The Breazy Dress

Hi Friends!

It has been quite some time since I last did any apparel sewing and it has been bothering me. A lot. I had some sweet birdie fabric sitting on my shelf taunting me. I picked it up at Joann's a couple of months ago and it really needed to be whipped into a dress.This pattern has been bopping around in my head and I thought sewing it would calm my brain down but no, I've already got fabric and plans to make a second one!


The Breazy Dress. If you don't count all of the slip sliding around the fabric did you could even call this The Easy Breazy Dress. It only took about 3 hours to put together and that is including the cutting!

I love this dress, the style is so feminine and romantic and the birds add a lovely touch of whimsy!

Haha. Speaking of whimsy. This girlie adds a lovely touch of it too.

The "Lorelai poses" really show off the drape of the dress!


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I want to know!
Did you notice how the dress pops more when Lorelai stands in front of the brick wall than when she is in front of the fence and ivy? I don't know the logic behind that but I found it very interesting!

What are your weekend plans?
Tonight I am going to Women's Conference and then a GNO at Red Robin! So excited :D

NaKoa Mini Quilt

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Lots of fun things going on around here :D
This past weekend Lorelai and I ran a 5k together.

Super fun news, my dad's new book comes out today! Go here to check it out and enter his giveaway for a Kindle HD7!

Now the best news of all for my sewing friends? I'm participating in Kylie's  Mini Charm Challenge. She challenged 7 of us bloggers/instagrammers to design and share a free pattern (that's right, FREE) using a mini charm pack.

I was thrilled to join in this challenge because I have a little pile of mini charm packs just waiting to be used. You're likely to build up your own pile if you participate in many mini quilt swaps because they are the perfect extra. Tiny pretty fabrics all bundled up and ready to go? Yes, please!

I decided to use my Color Theory by, VandCo for this pattern and while my husband and I were watching Hawaii 5-0 I was struck with my design inspiration. I went back the next day and got a still of the image that struck me.

Haha, my husband can't believe I was inspired by another man's "man nipples". Well I was and here is what I came up with...

I love the checkerboard that bleeds into triangles and I really enjoyed creating those triangles. Here's a quick visual for you.

You can pick up your copy of my FREE NaKoa Mini Quilt at my Craftsy shop. I hope you enjoy it and if you choose to make your own, please share pictures and #NaKoaMiniQuilt social media!

For your viewing pleasure here are the other stops on the Mini Charm Challenge:
Sept. 14 - Jennie (cloverandviolet.com/blog) Pencil Pouch
Sept. 15 - ME!! (L1sapeterson.blogspot.com) Mini Quilt
Sept. 16 - Sarah (goer.org/sarah) Placemat
Sept. 17 - April (aprilrosenthal.com) Baby Bib
Sept. 18 - Nina (ninawithfreckles.wordpress.com) Mini Quilt
Sept. 19 - Konda (moosequilts.com) Small Quilt
Sept. 20 - Mary (seemaryquilt.com) Mini Quilt
Sept. 21 - Kylie (sewkylie.com) Patchwork "Sew" Wall Decor

It's been great having you all here and I hope you return soon.
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I want to know!

Anyone else watch Hawaii 5-0?
We do... we are a little addicted ;)

Any book recommendations?

Behind the Scenes and Advice from 1949

A lot is going on around here in my world but at the same time not a lot at all.
Post surgically speaking Kent is finally doing really well. No more fevers or infections and he is getting more and more used to having a belly button tube put in every night. On the other hand, preschool is not going well. Sort of, he hates that he has to go but seems to have fun while he is there. I finished his sweater, yay! Not really, now that I've knit on the ribbing it no longer fits over his head. I need to undo it and add stitches. I'm so angry at the sweater I put it on time out in the kids closet for the time being. Naughty sweater. At least the orange yarn was nice to me. I had already finished off one sleeve, the bottom of the sweater and had just finished off the second sleeve when I realized this was all the yarn I had left. Score.
Lorelai has been off track for the last three weeks and finally went back to school today. 7 has been a really fun year. She is such a crack up to be around and old enough to start "getting things". She has been working on a quilt for her uncle and managed to get all the blocks sewn together for the top. Still needs the borders but she's feeling pretty accomplished right now.

Now Mark, He's just hanging out.

Haha, have you seen this advice from an old Singer manual?

You must have, it's been floating around the interwebs for a couple of years now and every so often one of my sewing friends will post it along with a big, YEAH RIGHT!

Honestly though. I think there is a lot of wisdom to this. That first bit about your mental state when approaching sewing? Absolutely true. A lack of motivation to finish a project is a total buzz kill but when I've pumped myself up mentally for a while I am ready to hit the machine and sew some awesome things!
Now I don't always change out of my pj's or put on make up before I sew but I do get my chores done! On the days that I don't I am distracted with guilt and hoping that hurry and get my stuff sewn so I can try and get some cleaning done before my hubs gets home. So instead I spend an afternoon turning my disorganized coat closet/pantry into this...

So that my mind it free to enjoy my sewing and I spend a peaceful hour or so making beautiful things like this:

and then my husband still looks like this--->     :D
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I want to know!
How is your day going?

Do you get to sew today?

Can you relate to the 1949 sewing advice or is it total bunk;)?

My Cousin is Part Mermaid

Hey!

I'm pretty excited to share my recent finish with you today! 

I have a cousin who grew up in Africa (most of my mom's family lives there). She lived near and loves the beach and has sea air in her lungs. She just had a sweet baby boy a week ago and I mailed her a couple goodies.

While she was pregnant I started looking for baby quilt inspiration on pinterest and pretty quickly found the perfect pattern!

I followed this tutorial by Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting. She gives you a breakdown on sewing the curves that will set the most nervous mind at ease. I cruised through the curved piecing portion of this quilt and it was the first time I've ever sewn a curve! I was pretty ecstatic with the results. 

^My husband wasn't sure what to do with his head while I was taking pictures and kept getting distracted by whatever was on the other side of the bush.

I didn't follow her instructions entirely regarding the shades of blue because I couldn't find any one place that all six shades of Kona blue. The top and bottom are Kona but for the in between I went with what looked good at my local quilt shop.

Brett also didn't have a lot patience for close up shots attempting to show of the variegated thread I quilted with so you can see it here in the below picture.

Finally, here it is in my sons crib!

I am completely in love with this quilt! I love the motion the quilting provides, I love all the blues, and I really I love that I conquered a technique that I was afraid of.

That is one of my favorite things about sewing. I was afraid to try curved piecing though I've wanted to for ages. Now, not only have I done it, I've done it well and I cant wait to try more!

I've shipped this lovely quilt off now (I miss it already) and I hope mom and baby love it as much as I do.
Have a happy day my sewing friends!
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I want to know!
Curved piecing, yay or nay?

Are you a quilter?

What is your favorite new baby gift to give?

9 Things Since We Last Met

It's been 9 days since we last met so here are 9 things that happened during our separation.

1- We acquired Tsum Tsums. We are now those people. There have been even more since this picture was taken.

2- We've gone to three run club days.

3- We ended up back in the hospital.

4- I knit a Christmas stocking while hanging out in the hospital.

5- I worked on a sweater for Kent.

6- I made a Mailchimp account (more on that in the next couple of days).

7- I played A LOT of Mario Galaxy.

8- I made a Hello Kitty dress for my niece.
9- Finally, today I finished all of the blocks for my baby Broncos quilt.
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What have you done in the last 9 days?

Just Your Average Monday

Lorelai is off school for the next three weeks and terrorizing us all. Just kidding but, I do think she is pretty bored. There is a lot of structure at school and we don't do a whole lot around the house, especially with Kent fresh home from the hospital.

She came up behind me while I was blogging and asked if this was my "sewing log". Haha, yes this is where I write about my sewing adventures. Well now she wants to have a blog too.

So now she does :) You can follow her story over at Kid Wonder Woman Sews, I've got the button there to the side---->
As you can imagine setting up a blog took up most of my day.
Now that she has a blog to talk about her sewing she is in more of a rush to get sewing but her machine wasn't working so I spent another little while sorting that out.

One I got the machine opened to see what was going on it was actually a quick fix. Thank goodness.
I once thought, "Oh it'll be so fun if Lorelai gets into sewing we can sew along together happy as can be!" Haha, it actually takes quite a bit of time from my own sewing but oh well. I still am thrilled that she wants to try doing the things I do and enjoys it.

It's lonely here in my corner of the sewing world with no sewing friends around but I'm grateful Em still takes me on her shopping trips. Lorelai was totally impressed that I was weighing in on Emily's fabric choices even though we are in two different states.

I spent much of the rest of my free time sorting out the rest of my knitting pattern for my nephews Christmas stocking and finding the pattern I want to follow for his baby quilt. Hopefully I get around to cutting that out today.

Oh and just for fun, Look at this grape I found while making my husbands lunch --->

We left it in the bunch for the kids to find.
Have a happy day all!
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Do you have sewing friends near by?

What kind of machine do you use?

Do your kids steal your sewing time?

Time for Some Catching Up.

Kent and I spent all of last week at the Children's Hospital. He had surgery on Monday and it was a pretty tough recovery. I spent most of my time tending to his needs but there were a few quiet moments when he was asleep or happily watching a movie. During these quiet moments anxiety and stress would settle in and I would just ache to do something crafty. Ideally I would have sewn but I was all out of hand sewing projects. Fortunately, I have a baby nephew on the way and he is going to need a Christmas stocking in the next couple months so I was able to use this time to work on that.
For his parents I made Ninja Turtle Stockings and for his sis I made a San Francisco Giants stocking. For this future Broncos fan I am working on a Broncos stocking. I was able to finish the entire jersey portion of the stocking while we were in the hospital.


We got to come home Friday and I spent the rest of that day tidying and sleeping and Saturday I worked on getting us all back to our normal routine. I must have been in a serious nesting mood because I made 15 Crock Pot freezer bag meals and I managed to fit them all into my tiny freezer!

Sunday the boys and I stayed home from church because the Dr doesn't want Kent going out and about for another week. He's feeling a lot better and was happily entertaining himself so when Mark went down for a nap I pulled out my sewing machine and got started on a new baby quilt! I finished the quilt top last night and I am finally starting to feel like me again!
Oh! I hit a pin and it didn't break my needle but I did have to open up my machine to fish the broken bit back out.


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Have you had a child stay at a Children's Hospital?

Freezer meals? Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Do you pull out your pins or sew over them?
I try to pull them out. I missed one this time.