Baby Update: Week 17 {and a quick sewing project}

Another week down- just 23 more to go! So excited for our ultrasound that is planned for May 9th, and our Gender Reveal Party {more details to come}

In other news- I sewed myself a Coral colored maxi skirt! I just followed this pattern, and it took me 30 minutes. Make one for yourself- they are perfect for summer, pregnant or not! 

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Weekly Sewing Project: Quilted Striped Pillows

Remember the Easy throw pillows I made last week? Well, I think I may have begun a dangerous addiction because today, I sewed those Quilted Striped Pillows I talked about last week.

And now all I want to do is sew more throw pillows. Except I also want to do more quilting! It is time consuming and a little tedious with a crappy bottom of the line machine, but I LOVE the way it looks when it's all finished. I'm on the hunt of an easy quilt pattern or another throw pillow to take on next.

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Weekly Sewing Project: Easy Peasy Throw Pillow Covers

Do you ever have those awful awful things in your house that you walk by every single day and say to yourself  "I really need to fix/clean/trash/burn that thing", but instead of doing something about it, you just ignore it and it just sits there being gross day after day until finally you cannot look at it for one more second or someone is going to lose a body part?

No? Well, then I must be the only one. Because I swear, our couch throw pillows have gotton so much dirt and glitter and snot and black sharpie and yogurt and God knows what else on them they were starting to make me gag every time I sat down. So finally FINALLY I decided that something needed to be done. A quick google search later, I had found this tutorial on how to make quick & easy throw pillow covers. 

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They really only took an hour and a half and I have no idea how much fabric I used because I had a spare piece of black linen in my stash (which I'm sure was supposed to turn into a dress years ago) so this project was *sort of* free. You can mix & match the front and 2 back panels too, so it's easy to get rid of some of your fabric pieces that you've been hoarding for years.

My pillows were 21" x 21", but now I want to create a whole slew of easy couch throw pillows. Perhaps I can try this one next with my leftover black scraps and some white stripes. Perhaps next week?

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Mint Dress Reveal and a Baby Update

I got sick, then I got busy, then I finally had the gumption to do my hair & makeup and VOILA! My mint dress and baby bump....

The dress was fairly easy, albeit a tad confusing. I ended up scrapping the neck and back lining and just hemming the neckline because I was not happy with the sleeves following the pattern directions. I wish I would have just kept it simple and hemmed the sleeves as well, but C'est La Vie. 

I do plan on making another Kimono Dress, perhaps in some navy that I have stashed for another flowy pregnancy dress that will stretch as my belly grows. I would recommend this pattern for a quick weekend sewing project. 

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On another note- I am officially 16 weeks along and knee deep into my second trimester. There wasn't really anything exciting to report or take photos of until now, so I'm starting off my countdown now. Stay tuned for more belly photos, a gender reveal, and more sewing projects!

Today's Project: Mint Kimono Dress

With all the Pins I've been collecting in my Style & Sewing Boards, I thought it was high time to pick a project and sew me up some new Summer Clothes. I need Maternity wear, so I picked out these favorites

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I went to Joanne's and grabbed a mint cotton, a mint with popsicle print cotton sateen, a melon jersey, and a coral floral print cotton. I started with the mint cotton, and this pattern

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I spent the whole day printing the pattern, piecing the pattern together, cutting it out, washing the fabric, pressing the fabric, then cutting out the fabric. Tomorrow is sewing day, then I'll reveal the finished product! 

Free Dress Day

Olivia wears uniforms to school. This is a huge blessing, yet also a curse when it comes tome for "Free Dress Day" because since she gets to wear whatever she {meaning I} wants, it has to be extra fabulous. She informed me today when she got home from school that tomorrow is one of those coveted Free Dress Days. So, I'm on the hunt for a quick, easy, and oh so cute dress to sew for her lickety split and wear to school tomorrow.

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There's so many options to choose from! Which one is your favorite?

On The Seventh Day of Christmas

Better late than never, right? I fell off the blogging wagon Tuesday trying to get these dang skirts done! They are so easy, but a little time consuming and any time around the holidays is non-existent in my opinion. So, without further ado........

I have made this wonderful pattern from Grand Revival before, and I saw christmas twirly skirts at some boutiques this fall with tulle in them and I knew I had to make them for the twinsies.

Evelyn was my reluctant model this morning- she loves pretties in her hair and twirlies on her hips, but she DOES NOT like Momma taking pictures of her. Especially when she just wants to play in the mud by the chickens : /

Anywhoo the skirts are super simple, just follow the Grand Revival directions and then grab a spool of 5 or 6" wide tulle, sew a straight line the middle of a few yards of it and gather. Once you have a strand of gathered tulle, just fold hot dog style with the seam on the top and pin between the layers before you sew them together. Instead of hemming the bottoms of the ruffles, I cut them with pinking shears- makes it cute and shabby. And since I had a plethora of scraps laying around, I made the strips patchwork instead of a solid fabric. More time consuming, but really fun and "free". Don't you love that? Cuter and cheaper is worth extra effort I always say!

Memorial Day Weekend Projects

Soooo, it's Memorial Day Weekend, and I have some big plans. First and foresmost- I have photos to edit, photos to take, and flyers to drop off for hello there! house. I also have to clean my dirty house and tend to a sick Penelope. Oh, and I really want to try and squeeze in a trip to Schnepf Farm to pick peaches. Cripes, I better get off my computer and get to work.

But after that's all done, I really want to do some sewing this weekend. Olivia is in desperate need of some new clothes since she has sprouted like a weed, and my own wardrobe definitely lacking. Remember when I asked people to vote on a new sewing project a couple of months ago? Well this was the winner:

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It looks easy enough, so I think I may give it a whirl today. Also, I am thinking about one of these:

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And I need to make my La La some dress- maybe a couple of these:

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Here's to a happy, productive Memorial Day Weekend!

Inspiration to Creation: Project 3

Are you ready for my latest Inspiration to Creation? My idea for this project came from this chair done by Miss Mustard Seed:

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I went to the good ole' Goodwill by my house and scored this broken cane-backed chair for $13.


Then I followed the tutorial Miss Mustard Seed had on her blog about how to do the chair above. There's 3 posts in all- one on the finishing, one on the upholstered back, and one on the pleated slipcover.

Here's the process of the finishing:


First I painted it in the Georgian Blue from Sherwin Wililams- I just bought the $6 sample size


Then I dry brushed it with the French Grey from Behr- used the $3 sample size


Next I sanded the whole thing down with a coarse sandpaper to scratch up the paint really good and burnish the edges. Here is where I made a change from Miss Mustard Seed's tutorial: I used a Salem colored stain to glaze the piece instead of using actual faux finish glaze, just because we have it on hand for Braden's furniture finishing.

I also wanted to add a little more pizzaz to the piece so I bought some metallic silver & gold acrylic paint from JoAnne's and added some random smudges of gold & silver to the piece. It made a HUGE difference!




So there's the Finishing Process, then I followed her directions for the seat slipcover & the upholstery. Braden was in charge of the stapler gun naturally, since i was bound to shoot myself in the foot (literally). I don't have pictures of that process though. Again I jzsoojed up the MMS tutorial by adding some ruffled flowers that were inspired by April Meeker, who was sweet as peach pie to share the secret to these!

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All the upholstery is done with canvas dropcloth from the painting section at home depot!

And here is the full reveal! Ta-dahhh!


I'm super happy with it. Bows, ruffle flowers, pleated skirted slipcovers, and metallic distressed paint? All my favorite things in one chair.