A Dress for Sydney

One of my goals in sewing has been to try and begin learning how to make clothes. I have heard some horror stories so I have kept putting it off. When I saw this tutorial from Habitual I thought it would be a good starter dress. The instructions were super easy to follow and had lots of little helpful hints. I used a little Anna Maria fabric from her Chocolate Lollipop for the bow and some Amy Butler Midwest Modern for the dress. It is far from perfect but the fact that it looks ok and fits ok is good enough for me this time. It is a little big now but since summer is almost over I am hoping to will fit her still next spring. Of course, the way she is growing that will not happen so this little dress will probably end up being passed on to somebody else. But first Sydney will wear it for a little celebration dinner tomorrow night.

Family Fridays

These past few months we have been lucky enough to have lunch with Shane at work every Friday. Dreamworks celebrates the summer with family and friends Fridays where the employees can invite people to have lunch on the campus. It has been so much fun and all three of us will really miss it. We have had lots of people come with us including my parents, Shane's parents, the Koops, and Hector but today it was just the three of us. Thank you Shane for sharing it with us and thanks to Dreamworks for being family oriented and treating us to such yummy food each week. I will no doubt be having withdrawals from all the good food and fun walks around Dreamworks. Sydney will probably miss the ice cream and fish the most.

Sydney's First Quilt

Last month for her birthday Sydney received a package from Jamie. Her excited little fingers opened it to find her very own fabric scraps. Some of these scraps were decent size and while Mommy was tempted to claim some, I let Sydney keep them. She has been laying them out in different designs and patterns for weeks now. She even carries them around in her purse or backpack often. Earlier in the week I saw this post from My Longest Year about making a quilt with glue and knew we had to try it. Sydney loved making her very own quilt and even wanted to add some crochet flowers I had laying around.

Since she has the bitty twin babies, she is already asking to make one more quilt so do not be surprised to see another one.

Back on track...sort of

As you may have noticed things have been sort of slow on the creating side of my life. Mostly due to the extreme craze of other areas. Needless to say, the creativity has begun again. I have been getting inspired every where I turn and sewing has actually began again around here. There is nothing finished to show you yet. I am currently working on some more onesies, a couple baby blankets, and my first quilt. Hopefully, there will be more to show you soon.

Showering a Friend

Throwing a wedding shower for a close friend is always fun. This time around was especially wonderful because of all the great ideas brought to the table. It was a lot of work but with five of us splitting up the work it wasn't too bad. Part of my contribution was making cookie favors. Of course, I had help frosting them all (thanks goodness).


Everything was pink and poppy with bits of yellow. We also used lots of paper lanterns and umbrellas around the room for added atmosphere. It was just inspiring to even participate.


As a gift, Marissa and I joined our crocheting forces and made a blanket for their new home. It was fun working on it and once we started putting the squares together I decided that I wanted to keep it. ;) It is really big, each square is about 23inches and it is a basket weave. I love this new stitch so I think I may try making Sydney a blanket for her bed. I was thinking I could give it to her as a Christmas gift. The stitch is really solid so it would be perfect for winter.

Comic Con

Honestly, I go to Comic Con largely because Shane goes. Sydney and I just sort of tag along and usually do our own thing most of the time. However, this year I have spent more time looking around the floor and found so much great inspiration.

We love filling Sydney's room with original artwork or at least prints of fun pieces to inspire her imagination. We met Travis Hanson Saturday and he drew each of us our own sketches: Shane received a robot, I received a girl reading under a tree, and Sydney asked for a comic book with a girl in it. Then we also purchased a print for in her room.

Here are some other prints I liked.

Seaside Village by Dan Thompson

Braid Hair by Vera Brosgol

Check Point by Mike Lee

I really like the composition and color in this one.


These next two are both from artist Chris Appelhans.

Boston Common

Dance Bot

And these two are from Kazu Kibuishi.

Good Life Scene

Charnon House

Sort of a wide variety but I guess I like variety. They do all seem to be whimsical to some decree, maybe that is what draws me to them. I do feel inspired and ready to get home and start creating.

Catching up....again

Has it really been over three weeks since I posted? Wow. Well we have been busy with family summer fun and a little family stress. For the most part we are recovering and trying to get back in the swing of life. During my lapse, my little girl turned THREE! I am not sure how that happened but low and behold here we are. As I mentioned before we celebrated with a red birthday bash in San Diego.

She was all too pleased to wake up to a red carpet to walk down, a table full of red treats, and a stack of red gifts. I hope the rest of the summer is a little less eventful but a quick glance at the calendar reminds me of a different plan. Hopefully, the rest will be the family fun type craze. I am looking forward to more trips to San Diego (here we come Comic Con), more trips to the zoo, lunches with Shane at Dreamworks, and hopefully time for sewing and crafts.