Shirt #3

According to my 15 year old sister Lydia, I'm not the greatest at making up creative titles for my posts.

I agree.

Shirt #3 took me a LOT longer than I anticipated, and actually I'm not quite done it yet, but you can't tell in the pictures :) I meant to have this be Wednesday's post.

Anyway, here is Shirt #3! Refashioned from a man's button up shirt, of course.

I made this shirt all by myself, without a tutorial. Very courageous, I know. At first I tried to copy this shirt that I love from Banana Republic, but it really didn't come out anything like it. I first put pleats in the front, but I ended up taking them out because they made it too small. I put in the boob darts instead. [Men's shirts really are just boxes.] I added the ruffles last because when I [thought I] was done, it still looked so masculine. Josh, at one point, told me I looked like a mail man. Thanks sweetypie.

I was so close to being done, after spending hours and hours on the darn thing, and I told Josh, "You know, I just really don't like this blue and white stripe." His eyebrows went up, as he realized I couldn't exactly "refashion" the fabric of the shirt. So I added the ruffle, and that seems to help a bit. I think it looks more feminine now. I could be way off base, though! Tell me your thoughts. About the shirt, I mean, not this hideous picture.

P.S. If you would like to volunteer to come to my home and take pictures of me in my new clothes, I would be delighted and can offer you nothing in return. Except maybe a cookie or two. My "photographer" (aka husband) seems to be a little impatient with me. Or is it the other way around??

Shirt #2

Here is the next shirt I made. I didn't take a "before" picture, but you can just imagine it

Before: a black, button down, collared shirt.

[Place said "imagined" picture here]

After:

I got the idea here: Adventures from the Sewing Studio

Here is the back:

I liked this one because I didn't have to worry about sleeves at all. It made it go quickly. I just cut the shirt right under the armpits. Of course I was a naughty girl and thought I could do it without the instructions. So I tried it, stayed up late one night working on it, and then realized I should have read the instructions more carefully and had to backtrack a lot of what I did the next day. Why do I do that??? It's not just sewing though. I do that with cooking too, especially baking. You'd think I would learn my lesson, but nooooooo.

After many a frustration, I think it turned out pretty cute!

Weird/Funny Video Monday and New Peasant Shirt!

Please admire my new shirt! It is a refashion from one of Josh's bazillion button downs.

From this:

To this!

I got the idea/tutorial from one of my all-time favorite blogs, My Mama Made It.

The back


Josh and I have really tightened our budget lately, so I've been trying to find things around the house to sew with so I don't have to go buy things. One of the things I needed for this project was elastic. I don't have a spool of elastic sitting around, so what better way than to cut it off your pajama pants? Josh hated these pajama pants, and I was ridiculed every time I wore them. I guess I have had them since 8th grade or so. It was their time to go I guess. For everything there is a season, folks. Yes indeed.

A big shoutout goes to my friend Cindy, who gave me some extra buttons she had lying around.

So anyway, just a little snippy snip around the collar and the length of the sleeves, take in the sides a bit if it feels too baggy (mine did), add some color to the ends of the sleeves, add some elastic to the neckline, add some cuter buttons (thanks, Cindy!), and you have yourself a new peasant shirt! Oh and I took off the pocket. Sounds so easy when I say it now.

Actually, this one was pretty easy. Easy peasy, as the crafters say!

Cats are way cooler than bunnies.

Naughty Kitty and Fat Kitty.

i'm back

Hello my little bloggy friends,

Has it really been a week since my last post??? I was feeling quite uninspired in my sewing this week, and let's face it, my life really is not all that interesting, so I kept saying, "I have nothing to blog about!" Is there like a "blog ideas" website? If there isn't, I should create one. Except I never have ideas, so I guess that wouldn't work...

Pretty much all I did last week was make these flowers:

I upgraded my pattern to include a piece of velcro on the back to go around any headband or clip/pin.

They are a fun, quick, easy project.

But this week, I've been loving this site: Wardrobe Refashion

It's got me ALL KINDS of inspired. That is why I was excited when Josh brought home this HUGE pile of clothes from his parents house (he is still moving out).

Why I am excited about all these men's shirts that Josh won't wear?

And just why did I cut off the elastic shelf bra of the exercise shirt I never wear? Or the elastic waistband of my pajama pants that Josh hates??



Oh. Just you wait. Just you wait.

Ok, I will give you one little hint:

Josh's old shirts + elastic from clothes I never wear = New and improved clothes for me!!

Flower headband

This is my 20th post! WAHOOOOO!!!!!! I feel like I should get an award or something.... alas.

Ok, so onto better news, I made this the other day:

I used this tutorial, but changed it up here and there. First of all, it says to use linen, but I'm a cheapo and went with "linen-look" fabric. It would definitely be better with linen because it wouldn't be so flat. It's still cute though. I like it and think I will try some other ones.

Best of all, I put a little "slip cover" on the back so you can take the flower off and put it on another headband, or pin it to a shirt or bag.

I think I will make mini flowers and put them on baby booties, too!

Campfires, kayaking, and roaches

Well, I made it back safe and sound from my outdoor adventure weekend. It was a lot of fun and we had many good laughs with our friends Ben and Lindsey. Please share in our memories below:

Josh and Ben swimming in the river.

Here is a funny video of them being babies because it was cold (Ok, Lindsey and I are even bigger babies because we wouldn't go near the water!):

Ben caught this disgusting beetle/roach thing. When people talk about staying alive in the wild by eating bugs, I think they mean these kinds of small animals. I mean... it's so huge, it really could keep you going for a few days.

Lindsey and I at the fire:

I even went kayaking for the first time! It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. I SO WISH I had my camera with me. You see, there were only two kayaks (we borrowed from a neighbor), and Josh and Ben being the gentlemen that they are, let Lindsey and I use them. What did Josh and Ben use, you ask? Oh. An inner tube and a boogie board. Yep! We "towed" them on the back of our kayaks for a while so they could keep up. It looked so funny.

Before we left for kayaking:

Josh sat in the back and held the kayaks in the car:

He got a bit dusty from the drive on the dirt road. Who would have thought??

Oh, and I have to add:
One of the best parts was that I got to capture this fond memory on our way home:

I mean, how often does someone capture THAT MOMENT of sheer bliss on camera?? Only a true blogger would, folks. Yes, that is me.

It was a great weekend!

My dog, I mean cat, plays fetch

Yep. It's true. It just happened one day. Delilah brought me her mouse, I threw it, and she brought it back.

Sorry for the shakiness. I hope you don't barf.

This whole fetch thing was cute at first, but now it's becoming a problem. She wakes me up in the middle of the night wanting to play. I wake up with a mouse on my back or on my pillow. Delilah is "chirping" like in the video. I think it's some sort of hunting call. Cute, but not at 3am.

And then there's Samson, who will just watch the mouse land near him. He won't move. His gut is starting to swing back and forth when he walks. Poor guy.

As for sewing, it has been a light week. I will be back at it next week though! In the meantime, Josh, me, and some friends are off to the mountains for an outdoor, adventure-filled weekend. Yes, me + outdoor adventure= oxymoron and/or disaster. However, should be fun nonetheless!

Peas and Clotheslines

1. We picked a lot of peas in our Community Garden last night because pea season is just about up 'round these parts. See?

I will be busy looking up recipes to see what I can do with them today. The goal for our Community Garden is to give fresh food (or food made from fresh, healthy ingredients) to a local food pantry, Manna on Main Street. Anyone have any ideas?? Pea Soup?? Does anyone really like pea soup?? I'm not sure if I do. These peas are really good though, very sweet. Hmmmmm....

2. I finally got my clothesline up and running. (Ok it doesn't really "run", it is just tied to a tree). I love hanging my clothes out to dry because #1 it saves money on our energy bill, and #2 I feel like I am being environmentally friendly and that is a good feeling. The only downside, I have found, is the towels. They get too stiff. There is nothing like the feeling of a towel just out of the dryer! So soft and warm...

Anyway, I needed something pretty to put my clothespins in, so I made this!

Doesn't it just look so cute hanging there?

Maybe I'm overly sentimental.

I just like to have pretty things (especially things I can make myself) around when I am doing mundane tasks like doing the laundry. It really helps with the mundane-ness.

I got the idea from this blog that I like, Made by Rae . Of course hers looks a lot prettier than mine. But I wanted mine to have a hole on both sides, so I could reach in from either side of the clothesline. And see how the circle has little waves in it?

I kind of like it, but I didn't mean for it to turn out that way. I actually don't know how to sew a complete circle. "Seams" to me that there will always be a fold somewhere (sorry, couldn't help it!) Still lots to learn!

Monday Linky Link and Messy Mess

Am I the last person in the world to discover The Pioneer Woman? I love this blog. She lives on a ranch, and her husband's name is Marlboro Man. So funny.

Give it a read next time your house doesn't look like this:



And this:



And this:



And this:



Crazy busy weekend! My house is such a mess I don't even know where to start. There are paw prints on the bathroom sink, fabric and THREADS all over the place because I don't clean up after myself, and laundry up to my ears. I still have clean laundry from last week that I never folded. This morning I woke up and I had a plastic lifesaver wrapper stuck to my leg. Sweaty and sticky. Gross! How does that happen? Sounds like a night of drunken debauchery, but it wasn't, I promise. I played Uno with Josh, Sister Rachael, and Austin. Yep, Uno. It was great.

Well, besides the whole mess part, we had a fun birthday weekend for both Josh and America. It was well worth the mess!

My Hubbypants, all growed up

To Josh:

My loving,



Faithful,



Fun,



Supportive,



Cutie pie,



Best Daddy,



Prepared,



Sexy,



Sleepy,



Weirdo,



Gossip junkie,



Little boy,



Ever-Hungry,



Outdoors man,



Happy,



Intelligent,



Steadfast,



Keeper of my heart.



Happy 23rd birthday, to my best friend. I love you!! xoxo