Pajama Day

Two posts back to back .... well I wanted to post the projects in order of completion!
Last week and this past week end was filled with dance rehearsals and dance recitals for the little MEC. Her performance was endangered by a nasty bee sting.
Well you see for the last few months MEC has lived with her hands glued to the floor doing cartwheels, hand stands etc... so when she was practicing her cartwheel in the grassy area at school the day before the big big stage she must have disturbed a bit and she stung her in retaliation!
The sad part is that there are a lot of dance moves requiring a fully functional right wrist! She did very well considering her impediment....

Back to the PJ party, every year after the big big stage the kids get to dance in their PJ to top it all it is PJ day at school tomorrow. So yesterday MEC tells me mom I need a new pair of PJ, I want some baggy one and a tee shirt like Taylor Swift in the music video of "You Belong to Me".

Luckily I have been stashing a bit by sewers standards of fabric and I had the perfect flannel! I know it is summer but you gotta do what you gotta do!

For the bottom I used the "Lazy day Pajamas" by Blank Slate Pattern. The flannel has hot pink, pink, dark gray and light gray graphic about music which is fitting since she will be wearing it at dance! I chose white flannel for the contrast bottom. I made piping with a light gray bias tape I have. This was again a quick sew. I started by cutting and taping the pattern and finished up everything in a little over 2H00. Again I screwed up the elastic which ended up twisted inside and too big! The one modification I would make to the pattern is adding 1inch to the waist piece. 

The top was made with the Field Trip Raglan Tee shirt by Oliver and S. I happen to have the pattern printed woot and I just had to cut the right size. I up-cycled an Eddie Bauer tee shirt that had gotten the boot from my husband's closet because the bottom rolls up! I had some pink cotton jersey purchased a while back at Fabrics.com and the neck band was a light gray ribbed cotton.
This took me a little over an hour to sew. I am proud to say that for once there is not white thread dangling off that tee shirt! It is probably the best tee I sewed and was able to adjust the tension of my serger so the white thread does not show too much :)

Here is the PJ in action.... Hip Hop move baby!

I need to go scrounge some XXXL tee shirt or jersey dresses on sale at Old Navy Marshall or maybe even Target! These are sometimes the best source of knit fabric!

"Beau comme un camion rouge"

From the french expression "Handsome like a red truck!" I won't attempt to explain where this expression comes from but it is often used when talking to a boy.
I try to be fair and sew something for my girl followed by something for my boy.

I have to admit that I feel I am afraid I'm reaching the boundaries of using PDF pattern straight out of the box. Most patterns I bought a while back have a max age between 8yrs and 12yrs. This means I have to master a new skillset pattern grading!

Back to our "red truck", MAC chose a bright red twill and blue stripe searsucker for his new pair of short! I used the  for a pair of shorts in a bright red twill and blue stripe searsucker pockets.

The pattern used for this pair of shorts was the Clean Slate Pant from Blank Slate Pattern. I used the size 8 tried to make it a tad more baggy and slightly longer. Every seam besides the outside edge of the pants were double top stitched in white contrast. I did not sew the zipper and button but opted for the faux zip using the technique learned while sewing MEC and MAX Oliver and S short. I did opt for a flat front.
However as usual I did underestimate the size of the elastic and the shorts are a little too big at the waist.

It was an easy sew and was whipped in a couple of hours.
The shorts a little narrower than I would like and for the next pair I have attempted to grade the pattern to size 10 and 12. However I totally went with my gut and my scientific approach to things.

However I think it is about time for me to learn a bit more about the science of grading pattern and this online class by Melly Sew may be just the thing .....

Lets try again

Let's give another go at this blogging thing! As you may have noticed I have been MIA most of this year, a little bit because well I have been super duper busy with things not really worth blogging about, and a little bit because well I have been struggling with what I want to blog about.

So I think this place will be to post things that I like in general but not so much about me if that makes sense. Things I like - Crafts, Decoration, Fashion, Food and pretty things in general.

So let's try this again shall we....

We have moved at the end of last August and most of my creative energy has been spent turning this house of ours into a home! We have still quite a long ways to go but our home is slowly emerging. I will try to post before and after pictures....

In this house I do have a sewing room/guest room and after clearing up the mess a bit I started sewing again after a 6 months hiatus.

I fell in love with this fabric and debated on using it for a PJ set or a skirt!

I remembered the Market Skirt by "Dana Made It" that I always wanted to make but never found the time to. I rummaged through my stash of fabric and found some blue twill, some red bias tape and whipped this skirt for MEC

I love how a very simple sew turned out so nice and very JCrew like. I may even make one for myself!

Of course I had to tweak the pattern a bit to fit my fabric and thus the bottom layer is much higher than what Dana has in her pattern. Besides that I kept the same width ratio.

Layer 1 - 1.4 * waist

Layer 2 - 1.6 * layer 1

Layer 3 - 1.2 * layer 2

Next time I would probably increase the ratio of layer 3 in order to have a fuller third tier if I keep it that high. 

I really like the bias tape at the bottom I find it ties the skirt. I have a small rectangle left to be used to make a cute pocket on a skirt or an accent for a dress.

Next up some fire red shorts based on the Clean Slate Pants by Blank Slate Pattern 

abstract or not

Trying to strike a balance between abstract and detailed... still working on it

Work in progress, only the third watercolor in 5 years....

watercolors

I'm back at my parents for three weeks of vacation in the french country side.
I dug out my dad's forgotten watercolor box, a cute little black box with a bunch of square of colors and a golden brush. I love it I have the same. Mine is also forgotten somewhere in my painting bin amidst the chinese brush painting brushes and pigment.
I love painting supplies.
Anyways sitting in the garden looking at things around me made me want to take pictures. Unfortunately I packed my camera but forgot the charger.... So I have to try my hand at painting again.
It is rusty but here are a few of my first tries.... maybe when we settle in our new home my little black watercolor box will be close to me often....

Bike shed at my parents house in Burgundy.

Tried to recreate the dark gray skies above the golden wheat fields... 

4 cousins going horse back riding.

In the sewing department, I have made a pair of shorts using a Oliver & S boy pant pattern loved the pattern and made the picnic shorts a pleasure to sew. 

Interesting find

No sewing or crafting lately.
Last week end we were very busy and I will share why with you later this week hopefully. MAC had a birthday party to attend at 6pm on Saturday pretty far south from us. Not the most convenient location and time but he was really excited.
My husband and I really really don't have a liking for birthday parties whether it is for our own kids or attending others. We like the few friends we hang out with a lot and that's about it. I know very very asocial of us, actually probably more introverts.....
So we drop of Miles to this birthday party at Ultrazone a lazer tag thing and go run a few errands with MEC at home depot and then we are in need of a place to eat.
We are in the sports arena area which is not known for their haute cuisine, to make matter worse we are all hungry tired and cranky. B is also sick....

So we need to find a good place to eat and fast!

I pull up my phone and yelp a restaurant in the neighborhood which isn't too greasy or boring.

Taste of Himalaya a nepali/indian place pops up with lots of stars. We are a bit reluctant to try but decide to drive by and see what it looks like! Well it was kind of a hole in the wall but with a lot of people in so we decide to give it a shot!
I'm really glad we did it was delicious! B who went to India said the flavors reminded him of his trip there.

We had chicken tika masala and it was delish. It may not be the best place for kids especially if they are not super into spices. However they served us a complimentary dal soup that MEC found absolutely delicious!

All in all it was a great success!

Ultrazone is another great success of the night! MAC had an awesome time there with his friends. The moms were actually super nice and we had a friendly chat.

MAC wants his birthday party there and it is probably the first organized birthday party that I approve of. Now we just have to find the time to invite his friends and make reservation... especially since his birthday was yesterday!!!!!

Not much

Nothing creative is happening at this house! Unfortunately my full time job, the family and my interest in diverse books and shows are eating up my free time to sew booh.

I did start a pair of shorts for MAC based on the Oliver and S pattern Field trip cargo pants and some houndtooth fabric to make a statement!

I have to say so far I love the quality of the pattern and I learn to do things the right way! Win win right!. Unfortunately I won't be able to finish them for a while because I have to pack all my sewing things back in the garage for a little bit of time. You see my sewing room is the dining room and every once in a while we need to use that room for its intended purpose. To be honest we also need to have this room clean. I love seeing my sewing mess in display but not all agree with me!

We also have gone a lot to the mountain lately to do a little bit of this....

I wish but mostly this!

I have always loved the snow and mountain probably because I never actually had to shovel any of it ;) 

The kids are old enough to learn snowboarding and since we live by the beach, our big trips are taken to visit family in France (I know tough right). We decided that our family and friends vacation would be to go snowboarding! 

It is an amazing experience to see you kids develop and they both love it. At 6, MEC is going down blues saying Yeeeeeh and clapping her hand! MAC is tooling around having a blast!

Anyways the season is done for us as the summer is looming! 

Music Love

I thought I would take a minute off of work to list a few current music favorites:

• The XX is a group I discovered a several months ago with their no-lyrics piece "Intro". I have "The XX" radio station on Pandora. I heard Fiction yesterday on Suits (awesome show btw) and it's one of my Fav!
• Other new addition is Lana Del Rey discovered when watched MIB III. I love the song from Pitbull Back in time. One of the female singer has a similar voice than Lana Del Rey.
• Finally if you are into fun and corky lyrics I encourage you to listen to the latest album from Train "California 37". Favorites include "Drive By", "Mermaid", "50 ways to say goodbye".

If you come by my cube and see me rock in front my screen chances are I'm listening to this music!

Happy coding.

2013 Projects

One of my goal this year was to post more of my sewing projects. Unfortunately, I find myself more often than not at my desk to write a post and then scrambling to get the pictures of my phone etc...
So until I streamlined the process you won't have many posts.

However I thought I would share some of the patterns I have already purchased and some I'm planning to purchase.

A few month ago I bought a bunch of the Blank slate patterns and started making projects. I am almost done with a blazer for my son, I used her vintage tee pattern as a starting point to make fleece for the kids. I am using it again to make PJ top along with the PJ bottom from the christmas pj pattern.
Unfortunately I haven't mastered the neck quite yet.

Just a couple of weeks ago I have expanded my kids pattern collection.
First I purchased two patterns at Clever Charlotte. I chose the summery ones as we are exiting the cold here in Southern California.

Then, I splurged over at Oliver and S and bought the following 4 patterns, I would not be surprised if I have another one lurking in my inbox that I completely forgot about.

Next step I'd like to start sewing for myself and will shortly buy the following patterns from Wiksten, Sewhaholic and make it perfect, I saw a lot of versions of those tops on the various blogs I follow and I really like how they turn out. Now we will see how it works for me.

Now I have to finish the christmas pj I was supposed to give a month ago and maybe I will be able to start on some of those projects soon!

Also a lot of babies are popping around me so I think there will be some baby gifts as well.

Now if I could only figure out how to easily post the pictures that I take of the project I make along with the post that will be grand!

2013

So I'm one year older and wiser I hope! I don't have many new years resolution besides try to sew more for the kids, for the family kids, for the friend of the family kids and maybe for me ;)
Since I have decided to buy patterns, this has opened the door to more project for a wider range of people.

Another resolution is to be more diligent at posting step by step of my projects. This requires taking pictures and posting the pictures!

The other day I stumbled upon this quote which I love:
You can do anything not everything!
This will be my 2013 moto.

Snickerdoodles love

I really love that word, honestly for a non american the first time someone told me that I thought they were joking, then when I understood they were cookies I was expecting something peanut buttery.... Now they are our new favorite cookies.
Anyways my friend gave us a bag of home snickerdoodle they were so delicious that between the four of us the bag lasted hmmmm 2hours. Yum!

So inspired I went on the net to look for a recipe. Those are the family favorites and super easy to whip together. I think the kids will find that in their lunchbox soon. Speaking of which I need to do some serious thinking around lunches....
Here is the recipe I found not remembering from where and I can't seem to find the recipe at this time but here it goes.

1 1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of butter at room temp
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Sugar

2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/3 cup of sugar

Mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well in between. Add the vanilla and incorporate/mix well. In a separate bowl mix in the flour, baking powder and salt mix well. Then add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.

Preheat your oven at 400F
If the dough is too soft you can stick in the fridge covered for 2 hours. I don't have any patience so I just roll my dough right then into 1inch ball, roll them in cinnamon sugar then put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper spaced about 2 inches apart.
Flatten with the bottom of a glass to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cook for 7-10 min (mine are done in 7) until the edges of the cookies are golden and the center is still soft.

Enjoy!

Noel

We always try to keep Christmas magical whether it is just us with the kids the current norm, us visiting family in France the old norm that we are missing, or us with family visiting the exception but maybe the upcoming norm.
This year we hosted Christmas for the first time since I moved to the states. My in laws came to spend Christmas with us and the kids. It was great. Look we even decorated the fireplace with snow flakes and cinnamon ornaments. Thanks to my very patient mother in law who spent hours cutting the snowflakes with MEC. It was quite an operation.

We are hoping that the dark gray rug will survive our grubby feet

Our tradition is to have a fancy dinner on Christmas eve and Christmas day is spent playing with toys and lounging in our PJs.... Which means that usually on the 24th I'm running around like a mad woman, finishing the kids fancy clothes, going to the store to buy food and cleaning up. Of course B is there to help as well. This year finishing MEC's dress took longer than expected maybe because we had company. I didn't have time to really finish it note to self still need to serge the lining of the dress and finish the arms oops. MAC didn't want to wear his jacket so I didn't even bother finishing it.

Dinner was delicious! To munch on something while drinking champagne, I prepared gougeres, and had a cheese plate. For dinner, I made standing rib roast recipe courtesy of Williams Sonoma with mashed potatoes and a big salad followed by the deep dish apple streusel from the same source. The dinner was super delicious. 

I was trying not to panick when my husband and his dad left for the Apple store at 4:30pm to buy new iphones. Luckily they were back at 6pm and the standing rib roast while too cook for my taste was still moist and oh so delicious. 

The tradition after the kids are in bed is packing their gifts frantically while sipping some more wine in front of a movie. We chose to watch Fly Fishing in the Yemen since we could not find the subtitles for Les Intouchables. Both movies are amazing in different ways. 

All of this for two lucky lucky kids

Crud the house keeper is coming tomorrow, we have to clean

After brunching on homemade waffle with apple compote, drinking a ton of coffee we needed to get some air. Even though the weather was more Christmasey than usual we had to go spend some time at the beach. The kids shrieked in delight alternating scaring off the seagulls and dancing Gangman style. If you have a second-third grader I'm sure you are experiencing this new contagious disease. If you find a cure please let me know!

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Happy Holidays

Lots of sewing lately or rather sewing projects. After deciding that it was OK for me to buy patterns I found those groups from Blank Slate Patterns and tackled the blazer for MAC's christmas. I apologize no pictures, I'm really bad at taking pictures while sewing.... I always remember once the garment is done and well it is a little too late.
Anyways I was able to use some fabric I bought 2.5 years ago. It is a pinstripe navy cotton, it is gorgeous. I doubled it with some natural linen. He exclaimed with a huge smile "this is kind of cozy! Mama this week end we need to make sign that says Bopple (my label) children's clothes for sale!". It melt my heart!

On the project list:

• MEC's christmas dress, inspired by JCrew
• Flannel pyjamas
• some dresses, some pants all kinds of stuff!

I have been listening to Train California 37's album and some of the songs have awesome lyrics. Such as Mermaid, California 37, Drive by, 50 ways to say Goodbye are my favorites.... Go listen up and hopefully it will make you smile!

Other music loves of the moment, Lana Del Rey. I am rediscovering Yann Tiersen widely known for the soundtrack of "Amelie".

I finally read and devoured 50 shades series. I liked it a lot. It is really light reading and if you can get past the erotism of the book it is an interesting book with interesting characters.

If I don't write a post between now and then Happy Holidays!

Patterns, tweaking and working on the fabric stash

A little while ago I swallowed my pride and put my ego in my pocket and bought a couple of patterns for the kids. After a fail attempt at making the knotted shorts for my little girls, and botching another couple project I decided that well I didn't have the time to learn how to make kids patterns properly. I just have a limited amount of time to sew.
So after browsing etsy for a while I purchased three patterns from lily bird studio.

After a long break from sewing I decided to make the Summer Blouse with some Anna Maria Horner voile I bought a while back. MEC likes indigo blue.

The pattern was easy to print and follow. I will definitely purchase other patterns from her and I have to say it was quick to make and thus very rewarding.


Since I am not the best at sticking with direction or what someone tells me to do, I decided to tweak the pattern a bit and make a night gown using the same pattern. The inspiration was a night gown I saw at a pottery barn kids.

I had some Princess Tianna Flannel and could either make a pj or a night gown. MEC asked for a night gown. 

This is what I had to do:

• I had to make a shirt placket (didn't know the name at the time) instead of the button down front
• I had to lengthen the sleeves
• I had to make a round collar instead of the ruffles.
• I had to lengthen the bottom part of the shirt to be a night dress

Not overly complicated but not a straight sew either.

Sew a Straight Line sewing series provided the explanation I needed to figure out the shirt placket and the collar. I made up the pattern for those two pieces so they weren't perfect. I also didn't remove the 1inch of the front piece used to make the button holes and button side in the original shirt pattern.
I was going to attempt my first tutorial but I'm sorry to say I didn't take enough pictures and I don't have the time to put the post together. Maybe one day soon.

It came out a bit crooked at the collar but not bad for a first tweak. She loves it because it flannel and thus really comfy.

The next project was a knit shirt with a contrasting collar and shirt placket. It had the original puffy sleeves although I'll make a pleat next time. For this shirt, I made the necessary adjustment to the front piece after my oversight on the night gown. I also adjusted the collar and the placket pieces.

She loved it so much that I didn't get a chance to add the buttons.

What I like about sewing with a pattern is that I can really easily whip multiple size of the same project.
Yes I won't lie even though I'm pretty stoked with the result it wasn't one of my creation. I'm weird that way ah well.
That didn't stop me from purchasing a bunch of basic patterns from Blank Slate Patterns so stay tuned for some more sewing......

In the works: The blazer from Blank Slate Patterns, coming up a bunch of flannel pjs and then more..... I'm happy I'm going through my stash of fabric which means only one thing I get to buy more fabric !!!!!
The best of all is that MEC is totally excited and she is actually asking for stuff now. I think I got her at the if I make you clothe I spend less on clothe and I can buy some more shoes ;)

I'm alive

I haven't had a lot of free time to blog for the past 6 months. I have also been struggling with post and blogs in general.
Nothing much has changed since the last time I blogged.

I have been working hard at striking a healthy balance with all the main part of my life:

• Family both husband and kids and the rest are the most important in my life and I try to make them come first.
• Work is both challenging, demanding and highly interesting. However I do have to make sure it doesn't eat up the other parts of my life.
• Me and myself which is mostly me working out and hobby tend to be the piece of the pie that gets squished.

Over the past few weeks, with big big deadlines accomplished I am trying hard to work on that balance. And so I have gotten my running shoes out and I am back out. I also love running.
I never thought I would say that especially since I tried Triathlon to escape running. Training with Lesley Paterson to get better at triathlon has made me love running. I am not a fast runner and I don't care I just go out with just my watch and enjoy myself.
I also make those outings social when I can sometimes I am the one chatting away sometimes I'm the one huffing and puffing sometimes I'm just alone in my head.

I have gotten on my road bike a few times and realized that I have missed riding a lot. Finally I'm trying to figure out how to get back on my mountain bike and enjoy it.

I started playing soccer in a pickup game at work. I have to say I always end up with a bruise or two but I'm having fun!

On the hobby front, I'm still trying to sew a bit now that my brain is a bit less taken by work.

Today was lazy sunday, woke up around 8:30, read in bed until 10am (yes we have two kids 8 and 6 that let us be lazy in bed with no TV on). We made breakfast then started smoking the ribs. I picked up knitting a bit while the kiddos were just playing in their rooms.
I finally tackled the Himalaya of laundry at the foot of our bed and cleaned up my shelves while the hubby went for his run.

When he cooled off we played a board game until it was my turn to go for a run with my friend.
Now I have to take a shower clean up the biohazard zone in my kitchen and get ready to share some ribs with our friends!

Have a good night.....

A quick update

I just wanted to give a quick update. I have not been in a sewing bliss lately and a lot of my "throw" it together home made pattern just aren't coming together.
I tried the knot shorts from Elsie Marley but when MEC tried it on it was just not working at all. I am going to either try to salvage the short, remove the knot completely and the half lining and try to make a shorter version or just scrap the short altogether and turn it into a dress or maybe a bermuda who knows! The crotch was a bit wonky too... I need to work on my pattern drafting techniques. Maybe I will break down and find a PDF pattern on etsy.
Anyhow this sets me back into great deal of frustration and thus my sewing isn't my best friend at the moment booh.
In the void left by my temporary separation with my sewing machine I have been exploring the world of infographics, what's not to love trying to make sense of data in a visual appealing way a new way to spend a lot of hours lost on the internet.

On another note, I have been trying to spend some quality time with my mountain bike aka Black Beauty. Last week end for Mother's day some friends of ours took the kids for an impromptu trip to the Zoo and we got a hour to spend on the trails. I did lots of walking but some riding too.

This past sunday not only did I worked up the courage to go on my own but I even dared going in a new spot (I only went once before about a year ago) by myself and did a few downhill I would have walked not so long ago. However the up hill were trickier!

Thanks for checking in and good night.

Mountain Biking

I have been really itching to go Mountain biking more often. Unfortunately finding a baby sitter for the kids to go with B or finding a riding partner to go on a 30 minutes notice on a Sunday afternoon has its challenges. So two week ends ago I really tried to work up the courage to go by myself! I didn't sleep that much the night before because of 4 additional kids sleeping with us and so I chose the easier path which was to put the bike in the car and drive to the trail entrance instead of climbing this brutal street to get there!
So here I am at the parking lot by myself after getting lost on the way. I hop on my bike and I am so glad I did work up the courage to go.

Second hill I come to I of course switch gear the wrong way and so instead of easing into the climbing I struggle in the big ring. After quickly realizing that I won't get very far in that ring I down shift but then my bike feels like the chain popped of. I look at it put it back and continue on.... This happens a bit later on another hill and again on the way back followed right after by a clank and a dead stop. I look down and well I'm no bike mechanic but I didn't think my rear derailleur was supposed to dangle off the bike!
Yes my really strong little leg yay right broke the rear derailleur right through the attachement!

So my bike ride turned into a push your bike walk. I believe people thought it was a new type of exercise because not one of the biker or hiker I saw on the way back stopped and asked if I needed anything! Maybe they thought that I was soooo lazy or tired I had to push my bike on the flat! It would have been nice to have someone stop and try to turn my bike into a single speed one so I could ride along.

I have to say the day was beautiful, the hike was beautiful and it is the only time I was happy to have spent mucho $$$ on my bike to get the lighter model!

In the parking lot in order to find more partner I did harass someone, maybe we will meet to ride maybe not!

For mother's day we did manage to get out with the husband. I did walk most of the very very rocky downhills but I did practice a drop off and a bit of single tracks. Petit a petit my confidence is creeping up....

The KCWC 2012

Well I kind of failed at this challenge thing. I did draft pattern and cut fabric on day 3. On day 4 I managed to sew MAC's short. However on day 5 friendship used up all the free time. On day 6, I managed to complete MAC shorts but then decided to add a pop of colors in the form of a pocket. However I decided to go the difficult route and it did quite work out. To MAC's dismay only one pocket was added. In his little mind if I was able to hack together one pocket it should easy to add a second. Since I'm far from satisfied with the results of my creativity I am now scratching my head to figure out how to fix that mistake.
On the girl side of the sewing project pile I have been struggling with the drafted pattern by my little fingers. It reminds me very much of when I was taking drawing lessons. When I was sketching a person posing, my drawing was perfect until I tried to draw the lower legs and feet. By that point all the mistakes had accumulated making it impossible to complete the drawing.
This is exactly how I feel with my latest repurpose dress attempt. It sits half done on the ironing board. However I will have to complete that one.
In the mean time I started a version of the knot shorts for the little missy and completed the baby blanket with the most beautify Amy Butler fabric. I want to redesign my whole living room to make pillow with this fabric. In the mean time I will have to give this baby blanket to my friend before I keep it for myself. Minky is so so soft.

To sum it up, I pretty much flunked the challenge. I wasn't even able to take let alone post a picture in the flicker pool. So maybe it will be better next time! In the mean time this challenge or idea of it really kick start my imagination hopefully something good will come out of it.
In the mean time I have about 30 sewing projects, to which have been added a few more home design projects for which I have little to no time. To make matter worse I have now discovered apartment therapy and pinterest and now I'm just dreaming at beautiful house and hoping to find our next house...... one can always dream

KCWC Day 1 and 2

Over the week end I was so excited about the challenge that I actually did quite a lot of sketches and looked at fabric and such... these will be posted later. I also did make a skirt for MEC but more on this later....
Today lets talk about KCWC Day1:
I wish I could say that Monday night I was all giddy with excitement and raced to my overflowing dining room table sewing table. After a full day of work followed by the usual evening routine mayhem I wasn't super motivated. Nonetheless I did go grab two pants and transformed them on long shorts. One of the pair comes from the Childrens Place the other I made a while back. The first time I washed them I learned the hard way why it is always recommended to prewash the fabric. They lost about 2 inches in length

.
Since this project wasn't much of a challenge I decided to give the double needle a try

Since I didn't plan very well I had to do two hems. I do like the resulting look. MAC liked it a lot too

Day 2: Repurposing a pair of cords into longer shorts for MAC and repurposing a Naartje dress into a dress for MEC.

I was able to grab an old pattern I drafted to make MAC shorts. Of course since I plan really poorly I will have to be a bit creative with the bottom hem. But at least the shorts are cut and pinned. I just need to sew just a bit tomorrow since I was able to keep most of the existing hems.

No I wasn't wrapping present. I use old wrapping paper to draft my pattern. The rest of the evening was spent drafting and cutting the pieces for the dress. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the process but here is a sketch.

Bouquet of roses from my front yard are perfect to finish this post.

 Stay tuned for more projects...

New Directions.....

So I have been flailing around a little with this blog over the last few months. Honestly I don't have much free time and when I do I usually sew, then I forget to take pictures.
I decided that from now on I will focus this blog on cooking, diy and sewing. I will make an effort to slow down and take pictures but most of all I will make an effort to post those pictures.

For the first time, I will participate in the KCWC 2012. I'm not sure what will come out of it but I have a stack of things to sew for the kids so maybe we will get stuff that MEC actually wants to wear. She is getting so picky picky!

Stay tuned ...