A Nest in the Making

Moving Day!

2011-06-14T10:03:00.000-05:00

Ok! It's been decided! My blog has moved over to Wordpress! You can find me at anestinthemaking.wordpress.com so please update your reader with my new site and/or re-follow the new blog! In a few weeks, I will be deleting this blog, so the only way to view my old posts (and of course my exciting new ones) is to make the switch with me! Can't wait to see you there!

Moving

2011-06-08T16:54:00.000-05:00

I think I may be moving to WordPress. I've been having a lot of trouble with Blogger lately. My plan is to mess around with Word Press for a while, see what I know. If I like it, I'll switch for good. Don't worry! I'll let y'all know if/when any changes are coming!

Thanks so much for your patience!

Simple Apron! I love her!

2011-06-08T16:13:00.000-05:00

HELP! I save pictures facing the right direction, and when I upload them to Blogger, they're either upside down or turned 90 degrees! Any ideas what's going on?! This is driving me crazy!!!!

I wanted to take a second to show you the pretty apron I made this past weekend! I love her! I think I should name her... would that be too weird?

I haven't been sewing a lot lately. Can I be completely honest here? I haven't been sewing because I *have* to watch 6 seasons of Grey's Anatomy this month. I *have* to, becasue I haev a free trial to hulu + and if I don't finish it by the 28th of this month, I'll have to pay to watch it. Dave Ramsey says no. So... I am watching a lot of TV on my computer. And not doing a lot of sewing. This past Sunday, I decided that needed to change. I miss sewing. (And yes, I know that if I want to sew I can. It's just that I really want to catch up on Grey's and really don't want to pay for it. So, it's a choice that I made... and any complaints are really just kidding because if my biggest problem is that I have to chose between sewing and watching TV any given night, my life is pretty good.)

After church we ran by JoAnn's to use the last of my gift card. Since I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to make, I picked up some bias tape in black and white. I figured one of those colors should match some fabric that I have, and that would give me a starting off point.

I found this pattern for a simple apron. I think I had found the original pattern a while back, but then I lost it. When I saw it on another blog, I decided it was time to make one! (I wish I could remember who it was who recently made one of these, if it was you - and you talked about how great it was for wiping snotty noses - let me know and I'll link to you too!) In the stash of fabric I got from my Grandma there was this country checker print with farm animals. I thought it was super cute but not at all my decor style. Perfect for my first apron attempt!

All in all, the pattern is pretty simple and straight forward. I will warn you that, for a newbie sewer <cross out> sewist (seriously y'all, what is the word?!), taking a few weeks off of sewing kills you. What is a straight line? How do you sew it? How do you pin bias tape again? How do you fold fabric over 1/4 inch and press? It was like I'd never made anything before! I mean, I'm no professional, but I do have a couple shirts, skirts and a bag I love and managed to make! If you were to look closely at my bias tape, you would think a 5 year old sewed it on. But it holds, it is machine washable, and the thread and trim are both black so you can't tell anyway. so there!

My apron looks great (although how can you tell with this upside down picture? *sigh*)! It's a little dark in these pictures - no natural light when you sew after bedtime - but I really like the colors. The pattern is great too because it hides anything I wipe on it. I'm not a messy cook, so I don't really *need* a full-cover-everything apron. This one is just perfect for me to wipe my hands on as I move around the kitchen.

A big thanks to Prudent Baby for the patternt!

Oh! And go MAVS!

I'll be linking up here:

Exciting Things

2011-06-06T15:58:00.001-05:00

No... I don't have a big post for y'all today... I made an apron last night! I used a tutorial I found online and I LOVE it! I'll show you later this week. The other exciting thing going on in my life is a work weight-loss program that starts next week. We are doing the 10,000 step [a day] challenge! I got my pedometer today and I am so excited! I think it's because I'm so competative. It's not a competition... in fact NOBODY is competing with me. But I feel like I must make a huge number so that I win. Even if I don't know anyone else's number! Is that strange? *lol* Well either way I'm excited! 189 steps since 3:45 this afternoon (12 minutes ago)!

Where'd You Go?

2011-06-01T14:27:00.002-05:00

I miss you so! Seems like it's been forever...

Oh wait... I got lost in a Fort Minor moment.

Anyway, I'm here! I'm busy but I'm here. There hasn't been much sewing going on in my world lately. I've been working more on getting my life "on track" - whatever that means. I felt for a while like I was pulled in so many directions. I guess I fell like that a lot. There's so much I WANT to do. But right now I'm confusing on what I need to do.

I'm going to work. Eating. Sleeping. Spending time with my family. And reading the bible for 30 minutes each night before going to bed (at a REASONABLE hour).

So that's why there haven't been any projects lately. I'm off work tomorrow and Friday, but I'm not sure I'll make anything. If I do, you'll be the first to hear about it. But I may just relax and enjoy my son and enjoy my life.

Life is good, you know that? I think sometimes we just need to sit back and enjoy it.

I've Been Featured!

2011-05-24T15:03:00.002-05:00

Y'all will never believe what happened to me this weekend!! I got an e-mail from Jane over at The Borrowed Abode, and an invite to do a guest post! That's right folks, I've been featured! Oh my goodness I'm so excited!

Head on over and visit Jane and give her some love for me!

Second Skirt Tutorial

2011-05-22T18:55:00.002-05:00

I made another skirt! I made another skirt! I made another skirt! Hey hey hey!

Ok but seriously y'all! I LOVE this skirt! Isn't it darling?! And it was soooooo easy!

Firt thing I did was measure from where I want the skirt to sit on my hips, to where I want the bottom of the skirt to be. Did I mention that Heidi Klum volunteered to be my model for this? No? Oh well she did - sorta! And if anyone actually knows her will you thank her for being my model?

{original picture credit}

And I got distracted again! Ok, first measurement (A) is for the elastic. Measurement (B) is for the width of the skirt at the bottom. I made this a little wider than the widest part of my hips. * Make sure not to measure around your legs and use that exact measurement, this may be obvious but your hips are bigger and if you ever want to be able to pull this skirt up in the ladie's room and/or walk you're going to want to have it at least as wide as your hips! Measurement (C) is the distance between (A) and (B). I added an inch to each measurement for seam allowance and sew-the-elastic-into-a-loop space.

Next, I made my pattern. I guess I'd call it a pattern. I didn't actually draw it to scale. Here is a picture:

Yep! Sticky note! But writing it out helped me make sure I got everything right. This is basically what the sketch looks like.

Next I laid out my fabric. I use a seersucker for this. I found it in my big box of fabric from the Benevolance Center. It was super cute, but since I'd never seen seersucker before, I thought it might have been a tablecloth. A quick conversation with one of the Fashion Retail Merchandising professors at work confirmed that it is called "seersucker." Of course, I had already made the skirt and was wearing it at the time. How funny would it have been if she was like "Kristi, that's a tablecloth!"

Anyway, I folded the fabric over because I wasn't sure how see-through the skirt would be. So you can brag that the skirt is lined if you'd like, but really, you just folded it over and got to cross "hem skirt" off of your to-do list. The fabric I cut ended up being a huge rectangle. I thought about bringing it in a little bit at the top, but I figured the elastic would work just as well. It ended up having a great (small) gather at the top so I'm really happy with how it turned out. If your (B) is much higher than your (A) though, you may want to taper your pattern in a little bit.

Anyway, I cut out my fabric and ironed it so that there would bea good crease for the bottom of the skirt. Next, I turned it inside out and hemmed the top with a small seam allowance (1/4 or 1/8 maybe?). This made me one long tube of fabric. I flipped it back, right-side-out and ironed again (I had a hard time making the bottom crease stay). Next, I sewed a straight-stitch line an inch lower than my top seam. This is where the elastic will be threaded in, so do that now.

Finally, I sewed up the back to make it a skirt. I don't have a fancy measurement for this. I pretty much sewed the elastic into a loop, put the skirt on, safety pinned it where I liked it, and then stitched it shut. The top was a little tricky. Any experienecs seemstress will tell me I did this in the wrong order, but I'm honestly not sure how I could've done it correctly. I guess some trial-and-error is in my future.

To close the top where the elastic is, I simply folded the fabric under until the edges met and it looked "clean." Then I stitched over it about a thousand times back and forth to hold it in place. Again, not correct or fancy, but at the end of the day it looks fine.

So there you have it folks, my first attempt at elastic and second attempt at a skirt. I wore it to work the next day and got a lot of compliments. I threw it in the wash that night (because I got salsa on it at work) and it survived no problem! Don't laugh but this was a serious concern of mine! I grabbed it this morning and put it on to run errands AND I'm wearing it right now! Yes, I love it that much! I see more fun/simple spring skirts in my future!

Thanks for reading! And as always, if you make a skirt like mine, e-mail me and let me know! I'd love to see it! anestinthemaking {at} gmail {dot} com

And in case you haven't smiled yet today...

*linky linky*
Get Your Craft On

Interesting Use for a Snack Bag

2011-05-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

Hello again!

So the other week I took my purse to work with me and it was great! Except... where exactly do I put my unmentionables? Yes, it was my lovely time-of-the-month, and I had no place to put the necessities so that they were not falling out of my purse every other second.

Remember the snack bag I made as a gift when I first started sewing? (If not, go look!) Well, I couldn't find the tutorial but I had a general idea of how I had done it so I took the lining fabric from my purse and got to work.

{Ta-da!}

I love her! I say her, because I doubt my tampon-holder would be male... random thought. So anyway, I L-O-V-E her! In fact, I may love my purse even more with her in it. It holds 4 and blends in nicely. You don't really notice it, but it gives a firm bottom to the purse. Maybe I'll start actually carrying them on me all the time and being prepared for once in my life - who knows!?

So that's my quick project for the week! I haven't been completely lazy though, I did make a skirt two nights ago (which is now my new favorite skirt), but it is in the washing machine at the moment. Post and pictures to come!

***Also, yes I know the picture is crooked. It's not on my computer. I've checked it 37-gazillion times. But every time I upload it *poof* This makes me sad! Any ideas?

Finally an Update!

2011-05-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

I *FINALLY* got that picture up of my shirt I made! Go see it here!

Every Purse Needs A Wallet

2011-05-14T17:45:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my first original project!!! Ok, making a wallet isn't exactly original, but this is my own design. For the first time in my sewing life, I did not follow a tutorial I found on-line. Feel free to praise me. Ok done? Thanks! Now read ahead to see how I put the ~~simple~~ magnificent wallet together!

I showed y'all a few days ago the new purse I made.

{Remember me?}

Can I mention again that I love it?! I really do! It's cute and fun and playful and so me! The only problem is that it is little and my wallet is, well, not. This has never been an issue for this huge-diaper-bag-toting momma, but cute-purse-carrying momma needs a new wallet.

I had some fusible interfacing leftover from making the placemat and some fabric leftover from making the purse. I had a few weeks sewing experience and a general idea of what a simple wallet might look like. And I had 30 minutes to kill, so what the hey!

I don't carry a lot with me, so I didn't need anything huge. I needed something small enough for the purse, but large enough to hold my zoo member card, my DL, my debit card, and my insurance card (in order of importance of course - yay zoo!). I also wanted to be able to hold a little bit of cash for when I don't feel like taking the entire envelope system shopping with me (Hi Dave!).

I spent a little time the other day mapping out what I would need to do. I made a sample out of paper so that I could work it out instead of trying to see it in my head. The paper was (of course) 8.5x11 inches, so that's what we're going to start with in fabric! See how I dumb things down for myself?

Supplies Needed:
9.5"x11" fabric
slightly smaller fusible interfacing (I had about an inch on each side, but this isn't necessary)
coordinating thread

The first thing I did was to iron on my fusible interfacing. Just place it in the center of your fabric, cover with a spare cloth (or fabric for your next project, whatever is lying around), and iron. I set the iron down for 10 seconds, lift up and repeat in a different spot until I have covered the whole piece. Then I iron it like normal on both sides. I'm not entirely sure this is "correct" but I can say that it works!

The next thing I did was to make my creases and press them in place. The whole wallet, when complete, will be 3" high.

After you get the basic shape pressed, top stitch across what will be become your pockets.

Now fold your wallet in on itself so that the pockets are on the inside and you see a solid piece of fabric. Run Stitch down the raw edges, with a 1/4" (ish) seam allowance.

Flip your wallet inside out and you now have the basic shape! Congratulations! Of course, I wouldn't put any money in the middle there... it might fall out the bottom!

The last step is to fold up the loose raw edge on the bottom. You want to fold this into the middle money pocket we created. Press in place. Now top stitch around the bottom and two sides and you're done! YAY!

I hope you enjoyed my first sewing tutorial! I apologize for the lack of pictures as I went through, but I was making it up as I went and didn't think to take any! If anyone decides to make a wallet using my tutorial, please let me know! Either leave me a comment or send me an e-mail at anestinthemaking {at} gmail {dot} com! I'd *LOVE* to see it!

Child's Out-To-Eat Placemat

2011-05-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone and happy hump day! I hope y'all are all having a great week!

This evening I finally finished off my second mother's day project! Mother's day in that I bought the fabric with mother's day gift money, not actually mother related at all... but I digress.

Introducing: My first creation for my son, a placemat for when we go out to eat!

I've been itching to make something for the little man for a while now and I'm excited with how well this came out. There were a lot of lessons on the way (did you know bias tape is smaller on one side than the other? You probably did, but I did not), but I am thrilled with the end result. I can't wait until Sunday when we go out to lunch after church so it can make its debut!

I used 2 fabrics from the Circus by L'Miss collection. The pocket fabric came from the remnants bin. The inspiration and tutorial came from Gwenny Penny. Thank you so much Gwen!

I love that it rolls up for easy transportation, and the adorable pocket for utensils!

I'm also thinking about making one for a friend of ours. We are planning to invite them to dinner, and I would like to make a placemat for their daughter!

***Linking up to:***

HoH
Delightful Order

I Made A Purse!

2011-05-10T12:53:00.006-05:00

The evolution of my blog stalking went something like this:

February 2010: Little man is born and I spend hours every day nursing him and reading about Susan's amazing journey from giving birth to running a marathon in 1 year. Her blog was recommended to me by a fellow runner on babyfit.com.

October 2010: I am introduced to the world of couponing. I find Hip 2 Save, The Grocery Game (not a blog, but a lifesaver for me), and possibly most importantly Thrifty Decor Chick. That was my jumping off point! For half a year I hopped around the world of decorating on a budget, meal planning, home organization, and crafting. I didn't have the means to do anything (thank you Dave Ramsey for giving me self control), and so I bookmarked. I have page upon page of projects that I would love to try! Some involved sewing, some paitning, some building, some crafting... but they were all things that spoke to me.

April 2011: I discover sewing blogs. Oh-em-gee! My love! Where have you been all my life?! I also borrowed my sewing machine from a friend this month.

May 2011: Oh wait, that's today.

So back in October, or near after, I came across Jaime's gem of a tutorial for her bias tape bag. I bookmarked it, along with everything else, and went on my way.

Flash forward to this past weekend! For mother's day, I received gift cards to spend at fabric stores and I was in heaven! This is my first time to have more than $5 to spend on fabric at any given time. A quick browse through my saved projects and I knew what I was making...

{Jaime's bag!}

A Beginner's Bias Tap Bag!

I can not recommend this tutorial enough. The purse it makes is great, and I have gotten so many compliments on it. It was easy enough for me to make, but challenging enough that I felt accomplished (that doesn't necessarily mean it was really challenging... hehe).

{My bag!}

Anyway, I knocked this out Sunday evening. It took a few hours, and I was able to take it to work Monday morning!

I wish I could tell you what fabrics I useds, but I only purchased 1/4 yards of each and when I looked, there's no fabric information on the sides. Both were purchased at Hancock's Fabrics.

I'm going to link this one up a few different places since I'm so darn proud of it! I hope y'all will all go visit Jaime and try out her great tutorial!

{Another of Jaime's bags!}

*LINKY LINKY*

Get Your Craft On

The Girl Creative

One Project At A Time

Pity Party

May 1-8: Clothes and Accessories!

2011-05-09T11:34:00.004-05:00

Completed This Week (May 1-8):

Bookmarks for mother's day gifts

purple shirt

yoga skirt

black shirt

purse <post is coming>

Mom Run 5k!

Painted Lamp {Does anyone know how to make a cute before-after pic using picnik.com?}

Current Projects:

Travel Placemat for the little one
- I've purchased my fabric, so I just need to get started.
* Circus by M’Liss Big Top Acts on Blue Cotton Fabric

* Circus by M'Liss Elephant Stripes on Cotton Fabric

Spring Top (tie-top tank) - The top itself is done, but it's held together with giftwrapping ribbon because it's all I had at the time. I need to get out and purchase some purple ribbon. I forgot to take the shirt with me when I hit the fabric stores yesterday, so I'll have to remember to take it along to color match.

Future Projects:

I'm not sure what's next for me. Obviously finishing up what I've been working on. Then I guess I'll hit the bookmarks or blog-browse until something else catches my fancy. One thing I'm a little tempted by is a runner for our kitchen table. The only caveats are that the table is a hot mess, it's covered in paper and boxes and what-have-you, and I've never had a decorated tablescape before. Still, I'm thinking I *could* do it. No fabric or color choices yet, but it's an idea.

Other Goals:

*Run more regularly! I was so close to placing in my age group (29 seconds) in this last 5k. I think there's no reason I couldn't speed it up! I want to run more consistently and really push myself.
*Cook all the veggies we got from the co-op this month. We got a ton of summer squash and zucchini and some bell pepper. I need to cook like crazy this week to keep it all from spoiling!

Mother's Day Recap!

2011-05-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend!

My weekend was an absolute blast! Saturday morning we got up early to go run the Mom Run 5k. I hadn't been feeling 100% (vertigo on Thursday and Friday) and so I didn't want to push myself too hard. I decided to push the little man in his stroller so that Derek could go for a good time.
The course itself was pretty boring. It was an out-and-back, but at least the road did curve. The worst part of the run was not the course itself, but a little interference by a construction crew. A little less than a mile in, there was a helecopter moving beams on a 4-5 story building right next to the course. When I got to it, it moved directly over the road. At this point I was running next to

another lady with a stroller. When we hit the wind coming off of the helecopter we both pretty much stopped. We were running as hard as we could, but we were not making any progress! You could tell how hard we were running, because when we hit

the edge of air stream, we both took off at a full sprint. I'm sure it was hilarious to see us go from 0-50 when we hit that point. We just looked at each other, laughed, and kept going. I did not run the whole course. It has been about a year since I pushed the stroller on a run, and on top of that I hadn't been feeling that great. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I ran 3 miles without having to stop. I did manage to run over half of it, and ran/walked the rest. I was pretty proud of myself. Even my walk was faster though! I knocked 5 minutes off of my time from last year! Derek won his age group though! Ok, there were only 2 of them, but still he won!

{Derek picking up his award for winning his age group!}

After the race we went out to visit my mom. She left for Florida Sunday morning, so we had our Mother's day festivities a little early. Her gift this year was a bookmark I made. She was pretty impressed, and I'm hoping it's not just because she's my mom!

This is the bookmark I made for her. My mom is a very vibrant, exciting person. I chose the orange flower because the color just reminded me of how bright she is all the time. The flower is done in leopard print because it's fun, just like my mom! And my *favorite* part is the button! It says "Grand Slam" on it! Ok, I did take it from one of Derek's shirts (I love that they always give you an extra), but my mom is the biggest baseball fan and I just found it so fitting!

Sunday morning I awoke to breakfast in bed. All 3 of us piled onto our small bed and ate french toast. Little dude thought this was HILARIOUS! He loves it when we have picnics. They gave me a sweet card (which my little man colored) and a special "allowance" to spend at "the fabric store of my choice."

After church we went to lunch with my in-laws. Derek's mom was excited to receive a bookmark from me as well! And she gave me a giftcard to Joanns! This is the bookmark I made for my mother-in-law. She is more traditional than my mom, and I liked the "cottage" look to this fabric. I can picture her curled up in an arm chair with a good book and this bookmark. It fits the vibe of the scene in my head (does that make me weird or artisitc?).

So after church we headed to the fabric stores. First we hit up Joann's. I got some bias tape for the purse I was making (I knew I wanted black), and a little sewing kit. It has pins, a pin cushion, a tape measure, and scissors (all of which I didn't have). It also came with some more needles and a thimble. The next stop was,

my personal favorite, Hancock's! It felt so weird to *not* be shopping the clearance rack! Don't get me wrong, I definitely looked, but they didn't have anything that jumped out at me. Since I was using gift money, I took the plunge and bought what I wanted! Pretty fabric for my purse {tutorial here} and for the travel place-mat {tutorial here} I'm making! I also got some fusible interfacing (and got to learn what it was), and some bias tape for the placemat.

When we got home sleepy face wouldn't nap, so we hung out and played in the living room all day. I did get to get my coupons clipped (so I can go shop at lunch on Monday) and my purse pattern cut out. After dinner I got to put together my purse!

All in all it was a great weekend! Very relaxing and fun! I hope everyone else had a magical weekend as well!

*The bookmarks I made used the tutorial here*

A Second Shirt and a Competition!

2011-05-06T19:33:00.008-05:00

Guess what I did today! I made another shirt! This time I used the loevely Tie Top Tank tutorial from Nancy at Belle Epoque! It turned out a little big on me, so I took some of the same ribbon I used for the top, and used it as a belt. I love how it turned out! It's super comfy and very light for spring!

I've been reading a lot about The Spring Top Sewalong (direct link in button below) over at Made By Rae. I just uploaded my picture so we'll see how it goes! I'm super excited about getting involved! I doubt I'll win, seeing as this is only the 2nd shirt I've ever made, but I am just happy to have something I think is worthy of being thrown in the mix! So let me take a second to selfishly endorse myself... VOTE FOR ME! Ok, now that's over with, I hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy Mother's Day!

***I'm linking up here:***

So exciting! - A Shirt Brag Post

2011-05-05T16:26:00.005-05:00

{hi!}

I wore my shirt to work today. I wore it tucked in to a skirt I rarely wear. And paired them with a new (to me) pair of kitten heels. The look is much more stylish than what I typically wear, mostly because the skirt is tucked in and sits at my belly button. I'm more of a safe, sit-on-the-hips kind of girl. But it's been fun to dress up today. I have gotten a lot of compliments. Most of them are on the skirt, but two people stopped me to say how great my outfit was in general. How exciting!? I rarely get complimented like that for what I wear, and to get compliments that encompass my entire outfit, including the shirt I made, is just amazing. I was so scared to put myself out there this morning. I didn't want to tell anyone I made the shirt. I was a little withdrawn and standoff-ish when I first got to work (I'm sure because I was uncomfortable). I was very guarded and scared. I'm an accountant. I'm not known as a creative person. But to put a creation of mine out there, and to have it accepted, and even praised... it's amazing.
I'm sorry for the post without a picture, but I'm playing "single mom" tonight while my dear husband works late, and I just won't be able to get a good shot. I will try to remember to recreate this outfit when my love is home to take the picture for me... maybe on Sunday... what better Mother's Day gift to myself than to wear a shirt I made for myself?!
~~Sounds like a plan!~~

***I want to take a second, once again, to thank Kelly for the amazing tutorial! And to thank all of the creative sewing blogs I've so recently come to love, for helping me build up the courage to try!***

I made a skirt!

2011-05-03T12:15:00.007-05:00

~~I know! I know! I still don't have the link for this tutorial... but~~ I MADE A SKIRT! The waistband is knit. It's a yoga-style and folds down. The skirt itself is a woven cotton fabric. I need to do some cleanup on it. The stitch I used to make the ruffle can be seen in some places. I also have not hemmed the bottom yet. But it was a very exciting way to kill time before the Mavericks game last night! Thank you so much Ashley of Make It and Love It for the great tutorials!

On a side note... I think all major sporting events should be done on central time. I couldn't stay up for the whole game last night because it started at 9:30pm, and I'm in Texas. I can't even imagine if I was on the East coast. 11:30pm start?! If we move all start times to a reasonable hour in central time, nobody will have games "too early" or "too late." It would also be convenient for me - which is probably the most important reason.

***I'll be linking up to a few parties and will list them below!***

April 24-30: Shirt, Tie, and a Pillow or Two

2011-05-03T10:12:00.003-05:00

Completed This Week (April 24-30):

tie for the little man

couch pillows <link to tutorial coming soon>

Current Projects:
black knit tank w/ ruffle flower
- finish sleeves
- even out neck line
- fix shoulders
- hand-wash
- wear to work and/or church

Future Projects:
tie-top tank
yoga skirt with knit waisteband
out-to-eat placemat for the little man
shirt with my pattern
- need to buy straight pins

Other Goals:
May 6th - Mom Run 5k

...but you can call me Kristi.

2011-05-03T10:07:00.003-05:00

There's a lump of metal that sits on the table in my office. It has spinny things, and pokey things, and pully things. It has Singer written on the side of it, and it is on loan from the girl in the next cubicle. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have a sewing machine.

It's probably been 4 weeks since I first borrowed the sewing machine. The first week it didn't work. The thread got jammed up by the bobbin (not the bobbin thread, the "main" thread). I had a friend who is quite the little seamstress come out and look at the problem. It took about a week for her to be able to come out, but it was well worth the wait. She walked in, glanced sideways at my little machine, and *POOF* it worked! Apparently it just needed a knowing gaze to tell it to quit jackin around. I wonder how many projects you have to do to earn the respect of your sewing machine? I mean, of course, if you don't have a Theresa to come over and put it in it's place.

My first big project was a set of curtains for the office. If you look here you'll see my pretty new office - and my ugly mess of cords under the desks. My husband picked out the fabric for this project on a trip to Hancock's. This is the first time he's ever "liked" a fabric, so while it wasn't in line with my original plan, I quickly changed paths and bought a few yards. I made simple panels, hemmed on each side, with the top folded over for a rod to go through. Of course I didn't have a rod, or really any way to hang it. Enter super-fantabulous IT-man husband. He had some cable stuff (technical term of course) which we threaded through my curtains and wrapped around the desk. It's sturdy enough that the curtain doesn't dip in the middle, but descreet enough that you're not thinking "oh my goodness! What has this girl done?!"

My next big project was to make a shirt for myself. I used this tutorial and it was such a breeze. See, I have a pattern, but I'm terrified to use it. I've gotten as far as cutting it out to the correct size, but to be hones I"m intimidated by it. So my solution was to go patternless! The tutorial was great. The only problem I ran in to was my own doing. My advice would be to try on the shirt you want to use as a pattern. What? That's obvious? Oh. So after finishing up my pretty new shirt I squeezed in to it and thought "why is this so tight?" I then squeezed in to my pattern shirt and thought "that's why!" It fits, it's just a bit snug going over the top.

Anyway, I'm not done with it. I still have to clean up the arm holes and the bottom. I chose to leave the edges raw because I think ~~it looks nice that way~~ I am nervous to hem anything. It actually looks pretty good, however I am incapable of cutting fabric without leaving a million jagged little edges, so I still need to clean those up.

The shirt, while cute, was a little plain for my taste (and Kelly's as well, she added a ruffle neck but I ~~didn't want to~~ was scared to try). So I made a ruffle, and turned it in to a flower. I see tons of tutorials for these out there, but they all require a) felt and b) a glue gun. I have neither. I started on the edge and just tacked every few inches together. It was floppy, and had to be arranged correctly on the shirt, however once I sewed it on it looks amazing! I'm not sure this shirt is machine washable any more, but it may never have been. I'm not 100% positive I backstitched at both ends of my seams. So to be safe, I will be hand washing this baby.

My other big project to date is the tie I made for my son. To me, this was the "no big deal" project. It didn't take long, and was pretty easy to do (re: straight lines). I didn't have any velcro, so I used a large safety pin instead. My little man wore this to a wedding Saturday and it was a hit! He got SO MANY complements there, and at lunch afterwards. In fact, he had so many compliments, I decided he would wear it to church yesterday. A huge thank you to Nicole at Wannabe Crafty!

I've made a few other projects I do not have pictures of <links coming soon>: snack bags and tissue holders mostly. The snack bag I liked a lot. It was for a gift to my son's day care teacher. I made a few homemade cookies - check out Sugarbelle for some great inspiration! She is amazing, and the reason I thought to attempt cookie decorating! - and packaged them in the re-usable baggie. I stuck a note inside explaining exactly what the bag was. She seemed excited, and I hope she enjoys it and puts it to use.

So what do I want this blog to become? I enjoy blogging. At the same time, I don't think I can keep up with the pace I had strarted for myself. I was "great" at blogging and "bad" at family, or vice versa... and you can see which won out. :) But that is important to me. As much as I think I would enjoy having a popular, stunning blog - it's more important to me to have my family life where I want it. Maybe one day, down the line, I'll be able to devote more time to blogging. The blog world is such an exciting place, and I would truely be honored to consider myself a part of it. But now is not the time.

I find myself rambling again, but to answer the question I have posed: I would like this blog to be a record of my accomplishments - mostly in sewing and crafting, but possibly in other things as well. I enjoy cooking, and I am starting to try new recipes and/or my own creative spin on recipes. I think it would be nice to document this so that I can see how far I've come. As I said, I've recently begun sewing, and I would like to use this as a place to list my projects. I think writing down my progress weekly will help me to stay on track and not lose interest. I think many of the reasons behind my "project add" are based in my forgetfulness. I want to do this! and this! and THIS! But I never do any of them. I may start a few, but I quickly lose interest. I'd like to keep a tab of what I accomplished this week, what I'm currently working on, and what I'd like to start in the near future.

The final thing I may do with my little piece of the web (I say "may" because I am most definitely NOT going to over-commit myself), is to link up to my favorite projects. Right now, I have a filing system on my computer for projects I'd like to try. I use notepads, copy/paste the direct link, and put a quick title "shirt for me," "baby gift - blanket," etc. I think .

So there we have it folks. The thoughts of an accountant-turned crafter-turned blogger-turned blog hermit/lurker-turned blogger again, but you can call me Kristi.

***I will have more pictures and the rest of the links soon. I just really wanted to get this posted while it's on my mind.***

***How could I forget my other major project! I made these pillows for the living room! The original pillows are a deep brown suede-ish material. They are pretty enough, but I need some color in my life! I used an envelope-back pillow tutorial <again, link coming soon> to make theses cases and I LOVE them!

I WON!!!!!!!!!!

2011-04-21T20:56:00.000-05:00

I just got an e-mail from Kathy over at Kathy and Kids and... I WON!!!!

Ok now that I'm breathing let me tell you what exactly I won:

AND a 1 in 10 chance to win:

So thank you so much Kathy! And fingers crossed everyone for the Sewing Box!!!!

3 in 30

2011-03-30T13:58:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine linked up to a 3 in 30 challenge on her blog. There was a link, and so, of course, I followed. This challenge really speaks to me at a time in my life when I am struggling with getting things done. There's so much to do in the house (every room has at least something unfinished), in the kitchen (I'm trying to eat more and healthier), in my spirit (I'm trying to pray more and read the bible) and in my life (I'm trying to exercise, be healthy, blog, and balance life in general). I get overwhelmed with my to-do lists so I make schedules. I get overwhelmed with my schedules, so I give up. Last night I sat on my booty and watched 2 hours of TV for lack of anything better to do.

I'm attempting to go from 0-60 in a day, and it's stressing me out. I need to pare down my to-do list into something managable. I need to do 3 things this month, and 3 things next month, and eventually I'll be doing it all (ha!).

So what to start with?

The being healthy kick is time-sensitive. I am participating in a facebook challenge as well as a company sponsored (so I can get a discount on insurance) challenge, both to lose weight in the next few months. This needs to be one of my top 3 because, well, if I get to it "eventually" I won't be able to complete my challenges! Of the millions of things I could do to be healthy, I think this month I am going to focus on eating balanced meals. I don't eat enough. I never really knew this until I started trying to track the "portions" I eat and make sure everything is balanced. If I cut out the crap (which doesn't really fit into a food group anyway), there's not too much left. I skip breakfast a lot. I skip lunch frequently. I always have dinner, but I rarely snack. Basically, not enough. Starting this past weekend I've been focusing on eating more often, more meals, and more better (can I even say that? lol!). I have lost 2 pounds since Monday. wow! Apparently my body was in starvation mode... and I had no clue. So this month, I just want to keep it up. I want to keep eating enough food. I'm not going to worry about going over (within reason obviously), I just want to get the food in my body. Then, maybe next month, I can start counting the calories and see if I've gone "above and beyond" on my eating more. haha!

The next big thing for me is my spiritual life. I want to read the bible. I want to pray and be closer to God. I just haven't been doing it. So item #2 for me will be to read the bible every evening before bed. I'm not giving myself a time or chapter minimum... just so long as I pick up the bible and read something... ANYTHING. Every day. From here, I will try to work more on my memory verses. I am currently memorizing Collosians 3. I know v1-12, but I've hit a stumbling block. Basically, I've stopped trying. *sigh* I don't want memory to be a fad for me. So I commit to continue reading (I'm in Genesis right now), and to not forget the Collosians 3:1-12. The next step will be to work on memorizing the rest. I may continue to work on it, but that will just be a bonus. My PRIORITY (isn't that such a key word?) is to make time to read. Isn't it so easy to get overwhelmed when you try to do good? I go from not reading, not praying, being a 1-hour-on-Sunday Christian to having a fire in my heart. I want to read, study, memorize, pray, minister, and so much more... but I need to learn that these things take time. If I am not willing or able to carve out hours out of my day on a moments notice, then I need to accept that these things will take time to work into my life. This is where I am now.

#3 is the hardest. There are a few things I would like to focus on. I would like to run regularly. I would like to work on The Shine Project (another fun new blog thing I just found). I would like to finish the unfinished projects in the house. I'd like to clean more regularly. I'd like to spend quality outside time with my family. I'd like to clean up the yard (or does this go into unfinished projects?). I'd like to take more pictures. I'd like to visit more with friends and family. I'd like to send cards "just because." I'd also like to work on my complaining and my attitude in general. Ugh! I guess that's more than one thing...

Running is something I enjoy doing. While I would like to, eventually, build to running every day, I am consistently running at least 3 times a week and I think that is good enough for now.

The Shine Project is just not a priority. I really like the idea... I might even blog about it... today! BUT this is not going to be one of the 3 things I do without fail. And if I try the Shine Project and don't have time, it's gone. This is definitely something I'd like to attempt eventually, but it doesn't make sense right now.

The projects in my house are a beast. This is something important for me, but it is something to do as a family. I hesitate to put something like this on a list of "must do" because it concerns my husband as well. I know that there are things I can do by myself, but it would not take long before I required my husbands help and/or had to spend money. I think it is best to leave this off the list... but again, something I should at least be working on in my free time.

Cleaning is a maybe. I mean, it needs to be done. I'd like to think I could just do it, but this may be a good canidate for my 3 in 30 challenge.

Outside time, pictures, cards... all of this stuff is more "fluff" to me. I think they're important, but when it comes to getting my life back in order, I think there are more important things to focus on first.
Complaining is the other big one.

How do I choose between cleaning more and complaining less? I think this month I will go with cleaning more just because it's much more measurable (everyone remember there SMART goals? lol!). I already at least touch the big stuff weekly (sweep, vacuum, dust, etc), but I would like to vacuum more often. I think a good goal for me would be to vacuum every time little dude takes a bath. I discussed it with big dude, and he agreed to do the baths to give me the time. It won't be every day, probably, although little dude wishes we would, but it will at least be a few times a week. Ok that's the plan!

So...

For the next 30 days (roughly the month of April) I will be working on...

1) Eating balanced meals every day
2) Reading the bible every day
3) Vacuuming/sweeping every time Braden takes a bath (on top of normal cleaning)

Also, I will be linking this up, however I'm a little ahead of the game. As they are wrapping up their current 30 days, I will wait until they begin again to link in.

Verse of the Week

2011-03-30T11:27:00.001-05:00

I like the command in this verse. We're being told that it's not enough to sit back and relax and enjoy our pending salvation. There is work to be done.

Weekend TO-Do Reviewed

2011-03-28T10:45:00.001-05:00

Here was the plan...

To-Do Thursday:
~~visit mom~~
meal plan
deep clean bathroom

To-Do Friday:
bank
bill pay/filing
grocery shopping
vaccum/dust/sweep/mop
run with Sharese in the evening

To-Do Saturday:
run first thing (before it gets too hot)
possible F-I-L visit/work in the morning
gallery night from 2pm-9pm
*if F-I-L doesn't come over I will clean the fridge

To-Do Sunday:
run 1 mile
church
lunch after church
couponing
visit mom

Not too shabby! I didn't run Sunday because I was horribly horribly hung over... ugh! But then that is typically the case when I have Sharese and Mike over. I didn't get to meal plan, but I'm not sure that's going to happen right now. See, I'm not good at 100% changes all at once. Right now my eating is getting a major overhaul on it's own (post to come). So I think that meal planning may have to wait until I get used to eating good food. haha! No excuses on the bathroom or the fridge though... I just haven't gotten to it yet.

How did your weekend go?

Making the Most of Your Internet Play Time

2011-03-24T15:00:00.000-05:00

Jade over at Super Organiser Mum has a great post today. She recently took a week off of the internet. She unplugged, and just enjoyed life without the world wide web. Today's post reflects on what she learned in that time. Now that she is using the internet again, she has decided to limit the time that she is online.

I'm going to share with y'all a list of 5 things she did to make the most of her online time. The first few have to do with e-mail, so here is a picture of the inbox I am starting with. Also, I did these in my own order as you'll see...

{Is that really 111 items in my inbox and 951 unread items!?!?}

#1 Completely empty everything (inbox, sent, etc) and reorganize
I started to delete things, but I soon realized that the first thing I needed to do was to
#2 unsubscribe to all of the crap I had coming in

These are all things that I unsubscribed from. I don't really know where these came from, and they aren't things I ever read. So why do I still get them?
Oprah
NoMoreRack
Omaha
1saleaday
read it forward
Ok Gone!

I went through my inbox and deleted everything that wasn't necesasry. There was a lot of crap to take care of before I could just hit delete. All of the links I had sent myself of future projects to try went into a notepad. Each recipe got it's own notepad to be printed later. I also had an Amazon Subscribe & Save I needed to un-subscribe to.

I created some folders which you can see marked in red in the picture below. I have it set up to show the inbox all the time. Any other category is shown only if there is something unread in it. I also used filters to move anything I subscribe to (newsletters, spark people, fly lady, etc) directly to the label and to skip the inbox. That way I know if there's anything new, but it's not right in my face distracting me. I can click on the
label when I have time to go through all the new messages.

You'll notice I haven't deleted EVERYTHING. I'm unable to save the videos to my computer (weird I know) at work. So I marked with a star everything I need to save to my home computer and plan to do that this evening. The other e-mails in there are things I am not finished working on. After the pictures you can
see that I'm planning a bachelorette party, I have my memory verse saved in there (so that I can easily
access it from home, work, the phone, etc.), and that I have a virtual pre-paid gift card to redeem...
don't get excited! There's only $1.27 left on it! *lol* There is also a reminder from a facebook group I
am in.

The majority of those will go away tonight when I can save the videos. The giftcard expires at the end of
the month, so if I can't think of anything I can buy online for $1.27 I will delete that when it expires (suggestions?).
The memory verse I'm still thinking about. It's convenient, but I don't know if I want it taking up the
space in my inbox. I think I'll see what it looks like once everything else is out, and then decide if I
will keep it there or not. The bachelorette party conversation will stay until August. But that's the only
one that will be there for any length of time.

#3 prioritize your internet time

I don't think this is a huge deal for me, but then again I don't think it would hurt. I am on the internet
for the following things:
couponing - mostly on Sundays
reading blogs - on lunch at work
writing my blogs - on lunch at work
playing Minecraft - occasionally in the evening with my hubby
facebooking - mostly on my phone
email - mostly on my phone
bill pay/budgeting - I try to do this every payday

The only things I think may be an issue is the facebook. My phone is addicting. I think I need to do as
Jade suggested and ask myself "is there anything else that needs to be done?" before I pick up my phone.
If the answer is yes, no facebook.

#4 pare down blog reading list

I just got in to blogging, so I don't know if I'm ready to do this. I have about 20 blogs I currently
read. Most of the time, I read these during the day at lunch at work. This doesn't really cut in to any
family/productive time.

#5 delete facebook friends

I've already been doing this some. I used to have over 1,000 friends (yes seriously), and now I have
gotten it down to 483. Woo hoo!

And here is the pretty after picture!

Ok, so I've gotten everything cleaned up as much as I can from here. I plan on clearing out the rest of
the pictures/movies this evening, and I'll just be left with important things that actually need to be
done! Yay!

Is your inbox/internet life in need of a little organizing?

Weekend To Do+

2011-03-24T09:45:00.001-05:00

Alright ladies, it's time to get those weekend to-do lists ready. As a working mom, I rely on my weekends to get caught up on what I just don't have time to do during the week. This includes cleaning, cooking, errands, etc. There are certain things I do every weekend, or every other weekend which helps keep me on track. The repeated things are going to the bank, filing, paying bills, and the basic cleaning. I also try to grocery shop on the same day every week (Friday, except for couponing which is done Sunday-Tuesday). So with that, let's get started!

ToDo:
Go see mom
bank
bill pay
filing
vacuum
dust
sweep
mop
run Friday evening
run Saturday morning
run Sunday morning (1 mile?)
church - 10am Sunday
lunch after church - after church Sunday
Gallery Night - 2pm-9pm Saturday
grocery shopping
meal plan
FIL may be coming over to replace door to garage & bring more baseboards - Saturday

Last week's list:
clean out the fridge
~~dress shopping for the wedding I'm in in September (more of a need than a want)~~paint master bathroom trim
deep clean guest bathroom (so little man can go in there)
~~family filing (I'm so far behind!)~~cook a good meal
swing by Michael's and finally use my gift card
cook that ground beef that's going to go bad if I don't cook it soon! gah!
organize the office (yea right!)

I took off any thing that I have to do every weekend (aka typical cleaning) completely. So I can add to the list:

clean out the fridge
paint master bathroom trim
deep clean guest bathroom (so little man can go in there)

Time to Prioritize!

Time Sensative:
#1 bank
#2 bill pay
#3 running
#4 gallery night
#5 grocery shopping (we lived off of $25 for the last two weeks so we need food!!!)
#6 church & lunch after
#7 F-I-L coming over (maybe?)
#8 meal plan

Ick Factor + Baby Safety:
#9 vacuum/dust/sweep/mop
#10 deep clean guest bathroom (so little man can go in there)

Ick Factor:
#11 clean out the fridge

Other:
#12 go see mom... although this is really priority #1

My husband is calling his dad to find out if he's coming over Saturday to work on the house. So that will make a big difference to my to-do list... hmm... waiting is hard...

Anyway, let's move on for now.

Things I can do tonight:
#8 meal plan
#10 deep clean bathroom
#12 go see mom

What I'm left with:
#1 bank
#2 bill pay
#3 running
#4 gallery night
#5 grocery shopping (we lived off of $25 for the last two weeks so we need food!!!)
#6 church & lunch after
#7 F-I-L coming over (maybe?)
#9 vacuum/dust/sweep/mop
#11 clean out the fridge

Ok so finally, the entire point of this post:

To-Do Thursday:
visit mom
meal plan
deep clean bathroom

To-Do Friday:
bank
bill pay/filing
grocery shopping
vaccum/dust/sweep/mop
run with Sharese in the evening

To-Do Saturday:
run first thing (before it gets too hot)
possible F-I-L visit/work in the morning*
gallery night from 2pm-9pm
*if F-I-L doesn't come over I will clean the fridge

To-Do Sunday:
run 1 mile
church
lunch after church
couponing
visit mom

Phew! That's a lot! We'll see how it goes... stay tuned for an update Monday!