Basement Space - Before and After

So we're kinda bursting at the seams in our little house. Back in 2006, we bought our little slice of American Pie: it was our first home purchase, we didn't have any kids, we didn't know (and still don't know) how long we'll be here in Illinois (because we're always hoping to move back to Colorado... but that's a-WHOLE-nother story!) - - - so we didn't really know what we needed to buy for size, and lastly... we bought at the height of the market in one of the worst home sale areas in the country (outside of Chicago) so we've already lost $100k in value. Awesome! Sweet! It's the American Dream! {sigh...}

With that said, we're STUCK. We now have a Dog, a Kid, and a Cat... and we've outgrown the house already. We've always used the basement as a catch-all for what didn't fit anywhere else. I was sewing in the basement in a cramped, disheveled area that used to be my home office. Eric was working down there where a ping-pong table used to be. Parker was root-a-toot-tooting down there with his toys all over the place. It was a wreck and nothing had a good place. And that, my friends, makes me C-R-A-Z-Y!!! We needed to turn our finished but disorganized basement into a functional, organized space.

BASEMENT - BEFORE

So we hunkered down and came up with a plan that very much included re-purposing furniture and IKEA.

Eric and I swapped spaces and we turned the catch-all area into a TV/couch/rec-room area that works SO MUCH BETTER. (I gave you a little sneak peek a month ago with the Basement Window post - and I promise this week I'll do a tutorial on making those drapes!)

BASEMENT - AFTER

All of those toys that were once sprawled all over the floor are now inside the new black IKEA cabinets. We can actually watch TV down there on our new IKEA couch. The new IKEA drapes add nice color, pattern, and wall texture to our basement window. We were able to leave our Colorado microbrew beer signs where they were. We pull over my flea market find red metal stools if we need a side table. We moved the antique wooden china cabinet/buffet thing to Eric's home office and he uses it for office supply storage. And now Eric has a workout space behind the couch in between everything else, so he's happy. SHEW! No more clutter! No more blinding from primarily colored toys. My eyes can seeeee!

Once I get all of my sewing studio furniture painted white (I took over Eric's old desk and bookshelves), I'll show you where I work (I look into the couch area). And once Eric forks over the money for the rest of his new home office furniture, I'll show you that, too! (which is back and to the right of the photo above. A stairwell separates my sewing space from Eric's office). It may take a while to get our two spaces settled for good but we're 90% there, which is a great thing!

So that's our new little slice of heaven in our basement (of all places)! It's a great, cool area to hang in as summer gets hotter, and we can use this house to its fullest until it's time to move someday!

The reason I can't plant flowers

There's a simple reason why it's almost June and I still can't plant flowers. Apparently a Momma Bird decided that my one of my hanging planters (which I shoved full of dead hydrangeas and indian corn in the fall for visual fabulousness) was a super awesome place to make her nest.

She's been sitting there, and sitting there, and sitting there. She even has a good husband that brings her dinner worms so she doesn't have to leave the nest to go grocery shopping.

About a week or so ago, the eggs hatched - she has two baby birdies in there. (here's one of them - the other one was too shy to be seen because she hasn't taken the curlers out of her hair yet this morning)

Ahhh. nature. 
So I'm thinking to myself with all the love in my heart: friggin' fly you little wimps! I need my planters back so I can plant mah' dang flowers!

See how sad my pretty, bright flowers are sitting in their confining containers on my hard, concrete front porch waiting so patiently for their soil-rich home?! My exterior landscaping is not complete without my flowering hanging planters for pity's sake! So let's get a move on, people! (or BIRDS, as it were!) Gosh!

With love,

Kid's Bowling Shirt Tutorial

*Bonus Exclusive!* I decided to post my very first tutorial on how to make your own kid's bowling shirt by altering an existing pattern. Parker looked just too darn cute in it to not share with you all!

First, bare with me because this will be the longest post I've ever done thus far. Second, this also may not be the best tutorial you've ever seen. Third, keep in mind that I was photographing this step-by-step in the basement for 8 hours straight until 4am!!! So I may have missed photographing a thing or two. But STILL... not too shabby, methinks!

My big fat disclaimer is that I HAVEN'T SEWN A PIECE OF CLOTHING SINCE MY PROM DRESS!!! So following pattern directions literally fries my brain. I made a mistake almost every step of the way because I could barely decipher the directions... (sigh) and my seam ripper was exhausted from overuse. But if I can do it, SO CAN YOU!

SUPPLIES I USED:

• Simplicity Pattern #5581, size S
• parchment paper + black fine point sharpie marker + ruler
• 1 yard, Bella Solid Cotton in black
• 1/4 yard, Lizzy House by Andover Fabrics "Appliance Dishes" (cotton)
• 5/8 yd. lightweight interfacing
• 5 - 1/2" buttons - black 
• white marking chalk pencil
• black thread

1)  I traced the pattern pieces I needed with a fine point sharpie marker for Size Small on parchment paper because what if Parker wants another super rad bowling shirt when he's older? If I cut out the small, that would mess up the larger sized pattern pieces and I'd be screwed if I wanted to make a larger shirt later on. It's an extra step, but worth it to save the pattern.

2)  Cut out the parchment paper pieces and line them up on the solid black fabric according to the Simplicity pattern directions EXCEPT for the pocket and the collar (which will be created in the Lizzy House accent fabric) and cut each piece out being careful to cut notches and mark dots where appropriate.

3)  In your accent fabric, center the pocket and collar pattern pieces over the print on your fabric, pin in place and cut 1 pocket and 2 collar pieces. (and did I remember to take pics of this part - ah.... no. Sorry!)
 

4)  ACCENT STRIPE: cut a 4" x 20" piece of fabric out of your fancy accent fabric (may need to be longer for larger sizes), being careful to center the print down the center.

 

5)  Fold and press in 3/8" of fabric toward the wrong side of the fabric.

6)  Place the accent fabric beneath the "front panel" Simplicity pattern piece for the RIGHT side of the shirt (the LEFT side gets the pocket). Line up the bottom of the pattern piece and accent fabric, being mindful of the center front line. This part is a little willy-nilly... I tried to center the accent fabric in the center of the front panel... maybe a little more to the armpit side than the button side. Trim along the top collar/shoulder to match the pattern.

7)  Line up the accent fabric to the right side of the front panel piece, pin in place, and sew with a 1/8" seam on either edge down the front (do not sew the top and bottom in place). (again: did I remember to take pics of this part - ah.... no. Sorry!)


SIDE NOTE: Here's where you start following the pattern for "stay-stitching" front and back neck edges 1/2" from the cut edge.


8) POCKET: I followed the directions for this part which was a totally new weird-o method for me, so I'll quote it ver batim:

• press under 1/4" on upper edge of pocket. Turn upper edge to OUTSIDE along the fold line, forming facing. Stitch along seam line on raw edges; trim to 1/4"
• Turn facing to INSIDE, turning under raw edges along stitching; press. Stitch facing close to inner edge
• On OUTSIDE, pin pocket to LEFT front placing upper corners at large dots. Stitch close to side and lower edges.

GEEZ! All that for a pocket!!!

9) Stitch front to back at shoulder seams. Here are the front panels with the back piece stitched together at the shoulders:

10)  Interfacing: pin front facing and collar pattern pieces to the interfacing. Cut out 2 pieces for the "front facing" and 1 piece for the collar. *note* I realized in the wee hours of the morning that I ran out of interfacing, so I used, get this, drapery liner and a glue stick instead of fusible interfacing!!! Shhh... don't tell Parker.

And from here I followed the rest of the pattern to add the collar, the front inner facing pieces, the sleeves, finishing the bottom edges of the shirt and sleeves, AND FINALLY, the buttonholes and buttons!!!

Here's the final product! In all, it probably cost me about $20 plus my time to make it.

If you end up making one for your scrumptious child, please share your pics with me - I'd love to see what you came up with!

To all the Mommas

From my house to yours...

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommas out there!

From Easter Eggs to Deviled Eggs

I know I should have posted this the day after Easter.... BUT, well, I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

I have a few party food specialties up my sleeves... well, really - in my head, not so much up the sleeves. Anywhoo. Salads, guacamole, and deviled eggs are my top three requested items. All are mighty, mighty good eatin' and someday I may share all three secret recipes with you! But today is deviled egg day.

I, like so many people, make deviled eggs with our leftover dyed Easter eggs - although Parker is very sad to see the pretty shells cracked and peeled. I don't really follow a recipe though. It's more of a little of this, some of that, taste, add more seasoning, and DONE! 

Here's my Deviled Egg recipe written as best as I could. It comes from the ol' noodle upstairs for 6 eggs (makes 12). Don't heap the seasoning measurements - you might even want to start with a little less just to be safe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 1/3 c. mayonnaise - like Hellmann's or Best Foods* 
• 1/16 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• 1/8 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1/8 tsp. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1/8 tsp. Mrs. Dash (original)
• Paprika
• Parsley springs for garnish

1. Peel the hard boiled eggs. 
2. With a sharp knife, slice the eggs in half. Pop out the yolks: put the yolks in a bowl to make the filling; put the sliced eggs on a platter where they will be crying until they are filled with deliciousness.
3. In the bowl o' yolks, add the mayo, Lawry's, cayenne, garlic powder, and Mrs. Dash. Mash and mix up until smooth. Taste it and add a little more of what you think is missing.
4. Scoop up about a tablespoon of the yolk filling with a fork or spoon and drop into the empty egg white halves. Try to mush it down into the center and leave a bit coming out the top.
5. Sprinkle with paprika (I kind overdid it in the picture below - oopsey!) and garnish with parsley to add color to the plate.

Notes and Tips:

* Never use icky Miracle Whip because that's really "salad dressing" and should be removed from your pantry forever

* it's easier to peel a hard boiled egg under a small stream of cold running water

* always boil 2 more eggs than you need. It's inevitable that some will crack while boiling, some egg shells will peel chunks of egg white off or some other unexpected boo-boo will occur rendering the egg unpresentable yet still edible by you whilst making the deviled eggs - bonus for you!

* make in advance, cover and chill until ready to serve

You will be loved for days after serving these! ENJOY!

Allow me to introduce you to my new love ...

THE PRETZEL CROISSANT

See this? You know you want it! You must try it! You will devour it! You will fall prey to the deliciousness of the irresistible Pretzel Croissant! Don't deny your palette this luxury!

See... I'm a sucker for bread. I don't think I could live if I had to follow a gluten-free diet (although I'd probably have a little less padding around the middle if I gave it up [sigh]). I love seedy-grainy breads, soft french breads with a nice outer crust, cinnamon swirl raisin bread, english muffin bread, coffee cake bread, foccacia bread, Irish soda bread, yulekaka (Norwegian/Swedish christmas bread), garlic bread, asiago cheese bread, that crazy King's Hawaiian sweet bread you buy in the grocery store with the tinfoil bottom in the orange bag... Well, you get it. LOVE BREAD.

When I came across this little ditty at Trader Joes, I was skeptical. Can they really cross a flaky, buttery croissant with a salty soft pretzel and be successful? I thought it would be dry and dense and not like a croissant at all. Boy HOWDIE - it's damn near the best thing I've tasted in a while! I'm thrilled about this croissant and jumping for joy!

How weird am I to love a pretzel croissant like this? And did I look at the price? Why, NO! For all I know it could cost $10 and I'd buy it right up. That's totally something my Mom would do. Crap. I hate it when i do things like that.

Anywhoo. They come 2 two a bag and totally aren't healthy at 240 calories a piece.

But when you are possibly addicted to bread, it's hard to say no. 

(and just so you know, I'm writing about this out of my own free will. I'm not affiliated with Trader Joe's at all. Just glad there's one 10 minutes from my house and had to share this tasty discovery with you all!)

Blog Funk

I've been in a blogging funk as of late. I follow about 50 blogs and as exciting and inspiring as they are to my creative brain, they also intimate the crap-a-dee-doo out of me. I start thinking, "how can I keep up with these amazingly talented and clever people?" Every time I sit at the computer I feel guilty. I stay up late to check emails, facebook, and blogs to avoid taking time away from Parker and my husband during the day. I put off laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands, yard work, and dishes to try and squeeze in sewing. And all I keep thinking is, "I don't work full time ...and I only have ONE kid! Why is it so hard for me to keep up!?!?" [sigh] I wish I had the answer!

On a more positive spin: Parker turned fabulously 4 this weekend, so I spent a lot of time last week getting his bowling birthday party together at a fun bowling alley, Pinstripes, near our house.

I made your standard birthday party cupcakes and goody bags - but I wanted to make the day super special for Parker by making him a cool dude bowling shirt to wear at the par-tay. I started photographing the sewing process to do a tutorial... but... well... I haven't had to follow a sewing pattern since I made my PROM DRESS, people! As much as I'd like to be, I'm not much of a clothing sewer - and after making this shirt, I have mucho-mucho respect for my sewing friends who make clothes!

I swear - after every step in this pattern, it seemed I had to rip out and re-do every stitch twice, AND after 10 hours of straight sewing until 4am... I just couldn't take it anymore! I didn't want to see my sewing machine for WEEKS after this darn thing was done. And at the end of it all my husband said, "cool! can you make me a matching one?!" I love you but... Ah. No.

Parker sure did look cute in his birthday bowling shirt though - it was a big hit, we all had a great time, and I'd do it all over again for him because I love this little bugger so much!