Ruffled Sun Suit Romper

I bought a pattern from LittleLizardKing on Etsy for this fun little romper! (The first two pictures are from the pattern and the next two are what I made).

The pattern was very easy - the only tip I have is that if you hate raw edges as much as I do you may want to serge the top raw edge of the ruffle before you gather the ruffle. You only see it if you lift up each individual ruffle so it isn't a big deal but still...

I want to try to modify the pattern to make a reversible lined romper without ruffles!

Anxiety Dreams

Chase has been missing his daddy while B is on a business trip and last night he was up like 4 times until midnight and one of the times he woke up sobbing because he had a horrible nightmare.

His nightmare: He was planting plants in a new planter box and he planted them all facing the wrong way!!!!!

Poor kiddo - apparently he has already picked up some of our control freak like qualities. It took a lot of self control not to laugh.

I always dream that I can't remember my locker number / combo or that I am taking a final only I missed all the classes up until then.

What kind of reoccuring nightmares do you have?

Baby Girl Nursery

We finished the nursery!  I am so happy with the results - it is exactly what I wanted.

For those of you out there like me scanning the web for ideas I have listed where I found everything so you don't have to hunt as hard.

Paint Colors:  Egg Shell Gliden Granite Grey (GLN59) and Semi Gloss Sherwin Williams Charming Pink SW 6309 for the stripe

Crown Molding Tip:  Apparently the crowning molding I picked was too thick for a regular miter saw so keep that in mind when picking your molding as it made the project A LOT more difficult then it needed to be.

Curtains and Butterfly Curtain Rod:  Target

Book Shelf, Picture Frame Ledges and Frames, Plant and Pot, Lantern, Lamb Skin, "End Table" (which are really trash cans that I wrapped some fabric around):  Ikea

Crib:  Graco Lauren Crib with Combo Changing Table with the hardware switched out for these lovely pink bubble glass pulls from Dwyer Home Collection (I ordered it on WayFair but you can find it almost anywhere online)

Sheets / Changing Pad Cover:  The fabric is from Walmart of all places and I made them myself using this tutorial

Mobile:  Etsy from DragonOnTheFly (the picture doesn't really do it justice - it is really amazing - check out DragonOnTheFly's shop)

Chandelier:  Z Gallerie (the only warning about this Chandelier is that it is made as a "plug in" light instead of a ceiling wired light.  My husband had to do some electrical work to get it wired and we had to buy the ceiling cover plate from home depot (which of course came with a gold hook and gold nuts so we had to paint those white too).

Blingy Wall Art Piece:  Z Gallerie

Crib Skirt:  I made the adjustable crib skirt myself - there are a ton of tutorials on Google

Tips:

- If you are like me and you HATE sewing gathers and ruffles here is a fun trick.  Instead of "gathering" the fabric you can pull out a long bobbin thread (as long as the piece of fabric you are trying to gather) and then you zig zag stitch over the bobbin thread.  This creates a "casing" for the bobbin thread and it way easier to gather / pull through then a loose running stitch.  Here is a tutorial someone else did online.

- Since the changer is on one side you really only need 2 panels (1 long side and 1 short side)

- The long panel I cut 56 inches wide and 17.5 inches long (this does not include the ruffle length that will be sewn on) - this is big enough to do 1 inch double folds on 3 of the 4 sides (all sides but the edge you sew the ruffle onto)

- The short panel I cut 20 inches wide and 17.5 inches long (this does not include the ruffle length that will be sewn on) - this is big enough to do 1 inch double folds on 3 of the 4 sides (all sides but the edge you sew the ruffle onto)

- The ruffle I cut a 6 inch wide piece and folded it in half (I made the ruffle piece twice as long as the panel widths so that when it was gathered it was very ruffled)

- The two gathered pieces are 2 inches wide (I cut them that wide because I serged the edges so the finished piece was 1 - 1.25 inches thick and again double the panel length)

- I used ribbons instead of fabric ties to attach it to the crib because making fabric ties seemed like a lot of effort for something you aren't ever going to see

Silly Spoiled Lap Dogs

Jaxx managed to find the one spot of sunlight on the floor...

Vroom

Chase is pretty sure that B's new scooter is the greatest thing in the world. He wants to travel everywhere by scooter now.

DIY Crib Sheet

I have been on the hunt for the perfect crib sheets but have been really struggling to find any that I like. I decided to see if there were any fun custom sheets on Etsy but I about had a heart attack when I realized people were charging $50 for a single crib sheet.  That is absolute robbery!!!!  I charge that for entire quilts!

So I went ahead and Googled a crib sheet tutorial and it actually looked REALLY easy...so easy in fact that I had to try it.  I would rate it as a beginner level project (probably takes about 30 - 60 minutes max to finish a sheet).  The only thing that I will say is that if you happen to have a serger it gives a much more finished look and feel but you could certainly still make the sheets without one.

Tips:

 - You need 80 inches of 1/4 inch elastic (about $1) and 2 yards of fabric ($5 - $12 a yard but if you are like me you go on the cheaper end of that range) - it cost me about $15 for the project

- Note:  My mattress is 27.5 inches wide by 52 inches long by 7 inches tall

- I used this tutorial with a few modifications

- Pre-wash your fabric!

- If you are like me it is too much trouble to find 45 inch wide fabric and all the cute prints are 42 inches wide so I went ahead and changed the measurements so that you can use 42 inch wide fabric (cut your piece of fabric 41 inches by 67 inches and cut your corner squares 7.5 by 7.5 inches)

- Note:  The only thing to consider if you do decide to use 42 inch wide fabric is that you don't have a ton of "wrap" beneath the mattress (the sheet just fits around it - you can't see the edge when it is in the crib or anything but it isn't a generous margin - also because of this I would serge or zig zag your edge and do a single fold instead of trying a double fold) - I suppose you could also leave the selvage edges on the fabric and fold those back to make your casing which would give you a wider piece of fabric but I personally am not a fan of edges...

- I like to minimize steps when sewing so I skipped the part where you iron down the the edge of the sheet and I just went ahead and eyeballed it and folded it as I stitched (I used a 0.5 inch fold here since I was using 0.25 inch elastic and I stitched near the edge of my fabric)

So here it is my first crib sheet - it fits nice and tightly...(maybe this weekend I will finish the crib skirt!)

Happy sewing!  I definitely recommend this as a fun quick project!

Batik Postage Stamp Quilt

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday and she wanted a batik wall quilt so I made her this little lovely. I used the quilter grid technique from Oh Fransson! where you fuse the pieces to fusible interfacing. I love that technique!!! The rectangles were 2 inches by 1.25 inches before sewing.

I also tried a new pebble free motion pattern on the border. It is very pretty but extremely time consuming and it almost looks like patterned fabric rather then quilting (only someone who looked very closely would appreciate the work).

I also tried a new binding technique where you machine stitch the binding to the front and then iron it flat on the back and stitch in the ditch around the front of the quilt. If I were going to do it again I may use 3 inch strips instead of 2.75 inch so that you always catch the edge. It is a good process for wall quilt where you aren't as picky about the look in the back but want a very neat look in the front.

Overall I am thrilled with the final product though!

Spring Spring Where Are You?!

I am tired of cold and snow.  

We keep having days in the 60+ degrees here that tease me and make me think spring is coming...and then we get a giant dump of snow the next day!  All the cold and snow makes me think of my two besties that live in Alaska.  Seriously, I have 3 BFFs and now 2 out of 3 of them are in Alaska of all places (no visiting some warm beachy place to see my girls and get away from the cold - no fun)!  It is definitely beautiful there and the pictures they send are amazing but I just can't seem to motivate myself to hop on a plane for 6 hours for a visit (I know lame excuse - but I really am not a big traveller and Alaska seems like the other side of the world to me - says the girl who has only left the US once to go to Mexico in HS).  I keep trying to convince one of them to move to San Diego (yes my reasons are totally selfish but a girl can dream right?).

Anyways - to all you peeps that live in warm sunny places - send some of that my way!!!

If It Can Be Collected

Chase will collect anythig that can be collected so when he saw this cabinet he fell in love. A little boy's treasures - so sweet!!!

He even hid the key from us. Ha! Good thing it came with a spare.

Painting

We painted the nursery grey today - now it just needs a pink stripe and crown molding! I am ready to start decorating wahoo!

Snow Day

So I swear growing up we NEVER had snow days but last night they closed the schools before it even started snowing!! Look there is hardly snow on the ground and the roads are almost dry! Lamest snow day call ever...

Happy Monday

Anyone else dreading the snow storm? Off to start another week...

Nursery Shopping Fun

Nursery decorating is sooooo fun!!!!

Here are some of the goodies we have picked so far.

Fire Table

We are thinking about finishing our backyard and I am currently pondering skipping a traditional table and chairs set up and doing a cozy seating area around a fire pit table instead. They have this fun concrete table at Restoration Hardware - fire tables remind me of our recent trip to San Diego.

Jude Law?

So apparently B's coworker thinks he looks like Jude Law. When he told me I laughed and completely disagreed...but then we looked at some photos and I have to admit there is a resemblence between "older" Jude Law and B.

Who knew?!