful husband in the entire world) did set up my blog so that it would remain fully functional for me all set up on my website. This is an exciting time for me. In the next few weeks we’ll be setting up a home page, a store front, and a few other places on my site. Once everything is up and running I’ll be looking into having a small giveaway in honor of my new site!

Continue to read my blog here! http://www.madebylulu.com/blog

Thanks for reading!

~LuLu

Wellness Bag July 4, 2009

I finished it! I’ve had most of the pieces sewn for my Mom’s birthday present, but I’ve been waiting to find the right kind of corn for the filler. Now that everything is done I’m in LOVE with it! I think it turned out great. My husband seems to agree and thinks I should get my little behind sewing up a bunch to sell on etsy and maybe locally at our farmers market.  With out further ado here is the wellness kit I made for my Mom!

Just your basic tote!

The gifts are a heating pad, a cold pack, and a refreshing eye mask. The cold pack and the refreshing eye mask are stored in the freezer for when they are needed and refrozen when done. The heating pad is microwaved for about 2 minutes until it is warm and then used to soothe aches and pains or as a warmer! It’s great to fall asleep with and not wake up all tangled in the electric heating pad. Plus it cools off naturally so there is no risk of burning or over heating yourself if left in place too long! Some people opt to add essential oils to the packs, but my father has very bad asthma and allergies and you never know what scent people will love or hate so mine are all natural. Both the inner and outer bags are all 100% cotton pre shrunk. The outer bag is sewn like a pillow sham to allow easy removal and cleaning if necessary.

Before I give the gift I am hoping to make home made soap and maybe an all natural loofa to add to the mix. Also to go along with the all natural aspect you could add dark chocolate and red wine which are supposed to naturally promote health. Also as a gift adding hand creams or natural bath and body products would be nice. Since this was originally supposed to be mom’s Christmas gift I was going to add a lot more and have a lot more time. There was going to be all natural homemade soaps, lip balms, and body scrubbs. However I think the rest will have to wait.

I really enjoyed creating these. It was nice to just take an idea and run with it creating my own patterns as I went. I am seriously considering selling these on Etsy and locally. I haven’t decided if I want to sell them all seperatly or as a set, or both! Any ideas suggestions or pricing advice would be great! – and if course if you want to buy one thats cool too!

Until next time!

~LuLu

I’ve been Crafty! July 3, 2009

I’m in the process of making a Wellness bag for my Mom’s birthday. It’s inspired by this post on Sew, Mama, Sew!, but the patterns and everything were just things I created! I should be finished sewing today and hopefully I’ll be able to go buy my filler tomorrow. Then I can post pictures this weekend! This project was originally something I was sewing for Christmas – I figure if I start now I should be able to make homemade gifts for everyone on my list! However, because I forgot her birthday is the 31st and Christmas is still 6 months away I’ll  just have to develop another plan for Christmas!

Please feel free to pass along any great christmas gift ideas!!
~LuLu

Father’s Day Laptop Case June 29, 2009

I finally snagged the Laptop case I made for dad long enough to take a few pictures. I used a pattern designed by Oh, Fransson for Sew, Mama, Sew!. I loved how easy the pattern was to follow and how PERFECT it fit the laptop!!!!

I LOVE this fabric. I wanted something simple and not feminine! I think this is both!

The inside and my label!

After seeing the one I made for Dad my husband wants one too, but the fabric he wants is a much lighter fabric so I’ll have to play with making it sturdy with interfacing and maybe extra batting.

I think it turned out great! My machine didn’t seem to have much trouble sewing through everything. On my next one I might try a french seam for the bottom seam, but we’ll see when we get there.

Until next time have fun and get creative!

~LuLu

Happy Father’s Day! June 21, 2009

Yesterday I had my Dad over for a home cooked meal and some family time. I tried to keep everything masculine in a natural sort of way. I mean Mother’s day is easy just flowers, flowers, flowers… but Father’s day needs to be far less girly. So this is what I came up with…

A manly table... beer bottle vase and all! 🙂

We had one of our family favorites…. Homemade General Tso’s Chicken with a side of white rice…. It really is amazing! In all the hustle and bustle of the evening I forgot to take a picture of the laptop sleeve I made dad for Father’s Day. I’m going to sneak over there sometime this week and take a picture. That will give me something to post about again very soon!

Also I’ve been sewing! I’m trying to get ready for a friend’s birthday… a friend who LOVES apples 🙂 So I made my favorite… Bag… a modification… a Large Modification on the buttercup bag! This bag is about 20% larger and has a strap that is attached on the inside so the seams are all hidden! Plus the inside seam of the lining is invisible!! 🙂 This is by far my best bag yet!

The birthday present bag! 🙂

My husband is convinced that if I start sewing my little fingers off  I could set up a table next may at one of our big arts and craft festivals, but I’m not sure yet…  That would mean a huge investment of my time and making several of my new products in bulk, plus the risk of paying for the booth and not selling anything! I’ll have to start thinking about it and looking into the costs associated with it! Besides then I’d have to decide what exactly I’d want to sew and sell!!!

Until next time… get crafty!

~LuLu

A Brand New Day! June 17, 2009

This week hasn’t been nearly as productive as I imagined it would, but I did manage to get a few things accomplished.

First I made Homemade Strawberry Jam!!! It is amazing. I used a recipe I found Here and it turned out great!! I used a half cup more sugar than they suggest because that is what the pectin said, and it turned out super de duper!! Like… I may become a Jam Addict! I don’t even know how to describe it like better than smuckers like WAY better!

There were actually 7 jars, but I gave one to Mom.

Homemade jam with homemade bread! YUMMY!

So I decided that you can’t truly enjoy homemade jam with homemade bread. So of course I made some!!! Then I enjoyed them both with a nice cup of hot tea!

Irish Brown bread

The best breakfast yet this week!

I’ve also been busy sewing up some abandoned projects. I’ve used a lot of my scrap flannel to sew some baby wash cloths/ cloth baby wipes. These are the cutest I’ve made thus far. Last time I just surged the edge and went from there, but this time I sewed them right sides together, flipped right side out, and top stitched! They look great and are soft!

Baby Wipes/ Wash Cloths

I think they turned out nice. Plus they are all in super cute fabrics that would have all been scrap or left sitting unused for a while!

Other than that this week my husband and I have been working on making our house more of a home! We’ve been hanging pictures, curtains, and art! It looks good I’ll get some pictures of that when we’re all done and I’ve cleaned it up!

Until next time…. Get to work!

~LuLu

Yay Goodies! June 12, 2009

I received some of my goodies in the mail today!! I posted about them here a few days ago! Well these just arrived in the mail from the very generous Just for Me Sewing!

Oh So Colorful and Pretty!

Well after sorting through them looking for inspiration and finding my favorites. I think I’ve decided to use a handful of the smaller ones to make a tag blanket for a friend who is about to have a baby girl. I might also try my hand at a tag toy as well.  Here is the ribbon selection for the tag blanket.

Just right for a little girl I think!

The last name starts with a B so I’ll use the plastic toy B to hook on to my tag toy! So clever I know… Now to dig through and find the perfect fabric for the blanket and toy… hmmmm 🙂 I’ll post more when its done!!

It was such a nice day getting a bag filled with so much color and opportunity in the mail!

Until next time – get busy!

~LuLu

Grow Green! June 11, 2009

Right after we moved into our house in March I planted a small garden. There wasn’t much time to get it all in the ground, but I managed tomatoes, cucumbers, bush beans, zucchini, and hot peppers. I planted everything I needed to make salsa, spaghetti, and pickles plus my favorite veggies to pick and eat fresh.

Here is a wide view of my garden!

This picture is missing the hot peppers I just transplanted from their pots on the porch to just in front of those lovely bean bushes! The peppers just needed more sun and water than they were getting on the porch. other than being incredibly green my garden seems to be fairly productive right now. Here are some close ups!

Here is a cluster of 5 Tomatoes plus there are others on this plant!

my beans are growing nicely... I even ate one yesterday!

Plus my cucumber plants have several flowering blooms. The zucchini got a late start, but the plants are getting stronger. I ‘m hoping to make my way out to the farmers market or the flea market this week/weekend and see about getting some fresh strawberries to make jam! I want to try my hand at canning them. Its a nice feeling to be a do it yourself er. I’m still fairly young, but compared to my friends even much older ones I’m the old grandma of the group… Its okay though I love my life and my lifestyle! I’ll keep making, growing, canning, and doing my own everything as long as I can!! 🙂

Until next time – get muddy!! 🙂
~LuLu

I’m a Winner! June 7, 2009

As you know I entered almost all the Sew mama, Sew giveaways, and well guess what I won! I won 2 give aways! 🙂 YAY!

The first from the blog Twisted Fate is a super cute pair of wool longies in the neatest cranberry and green! These will be super cute and warm over all my cloth diapers – (that I need to finish sewing!) You can see her original post here, but my not quite as good picture follows below!

The nameless longies!

I’ve also won something from the blog Trash Can all the way in the England. I’ll post pictures when it arrives! (I can’t wait!)

***EDIT*** I just found out I also won tons of ribbon scraps from Just for Me Sewing again I will post pictures of them when I receive them, and more pictures when I use them! YAY!

Okay so that’s it for real! 🙂
~LuLu

School’s out for summer…

It’s that time of year again. Where all teachers in unison sing “School’s Out!” the 1972 classic by Alice Cooper!

As I face my new found freedom I am left wondering what will I do to fill all my time!! 🙂 I do have a 2 week training coming up soon, but other than the summer is my oyster 🙂

Here is what I have been up to lately.

I’ve made several of these Juggling sized scrap balls. The original pattern was for a much bigger ball, with a little modification it has become my husband’s favorite Juggling balls. The idea behind the scrap ball is that you make the ball and leave the seam open for stuffing as usual, but instead of filling with fiber fill you leave it open on your sewing table and stuff with all that unusable scrap! I love it because it keeps my sewing table clean and makes something neat in the process

Here is the origional one. It's too big to juggle, but fun for games and toss!

Here they are in action!

I’ve been toying with some reusable grocery bags I already have a ton that the stores have given away, but they aren’t very pretty! This is a bag I made using a regular plastic shopping bag as a pattern.

Flat and empty... sort of boring! 🙂

Full and exciting!

This bag holds a TON 2 gallons of milk fits in easy with room to spare! Plus it looks so exciting and inviting!

This summer I’ll be making recycled crayons from all of these old broken and now NAKED crayons. As a teacher I end up with tons of broken crayons. I always like to give the kids new ones for Christmas or for summer because I like to be the teacher who gives educational/constructive gifts. Well the old crayons end up pealed (Naked) and then formed into what my kids call Crayon Cookies! (Because I used a round muffin tin as a mold) Well this summer I want to step it up and make some more exciting shapes so I’ll be on the hunt for new molds!

Naked Crayons - Oh the potential!

More to come later! I’ve got lots of sewing I want to be doing!  Until next time – Get messy!

~LuLu