on my mind

this body needs protein.  i even considered coming out of vegetarian-ism for the duration of this pregnancy.  then i threw up, thinking about eating meat.  scratch that.  instead, i found a great peanut butter smoothie recipe and ate a double-egg sammy.  6.5 ounces of protein per day is a challenge.  a girl can only have so many beans.

i'm nearly finished christmas shopping.  and when i say 'nearly', i mean i need to finish the sunbean, macgyver, and macgyver's parents.  and my company's gift exchange.  and make the treats for primary teachers.  and my visiting teach-ees.  see, nearly finished.

we ordered christmas cards from this talented girl.  can't wait to send them out!

i've been having intense cramping for a week.  even some spotting.  three trillion calls to the doctor, two visits, and 1 ultrasound later, everything's fine.  i'm not stressed about it, which says a lot.  ultrasound tech is guessing boy, but told us not to take the tags off of anything yet.  i'm just happy i have a healthy baby that is showing no signs of an early exit.

please submit your boy name ideas immediately.  if we've got a boy cookin', he will be lucky to have a name.  macgyver and i do not have similar boy name preferences.

i downloaded these gift tags tonight.  they look great under the tree.  i highly recommend them.

tomorrow is a busy day.

not just tomorrow, but the rest of the month.  but it is all fun stuff.  shopping, baking, family, weddings, parties, and friends.  love it.

have a great weekend!

Serger Elastic Waistband Tutorial

This is my very first tutorial!  For starters, tutorials are hard to make.  I kept forgetting to take pictures.  I think making the tutorial was harder than actually making the pants.

Materials Needed:

something that needs a waistband
pins
serger
elastic (cut to the right length) sewed together in a circle

Step One:  Pin the Elastic

Start by pinning the back of the pants to the seam in your elastic circle. 

 Then pin the front of the elastic to the front of the pants, and the sides of the elastic to the sides of the pants.  You should now have the elastic pinned into four equal parts.

Then stretch the elastic to fit the fabric, and pin.  I always leave the front of the pants flat, and stretch the elastic only on the sides and back.  It makes for a more 'professional' finish, but certainly unnecessary. 

It will look something like this.

Step Two:  Serge the Waistband

 If you left the front panel flat, that's a good place to start serging.  Otherwise, it doesn't matter where you start.  Make sure you are catching both the fabric and the elastic.

Make sure you pull the elastic tight as you go.

When you're done, it will look something like this.

Mine are always flat in the front, and gathered in the back.  This also makes it easy for children (and dads) to know which is the front.

Step Three:  Stitch Down

Next, just iron your elastic down and then stitch with a sewing machine.  You'll obviously want to pull the elastic tight as you sew. 

Ta da!  A super simple, awesome-looking waistband.  It does take some practice, but eventually it gets much easier than screwing around with a casing for the elastic.  If your serger is as ridiculous as mind, I've found it helps to loosen the tension on the top threads.

Happy Sewing!

 

Project Smile

Look at me, totally on the ball here.  Project Smile for November and it's only December 2nd.  Woo.

But for starters....does this shot from our Christmas card photo shoot not just make you grin?

Here's my list of smile-inducing moments these days:

1. The Sunbean's newest phrase:  Hey - I've got an idea!
2. Netflix instant streaming.  Love it.
3. The Christmas present sitting under the tree with my parents' names on it.  We scored a sweeeeeet deal on Black Friday and I can't wait to give it to them!
4. The Christmas tree.  Oh, so pretty.  I just love this time of year.
5. MacGyver just found out he will be done with school in June, six months earlier that we'd thought.  Oh, heck yes.
6. Tide To Go pens.
7. Sesame Street Live tickets (2nd row) for just $30 each.  The Sunbean is going to go crazy.  Being a parent is so fun!
8. There is SNOW on the ground.  I. love. it.
9. I'm making cookies this afternoon with my little girl.

Life is good.

Let's Discuss: Gift Giving

With the Christmas season upon us, I've been thinking about gift-giving.  I loooooove giving gifts.  More than that, I love giving handmade gifts.  I just love the feeling of thinking about someone as I create something that I think they'll like or use.  I love watching someone's face as they open the gift.  Such fun.  Certainly not an event reserved just for this season, but there is such an abundance of it now.  Love it.

One thing I do not love is the game that is gift-giving.  I seriously hate receiving a gift and not having one to give in return.  I don't mind it the other way around, but receiving without giving is the worst.  If all goes according to plan, this will be our last Christmas as poor college students.  That being said, this is our 'poorest' year as college students.  Our gift-giving this year is strictly limited, but let me tell you.....I'll be making up for it next year.

But what I really want to discuss is how you do Christmas gifts for your kids.  Are you buying one big gift, with smaller gifts?  A bunch of little stuff?  A few things?  Do you have a strict budget, or do you just buy until you think it is done?  Do you spend the same on all of your kids, or do some gifts just cost more?

Last year, I knew the Sunbean would love her Bitty Baby.  And I was so right.  But this year, I can't think of a 'main' gift for her, so we're just getting a bunch of random stuff.

What do you do about Santa?  At our house, Santa brings things like socks and toothbrushes, maybe some candy.  He's a practical man.  He'll bring maybe one or two fun toys, but nothing huge.  As a parent, I want the credit for the cool stuff, dang it.  Some families have Santa as the main gift-giver.  What's your plan?

Do tell.

Quick Thanksgiving Clothes

For me, one of the best parts about having a little girl is sewing clothing for her.  I'm ridiculously particular about what the Sunbean wears, so most of the time it's just easier (read:  cheaper) for me to do it myself.

Right now, the Sunbean has little-to-no opinion about her clothes, and can be talked into wearing anything.  These days are slipping by fast, so the other day I dashed into Joann's to grab some holiday fabric.  Behold, our Thanksgiving 2010 outfit:

It was so super simple.  I'd say you could make this if you are an average sewer.  Of course, my job is always made easier by my ruffler and serger.  Even without those tools, though, you could do it.  I'm not cool enough to actually make a tutorial, but here's the gist:

The pants are a simple pajama pant pattern, with no side seam.  Don't make kids' pants with side seams.  It's a waste of time.  I threw a ruffle on the bottom for good measure.  If you don't have a ruffler, hand-gathering isn't hard and it's pretty fast.  For the waistband, I always serge the elastic in.  I think I'll put together a tutorial for this, though.  I'm always shocked at how many sewers don't serge in the waistband.

The shirt is really easy.  Get a shirt (I like Target and H&M), and then cut it off about an inch under the sleeves.  Ruffle or hand-gather some fabric (I never measure...just do what looks good), and then pin and sew.  Sooooo easy.  It looks good if you top-stitch the skirt to the top.  Hem that baby up and you're done!  I added a fabric rosette because, well, I had time, but you wouldn't have to.

So there you go.  I had it all done in less than an hour.


What are your turkeys wearing for Thanksgiving this year?

When Dad Is In Charge

Yogurt for breakfast.

Our Free Ikea Couches

Our house is going through a major reno, and the family room/living room/only large space in our house was one of the first places we started.

See, we have a three-bedroom home.  We have 1 (and a half) kids, and a home-based business.  So, we've got a kids' room, an office, and our bedroom.  Translation:  no place for guests.  We actually have guests come pretty often.  My mom watches the Sunbean for me on Wednesday mornings, and so she spends the night on Tuesday nights.  We used to have a twin bed in our office, but I booted it out in favor of more space.

I was making my poor mom sleep on the sofa every time she stayed, and MacGyver and I ended up sleeping on the sofa or floor if we had other guests.  Really not ideal.  We bought a basic sofa bed at Ikea a few months back, and it took us exactly 10 seconds to realize it is N.O.T comfortable.  It looks great in the office, which is a plus, but you couldn't pay me to sleep on it.  Back to square one.

We really needed a decent sofa bed.  By this time, MacGyver was so sick of me lamenting about our need to have space for guests, that he told me I could do anything as long as it didn't cost money.  In the words of Barney Stinson, Challenge Accepted!

Four years ago, we bought some decent microfiber sofas in a neutral color.  They were ultra comfortable, and never stained.  I really loved them, but lately I'd really been wanting white furniture.  With children.  Call me crazy.

I got the crazy idea to list our perfectly-good sofas on Craigslist, just to see what they would go for.  I listed them at $100 less than what we paid 4 years ago.  My jaw dropped to the floor when they were gone 48 hours later.  Seriously?  I'd just sold 4-year-old furniture for just $100 less than what we'd paid.  Hollar.

That left us with one giant room and nowhere to sit.  The Sunbean was seriously excited.

That very afternoon, we loaded up MacGyver's mom's minivan and made a pilgrimage to Ikea.  Our sofa money netted us lunch, dinner, 2 Starbucks trips, gas there and back, new dishes, AND new family room furniture.

We got this fabulous fold-out sofa and a simple parson's chair.  Both have slipcovers that can be removed and washed, so I'm not totally stressed about staining them.  The bed is ultra-cozy (we both like it better than our own mattress) and the sofa is great, too.

We do have limited seating, and we plan to get a few more chairs when we have more money.  You know, when we win the lottery.  Or some unknown rich uncle dies.

I'm LOVING the new look.  The best part?  Totally free.