Patchwork Dress

I finally finished Macy's new dress and I think it turned out wonderful! it was pretty fun to make and she was quite the poser for these two pictures. We are in serious trouble.


And last night, after a long day of church and dad gone at meetings, Macy and Daddy had a little conversation:
Macy: "Daddy, are you going to another meeting?!?"
Justin: "Yes Macy, I have one more to go to."
Macy : "A-gain?!?"

And, yes, that pretty much summed up our Sunday :)

And for those who are wondering, Macy has FINALLY gotten the hang of potty training. She has gone number 2 several times a day for the last three days in a row. As soon as she goes she demands her promised ice cream as her reward. Lucky for her she has had more ice cream than meals lately, but whatever works, right? The other issue is a person can't give one child ice cream and not the other so it suffices to say that Kylie has greatly enjoyed Macy's potty training adventures.

The Best Compliment:

Last night, during quiet time while Kylie was fast asleep in bed and Justin was off at a meeting, Macy and I sat at the kitchen table as I worked on my Cherry Quilt. Macy was eager to help and to hold the squares and regularly made suggestions as to which square should go where. I tried to do as she suggested whenever possible. She talked constantly (I mean, never stopping to breath) about how much fun this was and how it was so pretty. After I finished sewing a row she exclaimed "Oh Mommy! That is soooo pretty. You sew it so nice. You are such a good Mommy!" I wish you could have heard her voice when she said it but it was so cute, I wanted to die. Plus, what could be a better compliment than my two year old tell me I am a good Mommy?

And this morning I walked in to the living room to check on the girls to hear Macy singing, at the top of her lungs, "Kylie pooped her diaper! She is stinky! Mommy has to change her because Kylie no use the potty like a big girl! Kylie is poopy!" This was all in a random tune that she decided to make up as she went, I swear, she is going to write music when she grows up. She is a genius :)

And Kylie finally has her second tooth. And yes, it is the matching molar to the one she already has. Those bottom two teeth are close to popping through and we can't wait!

Apron Tutorial

May 4 update: for anyone interested, my sewing blog is now at nicholecreates.blogspot.com. Keep in touch for some upcoming giveaways.
I have had a few people request information on how to make these super cute aprons so instead of explaining it poorly 5 or 6 times, I thought I would just put instructions here. If you have any additional questions, put it in the comment section and I will answer them there. Here it goes!
1. To make the pattern cut out a shape similar to this. The top is about 12", the widest part under the curves is about 21" and the length is about 27". This can all be altered for your body, no problem but this is good for someone 5'4"- 5'7" or so. make sure you cut out a front and then a matching lining. I just used a cheap $1/ yard cotton from JoAnn. No one is going to see it anyway.
2. Use a rotary cutter, mat and ruler and keep your other fabric folded as it was when it came off the bolt. Cut two Five inch strips (for the bottom) and two 4" strips for the waist. For the neck straps and pockets you could use the same or a different fabric and cut 2 2 1/2" strips the WIF (width of fabric) again and then a pocket that is 6 1/2" by 11". Then fold the pocket in half and clip two matching corners so your pocket has a little more visual interest.
3. Zig zag stitch all of the edges of the pocket. If you don't want to do this, just fold about a 1/4 inch in, press, and then fold it in again to give yourself a clean edge inside. After zig zagging fold the top over about a 1/4 of an inch, press it and then sew it with a scant seem allowance to keep it down.
After all edges have been folded and pressed (no need to sew the rest), pin it on your apron front where you want it placed. Then top stitch all of the way around the pocket, except for the top. Your pocket is now done!
4. Place your 5" pieces right sides together and sew the two end together with a 1/4" seem allowance then press the seem open. Then fold the entire length in half to give yourself one long 2 1/2" sash. Press it and then  start pleating it. I its kind of hard to explain but basically you are making one inch folds that overlap and then leave one inch in between. Another way to say it is, start with your ruler at the end, grab your fabric at the three and bring it over to the two, leaving a fold between the two and three. Move the ruler down so it starts at the beginning of your last fold and do it again. Maybe the picture will help.
6. When you finish there should be 18-19 pleats. They should all be pressed and pinned in place. Then place it on the right side of your liner with the edges matching each other. You  have to pull and tug to get them to line up the entire way. About 2 1/2" from the corner, pull the end of the sash out the edge and pin in place. See the picture for clarification. Do that on both ends. Machine baste this in place, stitching close to the edges.You can take all of the pins out now.
7. For the neck straps, fold them in half right sides together so you you have 2 2 1/2" strips. Sew the 2 long sides with 1/4" seem allowances. Clip the corners and turn it right side out. Press. For the waste straps fold them in half the other way, right sides together, and sew the long way and the one end. clip corners again and turn and press them. You should have two 43 inch straps now. The exact lengths don't matter.
8. Pin your straps in place as shown with the straps coming in to the apron and put the front on it, right side down and pin that in place.
9. Sew with a 5/8" allowance starting with the strap on the right on its inner edge so you immediately sew that strap on, the go all of the way around the apron ending at the other strap. Leave the space in between the straps open so you can turn your apron out through that hole. After it is turned, press the apron, tugging on the bottom pleat to straighten it as much as you can. Press the opening in folded to close it. Then top stitch starting at one waist strap, going up and around the top and down over the other waste strap. This gives all the straps extra security. After this, you are done!








Let me know if there are any questions or if I didn't explain anything well! Let me know if you make one, I would love to see it! Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email with questions or comments on the tutorial!.
Thanks!

To My Valentine...

We aren't doing too much for Valentine's this year but I thought I would write Justin a little tribute because he is so great.
1. I couldn't ask for a better father for my children. He is the better parents right now and when I am frustrated or just don't know what to do, he is so confident and well thought out in his actions. I really admire that in him.
2. He is very hardworking and ambitious. He wants to excel in everything he does and because he works so hard, I know he always will.
3. He has probably changed more dirty diapers in the last few weeks than in almost 2 years, and he hasn't complained about it at all.
4. He is supportive of my sewing habit although I know he hates the thread pieces and mess that takes over the house.
5. He is very dedicated to his church calling. He works had to do his best at it and I am very impressed by this.
6. He provides for our family well and he is constantly working to improve things for us.
7. Justin can make me laugh easier than anyone else can and I love when we lay in bed at night just talking an laughing.
8. I love how adventurous he is and that he always wants to go out and try new things. He may go help out at the Iditarod in a few weeks if he can get his work schedule figured out, and I think its great he wants to do that.
9. He is just a really good husband and father. I have said lots of these things in previous posts but he really loves his family and enjoys spending time with us. I love how happy he is to just hangout with me and relax. I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. I love him lots!

My Macy Jo

And here is a little about Macy:
1. Yesterday at the fabric store, a lady asked her what her name was and she proudly replied "I'm Macy Jo Smith! and that's Mommy Nichole Smith!"
2. Speaking of fabric, she can't say the word too well and it usually come out sounding like an inappropriate word that starts with and F and ends with a T. We are working on that...
3. She loves to lead Kylie around the house by the hand and take care of her. I don't think anything upsets her more than when Kylie doesn't want to play with her.
4. She is getting the hang of the potty more. We are pretty set on number 1, now we have to get her to figure out the whole number 2 thing.
5. She usually wakes up one or more times at night. It makes me crazy but I don't know how to fix it. I think it goes back to her being a premie and never getting sleep trained properly (my fault) because the doctors told me to feed her whenever she woke up so she would grow.
6. She loves to make treats with me. I have to remind myself to let her help more because I tend to rush. But I love how proud she gets when she announces that she made cookies.
7. She loves to sing. Once she starts, it is hard to get her to stop. If she runs out of songs she knows, she will start making up new ones or combining other songs. I think its hilarious especially when she does it in the bathroom.
8. She still has a lot of attitude but she has been doing better. She still has an opinion about everything.
8. Some funny phrase: "Mommy, you little and Daddy big. Daddy have big shoulders." When she wanted to play with a toy Kylie had, "Mommy, put Kylie night night now. She tired." "Pleeeeease Mommy? I asked sooooo nice?!?" "You need to take a shower cause you are sooo dirty?"
Me: "Macy, do you need to go potty?"
Macy: "no, I'm okay."
"Mommy, you going to sew something for me with your fabric? (pronounced wrong)"

Ok, that's all I can think of for now. I love little Macy.

A little about Kylie...

So Kylie has become quite the clown lately. She is incredibly entertaining/ frustrating/ hilarious all at once. She suddenly developed this sassy attitude that I can only attribute to her nearly 18 months around her sister. Here is a little about her:
1. She loves to gag herself. I know, she is odd. I regularly catch her shoving her hands down her throat and making herself nearly gag. Why does she do this? I haven't a clue. I could make a bunch of inappropriate Eating Disorder comments here (everyone else has when they hear about this) but I will spare you.
2. She talks now...a lot. Some of her words are: Daddy, Mom, Macy, Grandma, Grandpa, Dog, Kitty, More, Treat, Water, Milk, Mine (of course), Elmo, Nemo, thank you, excuse you (kind of and usually when someone burps), she used to say binki, thank heavens that's gone, eat, all done, up, down, teeth (as in brush teeth), diaper and she will copy about anything else we say. Lately, when I ask her a question she answers "yeah" or "no" in a whisper, like we are in on some secret together.
3. She sleeps all night, her sister doesn't. However, if she wakes up when we are putting Macy to bed, then she thinks it is play time and we then begin a 2 hour battle to get them to sleep.
4. She eats... All day long.
5. She loves to lay down on the couch, pull the quilt that hangs on back on top of her and announce "Night Night." She will also do this in Macy's bed but Macy is not a fan of sharing her little bed with her sister. Maybe another toddler bed is in the near future...
6. She loves to dance. She also loves to do anything Macy is doing. We entertained our selves for a wile yesterday as I played "Simon Says" with Macy and Kylie copied everything that Macy did.
7. She has a horrible habit of climbing up on to the table. It makes me crazy. I am trying to break her of it.
8. She starts nursery in 2 weeks. I can't wait, it has been over 2 1/2 years since I have been able to go to church childless. Hooray.
9. Lately, Kylie has taken up singing. Nothing makes sense but she has been working pretty hard on her alphabet.
10. Her grin and silly little laugh are too cute to try to describe. She regularly has Justin and I cracking up at dinner and then she knows she is being funny and gets a "I'm so proud of myself" grin on her face.

I love little Kylie Bug. Happy Valentine's Day.

That's more like it... Plus Sneak Peaks...

Here is a better Camera case that I made. I really love this one, it turned out much better. Plus here is a preview of Macy's patchwork dress and also a quilt I started last night. I have 3 quilt blocks done and I realized I only have enough for four more but I definitely need at least 6 more so i guess I will have to buy another charm pack. Sad, but I guess there is now way around it. Anyone working on anything fun? I got a lot done yesterday because the girls took naps at the same time and then Justin was working until really late so I had the evening to create. Lucky me!

Fun Pics

Here are some more fun pictures from our trip. The ones of Justin and are are when we went hiking in Red Rock Canyon while we were in Vegas. And yeah, I look incredibly manly in the hiking pictures because I forgot workout clothes for me so my husband lent me his. And then here is a cute one of Macy and Justin's dogs and then I thought Kylie looked pretty dang cute hanging out in the Boise airport waiting to go home.

Camera Case

Ok, here is my latest creation:



It is a camera case for the wonderful camera I got for my birthday. It is not perfect- yes the button hole is off center, but I am still in love with it. I will probably make another one at some point and make it slightly narrower but I still love it. It looks best with the camera in it but I didn't have the energy to track down my other camera to take that picture.
Anyway, I hope you love it!

Kylie Head Bonking

Kylie has discovered the joy in head bonking people. She had been doing it to an ill Justin for a while before I got the camera out and distracted her. She has become quite the clown lately. And Justin doesn't seem amused because he is still fighting off this horrible cold that has been killing him all week. Poor guy...

Anyway, enjoy. And if you have any Fat Quarters laying around, do the swap I have a button for on the side. Its fun, I know you want to try.


Major bummer.

Lucky you!

I am passing on what I promised to do. Thanks to Tynelle for the idea!

Lucky you!
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely bake or sew it.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!
* * *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Stash busting giveaway winner...

Is:
Here are your random numbers:

22

Timestamp: 2009-02-05 22:50:34 UTC
who is Becky. I send her an email and I am looking forward to getting her address.
thanks to everyone that played!!!

The last Month...

I have been horrible about posting since we went on our long trip. Transferring pictures and finding time to blog always seems too overwhelming with everything else going on, so my little blog has been neglected. So sorry.
And so here are some pictures form the last few weeks. For some reason it is not letting me put them where I want to so they are in no particular order, but her is a list of what has happened over the last month:
1. Kylie completely fell in love with her binki. I am not kidding. She would spot it from across this room and do this frantic/ happy giggle exclaiming "Binki! Binki!" One day, I just lost it. I realized that she loved that thing way too much and that it was only going to get worse. So I threw it in the trash compactor and that was that. The first night was a little rough and she struggled going to sleep the first nap or two but after that, she did great. I had been wanting to get rid of it since she was nine months so I am thrilled that I finally did it.
2. Macy completely regressed with potty training. It was horrible. Fortunately, Justin's mom reprogrammed her while we were in Vegas and she is doing much better now, although still not perfect.
3. Justin and I spent a week in Las Vegas with Wade and Melissa. We had a great time shopping, eating, relaxing, sleeping in and walking around. Justin's favorite parts of the trip included sitting out by the pool, soaking in the hot tub and seeing the Bellagio fountain. While I enjoyed those things I also loved sleeping through the night, eating a meal uninterrupted, taking naps (when do I ever do that?!?!) and shopping at the outlet mall and getting the guy at Banana Republic to give me an additional %20 off my entire purchase, just because I asked. Another highlight was getting 8 free cosmetic items through the class action settlement. I was fortunately in the best city in the world on the day of that giveaway. I was able to hit Nordstrom's, Macy's, Dillards, Neiman Marcus and Sak's 5th Avenue in one Mall. I hit the jackpot in Vegas baby!
4. Kylie went from answering questions by shaking and nodding her head in a completely adorable way to yelling "No!" and today she started answering with "Yeah!" Its not quite as cute.
5. Macy went on her first small airplane ride. Justin, my dad and I went up Saturday morning and had a lot of fun. Macy kept talking about how she got to drive the plane and push the red button.
6. I sewed 2 quilts, 5 aprons (I have orders to make a few more), a diaper and wipe holder, and I bought a lot of wonderful fabric, all at really good deals. I think I am cut off from buying fabric for a while.
7. I had a birthday and turned old. :) I received a great little camera that I love from Justin's family as well as other nice gifts. The best part was probably the cheesecake my mom made for us. It was great. Heaven. Fortunately she made 2 because in two days, I ate four peaces.
8. We made it home late last night after missing our first flight because I can't tell time. Justin probably wouldn't have made it on that flight with us anyway so we were able to reschedule to a later one and he got to sit right next to us, so it worked out in the end. The girls even slept for about 2 hours on the last leg.
9. We got to meet up with lots of friends and family that we hadn't seen in a while although we still didn't get to see everyone that we had wanted to. We loved getting to spend that time with everyone.

Thanks to everyone for letting us stay with or visit you while we were down. We had a great time!

International Stash Busting Giveaway

I was going to wait to post this until tonight but since it is already the 4th in Australia, where many participants are located, I thought I would Post this now so people can comment and enter. I will just have to post pictures of what I am going to offer later, when I get the chance...
Anyway, you can start entering and I will draw the winner late on the night of the 4th! (Alaska time)
Good luck!
And click on the button on the side to get a link of the other participants!

Update: Here is the picture of what I will be giving away. They are mostly Asian inspired and all a quarter yard or larger. All you have to do is comment and if you don't have a blog be sure to leave a way for me to contact you!
Good luck and thanks.