The Best of Winter

Winter 2014/2015 does not have a lot of "Greatest Hits" in my book. We've been over my hatred of it, but even I have to admit that there were parts that were pretty. I didn't photograph much of anything this winter until the end so there wasn't much to choose from, but here are the best of the worst photos of the year (kidding, kind of):

And the best photo ended up being a shot I took on my phone out the car window (don't worry, I stopped and made sure there was no traffic):

And that's all she wrote about this winter. The best part about this winter is that it ended last week :)

Happy Spring!!

~Stacy

Summer Romper

I made my first spring/summer project of the year--a romper for Charlotte using a free pattern and tutorial by It's Always Autumn. It just so happened that the pattern was for a size 4T--perfect. The pattern was designed to sew up using a stretchy knit, but I made mine out of a quilting weight cotton (it's from one of the more recent lines by Bonnie & Camille). It came out great, but the only adjustment I would make if using quilting cotton instead of knit is to add maybe half an inch to each side of the bodice. I didn't and it still fits fine, but it might be a little more comfy and easier to get on with a the extra width.

I didn't adjust anything to the pattern and it fits Charlotte perfectly. She's petite, so if you're sewing it for a taller 3-4 year old you might want to add an inch or so to the bodice. There should be room to play with in the shorts--I hemmed hers up almost an inch and they're still plenty long (she's 37.5" tall). Also, the tutorial doesn't give fabric requirements or seam allowance, but I used about a yard of fabric and kept all the seam allowances to 1/2".

It was a super easy pattern and I made this one in under two hours total. The site also has variations of this pattern for a dress and a top, which I plan to make next since this was so simple and fun to sew.

But without further ado:

She was a big fan of this outfit and didn't want to take it off, so it must be comfortable! She kept asking me to take more pictures of her.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Out Of Hibernation

Spring is just days away and the change in the air is real. We've had warm-ish days (yes, upper 40s counts) and we've seen the sun more this week than not. We've ::gasp:: gone outside a lot and there is finally, finally a feeling that winter has shifted out of our lives for the year.

We spent almost zero time outside from November thru February. It was either way too cold, too snowy, or I was too sick with first trimester awfulness (or a combination of all three). I've taken more pictures in the last week than I have in the last three months. No one is sick. Miracles abound.

Also, this week brings a rather huge sigh of relief--our house is no longer on the market. Not because it sold; it didn't. As I mentioned before, we had a 30 day window to sell under a contract for another house that was contingent on the sale of our home in that time frame. We had a few false starts and promising moments that ended up leading nowhere, as well as three open houses and eight private showings. That 25 day period felt like an eternity. We were living in limbo, albeit a very clean and organized limbo as our house had to be show-ready at a moment's notice. Obviously this scenario will be true anytime we sell, but doing it while almost six months pregnant and in a nesting mode that left me wanting to do nothing more than feather my humble nest (I couldn't even measure the baby's room for curtains to make until I knew if we were moving)...let's just say we started to seriously question whether we were making the right decision at the right time. Long story and many conversations later we decided to pull the house off the market yesterday. We feel a huge weight lifted off, which tells us this was the right decision for this moment in time. We will try again another time when it makes more sense and we aren't up against a time constraint to sell. And when it isn't the dead of winter. Word of advice: do NOT try to sell your home in the month of February unless you absolutely must.

So with that over, I was able to bring all my sewing stuff back up from the basement and finally start making some spring and summer stuff for Charlotte and as many baby things as I can find for Baby Girl. I went to Amish Country yesterday and stopped at my favorite quilt shop, Miller's Dry Goods, to stock up:

We cleaned off Charlotte's swings, much to her extreme delight:

She's SO excited about or Disney trip--now seven weeks away! 

Happy Sunday.

~Stacy

The Worst Two Have Ended.

January and February are the bane of my existence. They are, without a doubt (in my opinion), the two absolute worst months of every year. They're cold, dark, ugly and the peak of flu season and every other gross illness going around.

It is now March, and I completely realize we can still have plenty of cold, dark and ugly days this month but March at least has a light at the end of it's tunnel. Spring officially takes over this month, daylight savings time starts next weekend, and there's a possibility of seeing some flower buds start to form. And the 95 inches of snow and ice that are outside may stand a chance of melting, so there's that.

Soon, this:

February is the longest short month ever. It's 28 days of garbage, mostly. This year was especially terrible given the stomach virus/black plague that visited our household last week, via the small girl who lives with us. Thanks to her first year of preschool, she has brought home at least half a dozen colds, the respiratory flu, an ear infection, fevers, and now the stomach bug since she started school in August. I expect better immunity next year.

Everyone is (mostly) on the mend at this point, and we can now focus our attentions to the month ahead and the promise of spring, sunshine, flowers, greenery, and a desperately needed changing of the seasons. Hallelujah.

Soon, this too:

Our home is still on the market, despite an offer we got a few days in but that fell through after the buyer got cold feet. We have about three more weeks to sell under our current contract, so if it doesn't happen by then we will pull it off the market until at least a few months after baby comes in July. I would love for it to sell and for us to move into the house we found, but if it doesn't there are definitely worse things than staying in our home awhile longer.

And this soon, too:

At this point, I mostly just want to start sewing for baby and decorating her room. Yes, I said HER. We're having another girl!! We found out last Tuesday and we are SO excited. I admit I was a little surprised--I had convinced myself this one was a boy (though everyone else insisted girl. And I am always wrong on guessing gender, always. So that should have been a good predictor). Chad's face lit up like a Christmas tree when the ultrasound tech told us we were having girl; he's such a good daddy. He's made to be a daddy to girls.

Since I can't yet decorate, I bought these to tide myself over (they're a size Newborn and they don't even look like they could fit one of Charlotte's dolls):

To be fair, there have been good parts to February (even if it is the worst month ever). Obviously finding out about baby girl #2 was the biggest highlight, but there were others. Like my adorable Valentine who couldn't wait for her party at school:

And the reaction on her face when the waitress gave her the vanilla milkshake she ordered on our Valentine's date at Red Robin:

Then there's the dress she discovered at my mom's that was my Easter dress in 1987. She didn't take it off for three days:

And this cuteness, when she was helping daddy work on the baby's room to prep the house for showing:

So that's my meandering post without much of a purpose...I hope you have a lovely week, free of germs!

~Stacy

A Sundress in January

It's currently about 14 degrees and snowy outside, but I'm comfortably warm and just finished sewing a sundress. A bright orange, floral sundress. Why? Because it's 14 degrees and snowy outside. And will probably continue to be that way for a long time. That, coupled with the fact that we're in the part of the year where there are about 45 minutes of daylight each day, means I need to find things that are fun, uplifting, and make me forget that it's winter.

Also, I actually feel good. The past few days have brought relief from the previous 42 consecutive days of all day nausea (not that I counted. Oh wait, I did). I'm taking full advantage of feeling good in case I'm being tricked and this is only temporary (better NOT be).

This dress was made using this pattern:

It was easy and relatively quick to make--I think I'll try the pink version next, with the sash and lace. The fabric is from the new Flower Sugar line by Lecien--and it's not quite as vibrant as it looks in these photos. I got it for Christmas and had plans immediately to make Charlotte a dress out of it.

This is the first thing I've sewn since Charlotte's Halloween costume. This is partly because I've felt lousy for awhile, but actually mostly because my sewing table had been moved upstairs several months ago. I thought it would be nice to move it upstairs and have my own space to spread out, but what ended up happening was that it was "out of sight, out of mind." I rarely went up there to sew since it was so separated from everything else going on in the house. And now that the room will have a new inhabitant come July, it made sense to move it back downstairs--where it belongs.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Farewell, 2014

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe 2014 is over already...here is a look back at the year in pictures.

I wish you all the best in 2015!

~Stacy

Where I've Been

Well, I didn't intend to take over a month long break from my little blog. Things just sort of ended up that way, after a series of surprises (some lovely, some not) interrupted my regularly scheduled life and now, here we are--Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is over (two heavily blogged about topics in past years) and we're just a few days away from a new year.

So a brief list of what's been happening since my last post on November 17th:

• Charlotte has brought home no less than 403 colds since she started preschool, many of which occurred in late November thru now. And some of which she has kindly shared.
• My work life took on a new level of insane, with the acquisition of part of another agency that added 95 employees and 51 clients to our existing organization in the span of about three weeks. We grew from a 300 employee agency to a staff of almost 400 hundred just about overnight. It's been...interesting, to say the least. And busy.
• Typical holiday preparations, coupled with an unusually late start on my part led to a far more hectic than usual holiday season. I was wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, something I have never done before. 

I think that's about it. 

Oh wait. One more thing.

• We're having another baby.

!!!!!!!!

Yes, you read that right. I'm pregnant with Baby #2, due in July. It was the best kind of surprise we could have asked for, but also one that has left me feeling like garbage for the past seven weeks (and counting). I'm at the tail end of this lovely first trimester (it will be over the week of my birthday, which is the best gift I can imagine) and I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the all day nausea, headaches and tiredness disappears. This is similar to my pregnancy with Charlotte, and the feeling crappy part wore off by the end of the first trimester, so I'm hopeful this is the same. Babies. Troublemakers, even when they're the size of a prune :)

So that about sums up my life. I haven't had the energy to do much of anything (seriously. The other night I cooked a real dinner that actually included a vegetable and almost cried from both the effort and sight of something on our plates that wasn't crackers, bagels, or some other sort of beige). 

I'll post more soon, but in the meantime I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you a Happy New Year!

~Stacy