Monday, April 27, 2009

sick...in a good way

The good news is that I'm pregnant, the bad news is that my time is now divided between puking, napping, eating thai noodles, and neglecting my son.  I'm only ten weeks along, which some people would find too early to be making announcements, but since all I can talk about is how crappy I feel, and since my mother and husband are no longer charmed by vivid tales of vomiting and dizzy spells, I'm having to cast a wider net to find an audience.

So far, this has been much rougher than my first pregnancy.  I had some morning sickness then, but this time it's infinitely worse.  In one of those paradoxes of pregnancy, I'm also ravenous.  Oh, and my hips are suddenly really wide--with Joseph, his didn't happen until right before he was born.  I suppose this is because it's a second pregnancy.  And my belly is already pretty big, but this might be because I eat too much.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

the most important noodles ever

This is a bit of a departure for this blog, but since it's pretty much all I can think about I need to share it:


These noodles are freaking fabulous.  We've all been sick here so cooking has not been happening and we've been living on prepared foods.  I could seriously eat these noodles for every meal:  they are not very spicy, just very peanuty and coconuty and creamy and lovely.  These noodles have been the bright spot in a couple of bleak, sick weeks.  I very nearly ordered a dozen but I decided that I can get off my rear end for long enough to drive to the grocery store and perhaps also buy some frozen peas to throw into the box so I can pretend I still have a balanced diet.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

pajama top


I made this pajama top for Joseph because we're always running out of PJs for him. Pajamas are the limiting factor in our laundry, so I'm trying to build up our supply so I don't have to do the laundry quite so often. The pattern is this lovely free one at Habitual. I added two sets of ties--one on the outside and one on the inside--so it stays put all night.

Yes, the bias tape is more of the fish sheets. The brown cotton is actually another sheet. I had a gift certificate for Kohl's that I wanted to use before I misplaced it, but I didn't want to buy any clothing so I got two cotton sateen sheet sets to sew with. One is this very nice chocolaty brown, and the other is a dusty blue.  They are very soft and drapey.  I'm in the process of making myself a dress out of the brown fabric, but I've kind of lost all motivation so it will have to wait.

My one recommendation for sewing with sheets is to use pinking shears because the fabric sometimes frays like crazy. I didn't have this problem with the fish fabric, but that was a slightly heavier weight. But the sateen, it goes to pieces.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

a birthday smock


This smock was a present for a friend's child's second birthday.  The pattern is from Bend the Rules Sewing.  The blue fabric is a nice sturdy (but not stiff) twill that I got who knows where.  It's thick enough so that I didn't have to line the smock like I did last time.  The fish fabric has made a few appearances on this blog:  it is a twin sheet set that I got at Target to back a quilt and then used to make Joseph a shirt.  And there's still a ton of it left.  That was $15 damn well spent.


I am getting to be quite the old hand at attaching bias tape.  This is a skill that is not going to impress a lot of people, I'm afraid, even though I make Scott and my mother tell me how awesome everything I make is.  I think this is why I love the internet.  It's filled with people who appreciate bias tape and mitered corners and french seams and all the little details that make me pat myself on the back.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

bibs

For a few weeks it was like a bib sweatshop here.  I became very smitten with this pattern and cut about a zillion bibs and then ran out of interest about halfway through attaching the bias tape.  They are gathering dust next to the sewing machine, waiting for me to have a burst of energy.  This style of bib has armholes and it ties in the back, making it useful for older babies and squirmy toddlers for whom traditional bibs are kind of irrelevant.  Joseph is getting to the point where he is too old for any kind of bib (if he wants to smear peanut butter all over himself, no bib on earth is going to stop him) but I figured it wasn't a bad idea to have a stack of these on hand for the next time I need a baby present.  If I ever finish attaching the bias tape. 

These bibs are more traditional, good for drooly babies and less enthusiastic food smearers.  I made the pattern myself by tracing a bib I liked; they're just turned and topstitched, and either close with a snap or a velcro dot.  I sewed up stack of these few months ago for a friend's new baby.  I think the tweed one is particularly hilarious.

For the record, every bib I make is either backed in flannel or has a layer of flannel sandwiched in the middle of two layers of cotton.  Some patterns call for terry cloth, which is a real pain to sew with, so I don't use that.  A layer (or two) of flannel is plenty absorbent.