I Read That! In February 2014

1. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
2. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
3. Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
4. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
5. The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson

Oh man! I slowed way down this month! It's not too surprising, that first book? 1100 pages. That ate up a ton of time. Plus I decided to listen to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire again, just because I was in an Harry Potter kind of mood and that was the only audio that was available at the library. It is not included in my list because it was a reread and the list only consists of first time reads.

SO at the end of January I was 8 books ahead of schedule. I've dropped down to 5. I still think thats pretty respectable so I am not worried.

This months highs
1. The Way of Kings- LOVED it and I am so glad that the second book is coming out next month!
2. Life As We Knew It- This book just had me completely captivated. I can't even really explain why, I just really, really enjoyed it.

No Lows!

Happy reading everyone! I'll see you again next month :)


EDIT: After making my graphic I noticed two of these books weren't listed in my goodreads and my actual stats are 16 of 65 books read. 7 books ahead of schedule!

Week 8 Recap 2014

This last week was pretty crafty if I do say so myself!

It started off on Monday with a holiday trip to Joann's to pick up some cheap interfacing (10yds only $5!) where I happened across some darling little beads. They weren't what I had in mind for this project but when I saw them my whole world shifted and Lorelai's Easter outfit flashed before my eyes. I grabbed two packs. I'm going back for one more.

So the crafting. At first I drafted a new bodice pattern and worked on Lorelai's six year old portrait dress. But those beads were calling to me so I halted and started working on the necklace that wont be needed until the end of April! I'm such a dinkus but I couldn't help it. Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I just HAVE to work on it a small bit so it can get out of my head and I can think of other things again. This time, working on it a small bit, actually meant, finishing the necklace. Ch-ch-ch-check it out!





A very productive week I'd say. It felt so good to get back into the crafting swing of things!

Doll Mattress Covers, A Tutorial

I'm not reinventing the wheel here or anything but I thought you guys would be interested to see the method I used to make three mattress covers in an hour and a half.
Let's get right into it...

What you need:

• foam cut to desired mattress size my piece is (20" X 10" X  2.25")
• 1 yd of fabric
• sewing machine (of course)
• thread (haha)

So the idea here is essentially the same as an envelope pillow case. You need to cut out three pieces.

The top piece- 22.5" X 12.5"

and two back pieces- 13" X 12.5"
You want to fold over and hem one 12.5" side of each back piece.

Next lay your top piece right side up. Place your back pieces right side down with hemmed sides over lapping in the center with the outer edges matched up with the edges of the top piece.
Pin. Sew a half inch seam all the way around.

Now this is where we deviate from the typical envelope instructions. You're going to take the corners and pinch them together.
























Pin like so two inches from the edge and sew a straight line across the corner as you pinned it.

Its not a true sewing project until a kid gets in the way.

This resulting seam, in the picture below, should be 2.25". Just like the depth of the foam mattress. Clip off the corners and turn your project right side out.

Your corners should now look like this and you are ready to stuff in your foam!

Here it is!
Top-

Bottom- (Don't ask me why I did a decorative seam here, it'll never be visible)



There you have it! Three mattresses in 90 minutes.

Have you ever made mattress covers before? Did you use a similar method? I'm curious to hear what works for you!

Week 7 Recap 2014

So this last week I played catch up a little bit, around the house, around the blog, and with my sewing.

Let me back up a little bit... At the beginning of January I told Brett I wanted him to build a doll bed for Lorelai's American Girl doll (+plus mine) and he pretty much said, okay, whatever. Fast forward to the Saturday before Lorelai's birthday he asked me what her main present would be. Hello! I told him, I don't know because I wanted the bed to be the big present and he never made it. Haha, he told me that he could have one built by Thursday. So all of a sudden I needed to make doll bedding! Well, I ran out of time. I only had one pillow and one blanket done for her big day. Brett totally knocked it out of the park though! In three and a half days he built and painted (twice) a triple bunk bed.


 He used scrap wood from work and left over foam pieces for the mattresses. The only thing we had to pay for was the fabric and I had coupons! Such a good deal. It only cost $20 all together. Hop on over to americangirl.com and see how that compares!


 So like I said, this week I played catch up and finished off the bedding. Then we took the bed outside for a little fun and photo shoot. The girls thought it was so fun that the bed was outside.

There you have it. I always enjoy posts where I get to brag about my handy hubs! Check back later this week. I'll be sharing my method for making the mattress covers!

Week 6 Recap 2014- Super Cool Party People!

This past week was dedicate to all things Lorelai because on Thursday my baby girl turned 6! This will be mostly a picture post (a LOT of pictures) so get ready to aesthetically enjoy!

Birthday Morning

Birthday Party




Our party was quite a success! The kids had fun playing a few minute to win it games, pass the parcel, and pin the tail on the pony. They loved using balloons to knock down the balloon ceiling I had Brett make and decorated some fabulous cupcakes. To top it off we had present opening and general mayhem. I love birthday parties and more importantly the birthday girl loved it. I can't wait to do it again!

I Read That! In January 2014

I'm totally ripping off Emily here but I really like the idea and it'll be a nice way to brag about my progress towards 65 books in 2014.



(Somehow the pictures ended up out of order. Oh well.)

1. Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms, #1) Morgan Rhodes
2. Matched (Matched, #1) by Allie Condie
3. The Giver (Giver Quartet, #1) by Lois Lowry
4. Bossypants by Tina Fey
5. The Lion and the Rose (The Borgias, #2) by Kate Quinn
6. Gathering Blue (Giver Quartet, #2) by Lois Lowry
7. Messenger (Giver Quartet, #3) by Lois Lowry
8. The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
9. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
10. Inferno by Dan Brown
11. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Can you believe how much I read this month? I was completely on a roll and it has everything to do with having figured out how to work the overdrive app on my phone. That's the library! I'm totally geeking out about it. Nine of those books are library books. Being able to sprinkle in some free books really upped my numbers! Unfortunately, that does not mean there was that much quality.

This months top books were..
1.The Lion and the Rose
2. Steelheart

The books that hit rock bottom were
1. Inferno
2. Bossypants

Until next month, keep reading! I know I will :)

Week 5 Recap 2014

So this week was dedicated to pattern testing for a fellow blogger. I'm afraid it turned out to be quite a disappointment. I'm not happy with how the dress turned out and I'm not ready to post pictures yet. I plan to take pictures and then redo the dress so that it is something I like. Then I'll write a post that includes everything.

In the meantime here is a cute and fairly old picture to tide you over.