Drop Dead Cute

A Nursing Dress

I cannot believe I pulled this off!! With no pattern, just a nursing shirt and one of my regular dresses I made a pattern and sewed this cute little dress up on my serger, out of knit. That may not sound like a big deal to some but I'm totally self taught. I've never taken a sewing class before. I've watched my mom over the years which has helped hugely. But when I decided to attempt this I had a bit of a learning curve ahead of me. So this should encourage any of you out there that have not attempted something like this that yes, you can do it too. It really is an easy dress to put together.

I've made things without a pattern many a time and enjoy that challenge. I like figuring out how putting it all together works - it's like a puzzle. However, I'm not super familiar with my serger or with knits. So it still takes me a while to thread it and figure out which stitch I need when. Sergers are amazing and makes sewing things like this dress easier than on a regular machine but you have to KNOW how it works first. Ugh. I wish I would've taken those beginner serger classes two years ago. Now I have my manual and Sew U Home Stretch book to guide me which has been a wonderful help. Highly recommend it if you want to get familiar with knits and how to sew them. The author is really big on creating your own patterns and clothes and not being afraid to be creative.

I used two yards of 60" knit and still have a little left over. This dress cost me about $20 to make. The crossover panels pull to the side and the middle front panel pulls over the other way allowing you to nurse. We'll see how this works in practice in several weeks. I may even model it for you eventually but thats not going to happen now. Sorry. It's not meant to be a maternity dress and doesn't look all that flattering at the present moment.

I may eventually do a tutorial on this. There is not much out there in googleland on making nursing dresses and tops. Everything I came accross was VERY hoaky and non-cute. That needs to change. I'd like to actually wear this and make any improvements first. Feel free to let me know if you'd be interested in a tutorial or any other thoughts for that matter (it always helps the motivation).

 

Weekend Pancakes

Happy Friday everyone!!! This is my tried and true pancake recipe. I have dinked around with it for years and will probably continue to because, well, that's just what I do. I love to experiement in the kitchen. My son askes for "cakes" at least once a week and sometimes everyday, thanks to Curious George and this book. So this gives me lots of opportunities for dinking. Since they are a frequent breakfast item I try to make them full of good things.

I was never much a pancake person. I found them to be boring and full of empty calories and more like a dessert than anything after you're finished pouring syrup over them. These are different. I like to eat these about as much as my son does. They do not need syrup. I don't think I've ever served them to my son with syrup. We will often eat them with apple butter though. My all time favorite is Dutch Country Kettles Homemade Apple Butter (no granulated sugar & no corn syrup!!). I can only find this at Whole Foods and buy several jars at a time.

I make these on the smaller size so they're easier for little hands and for grownups to grab and go if you want. I can't tell you how many times my brother grabs a handful and takes off out the door. It's easy to store letovers in a zip lock bag and pop some in the toaster oven the next morning. Almost as good as fresh off the griddle.

Rebecca's Homemade Pancakes

Start off with two bowls; one for dry ingredients (the bigger of the two bowls), the other for wet.

In the "dry bowl" combine:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon (Penzy's Vietnamese Extra Fancy)

1/2 cup unsalted pecan pieces (optional)

In the "wet bowl" combine:

2 eggs

1 cup greek yogurt (cottage cheese works well too)

1 scant cup milk

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 TBS oil

2 TBS apple butter or apple sauce

2 small/medium bananas, diced small

1/3 apple, peeled, cored, and diced small

(The diced bananas and apples come to just over a cup)

Heat up your griddle - I set my heat to just below medium. Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold to combine. Do not overmix. Batter will be thick (I like thick fluffy pancakes). Pour spoonfuls onto hot buttered griddle and cook a few minutes till edges start to cook and a few bubbles rise to surface. Because the batter is thick I generally cook these at a lower temp and a little longer than regular pancakes. Flip and cook for a couple more minutes till nice and golden. Transfer to plate. I generally don't butter the griddle again (just once in the beginning).

A few notes:

I always use greek yogurt because I like the thicker consistency and it has more protein than regular yogurt. It's completely up to you if you want to use plain or flavored.

On sweetness: The bananas and apples bring a good amount of sweetness. If you use flavored greek yogurt you might want to decrease the sugar a bit. If you plan on using syrup definately decrease sugar by about half.

You can also use honey in place of sugar - I have and do on occasion. I just decrease the wet ingedients a bit. Maybe 3/4 cup of yogurt instead of a full cup or a little less milk.

I also add things like 1/4 cup of chia seeds or 1/4 wheat germ. Chia seeds have bunches of omega-3s and fiber. The chia seeds do gel up and make your batter even thicker so you have to work a little faster.

My hubby prefers blueberries to the bananas and apples. Feel free to add different fruit. I'd probably stick to just over a cups worth.

If you plan on using fruit that's been in the freezer, like let's say frozen blueberries, please know that it will decrease the temperature of your batter. Cook pancakes at even lower temp and longer so they thoroughly cook all the way to those frozen berries and don't burn the outside of your cakes.

You can play with this recipe and make it your own. That's the beauty of it. I hope you enjoy them as much as my boy does!

A Bucketful of Dinosaurs

It all started with a trip to the library several months ago. We checked out a book called, Quacky Quack Quack and Jack fell in love with it, requesting for it to be read every night at bedtime. I had to renew it several times. Well about the time it had to go back to the library for good I took a look at what else the author had written and discovered one called, Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs. It got pretty good reviews on Amazon so I tucked it back in my mind to remember for later. About a week or two went by when we happened upon a garage sale and in a box on the ground were a bunch of toy dinosaurs. I couldn't help myself. A big smile came accross my face and I snatched them up. The next morning I sent my hubby to Barnes and Noble to pick up the dinosaur book. I remembered we had a blue bucket that looked almost exactly like Harry's and would fit all the dinos. So that afternoon we all sat down and read about Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs. Then sent Jack into his room to discover a bucketful of his own. I am SO sappy that I even teared up a little.

It really is a cute little book where Harry discovers a bunch of dinos in a box in his grandma's attic. He cleans them up, takes them everywhere with him, figures out all their names, takes baths with them, goes to bed with them, etc. At one point in the story he loses them but of course the story ends well. My only problem with the book is it uses the word "stupid" in it once which I'm not ok with so I blacked it out and wrote silly in it's place. Apparently Harry has a lot of adventures with his dinos so there are a number of books out there. For now we are enjoying the first one.

The Morning Quiet

Here sits a stack of recently laundered fabric begging to be turned into beautiful things. Mostly Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow line. If only there was more time in the day.

Recently picked sun gold tomatoes. Their name serves them well. If you happen to be coming to dinner group tonight, these little bursts of sweetness will be gracing your plate.

Oh the bucket of cars. and helicopters. and space shuttles. and tractors. and airplanes. This bucket gets dragged everywhere in this house. I find them on the kitchen floor, under the dining table & on the dining table, in the cracks of the sofa, on windowsills, in vases, on the craft table, in my bed. The love affair with these little guys run deep with my boy.

Mini Bathroom Redo

When we first moved in about a year ago we had a lot of work done to our house; carpets ripped up and hardwood floors refinished, hardwood laid in the kitchen and sunroom to match the rest of the house, tile floor laid in the basement, new paint throughout the entire house, tons of electrical work, recessed lighting, new fixtures, crown molding, new kitchen appliances and granite countertops, among a lot of other misc things. Since then, we wrote up a list of house projects, prioritized and agreed upon them and bit by bit have been knocking them out. Some big and expensive like redoing the main bathroom or  adding a deck, and some small and quick like making a sandbox or adding a doorbell.

We've had this eye sore of a downstairs basement bathroom which the previous owners just kinda slapped together I'm afraid. We called it the men's bathroom because frankly guys were about the only ones that didn't care what it looked like in order to use it. I hated going in there but since being preggers I have had to utilize it more often than I cared for just because it saved me from having to run up the stairs. We do have plans on completely redoing it but it's a ways down on the list and I just can't wait that long so we did a mini redo to make it bearable to use.

These would be the lovely "before" photos from a year ago. Yikers. The angle I didn't get, which would be over the sink, was bare. No mirror, no towel hook, no nothing, so you're not missing much.

This is what it looks like now. We used some leftover paint from another room. I had the mirror and picture from when we lived in the condo. I bought a tp holder, shelf, towel ring, light switch plate cover, new toilet seat cover, laminate tiles for the floor, baseboard trim, tension rod and fabric (I made the curtain), garbage can, magazine holder (it is still mainly a boys bathroom afterall) and a plant. The window was actually replaced in settlement, however, it still has yet to be framed out. For less than $150, in about a day and a half with my brother painting and putting up fixtures, hubby doing floor and baseboards and me accessorizing, it no longer frightens me to use it nor be completely mortified if a guest has to use it (only slightly embarrassed now). It is far from where I would like it to be but at least as the boys would say, they can "poop in style."

I've kinda surprised myself that I'm sharing my ugly bathroom with you all but I hope that it inspires at least one person to do something with their eye sore of a project. Even if you can't make it exactly how you would want it right now due to time, budget, priorities, etc., you can get some nice results with a wee bit of cash and DIY elbow grease.

Coasters

Finally getting around to putting a few things in my shop. Cross my fingers, I'll have it all in by the end of the week. For now, here are my coasters. I love these. I love the fabric and having these little guys out and about on my nightstand, craft table, desk, etc. They make great little gifts so if you're in need of a stocking stuffer, thank you, birthday or hostess gift or for your self, check them out in my shop.

A Cozy Reading Corner

Since we moved the rocking chair out of his room and into ours, there has been an empty corner in Jack's room calling for something cozy to sit and read on. I bought this great fabric from here - perfect colors for his room. He LOVES it. He's totally into cars and kept stealing the fabric off my ironing board and sewing table yesterday reminding me continually about his car pillows. I finally finished them late last night after he was in bed so this morning when he woke up he had them tucked away in his reading corner. He immediately jumped on them, sat down and grabbed a book. I'm thrilled he enjoys books so much.

I purchased the 30" feather/down pillow inserts from a Pottery Barn outlet for $25 each last summer. They have been stashed away in my craft closet intended for my bed but I already have so many pillows on there currently (my pregnant pillow fortress) that it seemed they would get better use in Jack's room.

I did a basic knife edge and planned on putting in zippers but it appears my zipper foot is MIA and I need to order a new one. So I just hand stitched the opening closed for now and will install zippers later.

Pillows are fabulous, especially great big giant fluffy ones. You can never have too many :)

Granola Goodness

We have these great neighbors down the street that have become sweet friends. I love that. My parents had wonderful neighbors that would pop by, kids over all the time at each others' homes, playing in the pool together, we all shared many a bbq, vacation, holiday, special event and tears during hard times. Good neighbors and friends are priceless.

Anyway, these neighbors of ours brought by a small bowl of this wonderful granola back when I was in my first trimester and I think I devoured it within a day. I finally got my hands on the recipe and been making it continually ever since. I make it more as a cereal to go with milk, yogurt or kefir yogurt but you could leave the nuts and fruit more chunky and add a bit more honey so it's more snackable. My brother also likes to sprinkle it on toast that's been slathered in peanut butter.

Granola

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine in a heatproof bowl:

4 cups old fashioned oats (I've also used muesli with great success)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/3 sesame seeds

(I also add 1/2 hemp seeds - good source of omega-3s and protien)

1 cup wheat germ

In a medium sauce pan, heat until bubbly:

1/2 cup oil (safflower or canola, I've also used coconut oil)

1/2 cup honey (my secret ingredient is using this honey - shhh don't tell anyone (their tea is AWESOME too)

Pour hot honey oil over oat mixture and stir.

Add:

3 cups mixed nuts (my favorite are a combo of Trader Joe's dry roasted unsalted sliced almonds, dry roasted unsalted chopped pecans, and 50% less salt dry roasted cashew pieces)

Spread over two baking sheets. Bake, stirring every ten minutes for a total of 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, cool, and stir in:

2 to 3 cups chopped dried fruit ( I use a combo of dates, figs, apricots, cherries, raisins, and TJ's pomegranate cranberry mix) (I'm also allergic to sulfur so I use unsulfured dried fruit - if you find some dried fruit makes your throat itch that's what it is)

Store in airtight containers. When I fix myself a bowl I like to sprinkle on a spoonful of chia seeds too. They are an excellent source of omega-3 and fiber. They expand in liquid making it gel like so do it at the last minute if you're not into the gel thing.

You can have fun with this recipe, changing and adding things so play with it till you find your favorite mix! Enjoy!!

A Million Little Projects

I haven't been able to post much in the last week because I've been busy working on a million little things that needed to get done around here before baby arrives; packing the hospital bag, rearranging our bedroom to make room for the rocking chair and co-sleeper, mending, mending, and more mending, repairing a sweater, finishing projects for friends, installing light fixtures, recovering our headboard, making bathroom curtains, ironing and hanging dining room curtains, fall clothes shopping for 2 year old, finishing up early Christmas presents and getting them off in the mail, on top of all the regular stuff that goes on around here. I had a feeling that the baby dropped a few days ago and my 36 week ultrasound today confirmed that yes indeed he is in position and ready to go. So I'm feeling a bit of a time crunch now because there is still SO MUCH I want to get done!! Like getting my inventory in my Etsy shop, doing our taxes and at least 6 or 7 more sewing projects. Ahhh! It seems like for every project I get done, 2 more get added to the list.

Tonight, after everyone was in bed I whipped up these newborn pants out of a fabric bag that a crib sheet came in. I'm a big fan of Under the Nile. They have the best swaddle blankets hands down. I often gift them to new mommies because I just couldn't live without mine when Jack was a newborn. They are soft, organic, great size and have the perfect amount of stretch in them. I also have a couple pieces of their newborn clothes and love those as well. Anyway, I had this bag made out of the wonderful knit their products are made of and had no idea what I was going to use it for. Then I remembered Amanda over at Soulemama, making kids pants out of old tshirts in her book, The Creative Family, and thought that would be perfect. So I literally whipped these little guys up in no time. I think it took me longer to rethread my Serger than it did to sew them. I love that I created something very useful out of something not so useful. Weirdly satisfying. I know newborn knit pants cost like five bucks but still. I think it's more about the repurposing, reconstructing, not being wasteful bit that makes me feel like such a resourceful mama. 

Here's the bag.

Pair of newborn pants that I used as a pattern.

Folded bag in half. Folded pants and laid them on top.

Cut out around the pants leaving extra for hem and seams.

Serged the bottom first. Then threaded elastic in waist. Serged the seat and front. Then serged up the inseam. Sewed the hem under. Done. Dang that was easy.

Photos aren't so fabulous because I was doing this at 11pm and well, lighting is crummy this late at night. Speaking of which, it's time for this mama to hit the pillow. I'll be back at it in the morning tackling that crazy list of mine and hopefully, cross my fingers, have something fun to post about :)

Bath Cover Up Tutorial

As if I don't have a million other things that need to get done before this but hey it was a fun little project that I was able to do while a certain little guy was napping. It cost me all of like $7. I'd model it for you but I'm way pregnant and it just wouldn't look quite right but hopefully you can figure out that this is a robe of sorts. It goes around your chest above your bust. I have wanted one of these for years and I am just now finally getting around to making myself one. I prefer not to have my arms constricted by a regular robe and frankly they get a little hot to wear sometimes. I have a lot of long hair so the whole styling/blow drying thing leaves me a bit flushed. This little number is fantastic because it frees up my arms, keeps me cool, and I'm not having to re-wrap my regular towel around me for the five hundredth time.

You'll need:

1 bath towel (or a bath sheet towel or terry cloth yardage if you want a bigger size - you'll just have to hem the edges)

1 yard of 1" elastic

1 - 1 1/8" half ball cover button

Scrap fabric to cover button with

Coordinating thread

Take a long edge of the towel and fold it down about 1 1/2" from the top and pin. I wanted the decorative strip to go down the front on my left when I had this finished so pay attention to how you want your finished cover up to look and choose your top edge accordingly.

Sew in place creating a 1 1/4" hem.

Take the elastic and wrap it around your chest, under your arms and above your bust. Pull it a little snug, add an inch and cut. Thread elastic through hem with a large safety pin. Pin the other end to the towel so you don't lose it inside the hem. Take care to keep the elastic from twisting.

Sew elastic in place along towel's existing seam.

Trim elastic. It's raw edge is hidden by the hem.

You'll do the same for the other end but before you do wrap the towel around you and pull the lose end of elastic so it fits securely and fasten with safety pin. The weight of the towel made it so I needed to make the elastic even tighter than I originally had it...by about 8 inches. So make sure it fits to your liking before sewing the second end.

Here's what it looks like with elastic all sewn in.

You'll follow the instructions on your button package but just so you get an idea...you just cut a little circle of fabric, place your button on the wrong side, fold over fabric tightly making sure to catch it on the teeth of the button's rim and popping on the button back.

Sew button on front top corner about 1 1/2" in from side edge. I used upholstery thread but you don't have to, I just wanted the added assurance of my button not popping off. Make sure to pay attention to which end your button is going on and which is the button hole end.

On the opposite front top corner, sew a button hole about 4" in from side edge. This is the trickiest part but the last step so take a deep breath, you're almost finished! I found the easiest way to do this was to mark a horizontal 1 1/4" line and sew a zigzag stitch with the length set to .5. Basically a satin stitch. Sew two rows bordering the line, securing the ends and leaving a space between the two rows so you can cut the hole. Use an exacto knife to carefully cut between the two rows creating your button hole.

I find button holes to be a bit of a pain as it is but here you're also sewing through the elastic so you have to stretch the elastic/fabric as you're sewing this button hole. I tried using my automatic button hole setting on my machine but it was aggravating so I did it this way instead. Make sure to do a few practice runs on scrap fabric to make yourself more comfortable with it.

And you're done!! Yay! Super cute and fast to make. Also would make a great gift!