Pretty's Girly Room

One of the fun things about buying a home was getting to create a boy room and a girl room. While there is still decorating to do in both, the two kid rooms were a priority for me to paint before we moved in. And they are still the only rooms I've painted so far.

Hero was old enough to pick his own wall color, but since Pretty was only 19 months when we moved, I decided the colors for her. My favorite colors are blue and yellow. They don't scream "girl", but it turned out just the way I wanted. I decided that when Pretty is about 12 years old, I'll let her pick her own colors if she wants...

Here's my sister, Audrey, helping me make stripes (she also helped me with Hero's green stripes).

Pretty's room has a funny angled corner, so instead of only doing one wall, we did more that half the room with these light and dark yellow stripes.

Here's the finished product, taken just this morning. You can see the blue reflecting in the mirror. So pretty!

Since I picked two not-so-very-girly colors for the walls, I knew I wanted to add flowers and pink into the decor. I carried around the paint chip cards with me everywhere and one day, while randomly deciding to walk through the fabric section at WalMart, I found this beautiful pink roses with a blue background fabric! I was ecstatic that it matched well with the paint! I found a yellow to match, because I knew the design I wanted to create. It's girly, while still staying with the colors of the room.

The problem I created for myself was not having measured the window when I found the perfect fabric. I then guessed at the amount I would need. Never a very good idea... While I had enough to make it work, I was hoping to have the curtains hang past the bottom edge of the window by about 6 inches. Instead, it brushes the window sill... and that's with adding the yellow  piece at the top I wasn't planning on. Oh well, they are still beautiful!

 I have a lot more ideas for making Pretty's room girly (check out my Pinterest board on it). My vision includes a lot more of the dark pink, butterflies and flowers.

It may be blue and yellow, but it is definitely a girly room!

Check this one off the list! I hope to check off more soon!

Easter Outfits 2012

Happy (late) Easter! It was a great Easter for us, filled with candy, church and family. I love all the fun that comes with holidays, but Christmas and Easter are my favorites because of the spiritual events they celebrate.

New Easter outfits are also good fun! I had planned on making new ties for the men, in addition to the dress I wanted to make for Pretty. But when I found myself at the mall 2 days before Easter, and I hadn't done any sewing yet... I took Hero over to the Tie One On store and let him pick out his own tie. I knew he would pick green, because it's his favorite color, but I loved the nice bright spring green he chose! We bought a matching for Jake and went home. I'm the only one who didn't get new anything. I just used the tattered chic skirt I made about 2 years ago. It's turned out to be a super comfy maternity skirt.

For Pretty's dress, I used the project from V and Co's new book. The instructions were very clear, and she included an easy method to adjust the dress to your own girl's size. I was lucky to have this green fabric in my stash. $3 for a queen sheet in the as-is section at IKEA and I've now made 3 dresses and 1 skirt from it, (see the other projects here and here). What a great buy!

The pattern only called for a small opening, and one button, but I measured and made it a bit snug. So I had to make it open farther down and add a second button to make it easier to put on and off. My husband loves the wooden toggle buttons for one reason.

"Squire. Tell her. What color will my tunic be tonight?"
"Uh. . . it's green. . . trimmed in a sort of pale green. . . with wooden toggles."

I think I might make another dress with this pattern soon. I was able to sew it up in a few hours and Pretty loves it!

Pre-Baby To Do List

I'm into the 3rd trimester with baby #3. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago, so now it's 10 weeks away.

While I haven't actually done much, I've been making a list in my head of all the things I need to get done before this little guy comes. Maybe writing it down will help motivate me.

1. Make new baby bedding. I have boy bedding that my mom made for me when Hero was a baby. But I wanted a new set that matched the new boy room I am creating in our new home. I wanted geometric patterns, and I wanted them to not be really "baby". I also wanted several different patterns to mix together.

 I search through 3 stores with my paint cards, yarn and curtain fabric, taking pictures and looking for a perfect match.

Finally, I found these! All the right colors and 5 of them! Enough for multi colored bumpers, the skirt and 2 sheets. Woohoo!

I will be using the pattern from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones book for the bumpers and the crib skirt, (anna from noodlehead used it here), but I'm going to leave out the pockets in the bumpers. For the sheets I'm going to use MADE's tutorial.

2. Finish the crochet blanket and hat set. I like to crochet a blanket for each of my babies. I used this same pattern for my sister's last little boy (here) and loved it. I picked the colors to match the boy room I'm putting together. I also will make the same hat I did for my nephew, too.

3. Unpack and re-wash the little baby clothes. When Pretty was a baby, I pulled out the white onesies and pajamas from Hero. When I went through the boxes, I was surprised at how yucky dirty all the clothes seemed! I swear I washed them before packing them away! Well, I found this pin on Pinterest and knew I had to do that before the new baby came.

4. Make a Straight Jacket Swaddler, and maybe a few burp cloths. All I have for me is the "prototype" of the swaddler I made for Pretty, with felt for the Velcro to stick to. It's not as good and ripped holes... plus it's pink. I'm going to make a new awesome one from my tutorial. Burp cloths will depend on what I find when I wash all the clothes. I can't remember how many I had, or what size they were...

5. Make a sock monkey. This one could be an after-the-baby-comes project, since I don't need it until the baby is one month old (like the other kids).


6. Sew Pretty's curtains. I know this isn't really baby related... that's why lower on the list. I want to get the curtains for Pretty's room sewn and hung before the baby comes because I've had the fabric FOREVER and haven't made them yet. Maybe this deadline will make sure it gets done?

7. Sew a new quilt for Hero. I bought the Houndstooth quilt pattern from V and Co. back in October. The plan was to make it for Christmas. Then I couldn't function as a human being with the infection and all. I now have the fabric, and I hope I can make it before his birthday in July (when I will have 1 month old)... This one might not happen, let's be honest.

Wish me luck. I'll check in with the projects as I complete them. 10 weeks until my new baby boy comes I hope I at least get half this list done before then!