Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!  I hope you pause to remember the reason for the season.  Blessings to you all :) Angie

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter my SMS giveaway this week.  I'm so happy to read your comments and welcome my new followers!  I'm planning another giveaway when I get to 200 followers, so spread the word if you like the blog.

The winner of the chenille neck warmer and black dahlia earrings is: #4, Alyssa of Sweet Sewn Stitches blog.  Congratulations, Alyssa!  I'm sending an email and hope to hear from you soon.

Last Minute Gift For Her

We're ready to leave tomorrow for Part I of Christmas Vacation - my family.  I've been frantically sewing this week after being gone last week on a hunting trip then having the flu, leaving only 4 days to get my gift sewing done.  I needed a quick, last-minute gift for girlfriends and remembered all the great shirred, scrunchy knit scarves I've been seeing in Blog-Land...

Flannel Scarf Only $5 at Peace and Mind - Etsy shop!

Photo by Brassy Apple

Photo from Hope Studios Blog

The first tutorial I found was for the pink scarf above by Hope Studios.  This was a very fast project - 15 minutes total per scarf.  The tutorial by Hope Studios is found here.  I made a few changes after the first scarf.  I preferred a width of 8" for 2 rows of shirring and 10" wide with 3 rows of shirring.  My knits were 60" wide in various lengths, so I pieced them together to lengths of about 90" x 8-10" wide.  I chose not to make the cuts at the ends of my scarves as in the tutorial.  Wind plenty of bobbins with your elastic thread - I used 1 bobbin per scarf.  They turned out great and I plan to make some for myself once the frantic gift sewing is over. 

SMS Giveaway Day ~ CLOSED~

 

Sew, Mama, Sew

Sew, Mama, Sew 's  Winter Giveaway Day is coming Monday the 13th.  Mama's participating again and opening my giveaway now!  Open to US & Canadian resident only, please.  Contest will close Dec. 17th at 12:00 noon PST.  Now for the loot...

One pair of black resin dahlia earrings on sterling silver plated studs and 

One black chenille neckwarmer.

To enter, simply leave a comment and please include your email.  Mama Lusco Handmade blog followers may leave a second comment for an extra entry.  Good luck and I hope you'll visit again soon!

Pre-Loved Christmas Dolls

I am so excited about my girls' Christmas presents this year!  It's no secret that we're having a super thrifty Christmas this year.  Living on a single income with a double mortgage and unreliable renters has been a huge challenge financially, so almost everything this year is thrifted or handmade from our stash.

I totally scored at the big Thrift Shop Christmas Sale 2 weeks ago!  I found this original American Girl doll with a trunk of clothes for $10!!  Yes, that is TEN dollars!  She still needs her hair washed & trimmed, but is otherwise in beautiful condition.  I found the funky blond Tolly Tots doll on eBay for a total of $12 shipped.  I thought this was a good deal until I found the AG Kaya!

As I posted earlier, I've found a few free patterns and drew up my own peasant top & bloomers, purses and head scarf.  I just need to make a few fancy dresses and the doll sewing will be finished.  I was blessed to receive a free pattern from Amanda at www.hintofhistory.com  for her new Hooverette 1930's doll wrap dress.  I made the reversible version and it is precious!  She has many wonderful vintage-inspired patterns on her site for dolls, girls and women, too. 

Another project I've been making are feed bag totes from our chicken feed.  They will be great shopping bags and I plan to use them to package other gifts. How is your Christmas sewing coming along?

Sewing for 18" Dolls

My girls will be getting 18" dolls for Christmas so I've been scouring for free clothing patterns for the little gals.  I found a few great resources that I'd like to share.  I'll be starting with some dresses and underclothes from Susan Kramer's website.  She has lots of basic variations and provides pattern templates.  I have some scrap satin to match Mally's Christmas dress that I can't wait to sew into this dress:

Photo by Susan Kramer

AG Playthings also offers some free patterns that have been retired.  Check them out here.  If you know of other free patterns for American Girl Dolls, please share!

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale!

To kick off your holiday shopping season, Mama Lusco is offering 25% your purchase (excluding shipping)from my 3 shops below.  Enter 'Blog Reader' in the comments to seller at checkout and I'll refund 25% back into your Paypal account.  Happy Shopping!

Mama Lusco on Shop Handmade ~ no fees for buyers OR sellers
                         Artfire shop ~ no fees for buyers OR sellers
                         Etsy shop ~ no fees for buyers
                    
I'm also hosting a virtual yard sale on my Flickr photo stream. Details and pricing are listed with each photo.  Just email me with your selections and I'll send a Paypal invoice.  Many medical scrubs, girls boots, neck warmers & more.

Some items are also listed on Ebay now.  Make a bid in the next 4 days and snag a real deal!
    Ebay listings ~ make a bid for a great deal!  ~ no fees for buyers

Mama's Virtual Yard Sale and Snow!

I'm cleaning house before the Christmas presents come!  Check out my Flickr set for items I have for sale: Oodles of toddler girl boots
Big boy sweater & jeans
Baby ring slings
Dahlia Flower Earrings
Neck Warmers...and more!

While I'm cleaning, the kiddos are enjoying our first snow of the season.  Wishing all my readers and friends a happy Thanksgiving holiday.  We are so blessed!

Pink Fig Giveaway

I'm sounding more and more like a giveaway junkie...Sorry for the lack of original content, but I am a giveaway junkie :)  I have been sewing Christmas gifts but don't want to show much to spoil the surprises, so please bear through these if you don't like second-hand news.

Chelsea Anderson, designer of Pink Fig Patterns, is coming out with her first fabric collection.  To celebrate, she's offering a free quilt pattern and giving away 2 quilts.  Head over to her blog here for details and to enter.

Huge Video Game Giveaways

TodaysMama  and GameStop  are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? Good fortune and good health in the coming year.
2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? The kids wake us up and then we open stockings & presents in our pajamas.
3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?  A trip to the southwestern US after some serious lipo :)
4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?  Family time cutting a tree, playing games, homemade comfort food and lots of gifts from the heart.
5. What games did you play with your family growing up? UNO, rummy, Dutch Blitz
6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?  No presents until Christmas day!
7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?  Christmas at Disney World would rock!
8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?  Wii fit package,  2 extra Wiimotes, guitar for Rock Band.

Party Dress LOVE

Two of my favorite sewing blogs have teamed up to present the Party Dress.  Lindsay from The Cottage Home blog created this amazing party dress pattern and tutorial in size 18mo-5.  I had just sorted through my holiday fabrics yesterday and started looking at patterns to use for my 3 year-old's Christmas dress...and today this little lovely appeared!  I can't wait to try this one :)  Thank you, Lindsay!

Mama's Shops Open Again

I'm feeling so thankful to have my trusty computer back again after 9 days without any internet connection.  I wasn't too happy it took 8 days in the computer repair shop for a 45 minute repair but I guess I'll take what I can get locally instead of driving 3 + hours to a big city shop...

Just before the big crash, I had listed a few new items in Mama Lusco's shops.  I've listed some little flower earrings and two necklaces so far and have some great crocheted neck warmers to list soon.  I'm hoping to take a break from my Christmas gift sewing to sew up some toddler backpacks and lunch money cuffs for the shops.  Come find me at Mama's Shop Handmade store, Artfire store, or Etsy shop. (Shop Handmade and Artfire do not charge listing fees so are more affordable for sellers, but Etsy's the old standby so I'm keeping that store open, too)

Here's a peek at a gift I'm excited to be giving this year...thrifted denim four patches and vintage denim & corduroy squares all from my stash :) Two more quilts to go!

Mama's MIA

Sorry I've been MIA lately...our only computer crashed after getting a virus last Sunday and it's still in the repair shop.  I'm checking in now from our motel lobby computer in Nampa, ID.  I haven't been in a big city since August, so I'm ready for some retail therapy :)  I'll be finding JoAnn Fabrics and Target tomorrow!  Hope to have my computer back early next week and share some of the Christmas gifts I've been working on.

Almost Perfect Picture Hanging

Since moving into our new home in February, I haven't hung many pictures.  You may remember me repainting all my picture frames black here and now I'm finally putting them to use.  Instead of my usual "eyeballing" placement, I wanted to get it right the first time.  Here is how I placed them (almost) exactly where I wanted them...  For more tips on decorating interiors, you can enroll yourself in design classes here.

Cut & Tape pieces of paper to match your frame size.  Mark where the hanging wire or tab is on the paper.  Use masking tape to attach your paper "frames" to the wall and adjust until they are pleasing.  Nail through paper on marked spot for your hanger.  Tear off paper and hang your pictures.  This is the first time my kiddos school pictures hit the wall within days of coming home!

SMS Handmade Holidays

If you don't normally read the Sew, Mama, Sew blog, now is a great time to start!  They are featuring several great tutorials and gift ideas each day through November in their Handmade Holidays feature.  Find the SMS blog here.

Pioneer Prairie Girls

Oh, why did I procrastinate?  I had Mom buy these patterns over 2 months ago, had all the fabric in my linen stash and didn't start until 3 days ago.  Two dresses, two aprons and two bonnets later, I'm almost done.  One of the bonnets is WAY too big, so I need to make one more tomorrow.  The girls are happy with them and so am I, so I guess the frantic sewing is worth it.

Abby's was a simple, full peasant dress.  It has eyelet trim around the bottom ruffle hem.  This dress was a piece of cake as was the apron from a vintage pillowcase.  The bonnet was a bit more time-consuming.  This was the too-big bonnet.  It even fits Andy!

Mally's dress is probably the most difficult garment I've sewn.  I usually sew quick, easy 2 hour projects but this one had eyelet trim, buttonholes and pin-tucks around the skirt.  She also has a matching vintage linen apron and pantaloons from another pillowcase.  This pillowcase had the great ruffled edge, so the hard part was done for me!  They turned out a little long, so I added two pin-tucks to shorten them.  Cute stuff!  If you don't already own one, I highly recommend an easy pant pattern like this one from Whimsy Couture, Little Lizard King, or Carla C.  It's such a versatile pattern!

Mario Ready to Party

We found a great Mario mustache last night here on Craftster.  Drew even had me make an extra for him to give to a friend!  He looked great today for his class party ( our kids are only in school Mon-Thur.)  He'll get to wear it again Sat. at our church party and Sunday night for trick or treating.  How are your costumes coming?

Hot Mama & Little Bambina Apron Tutorials

I have used several Sew4Home tutorials and they just published another must-try, the Italiano Kitchen Mama Apron.  I love the v-neck and wrap front.  I can't wait to try this one!

Photos from Sew4Home

The child's version, the Bambina Apron, is also now available.  Wouldn't this make a fun Christmas or birthday gift?

Mario Costume DONE

My big boy wants to be Mario for Halloween this year, so for $2 this is what I came up with...

The hat was self-drafted and is a little obnoxious, but I think it's pretty close to the picture above.  Close enough for a 9 year-old, anyhow.  The overalls were $2 at the thrift shop and the felt I had in my stash. They have a Mickey Mouse embroidered where the 'M' patch is now.   Now I just need a moustache and he's set!

Would anyone be interested in a Mario hat pattern & tutorial?  How is your costume sewing coming along?  Now I have 3 Prairie Girl dresses, aprons & bonnets to make...