I don't know why I put my sewing machine away...

I cleaned up our office two nights ago and put my sewing machine away. The very next day I got it out to sew again... I'm not sure why I put it away in the first place.

Speaking of sewing... I have been doing a lot of that lately. I have been paid to do it a few times even! Sometimes that's fun, sometimes it takes the fun out of it. Here's a picture update of the things I have sewn.

This is the wedding dress (and friend of Jonathan's) I blogged about. This dress was a size 6, and fit somone 5'10, and this girl is a 00 and with 4 inch heels was about 5'2". It was a project, but it felt good to feel like I can still work on wedding dresses.

This car seat cover I made for my sister in law, and as I was making it I really felt like it wasn't her style, so I made her a new one (that I forgot to take a picture of) and sold this one! I love it, I think it's adorable!

These garters I made for another friend of Jonathan's. She's getting married this month and I told her I would make a veil for her, then out of the blue she asked if I could whip up a garter for her. So I did. I had a lot of fun doing it. (Above: the one she'll keep)

(Below: the one her husband will throw)

The veil I made. I'm not sure if I will ever make another one for money, it's not a lot of work but it's a ton of time! I love the way it turned out though.

 This dress is a perfect example of why I don't like sewing clothing. I bought this dress (that didn't have sleeves) thinking it would be a super quick, and very easy project. Nope. I failed to check the back of the dress and it has a sports bra type back which makes adding sleeves a lot more complicated. I probably spent a good 45 minutes figuring out a pattern that would be long enough (because the width of the shoulders wasn't good either) and work for the funky back. Then when I put it up to the fabric I cut off the bottom there wasn't enough fabric. So I made due with what I had and cut two sleeves. Then I realized I cut two left sleeves! GRRRR! Of course, I didn't have enough fabric to cut another sleeve, so I had to cut a sideways sleeve, which I knew would lay funny. When I put it on, it BARELY covered my shoulders and my garments... BOO! But I love the bottom of it, I just hate the top. Oh well, I'll probably still wear it. I think it will be a very comfortable summer prego dress, which is what it's supposed to be.

New Year's Resolution

Often, every new year comes and goes and I make a long list (often the same list) of resolutions that I want to do. More often than not, I don't do many if any of them.
Not this year! I have only set one real goal (besides my continual goals to become more spiritual, and to be better at writing in my journal...) Be better at keeping my house clean. This year I have a plan. Do you want to hear it? ... well see it?

[caption id="attachment_998" align="aligncenter" width="640"] I whipped this out today. I'm very happy with it (side note: I think I say that about everything I post that I do... naturally I'm not going to post anything I'm not happy with)[/caption]

... The older I get, the more I realize how similar I am to my mom. She's a list person, I write a lot of lists... Like this one. The one major difference between my lists and hers are that she spends a lot of time writing them, but then ends it there... I spend a lot of time writing them, and then I spend a lot of time making them something nice to look at... So... I waste a lot more time than she does. ;)

Sew much to do

Remember when I said I needed to whip out a carseat cover before I could work on a gift for Robert and Ruth? Ya, I whipped it out. I did a new idea in hopes it would save me time, ya it didn't. But it looks ok, so that's all that matters :)

[caption id="attachment_973" align="aligncenter" width="300"] side one[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_974" align="aligncenter" width="300"] side 2. I think I like this side better, maybe because I didn't stare at it for hours on end :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_975" align="aligncenter" width="300"] yay! It's reversible![/caption]

Oh, and I never posted pictures of J&S's carseat cover. Here it is.

[caption id="attachment_971" align="aligncenter" width="300"] side one. I had to do puppies because Sadie loves puppies so much[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_972" align="aligncenter" width="300"] cars and trucks... because she's having a boy, and boys like those things :)[/caption]

Busy Busy Busy

Wondering why I'm not updating the blog? Because it's pretty low on the priority list. I feel like a crafting machine... I feel like all I have been doing is crafting, oh, and shopping. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but I think I'll be happy when this week is over. Just a tad overwhelmed...

Why am I crafting so much you ask? Because I am getting ready for a Christmas Cookie Exchange, (a relief society activity). Here's one of the things I have done for it (oh, and I get to keep it and use it for my front door :) )

I think I'm going to add a silver bow on the top to finish it off. I'm quite happy with it.

 

Crafty Missy

I think I have failed to document the last few crafts I have done. Here comes the documentation. :)

[caption id="attachment_935" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Look at these chairs! Aren't they ugly? Ya... those ain't goin' to be in my house like that fo' long.[/caption]

also, notice how dull the room looks.

[caption id="attachment_936" align="aligncenter" width="300"] dem are gross[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_937" align="aligncenter" width="300"] aaaahhhh! That's so much better![/caption]

Wow! There's an added brightness if I do say so myself.

[caption id="attachment_938" align="aligncenter" width="300"] AW! Aren't they cute?[/caption]

Here's something I literally did during nap time. I always hear of projects that can be done during nap time... Ya, that never happens. This, however, did!

[caption id="attachment_939" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Before... see the pooling of fabric by my feet? Ya, I'd prefer that go away...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_940" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ta-Da! So much better![/caption]

Thankful Day 13

Today I'm thankful for hobbies. I have so many hobbies that I don't know what to focus on. Well, I have so many things I'm interested in that I don't know what to with.

I'm glad that I can have things that I enjoy working on/doing, and that give me a mental break from mommyhood.

Getting into crafting

There are so many things I feel like I could blog about right now. I think I'm going to talk about my awesome projects that I'm going to work on.

I spent a significant amount of time last week shopping for fabric. I did it online at fabric.com. I am quite impressed with them! I got the fabric yesterday and man! It's cute!! I'm so excited! So... what am I going to make out of it? Well... let me tell you. I'm going to change this... 

into hopefully something cute :) I bought some yellow and white fabric for the back, and I'm going to buy some white vinyl for the bottom! I'm so excited! I think it's going to be cute!

I also bought some ADORABLE fabric for a carseat cover for J&S's baby coming in December.

Then yesterday I went to Joann's and bought some fabric for a blanky for R&R's baby that we're going to see this next weekend!

Let the sewing begin!!!

Carseat Cover

The carseat cover that I made for my friend got to her yesterday, so that means I can post pictures of it! I was really nervous about how it turned out, but she said she loves it... so that's all that matters.

[caption id="attachment_765" align="aligncenter" width="300"] This is the outside[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_769" align="aligncenter" width="300"] It's reversable, this is the inside side on the outside[/caption]



I find that with every project I do, I'm more and more happy with the outcome. It's like I'm getting better or something :). The only problem with that is that I'm always the one with the worst of my projects, I guess I'd rather that then someone else having to be stuck with them.

Project updates

What have I been working on the past few months to keep myself busy you ask? Well I'll show you!

[caption id="attachment_443" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I believe I mentioned that I got a chair for free. This is it, before anything was done to it.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_444" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Here it is straight on...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_442" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I finally finished it this week! It's not perfect, actually there are quite a few things that I'm not in love with, but didn't hate enough to change. One being the way the stripes lay. I really wanted the main cushions to have vertical stripes, but the ONLY way I could have enough fabric was to have the stripes go horizontally. I also BARELY had enough batting to pad it as much as I did, I would have liked to pad it more... Oh well. You live and learn.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_441" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The front view.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_445" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I finished this nursing cover for myself today! I LOVE it![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I did it double sided (one is obviously the pink leopard) and the other is brown with tiny polka dots. Then I added the opposite band on each side. I'm super happy with the way it turned out.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_447" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I love the bow too :)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Here's the back, on the right is a small pocket (for binkies, or nipple cream etc) and the left is a wash cloth that I sewed on so I can wipe off spit up, or leaking milk.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_449" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Here's a single sided nursing cover I made for a client on my MissyLee Baby boutique! The funny thing is I originally purchased that fabric for myself, then decided that I didn't like it enough for me (it wasn't "me" if you know what I mean) and luckily, my client liked it![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_451" align="aligncenter" width="224"] One more nursing cover (thanks to Janelle for letting me borrow her machine over Christmas) This one I added the ruffles to, I thought it turned out super cute! Also, I love the way she is posing, because you can see how WIDE my nursing covers are! I hear that's awesome when it comes to trying to actually stay covered... Weird.[/caption]

I also have made another diaper bag that I wanted to post pictures of, but the files are too big, and I'm too lazy to make them smaller... so check them out on my MissyLee facebook page!

Fun Weekend!

We had a really fun weekend this weekend. On Friday we went to one of Jonathan's coworkers places for a barbecue, we didn't stay too late since everyone was drinking, and we were tired. But I really like how much of a camaraderie there is with all of his coworkers. They often spend a lot of time together, which never happened with Jonathan's last internship. I'm a fan.

Saturday we didn't have anything planned, so I finished my dress that I have been working on. I don't think I mentioned that I was working on one, the goal was to make a loosly fitting dress so that I could wear it during that awkward stage of pregnancy when I start showing but don't want people to know that I'm pregnant. Well, I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and put it on and I looked like a pioneer, or an Amish person... not really the look I was going for. I was trying to make it so that I didn't have to put a zipper in it, but it turns out that fabric that doesn't stretch made too loose looks like a pillow case when worn... who knew? I had some ideas of how to fix it, but after putting so much time and effort into the dress to not have it work is really discouraging; so I took a break. I picked it back up this week and started unpicking, yesterday I really got into it and I finished it (including putting a zipper in without a zipper foot! Not the easiest thing)! I'm still a little self concious, that it might look slightly pioneer-ish, but I wore it today anyway, and I got a few compliments. That boosted my confidence in it's cuteness. I needed those compliments especially since I don't have a full length mirror to self evaluate before I go out somewhere... (I'll post pictures, if I can figure it out)

Then last night we decided to make homemade pizza! We had a good time topping our pizzas. There are a few things that kids love to eat and usually grow out of when they get older. This was true for me except for a few things, Hawaiian Pizza, and double chocolate chip muffins from Costco. So, with that being said, I made Hawaiian, and Jonathan made pepperoni. (side note: They didn't have pineapple tidbits at Walmart so I got crushed, and I am now in love. I can have pineapple in every bite!) As we were waiting for our pizza to cook, Jonathan found some scraps from my dress and made himself a ninja head band. Naturally, he made me one... then the discovery hit, "we're ninjas and we're eating pizza? Let's be Ninja Turtles!" He was Michael-Angelo and I was Donatello because I was wearing purple. We had a good time wearing our head bands and trying to eat like turtles, (it didn't last long because the pizza was hot, and it was hard to hold).

I'm so glad that we have so much fun together, I kinda like it.

[caption id="attachment_80" align="alignnone" width="225"] Before: You can tell on my face that I'm not happy with it[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_81" align="alignnone" width="225"] After: Much better![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_86" align="alignnone" width="300"] our Ninja Turtle high five (our fingers split apart at the last second[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_89" align="alignnone" width="300"] MMM... Full, happy bellies![/caption]