Me Made May Week 4

Skirts and lots of em! Monday was a holiday so I spend the day wearing dirty clothes and painting. I decided you probably didn't want to see a picture of that.

Tuesday: Flirting The Issue Skirt 2.
Wednesday: Flowery Skirt.
Thursday: Jean Skirt.
Friday: 2010 Shirt. What?!? 2010. I'm actually wearing two Me Made items. Long story short I did not have time to wash my hair this morning because the dogs ran away so I spent the morning searching for them, and not having good looking hair. A headband was needed to contain the mess.

Most Used Pose: Hand on hip to make my arm look skinny. Signature pose of 20 somethings everywhere. Too bad all my skirts can't show off my thigh gap. Ha!
Asleep Picture: Thursday. My least favorite day.
Most Worn Shoes: Boots! What the heck May! Get your act together.
Best Hair Day: Thursday. A teacher I work with always has really nice hair-do's and I tried to copy her.
Worst Hair Day: Friday! But it's Friday so I don't care.
Thanks Goodness For: Dry Shampoo.

Things I Learned:
- I make the same patterns several times. If I like a pattern, and it's easy, I'll make several versions.
- I do not sew pants. This has motivated me to (kind of) want to try. I might sew some shorts this summer. It got to be a pain wearing skirts, dresses, and the occasional shirts.
- I wear a lot of cardigans. I knew that, but it's very obvious. I took most of them off for the pictures, so you're not even seeing half of it.
- My idea of "jazzing" up an outfit it to wear a necklace. I wore the same jewelry everyday in May with the exception of days when I wore the jazzy necklace, and today when I wore a bracelet because my watch battery died and my wrist felt naked. I had no time to wash my hair but had time to put on a bracelet. #priorities.

Hopefully next May I'll have some pants to wear. Some people wear ALL handmade items. I don't think I'll be that nutty by next May.

Lauren

Flowery Skirt; I Can't Think Of A Good Title Name

This is the third time I've made this pattern so it was pretty easy. No mistakes even! And it only took me 3 episodes of Scandal (my new favorite show on Netfilx). It's Simplicity 2226. My only complaint was that the belt kept riding up the the top of the skirt and not staying in the middle. I could sew the belt loops smaller but I think that would look funny so I'll probably keep it this way. The belt doesn't do much anyways except add some visual interest....and now that I look at this pictures; clash with my boots. It's Spring so wearing boots was annoying anyways, but it's dreary and rainy here so boots it was.  

Blaze helped me with the photo shoot this morning. Penny is too camera shy. 

 I tried to have one new outfit per week for Me Made May, but despite being easy this one took me too long, and the other thing I was working on turned out to be a big huge flop. Oh well, good thing I have enough items in reserve.

I also will be too busy sewing with my new fat quarter bundle of Arizona fabrics that I won! I never win anything. I can't decide what to sew with it. It's all too pretty and nice. 

Happy Wednesday!
 Lauren

Me Made May Week 3

Week Three already? The most annoying thing about this process is definitely the documentation. Charlie laughs at me when I pull out the camera, tripod, and shutter remote every morning. I think he'd just happy he doesn't have to take my picture everyday.

Monday: Beignet Skirt. Quite pleased that I got to wear this again before the end of the school year.
Tuesday: Summer Tank.
Wednesday: Washi Dress, my first one.
Thursday: Summer Top 3.
Friday: Jersey Shirt.

Superlatives (someone I know once used to say "super-latives" not "se-purl-itive" and I laugh whenever I say it that way.)

Best Styled: Beignet skirt. On Monday I can say I actually tried...I even wore a necklace.
Should Have Ironed: Summer Top 3. "It's Thursday I Don't Care To Iron" (sung to "Friday I'm In Love" tune.)
Favorite: Washi Dress. I love that patten.
Most Comfortable: Jersey Shirt.
Most Worn: Summer Tank. It looks good under a cardigan so I wore it all winter.
Best Hair Day: Thursday, you can't tell though.

Only one more week. Then I think I am going to start "Dress-A-Day" until the end of the school year. Only dresses for the rest of the year.

Have a good long weekend!

Lauren

Around Here...

The seeds I've planted are growing! I still can't believe I am capable of making assisting things in growing. We put in two garden beds, one still needs to be filled with soil. Hoping to get some things planted this next weekend.

The view is shrinking. But I don't mind.

Charlie was gone most of the weekend, but as soon as he got back on Sunday he got right to work.

A hummingbird has been spotted drinking from my new/vintage feeder. I only hung the feeder out for one day and a hummingbird already came! How crazy.

Flowers have been planted to jazz up the deck. An idea for a table is brewing in my head, so we can eat dinner outside this summer.

Bulbs I forgot I planted are also growing. I certainly won't forget the 70 gladiolus I planted this weekend. Not with my sore shoulders from digging 6 inch holes and finding huge rocks or long thick roots every 2 inches. Come to find out gladiolus are supposed to be dug up in the fall if you live as far North as we do. Ahem....I think not. That will teach me to accidentally buy bulbs in February without reading the back, or number of bulbs in the bag!

Hope you are enjoying the spring weather.

Lauren

Me Made May 2

Me Made May Continues!!!!  I had to start planning out what to wear based on the weather (and also when my legs did not look yucky.) in order to make it to the end of the month.

Monday: Flirting the Issue Skirt. I was super excited to pull this one out of the closet.
Tuesday: Summer Top. Also excited to take this out of the closet. I missed it.
Wednesday: Staple Dress. So glad to wear this dress without tights!
Thursday: Swiss Dot Top.
Friday: Ruby 2.

Superlatives for Fun:

Worst Hair Day: Monday, clearly.
Blurriest Picture: Staple Dress. Oops. I was in a hurry.
Outfit with most Almond Butter At End of The Day: Tuesday's. I even had it on my ID badge.
My Favorite: Ruby 2.
Most Fun to Wear: Flirting the Issue skirt.

On to week 3!

Lauren

Gotcha Day!

Today marks one year since Blaze came into our lives. Life hasn't been the same since then. Charlie and I tried to add up the monetary value of all the things he has chewed or generally destroyed. We lost count, but let's just say it was pretty high, but also pretty funny. The biggest/most expensive were my glasses, and my night guard. Let's just say that it's a good thing Blaze is so cute and lovable because he sure is naughty.

Blaze and Penny get along very well, and are rarely apart. They also fight a lot, and Penny eats his food when he's not looking.

He has such a good personality and is such a happy dog. Coming home from work is always a treat because of how excited they both get to see us. They keep us busy, and on our toes. I get in a lot of walking everyday thanks to these two. 

Despite the chewed belongings we really are happy to be celebrating a year with our Blazer Boy. 

Lauren 

Ruby Top: Part Two Hashtag Wear A Belt With It!

I had grand plans for sewing a top for myself for Spring Top Week, but then I didn't. Looking at the Flickr pool is pretty inspiring though, you should do it if you're looking for some inspiration. After browsing the pool I decided i just needed to make  a new Ruby Top for myself in preparation for the summer weather. 

Couldn't resist the lace top. The flowered part is a medium, but I changed the pattern and cut the lace out using the small pattern pieces so it fits better. I probably could have cut the whole thing out using a small, since it's really flowy, but I don't mind because #WearABeltWithIt.  Charlie makes fun of me because I usually add a belt to most garments I make for myself. 

The shirt is very comfortable. I expect to get a lot of use out of it this summer. Speaking of summer, there are only 20 days left of school for yours truly! *fist pumps air*

Now it's time for me to put on my sweatpants and cuddle some cute puppies on this rainy Friday.

Happy Weekend!

Lauren

Me Made May

The first week of Me Made May was a success. Let's hope I can keep the momentum rolling.

Here is the run down
Monday: Ruby Top.
Tuesday: Tova Top. (Wow my hair was short.)
Wednesday: Wishful Thinking Spring Dress.
Thursday: Lorelei Skirt. 
Friday: Josephine Top.

Most Commented On: Spring Dress.
Most Wrinkled and I Didn't Care: Tova Top.
Most Fun To Wear: Lorelei Dress.
My Favorite: Josephine Top. I wear it all the time.
Most Used Pose: Arm On Hips. Obviously.
Best Photo Taking Tool: My snazzy shutter remote. Charlie never has to take my picture again.
Most Unhelpful Photo Assistants: Blaze and Penny.

On to week 2! After a good nights sleep that is.

Lauren

Wishful Thinking Spring Dress

This dress (Cynthia Rowley 2215) had been cut out and in my sewing room for almost a year. Over my rainy vacation last week I finally got the guts to just do it. It's definitely the most complex pattern I've taken on thus far. Honestly, I knew that my Mom was coming to visit for Mother's Day and figured if worse came to worse she could help me with it while she was here. Luckily, I didn't need any help, just a streak of confidence. The invisible side zipper was not super hard, due to my special invisible zipper foot (thanks  John and Claire!).

The second to last step was the button holes which seems silly given that you've already invested several hours into a garment and that is a pretty easy things to mess up. I practiced on a scrap piece of fabric at least 6 times to make sure I was doing it right, then just jumped in. Luck was once again on my side and all 4 button holes turned out alright. I would not say they are excellent, but they do their job. I followed the pattern 100 percent; which is nearly unheard of for me. If I made the pattern again I would lower the neckline, like Andrea recommended because my neck claustrophobia kicked in after about 5 minutes of wearing the dress so I had to undo the top button in order to not have a freak out.

When I put the dress on to make sure it fit I showed Charlie and he said "Wow! You won't need a belt!" I guess to him a successful garment is when it's fitted enough to not need a belt. I do think it would look cute with a belt.

The pattern even has pockets! I would have added them anyways, because I love pockets. 

 I am going to attempt to do "Me Made May 2014" by wearing something I've made every (work day) in May. I think I'll post a roundup either halfway through or just at the end. This is my first brand new garment, I have a few more in the works or in the old noggin.

Lauren

Paint All The Walls!

Did you know it's May!? How did that happen? I've been on vacation this week and the time sure did go by quickly. Once I realized it was May I also realized I only posted once in April. I'm a bad blogger. The main reason I didn't post is because my hands have been covered in paint for pretty much the last two months.

It started with the trim in the downstairs. It was a blueish grey color, and was very dinged up. We had two professional painters come in to give us estimates on how much painting the trim would cost. The prices they both told us seemed like way too much money. So we undertook the project ourselves. During the process I may have said it would have been worth it to hire a professional, but now that it's done I am glad we just did it ourselves. The left is the before and the right is the after.

We also didn't just do the trim, we did all of the doors and windows as well.

Painting the trim led to painting the bathroom, which as you may recall had bleach stains all down one wall. This project only took us one day. Left is from when we first moved in, and right is the after. If you look closely in the mirror you can see that the cabinets above the washer and dryer are also painted. Charlie undertook that project last summer.

Then we just decided to bite the bullet and paint the walls in the living room and dining room. Charlie had vacation last week so he did all of the rolling, which I stink at. Then last weekend I did the cutting in. I was nervous about going too dark, and also committing to three gallons of paint since it's such a big space with no place to really stop. My step-mom tried to convince me to not pick such a "boring color", then our friends came over and were able to convince me to go one shade darker than the color I had picked.  I only agreed to it after said friend told me it was the color of her living room which I like a lot, so Revere Pewter for the win.  Here is the before (taken the day we moved in):

The after with a cute dog for your visual pleasure. Now every wall in the downstairs of our house has been painted.

Our friends not only convinced us to go a shade darker on the paint they also mentioned how much better it would look if we replaced the switches and outlets with white ones. When we were taking off the face plates to paint some of the outlets were cracked, many were just dirty and all together gross, and some even looked like they were not done correctly. Once the paint was dry we started to change over the switches and outlets as well as the face plates. It takes a while, and a lot of trips to the basement to turn the fuses on and off, but so far it does look much better. And so far neither of us have electrocuted ourselves. Hope I didn't jinx it. 

This weekend we are focusing on outdoor projects. Happy Friday!

Lauren