Mar 31, 2011

Happy Thursday! I've been busy with sewing projects for Etsy, trying to squeeze that in with everything else that I do around here. Like making tortillas (we've been eating a lot of Mexican, you know) of course, sometimes Jeff helps...And Adrian:


Chicken enchiladas are in the oven so I'm taking a minute to post! I want to be glued to my sewing machine right now but I have a little kiddo to love on so that really only happens when he's sleeping. It is a beautiful day so I'm planning to sneak out to the park with Adrian after supper. (Jeff started a workout program so he may want to do that while we're gone and out of the way!)

Mar 28, 2011

I keep forgetting to mention that Emily got a fancy new camera and has been updating her blog again! This is from her:


We had a busy weekend full of visiting, visiting, and more visiting! There was a big basketball game on Friday night (I'm such a huge basketball fan that I don't even remember what it was all about...)  that some friends wanted to watch so they came on over. Amanda and Paul were also in town for a tournament that Paul played in. On Saturday night, we had friends over again. Then, there was a potluck at church on Sunday, we headed home afterwards so Adrian could take a nap, and then headed out again for, you guessed it, more visiting. It was a busy, fun weekend! We haven't seen too many of our friends lately so I guess we caught up all in one weekend! Adrian loved it, of course, because he was able to hang out with some other kiddos!

Mar 25, 2011

Just Something I Made...

I did actually make something this week, I got started about an hour after getting back home. Buuut, I was going to list it in my shop and now I'm not sure. It turned out fine and everything but it's not really 'me.' I'm not sure what to do with it now. Sorry for the tease! I'll show you pictures as soon as I figure out what to do!
Otherwise, I'm working on this right now (are you worried?):


I pulled it apart yesterday and started resizing the top. I soon realized that I would need to move the tucks on the shoulders-front and back-and I'm not looking forward to that. Whenever I reach a step where I have little experience, I slow waaaay down. I'm not stuck exactly, I was just hoping this dress would be easy peasier. Anyways, besides resizing, I am going to raise the waistline, redo the sleeves-I'm not sure what I'll do with them just yet-I might shorten the skirt but I'll wait to see where the hem falls once I raise the waistline.  I'll also add a brightly colored belt (I won't do the usual navy with red combination). As of now, the collar is staying but since I'm not usually a collar-wearing kind of girl, that could also change! IF this dress turns out the way I imagine it will, it might be my dress for the wedding. Of course, I could always list it on Etsy and make another...Oh, how I love sewing!

Mar 23, 2011

It looks like I took another little blogging break! We headed downstate for the weekend so I could make it to Jenna's bridal shower. Our showers are usually a surprise and bridal showers are planned by the bridesmaids. We got in on Thursday night but since Jenna didn't know the plan for Saturday morning, we had to sneak around a little bit. She called Dave on Friday and told him she would be coming over. Of course, he couldn't very well tell her not to without giving away the surprise so we ducked out to my family's house and spent the evening there. The shower was a success on Saturday morning but I have no pictures because I forgot my camera back at the house. Here is the happy couple (I swear, Dave can't take a normal picture...)


I was able to make it to Salvation Army while we were down! I always look forward to that and I scored a few deals with the 5 for $5 sale that was going on. One of the dresses I found *might* be for the wedding. I need to restyle it first to know if it will work for sure.
I finally made a plan to go out to coffee with some friends while I was in town. Soon after I arrived, Jeff texted to say Adrian was running a fever of 101.9 under his arm which, of course, means it's even higher . I knew he was warm when I left but I was hoping it was just from teething since he had been sporting some red circles on his cheeks that afternoon (a sure sign of teething for him). Well, that temp is too high to blame on teeth. We texted for a while as I debated whether or not I should stay. I finally left, picking up some tylenol on the way back 'just in case.' I've never had to give him anything like that before (we always used homeopathic pain relievers for his teeth) and I was hoping I wouldn't have to now. Since it wasn't high enough to be considered dangerous, I let his body do it's thing and by early morning his temp was back to normal. I don't think I've ever heard of a fever lasting such a short time so I don't know what that was all about. He's been fine ever since. I'm so disappointed that I had to miss catching up with the girls but it was definitely reassuring to be near my sick little guy! We'll be back down before I know it so I'll just have to try to get out again!

Mar 18, 2011

Just Something I Made

I mentioned a while ago that I found a few treasures in Jeff's grandpa's house. One of my treasures was a simple white skirt. (ETA: this skirt belonged to Jeff's grandma, Sally, whom I never had a chance to meet.) I didn't take a before picture but there isn't much of a difference either way. The only changes I made was flipping the waistband and resizing. It has a thick band of elastic without a casing and it was sewn 'inside out.' Except, there was a tag, so maybe it was meant to be rolled down? It looked very awkward that way because the fabric is a thicker material so it would be all bunched up. I was able to redo the entire skirt in about half an hour.


Jeff took these pictures. I usually just use self-timer so having someone behind the camera made me just slightly self-conscious. Okay, maybe a lot. Anyways, these were the best shots.


I love quick projects like this, they motivate me to sew even more. As if I need more motivation, I swear it's all I think about these days: sewing and designing. I picked up a few more items at Salvation Army today so my pile of projects just keeps growing! I think I found a dress for Dave and Jenna's wedding!

BTW, it's 11:57, I'm just barely squeaking this in on Friday but I did make it! Have a great weekend!

Mar 16, 2011

a few things

I have been having such a hard time remember to blog lately. Can you tell? Since this is the easiest way to tell you what's going on in our life, I'm making a list.

>We traveled to the Keweenaw on Sunday for Bentley's baptism. I'm so glad I was able to visit my sisters all day, I can't remember the last time we were up there!
>I made a skirt today. Actually, I just resized it to fit me, I will have pictures on Friday. I promise. No really, they will be here, hold me to it.
>Adrian woke up too early this afternoon, now he is craaanky.
>My deadline is fast approaching for the opening of my very own Etsy shop. I'm not panicking yet. But, I should be.
>We have been having the most wonderful weather. Well, almost. It has been clear and sunny and warmish. Like 40's warmish. That's nice for March in these parts! We have made it to the park nearly every day, it's awesome!
>I have been so busy this week so it just makes sense that it's my turn to work in the kitchen for bible class today. It's okay though, I already made some treats so I'm all set, no running around at 6:30!
>Jeff sort of dared me to make Mexican (for supper) until he tells me to stop. Check back in 37 years, we'll still be eating it.
>Tonight, we will have something with carnitas. Actually, I should probably get moving on that!

Mar 14, 2011

Hello? Anybody there?

I guess that was a Hello World! Goodbye World! I need to update more often, it must be that time of year...actually the sun is shining right now so I'm off to the park with my boys! See ya!

Mar 8, 2011

Hello World!

Adrian wore Uncle Dave's sunglasses for the entire (5 minute) car ride.

Wow! That was not a voluntary blogging break! We headed downstate last weekend and our computer wasn't turning on before that. I was hoping that, for some crazy reason, it was just forcing me to take a break. We returned home and guess what? It still wouldn't turn on. Duh, right? I finally made it to Best Buy yesterday and had the Geek Squad check it out. Luckily, it was only the power cord so we're up and running with a new one. Also, the cord I bought has several different attachments so I might be able to turn our old computer on! Woohoo! I need to get pictures from that one. I might hold off on that since we need to buy an external hard drive. Also, if I am able to turn that computer on I would like to see if I can order recovery disks for it so we can get it up and running again. It is soooo slow but it would still be nice to get it working since we have it anyways.  Of course, we need money for that and with Jeff's busted finger tip and a couple trips downstate coming up, that will be put on hold for a while.
Yeah...Jeff broke the tip of his pinky finger. He was playing his last (league) hockey game of the season and one of his friends slashed him, his pinky was smashed between their sticks. His skin split open so he has a few stitches and a splint on his finger. The doctor said he will eventually lose the finger nail. Check it out if you see him, he's pretty proud. This is his first broken bone ever and he played competitive hockey for 14 years!
Jeff's grandpa hasn't been doing very well lately. The other week we thought we were going to lose him which is the reason we took that trip. The crazy thing is, he looked better than I had seem him in a really long time! He is diabetic so all of the health struggles he's been going through are directly related to that. We've been thinking about him a lot lately.
Speaking of Grandpa, his house is getting emptied out right now (they are having another estate sale soon!) and Jeff and I had a chance to look through all the loot. I found a few things that I was pretty excited about, I'll take pictures soon.
Oh am I glad to have our computer working again! I find so much inspiration and motivation for projects online and when I haven't had access to all that, I haven't made a thing! I have stacks of things to do so I'll be sure to get sewing before Friday!