3 Months Later

Oh how I have been longing to sit down and say hello but....my hands have been a little full:) 3 months ago today I headed to the hospital to give birth to our third child Jacob Henry. Of course he took his time and 12 hours later he arrived on September 9th at 12:22am. He made his debut at 9lbs 5oz and 22.75 inches long. He is absolutely adoreable and such a Joy!!

The past 3 months have been very busy and honestly very exhausting and a little stressful. I won't bore you with all the details, just a brief run down. Less than 24 hours after getting home from the hospital my husband had to return to field training and was gone for 4 days. Thank God for my dear friends in VA who helped!! Three weeks later the movers came, pack us up and we headed out for a MONTH long road trip from VA to TX, stopping in SC, visiting family and friends. Good to see everyone but will NEVER do it again. Too hard on the kids and ME!!! We finally arrived in Pensacola,FL, our new home, and we have been moved in for a little over a month. It feels so good to be in our own space with our own things!!! I don't have to desire to travel ANYWHERE, with kids, for a LONG time...at least 6 months...hopefully longer!!!
During this time I have spent a LOT of time stocking blogs and loving Pinterest. It has all made me very anxious to start sewing again. Shortly after we moved into our new house, I got a sewing table!!! I have been sewing on the dining room table FOREVER and now that we have the room, my time had arrived. I didn't slurge on an expensive table because I never know what type of house we will have next but, I love the one I got.

It it comfortable and very functional. I have been working on a Christmas project for my daughter and I love being able to store everything in one place verses pulling everything in and out of the closest. Plus when I'm not sewing it looks like a cute little cabinet!!
Day to Day life is focused on keep my sanity in tact while wrangling three little ones. Finding time to sew is only found after bedtime and sometimes I'm too exhausted to even take a shower. But, I enjoying my me time in front of my beloved machine so I hope to spend more time with it more often....really soon!!!

Jacob's Quilt

It is FINISHED!!! I am so excited that I finally finished Jacob's quilt. Over the past week I wondered if I would even get it done before he got here...I'm 38wks. This was my first offical quilt. I have sewing a few rag quilts but this was my first cotton quilt with basting and binding. I figuared out too late that I probably should of stuck with a cotton backing for my first time instead of minky but I couldn't resist the feel. I went from quilting every inch to sewing every 5 inches in the ditch. However, all the info I read about sewing minky said to sew with the minky against the feed dog and that DID NOT work. It kept pulling. I had to take it apart 3 times:0. So, I had to sew a basting stitch on the minky side, then stitch on the other and of course remove my basting after that. Now I can say it is was worth it but there were a few moments, I wondered. Next quilt I will just do free motion quilting when sewing minky. But enough gripping, my lastest master piece;)

The fabric is Alphabet Soup by Riley Blake and I used 6 fat quarters that I purchased in a bundle on Etsy from Quilts and Jewels. I LOVE the colors and the cute little animals. I can't wait to wrap up my little man in and watch him play around on it!!

My First Handbag

I am so excited to finally share my first handbag!!! I wanted to make a handbag for myself for a while but always felt like there were more pressing projects. Such as clothes for my kids or a gift for someone or even maternity clothes for myself. But, after winning an awesome giveaway from The Polkadot Chair, I could not put it off any longer. The giveaway include this wonderful and extremely resourceful book by Bari J. Ackerman called "Inspired to Sew" along with an online class taught by Bari and a discount to Fabric.com. During the online class Bari walks you through the handbag pattern step by step. One of her focuses is to help you overcome your zipper phobea, which I had. Not anymore!!! After watching the video a few times and using the instructions in the book...I'm very confident I could sew a zipper in anything!! So enough jabber, here is my first handbag!!!

Boy Shorts

I love making clothes for my daughter and really wanted to try to make something for my son. I tried a few of blog tutorials for boy short by using an existing pair of shorts and mine came out a little wonky. So, I found this Simplcity(2907) pattern for $1.99 and thought I would give it a try.
For the first pair I followed the pattern step by step. It was super easy to understand and took around two hour from cut to complete. I was a little worried about the cargo pocket but it was on the the easiest parts.
The parts I will do different in the future, of course there will be more:), is leave off the cargo pocket. The length of the shorts were too long for my little guy, so I will shorten them too. Due to the size of the side pocket, I couldn't move the cargo pocket up more and after shorting them it would be too close together. Overall, Love the shorts and love making them. What do you think????

Sneak Peek

So, I have been kind of lucky lately!! I have won two blog giveaways in the past two months!! Both were for a sewing book and the last one also included an online sewing class for a fun handbag. I am also going to learn how to sew a zipper which is one of the reasons I signed up for the giveaway. The book is "Inspired to Sew" by Bari J. Akerman. Oh yeah, I also got a 15% discount to Fabric.com with the giveaway too!!! I will taking the class the 3rd week on August and here is a peek at the fabric I will be using.

Impressions Collection for Ty Pennington

Sewing through the stash

For the past week or so I have been sewing dresses for Klaira and have managed to find all the material in my sewing closet. It so rewarding being able to make clothes for her that fit, she like to wear and look so darn cute!!

I used the Ruffle Jumper pattern for Heidi and Finn. I have used this pattern a lot and embellished differently. I just the right amount of the pink for the ruffle and sash.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this dress!! Totally making one for myself POST-maternity!! I used a tutorial from Making'it imMackulate blog. Easy tutorial to follow!!

I had just enough trim left for a hair clip!!

I have had this material FOREVER!! Klaira has also been asking me for a lady bug dress for awhile. So, I used a Scientific Seamstress pattern I purchase at youcanmakethis.com a few years ago. Another pattern I have gotten lots of use out of!!

I have a few more projects to complete this week and then I will begin working on the baby quilt for Baby Langham #3(Jacob Henry). Plus, I am in the process of pick material for the Online Class I'm taking in August. In the class I will learn how to install a Zipper by making a super cute handbag!! I'll share more later.

Baby Quilt Fabric

I have been scouring the internet for the past few months for the perfect fabric to make Baby Boy #2 a quilt. I love a lot of Riley Blakes designs and for a while was set on some cowboy print. BUT, yesterday I came across the New Alphabet Soup collection by Riley Blake and had to have it!!! The colors go perfect with the colors already in the nursery from my first son, light blue and green. I found the perfect fat quarter bundle at Quilts and Jewels on Etsy. Plus, Julie, Shop Owner, is going to add an additional fat quarter of Gray Circle from the collect to make my vision complete. Don't you just LOVE it?!?

I can't wait to get it and get to work, in August;) I am making myself wait until August. It's a combination of too much fabric in my sewing closet and patterns I have been meaning to use, for months!!

Pant for my Little Man

I have been wanting to make something for my son ever since I started making the little neck tie. I have seen a few tutorials where you can use an existing pair of pants or shorts to make your own pattern. I tried that and it ended up in the trash. So, I pulled at an old pattern I had use to make Klaira a dress and it had a pants pattern with it. I gave it a shot and in about an hour, we had new pants!!!

This has inspired me to sew for him a little more. I bought Simplicity 2907 and some some cute plaid. Hope to have a new pair of cargo shorts for him by the end of the week.

Circle & Dot Dress

The name: Klaira saw this fabric in the remnant basket and called it "circle and dot fabric." She then told me I could make her a dress and that she would like that very much. For $3, I couldn't say no. Then she layed eyes on the Pom-pom trim and had to have that too. She wasn't too excited about not getting to play with it right away but she LOVES were it is now!!

I had intentions of just making a Pillow Case dress but there wasn't enough in length to do that. I just happen to have some left over bias tape. So, I gathered the front and back at the top and concealed my raw egde with bias tape. Making it tie on one side is something that sounded fun. She didn't want to take it off once I asked her to try in on for me. I love seeing that girl happy with homemade dresses!!! I only hope she stays that way!!

Baseball Pillow

My nephew Zachary loves baseball!! I make some curtains for his room a while back and had some of the printed fabric leftover. He had a birthday last month and came to visit along with my sister and brother in law. So I had this pillowcase waiting on him when he got here.

It really challenged my applique skills, Lots of curves and overlapping. The stitch I used for the laces on the baseball just happened to be one the decorative stitches on my machine. He liked it and I was really happy with the way to came together!! I hope to have some better close up picture later.

Maternity Frock

It isn't very often that I sew for myself. I'm usually making a gift or another dress for my daughter. But, this is the second maternity dress I have made for myself and I'm hooked. Hooked on sewing clothes for myself. Don't get me wrong, I love to shop, but it is so much more exciting to wear something that I made!! I love this dress!! It's crazy comfortable, very important while pregnant and is was WAY easy to make thanks to the Maternity or Not Frock tutorial from Presserfoot. I followed the tutorial to a tee and added lining because the fabric is thin. I will probably make use this tutorial again but do a tunic length. And I will for sure make use this tutorial again after pregnancy for a fun day dress, hopefully with smaller measurements.;)

Pregnant or not, check this tutorial out, you will be so amazed with how easy it is to sew and the Fabulous new dress or top you've made!! Promise!! OH yeah, I did make a tie for the waist but it came off after church and I probably won't wear it, just personal pregnancy preference.

Ballet Bag

My little princess starts taking Ballet lessons tomorrow and she is VERY excited!! I'm pretty excited too and have been sewing up a storm the past 48 hours so she would be all set!! Her favorite books right now are Angelina Ballerina. Everytime Angelina goes to ballet class she carries her pink tutu and pink ballet slipper in a cute bag. So, of course she wants to as well!! I wish I was 3, I would totally make myself one. I love the fabric, perfect for the purpose and I must say, my applique skills are getting better and better!!!

4th of July dress

The inspiration for this dress came about in a few different ways. I have a very dear friend I have known for 5 years. Her daughter was born on my wedding anniversary and wanted to send a gift. I had enough fabric left over to make a dress for Klaira and with the 4th coming up....it was a MUST! I haven't made a pillow case dress in FOREVER! I am teaching a friend to sew and this will be Her first project. So, I thought I would make a dress to refresh my memory.

I wasn't planning on using the navy/heart print but after trying it on Klaira, I was a bit too short. So glad it was, I LOVE the way it turned out and if you have been checking out the past few projects, I'm obessed with fabric flowers. (I have just enough of the navy/heart fabric for a little neck tie;)) ((Let's just hope my husband doesn't notice they are hearts))

Aunt Apron

My Aunt gave me the fun Zebra print fabric a while back. I made an apron with some of the for a fundraiser and when she caught sight of it, she had to have one!!! SO, I finally finished it and I hope she likes it!! I still have some zebra print left so if you want a Super Cute apron, let me know!!

Hayden Dress

I Love making dresses for my sweet girl!! Now more than ever because she helps me pick out the fabric and LOVES wearing dressing that I make her!! When I saw The Hayden Dress from SewSweet Patterns on Etsy, it had Klaira written all over it!! This is the 2nd pattern I have sewn from SewSweet and I love the styles and the patterns are easy to follow. It's fits Klaira really nice and slips on easy. There were two adjustments I made: I added about an inch and a half to the length of the main bodice, (standard adjustment when making dresses for Klaira and myself) and I choose to put the botton holes on the strap and bottons on the dress. I did that because I thought the botton popped better off the blue. The fabric choice is from one of my favorite collections, Tutti Fruit from Joann's!! The collection has SO many bright colors, it's seersucker, and it doesn't really wrinkle. This pattern will get LOTS of use over the next few years!!!

Maternity Refashion

So when I said I am hooked on refashioning....I meant it!! I bought this top during my last pregnancy for Christmas pictures. I have NEVER worn it since. Which made it a perfect piece to improve!!

I made it sleeveless, let out the 3 inch hem, and used the sleeves for a wrap around sash. I LOVE IT!!! I did it a few hours and I can't wait to wear it!! It is so comfortable and my 3 year old daughter told me it look "stylish!" I agree....don't you??