I showed Darin and Brooke how to make paint out of your chalk (tutorial here). And Darin went to town with this method during the segment.

I was thoroughly impressed with the quote Darin lettered during the commercial breaks. We had a great time. You can watch the full segment here.

In other news, I finished this logo for fellow blogger, Missy of Missy Dear. We’re thrilled to bits about how it turned out. The design process was so much fun.

I first experimented this recipe on Mother’s day. We had 11 people to dinner that night so I wanted to make something tasty and easy. I also wanted to use our new grill for the first time! I based this recipe off a traditional Sunday dinner my mom used to slow cook in the winters with cream of mushroom soup. They’re good, but the cream of mushroom soup is a bit to heavy for spring and summer dining.

Since Mother’s day I’ve perfected the recipe. It’s delicious, easy to double or triple and makes for great leftovers. If you have any.

Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Chicken

prep and cook time: 40 minutes, serves: 6-8

• 1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 9 chicken tenders
• 9 strips of bacon
• 9 toothpicks, soaked

You can use fresh minced garlic, but I’ve found that the minced garlic from a jar works best. I get better flavor and the garlic cooks all the way through. I would also recommend using regular bacon. Thick country-style bacon is too fatty, we had issues with the bacon catching fire and charring the bacon while not evenly cooking the chicken. I use chicken tenders because they’re thin and small. You can certainly cut chicken breasts down to about the size of a chicken tender. Start with a clean surface and be sure to thoroughly clean all surfaces that have come in contact with the raw meat.

Pre-heat your grill to medium heat.

Lay out 1 bacon strip, place one chicken tender in the middle, spread minced garlic on top of the chicken. Starting from one side, roll the bacon and chicken up neatly. Pierce the middle with a toothpick to keep the meats from unrolling. Set aside. Repeat for all 9 chicken tenders.

Once your grill is preheated (I heat it to 450, clean the grill bars and cool it down to 300), place meat on grill bars, bacon sides down. Allow to cook about 10 minutes on each side, cook until bacon is medium brown and chicken is all-the-way cooked. This is about 20-25 minutes. Remove toothpicks (or tell guests to remove them). Serve.

And if you already have the grill going, put a few ears of corn and slabs of sweet potatoes on the grill. You’ll have an entire meal without dirtying a ton of pans or heating up the house.

How was Father’s Day around your house? We had a really relaxed, low-key day. Chris isn’t one to make a huge fuss out of holidays so it was easy to make him feel loved and appreciated.

On a personal note, I’m so grateful to have Chris as my man. He is a wonderful Father and husband. He is awesome with our kids and he’s so supportive of me and my adventures.

So supportive, in fact, that he recently quit his job so that we can work from home together. He’s been working tirelessly on a project that we’ve been dreaming about for almost for a year. When he’s not solving crazy dev problems; he’s playing with the kids, changing diapers and tidying up the house. He’s doing whatever he can to help me grow this little business of mine. Sometimes I get anxious thinking about being our own bosses, but then Chris comes to assure me that we’re doing the right thing. And he’s right. I wouldn’t have this any other way. We work really well alongside each other. I’m grateful that we have this opportunity to do that.

I’m also incredibly grateful that my kids get to spend so much time with their dad. Both Chris and I have wonderful dads. They’re strong, hard-working, faithful men. I cherished those quiet moments with my dad in the car enroute to Home Depot on Saturdays. I’m excited that Penelope and Felix will grow up with cherished moments with their dad as well.

We will be covering a lot of material over the two-day workshop, you don’t want to miss it. The workshop is perfect for designers, illustrators, photographers, hobbyists and DIY brides.

Day one will cover:

• calligraphy tools and beginnings
• learning the pointed pen
• figuring out flourishes
• making it your own
• a basic calligraphy kit for you to keep

Day two will cover:

• tools for digitizing your work
• how to scan your work
• how to photoshop your lettering
• how to vectorize your lettering

The workshop will be at The Write Image at 2205 East 2100 South in Salt Lake City on Friday, June 28th and Saturday, June 29th. Instruction will start promptly at 6:45pm.

Click here to sign up!

Not in Salt Lake? There’s always my online class! If you’re in the San Francisco or Denver areas keep on the lookout for a workshop near you this summer. We’ll be taking the show on the road soon!

I picked up this burnout fabric (sort of similar, similar) at the Michael Levine Loft. You can buy fabric for $2.50 per pound. It’s amazing! I found a lot of sheer chiffons and jerseys that I just couldn’t say no to. This, being one of them. If you look at it closely, it’s got a little paisley pattern to it. It’s really quite sweet.

This is certainly not the kind of fabric I would use to make a shirt for me. Much too see-through. I was thinking of a summer hoodie, then I remembered Penelope doesn’t have a swim coverup. Heck, she’s never had one.

I’m not entirely sure how the idea came to me, but I thought about the circle dress I made a while back and thought if I added a hood, it’d be a great summer coverup. I made the opening smaller than my own waist and just winged the hood part. I grabbed one of mine and one of Penelope’s hoodies and quickly drew up a pattern. I didn’t even test it beforehand. Look at how perfectly those edges overlap! Huzzah!

Penelope’s impatience for mom (she stopped calling me mommy last week! WHAT??) is really showing here. She’s rearing to go outside and join her friends for some water games.

I opted not to put any arm holes in it. Laziness or simplicity? I’ll let you guess. It certainly doesn’t seem to bother her at all. Penelope got a few approving nods at the pool and with Chris on a fast-food run.

Felix is the cutest photo-bomber. He’s even trying to show off by standing up!

I don’t know if you’ve gathered from how much I’ve talked and instagrammed about Fabric weekend that I had way too much fun. I bought about 40 pounds of leather and fabric. I couldn’t help myself! Especially when it came to the leather. The pink and blue leathers were the first things I pulled out of my bag to show to Chris when I got home. Being just as excited as me about my spoils he asked, “What are you going to do with it?”

“Something awesome!!” I’m thinking leather handbag, leather skirt, leather trimming, leather books. . . .

Here are just a few pieces that I picked up while on vacation. I had to buy a new shelving unit just to accommodate the new arrivals. Look at my rainbow! Since I was in LA’s fabric district, I wanted to get prints and textiles that I can’t find at home. I’ve got all the basics covered since Jo-Ann is about 5 minutes from my house. Plus I only had so much room in my bags, so I had to be pretty picky. The highlights of my fabric shopping were:

Angel Fabric: Gold foil polka dot knit. COME ON! I’m working on a couple of ideas for Penelope. Help me decide below? (vote for your favorite and I’ll post the finished product next week).

@melissapher: What should I do with this gold foil dot jersey? Classic dress (yes) or hoodie dress (no)? #sewing #fashion #diy

FIDM Scholarship store: Oh my word, we had such a great tour of the school and their different departments. My favorite was the collaboration between the textile, fashion and decor departments. And that geometric print? It’s silk.

Photo by Bethany

Mood: Was expensive compared to the previous day’s average at $2/yard. Wandering through 11+ aisles of floor to 20′ ceiling of rolls of fabric made my head spin, everything was AMAZING! I don’t know how project runway peeps do that place in 30 minutes for $50.

After Mood we enjoyed the most delicious bacon-wrapped hotdog.

Michael Levine: The above three fabrics were from the loft. You sift through giant boxes of fabric. I also got some swim fabric at the regular store. Yes. I’m going to make a swimsuit. I’m crazy.

Fabric Planet: This hidden gem had loads of rayon challis (pronounced shallee, according to peeps at Mood). It’s hard to find anywhere, but Fabric Planet had quite a few modern prints to choose from. I’m totally digging the tie-dye print above.

Photo by Bethany – who I totally need to hang out with again

My trip wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Miriam (and Andrea). It was a much-needed girl’s vacation!

Justine, Jen, Stef, Jessica, Mie, Melissa, Miriam, Caila, Me, Leanne, Andrea, Cherie, Marissa, Merrick, Sabra, Abby, Beverly, Marigold - Photo by Justine

Now would you like to get the chance to win some great sewing supplies?

Grand prize winner:

• Brother 1034D serger! (This is the one I have and I love it! Donated by GoToPatterns.com)

Four lucky winners will receive $150 in prizes:

• $50 to GoToPatterns.com
• $50 to LowPriceFabric.com
• $50 for a class at Craftsy.com

Contest Rules:

Giveaway open internationally to contestants 18 years or older. Contestants must enter their email address to be added to the LowPriceFabric.com and GoToPatterns.com email newsletters to win*. All prizes are awarded in the form of gift certificates. Winners responsible for paying shipping. Gift certificate value of serger is $210. Contest open from June 11, 2013 through June 20, 2013 EST. Winners will be notified within 24 hours of winning. Winners have 48 hours to claim their reward. New winners will be chosen if prizes are unclaimed. Winners will be emailed their rewards within 7 days of claiming their prize.

ONE ENTRY per person. This contest is being held on multiple blogs. Please enter only once. You will be counted only once.

*We’ve had a few questions about this text. By entering your information in the form above you are subscribing to the LowPriceFabric.com and GoToPatterns.com newsletters.

I just took a simple top from my drawer ($5 at Kohls or something?) and matched it as best I could to fabric I had on-hand. After the fabric mother-load two weeks ago, you better believe I was going to find it in my stash. No fabric shopping for this girl for some time to come!

The refashion was easy enough to pull together. After drafting the pattern, it took just over an hour to complete it. I could’ve finished it faster had I not been distracted by tv shows.

Outfit Details

• top: Kohls, refashioned
• necklace: Forever 21
• pants: Target
• shoes: c/o Blowfish

I think I would prefer the pattern to be reversed, stripes up top and the solid as the peplum, but it’s fun and funky. I’m thinking I may wear this to my 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. Or maybe I’ll sew up something completely new. Wait. What? Ten years has flown by so fast!

Click the button below for the full tutorial!

Peplum Top Refashion

Supplies

• a tight-fitting tee, hugging the waist
• about a yard of matching or coordinating jersey
• pins
• scissors
• seam ripper (just in case)
• ruler
• pencil and paper (large paper, too)
• sewing machine and matching thread

Try your tee on, with a mirror or help of a friend, pin right down the center front where you want the peplum to start. Typically this is right at, or just above the navel. Measure 5/8 inches down from that pin and cut. 5/8 inches is your seam allowance.

use the above formula to draft out the peplum part. You can use a pencil and string to make your circles, or measure along the radius with a ruler every few inches and connect the dots. If you want a full peplum, cut out fabric using the diagram above and skip straight to step 10. If you want a more fitted peplum, continue on.

Cut or fold your semi-circle in half. Add 5/8 inch seam allowance to one side, and have it clearly marked as the seam allowance.

Fold your quarter circle in half, then in half again. Use those fold lines as guides as you cut from the outer edge to the inner circle. Don’t cut all the way. Leave about a 1/2 inch of paper uncut on the inside.

Now overlap each piece by 3/8 to 5/8 inches for each slit. For my top above, I overlapped 5/8 inches. Tape in place and cut out your fabric using the diagram in step 8.

Open up pattern pieces and pin right sides together. Sew each edge, keeping in mind your seam allowance. Press seams.

Turn your cut shirt upside down (right side out) and pin to your peplum, making sure right sides are together. Use the above stitch if you’re not using a serger. A zig zag will be okay, but it won’t lie particularly flat.

You don’t have to hem a knit, but for a more polished look, you can turn the hem under 1/2 inch and use a straight stitch. If you get lazy like me, you can use some handy-dandy no-iron hem tape.

Stripe fabric courtesy of Kollabora.com

My grandma cooked the best desserts for us. Texas sheet cake being one of them.

It’s been about 7 years since she passed, and I miss her still.

My grandpa Scott sends out weekly email updates to his kids and grandkids. He often leaves us with little stories about her, but this week it was a several-paragraphed tribute to her and her legacy. I’ve been thinking about her a lot and the things that she taught me.

She had a rough childhood, her parents both dying when she was only 14. She moved from one sibling’s home to another, ending up in Elko. Despite her misfortunes and poor circumstances she was well-educated, motivated and had amazing self-discipline. The kind that I wish I had when it comes to housework. She made dresses and suits for all 6 of her kids (I loved playing with her manual sewing machine – you know the kind with the iron push pedal on the bottom). She was stern, but oh so loving. Oh how I wish I could talk to her now and hear her stories about her childhood and her sewing. I’ll just eat some of her texas sheet cake instead.

Grandma Scott’s Texas Sheet Cake

makes one 17×23 jelly roll pan

• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspon soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• cinnamon and chipotle powder, optional

Melt butter and cocoa powder in a sauce pan, slowly stir in milk and stir until smooth. In a small bowl dissolve soda, buttermilk, salt, eggs and vanilla (and spices). In a large bowl, sift together flour and sugar. Pour chocolate mixture and buttermilk mixture into the large bowl and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured jelly-roll cookie sheet. Bake at 375º F for 20 minutes.

Frosting

• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• cinnamon and chipotle powder, optional

Pour melted butter and cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Add remaining ingredients one at a time, stirring until smooth. Frost while the cake is warm. Add sprinkles.

the original recipe calls for 1 cup boiling water instead of milk, the milk makes it really creamy. I also added cinnamon to this cake yesterday and it is divine. Next time I will be adding cinnamon and chipotle. Penelope will hate the spicy chipotle, but that just means more cake for me!

Do you have any traditional recipes that your parents/grandparents would make for you when you were little?

We’ve got quite a few budding artists on our street, including a 6 year old girl whom I’m convinced could be a fantastic calligrapher.

So I’m going to start a series. A virtual gallery stroll, if you will.

These kids are really inspiring to me, especially how they just freely create without any rules.

Penelope drew this bee for her aunt B. Get it? Adorable. She’s always creating little pictures and sculptures.

On the first Wednesday of each month, I’m going to be posting her creative endeavors and maybe a couple from the neighbor kids as well. I would love to see you participate! Use the banner above and post your kid’s creative endeavors on your blog on the first Wednesday of each month. We’ll link up for a virtual gallery stroll. For this month, feel free to link up in the comments to any artwork your child has done. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to submit your child’s work to me before the first Wednesday (July 3) and I’ll publish it here. I hope you’ll participate with me! See below for submission requirements.

Artwork must be 100% done by your child 18 years and younger. Photo must be taken in natural light and image must be at least 550px wide.

This fabric was originally a painful juvenile raspberry color. I could have made it work, but it wasn’t me. I had a few items piling up that weren’t quite the right color so I had a dyeing party in my wash room. I didn’t care what colors came out as long as they weren’t the same colors that went in. I threw this knit and a couple of others into the wash with a high concentrate of teal dye and let it do its thing. It was awesome to see how different each piece came out!

The purple that came out of the dryer was just begging to become a galaxy print. I read a few things on spot dyeing, but just went for it. I ended up having to do it all over again, but I figured it out in the end. It wasn’t terribly time consuming once I figured it out. Full explanation after the jump.

Sewing up the peplum didn’t take much time at all. I basically used the block I made from my high-low circle dress, but drafted up a new circle piece on the bottom.

I didn’t want the peplum to be too flouncy, so it’s not a full circle. Long explanation short, I used a slash and overlap method I learned from Carrie in a pattern making class I took at Sewing Summit last year. I can provide a full step-by-step tutorial if y’all are interested. Just pipe up in the comments.

Constructing this top took about an hour and a half. I feel like I’m getting much faster when I use patterns that fit me already. It definitely helps make sewing “cost” less.

Outfit details:

• necklace: Forever 21
• top: handmade, hand dyed
• belt: thrifted
• pants: Pac Sun
• shoes: Target

I’m so happy with how this peplum fits! I think they’re such a flattering silhouette for any body type. At some point Chris and I will add another baby to our family. It’s nice to know I’ll have a few pieces in my wardrobe that will work for the first and fourth trimesters.

Speaking of the awesome pooch-hiding superpowers of peplum tops, I’m over at Über Chic for Cheap sharing the things I’ve learned about dressing a postpartum bod. It’s got some funny illustrations so you’ll want to head over.

Get the instructions how to make your own galaxy print after the jump.

Galaxy Print Tutorial

Supplies

• fabric
• 3 dyes in the same color family (blues, reds and violets)
• dye fixative
• bleach
• boiling water
• salt
• paint brush
• tarp or shower curtain
• bowls and cups for weights
• disposable gloves

The fabric I used wasn’t in the same dye family to start out. I’m sure I could’ve worked with it just fine, but I dyed it this nice purple before starting.

Spread out your fabric and weigh down with bowls or weights. Mix up 1/4 cup of boiling water and 2-3 tablespoons bleach.

To keep the bleach from reacting and deteriorating fabric more, throw it in the wash, or mist with vinegar. Test out a swatch and see what the vinegar does. Sometimes it changes the color for good (or for bad) I found out that little tip from Sabra.

When the bleaching is done, you want to add the color. In little dishes, add a generous teaspoon of salt, 1/4 cup water, a tablespoon of dye fixative and your pigment. The more pigment, the more saturated those dots are going to be. I varied the saturation on the dots and it created more depth. I also varied how big the splotches were. Let it sit in the sun (or in the case of my second attempt, in the bathroom).

Now you need to heat set it. Ironing it helps. Do that. Microwaving it made the biggest difference. Put all your fabric in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it for about 5 minutes. Pull it out every couple of minutes to turn it over.

Launder on cold and dry at the highest setting allowed for the fabric. Cut your pattern pieces and sew!

I found these adorable fisherman sandals (I call them Jesus sandals, anyone else?)  for $10 just outside of a great Mexican restaurant on Friday night. A couple of adorable women were closing up shop but stayed open for an extra 20 minutes so I could figure out what size to get for Felix. Of course the size they recommended was spot on.

I want to see Felix toddling around in these so bad! He’s slowly taking steps between Chris and me, but he’s still so far off from walking on his own. It’s certainly a source of frustration, but I’ll take every micro-milestone I can get.

I bought so much fabric and talked so much, I am utterly exhausted from my fabric shopping whirlwind weekend. Things have been really quiet around the blog front, but I’ve got a full week queued up already. And I can’t wait to get my hands on the piles of fabric I just bought, you’ll be seeing more than a few sewing projects around here, too.

I’m just in love with Megan Nielsen’s crescent top, but I wanted something a little simpler and with sleeves. So I mashed up her pattern and my scoop top pattern and this is what I got. I used a rayon jersey for the top and a rayon challis on bottom.

I had just enough of the floral challis left over from the banksia top I made over a year ago I didn’t want to throw it out, but I didn’t have enough to make another top. What do you do with awkwardly large fabric scraps? Save? Toss? Recycle? Donate? I usually recycle, but I loved the print and drape so much I saved it. I’m so glad I did!

I don’t know why the left tugs in the photo, but it doesn’t appear to do that in real life. Or maybe I just don’t notice it.

The top was easy enough to construct, the hardest part being the hemming and trying to make that look nice. I did all right. I’m glad I wasn’t hemming a curved jersey. The challis was hard enough.

With 20+ of us women bombarding the LA fabric district I want to look dressed up, feel comfortable and be ready for anything. Outfit Details:

• necklace: handmade
• glasses: coastal
• top: handmade
• jeggings: PacSun
• shoes: Ruche

As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m hitting up the streets of LA through this weekend to stock up on fabric, notions and anything else that strikes my fancy. I’m so excited to be spending time with some wonderful women and to meet and greet lots of great people behind brands I love.

Follow along with all of my finds on Instagram and Seesaw. We will all be using the hashtag #fabricweekend2013.

A few companies are going out of their way to make our trip to LA exciting, I’d like to give each of them a shout out below.
Even though I’m sure to find unique fashion fabric in the warehouses of the fabric district, Jo-Ann always seems to surprise me with their knit prints.

I’ve never been to Mood before – they were closed when I went to NYC almost 3 years ago. I’m excited to finally step foot in one of their stores and go a little Project Runway crazy!

Michael Levine is totally new to me. They sell fabric by the POUND (squeal!) in parts of their bricks and mortar store and they also have an online store with crazy awesome fashion fabrics.

And oh Ruche, I’m so excited to hang at your headquarters for a visit!