Fun with PhotoBooth

....Or how we spent a cold morning during Christmas vacation.

More before and after

Spiffy.

Before... and After

Before
Notice the two different paint colors and the really dirty chimney... lovely.

After
Ahhhh. The house is all one color. We went out on a limb with the awning color. I figure the neighbors will either love it like we do... or hate it (but guess how much I care). If you are curios, the colors are suitable brown and grandiose by Sherwin Williams. I think I'm gonna paint the furniture today... maybe an orange-y red?

It's Done.. or Is it?

I finished the construction of this jacket today... I think. I ended up making it sort of a double breasted/wrap kinda thing because the pattern was way to generous to use buttons. Since I'm not great with patterns, I didn't realize just how huge it was going to be. I suppose if I wasn't too lazy, I could open the sides of the lining and the jacket and take it in. But, that would be a heck of a lot of work, and unpicking is a sure fire way for me to screw something up. I like the new closure, though something about the second picture looks off. It just kind of looks funky in the chest area. Maybe it's too plain.. or it's just a bad picture. I don't know. If someone has a suggestion about something I need to do here, I would love to hear it.
I'm not totally in love with the collar. In fact, I'm not even going to bother putting a button on it because it looks really odd when brought together in front.
The lining, however, is a silky polyester that I am totally in love with.
Would I recommend this pattern or make it again? Nah, probably not, but I feel better about sewing a major garment like this now. I also learned how helpful having a dress form would have been. It's really hard to take on and off and pin things on yourself while looking in the mirror.

Super Proud Mama

My little T won 1st prize in the 1st grade category in a city-wide art contest today! Her painting was titled The Three Ballerinas. (I wish I could have gotten a better photo of it, but it was hung way over my head.)
She won a bicycle and helmet (Ironic, right? And, no, it's not one that her daddy sells.). Her painting will hang in the local hospital for a while, and then we hear that there's some kind of artist's reception in a couple of weeks.
I'm just so proud of her! She started going to the Jonesboro School of Art this summer and has absolutely loved every minute of it. We can't wait til the fall semester starts on Monday!

Sooo ready for fall

So, it for the past two months or so, it's felt like a sauna here in Arkansas. But, I saw this pattern for a whole $1 at a flea market last month and decided to try my hand at making a jacket. The reason I picked this pattern is because: a) it was cheap, b) I like the details, c) it has raglan sleeves instead of set-in sleeves, which should make it easier to sew. I'm working on the short version with the collar and the tabs on the cuffs. I bought some wool fabric from ebay. It's not as nice and soft as the high-end stuff, but it looks nice and it was cheap (relatively). I'm certain that when I'm done with this I probably will have spent about as much as it would cost to go to Target or TJ Maxx and buy a perfectly lovely jacket.... but what's the fun in that?Here's where I am so far. The sleeves sewn to the body, the collar made and basted to the neck. I'm happy so far. I'm a little nervous about parts of this (like getting the lining in and making the cuffs look nice and neat). I'll post more pictures as I go.
T's school starts tomorrow and mine starts Monday, so that will throw a wrinkle in things - no pun intended.

ps. I have no idea why the font on here is all wacky. I can't fix it for the life of me.

A Sprinkle of Sparkle

Inspired by all the great man's shirt to skirt/dress projects out there on the interwebs, I wanted to give one a try myself. I really had in mind to make a skirt for me, but the little one made a pretty good case for a new skirt... so, you know how that goes.
I took one of her daddy's old shirts, cut it just under the arms, added a contrast waistband w/elastic, sprinkled in some sparkly buttons, and bob's your uncle she has a new skirt.
I wanted to make it a little shorter, but the girl likes 'em long on account of her fear of anyone seeing her underpants.

Time to Clean House

The amount of fabric just sitting in my sewing room in boxes is just a little overwhelming, so I'm cleaning out! Today is list all this fabric on ebay day. You won't find carefully crafted listings with detailed descriptions of all the fabric, just bulk "hope you like surprises cause I'm just gonna fill up a box and send it your way" type of listings. I have made some effort to divide the fabric up into type, at least... satin, heavy, solids, prints... you get the idea. I really don't care to make money on the stuff, I just feel the need to GET IT OUT!
Of course, I'm probably going to fill the void with some lovely new knit fabric soon. ;)
If your curious.... EBAY

Undaunted Sewing

I decided to get fearless and sew something for me. I've been following the Make It, Wear It series on Sew Mama Sew and decided to give a project a go. The Undaunted Top by JCasa looked just perfect!
Here are my thoughts on the whole thing:
First, this top makes me want to work on my arms. I try not to be hard on myself, but I've let some things go unchecked lately and I gotta quit that! I should have also made sure that I chose fabric that matches a camisole I already have. It really could use one underneath since the armholes are breezy.
About the pattern. It was super easy to follow and very forgiving. The original said it would fit a medium/large so I reduced the measurements on the pattern by 1 inch all the way around. After it was sewn, I curved in the sides about an inch or so more on either side (just eyeballed it). I also sewed the shoulder seams 3 inches instead of 4. That made the neck hang better I guess since I took in the measurements. I think if I were to make another, I would sew it all together and do the shirring last, or at least be more diligent about marking the shirring lines. You really can't tell when it's on, but the lines don't match up on the sides.
This was my first go at shirring. After a whole heck of a lot of trial and error, I found that the best way for me to get nice shirring was to wind the bobbin by machine and then set the tension pretty high. This is a knit fabric, so I also had to make sure I stretched it as it went through the machine. Once I figured it out it was easy peasey.
Anyway, thanks JCasa and SMS for the free pattern! I conquered my first top!

Sewing at last... and it is good

After months and months of not even touching my sewing machine, I sat down to do some creating. The cute one has been asking for a swimsuit cover-up ever since she started swim lessons last week and some of the girls showed up with their boutique-y embroidered ones. I am sooo not the type of mom to go spend a fortune on a cutesy monogrammed number. I will however do my darndest to make something way better.

The fabric was leftover from a bathrobe I made her a couple of years ago. There's elastic around the top and I sewed it all crazy.... my clever way of making up for the fact that this fabric is a bugger to work with and I have a hard time sewing it in a straight line. We'll just keep that between us. We'll also keep secret that this started out as a skirt for me, but I screwed up the measurements making it a teeny bit too snug to pull off without taking my swimsuit bottoms with it. (Yikes!) The bottom hem is rolled up so that the fuzzy side shows there, too- much like the top, just narrower.
Man, I love it when a plan comes together!

Bike Month is Busy

So May is National Bike Month and the end of the semester at school... holey moley that makes for one busy month! I finally finished up all my classes last week - YEEHAW! The rest of the month is all bike stuff all the time. First up....That there is the beginning of our brand spanking new pump track. The coalition got a grant from New Belgium Brewery and we're spending it building a pump track and mt. bike skills park. Think bmx, but smaller and smoother riding - the idea is that you can pump your way through it (well, the skillful people can) without pedaling. So, it's fun for adults cause they can challenge themselves that way, and it's fun for kids because the "jumps" are small enough that anyone can ride them. We're also putting in a set of obstacles nearby that mimic what you find on the trail so you can practice in a controlled environment. Should be awesome for kids (or grownups) who want to learn to mt. bike, but are nervous about getting out on the trail.
Next weekend we're hosting CycleFest 2010 - Bike to Work Day, classes and clinics, a bike rodeo, casual group rides, youth cycling instructor certification.... gonna be big fun!

Sing it with me....

It's our anniversary..
The Mr. and I have been married 9 years today!

mmmm Cupcakes

Taylor and I made rainbow cupcakes today. Tedious? Yes. Messy? Yes?
Fun and worth the trouble? Oh, yes!
The cupcake recipe is here.
The frosting recipe is here.
Let's talk about the frosting, shall we? It is one of the best frostings I have ever had. ever. really. The recipe is weird, but the result tastes like what would happen if butter cream married whipped cream and made sweet, sweet love.

Coming Up for Air

Grad school is amazing!!! Time consuming - way more so than I had imagined- but amazing nevertheless. Spring break is next week, but I turned in my last pre-break assignment yesterday so I am taking a super self-indulgent day to celebrate. Maybe I'll take two. Maybe I'll go for a ride on my new Specialized Haul... I so love this bike!

Shabby Apple San Gabriel GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I love this dress! I'm not usually the ruffle - y type, but I really like this!

Shabby Apple San Gabriel GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!