Another 24 Hours in Utah

Last summer we went to Utah to see my sister, her husband, and her puppy. Last weekend we went to Utah to see my sister, her husband, and my newest (and only) nephew. He is the sweetest baby. I'm smitten and will have to do more sewing for him. In n Out. Sitting on the ledge. Beautiful tree. In case the playground gets robbed, this very inaccurate ruler will solve the mystery. It was so hot that day. Why am I wearing a cardi still? Oh yeah, b/c it's cute. Great Grandma Lew and baby Brent. I know these are similar but love the expressions on Ansley's and Brent's faces. (and my latest circle skirt). One of my favorite pictures ever.

April Flowers

Ansley and I decided she and one of her other friends needed matching dresses. The pattern (Simplicity 0351a) was on display at Joann's and it goes up to a size 8, which is perfect for her friend. I wanted to see if the bodice was more fitted that my other favorite pattern (Simplicity 5695, seen here and here and other places on my blog) and it was! :) So the next question is should I leave the skirt as is (with the gathers in the front and back and the nice a line shape) or make a circle skirt on Ansley's next dress? I'm making her a Snow White version for her birthday(!) found via pinterest from mykidsdrawers' etsy shop. (and I just realized I bought the same exact fabric for the sleeves. I looked at a couple of stores for blue and red stripes and this was the closest that I found).

My Parents Came to Visit and Easter

We had a good (though very short) visit with my parents. When Ansley woke up that morning, she said, "it's Wednesday! Grandma and Grandpa are coming to see me!" She said the same thing this past Wednesday, but sadly, it wasn't true. We ate porcupine meatballs (one day I will fix the url), pancakes, and cafe rio. Tyrone and I were able to meet with a bank. We also went to see "The Hunger Games" and liked it except that the filming was so jumpy that it made me sick. Luckily, my mom had a copy so I read it and figured out what I missed when I was in the bathroom. Thanks for coming to see us!






Ansley went to her first Easter egg hunt.



I got a few pictures of her in her Easter dress from Gymboree. She wore it with her pink blazer when we went to church.





Contemplative:



Angry eyebrows:



Our smallish dinner- ham, roasted red potatoes, and salad. I played four songs in church and didn't feel like doing anything more.



Dessert- lemon rolls, using Meyer's lemons. SO GOOD. I found the recipe from my friend, Kristin, via the kitchn. I skipped the cream cheese b/c I didn't have any. We made a glaze with butter and lemon juice and zest. I also left out the ginger and nutmeg b/c I don't really like them/wanted to really taste the lemon.

A Dress for Ansley's Friend

Here's the dress that started the whole dyeing episode. Notice the front looks awesome and the back looks very not awesome. I didn't even bother adding a button to the back. I guess it'll be okay as a paint outfit for Ansley. haha.





I ended up making another one out of a purple linen blend. I used simplicity 4927. And that weird looking spot on the front is just the stitching from the button. :) I added a little pleat to the top of each sleeve and think it's a fun touch on an otherwise simple dress.





PS congrats to Design Esquire for winning the pattern from Shwin&Shwin. Enjoy!! If you haven't seen her blog, I love her guest room and master bedroom makeovers. :)

PPS Happy birthday to my favorite brother!

Double Dipped

Background story- I was making a dress for one of Ansley's friends and thought it would be awesome to use a sheet that a neighbor gave me and give it the ombre treatment. The ombre part looks fine but there's a big splotch of dye on the back (boo!!) so now it'll be a play dress for Ansley and I have a few days to start over.

Since I'd cut up the sheet, I decided to use as much of the unstained part as possible- including a shirt and circle skirt for Ansley and a circle skirt for me. I didn't mean to make Ansley's shirt so short, just short enough that she can manage by herself in the bathroom (if you know what I mean ;) ). This was my first time dyeing elastic. I used the whole bottle of dye, really hot water, and extra salt but the beautiful royal blue turned into a light periwinkle and the ombre effect is less pronounced.

I dipped in the bottom section of each item (except for my skirt- the darkest section is on top and the bottom is white) for the longest time and tried to "constantly stir" as the RIT bottle says. After about ten minutes, I submerged more of each item in the dye bath, then a bit more a few minutes later. Maybe I need one of those electric stirrers and/or shouldn't be in such a hurry and try to dye four things at a time. I will also buy 100% cotton for the next dye project, unless I want a more pastel colored result.

Oh and in case you missed it, I blogged about Ansley's jacket here and yes, she did pick those boots.

And don't forget to enter the giveaway, at the bottom of this post.

Lately

I know it's been a while since I blogged- especially since my dad mentioned it. :)

We put our town house on the market and my fabric stash is in purgatory the crawl space. (I do have one box of fabric in the house!) We've been doing a lot of cleaning and not much mess making. We haven't really been looking at houses yet, since we have to sell ours before buying anything else.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

(actually I think Tyrone took this one)









We moved Ansley out of her crib. She hasn't been sleeping as much (and she's always been not great at sleeping). I'm not sure if the neighbors are waking her up or if the bed is just so much more comfortable than a crib mattress that she doesn't need as much sleep?



I ordered some of my cloud pictures on canvas and mistakenly thought they were going to be stretched. The set of three cloud pictures was supposed to go in our room. (you can see one in the left corner of the room) I ended up buying some inexpensive frames through amazon but don't want the frames hanging over my head.



The walls in candlelight ivory and a great duvet set that was on super clearance from Target.



I cloned Ansley out of this picture. What am I going to do when Picnik is gone?



If you know of anyone looking for a town home in the Idaho Falls area, here's the listing.

And just for fun:



I won a giveaway from Jess's blog, Craftiness is Not Optional, and wanted to share some of the treasure. Leave a comment below (one per person) with your email address if you'd like to win a pattern of your choice from Shwin and Shwin. I can't wait to sew up my Maggie Mae Tunic and Rita skinnies.