Christmas Around my House and Giveaway Winner

 My front door wreath.  Does it look familiar.  Same style as the one I made for the fall.  I might be addicted to these wreaths!

I change up our Christmas card display every year.  This year it is a simply wire with clothes pins in our dining room.  During dinner we love to look at all of our friends and families pictures and talk about how much we miss them.  

My Santa display.  My mother bought me one Santa a year when I first got married.  They are really detailed and beautiful.  I love them!  Thanks mom! On the mantel is also a bell from Cameron's grandpa.  He collected bells and would display them every year.  I love that we have that piece of heritage in our house.

My favorite Nativity.  My mom bought this for me in my early years of marriage.  I love how simple it is.  I was heart broken when the donkey had a run in with my toddler.  Nothing a little Gorilla glue can't fix right?

My favorite Christmas print is this one.  I love how the artist portrayed such a tender moment between Jesus and Mary.  When ever I pass it I always stop and think about what it must of been like to be Mary--the mother of our Savior.

My smallest Christmas treasure is this nativity.  It is smaller than my palm and I love it.  I bought while I was serving a mission in Argentina.  It was handmade there and I will always treasure it.

 My favorite handmade decoration is this stocking.  My grandma made this for me when I was little and I have treasured it ever since.  I hang it every year.

 So this is my house--what do just love to decorate with at your house? I would love for you to share a link to your blog with photos of your Christmas treasures.

Now for the Fall Frock Giveaway!  

Thank you all for entering I wish I had one for all of your little girls!

  (I haven't quite figured out how to post the picture of the random integer program.  You can go to the link to see. )
And the winner is #4

kim g said...

Me, me!! I would love a Fall Frock for Grace! :)  **Kim e-mail us with your address. So I can send this off to you ASAP!**

We are going to have many giveaways on this blog so stay tuned for your chance to win!

 -Julia

Fall Frock Part 2 and Giveaway!!!

Here is the last installment of the sewing the Fall Frock. I am new at doing tutorials so, if you have any questions or if I left anything out let me know.  I will be sure to answer any questions you might have.

Check out the end for a giveaway!

 Sewing the dress:

 Quick tip:  Before I start sewing I finish all of my seams.  If you have a Serger than serge all of the raw edges on each piece.  This will save you a lot of time once you get going on constructing the dress.

Sew both side of the long ruffle strip together.  Then press flat.

 

To gather the ruffle I used Dana at MADE suggestion.  It makes gathering soooooo easy.  I highly recommend doing this.

 

Lay your dress front out flat.  Pin and then sew the ruffle to the middle of the dress. Then seam rip out the wide ruffle stitch that you used earlier.

Sew the "J" part of your sleeve to the front of the dress.

 Then to the back of the dress.

 

Sew the sides together starting under the sleeve all the way to the bottom of the dress.

Don't forget to press open your seams.

 Fold and iron your hems at 1/2 inch.  Your neck casing at 1inch.

 In order to sew around the big ruffle I pin the 2 sides together so it isn't flopping all around.  Then I can easily grab it and maneuver it as to not sew right over the top of it.

 Hem your sleeves and the bottom of your dress.  Then sew the neck casing.  Make sure to remember to leave an opening for your elastic.

 Start to feed your elastic through the neck casing.  

***Tip always put a safety pin on the end of the elastic you will be feeding through.  It makes it really easy to feel and pull through.

 Feed the elastic all the way through the casing.  Once you have pulled it through stitch it together with a zig-zag stitch.  Then sew the neck casing shut.

Now pat yourself on the back you are all done!  

Would you like to win your own Fall Frock?  Well I am giving it away to one of our followers.  It is a size 4T-5T.  My 3 year old is pretty tall so it might even fit a size 6.

Here is how to enter to win.

 There are several ways to earn a chance to win.  First, leave us a comment telling us the types of things that you would like us to feature on our blog.  That gives you one entry.  Next, go to Facebook and write a message on your wall, linking to our page, announcing the giveaway, then come back and leave a comment that you have done that.  There's another entry.  Post this page as a pin on Pinterest and come back and comment that you did that.  You just earned yourself another entry.  Link to it on your blog, and leave a comment that you did, and you can have another chance to win.  If you have a twitter account you can "tweet" about the giveaway with a link (then come and comment that you did this) and you can earn another entry in our drawing.

I will pick a winner at noon on Friday, using a random integer program, and will announce who won soon after.

Good Luck!

-Julia

And the Winner is...

 

Thanks to all who entered our drawing.  We are trying to get the word out there, and all of your advertising for us really helped.

I entered the numbers 1-11 into the random number generator at random.org and the winner is...

#1 -- The Shepros

She said, "I don't know which I love more, this blog or the two of you:) Both of you are amazingly talented at just about everything! I would love to see all the fun stuff you two make for the different seasons and holidays. I love it when a blog idea gets me thinking ahead and excited for upcoming events. I also think it would be fabulicious if you could sneek in some sewing tips, I got the basic stuff down and would love to add some more moderate skills to my resume:)
PS..I also love table runners and would love a new one!!!!!!"

Please email us at gooberandbodkins (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing information and I will get that in the mail to you on Monday morning.  Again, thanks everyone for entering, and I hope you will try again next time.  Because there will be a next time.

Okay, I'm off to finish sewing Halloween costumes before our school's Harvest Party tonight.

- Amy

Seasonal Table Runner and Giveaway

I love table runners!  I also love pretty tablecloths, but I have found, since having three messy children, that table cloths don't survive very long before getting a spill that requires the whole thing to be pulled off and put in the wash.  I don't have the luxury of having a separate dining room, so our table is used for everything -- it's my sewing table, the kids homework table, we use it for crafts, and, of course, meals.  Table runners can stay on my table for long periods of time, because I can just flip it back when the kids or I need the space, and then flip it back down when we are done.

Last spring I made a bright patchwork runner that I kept up through the summer, but as the leaves started to change, I wanted something a bit different.  I decided to make a matching one with a different color scheme.  Like my other one, I picked out six different fabrics -- three prints and three solid/patterns in coordinating colors.  I don't like too matchy-matchy, but I do like things to blend.

I cut four 8"x8" squares from each fabric, giving me a total of  24 squares.  You could make your squares smaller or bigger.  I have a friend who made her squares smaller so that she could have three squares across.  This tutorial is simply a guide.   I then paired each print with a solid (I varied which prints went with each solid, as I like the pattern, when put together, to look random), and sewed along one side with right sides together.  I did this 12 times, with all of the pairs.

I then pressed those seams open, and matched pairs with other pairs, sewing them together, with right sides together.  It looks best if you can alternate where your print is, first on the right, then the left.  Press seams open as you go.

You can see that pattern in the picture below.

Keep sewing your pairs together until you've used them all up.  Now you have several options.  You can hem the edges and leave it without a backing.  You can also attach seam binding.  Since I flip mine back quite often, I like to attach muslin to the underside and sew it like a pillow case.  I snipped and tore a piece of muslin to match the width and length of my patchwork, put right sides together and sewed it up, leaving a space, the size of my hand unsewn, so that I could flip it right side out.  Push out the corners and then iron it flat.

Top stitch the whole thing, sewing the opening closed.  Then I like to tack it down down the middle, where all of the four corners meet.  I do this by letting my sewing machine sew a couple of stitches back and forth, attaching the top to the underside all the way down the middle.

And my table runner is complete!  As you can see, my table is well-loved, so it's nice to have it a bit covered.  Isn't the mushroom print so cute???

I know not everyone likes to sew as much as Julia and I do, so, as luck would have it, I happened to make two of these and we would like to give one away!  There are several ways to earn a chance to win.  First, leave us a comment telling us the types of things that you would like us to feature on our blog.  That gives you one entry.  Next, go to Facebook and write a message on your wall, linking to our page, announcing the giveaway, then come back and leave a comment that you have done that.  There's another entry.  Post this page as a pin on Pinterest and come back and comment that you did that.  You just earned yourself another entry.  Link to it on your blog, and leave a comment that you did, and you can have another chance to win.  If you have a twitter account you can "tweet" about the giveaway with a link (then come and comment that you did this) and you can earn another entry in our drawing.

I will pick a winner at noon on Friday, using a random integer program, and will announce who won soon after.  The table runner will go out in the mail on Monday morning.    It measures approximately 15"x96".

Good Luck!

-- Amy