Slapshod I-pod carrier

You know those things runners use to carry their i-pods? Well I'm trying to turn myself into a running-capable person, and music definitely helps. This one is a 15-minute fast one, but the basic idea is there: I just happened to not have anymore black thread due to that Halloween thingy that took up three spools and then some, so I threw this together to try it out.

1) Make a pouch that fits your i-pod

2) Slide a covered elastic band through two slits. (it would be better with a wider elastic, maybe 2-inch. This is just what I happened to have on hand)

3) Close up the loop and you're ready to go!

Current favorite running song: World Town by M.I.A.

Guess what...

I'm done!

pre-binding/quilting and all that:

My favorite parts:

The wavy stitching on the patchwork section that matches the trimming

The ghost and its curly billowy stitching

 
The whole witch ...

but especially her ruffled skirt!

(I hate using the flash...)

And here's a look at the back--my first try at freehand stitching! (this is the background section- it doesn't show too much in the front because the purple fabric is already quite squiggly)

It's trickier than it seems, but once I got the hang of it it was much better. If you don't know what freehand sewing is (that would be me before I asked the lady at the store), essentially you change the foot to a freehand foot 

Freehand foot -- or something that looks similar

and lower the feed dogs (the little shark-fin looking things that help pull the fabric through at a steady speed-- there's a switch on the back typically to lower them)

feed dogs

so that you can stitch wherever you want: you move the fabric around yourself. It's pretty fun.

I wish I could take all the credit for this project, but I followed pretty faithfully the original pattern-- I saw it all done in the cotton shop and just loved it. They sell the pattern and instructions, and you can also buy a fabric kit with all the pieces that has just enough fabric to make it (minus the padding and fusible). This is the company and they have so many adorable ideas! I'm thinking I want to make up my own next time, maybe something for Christmas... but we shall see!

Anyway, I can't wait to hang these guys up for Halloween, but I really should wait till October... is that really a whole month away? No, it's pretty much two months. Oh well. They can go up October 15th :)

My all-time favorite songs...

This is a medley of primary songs... taken a little to the extreme :)

It's hilarious, and it has three effects on me:

1) It makes me grin like a ninny

2) I want to get up and dance like a ninny

3) I want my kids to be here already so we can all dance like ninnies in the living room. Our kids will be the best, just so you know. We're gonna have so much fun together, they and I.

Sadly, they'll probably have a "My mom is lame/embarrassing" phase... I just might not survive that. Is it weird that my family is already my world?

I'll be honest

I really want a silhouette. It's pretty much the coolest thing since the invention of the sewing machine.

I also think it is overpriced, there I would not buy it or ever wish for it unless the price went WAY down. (Currently it costs $300)

HOWEVER: I would love to win one! So I'm entering every giveaway there is out there, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I could get one free. So bear with me if I post a lot of obnoxious comments about it, but it's totally worth it. You never know! :)

So here goes. You can check out this giveaways too by the way, just click on the button.

Votes for women! Step in time...

Remember Mary Poppins? Well, turns out they're singing "step in time." I thought it was "skippy time" my whole life... oh well. Hey, at least it made sense right?

Apparently, I have feminist blood : did you know that Corsica (My dad's dad was Corsican) was the second country to give women the vote? Way back in 1755! (Sweden comes in at the top of the list, with women's suffrage in 1718). Unfortunately, France reversed that when they took over and then Corsican women had to wait another nearly 200 years until 1945... Bet they weren't too thrilled about that, although of course France annexing your country would've potentially been a greater concern at the time. Go my ancestors!

Oh, and this is embarrassing... America, the great Defender of Human Rights, didn't give women the vote until ahem, after Russia... (Ok, it's only a two-year difference, but still. I found it amusing.)

Anyway, happy 90th anniversary, Suffrage for women!

Creation

It's a wonderful thing :) All you crafting bloggers know that you love to do it. Why do we do it?
Here's a wonderful thought on creation. What I make has value.

I read from far too many westernized media sources. How 'bout some change.

http://english.aljazeera.net

You just might learn something.

It's that time of the year again...

I would like to reiterate just how beautiful today was. A cool breeze and sunshine is all it takes. Really though, I wish every day were like today. I'm excited to go back to school. I'm actually excited for physical science-- I rocked Bio 100 (if I may say so myself. No really) and I'm planning on doing it again with physical science! As a matter of fact, I'm planning on rocking all my classes. I'm actually quite a nerdy studious type in some respects, it's just I lose focus too easily... but not this time. I want to try harder this year. Life being crazy between my program, dance, work, other classes, church, and of course marriage... is not an excuse since I chose every one of those things.

I'm excited to start team--there are so many fun girls coming onto backup this year, I think it'll be a really good group, and let's face it: I love team. I'm also planning to take up latin again. I think I'll try out for tour team one last time, and after much observation I believe the most important thing they look for is well-roundedness. Well, that and being single. Kind of too late for that one, but I can still try. It can't hurt I figure (Andrew mocks me for saying it "figger" instead of "fig-your").
I'm excited for the holiday season... as a matter of fact I'm already getting pretty far on a Halloween project that is bucket loads of fun to do. I realize it's probably somewhat childish to get so excited about small things but that's what makes life special: the details. Therefore, I will continue to get excited about holidays, special occasions, events, and the like.

I've decided on a new project that will be fun for several reasons: it will get me out of my comfort zone and will help me look for new ideas around me. I want to bring my camera with me to campus every wednesday and find one person whose outfit/look/hairstyle etc. looks unique (well really, that I like is a better explanation) and take their picture and post it on my blog, à la Sartorialist. I think I'll post it on Lulu. (Incidentally, I'd love it if you'd go over there and follow me if you're interested :) I can't wait to get started! And who knows, I might even make a friend or two in the process.

Also, I'm excited to not be going to work every day. While I am extremely grateful to have a job, and such a good job at that, and wonderful colleagues, it's really not what I want to do with my life and, well, let's face it school is frequently more engaging...

Only a few more days till it starts, but I'm just about ready! Oh but first: one last trip to seven peaks!

Making progress

You like?

This project is so much fun to do!

Memories and more

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you my sister in law's new company:
 My Memories & More. 

She is a very creative individual and that's why I'm sure you'll love her designs. She and her husband create announcements for weddings, graduations, baby showers... as well as putting together event slideshows or even wedding dvds! They have plenty of templates but you can also have them custom design pretty much anything!

Go check it out, and they're also doing a giveaway here.

:)

Memories

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you my sister in law's new company:
My Memories & More. 

She is a very creative individual and that's why I'm sure you'll love her designs. She and her husband create announcements for weddings, graduations, baby showers... as well as putting together event slideshows or even wedding dvds! They have plenty of templates but you can also have them custom design pretty much anything!

Go check it out, and they're also doing a giveaway here.

:)

Competition

We competed in Las Vegas last night, and guess what...

We got third place in pre-champ standard!! woot!

Considering our goal was to make the final, I'm VERY happy with that result. And it was so nice dancing with Andrew: he's such a pleasant dancer, I felt comfortable and he took great care of me throughout the comp. We have a couple photos on the way too, they will be up soon! Oh, and check out the hair:

And I got to wear my pretty new dress :)

Sometimes I get bored...

 ... and regress to childhood. (Quite often in fact)

One UGLY woman :)

 

Halloween

I realize it's a bit early.. but hey, school starts soon and then I'll never have any time, so why not get started right now? I am so excited about this project.

Andrew showing off my ghost

And so far I'm pretty proud of what I've done; this is a learning project, lots of stuff I've never done--but so much fun! I can't wait to display this awesome Halloween cheer :)

Appliqué, quilting, freehand stitching... woohoo! It took me a ridiculous amount of time to cut out all of the pieces, but now comes the fun part. And this company makes so many adorable patterns! I think once I've finished this one I'll try and invent one of my own. We shall see!

Check out their other stuff too -- I'm feeling very inspired :)

Yay for the grads :)

As of today, Andrew officially has a bachelors degree. Woohoo! (of course, he starts school again on Monday...)
And... he got to walk with his momma! Now that is cool. They petitioned to walk together so they were right after the other; "Andrew Nelson, graduating with his mom, Susan Nelson." And then the audience oohed and awed :)
Pictures soon. And in less than two years... we'll be doing it together! (wow, I've really taken my own sweet time to graduate... I started in winter of 2007!)

Remember this?

Well... I didn't find the exact same fabric, but I found something

that'll look lovely, and I'm going to copy the dress... I can't wait to get started! :)

Finally found an "american" yogurt that I like!

Well it's technically french (Danone, known as Dannon here), but the ones you buy in the US are "made in America." (read: gross)

I can NOT find a single non fat-free yogurt in any grocery store... but this one is yummy enough I'm willing to overlook its lowfat contents. I'm speaking of the "Activia fiber", and it is awesome.

Peaches for me

Peach tart anyone? If I may say so myself, it was divine :)

And now I'm going to march over to the fridge and eat the last piece.

Old white T-shirt ?

This one is nice because all it cost was looking for some of my husband's old t-shirts :) You really need two t-shirts, I tried to make it work with one, but sadly it wasn't enough.

So I have this shirt I like, and I've been wanting the same one in white, but considering I got it on super-sale in the leftover items bin... I doubt they have them anymore. Enter old t-shirt..

Cut out the body, allowing for seams (Be careful, the back shape is usually slightly different in the arms).You can use the sleeves to make your new sleeves too.

And just to make your life simple, keep the bottom and sleeve hems--if they're already there why bother! Attach sleeves (shirt inside-out, sleeves right-side out. It's ridiculous how many times I continue to make this sort of mistake...)

OK now for the tricky part. Turn the shirt RIGHT-SIDE OUT and take a strip about 2 inches wide, fold it over and pin it along the neckline. The seam will be at the center of the "V", but don't stitch all the way to the bottom yet.

And now stitch the two strips together with a DEEP V. It took me a couple tries to get the angle right.

Finish sewing the strips to the shirt...

Almost done-- add the pocket (you can use the edge of a sleeve from the second shirt to reuse that hem).

Sew very close to the edges.
And after some ironing (iron the neckline nice and flat)...

There it is!

Edit: Apparently in stores this is called the "boyfriend" tee... and isn't it just perfect, since this one is literally made from the hubby's t-shirt? :)

Definitely want to make this

Eh? I think it could transition quite nicely into winter too.. We shall see!

Well it turns out Andrew's "man cold" is in fact a full-blown sinus infection. And he sounds like death. So I feel slightly bad for giving him a hard time. :(

But at least today is Friday, and we get the whole weekend to ourselves. No obligations this time, nowhere to be tomorrow morning, and we're not moving after all so none of all that stress.


And I really do like our little apartment... turns out trying to sell your place is one of the best ways to remind yourself just how awesome it is :)

Happy weekend!

If you want to print out some pictures...

Now is definitely the time.

http://photo.walgreens.com/walgreens/storepage/storePageId=Special+Offer+Prints?stop_mobi=yes&ec=hn9010_30for3&ep_mid=73072865&ep_rid=3023743036

:)

Sneak peek

Because you're impatiently waiting to see what I post next right?
Yes, I am slightly delusional.

But here is a quick look at what I'm working on--I though it had gone horribly awry but I found a way to save it... and I like how it's coming!

And the best part: it's based on an old sweater of my husband's that was too small for him.

Project cost = $0

La mode

I am rediscovering a website right now I had somewhat forgotten about: Aufeminin.com

(Or rather, put on the back burner) It was my fashion/beauty/"psychological" tests (what is your personality?)/anything else womanly bible during those ATROCIOUS teenage years. Oh, the posts I could write about my teenage years.

Every year  I would lie in anticipation for fashion week in Paris (I still want to attend some day--it must be absolutely magical) and the full-detail photo reports on the website. And the "fashions of the fall/summer analysis" articles.

Oh my.

I suppose I am quite vain in some regards; I definitely do love looking my best. And I think every woman should feel beautiful. And I don't believe that beauty is only on the inside; if you want to feel truly beautiful, it has more to do with wholeness... Kind of like your soul isn't just your spirit, but your body and spirit combined. Anyway. I think one good thing America has done for me (or is it growing up? or both maybe) is helping me to become a little more down-to-earth, and maybe gain a better perspective on what actually is important. (big houses and cars, right? ;)

That being said...

I learned all I know about style/beauty from this website. And my aunt Adeline. Actually, she deserves first place. She taught me all I know on the subject (and much more of course).

Does she not just reek of sophistication?

Here's another one:  

You guessed it, she's the elegant lady in the hat :)

The French really did have a good sense of how to dress for an occasion. French women can dress like a queen, and then they'll be around the city on a bike in ballet flats and some casual slacks, with minimal makeup and their hair pulled back in a twist... and still be radiant. A far cry from the school hoodie and flip-flops in the snow...

It must be the rain (it rains a LOT in Bordeaux, pretty much all the time), because I'm feeling incredibly nostalgic right now. Sometimes it just hits me: I miss France. A lot. I miss my family, my aunts, my uncles, my crazy Greek grandma who called me "doughnut" once (among other odd names).

Sigh.

And I miss people-watching. Oh, the people. And the Arab market, and the Turkish delicacies, and the haute couture shops (that I never actually bought anything from, but just walking around that area of town made me feel oh-so-classy)... did I mention the bakers on every other block?

Oh, and the public transportation. THAT was a dream when I think of UTA now... imagine taking this beauty through town:

Not too shabby!

But then I come home to this face, and it makes living here worth every minute.

I'm kind of liking this font...

All that to say that I've found my new haircut (as soon as I'm done with dance... which might be sooner than later.). 

 

Yes, it's a lady drinking some sort of fancy mineral water. The hair reminds me of France, and that's what got me sold. I may also dye my hair darker, for real. We'll see. And I'll stop boring you now.

So... essentially the only way we could move is to have someone buy our contract before Friday. Do you believe in that kind of miracle? Am I just being foolish? Aaaaaargh

hmmmm

I just discovered this little gem: Overstock.com
You probably already knew about it, but hey. Is this not terribly handsome? I'm thinking a certain husband could have use of it some time...

Time to move on

Andrew and I are pretty much 90% certain we'll be moving this month.
There's been an opening somewhere we've been hoping for. The only problem is we just barely renewed our contract at our current apartment. I'd love it if you'd spread the word for us!
Pretty please :)

Click HERE for the craigslist ad.

New stuff over at my craft blog-- I'd love it if you'd take a look!

Lacy remake

Here we go-- this is a fun and easy project that shouldn't take more than a an hour and a half.
I had a pile of clothes that were old/too small etc. I was planning on taking to D.I. but we haven't gotten out there in a while and tonight I decided to go through it and see what I could do... :)
This was an downeast crew neck tee, a little small and not a very flattering fit. Sleeves that are too short are decidedly unflattering. And I apologize for the quality of the photos; both my camera batteries were charging so I used the little web cam on our computer. Anyway,  here goes:


Cut out a V on the neckline (it helps to fold the front in half down the center to make sure you cut it symmetrically) and make sure it's not as deep as you want it-- it'll get lower as you sew so don't start too deep.

Go ahead and cut off the seam edge around the rest of the neckline--keep it though, you'll need it later. Keep your triangle you cut out too.

The only thing you'll need aside from the shirt itself is some wide lace, about a foot and a half. sew two strips together in the center to make a V that matches your neckline.

Turn your shirt inside-out and pin the lace V to the neckline

Sew along the neckline, about a half-inch away (with the shirt still inside-out). Once you've sewn along the edge, turn the shirt back right-side-out and pin down the lace on the other side.

Sew down the lace about a half-inch from the edge, and then sew the edges of the lace strip down at the very edge

Alright! I left the back of the neckline raw, and unpicked the hem on the sleeves to give it a little bit of a rough edge, and also because those darn cap-sleeves are so short they make my arms look fat (let's blame it on the shirt eh?)

Now for the pocket! Remember those strips you took from the neckline? Take it from the V too and lay them out flat (it's ok that it has all the edge folds, that's the point)

Now the V comes in-- it's going to be a pocket. Most likely your V piece isn't tall enough to be a pocket, which is were the two strips come in; sew them together and then to the top of the V (and some lace too for more whimsy :)

And now cut it a little bigger than your pocket will be:

(The V-cut at the bottom will help fold under the seams so there isn't too much fabric.)
Now pin it onto your shirt with the edges pinned under:

Sew very close to the edges...

And voilà!

Have a fun Sunday evening :)