2009 May

Being a Crafty Participant.

Posted by Nikki on May 29, 2009 Leave a Comment

I’ve decided to stop being an internet wall flower and start participating in crafty fun. Both Creative Reveries and 2 Hippos are participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day (which is the greatest thing ever by the way). I’ve been an off and on reader of both of these blogs and I was excited that they were sponsoring some crafty fun for the summer.

First, the Summer Dress Sewalong. I’ve always wanted to participate in these sewalongs but usually by the time I stumble across the sewalongs I have about 35 minutes to post my fantastic creation on Flickr. Um..no. So I posted my 3777 dress, you know..the one that I got the idea to make FROM her site? So when I finally have something to contribute to a sewalong I’m a total hack..nice!

Next is the Fat Quarter Swap. I’m always reading where people get these fantastic fat quarters or items in swaps and I’m always feeling like I could get fantastic stuff too if I would participate. I mean how hard is it to pack up 4 fat quarters? Needless to say, I’m excited for things to come. I also have some nice things to send off to other participants.

Filed Under: Sewing-General | Tagged:

A Dress For Me…Yay!

Posted by Nikki on May 29, 2009 1 Comment

When I first heard my friend Sara was getting married I knew I had to make a dress. I chose the Simplicity 3777 pattern because of this dress. Originally I thought this pattern was hideous, and as you can see, the pattern cover does it no favors. However, once I realized how cute view B was I was sold.

I chose to use Amy Butler’s Morning Glory in Gold from the Lotus line that Aaron bought me for our fourth anniversary (the fruit & flowers anniversary). I matched it with some light blue broadcloth I bought at Joann’s. It’s actually very soft, unlike most of the dollar broadcloth fabrics at Joann’s! I also added in an invisible zipper.

Procrastination took hold of me and I cut this pattern out, put it aside and didn’t pick it up again for months. By the time I started to work on it again it was the day of the wedding! It was a busy day, needless to say. Have you ever tried to sew an entire dress while watching a 10 month old? A miracle took place….until my bobbin kept breaking and I didn’t have time to figure it out. Luckily my mom is awesome. When I took Elise over to drop her off, my mom hemmed my dress (the only thing left) and I was off to the wedding.

It was beautiful by the way..the wedding (and my dress)

Filed Under: Clothes, Sewing For Me | Tagged:

Stash Building…It’s Lovely

Posted by Nikki on May 29, 2009 Leave a Comment

So it’s no joke that I love Flea Market Fancy. Unfortunately it’s about as easy to find as a needle in a haystack. Espcially the polka dots! I’m big on dots too. So when I read on a blog that Sugar Pine Quilt Shop in Grass Valley, CA had some and was willing to take phone orders I was super excited. I picked up some yardage of the Brown Dots and the Pink Vines. I would’ve bought more, but there’s that whole budget thing….CURSES!

For Mother’s Day my husband did just as I requested and purchased the entire set of Katie Jump Rope fat quarters. Elise is only 10 months old, so it was up to daddy to pull through and make sure she got me something lovely. I can’t wait to make a quilt out of this fabric!

Also, Fabric Hound had an awesome sale and I picked up a couple of yards of Valori Wells Urban Flannel with the animals (I wanted the bird too, but that budget thing again…I had to choose..I hate choosing!) and then the Alice in Wonderland print from Kokka.

I also snagged a fat quarter of the green dots from the Flea Market Fancy line and the Goldfish print from Lightning Bugs from Etsy.

Now if I could just get my hands on some of the Flea Market Fancy aqua posies….yardage..anyone? Anyone?!

Filed Under: Fabric | Tagged:

Dear Starbucks Manager….

Posted by Nikki on May 27, 2009 Leave a Comment

Please do not remark about my non-ambulatory daughter not wearing shoes when it is 85 degrees outside. You stick to making my frappucino and I’ll stick to taking care of my child. Thanks for your concern.

Filed Under: Squawk Box | Tagged:

College: The Haunting

Posted by Nikki on May 18, 2009 Leave a Comment

In an effort to clean up the clutter in my sewing room/office/place to store my sloppy mess and keep the door closed I started looking through old junk. I found a manila folder full of old college papers I saved for a portfolio I never had to do. Oh LAS requirements, what an epic fail. The first paper I found was an English paper written on Pantheistic Monism. I kid you not! I couldn’t make that up!! Does anyone even know what that means? These are just words that I’m not even sure go together. I blame someone with a PhD and shake my fist at higher education. I’ll give you some Pantheistic Monism….as soon as I figure out what it is.

Next I found 2 papers for Philosophy. I would like to take this time to point out that my Philosophy/Health care Ethics professor had a different tie dyed t-shirt for every day of the week, and complained constantly about how he made no money and his wife (a NICU nurse) made no money. Cry me a river! I bet he could explain Pantheistic Monism. So first I’m reading this paper for which I received an A- because that crazy hippie disagreed with my stance that the strongest don’t survive while the weakest die off, because society will always carry the weak along. He actually wrote the comment, “watch the news and see how the real world works”. No Ron White (yeah, I called him out in the blogosphere…what’s up now?!), YOU watch the news. The socialized world ALWAYS carries the weakest links along while the strong have to work longer and harder to support those who don’t support themselves. I deserved an A +. You want to know what Ron White paper I did get an A+ on?? The Philosophy paper on human sexuality where I discussed our female ancestors using sex to obtain goods and the evolution to modern prostitution. I also got an A+ on the Health care ethics final where I caved in and decided to be a democrat for an hour and support socialized medicine. I won’t go into details, but the meeting about my paper pre-socialism was painful for all involved. I gave myself up for an A, I’m still ashamed…and I still can’t sit down without a pillow. Trust me, it’s better if that’s all you know.

Finally there is the absolute hilarious sociology paper further proving that no one takes sociology seriously. The paper was to be written in APA format, mine is not even close. I didn’t reference a single one of the quotes I used, nor did I give the required intro paragraph. I also discussed how previous generations of women didn’t stand up at Seneca Falls or burn their bras for Britney Spears to dance around in her underware. Really? This is an A paper?

Liberal arts was supposed to make me a more well rounded person, but really it just taught me how little work I needed to do to get the grades I wanted. Thank you higher education!

Filed Under: General | Tagged:

Oliver + S Playdate Dress

Posted by Nikki on May 5, 2009 1 Comment

I love all of the Oliver + S patterns. They are the most adorable patterns for children on the planet! I figured the Playdate dress would be a litte challenging due to it’s difficulty rating, however I think making the 6-12 month size adds to it. I omitted the optional piping because honestly, I was just using some cheap fabric from Joanns to get a feel for how these patterns are written. I have some nice Alexander Henry Fleur De Granville fabric picked out for this dress and I wasn’t about to risk messing that up! I also omitted the pockets.

I picked this fabric up from the clearance section when Joann’s was having a 50% off sale, so it was only $1.50. I figured worst case scenario, I ruin cheap fabric. Best case, I thought it was cute and Elise looks good in purple. It was truely a win win. I also bought some cheap white broadcloth for the bibbing.

Speaking of bibbing, I messed the first one up, threw it away and started over..only to have the same problem again! I called in my mom for reinforcement, and she was quick to point out that I would have better luck if I actually read the directions. That mom of mine, she’s one smart cookie.

I also omitted the ruffles from the bibbing, but that was mainly because I am lazy. I had them cut out, and all it takes is basically gathering them and sewing them onto the bibbing but again, I omitted them because I am lazy. I did add some super cute heart buttons that I also bought at Joanns.

Overall, I did enjoy making this dress. I do think that when I make it again it will be in a bigger size, and also I think that I will make a few changes in how I hem the sleeves. The Easy Empire Waist Top had a much better idea of hemming the sleeves before you sew the side seams. I should’ve done that here. Instead, I used the machine to hem one sleeve, which was a disaster, and hand stitched the other hem, which my hand sewing could use some work.

Filed Under: Sewing For Babies and Children | Tagged:

Rants From Mommyhood

Posted by Nikki on May 5, 2009 1 Comment

Our last few trips to the park have been chock full of stupid to say the least. First, there’s a handicapped swing at the park and that’s the one swing that every kid wants to use. Whatever, it’s not like there’s a line of wheelchair bound children waiting their turn or anything. So a couple of weeks ago some kid gets in the handi-swing and starts yelling at Aaron and I (who were less than 3 feet away) to push him. Um, seriously?! Is that how you ask for something? And where is your mom!? Why isn’t she over here teaching you some manners? I just told the kid we were too busy.

As if that weren’t bad enough, cell phone moms are my new enemy. Why bother taking your kid to the park if you aren’t going to pay any attention to them? Since when is playground the new babysitter? It’s not my job to maintain your child on the playground. Then there was this (teenage) mom and her mom sitting in the middle of the play area smoking. I didn’t notice until I decided to leave the young kiddie area to go swing on the big swings with Elise. Really? Who lights up in the middle of a playground?! The more I leave the house, the more I feel like I’m being punk’d by the world. Is this some sort of joke? Get off your cell phone and pay attention to your kid and put that Virginia Slim down!!

Filed Under: Grumpy, Squawk Box | Tagged: