I'm not sure what happened to the picture Cody posted yesterday, you know this darn blogspot loses things sometimes ;).

I cut out a new cover for Kennedy's high chair this week and I'm so excited! Her high chair has an all cloth cover that gets filthy with every meal. Why don't they make covers that are actually cute and easy to clean? I was digging through my stash and found a bunch of oil cloth I bought about 4 years ago and it's perfect. Hopefully I can whip it up after the kids go to bed and I can share pictures later. I hate sewing with oilcloth so it should be an experience.

In family news Ashlyn is going under the knife first thing tomorrow morning. It's the same procedure she had to have done last year only on the other side this time. She was so brave last time until she realized what happened so I hope she can handle it. It's so hard to be a mom and voluntarily take your child in for surgery. If I had a magic wand I would just poof her all better. Unfortunately mom kisses aren't strong enough to battle hernias so keep us in your thoughts tomorrow.

The Man Of The House

I don't typically hijack Bridget's blog because it's her deal not mine, but she told me I could and said "don't post anything embarrassing." So here we are and in light of the recent holiday I thought it appropriate to do something about her. We have been married for 9+ years now and together for 11+. We seem to talk about how things used to be b.c. (before children) fairly often, so I went back b.c. and found a picture that reminds me of why we are where and what we are today.

We are here now because after 11 years we still can't live without each other. She is the love of my life and always will be. I will always try, unsuccessfully, to grow facial hair and she will always be HOT!

So there you have it. Love and embarrassment all wrapped up neatly in one little post.

The End

I've been in the mood for paybacks lately, but not the vicious mean kind the "thanks for all you've done" kind. I made a few things for my blog friend Kelli and now that she's gotten it I can share.

Kelli sent me a box full of dinners and desserts when I had Kennedy forever ago and I've been wanting to thank her ever since. I wish I could've done more because Kelli deserves it! I have a few more blog friends in mind so If you get a random package from Oregon that you aren't expecting it's probably me... or someone creapy and you shouldn't open it. If it has a bird on the outside it's me ;o).

Making my mark...

In cookware. I've had a blast marring up the bottoms of my 9x13's. No more lost or misplaced pans ever again!

I know it's old news for most of you but we've never done it here and I always wanted to. My achievement day girls were invited to do glass etching with the young women a couple weeks ago and I've had glass etching on the brain ever since. I didn't realize until after I did all 6 of my big pans that my name was facing the wrong way when you look into the pan so I'm going to do all my 8x8's and loaf pans with my name reversed.

I cut my stencil in vinyl on my silhouette and used glass etching cream. The cute little measuring cup is a free embroidery pattern from Vol. 25 here. She has an entire set of kitchen doodles in her etsy shop for only $3.25 if you would like to give those a whirl. Who says embroidery patterns are just for use with threads, oh I'm a rebel ;).

Her royal highness is 3 today!

I can't believe how big she's getting! She's such a funny and tall little string bean. We celebrated her birthday on Wednesday and it was a great day filled with pink and princess everywhere.

3 of my favorite things about Kaci-
1. She's got such a cute unruly hairdo. I love every unmanageable curl!

2. She's very in tune to how her mom and dad are feeling. When we look unhappy in the slightest she's the first to come up and make sure we're okay. She wraps her little hands around our faces and looks genuinely concerned. Love that.

3. She refuses to eat the hole of a bagel. I think she thinks it's the crust and that's why I find bagel holes all over. I mean all over, under the couch, in her room, in the oven. She's funny. Except when I find bagel holes in my oven.

I just love her to pieces, Happy Birthday Kaci!

One more thing, we got 10 baby chicks this week. It was my idea. I already regret it.

What can I say? I have a soft spot for bitty chickens. This is year 3 or 4 for baby chicks at our house and every year they don't make it past summer with us either giving them to new homes because they are roosters or unfriendly wildlife thinking they are really tasty. Pretty cute though, for now.

Prepping my nest

There's so much that has to be done when you move and about 98% of it I hate. I'm not a fan of packing, cleaning two houses, transferring all the utilities, and all the yuck stuff that everyone who's ever moved has to do. We've always rented but this time I actually get to paint! With color!! And it will be my choice and not because one of my little artists has colored our walls for us. Here are the mish mash inspiration pictures of things I like that I've pulled up.

I'm leaning towards this for my living room-

I want to make a coffee table like this, so cute. Or maybe a sofa table with a skinny cabinet door... ooh I just thought of that!

This for the little girls bedroom-

I like the green dresser in the corner.

This for the bigger girls bedroom-

I think I love this wall color for any of the kids rooms, I just can't decide which one.



Any tips? I have to pick up paint this week and I'm a loss. I have no idea what I want and what I'll be able to live with. I'm going to do a buttery yellow for the upper half of the kitchen walls and for our bedroom but that's all I've decided so far. I might be able to sew but I can't decorate to save my life!

Ta Da! Double layer skirt.

Wow was it ever nice today. Mary didn't actually wear this today but it was definitely skirt weather. The perfect time to whip up a few new skirts for the cute little girls crawling out of the wood work in your home. Okay so not everyone has a substantial girl population at their house like I do but this skirt is really easy to make and doesn't take very long so it would make a great gift as well. The best part about this pattern is it goes off of 2 body measurements so you can make it any size from preemie to adult. If you're the kind of adult that likes to wear girly looking little skirts anyway ;).

 

I made my skirt about a size 5 out of home dec fabric that was 60" wide. I'll list the measurements and yardage I used for Mary's skirt and tell you how to measure for any other size as well, it just takes a second to find another size and to figure how much fabric you need. It isn't a hard skirt at all so don't freak at my desperate attempt to explain the easy sizing and cutting.

Lets get started shall we? Here are the approximate materials you will need, you'll need more for larger sizes and less if you are doing a preemie size, obviously ;).

Under skirt fabric- 3/4 yard (1/2 yard for 60" fabric)
Top skirt fabric- 3/4 yard (1/2 yard for 60" fabric)
Waistband fabric and top skirt binding- 1/4 yard

3/8" elastic length of the real waist measurement

Matching thread
A rotary cutter and mat with a ruler are really handy but optional

To cut your pieces first you need to measure the waist size and the length you want your skirt to be. Measure your child's waist and add 5". This gives us the measurement for the waistband and how wide to cut the underskirt. For a full skirt you multiply the waist + 5" by 2. If you want a slightly less gathered skirt you multiply that by 1.75 or 1.5 but not less than that. You're also going to need to measure how long you want your skirt. There are several different ways you can do this but 2 that work best for me is to find a skirt you already like the length of and measure that from waist to bottom hem or measure your child from your child's waist to the desired length.

Waistband cut- 1 rectangle 4" by waist measurement + 5". Mary's waist is 20" so I cut a rectangle that was 4"x 25". Hint: Having two side seams makes gathering easier so you can fold this rectangle in half and cut it on the fold to get two pieces that are 4"x 12.5" so you have 2 side seems to match both skirts to for gathering.

Under skirt cut- 2 rectangles that are the length of the skirt measurement by the waistband measurement. From waist to knee Mary measured 13" so I cut two rectangles measuring 13" x 25". (Don't worry about the extra length from the waistband here, it will get used up with seams and elastic casing so cut the under skirt the length you want your skirt to be not the length you want just that part of the skirt to be. Does that make sense?)

Top skirt cut- 1 rectangle that's 4" shorter than the under skirt width wise (waist measurement doubled because the under skirt is in 2 pieces) and about 3" shorter length wise. My underskirt was 13" long and 50" wide total (double the waist measurement) so I cut one rectangle that was 10" x 46".

Top skirt binding- 2 strips of fabric 2"x 44" (2" x 60" if using home dec weight).

That really was the most painful part. Now to the fun part, construction! I used an average seam allowance and zig zagged after every seam I sewed.

First- Sew the waistband with the fabric facing right sides together at the side seams on both sides. Set aside.

Next sew the underskirt together with right sides facing each other at the side seams. Set aside.

Sew the 2 strips of top skirt binding, right sides together, on one side making a one long strip. Press the seam to one side then press the strip in half right sides facing out. Fold the outside edges in towards the center of the fold and press again.


Fold your binding in half at the center fold and press. Your raw edges should be on the inside when folded now.

Open the binding and place the raw edge of your upper skirt fabric on the inner binding fold. Fold the binding over the fabric and pin in place on the 2 ends and bottom edge of your upper skirt.

Sew your binding as close as you can to the outer edge on the outside making sure you catch the binding on the inside as well.

Your upper skirt should look like this now with your continuous binding sewn on.

Grab your outer skirt fabric and turn it right side out. Lay it on top of your upper skirt fabric with the outside edge of your upper skirt fabric extending about 7" from the underskirt side hem. Making sure the top edges line up fold the upper skirt around the underskirt and pin along the top edge.

Sew 2 gathering stitches along the top edge at about 1/4" and 1/2" through both layers of fabric at once. Set aside. (If you choose home decorator fabric I have a nifty trick for gathering that's a lot easier than this but it's not as easy to control so if you're interested just leave a comment and I'll show it later, it's 1 a.m. right now)

Grab your waistband and fold over the top edge about 1/4" and press.

Grab your skirt layers and pin the top edge of the skirt to the bottom edge (unfolded edge) of the waistband, right sides together, matching side seams and pull your threads to gather. Pin in place then sew. I always sew around the gathers twice for good measure. Press the seam up towards the waistband.

Fold the top edge (folded edge) of the waistband under another 1/2" to form the casing for your elastic. Pin and sew close to the edge and leave an opening for your elastic. Thread the elastic through and sew. Sew casing shut. Fold the bottom hem of the skirt about 1/2" and press, fold again by another 1/2" and sew in place.

Viola`! I'm sure there's something I'm leaving out so don't hesitate to let me know if something doesn't make sense or I left a step out. It's really late and I'm out of chocolate!

I want to make Mary a matching shirt and fabric flower to match so I'll post pictures when I'm done. If you make one I would love to see a picture or if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I'm not the fastest at responding but I always do eventually- dontlickthefloor@hotmail.com .

Happy sewing!!!

(Insert something witty here)

My project is done and I'm so happy with how it came out. Mary loves it, want a peek?
So I changed my mind on the fabric but this combo was just screaming to be made into this so I had to do it. If I were totally insane I might try to make 2 more for church tomorrow. I think I might be. I should do dishes and my bathroom is nuclear but who needs clean spoons anyway?

I can't promise to have the tutorial done today or even tomorrow, I'm loving on some cute kids that weren't so cute yesterday and need to get it all in while they're still lovable. It'll be up by Monday night though and it's a cute pattern if I do say so myself. Have a great Saturday!

The Anti-craft

She just learned how to crawl and is on the war path. Nothing is sacred around here anymore. I swear she can sense when there's something on the floor she's not supposed to have and she goes mach 50 to get it. She's a speedy one. I was enjoying my little raspberry blowing floor lump.

I'm working on the tutorial I promised, it's just taking a bit longer with Cody being gone and Kennedy turning into sea biscuit in my living room. Here's a peek...

A few fabrics from my stash, and not because of the economy. Anyone else tired of hearing that word every day? If I have to hear that word one more time I might burst so hence forth and forever it's banned from my blog and all conversation unless we're talking Costco sized packages. I'm just using what I have because I might have to pack my bags if Cody catches me buying more fabric and nothing coming out of it. Tell me I'm not the only one with a fabric problem.

This weekend I'll tell you how to make a really cute fun skirt so you won't have to pack your bags either. First I need to figure out how to make a baby run like they do for dogs... just kidding... but they do make harnesses her size I think, maybe a large poodle? Don't turn me in.

Edited To Answer: Katie said...
i love that quilt! did you make it - if so what is the name of the pattern?
April 14, 2009 11:14 AM

It's from Quilt Taffy. Two of the nicest people ever and I swear they don't pay me to advertise for them, although I could be bought with fabric. I'm just sayin' ;). It's called Vintage Baby Quilt kit and you can find it here. My favorite baby purchase so far! Everyone should make one. I'm working on a twin version right now with the exact same fabrics.

6 a.m. sugar rush- check!

The criminals in their Easter best- check!

Cute happy baby- check!

Small girls in small trees- check!

Big boys in big trees- check!

Candy basket recovery without braking a bone- check!

*Hope your Easter was a happy one*