Sorry for the disappearance!

Hello! I know, I know...why do I even have a blog if I'm just going to up and disappear on you? Well I had baby, so cut me some slack. You can read all about it on the family blog, where you can get all the details and see all the baby pics. If that is too much work for you, here is a picture of Wyatt in the bath, you lazy-pants!

It has taken a little time to adjust to having another tiny baby. I forgot about that lack of sleep thing that comes along with new baby smell. I had closed the Etsy shop for a little while, but it has recently been reopened. I don't expect a flood of orders, so I think I'm safe re-opening. I am considering making a bunch of smartphone sleeves from my scraps and adding those to the shop. Getting motivated will be the determining factor for that! I need motivation for a lot of things actually, so if anyone knows where to find some, please shoot me an email!

A Little Something for Mama

I was on the hunt for fabric for Fletch's Easter pants when I came across some $2 fabric that was too cute not to buy. I grabbed a yard and brought it home wondering what I would do with it. I have been wanting a cuter apron for cooking with, but just hadn't committed to a fabric or design. I realized that the one I was using was designed just fine, so I just copied that same apron.

I had an olive green serving apron from my days of working in a restaurant hanging up in the kitchen. It had two big pockets and super long ties. When I held up the new fabric to the olive colored one, I knew I'd found a good match. I decided to repurpose that old ugly apron with my new pretty fabric. I took to the old apron with my seam ripper and took off the pockets, undid the hems and removed the ties. I then ironed it all out to get as much surface area as possible.

I laid my old kitchen apron on top of the olive apron fabric and traced, allowing enough for the seam allowances. Once I had the main part cut out from the olive fabric, I cut out an identical piece from the cute fabric. I sewed them together and top stitched and viola...an apron. I used scraps to make the neck strap. For the ties, I opened up the thin ties from the apron with my seam ripper and ironed them flat, which made them the perfect width for my new apron. The last finishing touch was re-using one of the pockets and adding some trim to the top and some cut-out designs I appliqued onto the pocket. Pretty cute right? I love it!

Mission Accomplished

I finally received my diploma! 

And looky-here! I graduated with honors :)

It only took me 15 years! Hopefully now I can stop having those dreams about having to go back to high school to finish that last class that I didn't take so I can graduate; Or searching for my locker on the first day of school and then not having the combination; Or the one where I don't know what classes I'm supposed to be in or where to go. Do you see a theme here? I definitely feel a lot of relief about finally having a degree! 

The best part is that I know how proud my Mom would be that I finally finished. She always reminded me that I had the potential and I know she was probably frustrated with me for not taking college very serious when I was younger.  I don't regret all the fun and work experience I had over the years, but the one thing I do regret is that my Mom was not alive to see me finish. She was definitely one of my huge motivators for finishing and also for finally figuring out what I wanted to major in. 

So what's next? Well I am not 100% sure I will be walking the stage, which kind of bums me out. At least it is because of a joyous reason! I'm hoping this baby boy will be early like Fletch. I have no problem wobbling my way across the stage, with or without a baby in my belly though. 

I don't plan to teach right away because I plan to stay home with baby boy, like I did with Fletch. I am also considering getting my Masters in Learning Disabilities.  When I took Psychology of Individuals with Disabilities, I really felt a connection to my Mom and knowing I can use art as a method of reaching students with learning disabilities. We will have to see how my schedule with baby and our finances can handle that idea. I'm not quite ready to get started right away anyway. I just want to bask in the glory of reaching the finish line. 

Last of the Onesie Madness

OK...the last two onesies have been modified! I think I've gotten it out of my system, because right now, I don't think I ever want to sew on another onesie again. That might change, I am pregnant ya know.

I pulled out the freezer paper to do some stenciling today. I have yet to perfect this technique. Somehow I still end up getting little areas that pull up from the fabric and paint gets underneath, making my design imperfect and me very angry. I did baby boy's first initial inside a circle with this cool green/blue iridescent fabric paint I had on hand. It still looks okay and I deem it wearable. I can't let you see it though. You see, we're not letting anyone know the baby's name till he is born. I know...we are cruel cruel people, but we don't like to hear opinions or see scrunched up faces. We know what we like and we're sticking to it! Therefore, no peek at the onesie. I know it's just his initial, but I can't give it away this time.

The last onesie I can show you!

I LOVE the way it came out! But holy-hell it was a pain in the butt! First thing I did was use some tracing paper to trace out the onesie and my design. This time I took a picture :)

Once I had my design drawn out, I laid some interfacing on top and traced the pattern. I cut out the interfacing pieces and ironed them to the fabric I wanted to use for the vest. I added some yellow bias tape to give it a pop of color and to cover the raw edges of the vest. Then I pinned them to the onesie and sewed them on using a zig-zag stitch.  I was going to sew button holes so you could open the vest, but then I realized, what the heck would I need to do that for? So I just sewed the vest together with the two buttons instead. Viola!

I am officially out of plain white onesies to mess around with, the nursery is all set up (we still need a crib mattress, but there's time for that), and Fletch has been successfully moved upstairs. Technically I don't have much else to do, but why don't I feel like that? I feel like there is still so much to do. We have less than three months till baby boy arrives!

Some Sewing for Baby-to-Be

I found a random pack of white Gerber Onesies in Fletch's closet when we were clearing things out. I think I bought it for various projects. What better time to start some Onesie projects than right now, when I'll have another bambino to model them!

I had seen a few tutorials online for adding argyle to shirts, jackets and other pieces of clothing. I am a huge fan of argyle, which means I had to give this a try. The first thing I did was lay a piece of tracing paper over the onesie to determine how big I wanted my diamonds to be. I ended up making diamonds that are 3"tall and 1.5" wide in the middle. I used some scraps of corduroy because all my other scraps had prints and they were pretty girly. I also ironed on some interfacing to the back, just to make them a little more stable and less likely to fray. I cut 3 red and 3 khaki because I wanted to do a pattern on the chest and one on the butt too. I alternated the colors, 2 red and 1 khaki on the butt and 2 khaki and 1 red on the chest.

Sewing on onesies can be a little tricky, especially if they are on the smaller side. I got the three sewn on the butt, but when I tried to sew the three on the chest, it was a tad bit difficult. Here is when I decided to use my hand sewing skills! I just hand sewed them on using a backstitch. Once I had all my diamonds attached, I used brown embroidery thread to do the stitching on top, by hand of course. I am happy with the outcome, but I'd like to see what it looks like on baby, once it stretches.

I'm sure you have seen the onesies that have a sewn on tie. I think they are adorable and I have no idea why I never made one of them for Fletch. I rectified the situation and made one for baby-to-be. Again I got out the tracing paper to trace the neckline and just free-handed a tie. Going with the argyle theme, I used a scrap of argyle print fabric for the tie. I just did a small zig-zag around the entire tie and across the knot. This one was really easy!

I just came across a onesie with a sewn on vest and tie. I am debating on that one. What else can I do with plain white onesies? I have two left to play with :)

Nesting at the Sewing Machine

We recently moved Fletch upstairs, which meant moving a lot of stuff out of the room, including my tiny sewing nook.  I got rid of my little sewing table and traded up to the IKEA desk the hubby was using when he worked from  home. Now my sewing area is in the corner of our bedroom. The new space is actually working out a lot better. Now I can sew downstairs while Fletch is awake and playing in the living room. I can keep an ear and an eye on him as I work and that means I can do more sewing.

I guess I am in full-on nesting mode at 27 weeks, because I've made Fletch 3 pairs of pants and 1 pair of shorts in the past two days. I came across this tutorial on Made, a great blog for tutorials and she also did a series about sewing just for boys. After seeing how easy these pants were to make, I raided my fabric stash to see what I could use to make Fletch a pair.

I came across some old denim scraps I had been holding on to. It is a thin denim and is blue on one side and has a crazy white geometric/floral pattern on the other side. To keep my child from being taunted relentlessly I decided on the plain blue side :) This really was an easy pattern and it took me no more than a couple of hours to make. I even got Fletch to pose for a couple of pictures in his new pants.

Isn't he the cutest thing? I can't believe how much he looks more and more like a little boy every day. I still see his tiny baby face in there though!

I started looking at other tutorials on the same blog and decided to try some of those today. I made Fletch one pair of the flat front pants out of a dark blue broad cloth. They are just like the other pants I made, but there is no elastic in the front so the waist is flat in the front.

I then made a pair of the flat front pants with pockets using left over brown un-lined corduroy that I had used to make a pencil skirt. The inside of the pockets I used scraps of fabric with bugs all over it and used a contrasting lime green thread.

Last but not least, I also made a pair of shorts with pockets using some dark purple broad cloth left over from the diaper bag I made a while ago. I used contrasting thread in an aqua blue color. I should have reviewed the tutorial before getting started because it would have saved me some time. I don't know what I did the first time, but the bottoms of the shorts were crooked and mis-matched lengths. I had to pick the whole thing apart and start over. Luckily I got it right the second time and they came out great.

So I solved Fletch's lack of pants problem in a matter of a few hours work and zero dollars since all the fabric used was scraps! As long as he keeps growing up and not out, I can let the hem out and make them longer when he sprouts. I don't know what it is about sewing, but I just feel so empowered that I can make things. I'm so glad I spent all that time watching my mom at the sewing machine :)

Looky looky, time to cooky

Look what Santa left under the tree for me :)

Oh yeah baby! I also will be getting the DVDs of all the shows as well. Those are on their way. This baby is actually a little overwhelming! There are so many recipes and tips and techniques. And I am finding more and more kitchen gadgets that I need to have. Considering how small my kitchen is, this may get a little tricky.

The first recipe I tried was Chicken Fried Steak. This is a southern dish you'd find at any diner or grease-pit. There is a place in San Antonio, Bud Jones, that serves chicken fried steak the size of your head. I didn't take any pictures of that meal because that is a messy recipe! It was great though. I liked the flavor of the coating. I think however, the steak needed a little more tenderizing.

The next thing I tried was the Skillet Baked Ziti.  This seemed like a really easy recipe and it was! Not only that, it was DELICIOUS. Usually skillet meals are kinda blah, but leave it to ATK to make it yummy.

I don't have a kitchen scale, so I think that since I used a whole box of ziti, the leftovers were a little lacking in flavor. It's weird, because a lot of times the leftovers taste better the next day. This time around, all I could taste was the pasta with the leftovers. I guess I need to get myself a kitchen scale.

Right now we're in the thick of packing up the upstairs room to make room for Fletch. We're moving him upstairs so we can keep the nursery downstairs. I wrote all about it on the family blog. I am losing my sewing nook upstairs, but I will be moving my sewing table downstairs to the corner in our bedroom. It's not ideal, but I have to have some type of space for sewing! I'll be sure to post some pictures once I have everything set back up. Then you can take pity on me for my lack of creative space.