Turtleneck Refashion

It's been a while! October was a crazy month and I was in a bit of a funk in November. It snowed Halloween night and it has stuck around. I was totally NOT feeling fall this year.

Anyway, I just finished a dress for Annaleigh and had to share! I'm not 100% loving how it turned out. There are a few things I would have changed about it, but it works. Plus, I'm sure no one else can see all the flaws I see.

At the end of last winter our Wal-Mart had turtlenecks clearanced out at $1 and a few days they were doing 50% off all clearance. I ended up grabbing a 5T in the hopes I'd one day be able to do something with it. I'm not a huge fan of turtlenecks so it was a refashion from the beginning. I decided a few days ago to make Annaleigh a new dress with it.

I started out deconstructing it. I took the neck and sleevess off. Obviously, a 5T was going to need to be resized to fit my almost 1 year old (holy heck how did that happen?). Here is what it looked like....

I grabbed a dress in her size to use as a size guide. With the dress laying on top of the turtleneck, I pinned where I needed to sew my new seem.

I wish I hadn't done the next step. I folded the flair of the dress in thinking I wouldn't need the flair once the ruffles were added.

In hindsight, I think this would have helped the dress have a better fit than it does. Oh well, It still turned out decent. While I had the dress laying there I also trimmed down the arm neck and shoulder area of the shirt. Here is what I had at the end.

I didn't take pictures of this step, but I then cut out 3 strips of my skirt fabric. The strips were 4 3/4 in wide (I wish I had made them longer) and the length was long enough to wrap around the shirt twice. I folded the fabric in half and ruffled it. This took a little trial and error. There are tons of tutorials on how to ruffle fabric, but it still took me a while to get the hang of it. My machine doesn't have a straight stitch that doesn't automatically backstitch when you start sewing so I had to start sewing without my fabric under the needle. I should have taken pictures of this, but I got caught up in the moment. I also set my tension to the highest it would go and the stitch length to the longest setting. My machine still didn't really ruffle at that much so I held the thread where it comes off the spool to create a little extra tension. Once the strips were sewn, I pulled the threads to create an even more dramatic ruffle.

To sew on the ruffles, I first pinned and sewed them to the shirt upside down.

Once it is sewn in place you want to fold it down, pin and sew again. This creates a finished look. I definately recommend pinning this and not just trying to wing it. It helps insure you are staying straight and that the ruffle lays nicely. I tried not pinning it and it was a pain. I  repeated this for each layer of ruffle.

I again used a shirt in her size to figure out where to sew a new seem for the sleeves and how long they needed to be. Again, I  got way into it and didn't take pictures. Reattach them to the shirt. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with the collar. In the end, I opted for a cowl, type look. I cut one side of the original turtleneck, finished the raw edges and reattached the collar to the shirt. And there you have it...

I know, I cut off her head. It is insane trying to get a decent picture of this girl!

Infinity Scarf

Or cowl, or whatever else you want to call it. The second I saw Rachel of Maybe Matilda was doing a crochet along I knew I had to do it! When I saw it was a cowl/infinity scarf I was beyond thrilled. I had been wanting to make one, but just hadn't set aside the time, and I wasn't really sure it was for me. I must admit I'm not the best at figuring out what is going to work with my body type by just looking at it. I have to try it on. Then, I have to stare at myself in the mirror from several different angles for like ten minutes. I finally call my husband in to give me his opinion, or if he isn't there I take a picture and text it to him or my mom or sister. And stare at myself in the mirror some more while I wait for a response. Yeah, I am pretty much terrified of buyer's remorse. You should have seen me in the yarn aisle. I spent like 5 minutes staring at the yarn. I'm sure my poor sister-in-law was bored out of her mind, and I know her kids were! I wanted a neutral color so I could wear it with anything. So I chose a Charcoal. We used the Lion Brand Time Out Cowl pattern. I twisted the cowl before I connected the end so it would have a twist in it. So here is how it turned out....

I love how incredibly versatile this can be!

My husband was the camera man. It was a nasty day so we decided to just take pictures on the back porch. He felt a little awkward taking pictures of an adult on our back porch. Understandably so!

I have naturally wavy/curly hair. I love that when it starts snowing I can just pull this thing over my head and hopefully not have the crazy frizz going on!

The little dude wanted in on the action, too!

Ruffles + Wreath = Swoon!

Did I mention it only cost $3? That includes the wreath form. Want to make one, too?

I forgot to take a picture before I got started.

What ya' need!

pool noodle (or other wreath form)

streamers

ribbon

duct tape

glue gun

a couple glue sticks

Are you thinking I'm totally crazy for putting a pool noodle in the instructions for making a wreath? I found the idea here. I must admit I was a little skeptical, but when i saw a pool noodle at the dollar store I thought it was worth a try. I didn't follow the directions in the link exactly. I just put the 2 ends together and duct tape 'cause that's how I roll. Duct tape can fix anything! And it totally worked. When your in the store picking up your noodle checking it out to see if it will work, It probably won't form a perfect circle. Once you get the ends secure it makes more of an oval. Just push your sides in and it holds the circle form perfectly!

I wrapped mine in streamer just so my wreath would have a polished look. You can skip this step.

This wreath idea isn't totally my own either and I really feel I should give creative development credit where they are due. I got the idea from Country Living, but again, I didn't follow that exactly. You'll need to cut out a million or so 4 inch strips of streamers. My pack of streamers came with 2 rolls so I cut out 1 completely then cut the other as I needed. Once you have those you're ready to start assembling your wreath.

Country Living used matching straight pins, but I don't have those just laying around so I used hot glue. Let's just admit it. Hot glue is amazing! So I hot glue the strip into loops by gluing the ends like this...

Then folding it over like this...

Please excuse my half painted finger nails. I couldn't wait to get started on this!

Then you add more hot glue and stick it to your wreath like this....

You'll do "rows" of 3 loops and go all the way around. That's it! Country Living left a spot open, but I went all the way around with mine. I added an orange ribbon to make it even more Halloween-esque. I love it, but I think I should have placed the ribbon a little lower on the wreath. Oh well!

The bottom ruffles crinkled a little setting it on the bookshelf, but they straightened right back up!

Go get crafty!

Linking up to:

Tatertots & Jello
Scatter Girls
Nap Time Crafters

Grateful!

It's been a bit of a tough week for me. I have made myself work out every day Matt has been at work so if I work out today it will be 4 consecutive days. GO ME! Sorry, I'm a little excited that I've finally made myself do it. So back to the tough week. I have felt like everything is working against me in making these work outs happen. Tuesday Matt called twice in the middle of my workout. The second time he needed me to bring him things at work. Oh and I had kids climbing on me the whole time. I was over half way through so I decided I would finish and then pack up the kids and head over! He was slightly irritated, but when I explained he understood. I knew if I stopped in the middle I would never finish because Phillip needed a nap, Annaleigh needed food, and I needed to shower while Phillip was napping.

Anyway, I have decided I really need to work out while Phillip is napping so I can really focus on what I am doing. It has been hard making myself do it. I have a million things I need to do while Phillip is napping. I feel selfish taking that time to work out instead of doing housework or whatever. My big one yesterday was laundry. I have piles of clean laundry that just need to be put away. I usually put laundry away while Phillip is napping because he finds some sort of sick pleasure in destroying my neatly folded piles of laundry. So in order to avoid me fuming and double the effort in putting clothes away I just do it while he's in bed. I have tried waithing until he goes to bed at night, but I'm so drained I just don't want to do anything. While Phillip was napping yesterday I needed to workout, shower, eat, put away laundry, take care of Annaleigh...I'm sure there is more I could add to that list!

I was having a huge inner battle. I know if I find excuses even one day I will find excuses every day after. So I worked out. The living room was a disaster by the end of the day. The piles of clean laundry are still sitting there. I felt so...blah! So I had a nice chat with my wonderful husband. He made me feel so much better. His exact words, "I could care less if the laundry gets done." Haha, ok so I care if the laundry gets put away. I hate digging through baskets trying to find clothes for the kids. But I love him for this. He understands how hard it can be some days to take care of the kids and get things done. He understands working out is important to me right now, and how hard it is to find the motivation to build that habit. He just gets it!

So today I am grateful for our little family. I am grateful for our cute kids (even though Phillip has been waking me up before Matt is even awake). I am grateful for Matt, and his understanding nature. I am grateful I am able to do things that make him happy, and he can do the same. I am grateful that both of us understand stability takes a lot of hard work. We  know we can't expect to own a home, drive nice cars, have the best furnishings, and be up to date on technology without all the hard work first. I think having this knowledge allows us to be happy despite our circumstances. We have been down so many different paths since we have been married and yet we somehow make it work. It's all of this that helps me to know if we can just hold on to this perspective we can conquer anything that may come our way. And for this I am incredibly grateful!

Necessity Is The Mother of Invention!

Ok, so I didn't really invent anything, so maybe creation should be substituted for invention.

It has been one of those days. You know the ones where you run into a link with everything you try to do. I was attempting to put the finishing touches on the kitchen I cleaned up yesterday. Phillip was suddenly interested in the kitchen the moment I started sweeping. I finally got it swept. I went down to the basement to get the mop and found the box of mop pads open and dry.
I sent map a text that was a little ridiculous. It went something like this " YOU left the mop pads open now I can't mop the kitchen." Yeah, like I said ridiculous!
Anyway, so I relaxed and remembered seeing a crochet swiffer pad. So I went to Ravelry, a website of knit/crochet patterns, did a quick search and an hour later had this...

Now we will always have a pad for our swiffer and we can save some money!

Happy Birthday to me! (well a few days ago)

I am usually fairly excited about my birthday. This year I was not so excited for it. I am now closer to 30 than I am 20. Ugh! I am typically not one to fret about  my age. It's inevitable, but this one hit me a little hard. The day itself was a good day. I still had to be a mommy, which honestly is really the best thing ever! Little miss decided to do this on my birthday!

She has been trying for so long, and finally got it! While the kids were napping I relaxed and played on my sewing machine. I made a keychain for myself. One that slips over my wrist so I don't lose my keys with my arms full of kiddos! It has come in handy. Matt made me dinner! It was so yummy and it was nice not having to worry about dinner.

The Friday before my birthday Matt and I decided to go here..

Yeah, check out that elevation. In order to get there we had to do this

And if you are looking at the map thinking it looks quite easy check out this picture I took standing at one of the switchbacks

Can I just say, I am SO out of shape! The first 1/4 wasn't bad at all. About halfway is when it started getting hard. After that we had to stop so often. I would go a little  way and beg Matt to stop. Ok so I didn't have to beg. There is no railing and the clifs are fairly steep. He was quite concerned if we didn't take it slowly I would get dizzy and fall off the edge, lol! There were times when I wanted to just go back down, but I really wanted to prove to myself I could do it. We kept passing people along the way who would give us encouragement telling us it was worth it. I can't say the caves were incredibily amazing for me. At least not amazing enough to say that hike was worth it. I can say, however, the feeling of accomplishment was worth it. The view from the top was quite amazing.

And it was great quality time with my wonderful husband. I love this man!

New School Year = New Goals!

Who would have thought I would have children too little for school, but still have my life revolve around the school year? Well, it does and it will for the next year at least. So I guess we'll get a little break before Phillip starts school. We have been so off our schedules for the last month with Matt home all day. Don't get me wrong I LOVE having my hubby 24/7! We have just been trying to make the most of our time together so schedules and normal days are non-existent. Today we have a little taste of what things will be like when he goes back to work. He has a day full of meeting, the rest of the week off and goes back for good Monday. So I decided to make today a day to see how our schedule will work since the kids are getting bigger and their needs have changed slightly. Enter my new goal: working out! Since we don't have a double stroller and Phillip has too much energy to trust him on sidewalks, I have to find ways to work out in the house. So I am doing Jillian Michael's (The Biggest Loser goddess) 30 Day Shred. Can I just say, holy crap! I am SO out of shape. I think I'm in worse shape now than I was when I started it right before I got pregnant with Annaleigh. My legs are currently like jello. I just went up stairs to check on Annaleigh. Surprisingly up was NOT the hard part. I thought my legs were going to collapse coming down. I am seriously considering sliding down the stairs Phillip style when I have to bring Annaleigh back down. Go ahead laugh it up! I know I am! So my new goal is make working out a part of my daily routine AND, ready for the big one? My ultimate long term goal is to lose 43lbs by my anniversary, December 20th! Am I crazy? I might be! Only time will tell! At that point I will probably create another long term goal because really to make it to a "healthy" weight I will still have about 30 MORE lbs to lose.

YIKES!