target is copying me

This is what became of the rest of the Tiny Polka Dot Dancer fabric:

That’s right, a skirt for me!  I thought it was fun.  it’s too big in the waist, but that is a recurring theme among my skirts this year.  Go figure, since I don’t really even have a waist anymore.  I guess that’s my subconscious trying to make me feel better.

Then, I went to Target, and saw the SAME skirt!  (Well, not exactly the same, but similar shape and print.)  I’m not sure whether that means I am ahead of the trends or not.

Polka Dot Tiny Dancer

Just before Christmas, I made my little 2 year old a corduroy jumper out of this cute black and white fabric.  My first idea was to find a herringbone… but I could not find one after looking for 2 seconds and found this instead.  She wore it for Christmas with a red cardigan, but yesterday we pulled it out again with “stripey tights” and her little green shrug.

And then she demonstrated her sweet dance moves.

I like to call her Elaine Benes when she dances.

Stay tuned for what I did with the leftover fabric.

Oh and it’s the same pattern as this one from last year.  (She looks so little then!!!!)

2011 Goals

I do have some goals for 2011, in addition to being better about taking pictures and posting my “creations”…

the thing is, right now I really don’t have the time to put the effort into making this a networking blog.  So, for now, I will only have about 10 readers.  (Hi!!!)  And that’s fine.  I still like to chronicle my thoughts, inspirations, and things I have made.

So:

1.  I would really like to improve my photography skills.  Let’s be honest, right now they are lacking.  As in, I do not have any photography skills.  I am getting a birthday present this weekend which should help… a nice camera!  And, I have learned a little bit about how to edit photos, which should help.  I really want to be able to take pictures of the girls that really capture who they are.

2.  Figure out how to use my new serger!  I found it on Craigslist a couple of months ago for an amazing price and had to beat down a few other people to get it.  My occasionally competitive nature won out and I went home with this beauty!!  That I have yet to figure out how to thread… I’ve been too busy sewing things on the machine I DO know how to use.    So, I need to take a break to learn my new machine.

3.  Make an awesome dress of my own design, and start to design my own clothes a bit more.  My sister is getting married in April, and I would like to make a dress for that occasion.  But, I want it to look nice, since it is a wedding after all, and the reception is at my house so I will be a little bit of a hostess, and also I will be in pictures.  I have an idea in my head, and I hope I can make it come to life.  I would love to learn how make patterns, but I don’t know that I am quite there yet.  At any rate, I hope to be able to design my own clothes or at least add some creativity into store bought patterns.

4.  Start to reflect my love of design (particularly interior design) on my blog.  This means sharing the befores and afters of “finishing” and settling into our house, figuring out how to decorate and what looks best, making decisions, and sharing inspiration.  I’m new at this, and still learning, but it’s something I really enjoy.  So, I think I will write about that too.

So, I hope to be able to post a little more regularly here incorporating all those things.  I mean, I still have a full-time job, and 2 little girls, and a house to clean and dinner to cook, and laundry that never ends… so let’s be real.  I hope to post when I can!!

Yes I do still sew… and occasionally take pictures

So, my biggest problem is that I never remember to take pictures of my completed projects.  Or, I wear something I made and then the baby spits up on it.

So, I have taken pictures of only 2 items I’ve made for fall / winter 2010.

You know how when you find an item of clothing that fits you perfectly and you love it, you want to get it in every color?  I feel that way about the pattern for this top:

(and I didn’t say they were good pictures…)

I based this very loosely on this pattern, but changed it quite a bit– simplified it, really.  No sleeves, so inset / yoke, no ruffles, raised the neckline… it’s really a pretty simple top, but when it’s in a bright fun pattern it still stands out.  A top of this style is especially great for me now because I still have a little baby tummy, and I can hide it.    Lots of options, including using different fabrics, adding a ruffle along the top or 3/4 sleeves, making it tunic length and belting it, etc.  Let’s just say I have already made a second one, and I have fabric to make 2 more…

For a change away from simple tops, I made this skirt, which was my own design:

It’s a simple lightweight corduroy pleated skirt with a waist band.  I lined it with a cheap fun turquoise fabric.

The only problem is that waist ended up a little too big.  I took it in a little bit, but this is a recurring theme among skirts I made.

So, although I have quite a few other items in my fall / winter “collection” this year, I have been slacking on the photography.  Hopefully I’ll get around to it, one of these days…

Spreading the love

My good friend Melissa is having a craft sale next weekend to raise funds for their upcoming adoption.  How could I not contribute!  I dug through my fabric and came up with 8 burp clothes, 3 taggie blankets and 1 baby blanket.

All of these were made out of fabric scraps!  Also, while I love the feel of the green chenille fabric, I really don’t like sewing with it.  Maybe my NEW SERGER THAT I FOUND ON CRAIGSLIST FOR AN AMAZING PRICE will help with that.

Here is a real live baby modeling the blanket:

I’ve never made anything to sell before– I hope people like them and that they are able to raise funds for our friends’ adoption!  I can’t wait for their new baby to come home!

I’m still here

This is just a quick note to say that I am still alive.  I have started getting back into some crafting and sewing and have been developing a new love for interior design since we moved into our new house.  I have a couple of pieces for my fall wardrobe but somedon’t fit quite right so I’m not sure about them.  We are starting to find a groove and life is returning to what feels like normal (a new normal).  I have a few projects to post once I take pictures.  It takes a while to get back to real life after a baby!  Who still has yet to sleep in her bedroom!

A place to (eventually) rest her head

Here is my babycakes’ nursery!  We finished it about 3 days before she was born.  Actually it still needs blinds in the windows, so it’s not actually complete.  And I’d like a rug for the floor too.  So never mind.

When we moved in, the walls in this room were already a light green, so I decided to work with the color rather than repaint (since we already were doing so much painting when we first moved in).  I also at first thought I’d be using the blue chair from Little Honey’s room, so I searched for fabric that had blue and green in it, but also had a romantic, feminine feel to it.  I decided on a color scheme of light blue, light green, and pink.

I love how much of this room is handmade.  The bedding fabric is from Amy Butler’s Love collection.  I made a crib skirt, bumper, blanket, slip covers for the chair, recovered the ottoman, basket inserts, and a change pad.  One of my favorite aspects of the room is the light fixture from Ikea.  Every little girl needs a chandelier in her room, right?

This dresser used to be my mom’s back in the day, and wasn’t getting any use at my parents’ house anymore, so they handed it down to us.  We painted it white with a light blue top and replaced the hardware.  This was the last thing we finished in the room and I was so excited to get it finally set up.  The white dress was the gown Little Honey wore for her baptism, and I am hopeful that Babycakes can wear it too.  The “artwork” on the shelf (which is from Ikea) was made by little honey.  It’s simple water color paint on canvas.

This bench, under the window, was made by my dad for LH’s nursery.  The baskets have toys and a changing station (which we really keep downstairs), and have the fabric inserts in them to keep them looking cohesive with the room and less bland and plain.  I recovered the cushions on the bench too.

The glider used to look like this:

It used to be my Grandma’s, and my parents were all set to throw it away when we arrived for a weekend visit.  My dad and hubby fixed it up and took several cans of white spray paint to it, and I recovered the cushions.  Voila!

The ottoman was free at a yard sale from a friend of mine.  I removed the old cover and used a staple gun to attach the new fabric.  I made a pillow for the glider also.

You can see some of the wall “art” in this picture better.  The flowers in the frames over the glider I made myself.  I used a paper punch, card stock, and a glue stick to make them.  Very easy.  Over the crib, I took embroidery hoops, which were just $1.50 each, and added fabric in the room’s colors, and hung those too.  Well, really, I just told Hubby where to hang them.

The last part of the room isn’t totally finished but I will show you what we do have there.

It looks really blah so far.  We found a mirror at a yard sale and painted the frame, and hung it (very securely) at a height where BC will be able to see it once she is more mobile and aware.  I have some frames which I plan to fill with some newborn pictures to hang on the wall above the mirror also.

I’m really happy with how the room turned out!  I will admit, it turned out a little more… flowery… than I think I imagined it in my head.  Maybe because I used flowery fabric?    When it comes time to transition it into a big-girl room I’ll tone down the flowers.  But I also like the idea of a romantic type of feel for a baby girl nursery.

One other thing I am proud of?  This room cost less than $150 to put together.  The crib we already had and was a gift from my grandma when LH was born, the glider, dresser and ottoman were free (from my parents / grandma), the bench was hand-made by my dad, and all the bedding and artwork was hand-made by me.  The only things we bought were the fabric, light fixture, curtains, and shelf (plus the embroidery hoops, and the $3 mirror).  Go us!

And, after all that work to get it ready before she was born, the only thing she has used the room for so far is for some diaper changes.  She still sleeps in our room, which we planned on before she was born, so I’m not sure why I felt such a rush to get everything ready.  Blame the nesting instinct.  At least when she’s ready to move to her crib she’ll be a stylish baby going to bed!

Itty Bitty Church Debut

I finally made an Itty Bitty Dress that I had talked about doing.  I made it early one morning while pregnant when I couldn’t sleep and was annoyed to be awake.  Of course, now I’m awake just as much at night, but for totally different reasons…

Look at my little babycakes!

I used the leftover fabric from her bedding.  I finally took pictures of her finally mostly finished nursery, and will post those soon.

the Big E

My new little sweetie modeling the latest trend:

Isn’t she the best?

Here are a couple of action shots:

I really love this blanket!

Hub’s grandmother really planned ahead– she made receiving blankets for all potential future great grand children, before she passed away (which was about a month after Little Honey was born).

And… she doesn’t cry every time she’s in the car seat!  Must be the new and improved cover.

New space to sit / Yard sales are awesome

I love going to yard sales.  Every Saturday morning in the spring and as long as they last into the summer, we head out to see what kind of crap treasures other people are selling.  Often times we find toys or books for LH, but sometimes I luck out and find things I need for the house (like plain white plates to hang on the wall, or 8×10 picture frames to paint).  I had been looking around for a bench to put near our front door and had thought that maybe I would need to build one.  So, you can imagine how excited I was to find this for $15 at a neighborhood yard sale by my parents’ house.

My mom calls it a deacon’s bench.  It was in kind of rough shape, so my dad and hubby tightened it up and we took it home.  But clearly it needed to be refinished.  (The print sitting on it is one taken by my friend Maggie, which will go up on the wall at some point soon.)

So one Sunday, my parents kept LH and hubs and I went on a painting spree throughout the house.  (In addition to this bench, we [he] also painted picture frames, 2 of Little Honey’s little chairs, and unfinished tray, a desk, and a dresser which will be Baby’s changing table in addition to a couple of other little things.)  Anyways, we came out with this:

And I actually participated in some of the painting of this one despite my 9-mo preggo state.  The top was spray painted a creamy white (which I did not do) but the legs were painted a light greenish yellow color.  It’s just enough contrast to make the legs stand out but not too much.  Truthfully I would have loved to have stripped it and stained it darker, but with all the spindles it would have been a ton of work, so painting it was.  Plus, painting it white brightens the space.  I love it.  And I really love what you can find at yard sales.