far, far away

Another Sis Boom dress, this time in double cotton gauze from Heather Ross’ Far, Far Away collection. (See the little frogs waiting to become princes? And the unicorns frolicking in the field?) I was super lucky to score some for cheap this summer on Diaperswappers, of all places. This was my first time working with double cotton gauze, and I like it a whole lot — it’s different from regular quilter’s cotton in that it’s more lightweight, plusher, softer, and, well, gauzy. It wasn’t tricky to sew, per se, but I felt like I needed to pay attention in order to avoid creating unintentional tucks and pleats.

There’s enough fabric left over that I think Maren will get one in the near future, too, only with the green on the top for her.

Lizzy eats her apple slices like they’re orange slices.

This dress will be so nice for the humid southern summer!

arranging, re-arranging

Time to start stitching! I hope everyone’s weekend has had just the right balance of productive/restful. I’ve got some exciting (well, to me, anyway) posts lined up for the week, so check back soon!

new clothes

Ever since the recent 3835 success, I’ve been on a little bit of a clothes-sewing kick. Here’s the same shirt in Good Folks, but without the elastic in the sleeves. I’m not sure which way I like it better — I ended up taking the elastic out of the vintage sheet shirt, but only because I made the elastic lengths too short and they were pinching my massive biceps.

And then I turned to see what Lizzy was doing whilst I’d been admiring myself in the mirror.

The other pattern I’m currently nuts about is the Sis Boom Molly Peasant Dress & Top. This pattern kind of blows my mind for several reasons: first, it’s downloadable. Second, it fits girlies from six months to eleven years. Third, the instructions are unbelievably easy to understand and follow; this is something the most beginningest of beginner sewists could totally tackle. AND, the variations are just about endless — you can make short, three-quarter, or long bell sleeves, make it a shirt or a dress, and the dress can be any length your heart desires. It reminds me of a modernized miniature Elizabeth Bennett dress — fitting, since she is one of Lizzy’s namesakes and all.

I made it in a size 3/4, so it’s a little roomy on her yet (she’s just starting to wear 3T). It’s made from two prints out of Summer Soiree, and I’m gearing up to make another one in Far, Far Away (eee!). I do have one tiny complaint, and that is that the seam allowances for the elastic casings are a weeeeee bit narrow, making elastic insertion harder than it needs to be. But that is something that’s easily remedied. Really, my only question is — why doesn’t it come in my size?

thing 1’s bedroom: all done!

It’s done! Hooray!! I’m so excited about it — partly because there’s so much vintage sheet love in there (and you know how I am about that) and partly because it’s the first time I’ve had a vision for a room, so to speak — and then actually made it happen. Wahoo!

The sheet for the curtain came from secret cake via Etsy, whose shop I can’t recommend highly enough. Also amazing to work with were Kari at Sisters Say it All Vinyl (custom vinyl phrases, unbeatable prices) and Studio JK (way cool graphics and great service). There’s so much cool vinyl out there (not to mention that 99% of it comes from the UT/ID corridor…heh heh). It’s such a great way to brighten up a rented apartment.

Yay for the decorated bedroom! Stay tuned for Thing 2’s room…

a new start

I’ve been fretting a little bit lately that I might be giving the wrong idea sometimes. Other crifty-crafty artsy-fartsy bloggers have said it much better than this, but I just feel like I need to put this out there: this blog isn’t the greatest representation of my life as a whole. My days aren’t packed with sewing, crafting, and creating. Rather, most (if not all) of my creative time happens in the wee hours, after the little ones have gone to bed.

Blogging is part of my creative space — a place where I get to forget about my children’s bodily fluids and the newest mountain of laundry and the bathroom floors that haven’t been cleaned since…ummm (trails off into indistinct murmuring) — and instead lose myself in the beauty of color, design, and creativity for a time. It’s something I love, and it’s something I love to share. And I would hate for anyone to feel the least bit sheepish or inadequate or whatever as a result of visiting here. Definitely not my aim.

Whew.

New starts are nice, huh?

sweet charlotte

While quilting this one night, Richard ambled over to tell me he was going to bed. I said, “Okay, just one more line and I’ll be done.” Came his witty reply: “Dear, every coke addict says that.” Oh, that witty man of mine.

In any case — it’s bound, washed, and ready to send to sweet little baby Charlotte. I used the YoYo Mama Vintage Baby quilt pattern (although Jessica at Twin Fibers recently posted a great tutorial on how to do this kind of quilt), a handful of sweet girly fabrics, and some simple white muslin. I’m becoming a fan of white in quilts.

What I love about this pattern is that there’s no piecing. Zip, zero, zilch. Just cutting, pinning, and sewing — which is nice for people like me who cannot match up seams to save their lives.

The fabrics I used here are a little more pastel and girly than what I usually pick out, but it was kind of a nice to work with soft colors for a change. It was a short-lived thing, though, ’cause I’m about to bust out the Good Folks. I spent a whole, happy hour tonight ironing all my fat quarters, and I’ll tell you, ironing was never such a joyful task. Get ready for some intensity!

10-minute tablecloth

Yay, tablecloth!

I bought two yards of a tasty home dec print, hemmed the cut sides, left the selvage edges alone, et voila! The industrial plastic/metal computer table is gone. Or at least hidden. Easy peasy.

my mom vs. cook’s illustrated

On the debate of whether or not potatoes need to be poked before going in the oven…

…Cook’s Illustrated loses. I quote from The New Best Recipe: “We found no benefit or harm was done to the potatoes by poking them with the tines of a fork before putting them in the oven.” I told that to my mom while putting potatoes into her oven one night, and she made me poke them anyway. Wish I would have poked mine last night.

When I opened the oven, discovered what had happened, and told Richard, he said, “That sucks.” And without missing a beat, my sweet little Lizzy chimed in: “That sucks.”

Yesterday we were looking at boat pictures in her word book. I pointed out the buoy and said, “Say ‘buoy.’”

“Boo yeah.”

“No, buoy.”

“Boo yeah.”

adverts

R and I are developing a bad habit of reading in bed when it’s already so, so late at night. The conversation (as we’re climbing into bed) usually goes something like this –

“Oh, I thought you were going to read.”

“No, but you can read.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. But if you’re going to read…”

So last night I started a delicious new book called La’s Orchestra Saves the World. It’s by Alexander McCall Smith, best known for The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which I have read and was also delicious. Jan, the manager at the (sadly) now-defunct Chapter Two Books in Logan, always told people that his writing style is “sweet without being sentimental.” And smart, I’d add. I’m one chapter in and indelibly hooked.

And speaking of hooked — be sure you take a peek at Amanda Sasikirana’s new Etsy shop (the above image is a sweet little pair of pins you can get there). I love her blog, too — her fabric choices, designs, and ideas always inspire me. So check it out — she’s got a great giveaway going on right now!

the height of vintage sheet nerdiness…

…Is when you cut up your stash of vintage sheets to in order to make smaller vintage sheets.

Jillian was right, though — making fitted crib sheets is super duper easy! If you can use a ruler and sew a straight line, you can do it. I’m kind of mad that I didn’t find out sooner how simple it is — it’s one of those things that I just assumed wasn’t done at home. I’m really happy with this sheet — I think I’m going to make more.

Did I tell you about how the moving company lost two of the legs to our kitchen table? So awesome. We were pretty bummed about it; we bought the table from a family in Logan (we found it advertised on the for-sale board in the TSC) who had crackle-painted it themselves in brown and green. We loved it and had countless wonderful times with friends and family around that kitchen table. Fortunately, when placed directly on the floor, it makes a fabulous surface for drawing, dancing, snacking, doll stroller-driving, and many other typical two year-old antics.

Putting it on the floor also means that the two year-old is a little less tempted to color on Mommy’s new kitchen table (purr, purr). I’m sure that’ll show up in pictures sometime.

For anyone interested in what’s going on with the Army: R is in a holding pattern at the moment, and will be until he starts IBOLC (Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course) in March — nice, because he’s home at 2 every day! He’ll graduate from IBOLC in July, then go to Ranger school in August. After that, we’ll move to our first duty station (which we’ll hopefully find out about soon; we put Hawaii as our first choice, though that’s no guarantee). We’re still loving it — never regretted the decision to join for a minute.

About the Rangers — when I asked him what makes a Ranger a Ranger, R told me that Rangers are “the bad mothers” of the Army. Special Forces are the uber-bad mothers, and Delta Force is the baddest mother. So on a scale of bad motherness, the Rangers are the first level. (And according to R, Jason Bourne is most definitely a Ranger.) Anyway, if interested, there’s an awesome documentary about Ranger school that you can watch on YouTube. Seriously, it’s good.