Mother's Day Recap!

Happy Mother's Day Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend!

My weekend was an absolute blast! Saturday morning we got up early to go run the Mom Run 5k. I hadn't been feeling 100% (vertigo on Thursday and Friday) and so I didn't want to push myself too hard. I decided to push the little man in his stroller so that Derek could go for a good time.
The course itself was pretty boring. It was an out-and-back, but at least the road did curve. The worst part of the run was not the course itself, but a little interference by a construction crew. A little less than a mile in, there was a helecopter moving beams on a 4-5 story building right next to the course. When I got to it, it moved directly over the road. At this point I was running next to

another lady with a stroller. When we hit the wind coming off of the helecopter we both pretty much stopped. We were running as hard as we could, but we were not making any progress! You could tell how hard we were running, because when we hit

the edge of air stream, we both took off at a full sprint. I'm sure it was hilarious to see us go from 0-50 when we hit that point. We just looked at each other, laughed, and kept going. I did not run the whole course. It has been about a year since I pushed the stroller on a run, and on top of that I hadn't been feeling that great. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I ran 3 miles without having to stop. I did manage to run over half of it, and ran/walked the rest. I was pretty proud of myself. Even my walk was faster though! I knocked 5 minutes off of my time from last year! Derek won his age group though! Ok, there were only 2 of them, but still he won!

{Derek picking up his award for winning his age group!}

After the race we went out to visit my mom. She left for Florida Sunday morning, so we had our Mother's day festivities a little early. Her gift this year was a bookmark I made. She was pretty impressed, and I'm hoping it's not just because she's my mom!

This is the bookmark I made for her. My mom is a very vibrant, exciting person. I chose the orange flower because the color just reminded me of how bright she is all the time. The flower is done in leopard print because it's fun, just like my mom! And my *favorite* part is the button! It says "Grand Slam" on it! Ok, I did take it from one of Derek's shirts (I love that they always give you an extra), but my mom is the biggest baseball fan and I just found it so fitting!

  

Sunday morning I awoke to breakfast in bed. All 3 of us piled onto our small bed and ate french toast. Little dude thought this was HILARIOUS! He loves it when we have picnics. They gave me a sweet card (which my little man colored) and a special "allowance" to spend at "the fabric store of my choice."

After church we went to lunch with my in-laws. Derek's mom was excited to receive a bookmark from me as well! And she gave me a giftcard to Joanns! This is the bookmark I made for my mother-in-law. She is more traditional than my mom, and I liked the "cottage" look to this fabric. I can picture her curled up in an arm chair with a good book and this bookmark. It fits the vibe of the scene in my head (does that make me weird or artisitc?).

So after church we headed to the fabric stores. First we hit up Joann's. I got some bias tape for the purse I was making (I knew I wanted black), and a little sewing kit. It has pins, a pin cushion, a tape measure, and scissors (all of which I didn't have). It also came with some more needles and a thimble. The next stop was,

my personal favorite, Hancock's! It felt so weird to *not* be shopping the clearance rack! Don't get me wrong, I definitely looked, but they didn't have anything that jumped out at me. Since I was using gift money, I took the plunge and bought what I wanted! Pretty fabric for my purse {tutorial here} and for the travel place-mat {tutorial here} I'm making! I also got some fusible interfacing (and got to learn what it was), and some bias tape for the placemat.

When we got home sleepy face wouldn't nap, so we hung out and played in the living  room all day. I did get to get my coupons clipped (so I can go shop at lunch on Monday) and my purse pattern cut out. After dinner I got to put together my purse!

All in all it was a great weekend! Very relaxing and fun! I hope everyone else had a magical weekend as well!

*The bookmarks I made used the tutorial here*

A Second Shirt and a Competition!

 

 
Guess what I did today! I made another shirt! This time I used the loevely Tie Top Tank tutorial from Nancy at Belle Epoque! It turned out a little big on me, so I took some of the same ribbon I used for the top, and used it as a belt. I love how it turned out! It's super comfy and very light for spring!

I've been reading a lot about The Spring Top Sewalong (direct link in button below) over at Made By Rae. I just uploaded my picture so we'll see how it goes! I'm super excited about getting involved! I doubt I'll win, seeing as this is only the 2nd shirt I've ever made, but I am just happy to have something I think is worthy of being thrown in the mix! So let me take a second to selfishly endorse myself... VOTE FOR ME! Ok, now that's over with, I hope everyone has a great weekend and a happy Mother's Day!

***I'm linking up here:***

So exciting! - A Shirt Brag Post

 {hi!}

I wore my shirt to work today. I wore it tucked in to a skirt I rarely wear. And paired them with a new (to me) pair of kitten heels. The look is much more stylish than what I typically wear, mostly because the skirt is tucked in and sits at my belly button. I'm more of a safe, sit-on-the-hips kind of girl. But it's been fun to dress up today. I have gotten a lot of compliments. Most of them are on the skirt, but two people stopped me to say how great my outfit was in general. How exciting!? I rarely get complimented like that for what I wear, and to get compliments that encompass my entire outfit, including the shirt I made, is just amazing. I was so scared to put myself out there this morning. I didn't want to tell anyone I made the shirt. I was a little withdrawn and standoff-ish when I first got to work (I'm sure because I was uncomfortable). I was very guarded and scared. I'm an accountant. I'm not known as a creative person. But to put a creation of mine out there, and to have it accepted, and even praised... it's amazing.
I'm sorry for the post without a picture, but I'm playing "single mom" tonight while my dear husband works late, and I just won't be able to get a good shot. I will try to remember to recreate this outfit when my love is home to take the picture for me... maybe on Sunday... what better Mother's Day gift to myself than to wear a shirt I made for myself?!
Sounds like a plan!

***I want to take a second, once again, to thank Kelly for the amazing tutorial! And to thank all of the creative sewing blogs I've so recently come to love, for helping me build up the courage to try!***

I made a skirt!

I know! I know! I still don't have the link for this tutorial... but I MADE A SKIRT! The waistband is knit. It's a yoga-style and folds down. The skirt itself is a woven cotton fabric. I need to do some cleanup on it. The stitch I used to make the ruffle can be seen in some places. I also have not hemmed the bottom yet. But it was a very exciting way to kill time before the Mavericks game last night! Thank you so much Ashley of Make It and Love It for the great tutorials!

On a side note... I think all major sporting events should be done on central time. I couldn't stay up for the whole game last night because it started at 9:30pm, and I'm in Texas. I can't even imagine if I was on the East coast. 11:30pm start?! If we move all start times to a reasonable hour in central time, nobody will have games "too early" or "too late." It would also be convenient for me - which is probably the most important reason.

***I'll be linking up to a few parties and will list them below!***



April 24-30: Shirt, Tie, and a Pillow or Two

Completed This Week (April 24-30):

tie for the little man 

couch pillows <link to tutorial coming soon>

Current Projects:
 black knit tank w/ ruffle flower
 - finish sleeves
 - even out neck line
 - fix shoulders
 - hand-wash
 - wear to work and/or church

Future Projects:
 tie-top tank
 yoga skirt with knit waisteband
 out-to-eat placemat for the little man
 shirt with my pattern
 - need to buy straight pins

Other Goals:
 May 6th - Mom Run 5k

...but you can call me Kristi.

There's a lump of metal that sits on the table in my office. It has spinny things, and pokey things, and pully things. It has Singer written on the side of it, and it is on loan from the girl in the next cubicle. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have a sewing machine.

 It's probably been 4 weeks since I first borrowed the sewing machine. The first week it didn't work. The thread got jammed up by the bobbin (not the bobbin thread, the "main" thread). I had a friend who is quite the little seamstress come out and look at the problem. It took about a week for her to be able to come out, but it was well worth the wait. She walked in, glanced sideways at my little machine, and *POOF* it worked! Apparently it just needed a knowing gaze to tell it to quit jackin around. I wonder how many projects you have to do to earn the respect of your sewing machine? I mean, of course, if you don't have a Theresa to come over and put it in it's place.

 My first big project was a set of curtains for the office. If you look here you'll see my pretty new office - and my ugly mess of cords under the desks. My husband picked out the fabric for this project on a trip to Hancock's. This is the first time he's ever "liked" a fabric, so while it wasn't in line with my original plan, I quickly changed paths and bought a few yards. I made simple panels, hemmed on each side, with the top folded over for a rod to go through. Of course I didn't have a rod, or really any way to hang it. Enter super-fantabulous IT-man husband. He had some cable stuff (technical term of course) which we threaded through my curtains and wrapped around the desk. It's sturdy enough that the curtain doesn't dip in the middle, but descreet enough that you're not thinking "oh my goodness! What has this girl done?!"

 My next big project was to make a shirt for myself. I used this tutorial and it was such a breeze. See, I have a pattern, but I'm terrified to use it. I've gotten as far as cutting it out to the correct size, but to be hones I"m intimidated by it. So my solution was to go patternless! The tutorial was great. The only problem I ran in to was my own doing. My advice would be to try on the shirt you want to use as a pattern. What? That's obvious? Oh. So after finishing up my pretty new shirt I squeezed in to it and thought "why is this so tight?" I then squeezed in to my pattern shirt and thought "that's why!" It fits, it's just a bit snug going over the top.

 Anyway, I'm not done with it. I still have to clean up the arm holes and the bottom. I chose to leave the edges raw because I think it looks nice that way I am nervous to hem anything. It actually looks pretty good, however I am incapable of cutting fabric without leaving a million jagged little edges, so I still need to clean those up.

 The shirt, while cute, was a little plain for my taste (and Kelly's  as well, she added a ruffle neck but I didn't want to was scared to try). So I made a ruffle, and turned it in to a flower. I see tons of tutorials for these out there, but they all require a) felt and b) a glue gun. I have neither. I started on the edge and just tacked every few inches together. It was floppy, and had to be arranged correctly on the shirt, however once I sewed it on it looks amazing! I'm not sure this shirt is machine washable any more, but it may never have been. I'm not 100% positive I backstitched at both ends of my seams. So to be safe, I will be hand washing this baby.

 My other big project to date is the tie I made for my son. To me, this was the "no big deal" project. It didn't take long, and was pretty easy to do (re: straight lines). I didn't have any velcro, so I used a large safety pin instead. My little man wore this to a wedding Saturday and it was a hit! He got SO MANY complements there, and at lunch afterwards. In fact, he had so many compliments, I decided he would wear it to church yesterday. A huge thank you to Nicole at Wannabe Crafty!

 I've made a few other projects I do not have pictures of <links coming soon>: snack bags and tissue holders mostly. The snack bag I liked a lot. It was for a gift to my son's day care teacher. I made a few homemade cookies - check out Sugarbelle for some great inspiration! She is amazing, and the reason I thought to attempt cookie decorating! - and packaged them in the re-usable baggie. I stuck a note inside explaining exactly what the bag was. She seemed excited, and I hope she enjoys it and puts it to use.

 So what do I want this blog to become? I enjoy blogging. At the same time, I don't think I can keep up with the pace I had strarted for myself. I was "great" at blogging and "bad" at family, or vice versa... and you can see which won out. :) But that is important to me. As much as I think I would enjoy having a popular, stunning blog - it's more important to me to have my family life where I want it. Maybe one day, down the line, I'll be able to devote more time to blogging. The blog world is such an exciting place, and I would truely be honored to consider myself a part of it. But now is not the time.

 I find myself rambling again, but to answer the question I have posed: I would like this blog to be a record of my accomplishments - mostly in sewing and crafting, but possibly in other things as well. I enjoy cooking, and I am starting to try new recipes and/or my own creative spin on recipes. I think it would be nice to document this so that I can see how far I've come. As I said, I've recently begun sewing, and I would like to use this as a place to list my projects. I think writing down my progress weekly will help me to stay on track and not lose interest. I think many of the reasons behind my "project add" are based in my forgetfulness. I want to do this! and this! and THIS! But I never do any of them. I may start a few, but I quickly lose interest. I'd like to keep a tab of what I accomplished this week, what I'm currently working on, and what I'd like to start in the near future.

 The final thing I may do with my little piece of the web (I say "may" because I am most definitely NOT going to over-commit myself), is to link up to my favorite projects. Right now, I have a filing system on my computer for projects I'd like to try. I use notepads, copy/paste the direct link, and put a quick title "shirt for me," "baby gift - blanket," etc. I think .

 So there we have it folks. The thoughts of an accountant-turned crafter-turned blogger-turned blog hermit/lurker-turned blogger again, but you can call me Kristi.

***I will have more pictures and the rest of the links soon. I just really wanted to get this posted while it's on my  mind.***

***How could I forget my other major project! I made these pillows for the living room! The original pillows are a deep brown suede-ish material. They are pretty enough, but I need some color in my life! I used an envelope-back pillow tutorial <again, link coming soon> to make theses cases and I LOVE them!

I WON!!!!!!!!!!

I just got an e-mail from Kathy over at Kathy and Kids and... I WON!!!!

Ok now that I'm breathing let me tell you what exactly I won:

AND a 1 in 10 chance to win:

So thank you so much Kathy! And fingers crossed everyone for the Sewing Box!!!!