fishing tales

The hubs entered a fishing tournament this past weekend and if you follow me on instagram you probably saw who took his spot in our bed while he was gone.

We had a nice time just the two of us this past weekend even though I was fighting off a cold.

Daddy came home on Sunday and cleaned up and took my lil guy with him to the weigh-ins which gave me some much needed down time alone in a quiet, peaceful house.

Perfect for getting my rest, except....

I had a long overdue project that I just couldn't ignore anymore so out came the sewing machine.

 

I'll share the details on what I made later (here's a hint) but when my boys came home from the weigh ins lookie lookie what they brought home with them.

 

Dinner AND cash!

Now thats what I'm taking about!

Apparently that fish won him 1st place in that category, yea baby.



the nursing cover

**First of all I need to appologize for the photos in this post. I have been practicing with picnik resizing my images and putting a watermark and I dont know what I did, but half the photos ended up flipped when I uploaded them. I tried my best to fix it, but at 10:15 at night all I can think about is sizing up my pillow ;-)**

So a few times I teased you talking about the fab fabric I got and that I'd worked on some baby shower gifts, finally here it is. Well atleast one of them.

When I became a mother, I realized a lot of things people dont tell you, one of them, when you have to breastfeed.... you have to feed! It dont matter where you are.

There were times when I was shopping at Costco and when your baby wants to eat they want to eat.

From the begining I was determined to have this baby as a part of our lives and not dictate our lives so if that meant whipping my boob out in the middle of my grocery shopping at Costco then so be it.
What made it oh so much easier?
My handy dandy nursing cover!

I just loved, loved mine and so I can't think of a more perfect gift for a new nursing mother.

The first time I made one I used the one I found at Blisstree but I have since made a few adjustments here and there. I think it just depends how big or small you want the nursing cover.

I got two coordinating pieces of fabric and cut the main body at about 24" wide X 32" long and then one at 24" wide X 4" or so long for the bottom trim.
Also cut from the coordinating trim 2 more pieces about 3" wide or so and one at 10" long and one at 20" long for the straps that go around your neck.

Sew the straps together wrong side out so that when you flip them to the right side out, you'll have a nice trim edge. Then sew the trim fabric to the bottom on the large body fabric.

Press the straps nicely and also press the hem on the trim down.

Fold each side in twice and sew a straight stitch and then do the same with the bottom hem as well.

Now with the neck line, you are going to have to get a piece of plastic corset boning. I cut mine at about 15" - 17" long. Fold the hem in once and press. Then place the boning in the center of your nursing cover and fold over again and press. As you can see you made a pocket for your boning to go in.

Pin right next to the sides of the boning so it doesnt move around. You are going to take your two straps and tuck one side under the hem you just pressed right next to each side of your boning.  Straight stitch right along the edge all the way across.

You can see the boning is sewn right in there and wont move.

Go back to the straps and I sew a little square to hold it in place firmly.

At the end of the short strap I put on 2 D rings and then fold over the raw edge once and then once again to tuck it under and hide it. Then sew straight across atleast twice.

And tada!

There you go, super stylish and super convenient.

A life saver in fact!

This one I almost wanted to keep and have another one case it was too cute!

Please dont mind the mess behind me in the pix!

(always keeping it real)

Another update... here is the pix! thanks for waiting!

I'm linking up with the parties listed at the bottom of my page.
Go check them out!

**UPDATE**

Oops sorry I just realized I forgot to upload the final picture!!

Please be patient, it will be up later this evening.

today's creative blog

FABRIC DEALS! ~ Ends today!

I am working on some baby shower gifts for my friend and of course I always head over to Fabric.com... Wholesale to the public!

They have gorgeous fabric and really great prices.

So these are the ones I'm getting for her.

Love them and it's SO her.

I love them so much infact that I'm getting these two for me, I'm really needing an apron.


Can you imagine how pretty an apron in this fabric would be hanging in the kitchen?

Fabric.com ALWAYS has free shipping with purchases of $35.00 or more, but today until midnight they have $10 of a $50 purchase. Score!

Head on over now!

learning the ropes

I'm sort of a self taught sewer.

Is that a word? Looks like sewer as in well, waste.

Anyway, I mean sew-er, cause I aint no seamstress.

This is a good help {here} I love checking out Dana's blog, she has great tutorials, plus a lot of boy stuff.
I also like this one {here} they have a TON of great tutorials as well as a bunch of other fun stuff too.

Besides all the great blogs out there with amazing tutorials that help me along, I also like to go on youtube and watch tutorials.

I came across this one

Does this freak anyone slse out? Or is it just me?

Introducing....

I have been seriouslly slacking on my sewing!

I have tons and tons of fabulous fabric just waiting for me to do stuff with it.

I've been working to get my etsy store up and running and trying to find time to sew is easier said than done around here. I have tons of amazing fabric from my favorite store and now my newest sponsor!!!

Have you noticed this banner up top?



I'd like to introduce to you a sewer's/crafter's best friend... or at least mine ;-)

Fabric.com ---> Check out their button on my sidebar

They are my GO TO fabric store... why?
Because they have TONS of fabulous fabrics at great deals AND FREE SHIPPING on orders of $35 or more!

I'll be posting updates on my sewing projects soon as I get my etsy up and running, so check back for all the things I made with their fab fabrics.

Click here

And I promise you will not be disapointed!!

polka dot garland

Gotta love my cricut.

I needed something different for my son's bday party, something other than streamers.

I saw Diane from home sweet homemade make tons of different paper garlands and I just loved them.

I went to my cricut and cut out a ton of different colored circles.

Then I sewed them together... super simple.

And there you go! Paper garland.

Honestly the easiest thing I ever sewed, or even made for that matter!

Just wait till I show you pictures of it hanging at the party.

I'm linking up {here}

Sewing with bias tape

I was lucky enough this weekend to spend some time learning to sew with bias tape. 

I had one previous encounter with the evil creation about a year ago and it was so bad, I havent looked at the stuff since. Well I have a new attitude and a little more patience (still working on it) so I decided to take the time and read up on it and learn how to use it.

I found a great tutorial on Prudent Baby for a pot holder a while back, oh the fabric is too cute! My Sifu (martial arts instructor) and good friend bought this quilting fabric that he used to recover his kitchen chairs and gave me the leftovers. I just knew thats what I wanted to make.

Already quilted fabric is more expensive but it cut a step out of the process for me.

I'm not sure of the type of batting on the inside so I'm not sure if it will be heat retardant, I'll make sure they use the potholders for display only.

Then it was time for the bias tape part. I went to the tutorial and read probably halfway through and went for it.... WRONG... FAIL

Well actually not completely. But a word to the wise, read all the way through the tutorial and dont think you've got it all figured out. I missed the part about going around corners so I got some sucky corners going on.

I also didnt know you were supposed to open up the bias tape and sew the under side first.

Well, its a process and I'm learning.

I think I didnt do too bad for winging it though.

Here's the first one.

By this time I decided to read through the entire tutorial and leave my computer on as quick reference. The second one I made went by much easier. I still need practice with the corners though.

Tada! I like the way they came out and this was great practice for me. I've learned a few things along the way including now I know why people make their own bias tape. Its easy to go through a lot of it and it gets kinda expensive.

I think I just might be adicted to bias tape, it looks so good. Gives it a real finished look.

We're going over to their house tonight, my hubs helps to teach the kids class and we usually hang out and spend some time together after class and have dinner.

Hope they like it :-)

ps, wonder if its too late to ask for a bias tape maker... christmas is past, whats next valentines day? what kind of valentines gift is that?

I'll be linking to the parties {here}