Shorts Shorts Shorts

I have been cranking out the shorts! So far we have seersucker, madras and gingham and I'm not done yet! I have found that I can work pretty quickly when I cut everything out and sew everything at the same time.

Plus Tyler obviously supports my "art" because he surprised me a few weeks ago and got me a serger! I mean what a guy, what a stand up guy!

He even got me these cute labels for Christmas last year. I am taking these gifts as small hints that he wants me to start making all of his clothes as well. Think I'm right?

B-boy's 2 Month Photos

It has been too long, I know. My mom has been fussing at me for being such a horrible blogger. I guess I deserve it thought. I know it's cruel to keep you all waiting with bated breath!

So without further ado, I present to you....My chubby 2 month old!

 

 

 

 

 

His mustache is not the only thing that has grown since last month. He is a whopper! We went to the doc yesterday for an ear infection (boo!!) and he weighted in at 14 lbs 4 oz and 24 1/4 in long!

 

So what else is going on, you ask? Well I am on my 3rd week of work and B-boy is enjoying his school. He comes home telling me all about the cute girl in his French class and demands that he show me how he learned to poach an egg in home ec. Okay that is not true. But he does seem to love his teachers and they love him too so all is well in my book!

 

A few more quick and dirty facts:

- with him being sick, his sleeping his not is up to par (last night he did 6 and half hour stretch so I hope that is progress) 

- He is super duper happy in the morning and is getting way less fussy in the evenings

- Yes, we STILL love using cloth diapers

- Breastfeeding is still going well with me back at work

 

Now on to other topics. BEES!!! We don't have any bees at this moment but I am finishing up my Beginning Beekeepers class and I'm super pumped about starting again in the spring. Just as I suspected, this year was a learning year (i.e. I messed everything up and now know what NOT to do!) but I feel very prepared for next year!

 

I have also been doing a good amount of sewing. Check out Boyd's cool corduroy pants with the not so functional knee patches. Yes, this was my first pair with patches so they are NO WHERE near where his knees actually are. Minor detail.

 

 

I think that is about it for now but I'll try to be a better blogger from here on out. However, I make no promises!

 

Boyd is Ready for School!

 Sitting at home every day started taking it's toll on me so I decided it was time to do something productive. Yes, I know that keeping a baby alive is considered very productive but I needed more. So I figured it was a good time to whip out the ole sewing machine and make the little man a backpack! I mean, what 1 month old doesn't need a backpack, he will be walking himself to school in a few months right? Ok, ok maybe in a year ;). So until then I'm hoping we can use this as his school diaper bag; it could be too small but I guess I'll find out when he starts daycare in a few weeks.

Sorry for the poor picture quality but iPhone pictures sure are convenient!

The Big Nursery Reveal

Boyd's room is FINALLY finished! I guess that is what happens when you decide to DIY everything! Sewing his bedding and curtains was far easier than I had thought and I must say it was very fulfilling. Not to mention it kept me occupied on those freakishly hot days when going outside was not really an option!

Yes, I know, it kind of looks like a 30 year old woman should be living in his room but I'm not a "baby" person so we went with a more grown up style. And yes, I am aware that we are about to have baby but that doesn't mean that it has to look like Babies-R-Us threw up all over our house.

 We may not like "baby" stuff but we do like lambs! See, we are making progress!

 We used the same dresser that was already in the room and found this great map for FREE online!

Because every baby needs a stash of his very own personalized burp cloths! It's like the pocket square for babies!

The paddles came from my grandfather and we figured they made the room look a bit more manly!

In case you didn't know, his full name is Boyd Sutherland Caldwell. Both Boyd and Sutherland are family names of ours and good strong Scottish names each with their own tartan. The pillow on the chair is actually made from the official Sutherland tartan. What kid doesn't need his own fabric after all?! Here are some other variations of the Sutherland tartan and here is a picture of the Boyd tartan.

His stash of cloth diapers... that is an entire post of it's own!!

His giraffe was given to hin by my mom's youngest sister and her family. I.LOVE.IT!

Morbid Mexican postcards from our trip to Austin. Very appropriate for babies, right?! Can you see Tyler in the reflection!?

Strongbow patiently waiting for his brother to get here. He likes to tell me that he is breaking in the chair for us. What a giver!

One of my very imperfect preggo projects. Tyler is so thrilled that Boyd is now well stocked with dresses!

So there you have it, our low budget nursery fit for a 30 year old woman or a baby boy with impeccable taste!

Speaking of baby boys, I'm a few days shy of 39 weeks and dilated 2 cm in case you were curious. According to the good doc that translates to " any day now." Wish us luck!

** if you are interested in sewing your own baby bedding, PLEASE feel free to pick my mind. I am no expert but I can tell you about my experience. It was super easy and where there is a will there is a way!

DIY Hosptial Delivery Gown

I have really gotten dorky these days! I think being 37 weeks pregnant has made me a bit obsessive; so I have been safely taking out these obsessive tendencies on sewing projects. I have made outfits for Baby Boyd, embroidered his burp cloths (yes, I know that it's stupid to embroider things that the kid is going to barf all over but, hey, I get bored on Sundays), and to top it all off I decided that it would be a brilliant idea to make a hospital delivery gown so that I can look super preppy and way too excited on d-day. I had never even heard of this idea until Tyler and I went to Austin and saw a woman selling some super cute/super expensive ones at a street fair. I had found my next challenge.

When we got home I did a little googling and came across this pattern.  

 

Sorry for the not so flattering photo! I'm 9 months preggo, remember?!

I used the pattern but took everyone's advice and made the following alterations:

1. added 6 inches to the length
2. cut 2 "right sides" for the back instead of a left and right to make sure I had plenty of fabric to cover my rotund buttocks
3. used snap tape instead of buttons on the shoulder
4. used bias tape on all seams instead of hemming
5. skipped the pocket directions and added my own pocket below the hip 

It ties at the top, inside left, outside right, and bottom (not tied in this pic and probably not necessary).

 

Snaps at the shoulder for feedings..just like the normal hospital gowns.

 Here is the breakdown of materials:

2.75 yards fabric

3 packages of double fold bias tape

1 package of snap tape

2 rolls of ribbon (one thicker for around my waist and one thinner for ties)

 

The project took me about 2 days start to finish and is by no means perfect but it was fun to make. So thank you "uuber preppy, over the top, and far too brightly colored" hospital gown for taking my mind off of my impending life change for a few hours! It's all about the small things in life!  

My Productive Weekend

It has been one eventful and productive weekend! We started things off early with Tyler's womenless beauty pageant on Thursday night which benefited the Joy to Life Foundation here in Alabama. I beg you to check out this video, its pretty entertaining!

Saturday morning I joined my Hello Gorgeous Teammates and ran the 2012 Walk of Life followed by a trip to the downtown curb market to pick up some local veggies for the week. After a brief resting period I managed to get my sew on and pump out a cute pair a pants for my nephew, Hutton. Not perfect, but they were my first pair and I have a feeling that he won't notice considering he is only 9 weeks old. After my sewing extravaganza I headed back downtown to check out Tyler's photography booth at the first annual Montgomery Street Fair. He and his friend Hilary from Pint Bottle Photography had a great looking booth and got lots of foot traffic.

Come Sunday I was refreshed and ready for some more sewing. I made another cute pair of pants and managed to shave about an hour off of Saturday's time plus my second pair looked a good bit better than the first. Sorry Hutton but your Dad liked the fabric of the test run better so you will have to sacrifice quality!

Aren't they cute?! Hutton gets the pair on the right and my main man Boyd gets the pair on the left. They were sooooo easy to make once I made a few little tweaks. You can find the free pattern here.

After I finished sewing I was still feeling productive so I decided to make a loaf of whole wheat sourdough bread and a batch of mozzarella cheese which actually ending up with the consistency that I wanted (first time EVER)! More salt next time though; I'm learning!

So as you can tell, my energy level has been pretty high during my second trimester. I guess this means that I better take advantage of my mojo while I have it!

Baby bump pictures and nursery updates to come!

Guestroom Update

Well we have finally found a hot minute or two to do some updates on the house. Nothing extreme, just a few little things that I have been meaning to get to lately.

One such thing is the bed skirt from my childhood bed that is about 4 inches too short for our guest room bed. Nice....

You can't fully appreciate the horror in this picture but it was all I had. Nothing like a too short, ruffled, white on white bed skirt to perk up a room!

Anyway, my kind and patient friend Blair devoted 3 hours of her Saturday morning to help me tackle the project of making a box pleated bed skirt to replace the old one. She has made a few in her day so she made it look so easy. In truth, it was not too hard and MUCH cheaper than buying a custom made one for my taller than normal bed.

Ta daa....the finished product!

Not perfect but for my first try and only $35 total I would say I did alright! Thanks for all the help Blair!!

"Super" Gift Idea

Here is how this random project came about: Tyler and I were invited to a Ever's 2 year old birthday party this weekend and I was determined to bring my A-game in the gift department! You see being the only child of model/photographer/musician parents meant that I didn't think a normal monogrammed beach bag was going to do the trick! So I decided to think outside the box on this one and what did I come up with? Duh, what kid doesn't need a superhero cape?! I'm not talking about a generic, cheap shiny fabric kind of cape, I'm talking about a personalized, washable, you can play in this thing until your face falls off kind of cape!

So Saturday morning, with my 40% off coupons in tow, I marched over to Joann's and made the magic happen. I picked up 1 yard of solid colored broad cloth, 1 yard of fun printed fabric, Velcro squares, 2 colors of felt, and some good ole "friendship bracelet" thread. Yes, I still refer to cross stitching thread as friendship bracelet thread.

Next up, I stole one of Tyler's ugly old king sized pillowcases from his bachelor days and did my best to make a template from scratch. I took it over to Blair's house so I could test it out on her 2 year old daughter and it seemed to work pretty well. So I headed back to the studio (aka my dining room) and started working away. I traced and cut out both pieces of fabric, sewed them together (good side to good side), then flipped it so that it had the good sides faced out. Next, I pressed the seams, did a finishing stitch all the way around and sewed on the Velcro for the neck.
I hired Tyler for the next part, he used his master geometry/drawing/cutting skills to create and cut out a perfectly symmetrical capital E and a not so symmetrical but equally awesome starburst. I used my cool friendship bracelet thread to secure the E and then used a zig-zag stitch for the starburst. And TA-DA it was finished!

 I am not going to lie, I think Tyler and I were way more excited about this thing than the birthday boy ever could be and even Strongbow begged and pleaded to try it on!

 
If you need a superhero cape for your next event let me know and I bet I can make it happen!

More Clothes...

First things first, Lady Gaga rocked my face off! My sweet husband suprised me with tickets for Christmas and yesterday we made the short drive to Atlanta to see her in all her glittered glory! Great show!

Now on to more family friendly topics...check out my newest creation. I'm digging the whale.

I went with snap tape this time instead of sewing on the snaps one by one and it cut out some serious time.  I also got lazy and used the automatic button feature on my Mom's machine. I can sew on a button in about 10 seconds. No lie.

Best looking model on the runway, wouldn't you say?

Little by Little

It's not much, but we have made a few updates to the bedroom and slowly but surely things are looking a little better. I still have some progress to make but baby steps make me feel a little less lazy so I'll go with it.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

On another note, I have made some progress on my embroidery and appliqueing. I haven't completely botched much lately so that is a huge step in the right direction!

I made this for the baby of some friends of ours. The husband happens to be a guitar player and I think it came out pretty good for only being the third thing I have ever attempted to applique.

Over and out...