ON{the laundry}LINE

If I Have A Boy

2012-02-22T20:12:00.001-08:00

I’ll hopefully be finding out whether we’re expecting a pink or blue bundle at my 20 week ultrasound next month. Boy, that came up fast! We’re pondering the idea of a boy because a) obviously, it could go either way, and b) the heartbeat came up at 145, and both my girls maintained a steady 165.

A friend of mine jokingly asked me what I would do with a boy, since I couldn’t make him tutus or headbands or hairclips. I proposed that I could dress him up like an english gentleman until he’s old enough to hate me for it. Later, I was thinking I could make him some quilts. Here’s a roundup of some other things I could do if I have a boy!

First things first, this quilt pattern comes to live with me and I make the coolest baby quilt ever. EVERRRRRRR. Allegedly it’s not even that difficult but my brain is dazzled and I assume if it is actually something I’m capable of, everyone else will be dazzled too. Especially the baby, who will write me a thankyou card as soon as he learns to write.

Baby boys need clothes, too, and this reversible vest strikes me as the perfect way to hide at least two food incidents before running out of clean.

Reversible cuffed pants? Girls and boys alike look cute in cuffed pants, and reversible is just french for magical as far as children are concerned. I need to make Olivia a reversible shirt for when we go to Costco and she rubs samples all over herself.

A comfy version of the gentlemanly look, I think yes.

Indulge my vulgar side.

Obviously.

Button up shirt converted to a onesie? I think yes.

And that’s barely skimming the barrel! Let’s not forget every single rad boy tutorial over at I Am Momma, Hear Me Roar, for after the baby child grows. Plus I will knit him many a tweedy sweater.

Now, as to what I would do WITH a boy child? Hmmm… I don’t know. Rescue him from his sisters mostly, I imagine. Time will tell!

(girl or boy… what a joy!)

Sour Soother Valentine

2012-02-13T08:40:00.001-08:00

I thought I’d share the cute little Valentines we made for Nicole’s preschool class, and the printable we created for them. Kind of last minute, but if you want to use them you still have time!

I thought I had cardstock but I was wrong, so we wound up just printing these on regular printer paper. The front is a pale pink heart (made of many hearts) with the words It’s hard to be SOUR around you, Valentine! and the back features a funny little kissy face and plenty of space to write who the Valentine is for and who it’s from, and we also added a foamy sticker to each one. The heart and kissy face were both graphics that come loaded in Adobe Elements 10.

We took Jumbo-sized sour soother candies that we picked up at Costco and put one (but could have easily fit two) in a 6 x 3.75 treat bag. If you’re worried about the elements, the top of the bag can be sealed off with a curling iron, but we’re giving them out today so we just cut out the four Valentine’s from each page, folded in the center, and then after filling in the back, stapled them onto the bags.

You can click on the above graphic to get the full-sized sheet. When printing, be sure to deselect ‘fit picture to frame’ or whatever similar option changes the sizing of the graphic to fit the paper, this should fit your typical printer paper without adjustment and will be way easier to cut that way. (I got my hubby to print it off for me and forgot to mention that, and it’s possible but way more fidgety and your Valentine’s will be inconsistent sizes)

Oh hi

2012-02-06T16:35:00.001-08:00

Nicole got some sticker earrings, play rings, and lip gloss for Christmas. She coated her face in two of those three things one day. I told her she was fancy and took a picture.

It’s really hard to properly convey the amount of lipgloss that was all over her face, but suffice it to say she was quite shiny. (She sure does look tired, I know. It’s a trendy thing around here. More on that later.)

As for me, I know, I dropped off the face of the earth for just over a week. I’m alive. I had a root canal, got puffy and sulky, did a bunch of house work, had company, got tired and sulky, knitted things, cleaned and housework and all that in repetition… you get the picture.

I’m going to give you some stellar advice now, so heed and harken. If you require a root canal, do not schedule it first thing in the morning. I figured I would get it over and done with. It went something like this.

Oh, this isn’t so bad. Freezing helps. Somewhat uncomfortable still, but whatever.

Okay, I’m done. I feel spiffy, I think I’ll pick up a few groceries on the way home. I’m a hero.

Okay, I got a root canal and I don’t get the big deal. I’m going to blindly dither around for the next two hours, completely and blissfully unaware of the pain that’s coming my way when that local anaesthetic wears off. (Please note that spellcheck is not required for me to spell anaesthetic. Applause.)

Okay, so this is starting to hurt. Maybe there’s something to the root canal phobia that gets generated, after all.

Waaah, my face hurts with the hurts of a million hurts and all my teeth feel like they also had root canals because I don’t know, sympathy pains or they are all letting out a rebel yell at the death of their noble comrade.

The rest is less interesting, mostly just me in the fetal position for a few hours, and then dosing on Tylenol and pulling it together to make spaghetti noodles and sauce for supper. (I have a pasta maker. So now I don’t buy noodles. I like to make things more complicated, if I can.) If you got through all that, the moral is, get a root canal at the END of the day so you can go straight to bed afterwards.

That aside, this week’s big project is a big old room swaparoo. For a while now we’ve been facing the grim reality of the fact that while our girls love sharing a room, it’s a bit of a nightmare.

Olivia wakes up crying at 3am, Nicole the light sleeper also wakes up. Tired Nicole.

Tired Nicole is also Naughty Nicole. Naughty Nicole throws a fit at bedtime after they’re both tucked in, because she knows that if she yells I will be quite ticked off because then Olivia will wake up and/or not fall asleep. Tired Olivia. Frustrated Mommy.

Tired Olivia goes to bed ridiculously early the next day, leading to her waking up ridiculously early and waking up Nicole. Tired Nicole. Tired Mommy. Frustrated Tired Mommy.

Cycle of DOOM!

So, Chris’ office is 90% moved into my craft room, which temporarily renders it unusable, but I’m going to make it work so we can share the space. We just both have to work hard to keep it clean. It’s going to be a rough ride but guess what? I’ll have so much more sleep and less frustration – THEORETICALLY – that I will be able to take on anything.*

So then we will be finishing the flooring and closet in that room, repainting it a neutral color just in case we decide to move this summer, and moving Nicole in. By week’s end, hopefully.

*I am fully willing to acknowledge that I may or may not be a pregnant hormonal mess who cries about anything and more sleep won’t likely adjust that much because I did get a decent sleep Saturday night but that didn’t stop me from tearing up when the minister prayed for the expectant mothers in the congregation and how they get tired and I was like YEAH I GET TIRED and teared up and then got all annoyed that I tear up over everything… and then got so annoyed over tearing up over everything that I teared up over tearing up over everything. But I got it together before the prayer was over so that’s our little secret. Just you, me, and the internet.

P52 2012 - Mallory Cowl

2012-01-26T12:48:00.001-08:00

Today’s project 52 photo is of me, not by me. I figure I need to get in there every so often, though.

My husband fancies himself a bit of a photographer. I’m here to go on the record… that I agree and disagree. He can find focus on my manual focus lens pretty darn well, considering he rarely uses it. But a portrait photographer he is not. A less flattering set of photos I have never seen. Here we have the best and second best of the set.

Best – angle is still a bit unflattering for my head shape, but at least I’m smiling (at my girls who watched through the doorway.) When I saw these photos I went and checked for Double Chin, because I am known to get one if I’ve been slacking off and I have definitely been dipping into the poutine a bit lately. But my fears were fairly unfounded, things are not perfect and it’s time to start using the second trimester workout video that came in the mail today, but it’s not half as bad as the angle on these photos led me to believe. This is, however, one of the best of the lot.

Second best. Yes, this really was the second best out of about 20 photos. I was talking. I was asking if it looked better when I was smiling or not smiling, and if I should be looking at the camera or not. He was wearing a tshirt because he hadn’t bothered to put his jacket on and just wanted to get back inside.

How unprofessional. It’s like he doesn’t even take me seriously when I say, “Come take a picture of me in this cowl I knitted.”

I’ve already gushed on and on about the Mallory pattern. I used a knitca.com wool yarn and Shannon from luvinthemommyhood.com’s pattern. It’s perfect for Winnipeg where that little v neck on your peacoat is ever so stylish but terribly impractical. It’s doubled up, and if it’s –40 and the wind is howling I can do the one wrap around my neck and the other around my face. The wool isn’t like wearing silk, but it’s not too itchy either. I can wear it comfortably and will even likely knit up a matching hat.

I’m a knitting machine!

2012-01-25T17:56:00.001-08:00

I can only assume that, like some sort of disease, knitting is contagious. I used to do knitting, when Nicole was just born. I jumped into it with both feet, starting off with a baby sweater. Things went swimmingly (despite my fear of cables) until I tried to knit a beautiful brown sweater for myself in a bamboo yarn. It took me a year of picking up and putting down (because I’d pause for a few months here and there) because it was a really fine gauge yarn. When I finally finished, the sweater was drapey, lovely, yummy looking. And absolutely positively did not suit my figure, at all. I was traumatized. I’ve barely picked up my needles since.

Then I repinned this little vest pattern, and a friend commented that she’d knit it and it was a quick, simple, lovely knit. Feeling bold, I knit it up for Olivia. Having made it too small, I made it again. This time it was a bit roomy but perfect, in my opinion. I had deliberately made it a bit long so it would last a long time. And then Nicole stole it and claimed it as her own, and because she’s kind of a twig, and the vest was made a bit roomy and long, it actually fit her. I did enjoy myself, and noted that knitting is quite good for watching Shows. But it was supposed to be a one-time deal.

More recently, Shannon finished her Adult Mallory Cowl pattern. “Well, that looks pretty simple.” I thought to myself. “I bet I could find my big-girl pants and make that.” Then I filed it away in my brain / Pinterest forever. OR DID I? No, the stars aligned. I won the ability to choose a WagJag deal from www.bargainmoose.com and the only thing that interested me was a $60 credit to www.knitca.com … soon after, there was yarn on its way. Lots and lots of yarn. “I can just crochet with the rest of it when I’m done the Mallory,” I thought to myself.

some of my lovelies; the first is already my cowl

But no. I finished the Mallory up lickity-split. (stars have not aligned for that photo yet. I even put on makeup yesterday, and straightened my hair today. But no, not yet. On the bright side I look 57% better than normal lately.) And something was lit up inside of me. Something about those rows of little v’s… they called to me. My first love is still crochet, and I do have this pattern started, but then Olivia and my couch conspired together to have the hook go missing. I need to start buying doubles of my hooks, because is it just me, or do hooks go missing 600% more often than knitting needles? They fall out of your work so much easier. (although I’d cry if my kids pulled my needles out of my work. I’m pregnant, I can cry over whatever I want to cry over.)

So now until I have either found the missing hook or bought a new one, I’m starting up on this pattern. Both sweaters are for Nicole, but seriously, I know for sure that provided she doesn’t mutilate it, items knitted for her can be passed down to the next little girl. We may be betting on team pink, but I’ll still reach for the size four pattern first. Not to mention if I make something for Olivia she’s like “Oh clothes, can I rip them off easily to be free and naked? No? Then it’s not exciting.” Whereas for Nicole she’s so excited she’ll steal things from Olivia and stretch them to fit.

And if you’re wondering, pink. It’s all pink. I have some grey yarn and good intentions but the public cries out for pink. And the public includes daddy, of course. (the first pink yarn pictured is for this one, the second is for the flower bolero.)

Kicking Pillows

2012-01-23T06:56:00.001-08:00

I’ve been on a bit of a pillow kick lately. I bought some sweaters a while back to turn into pillows for my livingroom and finally got around to it the other day. I have to shrink up the front pillowcase a bit, it’s a bit wide. The one behind turned out a bit sad and misshapen so it’s hiding back there for a reason, but it’s perfect to shove behind my back. The nicer pillow was kind of an ugly sweater, I think. Covered in pearl and rhinestone buttons, including the sleeves, it was… a lot. I paid around $2 and cackled all the way home, then asked Chris if he liked my pretty new sweater. I was expecting awkward silence but I like to take home ugly things and pretend I love them and then laugh and explain what I’m doing with them, so he had picked up on the pattern and was on to me. Whatevs.

When I did the second pillow I had learned from my mistakes a little bit, and decided I would make my pillow open-and-closeable. Next time again, I’ll do this a bit better; After I’d already cut out my pillow shapes, I decided to use the bottom hem of the sweater as my button plackets. So I had to piece it together a bit, but next time I would just cut off the bottom hem first and have the front and back pieces as two perfectly good placket pieces. This sweater had an actual hem instead of ribbing so it worked out quite perfectly. Add in some fabric-covered buttons and you have a happy pillow. Nicole tried to steal this sparkly princessy pillow and refused to give it back, until bedtime when she realized that sparkly gem-covered pillows aren’t great for putting your face on.

Pillow forms are about $5 a pop at walstoremartplace. So for the pretty pillow, which (mildly imperfect placket ignored) would have cost about $30+ and not been washable, I spent about $7.

And for the record, I used white thread and a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine. Yes, my serger is perfect for this kind of project, but it had pink thread in it, which would have shown through. (ask how I know. Pillow number one, that’s how.) I have another project in mind which calls for that pink thread so I didn’t feel like rethreading it when a zig zag works perfectly fine and I knew this pillow had a life expectancy of about a year. (I have kids and a dog. The dog likes to sleep on it like a big priss, and the kids like to throw it on the floor for her because it looks funny.) After the pillow is permanently stained and half the buttons are gone, I can take the pillow form and make a new pillow!

Tomorrow I’ll share an even cooler pillow project that will come with a bit of a how-to. I’m trying to decide if I should go for a full-blown tutorial, since I’m pretty sure I made it up, but I have to do a quick search first to confirm that. If I do do a full tutorial I won’t reveal the project until I do.

I’ve been very on-topic and that’s almost disturbing, so I’ll random it up a bit with a little tale I just remembered. I like to self-diagnose on google and WebMD and a few months ago I was feeling completely exhausted and under the weather. I had some cramping as well. I plugged all my symptoms into Web MD and I was informed that I was experiencing terrible PMS, or pregnant.

“Stupid WebMD. Wrong on both counts.”

Lol nope.

Friday Favourites

2012-01-20T17:46:00.001-08:00

Does anyone feel crazy over how I spell that? If I recall, the American way is favorites. We Canadians do love to sneak u in wherever we can. Interpret that as you will.

If this isn’t the prettiest cookie I’ve seen all year, I don’t know what is. I kind of want to make them for Shannon’s knitalong and feign total innocence over my loose interpretation of knitted mittens. Except I think actual mittens would probably be easier.

Speaking of Shannon, she released her Mallory Cowl adult pattern this week! I have yarn on the way for this. Ironically, by the time the yarn arrives our butt-numbingly cold spell will have ended and we’ll be experiencing normal weather again. For now.

This needs no explaining. Where I found it on Pinterest, the linkback brings you to Facebook, but obviously this is brought to you by the cynical minds at www.someecards.com

I made this French Onion Soup last week. And then I ate it. And then when I could find it in me to fit more food in my body, I ate it again. And then I ate it again the next day. Because this is quite serious and generous when it says it serves six, and Nicole isn’t a soup person, and mainly because it’s amazing. I used Canadian Rye Bread (it’s a different creature. When we ordered rye bread in North Dakota, the waitress took one look at our bewildered faces and kindly said, “You’re Canadians, aren’t you…?”) and chedder cheese on it because it’s what was in my kitchen, and it was magical. This recipe calls for red wine, and it gives it a nice richness that just… yumm. I want to make it tomorrow.

Oh, how sweet, how fresh, how darling. This simple little leaves headband just makes me think of warm weather and fresh air. I love it.

Googiemama’s 4-bunk bed is only the beginning of as far as this lovely bedroom is concerned. Not only do each of the beds have their own light and privacy curtain, there’s hidden storage. There’s space to play. There’s a striped ceiling. There’s dresser space for four girls, and sparkly light fixtures, and some of my favourite colors. Go look, it will make you feel like a slacker if you painted your kids walls and called it a day last time you redecorated. (guilty.)

I think I have some more rad things I found this week but my monsterface baby is sitting beside me – she is supposed to be in bed, to start off with – and she’s pulling my hair, right in the back where it hurts. If I go “OW!” and scold her she laughs this out-of-breath-I’m-laughing-so-hard laugh. This baby does not take me seriously, at all. My mom-voice has been known to cause grown men to stop dead in their tracks. Stuff of legends here, folks.

But Olivia? Olivia laughs her bum off at me.

I never thought I’d be a mom who would ask her husband to give her kids trouble for her. But there are times when Chris walks in the room and I turn and desperately ask him to give her trouble for something, like pushing the glass top off the coffeetable or standing on the dining room table. If he sounds mildly displeased, she bursts into tears. I’ve tried all range of emotions, facial expressions, etc. and I am just a clown as far as she’s concerned. A sitcom character. I sincerely hope she outgrows this.

a monster, the likes of which the world has never known

And to conclude on yet another unrelated note, I’m in my second trimester now! Exciting. I celebrated by feeling the constant desire to put food in my belly lest I feel unwell. I need to stock up on celery or something…

P52 2012 - miles of smiles

2012-01-19T18:46:00.001-08:00

Olivia greets me cheerfully while people-watching in the front window

This picture could definitely be sharper in focus, I’ve been coming to realize that my auto focus doesn’t actually necessarily do a better job than when I manually focus with my favourite lens. Kind of a bummer, actually, but at the same time a good thing; on both parts, because that means I don’t actually need a new lens, it won’t likely actually help me out that much. I could maybe use a new camera body so I can bump my ISOs without killing with noise, but boohoo cry me a river because that is not on the menu. Mama needs new shoes. Or rather, new places for shoes. More square footage. By reno or moving van, this just under 1000 square foot home is at maximum capacity with 3 adults, two children, a dog, a business, and a ridiculous amount of hobbies betwixt them all. Sometime in the next year, something needs tweaking. Time will tell!

Speaking of what time will tell, I heard Baby V3’s heartbeat yesterday! Always such an awesome thing. I hope I’m not alone in sort of suspecting that I’m not actually pregnant despite all signs to the contrary until that little galloping sound. Baby V3 had a heartbeat over 160, so we are placing our wager in the Team Pink category just for fun, old wives tales, and the fact that this is the third fast heartbeat in a row. But once again… time will tell!

Nicole’s Skirt Project

2012-01-18T08:09:00.001-08:00

First off, a quick follow-up to Monday’s post. Little Hailey’s heart surgery was successful with very few complications. She did better than expected, swelling is not bad, and she is busy healing up. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with her family, we are glad that the waiting can be with a lighter heart now, and hope that soon they can be back home! (If you’re curious, her dad is my cousin.)

Now, onto the project I did with Nicole! Thursday’s post left you with an image of Nicole heart at work (haaa) cutting away at her skirt project.

Before I give it away, here’s a few more images, see if you can guess what kind of skirt she was making!

Does that line give it away a little bit??

Teehee, I’m sorry, when those pants slipped down I couldn’t resist. Hard at work! There was so much focus, it made my day. Here’s the skirt we were working on… the circle skirt tutorial by Dana at MADE!

After I’d sat down with a coffee and some sailor-talk to figure out the maths (anticlimactically, the maths were stupidly easy, so I had to browse Pinterest for a few minutes to finish my coffee) and let Nicole choose a fabric out of my stash, the whole procedure took about an hour. Ten minutes of that, at least, were spent rethreading my serger with pink thread, and then re-rethreading it after I’d tried to take a shortcut and learned a valuable lesson that sergers don’t take shit from nobody.

The fabric Nicole chose is from Ikea, my mother in law (aka Nana) brought it and a few others down the last time she was visiting. She watches the as-is section for me. (our Ikea is supposed to open this year! Right around the same time I have a baby, I hear! Do they have prime parking for people with babies??)

So, I’ll break down Nicole Did and Laura Did.

Laura did the maths. Nicole chose the fabric and the length of skirt she wanted. Laura drew on the fabric with the magic fabric marker. Nicole cut the skirt out and chose the color of thread for the serger. Laura rethreaded the serger lovingly, serged the raw edges of skirt + waist elastic, and sewed waistband elastic into a circle and pinned it like mad. Then Nicole + Laura sat together and slowly sewed the skirt to the waistband with a zigzag stitch. Then Nicole wore the skirt and gave joint credit to both of us for making it. (which is funny, because she spent more time on it than I did, and if she tosses sprinkles on or chocolate in to a batch of cookies she claims full credit.)

It’s a big old full spinny skirt. I’m actually surprised she wanted it so long, she would have gone floor length if I had let her. I went and did a more practical tea length so she wouldn’t land on her face all the time. Once summertime hits, I’m going to invest in a rainbow of tanktops so she can wear this skirt and others like it with joy and happiness and leggings-turned-int0-modesty-shorts-because-she-ripped-all-the-knees.

She was so excited about her skirt that it was impossible to catch a good picture of her. “Well, what of outside?” you ask. I missed my window of Uncommonly Decent Weather and it is –40 (C and F match at 40, kids) with windchill today, so, yeah. No outside shots. (“Wait, what?” ask those of you who weren’t here last year. “Winnipeg.” I say, and we both nod sagely.)

But here is a shot of the skirt folded up a bit. The waistband is literally just a thick white elastic. I could have dyed it if I wasn’t doing a quick project that I didn’t want to turn into a non-quick project. I really recommend Dana’s Tutorial. I’m thinking about making one for me, with that elastic it would likely work great as a maternity skirt this spring. I bet you could whip up an entire family’s worth of skirts in an afternoon, it really is that easy, especially if you serge the bottom hem.

Prayers

2012-01-16T17:29:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, I know I had teased about posting about the sewing project Nicole and I did the other day and said it would go up today.

However, I’m not feeling the blogging today; today my cousin’s little baby girl, Hailey, in in surgery. As I type this, the surgeon is operating on her tiny little heart. It’s been a long hard road of ups and downs for her and her family since she’s been born, and the goal along the road has been to get her healthy and strong for this surgery. She was flown in to Vancouver last week after the local doctors had determined that there was nothing more they could do for her here and it was time to head there for her surgery.

Say a little prayer for her and her family (mom, dad, and big brother) today, if you well. So far everything is going well, and there are so, so many prayers going up today that this surgery will go great and that she can be on track for a ‘normal’ life… no more tubes, IVs, or hospitals.

____

So I thought I posted this when I wrote it, but I didn’t; so I’ll give you the update. The surgery is complete, things went well with very little by the way of complications. If all goes well in the healing process, hopefully the family will be headed home in no time!

Friday Favourites

2012-01-13T09:36:00.001-08:00

I think you should all know that the song in my head right now is The Little Peoples rendition of “Music is to dance to, if you like to dance, me I like to dance each time I have a chance… like a ballerina or a hip hop diva…” actually, now that I think about it, I suspect that is a Little Peoples original. Anyways, now that you have that critical information in your minds, lets move forward.

I know I shared a link with you in the Christmas Dress post to a peasant top tutorial that spans many sizes, but that involves creating your own pattern. If using a pattern is more in your comfort zone, this sweet little 0-3 m Peasant Dress pattern will be right up your alley,and a darling baby gift.

Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Depending on how recently I’ve birthed a child and the amount of energy that tends to be directly proportional to the activity of said child, in the opposite direction. This year, Olivia is climbing on tables and continuing to defy death on the regular, so maybe not… but then again, this chain of hearts is so charming, I might just shove her in the pack’n’play and go to town. (I have no idea what the original site says, at all. For all I know it’s a string of chinese cuss symbols. In which case, my bad.)

I am all about charming today, I guess. Doesn’t this just make you smile? It just makes me smile. This is another foreign site, I have no idea what those Brits are saying, either. Juuuuust kidding. This link is a via but credit where credit is due… from the link you can find the etsy shop of the crafty lady who makes these little charmers. Sigh. I’ll take the sewing machine sewing kit and the red/turquoise bunting makeup bag, plus the embroidery hoop art of course…

More bunting! I am the last person to jump on the bunting bandwagon… that or I just needed the buntings to get really, really tiny. I do love tiny things. And ruffles! Guys, this cake (link is to a roundup of cakes) wouldn’t even be that hard. A medium consistency buttercream icing in pure white to do the ruffles from the bottom up, after icing and smoothing both cakes… the same tip to do the white ‘ribbon’ line around the bottom of the upper tier… and then dowels. The bunting looks to be bakers twine hand stitched through bunting.

Oh, you guys. You know Katy Dill always has a winner up her sleeve, and this sleeve is no exception. Even better, this is actually a tutorial for a cute little cross-over bodice shirt. For some reason it took me until the last pictures to realize this shirt was for one of her baby Dills (I know, that picture is kind of a giveaway, but I only noticed the sleeve. I’m a little excitable, you’d be surprised to hear.) and I got quite excited about the thought to make it into a maternity shirt. And you know what? I still may. A crossover top, cute little ruched sleeves, and then just toss some extra room into the front of the empire-waist top with either gathers or pleats… I like it. Probably gathers to go with the sleeves. I have a nice, flowy black and white knit large-print floral. Say that ten times fast. Anyways, hey ho lets go. Maybe next weeks project? And I know, not all of you sew and those of you that don’t are probably all like SUUUUUUURE dear, whatever you say. Sorry. Here’s food again:

This is The Pioneer Woman’s Beef Stew with Beer and Paprika. No, wait, let me finish before you stampede over there. I haven’t made this yet, I bought all the ingredients I knew I didn’t have onhand and I marked it on the calendar to make yesterday and got terribly excited. I didn’t buy beef because I have a large portion of a cow in my chest freezer, and I didn’t buy beer because I requested a manfolk (there are two here) do that. When I went to go grab the beef to defrost, I realized that basically all I have left are Tbone steaks and ground beef. Not helpful. I also did not have beer. I could have just picked up beer, but I didn’t want to make two stops when I had thought I’d have a stay-at-home day. I explained to my hubby that I didn’t have beer or beef, and Stew With And Paprika sounded much less appetizing. So we ordered pizza. The end. Now I hope to make it this weekend. Wish me luck, and have a great weekend!

What’s your favourite recipe? What do you like better… tiny things, or oversized things?

P52 2012 - Hard At Work

2012-01-12T19:00:00.001-08:00

This week I had a project in mind for Nicole and I. She’s always asking me to sew for her lately, ever since I made her the Christmas dress. I’m quite pleased, don’t get me wrong, but it occurred to me to sew something WITH her. When I told her she was going to sew a skirt, she asked for the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love (amazon.com referral link) with excitement. I handed over the book, but gently told her that while she could definitely look for inspiration, for her first sewing project we were going to go for something a little simpler. And I’ll share more about that on Monday’s crafty post!

Look at me all following a pattern. Crafty on Monday, free days Tuesday and Wednesday, P52 on Thursday, and Friday Favourites on Saturday. Kidding. Anyways, we’ll see how long it lasts, but I’m happy with the structure so far… a little planning and structure around here has been a long time coming!

If you’re a blogger, do you follow a schedule, or go with the flow? And either way, do you think I’m crazy for wanting to ease into sewing with my 4 year old? She’s not into Zhu Zhu Pets or Barbies – although she loves LaLaLoopsy mini figures – but crafting is where her heart lies. Do you craft with your kids? Or do you leave crafts for school?

Yes, Ryan Gosling. Yes you may.

2012-01-11T15:34:00.001-08:00

Yes you may give me a hand massage.

I know, everyone and their dog has been reposting these handmaderyangosling memes. I just can’t resist this one, it’s my favourite.

Reason one: Of course Ryan Gosling can give me a hand massage. That’s a given. If Ryan Reynolds would treat me to a nice lunch and then go fabric shopping with me and hold all the bolts, then my day would be pretty much complete.

Reason two: Egads, after 6 hours of crocheting – which I have definitely done, more than once – ‘a hand massage’ is the best three words you could possibly say. Unless you’re saying, “I bet you could sure use a hand massage.” and then walking away, in which case, you’re probably evil and possibly my husband.

Reason three: I always love a hand massage. Last weekend my hubby randomly surprised my girlfriend and I with a spa trip for a massage and pedicure (things like this totally null out his Dark Side, which was noted in reason 2), and I always forget until the middle of the massage that when they say ‘any areas in particular’ I should say ‘80% hand massage please and thankyou’ because quite honestly, that’s my favourite. Possibly quite a waste of a massage, but yes. Hand massage. Yesssssss.

In the Bedroom

2012-01-10T12:54:00.001-08:00

So, I have never ever ever in my long-legged life met a long-legged sailor with a long-legged wife. Among other things I haven’t experienced, I also have never wound up properly decorating my master bedroom, not since I moved out of my parents home.

definitely not my bedroom; found via pinterest, but the source link is just a jpeg, let me know if you know who to credit

In our apartment, my roommate decorated our room with a classic Spongebob Squarepants motif. (Her tastes have changed since then and her current master bedroom is, in my opinion, enviable.) Since then, I’ve made somewhat of an effort from time to time, but it’s always wound up at the bottom of the list. However, soon we are going to be painting the room and redoing the flooring, and then it is game on.

Currently, I have a closet organizer, which is yay. I have two bulky bedside tables that are too short for our bed (we have a pillowtop mattress) and too big for the smallish space. I have a mismatched dresser and mirror, which need to go. I am happy with our pretty new bedding, which is light blue sheets with a chocolate brown oversized comforter and pillows in both shades, all subtly striped with matte and sheen. Our bed itself, however, rests on the metal bed thing with wheels they throw in for free sometimes when you buy mattresses. So no actual bed in per se.

Basically, clean slate.

So far, what I’m looking at is grey for the walls. I have a large can of light grey, and a small can of a darker grey I’d like to use for an accent wall, perhaps something like below. Aaaand that’s about it.

I have some projects I definitely plan on doing. Curtains, for one. Another is a diy upholstered headboard, something like the below picture/tutorial, but with a less enthusiastic arch.

For the color palette, I’m really loving the one below, it incorporates the colors that I am loving and the things that I do have on hand very nicely. It wouldn’t be hard to push that last color over to a chocolate brown.

So, what I am wondering is, does anyone know a line of fabric that I should take a look at that to make said curtains and headboard? I want something classic, in these colors (the first blue on the left above is basically the color of my sheets, the grey is pretty much the wall color) and not too overly feminine. (that’s a lie. feminine away.)

And also, where do I buy tall, skinny, curvy bedside tables to love and cherish forever and ever that don’t cost a gazillion dollars? Everything I’m finding is too darn short.

Re-New Recieving Blanket - Sharp Crochet Hook

2012-01-09T12:02:00.001-08:00

So Santa (aka the mailman) brought me a Sharp Crochet Hook for Christmas. Let me say, as soon as I saw the idea, I was smitten. I pinned it immediately, and then when Santa (aka Google Chrome) asked me what I wanted for Christmas, this inexpensive little hook was in the mail in no time flat. To take it for a test run, I decided to take a cute but slightly worn receiving blanket from Olivia and add a sweet little pink cotton shell edging to give it life for the new baby. (Granted, I could have a boy. I plan on doing a boy one as well.)

Basically, the sharp crochet hook is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a curved hook, the tip is sharp so you can poke it through fabric. I’ve wanted to play with edging with crochet for a while, but the idea of first doing a blanket stitch or punching holes with an awl bored me to tears. My ADD would have none of it. Now this, on the other hand, I can do. It took a bit of getting used to, for tension for example, but after a bit of playing this was my first project. The sharp crochet hook comes with a pattern booklet. Did I follow it? Hahaha, good one. The patterns are adorable, and I’m definitely going to try some of them. But for round one, I went with a continuous 8-shell.

If you’d like to make your own, here’s the pattern:

Receiving Blanket 8-shell Edging

You need:
-sharp crochet hook
-3.25 mm (USD3) regular crochet hook
-cotton yarn for size 3 hook

sc = single crochet
ch =chain
sl st = slip stitch
dc = double crochet
sk = skip stitch

Round one: sc with sharp crochet hook about 1/4” apart around the perimeter of a receiving blanket. Sl st into first sc to end.

Round two: with 3.25mm regular crochet hook, ch 3, do 7 dc in the sl st, sk 2, sc, sk 2, 8 dc in next st. Repeat (sk 2, sc, sk 2, 8dc) around. End with a shell, sk 2, sc, sk 2 (or flub it a bit, skipping one or three, to make it fit) and then sl st into the ch3.

Feel free to ask if that is at all unclear and I’ll try fix it up for you, and if Santa happened to forget that you’re a hooker, at $10.99 with the book and $6.99 without, the Sharp Crochet Hook is barely a splurge so much as skipping a coffee or two.

(disclaimer – I was not paid for, asked for, or given free product for this. I – uh, I mean, Santa – bought it and loved it.)

Friday Favourites

2012-01-06T08:18:00.001-08:00

Ah, at long last! The triumphant return!

Starting off with something that gave me a good chuckle. Shannon posted this tutorial the morning that I had been pondering to myself, as I shaved my legs, how I could figure out a way to make JanuHairy happen. If we have to moan our way through Movember for a cause, surely men could try to hold back their gag reflexes while we french braid our leghairs. But I guess the cup cozy wouldn’t be as charming.

A cup of coffeecake in under five minutes? I haven’t made this yet, it’s too soon post-Christmas. But the very idea makes my eyes widen in childlike joy and wonder.

Speaking of how soon after Christmas it is. I’ve always waited until it got absolutely ridiculous, then tossed most of my Christmas photo cards with sorrow and remorse, because I couldn’t think of anything else to do with them. To hole punch and jump ring them… brilliant! Starting this year, this happens at my house.

Guys, yes, this is my own two hour buns recipe. Or rather, it’s my moms two hour buns recipe. But I have been thinking about it a lot lately. My mom used to make this on Sunday afternoons, and for supper on Sundays we would have warm fresh buns smeared with butter and jam, or homemade submarine buns. Yum. When I was flipping through some old stuff, I could help but pin it so I’d remember to make it again soon. With Nicole’s help, of course. (look at how little. Cuuuute.)

I stumbled on this on Pinterest, and it’s a bit terrible but it has me rolling a bit as well. In case you don’t ‘get’ it, the heart is one of those colorblindness tests. If my friend Teresa were to see it, all she would see is “I<3 the colorblind!'” … but she would also see the dots and feel incredibly suspicious. Perhaps part of the reason this is so funny to me is because back in school, she would cast suspicious glances at us over colorblindness tests, unsure if there really was a 5 hidden in that circle of dots or if we were just pulling her leg. Meanwhile, we always kind of wondered if she really couldn’t see that 5 or she was just pulling OUR legs.

I’m secretly quite cruel, apparently.

This book is next on my list of books to order. Soon, precious. Soon. I secretly hope someone will buy it for me but the odds of that are –0.1% so maybe you should buy some of my recommended books over on the right there so I can earn a wee bit towards more books. I can’t recommend them if I don’t own them, kids.

I hope you enjoyed this long-overdue installment of Friday Favourites. I hope it was as completely random and helter-skelter as you remembered it. Except for the theme week. I could probably do more theme weeks if that’s a preference, but then again I don’t know how I could fit a cruel joke against the colorblind into a theme week.

Project 52 -2012

2012-01-05T12:45:00.001-08:00

For today’s Project 52, I wanted to try something and I wanted to capture something specific. What I wanted to capture was this Amaryllis that Nicole and I planted late November. It took forever to bloom, but suddenly it’s just gorgeous and enthusiastic. Too enthusiastic, maybe… the plant is falling over with it’s own weight! What I wanted to try was taking a picture right against a window, which completely destroys my reliance on metering. This isn’t the most amazing picture of a flower ever, I really need to work on my still life photography. I’m determined to buy a new lens this month, too. I can’t use my manual focus 50mm very well in low light situations AT ALL, so I’m using my kit lens and it’s just not the same. I haven’t upgraded my equipment in a year and a half (which is when I bought my DSLR) aside from buying a cheap adaptor to use a hand-me-down lens with my camera, so I think it’s about time!

I’m not really one for resolutions in per se. I mean, self improvement is always a good idea, but I tend to come up with ‘resolutions’ year round. However, January being the beginning of the year, it does lend itself to new beginnings. One thing I am restarting on trying is Project 52. I kind of let it go by the wayside last year, but this year I’m taking a different approach. I’m trying to have a schedule for it,and put thought ahead of time into what I want to take a picture of instead of just picking a photo from the last week.

I’m also hoping to have more of a schedule to the blog. I’m hoping to bring back Friday Favorites, do Project 52 on Thursdays, and then I’m thinking one day will be a craft/project, perhaps a recipe another day. We’ll see what happens, I was hoping to start getting up earlier to do that but this morning when I tried I felt sick!

Here’s a bit of a pullback from that shot. Probably technically a better shot (this one is unedited) now that I think about it, but shows a bit of clutter. My awesome handyMan installed a shelf under my kitchen window where a tiny ledge had been previously. Then he took a leaf out of my book and filled it with Found Objects from around the house. I’m giving it a bit of time before I rearrange it ;) And yes, that’s a giant coffee cup planter.

Tadaa!

2012-01-04T18:44:00.001-08:00

So, there’s a few tiny little tweaks still being taken care of, but the new layout is pretty much done, taken care of, finito. The links are working, the layout is cleaner, and I’ve added another banner to the top. Sorry if it bugs you, but there’s just the one on the top and the one on the side. No biggie, hm? The gorgeous layout is the work of Erika aka The Fairy Blogmother, and she’s blessed with eternal patience as she dealt with my little OCD tweaks with speed and grace.

Feel free to poke around and let me know what you think! Among other things, I updated the About Us page a bit, and there’s a nav bar on the top now.

Something else we’ve been doing lately… is our floor! Also our girl’s bedroom. Take a peek!

For clarification, that’s a shitzhu, not a fur bolster pillow. Close, though.
I loved the multi-toned flooring we put in my craft room so much that we decided to put it throughout our entire main floor. We aren’t totally done yet, just the livingroom, hall, and girls room. A bit at a time!

Same flooring, different lighting. Oh, hey, speaking of how I loved things in my craft room, we used the exact same paint in this room as well. Brings the total of Benjamin Moore Jamaican Aqua rooms in my house to yes, count them, three. However, the room I painted this color to be Olivia’s nursery is now Chris’ office and will not stay that color.

Since I took this photo, bubblegum pink curtains have been added. We also had to shove Olivia’s crib the other way since she kept turning the light on, so now the room looks like a crazy cluttered crowded mess. We’ll fix it, we just need a moment to activate our problem-solving skills. Right now they’re being employed by lying the kitchen chairs under the table and placing others on top of said table.

That’s right… Olivia figured out how to climb the chairs, and onto the table, and now spends her time laughing in the face of death and giving us constant panic attacks. So, if you think your kitchen is messy, I ask you… is there a chair on top of your table, and a box on top of the chair, and a camera on top of that? No? Well, it’s looking better than mine, then.

present-tation

2012-01-03T11:35:00.001-08:00

So after a few forays into DIY beauty that I just loved, I resolved to keep a few nice jars onhand for making and gifting sugar scrubs. It came in quite handy for teacher gifts for Christmas, and would also make a great gift for a girlfriend’s birthday, a get well soon, or a thinking of you or cheer up buttercup kind of gift.

When making a simple, inexpensive gift like a sugar scrub, presentation goes a long way. Including making the scrub (and enough for a jar for myself as well) and the packaging, I spent about half an hour total for two gifts. Not bad at all. In this case, I added a tag and a charm to each jar (the tag had the label ‘Nicole’s Sweet Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub’ since it was gifts for her preschool teacher, and she helped me make the scrub) and tied it on with twine. The jars were either 25 or 50 cents each, I can’t recall, at my local Salvation Army Store. They had a while aisle of these little jars, new, and I think intended for either candles or something along this line.

The gift bags are brown paper bags you can buy dirt cheap in the craft section at Walmart, stamped with brown ink and Close To My Heart stamps. I’m out of the bags and am going to stock up on more, they are just perfect, classy little gift bags! Plus super cheap and you can stamp them to match your gift, or party. These were leftovers from the treat bags from Olivia’s birthday party, actually! I would have liked to stuff the bags with brown tissue paper, but I had none onhand. I need to make a list of things to pick up so I can have packaging ready to go. When you have everything onhand and a simple, basic format in mind, you’re much more likely to go the extra mile. And the extra mile is almost the most fun, don’t you think?

A Christmas Dress

2011-12-25T11:29:00.001-08:00

I meant to get this post up a bit earlier in case anyone was interested in making a Christmas dress for their own little girl, but after I took the pictures I kind of forgot! However, obviously this dress style is suitable for all year round, it’s just the fabric that makes it Christmassy.

This dress was made for Nicole’s first Christmas concert. Of course, an hour before the concert I was down in the craft room finishing the last bits! But it was done in plenty of time and she was very excited to show it off. The best part, in my opinion, is that because it’s cottons she can play away in it. She’s worn this dress about every other day for the last week or so, mainly with jeans underneath. It’s got some nice twirl to it, but not so much that you could see her underwear if she were to twirl with nothing else underneath.

The formula for the dress is pretty simple. It starts off with this peasant top tutorial, but I chopped a good 3 or 4 inches off the bottom of the shirt. (For a size 4, I had three fabrics and half a meter of each. I still have enough scraps to make an Olivia-sized tunic, although it’s a bit late since it’s Christmas already.)

This is more of a guideline than an actual tutorial… use the sizing for the bodice for the top, and for the height of the tiers, use your own taste. Because this is a winter dress I made it tea-length, but for summer I’d have likely made shorter tiers and had it hit below the knee. As to the width, I think the widths I give you here would likely work for up to a size six or seven, possibly even eight, and down to a two (it would just be super gathered on both tiers, but quite cute.)

For the top, use the plainest of your fabrics for the main bodice and the fabric you want to use for your first tier for your sleeves. You can sew the bodice up to completion here, don’t forget to do any topstitching you’d like to do as you go along.

For the second tier, I used the full 45” across from selvedge to selvedge. I didn’t gather this tier so much as sort of vaguely pleat it as I went along, since it wasn’t hugely ruffled. It would have probably looked better had I ruffled it, but I was running out of time. For the bottom tier, I did 1.5 the distance from selvedge to selvedge. To save time, I just ripped the piece twice and then ripped one of the two pieces in half.

First I sewed the two pieces for the bottom tier together to create one long circle, then I hemmed it. I went with a wide hem because that’s what I like the look of. Then I also sewed the top tier into a circle, gathered the bottom tier, and sewed the two tiers together. Finally, I sewed the skirt part to the bodice.

This is where I did a few finishing touches. I sewed a matching ribbon over the seam between the bodice and the skirt. I top stitched the bottom tier. Then I made a long patchwork sash, measured on my daughter where the sash would hit on her sides, and then stitched the sash on to the side seams of the dress. This made the sash slightly tighter than the bodice in the front, keeping it in place nicely.

Let me know if you’d like a real tutorial rather than this basic guideline. Nicole and I both really like this dress on her, so I’ll likely be making it again!

Merry Christmas! (video)

2011-12-23T12:46:00.001-08:00

"Christmas Time" by Will Heikoop (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Will_Heikoop/Thee_Christmas_Mix_Tape_2010/badgerland_-_Thee_Christmas_Mix_Tape_-_07_Christmas_Time)

2011 from Laura Versteeg on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, in my uterus…

2011-12-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

A Little Pink Stool

2011-12-21T18:15:00.000-08:00

To be honest, I can’t really take all that much credit for this project. I saw a little wooden stool at Michaels marked down to six bucks, and I couldn’t say no. I’ve been on the hunt for one for Nicole to use in the bathroom for ages now.

I suggested that this be a Nicole-and-Papa project, to give them a little together time. Nicole requested to paint the stool pink, and Chris picked out this shade all on his lonesome. Together they primed the stool, then painted it. I found this butterfly-wand vinyl sticker when I was cleaning up my craft room, Nicole gave her thumbs up, and Chris applied it. Easy-peasy.

Speaking of vinyl stickers. We repainted Nicole and Olivia’s room this weekend, and there were both Wallies and vinyl stickers in there. Now, here is my little pearl of wisdom for you. If you’re torn between wallies and vinyl stickers, and you’re leaning towards wallies…. you are wrong. Unless you are never going to redecorate that room covered in flowers/basketballs/dolphins… and you hate humanity and want to make the person who gets the house after you hate you a little… go for the vinyl. Okay, to be honest, it took maybe an hour to get all the wallies down. But all of five minutes for the vinyl stickers, and there were many more of those, AND I can use them again.

I’ll get off my pedestal now.

Sugar, Sugar…

2011-12-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

The other week Nicole and I whipped up some Sugar Cookies. We always do hearts, apparently. Well, the heart cutters are the ones always in my drawer, and I didn’t feel like digging around for something more seasonal. And Christmas is about LOVE. Plus there are snowflakes on our light blue cookies. It’s very wintery.

When Olivia gets enthusiastic about taking bites of things, she closes her eyes, makes this face, and wags her head back and forth. Sometimes she also scrunches her nose with excitement. She is our true blue goof, just a dork to the very core.

Who’s that hiding in the couch? Why yes, that is Brother Who Lives In The Basement, aka Uncle AJ. Once again, he didn’t look pretty so he hid from the camera. Yes, he is The Fonz.

Things have been crazy at my house lately! Chris has a fire under his bum for renovations, and we’ve got half the upstairs re-floored. He’s hoping to renovate the kitchen in the next two months, and redo the flooring and repaint in the office and our master bedroom as well. Then we’ll decide to either list the house and aim for something bigger (there are definite downsides to rooming a one year old with a four year old, let me tell you. Most of them between 7pm and 7am.) outside of the city (Chris could use some acreage to keep his work stuff so he doesn’t have to rent space.) or option b, live in the house until spring 2013 and list it then. Either option sounds exciting to me! And busy. We’ll be DIYing most of the way!

piggies and baby blues

2011-12-19T18:04:00.001-08:00

Just two versions of the same shot of Olivia in piggies. She is definitely not a baby anymore… I guess she has been toddling around since she was seven months old, but she still looked like a walking baby rather than like a toddler. Where has the last thirteen months gone?