Flower Girl

Today my little girl had the huge honor of being a flower girl in our friends wedding.  This couple has become fast friends even though we've only known the groom for a year or so and the bride much less. They are some of the nicest people I know and had a nice informal wedding and barbecue in the park today.  There were plenty of little girls attending that were more age appropriate and by that I mean they understood what "walk to the end of the isle" means and "drop flowers on the ground as you walk".  But they wanted Annabelle to be part of their big day and that was an honor to me.

There was a bit of tripping, and a bit of walking the wrong direction.  But she made it from point A to point B.  No crying, no yelling.  Then she decided she wanted to be the bride and just stood in front of the officiant.  But cute none the less!! I can't help but show off the pictures!

Sew Not What You Were Expecting

I finished a project!  And it wasn't knit.  I sewed a dress for my daughter.  Last week Jo Anns and Hobby Lobby both had the big $0.99 sale for Simplicity patterns.  I decided it was a good time to stock up and boy did it also give me the right motivation.  I found the perfect sundress pattern and some mighty adorable material (it came from Hobby Lobby) and got started.  My goal was to have it finished before we leave for our Green Bay vacation on Monday.  I really thought that was an unreachable goal to tell you the truth though.

A little background?  My Mom is a seamstress.  She's amazing.  I never will sew like her.  I made a skirt for myself when I was 13 and my sewing career pretty much came to a halt there.  Until I was a housewife.  I didn't have my Mom to hand things off to anymore so I bought a decent machine.  I knew a cheap "beginning sewer" machine wouldn't do it for me.  Especially when it comes to making sure his uniform is precise.  If I have a decent sewing machine I should make good use of it right?  So I made an apron, and packed it away for moving. Once I moved into this house I got a good little area in my room set up.  I wanted the satisfaction of sewing for my daughter.  After I failed Easter dress I was determined to succeed this time!  I'd say I satisfied that.  Don't you?

Front- I'll share a picture on my little girl once we have buttons.

Back - Simplicity 1673


Linking up to Tami's Ami's FO Friday!

Almost As Good As Yoga

The past two days I've been up before my daughter.  I spent that time at my sewing machine since it's one of the few things I can't do while she is awake.  It's in our bedroom which isn't really a good playroom for her.  So I took advantage.  And while yesterday was a strange day (she slept till 10am) I was able to cut an entire pattern and the material for a sundress for Miss A, I also woke up with the hubs when he left for work this morning.  The idea of sitting down at the sewing machine for a bit was actually what got me out of bed!  I also spent a decent amount of time working away while she was awake since the hubs was home most of the day.  It's seriously as relaxing as yoga, I think.  It's a nice meditative craft.  I'm really learning to enjoy sewing, the more I understand what I'm doing.

In the midst of all this sewing, I decided I needed a pincushion.  I have a little box for my pins which works, but it would be nice to just have simple access sometimes.  Yes, I could knit one.  I could even sew one.  But I had recalled seeing cute pincushions in the past (maybe online, maybe at craft shows?) using canning jars.  I decided if I was going to find how to make one, Pinterest sure was the right place to look!  I found a tutorial for Mason Jar Pin Cushions and boy was it simple.  Found a scrap of material that was perfect.  I'd say it took me all of 15 minutes to make.  I'm quite happy with the final result.  What do you think? I know, it needs a better ribbon - something that matches the fabric.

The material was a Germany acquisition that I made a nursing cover out of.  I just have a little bit of scrap left.  I'm sorry I didn't get more into sewing when I lived there.  The fabric shop we had local was AH-mazing!  I'll leave you with a sneak peek of what I'm making for Miss A.  It will be so nice for her to have a new, hand-made dress when we go on vacation to Green Bay next week.

The Post I Never Thought I'd Write

It's sad that I'm doing this, but I am going to prove all those stereotypes about housewives correct.  Well one of them at least.  Please all feminists out there don't send me hate mail.  I Love My Vacuum.  There - said it.  I do.

I'll start at the beginning.  The very beginning.  I was that kid that you could only get to vacuum their bedroom once or twice a year.  Yep, that was me.  As I've matured into adulthood I understand that you need to vacuum more than that.  But that doesn't change the fact that my vacuum broke in our move from Germany and I didn't buy a new vacuum once while we were in the old apartment.  I finally broke down and bought a n vacuum when we moved on post after we had a friend house sit and he made a mess in the house.  Needless to say it still took me two weeks because if I was going to drop the money on the vacuum I was going to get the one I want.  The store still didn't have it, or my 2nd choice and I couldn't wait any longer.  I bought the cheap one.  A Dirt Devil EZ Lite Canister to be exact!  I'm warning you now, don't buy it unless you have a very small room to use it on and you don't have pets!  Or kids!

This year my husband bought me a Eureka Whirlwind Rewind.  Whoever says don't buy your wife cleaning appliances for presents must have great tools already.  Sometimes it's so nice to get something that works right.  Now I've been vacuuming 3 times a week on a regular basis.  The fact that you can see what you pick up actually motivates me to use it more often because I am picking up so much!  It actually disgusts me to think about what was on my floor and in my rug when I wasn't vacuuming very often - with a crappy vacuum no less.  Just look at how full this is after just my living room and play room!  

Don't think I feel bad if you skip this post (of course you wouldn't be reading this if you did) but I just wanted to point out that sometimes things you once hated can be enjoyed when your tools change.  I think this can apply to so many areas of life too.  Next time ill have to try it with a martini in hand.

So Many Distractions

I'd love to tell you I'm sorry for not posting in almost 2 months.  But you know what?  I'm really not.  I have no pressure here to post constantly.  I don't feel like my readers are pressuring me either.  And I've had life to deal with.  Alot going on right now for me and blogging just hasn't been on my things to do. I am however sorry that I haven't really wanted to blog.  I think that so much of it has to do with my toddler.

Little Miss A on Mother's Day

And toddler really is the only way to describe her now.  Baby definitley doesn't fit anymore.  She runs me ragged.  She is constantly getting into things. We are constantly telling her no, pulling her down from climbing furniture, and dealing with tantrums.  She's hit the terrible twos quite early.  She's also been sick 4 times already this year, which of course doesn't help the behavior any and makes it even more challenging.  It's a big reason why I haven't touched my blog.  Why I haven't touched much at all.

Oak Trail Hat

That's not all of the stress in my life.  I can't go into detail (for the safety of my husband and anyone else in his battalion) but my husband is deploying soon.  Sometime in the next few months.  This will be our first time going through a deployment while married and of course the first time with a baby.  It amazes me how much there is to do before d-day, as if it isn't stressful enough knowing he's going to be gone.  But man, I swear this time is more stressful than the actual time away will be!  It doesn't help knowing that we have every weekend packed with plans already and we will be doing some traveling.  Needless to say, its very possible you will see more posts about Army life and possibly some venting.  Everyone told my husband couples get into more fights before a deployment than any other time - I'm not surprised one bit.

Spring Foliage Mitts

I wouldn't say all this has put a halt to my knitting, but it sure has slowed the train down a bit.  I've finished three things in the past few months.  Two of these projects were for the Alana Dakos KAL that was with Subway Knits.  I made the Oak Trail Hat and the Spring Foliage Mitts.  The mitts I think will be a Christmas gift for my Grandma.  The Oak Trail Hat was gifted to my Aunt (In Law).  I finished it while visiting the family and she took quite a shine to it.  I decided it was such a nice, quick knit that it didn't really need to come home with me.  I do, however, want to make another one.  The construction is quite unique and it was very easy and fun to knit up.

Mrs. Tumnus Shawl

I also finished the Mrs. Tumnus Shawl by Eskimimi (on a side note, if you have checked out her blog Eskimimi Makes, I highly suggest it!).  I've never made a shawl from the outside in and this was a new challenge to me.  I will say that this project is what pushed me into charts - rather than reading the written directions like I always have.  It was lace on both sides and the chart just all of a sudden really made sense to me!  This shawl turned out gorgeous. I actually ran out of yarn and had to find a contrasting color for the center.  I wasn't so sure at first but after I knit it, I fell in love.  I almost decided to keep it, but I made it for my husbands Grandmother and I know she's going to love it.  In just a few weeks I'm going to be able to give it to her in person - only the second time I'll ever be meeting her.  I can't wait!

Stripe Study Shawl & Socks On A Plane

On the needles I have a few things going on.  I started some simple stripe socks a while back with some Knit Picks Feleci and was too bored with it so I ripped and started the Socks On A Plane pattern by Laura Linneman.  Much better for my brain right now.  Also have the Stripe Study Shawl on the needles in yummy, bright Wollmeise!

Lettuce Pullover (its more navy and less gray than it seems here)

Last but not least, a blast from the past!  I started the Lettuce Pullover in March of 2011.  Didn't even get to the sleeves when I got pregnant and decided I didn't want to finish a sweater I wouldn't be able to try on.  It went in hibernation through both moves, then got unpacked into the hibernation stuff.  Last week I pulled it out.  It's been on my "things to do" list for this year and I looked it over, looked at the pattern and really thought I was going to have to pull it out so I started looking at the other patterns I could make with the yarn and I kept coming back to the Lettuce.  Well, I thought if I'm just going to pull it out (i didn't know what size needle I knit it in!) I might as well try it first then pull it out if I can get it right.  Tried sliding the stitches to one needle, a size six, which I soon discovered wasn't the right size for my gauge even though it was what the pattern called for.  I switched down to size 5 and I'm on the right needle.  And now I'm almost half way done!  So excited to really finish a sweater!  Finally - linking up to Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday.  Nice to have you back if you're a reader and thanks for visiting.  Come back again if you are new!