Making Baby Shirts is My New Obsession

I'm sure you all remember the onesies I decorated long ago for Brooke & Joe's first son, Truman.  Believe it or not, I have actually spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how I was going to out-do myself for their latest addition, Keen. 

Well, never fear.  After a bit of soul-searching (and a bit of Pinterest searching) I think I've done it! 

I actually made the shirts themselves from scratch.  From scratch!

Here is Hailey modeling my prototype: 

Once I knew I had the pattern down, I could move on to the fun stuff:  the decorating! 

Here is Necktie Onesie 2.0.  Complete with vest.  I think it's pretty much amazing. 

Since Brooke is a photographer, a little photographer's assistant shirt was a must!  Could this be any cuter?!?

And lastly, a "K" for Keen. 

Coming up next:  An "H" for Miss Hailey, and something seriously cute for Thanksgiving!! 

Too Cute Baby Skirts!

After a lengthy hiatus, my crafting mojo has returned!  This is thanks in part to finally figuring out how to work me new serger, which is amazing by the way.

My latest addiction is making these adorable baby skirts!

They are so easy, and since they were made with fabric I had on hand, and jeans that I no longer have any hope of fitting into, making them was completely free.  Can't beat that.  

If anyone feels inclined to make their own, there is a fabulous tutorial here. 

Current Projects-Ruffle Shirt + Skirts

I am currently up to my elbows in a project from this awesome tutorial over at Thread Banger.  It's a tutorial on how to convert a men's shirt into a cute feminine ruffle shirt.

(Picture from ThreadBanger.com)

I thought I would have it done by today, but no luck.  I had a couple of mishaps (read: user errors) with following the pattern.  Hopefully it will be done next week!  I will report back with the results.

Also,  I checked out this great book from my library:

I love this sewing book so much that I should probably just buy a copy myself.  I checked it out a couple of times in Davenport, and it led me to make this skirt, and this one.

This fabric has been hanging out in my stash for a while now:

It is from the Fabric Discovery section at Hancock fabrics.  Oh, how I miss the Fabric Discovery section.  I don't know if this is universal to all Hancock fabrics, but the one by my house in Davenport had a rotating rack of fabrics all for $.75 a yard!!  Those were the days.

Anyway, I love that fabric and I think it's time for it to be transformed into a fun skirt for Summer.  More updates to follow!  In the meantime I am off to Vegas for some much needed couple time with the husband.  See you next week! 

DIY Keyboard Wrist Rest

Wrist rest.  Wrist rest.  Wrist rest.  Try saying that five times fast.  

Something I love:  Really simple solutions to everyday problems.

For instance:  My carpal tunnel has flared up.  :(  I needed a new keyboard wrist rest at work.  Rather than spend the next 6 weeks going through the necessary channels to order one, I thought I would just make my own.

The best part was that it is made entirely of things I had on hand:  a small amount of fabric and some rice.  And it's pretty.

Here's how I did it:

For starters, I used a highly sophisticated measuring device to determine the length of my keyboard:

Next, I cut out my fabric pieces, mine were approximately 18" by 4".

I sewed them, right sides together, around all but one short side.

Then, I turned it right side out, and top stitched around the same three sides.

Next, fold the open end in about 3/4", press, and fill with approximately 3 cups of rice.  You can use more or less depending on what level of firmness you want.  We don't fool around when it comes to rice in this house.  I had the giant 25 lb. bag from Costco on hand. 

After it was filled, I top stitched the open end closed, and Voila!  A handy-dandy keyboard wrist rest.  I did the exact same thing for my mouse, and just shortened it so that it would be the appropriate mouse size.

Now, because I love you, and because it's high time I start taking this blog o' mine seriously, I have created a template for you to use in case you desire to make your own handy-dandy keyboard wrist rest.  You can download it here.  Enjoy!

Brett & Amy Update

Hmmmm...what to blog about? It seems as though Brett & I have been stuck in the doldrums of Winter lately...but I'll try to scrape together a few things for this post. ;)

First...I cut my hair!! I cut about four or five inches off. I really really like having it short again. It makes me feel ready for spring.


Brett cut his hair super short, too. Not on purpose. There was an incident. He got fed up with his hair so rather than go get it cut, or wait for me to do it like I sometimes do, he decided to cut it himself. He has done this before without a problem, but this time the guard fell off of the clippers while he was cutting, resulting in an extremely short strip being carved right down the middle of Brett's head. The only remedy of course was to make all of his hair the same length. So he was walking around with very short hair there for a while. I unfortunately don't have a picture of that, so you will just have to use your imagination.

Last week was my mom's birthday, which was kind of sad, but Brett made it fun by sending me beautiful flowers at work and then taking me out to dinner, because he's awesome like that.

I made another skirt out of some adorable fabric that I am in love with. It's just a simple drawstring skirt, but I can't wait for it to be warm enough to wear it.


Brett is studying for Part 3 national boards. His test is on Sunday, so he has been holed up at the library a LOT lately. You know your husband is in grad school when the big spring-break decision with his friends is "should we go to the Bettendorf or Fairmount library today?" This has been the view around the house for a while now:


He takes the test on Sunday, then he takes Part 4 in a few weeks, then he is DONE WITH BOARDS. Hallelujah.

Meanwhile, Moose has been up to his usual antics:

More Crafty-Goodness

I have to brag. I'm so excited. I actually made my own skirt. I have been toying with the idea of making my own clothes for a while now, but I wasn't sure I could do it. It turned out that it was much easier than I thought, and I'm quite pleased with the result.

Weekend Update

Nothing too terribly exciting has happened here recently. Just the usual. Brett finished his 8th trimester last week. 8 of 10 down. That means he is 80% doctor. We both are having a hard time believing that our Palmer experience has gone by so quickly.

I wish I could tell you that we are jetting off to Tahiti for Spring Break, but sadly that is not the case. We will be staying here in Iowa, working (me) seeing patients (Brett) and shoveling snow (booo!). We got an inch or so Friday night, but nothing to get too excited about.

My relentless crafting continues. I was inspired by this fabric to make an apron. I think it turned out quite adorable. It's springy and fun and I love it. <3



Now I have begun to work on those previously mentioned place mats for our sun room.

Last night we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner with some friends and our friend Amber's parents who are in town. If you have never been to Cracker Barrel you need to find one (they're around) and go. Seriously, yum. Funny Story: We were running out of room for plates, so we decided to consolidate our two plates of bread into one plate. I was trying to be polite by not touching the food with my fingers. Here's what happened:

Brett: Why are you using your fork to move the bread?
Amy (In a frustrated voice): Because I'm TRYING to be POLITE and not use my fingers!
Clay: Isn't that the fork you used to eat your salad?

OOPS. Oh yeah. Forgot about that. I felt like a retard.

Yesterday Brett & I made the extra effort to get all of our errands done so that we could stay home and do absolutely nothing today. So that is the plan. This house needs to be cleaned, but we'll see about that. ;)

Fabric Love!

Let me just say that if it were possible to be genuinely in love with a fabric, this fabric would be the one for me.

As a general rule, fabric has to be dirt cheap-like, they practically have to be giving it away- to be added to my fabric stash. This fabric was a recent exception to that rule, but if there were ever a fabric that says "Amy" this would be it.

To make up for the rule-breaking, I found this juicy little number for $.79! No projects planned just yet, but if you know me you know that won't be an issue.

I was shocked to learn today that Wal Mart is eliminating their fabric department!!!! Sad day. :( Now what? Oh well. Due to total fabric liquidation, two yards of this textile loveliness came home with me for under $3!!!! I am having visions of pillows for our sun room and coordinating place mats...

It was a good fabric day. ;)

I Finally Did It!

I have been quilting for a little over a year now, mostly baby blankets and other baby stuff for friends and family. I finally decided to channel my quilting skills into making a real grown-up sized quilt. I made this one for Brett's mom for Christmas. I'm quite proud of it. ;-)

I totally have to make this pillow

Our couch pillows are looking kind of tired, and I think this pillow pattern would be the perfect couch pick-me-up for fall & winter. Maybe not in white though, that sort of seems like a recipe for disaster...

Sweet Feet

I just completed one of the projects on my to-do list, cloth baby shoes for Brooke's son Truman. The pattern for them came from Stardust Shoes. They are surprisingly easy to make. If I would stop making mistakes, I could probably have a pair done in about an hour and a half. ;-)

Now I'm a Pro

This morning I took a free sewing class from a place called Neal's Vacuum and Sewing Center. A very nice lady named Edith (who reminds me very much of my Grandma) taught me just about everything I could ever want to know about my sewing machine (and then some). What impressed me the most was the fact that she managed to incorporate every single feature of my sewing machine into one project, which I completed during the class:



It's an eyeglass/rotary cutter holder. I opted to keep my rotary cutter in it. The best part of it all is that sewing is not half as hard as I thought it would be. Now I'm definitely well on my way to pro status. :-)