Testing, Testing - part 2

Here's the second of the two patterns I tested for Trish of Two Peas in a Pod Designs, the Patsy Ann Apron Top.

My version evolved several times before I actually sewed a stitch. I had picked out some fabric from my stash for the main body but I didn't have anything that I loved with it for the straps. So, Princess and I went to the fabric store to find something to go with it and she found the Tinkerbell fabric you see and latched on to it. (we're watching the second Tinkerbell movie as I type this). I found some pretty Tinkerbell green fabric with little white stars for the straps and brought it home. Then, as I was cutting the fabric, I cut the green fabric in the wrong dimensions and had cut it so that I didn't have a big enough piece in what was left to do the straps, so I dug out the white fabric to make the straps and then I cut the chest strap the wrong dimensions, too (lesson: never cut fabric when you have a headache) and so the green fabric was officially not included. I love the results (although that white fabric is pretty thick and it made the button holes kind of difficult).



It's a very simple pattern and such a cute top and I loved how it turned out (all except the buttonholes - I'm buttonhole challenged).



If you're interested in the pattern - you can contact Trish through her site here for ordering information or the patterns will be available in June in her etsy shop.

Testing, Testing

Fellow blogger, Trish Preston of Two Peas in a Pod Designs is getting ready to introduce some new patterns to her Sprouts line very soon and lucky me got to be a tester! They're great patterns and I was honored that I got to be one of the first to try them out. Part of getting to test, though, was agreeing not to post any pictures of what I made until Trish gave the go ahead. It's been rough because both of my testers turned out really, really well. The purse - the Madison Bag, has been especially rough because I'm just so in love with my version. Trish says the patterns are almost ready to head to the printers and so now I'm allowed to share!

I'm going to share the bag first, because I've just been on pins and needles to show it off and I'll put up the other in the morning.

So, here it is - my version of the Madison Bag:



This bag was made entirely from my stash - some of it from various sized scraps and remnants that used to be part of my mom's stash (and likely some that had been my grandma's) but the two main fabrics in the body of the bag were from fat quarters that I picked up new here and there with no real plan for them (and no real idea what they are). I guess what I'm saying is that this purse is completely one-of-a-kind and cannot be replicated (since I used pretty much all of the two main fat quarters and wouldn't know how to find replacements). The shiny fabrics aren't satin - they're both cotton woven with metallic threads - the solid has silver threads and the textured one has gold threads (I do have more of both of those - I may have to find something else to use them in, they're so pretty).

It's a great little pattern - really very quick to put together and Trish's instructions are so clear and easy for even a beginner to follow. It's a nice and roomy bag, too, so I can get lots of my junk in there and since it's cross-body style, it's easy to deal with when I've got the kiddos with me.

If you're interested in the pattern - you can contact Trish through her site here for ordering information or the patterns will be available in June in her etsy shop

Coming tomorrow: my version of the Patsy Ann Apron Top. Alert - serious cuteness ahead!!!

Bragging on my Hubby

Several weeks ago, hubby made a video of his lawn mower creation - lawn mower on a rope tied to a stake in the yard. It makes a perfect spiral pattern and mows a large portion of the back yard all by itself; it actually cuts about 30 minutes off his mowing time, which he usually uses to do the trimming. He sped the video up a bit and stuck it up on YouTube. Well, the silly thing took off! He's got almost 300,000 on the original posting and it's been reposted several other places (including a couple of sites on the Cheezburger network - you know the LOLcats folks) and has racked up the views there, too. Apparently, it's really popular in Spain.

Anyway, today it was featured on CNN! We had no idea and we wouldn't have know at all if some nice people hadn't commented on his YouTube page that they saw it.

Here's a link to the CNN blurb:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/05/03/nr.levs.whats.hot.cnn?iref=allsearch

and the original YouTube posting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tNVOhtvPEw&feature=popm02us0f

We don't have a garden

Today I decided that we don't have a garden. A garden is something that belongs to someone who loves digging in the dirt and playing with flowers and vegetables; someone who dreams all winter about what they'll plant and where. Nope, that's definitely not me.

What we have is landscaping. We have trees and plants and flowers because a house looks weird without trees and plants and flowers. We hired someone to tell us what to plant and where (well, for at least one bed) and we only change something when it gets over grown or dies (which happens quite a lot, actually, but less often since we put in that irrigation system - I'm terrible at remembering that plants need water). I think so little about our plants during the off-season that it was almost the middle of April before I got around to doing the spring pruning (most of which probably should have been done at least a month ago).

Ah, yes, spring pruning. That's what I did this weekend. Saturday, I spent the afternoon cleaning up the back yard beds. One of them looks pretty good (considering things are really just starting to come up) and the other looks pretty bare, but I know it'll be decent in a month or so. I spent this morning butchering the bed along the garage side of the house. When I say butchering, I mean butchering. I was nice to two of the clematises (clematii?), but I took the mini hedge-clippers to the middle one and chopped it off down to the ground. It's probably a little late for an aggressive pruning, especially considering there was green all the way up to the top of the trellis, but this particular clematis seems to want to take over the world, so I'm sure it'll be back. (I'm not kidding here - we dug the sucker up and sent it an hour away three years ago and it's still here! - If you have a tendency to kill plants, get a Sweet Autumn clematis, if you have a green thumb, stay far, far away). Then I took the hedge clippers to the lavender, whacked them all off and decided they were far too woody and crummy looking so I set the hubs on them with a shovel and he dug them all out. They've spread like wildfire and I left the blooms on last fall so I'm thinking they'll be back from the seeds and if not, we'll figure something else out.

That picture up top is the bed under our deck from last year. It needs some thinning out, but it's not a bad little flower bed. Below is my little fountain - my favorite part of the whole yard. It was a Mother's Day gift a couple of years ago.

Easter Dress

I finished Princess' Easter dress just in the nick of time (and almost didn't, actually - I discovered that I had no 1/2" elastic at 8 p.m. the night before. Luckily, the Wal-mart that's 2 miles from our house is one of the few that still has a fabric department, so I made a run (just for the record, I don't recommend going to Wal-mart at 8 p.m. on the night before Easter, just sayin'). It's the wonderful Pink Fig Lily top pattern again, this time in Legacy Studio Fresh Fusion fabric from JoAnn's (I love the little birds on the light turquoise fabric and the hummingbirds on the ivory, it's just gorgeous) with turquoise Kona cotton solids. Um, I think I hemmed the pants a touch short, but I left plenty in the hem so I can let them out a touch.

A note on Mokey's outfit: I had to really talk him in to wearing that purple shirt (which is really a vivid lavender, but it's not showing up like that on my screen). He thought it was a girl color at first (and he was afraid it would be too small - I think he thought I wanted him to wear one of Princess' shirts). The clincher? The tie - he was so excited about wearing that black tie, I think he would have worn a dress.

Sugar Doll Award

Thanks to Michelle at Eyeronic for tagging me. The rules of this "award" are that I list 10 little-known facts about myself and then tag 10 more bloggers. Here we go! (let's see if I can think up 10 interesting things about myself)

1. I was the lead singer in a (not all that good) Christian rock band in college. Um, let's just say rock is not my strong suit and I really shouldn't try to be a tenor. Really.

2. On a related note, I was a Music Business major in college - which mostly meant that I was a Music major with a minor in Business Administration, but I had a couple of classes that focuses specifically on the music business, including copyright law.

3. My husband was the bass player in the above mentioned band and we started hanging out because he had a crush on my neighbor in the dorms and wanted my help. Needless to say, I decided to keep him for myself.

4. In a former life (i.e. pre-kids) I was an underwriter for lawyer's malpractice insurance. Have you ever tried to argue with a lawyer? Yeah, not an easy thing. (but I did like the rest of the job).

5. I hate telephones, I mean, seriously hate them. If I have to call someone I don't know very well I have a tendency to have a panic attack. I handle as much as possible via e-mail (thank goodness for technology). Did I mention I hate phones?

6. I played Golde in "Fiddler on the Roof" in high school. My mom decided my, um, chest area would not pass for a 50 year old woman who had five children. So she made me a fake chest - even put popcorn kernels in it so it would sag. I was always very nervous during the "Sabbath Prayer" number as we were using real candles and I was afraid my chest would start popping!

7. My closest sibling is 6 years younger than me, the youngest is 8 years younger. When I was a teenager, people often thought the youngest was my daughter (she did look a lot like me) but then they'd see my other sister and be thrown completely for a loop. (I guess at 16, I looked old enough to have an 8 year old, but not a 10 year old?)

8. I have given birth to two large babies (10 lbs. and 9 lbs. respectively) without an epidural. Oh, and I was induced with both. I'm sure my husband could tell you differently, but I don't remember it being that bad (although, I do remember asking to go home right at the end with my first).

9. I really dislike roller coasters. The hubby and I went to Holiday World three years ago, and I promised him that I'd ride the coasters with him. I made it through two and had to call it quits. The last one (The Voyage, which just happens to be the #1 wooden coaster in the world, okay, yeah, a dumb choice for a coaster-phobe) almost made me cry, seriously. There were 10-year olds in front of us laughing hysterically and there I was trying desperately to not cry and make a fool of myself.

10. As much as I dislike roller coasters, I looove water slides - the wilder the better. We are soo making it to Holiday World this year. I can't wait to ride the new water coaster. (last time we made it, I was pregnant and couldn't ride much).

Okay, now on to the nominations. I don't have a ton of actually blogging contacts, so I'm not doing 10, but here we go. Girls, consider yourself tagged!!!

Trish from Two Peas in a Pod

Christie from Stitch 'N Love

Mary from Mary Sews

Kymy from Everything Your Mama Made

Have fun!!

Forget Spring, let's do summer

Ahhhh....it's been a gorgeous few days and today it's supposed to hit 80. So...while I normally wouldn't dream of putting my two year old in a sleeveless dress on April 1st, this is what she's wearing today.

I made this dress (very quickly, I might add, in a fit of getting things done) for Princess' birthday present (she is getting a big girl bed, too, but DH can't start building it until I get some other projects caught up and out of the way...). It's Amy Butler fabric from her Midwest Modern II collection and Princess picked it out herself. Seriously, we were at the quilt shop and she just went absolutely nuts until I pulled the bolt down from the shelf and then she wouldn't let go. So I bought some and decided I'd find something to make for her with it. The pattern is Simplicity 2709 and I was a little nervous since I'd never done pleats before, but I think it turned out really well.