Ready to PAR-TAY

New bow tie for a very special wedding this weekend.
If you're interested in making a few for the little guys in your life, check out this easy tutorial....
bow tie tutorial

26.5 Weeks and a little crafting

Holy belly!!  I'm convinced that I've grown substantially in the past week and a half.  This has been confirmed by the influx of comments I have received from the random public and the number on the scale.  Yikes! 

Since Jody has been busy studying for his LAST finals of law school, I took a little time to work on a craft project for Harrison's room.  My co-worker & friend, Lyric, found these adorable state pillows on etsy but $50 was a bit steep.  We decided to break out the felt and our sewing machines and make our own pillows for a fraction of the price......easy peezy!  

I even made a pillow for our soon to be home......good thing my heart has plenty of room to love, yet another, state.
 

Happy Father's Day

To my amazing Father-in-Law......

{Jim-Bo}

and my 2 favorite Father's to be......

{My little brother Sam}

{My bro-in-law Jordie}

Hope you had a wonderful day and know you are all very loved!

The hubs and I celebrated father's day weekend in Portland with the grandparents. We also got to have dinner with Brooke {my sister-in-laws sister}, who was in town visiting friends. It was so good to see her and catch up

I also finally finished my version of the anthro dress

here's the original {for comparison}

That's all I have to say for now.....I'm pooped!

Copy Cat

I love Anthropologie but hate the price tag.

I torture myself on a regular basis by filling my online cart with everything I would buy and quickly exiting out when the total equals my monthly salary. This week, during one of my fake shopping trips, I was smitten with this dress......

but at $98.00 it's definitely not in my budget. My answer to this situation.....yep.....I'm gonna sew my own version. Fabric has been purchased and I'm hoping to be done with it by next weekend. In addition, I'm hoping to sew a copy cat version of this dress.....

before we had to the coast for July 4th. Can't you just picture it with a cute navy cardigan? I'm so patriotic. Wish me luck {and patience}!!

With Love,

You've got to be kidding me

WHAT???

$130.00

I foresee a sewing project in my future

For all the Little Ladies

My next sewing project.......Sis Boom Baby Bubble Romper!

I'm thinking a vibrant fabric with a little monogram action

{Megan I'm talking to you!}

Take 2.....

After 2 weekends of amazing weather it was inevitable that the rain would return {BOO!!}. The only good thing about cruddy weather is that you don't feel bad about not leaving the house or getting out of your pajamas. The hubs and I slept in, had an amazing french toast breakfast and then I spent the rest of the day at my sewing machine. I was determined to make THIS dress even if my FIRST attempt was a bust. This time around I followed the directions and I'm really happy with how it turned out. With the exception of the ruffles, which just about drove me to drink, the dress was pretty easy to put together.

{Look at those dark roots!!! Yikes}

Here's a close up of the ruffles. Honestly they wouldn't have been that difficult had the pattern not called for a french seam on 3' of fabric. Ugg....not fun!! I added my little vintage brooch for a pop of color.

On a separate note, look what finally made it's debut.....

turns out that my diploma is twice the size of Jody's from CSU. I contribute the size difference to the fact that my GPA was so much higher than Jody's. He contributes it to the number of years I was in College......not nice!

With Love,

I'm kind of a big deal.....

Remember this dress???? Well my friend Stephanie over at Deviantly Domesticated has totally stroked my ego and done a sweet feature on my little sewing project. Go check it out and read all my witty commentary on sewing and advice for beginners.

Hopefully I don't injure myself while giving Jody all day high-fives for my awesomeness {Did anyone get that Zach Galifianakis reference?}

Speaking of Jody......Guess who is officially married to a 3L???

THIS GIRL!!!

HEY MAMAS {or future mamas}

Another blog to add to your roll......MADE!

Dana {author of MADE} has put together this nifty tutorial on DIY crib sheets. It's super easy and the fabric possibilities are endless. If any of you little preggers are interested, but just don't do the whole sewing thing, let me know and I will make one for you. Seriously.....I will probable make a couple even if you don't ask. Here is the TUTORIAL LINK.

With Love,

Another Selfish Plea

Do you see this adorable little lady? Well she runs a blog site called GROSGRAIN
and she likes to sew dresses and give them away......yes.....give them away!!! She is currently doing a giveaway for the dress below......

I KNOW......I want it so very bad! So here's the deal......go check out her blog {I suggest also adding it to your Google Reader}, leave a comment {Here's the LINK}, and if you win send me the dress ASAP!! Ok I guess that is kind of selfish so let me rephrase......if you win and you want to graciously pass the dress along I would be VERY appreciative. If you win and you keep the dress you have to, at a minimum, send pictures. Ugg....don't you just love the suspense of a giveaway? It's almost as fun as bidding on e-bay. Good Luck!
With Love,

A Loose Interpretation

Remember THIS dress??

Well here is my VERY loose interpretation {Sorry the pictures aren't that great....I need to invest in a tripod!}

I decided to go with more of a pencil skirt instead of the fuller version shown in the original picture. I also elected to use a black and white tank {that I got last summer} with a much higher neck line. I wanted to be able to wear this to work without being worried about the "girls". I went with a smaller bow but prefer it with a thick black belt. I added a fabric waste band instead of using elastic so I don't have to wear either and it still has a finished look.

I used a bunch of patterns together which caused only a few minor headaches. If I had to guess I would say it took me about 3 hours to do the whole thing......not to shabby!

So what do you guys think?

I'm thinking it is quite tailgate worthy.

With Love,

Sewing Inspiration

I've seen this dress on a couple blog sites now and everytime it pops up all I think is.....I could totally make that dress! The navy and white striped tank make it pefect for a July 4th celebration. I personally could see switching it out for a black and white tank and sporting it to a UGA game or Blazer tailgate {it's just spring and I'm already thinking about football}. It could also be made with more of an empire waist for all those pregnant ladies out there. The possibilites are endless.

With Love,

*Dress from Spool No. 72

Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride

I was really looking forward to showing off my latest sewing project, and had I followed the pattern, it would have been quite the reveal. Unfortunately I decided to go all project runway on this poor dress and it turned into a big hot mess. I know better then to stray from the pattern and directions because it never turns out right......I'm just not that savvy.

So here is the dress pattern I was attempting to make.....

and this is as far as I got with my dress......

It really doesn't look bad on the hanger but believe me when I say it is a wreck of a dress. I considered taking it all apart and trying to fix it but just didn't have it in me. My solution.....break out the trusty skirt pattern and salvage what was left of my sewing self esteem. So here's my fix....

I know, I know.....you guys are all probable getting really tired of seeing this skirt over and over in different fabric but I've got it down to a science. I do plan on giving the pattern another go in the next couple weeks and actually following the instructions. Hopefully round 2 will produce a more successful product but if not....I can always use more skirts!

With Love,

New Digs....

Finally dusting off the sewing machine and starting a new project!

Looking forward to showing off the final product.