Sew Grown Has Moved.

Hi friends,

Just a heads up that Sew Grown Blogspot has moved to www.sewgrown.com.  We look forward to hearing from you at the new site!

Essential Oils Clutch Giveaway!

We are doing a giveaway for this Essential Oils Clutch on Facebook!  To enter to win post a comment on the facebook post stating which oil you won't leave home without, like the Sew Grown facebook page/ share the post.  I will be picking a winner Friday, March 6 at 3:00p.m!

Here is the link to the facebook post.  Sew Grown.

Sew Grown Shop

Boys' Nature Study Bag Tutorial

For Christmas this year I decided it was time to make the kids larger nature study messenger bags.  They were still using their teeny tiny train totes that I made for them 4 years ago.  I can't believe it has been that long and I can't believe my little boys are now big kids!  For so many years I felt like I had a brood of babies and a blink later I had 3 big kids.  As much as I would love to have them stay little and use their first scavenger/messenger bags forever, it was beginning to look a little silly when they would grab their tiny little bags to head out on an adventure.

The new bag is made exactly the way the tutorial describes except I eliminated the piping around the top flap and just did a top stitch.  I also didn't add all the pockets.  I made these on December 23rd so I went for quick and simple and I think now that the boys are getting older they appreciate this simple style more.  I did add a padded pocket to the inside for their cameras.  The Embroidery designs were a purchased file from this Etsy site. The fabric is a green tinted burlap.  I love this no fuss simple design for boys!

This was one of their main gifts this year.  Inside the bag they found new cameras, a monocular, nature journals, colored pencils, clear top containers for collecting items, and some extra treasures like a stamp collecting book and coin collecting book. 

Baby girl also received a small bag using the original sized pattern.  It was fun to follow my own pattern. 

To make a larger Messenger bag you will take a piece of construction paper and lay it horizontal.  This piece of paper will be the body of you bag.  Next you will take two sheets of construction paper and lay them over lapping each other vertically on top of the horizontal sheet making the width of the 2 sheets together the width of the horizontal sheet.  Tape them together after you get the width correct.  Once your vertical pieces are securely taped and match the width of the horizontal sheet you are going to cut off 1" from the bottom.  Next fold the taped sheets in half length wise and make a rounded edge along the bottom right corner.  I free hand this part but you can use a bowl to get a nice curve if needed. This piece will be you top flap.   Next you will cut a strip of paper 2 3/4" wide by  the width of the horizontal paper.  This piece will be the bottom of the bag.  And for your last piece  you will cut a 2 3/4" strip of paper that will match the height of the horizontal sheet.  This will be the pattern for the sides of your bag.  Once all these pieces are cut you can follow the original tutorial here.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial!  I know your kiddos will enjoy the final product! 

Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Happy Sewing!

Essential Oils Clutch

Hi friends!  Sorry it has been awhile.  We have been creating and learning so many new things on our little homestead and I can't wait to share them all with you! One of my favorite new projects is this clutch for Essential Oils.

I created this clutch after trying other options available on the market and being disappointed.  I found the cosmetic style bags to be floppy with little support and were hard to carry around alone.  I often just want my oil clutch and don't want to have to carry a separate bag.  I had resorted to just tossing oils into the front seat of my car and into random bags or my pockets.  After loosing one of my favorite oils I decided it was time to create something that would not only be functional but also something that would offer added support and be beautiful to carry.  It took a few tries to get it just right but I finally did it and I'm so pleased with the final product! 

The clutch is approximately 4.5" deep by 11.5" wide.  It securely holds 12 bottles all sizes.  There is also room for small spray bottles.  It is triple padded for extra protection and sits upright when closed and open which allows for easier viewing.  There is room in the middle for lip gloss or other items like small sample bottles. It's an eye catching silky cotton voile with lace and velvet trim. 


The official Sew Grown online store front is up and running!  We are offering free shipping until the end of February!  www.sewgrown.com

Garden Fairy Costume

I finally found a few minutes to edit some photos from Halloween.  I'm in love with these pictures of my beautiful garden fairy princess!  This year I needed a little sewing therapy so I went all out for Madeline's costume.  She really had no preference on what she wanted to dress up as so I took advantage of what could possibly be the last time she doesn't have an opinion on the matter.

 

 

The dress pattern is from this Simplicity pattern.  I can't give a review on this pattern because I only used it for the bodice and sleeves.  This was a night before Halloween project and reading through a pattern would have added too much extra time.  I created the tulle skirt by cutting long strips of tulle and serging the edges with a rounded edge.  The fabric is duponi silk, a BIG splurge, but it was totally worth it to get these photos of my beautiful daughter.  The shoes and wings came from the second hand store and the flowers I found at a thrift store.  The shoes are sweet pink jellies with a large flower glued to the top. 

 

The boys created their own costumes.  They picked out everything they needed at the thrift store.  Although they are a scary scarecrow and headless scarecrow, I love their innocence in this costume choice.  They are actually No Noggin and Noggin after he got his head back from Curious George's Halloween Story. 

Precious memories with these little treasures the Lord has blessed me to raise!

Permaculture Garden with an English Cottage Garden Twist.

Peppers protected by the coverage of an olive tree with volunteer sweet potatoes covering the ground around the base of the tree.

Lots of seeds planted and giant crooked neck squash almost ready to harvest. 



A lettuce garden for daily picking.  Sweet potatoes taking over on the left and new pepper plants sprouting up on the right.

Boxwoods framing out the kitchen garden.

Vanilla Ice cream banana.

Newly planted boxwood framed kitchen garden.

 

A common breakfast from August to mid October. 

A gift for a neighbor.

A quick harvest for dinner and one of many cow pea harvests to store up for later.  The dried peas are stored in jars and the fresh peas blanched and frozen. 

My goal in this post is to give an overview of my garden and start a journal where I can share my gardening techniques in the future.  A lot of people ask me for help in this area and I have found that it's difficult to explain in a brief conversation.  I usually just get this blank stare back from the listener followed by a comment like "can I just hire you to plant my garden".  Gardening comes easy to me and I create systems and habitats in my garden without a lot of planning.  I read a lot about plants in my spare time and when it's time to garden that information just all comes alive for me. I want to be able to share that information with others in a way that is approachable.

When I started my garden 2 years ago I would have described my vision of the space as an English Cottage Garden with a Permaculture Twist.  Our front yard at the time was a 150' wide by 80' deep weed meadow with a lonely young palm tree in the middle.  I was planning and dreaming of the garden I was going to create in the back yard, because that is where you plant gardens, when I received a quote of $5,000 to re sod the front yard.  Yikes!  That didn't include landscaping or the monthly cost to water and pour chemicals on the lawn so it would remain grass and not become weeds again.  Everything in me knew there had to be a better way.  I was eager to start growing food and setting up the garden I was envisioning for the back yard was going to require a lot of time and hard work so I resolved to having the hubby build some large raised beds for the front yard that I would plant an English cottage style garden around.  I started growing vegetables in the raised beds and shortly after a friend introduced me to the film Back to Eden.  This film changed my life!  It all made since after watching this video and so began the front yard Permaculture garden. 

A few weeks after watching the film I heard a tree grinder grinding up a tree at my neighbors house. Oh the excitement!  I was sitting on the back porch reading and as soon as I heard that glorious sound, how I knew what a tree grinder sounded like I have no idea, I grabbed the kids and went running down the street barefoot in our pj's to find out if we could have the wood chips. They were delivered a few minutes later and I could not have been happier.  I felt like the Lord had delivered the best gift ever right to my front door.  If your not a gardener I'm sure you are thinking I'm very strange right now......

Since that morning almost 2 years ago I have shoveled 17 full truck loads of wood chips into my front yard and have converted 80% of the space into an edible landscape.  I still have a little left to convert and I have learned many other permaculture techniques that I now use instead of just wood chips.  It has been a process with lots of initial labor but as we head into year 2 I can see how this method of gardening has a huge payoff over time and requires very little work after it is established.  Now what was suppose to be an English Cottage Garden with a Permaculture twist is a lot more Permaculture with an English cottage twist.  Permaculture gardening works.  It's beautiful and functional.  It grows without watering and is free from pesticides and artificial fertilizers.  It's climate changing and habitat forming.  And the best part is it allows you to grow tons of food in a small space.  Before falling down this rabbit hole of Permaculture I feared that planting more than 3 or 4 trees in the front yard would shade out all my plants and I wouldn't be able to grow food.  Now I know how wrong I was and I currently have over 20 fruiting trees in this space with many other nitrogen fixing trees to support them and plans for at least 10 more before my design is complete. 

Did I mention it's BEAUTIFUL?!  At least I think so.  Job 12:7-9 But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will explain to you.  Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? 

Linkup over at The Homesteading Hibby

Plant Terrarium With Tropical Exotics.

I have recently found a new passion!  It's no secret that I love plants but surprisingly I have very few of them that I allow inside our home.  I will do seasonal plants throughout the year but will eventually place them outside in the garden.  The reason is I haven't found many that match the look I'm going for with our décor.  The family and I recently took a trip to Deland, FL to look for antiques and a friend recommended we take a visit to EFG Orchids.  What a treat!  I could have spent hours inside this family owned green house full of tropical exotics and orchids. I have now found many species that would look amazing inside our home.  Many of these plants are good for air purification and removing toxins inside the home which is another benefit aside from their amazing beauty.  I was only able to snap 2 photos with my phone before the battery died.

I could only bring a few treats home on this trip so I decided to get the largest variety I could with my small budget.  I chose the tiniest plants they had with the plan of using this terrarium I have had tucked in the closet for years.  All of these plants are easy to propagate so it gives me a good base of tropical exotics to start my collection.  I chose Miracle Grow potting mix with equal parts Peat Moss mixed together and filled my terrarium with the soil mixture to approximately 5" high.  I then added my plants to the design I felt looked attractive.  I also added an orchid that I have had for 7 years that I'm hoping will come back to life and a small orchid that I rescued from the Lowes clearance rack for $1.00.  Once my plants were in place I covered the exposed soil with a few varieties of dried moss.  The orchids are attached to wood chips and I added a few rocks to help hold in moisture. 



  Here is the list of plants I chose for my terrarium going from left to right and top to bottom:

Top left I don't have the name.
Goldfish plant.
Pink Lady Orchid.
Ming Aralia.
Birds nest Fern.
Dwarf Caladium.
Baby Tears.
Fittonia white vein.
Fig Vine (This is the tiniest little fig leaf I have ever seen and I haven't been able to find out much about it.)
Selaginella.

I originally placed the terrarium on the fireplace hearth temporarily and moved it to this table to take a photo because the fireplace lighting was poor.  I had no intentions of it staying on the fireplace or this table but later in the evening Tony asked me where the terrarium went and when I came back in the room I found it back on the hearth.  It seems this little terrarium has made a big impression on the hubby so for now it will stay on the hearth where he can enjoy it's beauty. 

I hope the fall season is bringing you much inspiration and creativity!