"I Can Make That."

I have a skirt that I recently rediscovered in my closet and it has become a favorite in my clothing rotation. I was looking at it recently and noticing how easy it looks to put together, so I got some cute fabric and gave it a shot. I'm not gonna lie, some serious seam ripping took place while trying to put in the zipper, but it actually turned out really well! A wearable item for sure! I have another couple of yards of some pretty fabric and will hopefully make another one soon. Me likey!




In other news, my sister had her baby! Bryn was born this morning weighing in at 7lbs 14oz and 22 inches long. She's quite the sight...can't wait to squeeze her! Congrats Dria and Johnny!

The Weekend in Review:

I've spent quite a bit of time sewing since my new machine arrived. My latest creations are as follows:


A new shirt for myself that was a nightmare to make and therefore has a lot of wobbly lines and went through many seam rips. Ted's comment was "Well, you're still learning!" which really meant "Oi. Don't wear that in public." Oh well. E for effort.



Ethel checks out the new cat bed I made the kids



Morty settles right in


And a nightgown for Bella. Toddler clothes are fairly easy so she is getting spoiled with presents from Aunt Weazie as of late.

Saturday was spent cleaning the house while Ted did yard work. It's been hot as hell down here (as it's been pretty much everywhere else) and we haven't had rain in ages. Ted and I decided that trying to keep our lawn alive was wasting more water than we could stomach and our yard is basically burnt to a crisp. We probably could have done a bit of a better job with the bushes and trees, but even with watering they still are looking like this:





I've basically given up until the fall. So has everyone else down south. You need to have a boatload of time and money to try to keep a green lawn in this heat.

We also put our wedding invitations in the mail on Saturday! I wanted to do a crazy photo shoot with a veil on and such, but Ted wouldn't participate. He did come to the post office with me to drop them off though, so at least we did it together. Even if I didn't get to wear a veil. :)

We had a BBQ Saturday night with a few friends and had an absolute riot. It cooled down enough in the evening to sit in the back yard and we chatted away for some time. Our friend Justin marinaded some awesome chicken and watermelon was consumed in large quantities. It was a great time.

Today was spent lounging around, though we did actually shower and go out to dinner and the bookstore, so that's not bad for a lazy Sunday.

And now for the obligatory self portraits:



Trying to get T-Bone to smile. It worked!

Hope y'all had a great weekend too...

Back in Action.

I had wonderful plans for my sewing machine and I this past weekend, but it bit the big one early on Saturday. I took it to a local sewing machine shop and it would cost about what I paid for it to get it fixed (bought it refurbished from overstock.com last summer when I was just starting out). I decided I'd rather just get a new and slightly better machine...which is easier said than done. The guy at the shop was trying to wheel and deal me and put me into a $700 computerized machine. When I told him we are saving for a wedding and I'm not looking to spend that much he told me he would look in the back and see if he could find me a deal. They get in machines here and there from companies to test out and see if they want to carry them in the store. "I'll cut you a deal on one of those," he says. I'm thinking "Sweet! Lucky me!" until he returned with another computerized one. My "deal" would knock $100 off the $700 tag. Ummm, no. I'm not quite sure what about "I don't want to spend a lot of money" he didn't understand, but clearly we were not on the same wavelength.

I must admit that the machines were really nice. They seemed to run circles around my poor defunked Brother machine that I brought in for repair. But I had no idea how much these machines should cost and Ted and I have learned the hard way not to just make a quick purchase because we think we're getting a deal. History has shown that we are actually getting ripped off. Badly.

So I came home and did some research online. Apparently buying a sewing machine is harder than buying a car. Everyone has them listed on their websites but you have to "call for pricing." And there's only one person in the company that can give you a price apparently. After being transferred around at one company, a raspy old man's voice picked up.

"Yeah, what are you looking for?" he asked abruptly.

"I'm looking at the Janome 521S."

"Yeah, what do you want to know about it?"

"The price."

Pause.

"Well...tell me what the lowest price is that you've found and I'll beat it."

What?

"A dollar."

Kidding. I wish I had thought of that answer soon enough (Ted would have...he's good like that). Instead I was just getting annoyed because all I wanted to know was how much a damn sewing machine costs! Could someone please just tell me the price? Gah!

After reading some reviews and getting one or two quotes, it seems that the dude at the shop was going to charge me about $100 more than I could get it elsewhere. That irritated me. I was going to print out my findings and head down there to haggle with him (I'd get 3 years free repair if I bought from him and also free lessons on how to use the machine) but there just wasn't enough concrete evidence for me to make a case as to why he should knock $100 off the prices he quoted. So I hopped on Ebay and found a nice machine for a decent price. Reviews of the Janome brand machines were really good from what I read, so I was stoked when I found a nice computerized one that wouldn't overwhelm me that was in my price range.

Though I had to forgo sewing over the weekend, my new machine arrived today and I've been at it since I walked in the door. I'm pleased with my new friend and I think we will make many wonderful things together.



Starting with an adorable dress for Bella! If you don't count my labor, this little ditty cost 4 bucks to make. Sweet. I think Ted is secretly jealous. Not of the dress, but of the fabric. Perhaps if he behaves himself I'll make him a pair of scrub bottoms...

The sewing extravaganza continues...

Apparently it's a sickness. I found another online tutorial for a "twirly skirt," and also ran across some fabric on sale while I was out today. The result is another cute little skirt for Bella with a matching top. I bought the little tank top and appliqued the letter B on, which I made from the same material as the skirt. My zig zag stitching needs some improvement, but overall I think it came out well and will serve her summer romping clothes needs!

A wee skirt for Bella

I'm still on my sewing kick and am really enjoying venturing into clothing. I followed an online tutorial and made a sweet little tiered skirt for Belle. Shipped it out today...hope it fits her! The nice thing about it, however, is that if it doesn't fit my mom can just take in the elastic in the waist a bit. So excited to see it on her!

The Sewing Fool!

I've been a woman obsessed this weekend. I made a special gift for my sister and then started in on a halter top for myself. This was my first attempt at clothing as well as a few other firsts (installing a zipper, for instance). It went pretty well minus a few blips and mishaps here and there. The shirt is definitely wearable, and wear it I will. I can't believe I just made my own top. So cool.

For the Kids.

Here's a couple of presents I made last night. I've had this adorable pink bike material for ages and have been dying to make something out of it. I found a great tutorial at Angry Chicken a couple of weeks ago on how to make your own little applique patches with cute fabric, so I gave it a shot. Too cute! This is for my new niece Bryn, due at the end of August.



I've also been dying to make some stuffed animals. I made a small bunny for Carrie's baby Addison after she was born, and it was cute but lopsided. I made up this owl on my own and I love him! He's rough around the edges, but it was my first time working with fleece. I had a riot making him though! My other niece Bella will soon be the proud owner of Duncan, the owl.

Not Really About The House.

It sort of started off that way though. I was browsing Repro Depo for some cool new fabric. I came across this, which I thought was really cute:



Until I looked closer and realized that the racoon appears to be on fire. I immediately sent it off to Bek and Ted to confirm the weirdness. They in turn pointed out that not only does he appear to be on fire, he is also dead and bound in front of the house and drowning in water. Ted got on the case quickly and found that the fabric is based on a whacked out Japanese fairy tale about a "racoon dog" Tanuki that terroizes a man and his wife and is eventually tortured by the rabbit that is depicted. You can read all about it here.

So then Bek started talking about a character called "Gloomy Bear" which her friend who is living in Japan had told her about. I found some more information about it here. We've now been passing emails back and forth all afternoon about how crazy these characters are and making jokes about pimping out our babies nurseries in this stuff. I was cracking up over this whole Gloomy Bear character, so I did some more research and found this GEM over here. Go ahead, click on it! I know this post has been full of links and you might be tired of it, but FOR REAL. You've gotta see this.

Here's another good one Ted found. Watch it for a few seconds...

You can read more and see a few more links at Bek's site too.

Anyone know of any other crazy fairy tales or toys that are this violent? I mean, I know the old school fairy tales always had some strange violence in them (Hansel and Gretel is one of the best), but this Japanese one is CRAZY.

Anyway, it's been a MOST productive day, as you can see!

Happy Easter!

We don't have any specific plans for the weekend, which makes us wish we could be with our families for Easter. Although, my parents are apparently having "Easter Bunny Soup" for dinner on Sunday, made with fresh rabbit that my father got at the farmer's market, so I'm sort of glad I'll be missing out on that particular delicacy. At any rate, it's supposed to be "cold" here this weekend, which spoils my plans for a nice picnic on Sunday at the gardens, but we'll see how cold it actually gets. It won't be like last year, that's for sure...It think it was in the high 70's.

Anyway,Happy Easter to you and yours! Here's some pictures of my latest activity--needle felted eggs, as well as some new artwork and our growing Chia Pet!