Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Little longer, please
Could someone please come up with a way to make kids stay little? At least for a bit longer. When I saw these pictures of Abner the other day, I was struck by the undeniable fact that she is a little girl now. My sweet little baby is all grown up and is now is a walking, talking, singing, independent (dare I say, sometimes stubborn) little person.
As further proof that my little baby is growing up, I'm happy to report that, as of a few days ago, Abner is now using the toilet for both of its intended purposes (though not on any regular basis...still hit and miss as they say). TDSH and I are so proud.
As further proof that my little baby is growing up, I'm happy to report that, as of a few days ago, Abner is now using the toilet for both of its intended purposes (though not on any regular basis...still hit and miss as they say). TDSH and I are so proud.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Guess who else got a new coat?
Coats seem to be a bit of a theme at the moment. In addition to finishing my own new coat, I put some of that thrift store fabric I found this summer to use and made a new hooded jacket for Abner.
The pattern was from a fairly straightforward jogging suit pattern from Burda (9672). However, I did wind up making quite a few adjustments. For one, the original pattern for the full-zip jacket did not include the hood, so I had to add that on by using the hood pattern piece from the half-zip jacket. No sweat!
The original pattern also didn't include a lining. Admittedly, if I'd used polar fleece as the pattern recommended, no lining would be needed. What kid wouldn't want soft, fuzzy polar fleece against their skin? But to use the cute, adorable, yet scratchy polyester fabric I went with, I knew I'd need a lining if I ever wanted Abner to actually wear the thing. The leftover candy striper flannel from her housecoat was just the thing. Making the lining was actually pretty easy, but did require a fair bit of hand sewing. Boo...though I must say, my hand sewing is getting to be quite good these days!
Once I'd already cut out all my fabric, I realized that the recommended zipper length was a bit long, but since zippers only come in even inch lengths, I was stuck because the next size down would have been too short. To make it work, I had to decrease the seam allowance on the hood and at the ribbing (thus lengthening the front a bit). Then I had to stretch the front just a wee bit to get the zipper in. Because I couldn't stretch the lining quite as much as I could stretch the outer fabric, I wound up with a gap where the lining didn't meet the ribbing. To resolve this, I added a little strip of trim I had kicking around. Worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself!
Now that it's done and Abner's worn it a few times, I have to admit, I think this is my favourite mama-made project so far! It totally looks like the kind of coat I would have had as a kid back in the day.
The pattern was from a fairly straightforward jogging suit pattern from Burda (9672). However, I did wind up making quite a few adjustments. For one, the original pattern for the full-zip jacket did not include the hood, so I had to add that on by using the hood pattern piece from the half-zip jacket. No sweat!
The original pattern also didn't include a lining. Admittedly, if I'd used polar fleece as the pattern recommended, no lining would be needed. What kid wouldn't want soft, fuzzy polar fleece against their skin? But to use the cute, adorable, yet scratchy polyester fabric I went with, I knew I'd need a lining if I ever wanted Abner to actually wear the thing. The leftover candy striper flannel from her housecoat was just the thing. Making the lining was actually pretty easy, but did require a fair bit of hand sewing. Boo...though I must say, my hand sewing is getting to be quite good these days!
Once I'd already cut out all my fabric, I realized that the recommended zipper length was a bit long, but since zippers only come in even inch lengths, I was stuck because the next size down would have been too short. To make it work, I had to decrease the seam allowance on the hood and at the ribbing (thus lengthening the front a bit). Then I had to stretch the front just a wee bit to get the zipper in. Because I couldn't stretch the lining quite as much as I could stretch the outer fabric, I wound up with a gap where the lining didn't meet the ribbing. To resolve this, I added a little strip of trim I had kicking around. Worked out pretty well, if I do say so myself!
Now that it's done and Abner's worn it a few times, I have to admit, I think this is my favourite mama-made project so far! It totally looks like the kind of coat I would have had as a kid back in the day.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Newly sewn wool coat...it only took four years!
Do you ever have those projects that always just seem to be "on the go"? You start them off with the best of intentions, but something comes up and they never quite make it across the finish line. My Built by Wendy wool coat was one of those projects. It hung idle and unfinished in my closet for almost four years...until yesterday. At long last, my beautiful melton wool coat is done!
The fabric is melton wool which is warm and toasty without a tonne of weight. I believe it's the same material military uniforms were made of back before the turn of the last century. The cut is definitely on the roomy side which should allow for easy layering throughout the fall and winter.
I must confess I really struggled with this pattern. It's probably the most complex design I've ever attempted and there are definitely things on the finished product which I know are wrong, but I'm sure no one else will notice. To me, those errors are little badges of honour. They show that I know enough about sewing to be able to improvise and come up with suitable work-arounds on the fly and still create a half-decent garment in the end. The pattern was from Simplicity and was my first introduction to Built by Wendy. More recently, you may remember Wendy as the author of a couple of the sewing books I purchased earlier this year. Still haven't tackled any of the book projects yet, but there's plenty of time for that!
For all the challenges of this pattern, it did give me a chance to try a technique I'd always wondered about: lowering the feed dogs on my sewing machine. For those not in the know, feed dogs are the little teeth which run under your presser foot and help move the fabric along under the needle. Until a few months ago, I didn't even know it was possible to lower mine. Generally, you leave them up unless you're freestyle sewing (moving the fabric with your hands instead of letting the machine do it) as you would when quilting. In this case, I needed to lower the feed dogs just to be able to properly position the fabric under the needle without trashing the fabric by dragging it across the feed dog's teeth. It was pretty cool to be able to try it out and I really wouldn't have been able to topstitch without it.
Now I find myself hoping for cooler weather so I can start putting my new coat to use.
The fabric is melton wool which is warm and toasty without a tonne of weight. I believe it's the same material military uniforms were made of back before the turn of the last century. The cut is definitely on the roomy side which should allow for easy layering throughout the fall and winter.
I must confess I really struggled with this pattern. It's probably the most complex design I've ever attempted and there are definitely things on the finished product which I know are wrong, but I'm sure no one else will notice. To me, those errors are little badges of honour. They show that I know enough about sewing to be able to improvise and come up with suitable work-arounds on the fly and still create a half-decent garment in the end. The pattern was from Simplicity and was my first introduction to Built by Wendy. More recently, you may remember Wendy as the author of a couple of the sewing books I purchased earlier this year. Still haven't tackled any of the book projects yet, but there's plenty of time for that!
For all the challenges of this pattern, it did give me a chance to try a technique I'd always wondered about: lowering the feed dogs on my sewing machine. For those not in the know, feed dogs are the little teeth which run under your presser foot and help move the fabric along under the needle. Until a few months ago, I didn't even know it was possible to lower mine. Generally, you leave them up unless you're freestyle sewing (moving the fabric with your hands instead of letting the machine do it) as you would when quilting. In this case, I needed to lower the feed dogs just to be able to properly position the fabric under the needle without trashing the fabric by dragging it across the feed dog's teeth. It was pretty cool to be able to try it out and I really wouldn't have been able to topstitch without it.
Now I find myself hoping for cooler weather so I can start putting my new coat to use.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Abner's imitation of a horse
As the title implies, here is Abner imitating a little horse while at the zoo.
Say it with me now...awwwww.
Say it with me now...awwwww.
Monday, 13 September 2010
I ♥ Seattle (with pictures!)
We took a brief getaway to Seattle a few weeks ago. Despite living in the Lower Mainland for almost a decade, we'd never been. Crazy, I know! We'd talked about going for a while, but planned the actual trip rather last minute. For all the spur of the moment arrangements with no real idea what to do once we got there, it was an incredible trip in the end and I can't wait to go again!
I'll spare you a detailed run down of what we wound up doing, but in brief, we hit the Sculpture Park, waterfront, Spaghetti Factory, Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place Market, Kid's Museum, Seattle Center and Discovery Park all in just 2.5 days!
I'll spare you a detailed run down of what we wound up doing, but in brief, we hit the Sculpture Park, waterfront, Spaghetti Factory, Woodland Park Zoo, Pike Place Market, Kid's Museum, Seattle Center and Discovery Park all in just 2.5 days!
Sunday, 5 September 2010
September is a challenging month
A couple of days ago I posted this on my Facebook page:
Why make such a declaration on Facebook? Well, they (whoever *they* are) say you stand a better chance of accomplishing a goal if you share it with others (hence me bringing it up here too). I'd like to believe it's just that easy.
Whether or not it will help in the end, I have gotten a surprising number of comments about this challenge. Some don't see it as much of a challenge at all. Others think I'm crazy to even attempt such a feat. On the whole though, most think it's a great idea and some are even joining me (yay Denise!).
So, why the heck am I doing it in the first place? It's not like we ate out for dinner even once a week on a regular basis. And other than a recent 2-month love affair with coffee, I've never really had a cup-a-day Starbucks habit. What I had started to notice was that each of the individual *treats* I did allow myself was starting to add up: a dinner out here, a coffee there, a chocolate bar and pop a day (thanks Randy...you enabler!) and the occasional lunch in the cafeteria at work meant that my weekly spending money wasn't going very far (conversely, my waistline has been going a whole lot further!).
Now here I am four days into the challenge and so far so good. My snacking has declined and I've been drinking a lot more tea at the office. In fact, we spent most of the morning out of the house today and I was able to get by without caving in and purchasing a little sumpin sumpin just to hold me over to lunch.
My strategy for the rest of the month will be to ensure I always have a snack on hand and that there is always a carton of soup at the office (for those days I don't feel like eating the lunch I brought from home). Who knows, I may just save a few bucks and lose a pound or two along the way!
Personal challenge of the month: No eating out for the entire month of September. This includes going out for coffee, ordering in and buying lunch at work. It does not include going to dinner at a friend's place or attending catered functions. Let's see how I do.
Why make such a declaration on Facebook? Well, they (whoever *they* are) say you stand a better chance of accomplishing a goal if you share it with others (hence me bringing it up here too). I'd like to believe it's just that easy.
Whether or not it will help in the end, I have gotten a surprising number of comments about this challenge. Some don't see it as much of a challenge at all. Others think I'm crazy to even attempt such a feat. On the whole though, most think it's a great idea and some are even joining me (yay Denise!).
So, why the heck am I doing it in the first place? It's not like we ate out for dinner even once a week on a regular basis. And other than a recent 2-month love affair with coffee, I've never really had a cup-a-day Starbucks habit. What I had started to notice was that each of the individual *treats* I did allow myself was starting to add up: a dinner out here, a coffee there, a chocolate bar and pop a day (thanks Randy...you enabler!) and the occasional lunch in the cafeteria at work meant that my weekly spending money wasn't going very far (conversely, my waistline has been going a whole lot further!).
Now here I am four days into the challenge and so far so good. My snacking has declined and I've been drinking a lot more tea at the office. In fact, we spent most of the morning out of the house today and I was able to get by without caving in and purchasing a little sumpin sumpin just to hold me over to lunch.
My strategy for the rest of the month will be to ensure I always have a snack on hand and that there is always a carton of soup at the office (for those days I don't feel like eating the lunch I brought from home). Who knows, I may just save a few bucks and lose a pound or two along the way!
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