Fernando is back, after spending almost a month in Nigeria. Which is partly why I’ve been so terrible posting lately.  I’m just loving having him home! He had flowers on the table with dinner waiting when I came home from work that day.  It was heaven. Then we spent the whole weekend together just the two of us-walking to the park, sitting on a bench eating ice cream (my favorite thing to do lately), attending our first Houston Dynamo soccer game, shopping, and going to the movies-Rio (not my favorite animation, but still cute). Since he was away for our 3rd anniversary, he brought me home the Rosetta Stone language learning software so I could learn Spanish.  I’ve been wanting this for a while now.  So far it’s really easy to understand, and fun.

While in Nigeria, Fernando decided that he would like to train for a triathalon. He’s really been into working out lately.  This all started when he dropped 10lbs with the HCG diet which was a great motivator.  There’s a sprint triathalon coming up in August that he’s planning on doing.  Hopefully he doesn’t get heat stroke. Since our bikes got stolen, we’ve been toying with the idea of getting road bikes.  Thankfully, we have some super nice friends who are going away for the summer who decided to lend us their totally awesome road bikes to use.

Although I doubt I will get my booty on a bike anytime soon…

week 16

Week 14 hit and my nausea was cured! I feel like a whole new person.  The problem is I’m very limited in what clothes I can wear now. Everything is going good. I may or may not have felt something move inside. I can’t be sure these days. So many strange sensations going on.

I recently discovered fiber reactive dyes for dyeing fabric.  They are 100% way better than Rit dyes.  I get mine from Dharma Trading. They have bright bold colors and don’t bleed or fade.  I’ve been having so much fun with dying onesies and burp cloths.

(sorry about the iphone pics)

This past weekend we went to our new favorite beach- Surfside. There was a lot more sea weed this time around, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal.  The sand was super soft and the water was the perfect temperature.  We flew kites, soaked up the sun, and played in the sand.  We were sure to re apply SPF 50 every two hours or so, but alas, I was fried. Fernando too.  I guess our fair skin isn’t ready for summer yet…

Why was it so hard to find decent Valentines decorations this year? Even Hobby Lobby disappointed me.

Thanks to The Idea Room, I was able to make my own out of Styrofoam, felt, and party streamers.

Tutorial found here

The Idea Room’s Valentines Topiary Tutorial

Fernando asked what I was making and I said, “A topiary tree”.  He was like, “What’s a topiary?” I couldn’t help but laugh, thinking in my head, ‘um, where were you in the 90′s?’

Did you notice The Work and The Glory series in the background of her photos at the Idea Room?

It reminds me of this article about Mormon housewife blogs and their subtle widgets of temples and Families are Forever slogans. Speaking of which, that is my temple picture in the background.  haha.

The Idea Room’s Heart Felt wreath Tutorial

I will definitely be making more of these, maybe in a round shape and non-Valentinesy color. Easy Peasy.

On a side note, I’ve been making more ties. I happened to stumble upon a JoAnn’s that was closing and had everything on clearance.  I bought a bunch of gingham and seersucker colors that will make perfect ties.

I was so excited that someone is already doing this on etsy

Her shop is called Babybystevie and she sells gorgeous ties made from seersucker, houndstooth, polka-dots, gingham, and other cute cottons.

Seriously cute right?

There’s also Bubalooandco which has seriously cute designer print ties for sale like these:

Why am I telling you this? Because I cannot do an Etsy store of my own.  At least not while I am still working full time.

For now, everything I make is to keep or to give away.

I have a hard enough time keeping this blog updated as it is. I have yet to master the skill of multitasking.

I want to encourage you to get your own craft on.  This is beginner level sewing. Better yet, buy this pattern from the Butterflytree and make your own!

A quick preview of the next project. This one is proving to be extremely tedious!

I had a five day weekend last week. Thanks to a scheduled hysteroscopy. I have a new love = general anesthesia. Fourth time this year. Best night sleep I ever had. Anyway, I’m now working with the Houston Fertility Institute to figure out why all the miscarriages. They took a camera to the inside of my uterus and had a look around, and good news, they found something! Supposedly, I was born with a big scar inside my uterus and it was giving me a 40-50% chance of miscarrying. So they removed it. Hopefully that was the ticket!

Okay, on to the bibs…I really, really needed to sew something; more importantly, use my scraps which were getting a little out of hand. I have a problem with keeping every itty bitty piece of fabric…thinking someday I may use it.

I realized that I really need to work on my purple stash

Here are my fav’s

I’m hoping they fit a baby.  I don’t even have a doll to try them out on…

I went to the Houston Quilt Festival yesterday. I have been looking forward to this event all year. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.  I was thinking more booths would have sold fabric.  And the prices increased this year too.  $2.69 for a fat quarter? What a strange price. I will stick to buying fabric online.

I got a new job at a dental office near the Galleria! Well, last week during some down time, I flipped through the latest Ikea catalog and decided that I had to go check out their fabric among other things.  (Ikea is only 3 miles from work now!) Since there was nobody at the cutting table, I decided to flip through the pre-cut fabric bin, and found some cute upholstery fabric for super cheap. I found some cute cotton prints as well, and just as I was about to cut it myself, an Ikea employee showed up and did it for me.  Lucky for me, he was very generous (not like the mean guy at Jo-Ann’s that didn’t even offer me the end of the bolt…it was only 3 inches!).

Well, last month or so, I found this $10 purse at Target that looked super easy to copy:

So, I traced around the Target purse, cut into my fabric and started sewing. I even started making a tutorial, but decided it was way too easy to just use the pattern from an old purse. Upholstery fabric is great for totes and bags, because you don’t even need to use stabilizer if you don’t want.

My favorite part is that the inside is lime green!

The outcome: The Ikea purse cost a mere $3. And it’s better quality, (the inside of the Target purse ripped after a couple of days, but its nothing that can’t be repaired.) FYI, my friend said she saw the Target purse on sale for $5, so go get one and make a bunch of purses for yourself!

The first fabric sale I’ve ever seen at Houston’s one and only designer fabric store, It’s a Stitch. I went with my good friend Erin and her little one.  We were by far the youngest by twenty years or so, but it was great fun, that is until we waited in line for over 40 min to check out…

Of course the fabric I wanted was only 15% off. Mere dimes lower than the online stores (since it’s overpriced to begin with), but I didn’t have to pay for shipping!

The steal of the day. Only $3.36/yd

The Rosemarie Lavin Spa collection

Momo’s Freebird

A new patchwork quilt in the making

Fernando is taking nook to Africa.

I don’t want nook to get stolen or scratched so I looked into cases and fell in love with the Barnes and Noble Jack Spade case below:

Classy and sleek. BUT $65!

So…my take on Jake Spade (with a Japanese twist):

I don’t know if it’s as manly, but hey, its my nook.

What are they? Bags that you can put wet things in to keep your unwet things dry. I originally stumbled upon wet bags on some cloth diapering blog and thought they could have multiple uses, and they wouldn’t be too hard to make. Actually, once I figured out how to do a zipper that actually zipped, it only took 30 minutes! A personal best.

I found a great free tutorial here at Little Birdie Secrets. I’m pretty proud of doing my first zipper. It really wasn’t too hard.  The key was to use a walking foot instead of the zipper foot, so the vinyl didn’t get caught.

The vinyl on the inside of these bags has a little bit of insulation to help keep cold things cool and warm things warm.  They are perfect for holding snacks and drinks, or wet swimsuits. I’m sure anyone with a kid would not have a hard time thinking of things to put inside. They might even be good for holding your liquids when traveling. The best part is that they are washable and reusable.  Go green.

It took me the longest time to figure out what quilt to make with my Arcadia fabric, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and do my favorite, a simple patchwork quilt. The size is 37″ by 44″, perfect size for a crib.

Remember those hexagons I made while Fernando was gone?

I bedazzled the back by appliqueing some hexagons to add a splash of color. The idea came from Ashley from Film in the Fridge and her gorgeous hexagon pillows.

The Buttercup Bag

I ran into my friend Crystal who made me jealous by sporting a Buttercup Bag, so I decided to make one for myself.  Although I will admit that I was VERY nervous about this since it was my first bag attempt EVER! (or maybe I should say my first completed bag.  Several attempts have already been started and pushed into the corner of projects to be completed.) I stumbled upon this tutorial several weeks ago and added it to my To Do list. The Tutorial is free, thanks to the fantastic Rae by Made by Rae. The best part is that this bag can be made from a mere fat quarter (plus liner).

My main hobby is collecting fabric, but occasionally I will whip something up.

It’s been WAY too long since I posted about the last sewing experiment. But I have been sewing A LOT lately since work has been non existent. Everything I do is for baby. And I have decided to keep it that way after attempting to sew a full/queen sized quilt for the R.S. humanitarian aid service project a few months ago. I am now an expert at picking out stitches.

Baby is just better, and cuter in my opinion. Plus just about every body I know is pregnant right now and these make great gifts.

Nursing covers and matching burp cloths.

I buy the white baby diapers in the automotive section at Target, great advice from a good friend. They are softer and more absorbent than a regular baby diaper.

Moda Rouenneries charm pack

I finished this one back in November I think.

Pinwheels and Prairie Points in Hunky Dory by Jodi from Moda Bakeshop

I got a serger for Christmas. I’m still not sure how to use it, but these blankets are the quickest things to do.

Baby Life Quilt in Make Life from the lovely Vanessa at V and Co.

It should say “poop” huh? Vanessa thinks so too.  Maybe the next one will.

Etsy is a serious lifesaver for finding fabric. There just aren’t good stores here in Houston. Most of the fabric I order from Etsy comes straight from Provo. Provo must have some great stores I just don’t know about.

The R.S. humanitarian aid quilt

All the fabric was donated by members of my ward and all I had to do was cut and sew. What a beast to sew 80″ x 80″. Glad that one is over. Definitely not my proudest or cutest project. I took these pictures with  my phone, definitely not the best lighting.

Today’s eye candy. I don’t know if I can get myself to cut it.

I have been so excited for this year’s quilt festival, so I could stock up on fabric, since good fabric stores are hard to come by in Houston. For some reason I was thinking last years festival was in February. Anyway, with Fernando gone, I decided to head out to Jo-Ann’s and bumped into my visiting teachee. I found some okay fabric to start a Halloween banner with, and stood in line for a least 30 minutes since the lady two people in front of me literally bought 60 yards of fabric. (I counted, then asked the clerk to verify). Ridiculous right? Then the store manager screams into the intercom, “I need two people on the cash registers up front…NOW!” Just as I was thinking about how I love shopping at Jo-Anns, I see a customer with a bag advertising that this year’s quilt festival is today! I jumped in my car and made a mad dash downtown, completely cutting off a really old grandma who gave me one heck of an evil eye. I’m proud to say I parallel parked our new car for the first time (I only had to start over once) right in front of the convention center. I dashed through all of the beautiful way-too-complicated award winning quilts to the red carpet, where everything was for sale.

A handful of cherries quilt

red carpet land where everything is for sale

a quilt that I am inspired to make

The best discovery of all was this booth called Sheree’s Alchemy. I fell in love with every piece of fabric she sold. Most of it was Moda but she also had some beautiful Japanese fabric which is so rare! She takes custom orders of what ever you want: layer cakes, charm packs, jelly rolls, etc. If you contact her through her online store. And shipping is free if you live in Texas, because guess what? She’s a local. She live in Katy and is opening up a shop in Houston (in the loop)! And she has a pretty cool blog too.

The end result: 4 new quilts to start. Sorry hun, they sold Moda.

Look dad, you can advertise at quilt expo’s too!

Forget you High Fashion Fabrics, your fabric in your booth was at least $3.25 higher than any other booth. I’ll only shop with you if I have to.