Baby Gown Tutorial

This just in:

Actually, I've been fairly confident that the cutest thing on the entire planet to put on a baby is a baby gown for quite some time now. It's so much cuter than the traditional onesie, or really anything else. However, find a decent tutorial was nearly impossible. And then, I stumbled on this while browsing Pinterest:

Rockin' Baby Gown Pattern and Tutorial

This tutorial even features little flaps to cover munchkin's hands! I love the concept of munchkin clothing made out of cool t shirts, especially seeing as most t shirts are made out of a less stretchy jersey, making it very easy to sew.

I will admit that I've already tried this pattern, and once I got over the anxiety of hemming the neckline, the rest was excessively easy, and actually kind of fun. It only took about 2 hours total to make, and even though I used an annoyingly stretchy jersey and an eighth of my normal amount of effort for the first try, it still turned out relatively well.

This is, indeed, my new favorite thing to sew. I plan on hitting up Goodwill tomorrow after work to look for some awesome t shirts to revamp, as you really can't have too many of these. Also, I feel as though, depending on the size of the shirt, you might get more than one of these out of it.

Anyway, it's 11:30pm, so understandably, I'll wait until tomorrow to post pictures of my little creation. If I have the chance, I'll post some pictures of my new t shirts as well.

More to come,

Kati

In Memoriam

Death is a funny thing. 

I wish that there was more to say than that. Losing someone that you love or that inspires you or that has touched your life in a good way, losing a good person when there are so few, that's a difficult thing. 

I lost one of those people this week. A lot of people in our community lost one of those people. We lost a good man, a genuinely good man, it's impossible to measure how much he'll be missed. Pappy, as everyone so affectionately called him, passed away in his sleep Monday morning. No one saw it coming, he wasn't sick, and he was in his early 60's. He just passed into the next life as peacefully as he existed in this one. 

There is a memorial for Pappy this afternoon. I'm going, of course, as is my brother, and I imagine that the number of attendees will be somewhere is the hundreds. He was a great man, a diverse man that could relate to so many different types of people. 

Death is a terrible, stupid, ridiculous, necessary thing.

And its hurts.

But we live and love and then we die, and all we can do is try to aspire to emulate the people for which we hold such a high regard, and try to be a good people to the people around us.

Death is a funny thing.

Movie Review: Oz the Great and Powerful

A few nights ago, Munchkin's dad and I went and saw Oz: The Great and Powerful at the theater as an alternative to going out and dancing. I personally, love going to the movies. I'm a pretty big movie fan, although not quite at "cultured" as most in naming the classics and spouting off famous quotes, and try to refrain from watching every trailer that comes out before a movie's released.

I saw the same trailer for this one a few times over the course of the last few months, and just from that, I was pretty excited. The story behind the man behind the Wizard of Oz seemed like a really entertaining concept, if pulled off. Also, the four lead actors have all done phenomenal jobs in the past, my personal favorites being James Franco in 127 hours,  Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn, Mila Kunis in Black Swan, and Rachel Weisz in everything she does. 

The special effects were pretty impressive, although it was pretty obviously designed to be seen in 3D. The costumes were gorgeous, as well, especially Evanora's. I wasn't really surprised that the plot was relatively predictable. I guess that's to be expected when you're building on a classic.

Unfortunately, despite the visual effects, it didn't really meet my expectations. I'm not really difficult to please when it comes to movies, although some would say differently, and I really did want to like it, but there was one thing holding me back. The acting was really dry. I don't know if maybe I was over thinking it, but everyone seemed to either trying to hard or not trying hard enough. Munchkin's dad said it best, being his optimistic self "There was a lot to laugh at".

I'm not an expert, and I check Rotten Tomatoes pretty religiously before I watch most things. Their overall assessment of the situation seems to be pretty spot on, so hear it from the experts:

Rotten Tomatoes Review

More to come.

Kati

Tangent: Pregnancy Date Night (Sort of) - Part 2

Continued....

As it turns out, we didn't end up going dancing after all. For some reason, it didn't occur to either of us that, in light of the fact that I've been hospitalized twice in the last week with miscellaneous "pregnancy complications", going out and dancing for two hours probably wasn't the best idea until little munchkin actually comes along. However, all was not lost. We ended up having a lovely evening at the cinema and a low-key dinner at Shari's. More to come about the movie in my next post.

Even though the venue had changed, I still wanted to do a little bit of dressing up. With winter on its way out, the weather here had been gorgeous, perfect for a dress and some sandals without freezing to death. Obviously the process of finding something to wear wasn't nearly as agonizing with the prospect of dancing thrown out of the mix, but regardless, I wanted to find something that would show off my pretty baby belly, maybe a little leg. I also wanted a dress that was maternity-friendly, trying to veer away from maternity-specific clothing that wouldn't be flattering on a flatter tummy in another few months or so. On a small budget, I need to make every purchase last as long as possible.

I soon discovered that almost any style of dress could be tweaked with a belt, or something of the nature. There were a few obvious limitations, such as non-stretch, skin-tight numbers, but other than that, the world was my oyster. With that in mind, there were a couple of different styles of non-maternity dress that I found to be especially appealing: 

The first was the "sew it" option, the tank or t-shirt dress with an elastic waist:

Tank Dress Tutorial

This dress would defiantly do the trick. The elastic waistband offers comfort and flexibility for a growing belly, and the skirt, with all the gathers, would easily accommodate a belly into the last trimester.  I also love the concept of the tank dress because it's easy to create, you can use either a tank top or a t shirt, or really any sort of shirt that you want, AND it's pretty. The tutorial was done by Amber of Ruffles and Roses, and not to say this is rocket-science, but her tutorial was much clearer than some of the others that I've found.


The second style of dress was more of a "buy it" option, the kimono style dress:

Kimono Maxi Dress

I LOVE this dress, specifically. Of course, on such short notice and such a tiny budget, I had to save the made-to-order version for a little later. However, I did end up going with a slightly different version of this same dress.

This simple black, jersey kimono dress for $10.00 (from Walmart of all places) fit the bill perfectly:

Faded Glory Women's Kimono Dress

It was a pretty big hit. Pretty casual, suitable for the weather, worn with a pair of silver flip-flops (also from Walmart), black nail polish, and my old corduroy motorcycle jacket. As an added bonus, I was really comfortable, no only physically, but mentally. I wasn't having to think about where everything was at any given moment, as this style offered enough coverage to sport a nice, supportive bra. 

In short, either of these dresses styles would have done the trick, and passed with flying colors. I might try to be a bit more prepared in the future and start working on a tank dress now to add a little bit of variety to the equation in the future.

More to come later.

Kati

Tangent: Pregnancy Date Night (Sort Of) - Part 1

First, a little back information, just to give you the full picture:

About four years ago, my brother and I, along with a large group of our friends, started ballroom dancing. Why, you ask, would a group of teenagers start going to ballroom dancing lessons. Honestly, I don't even remember now. Something about of our friend's dads was forcing her to go, and she needed some moral support. Over the course of about a year, we grew into a pretty sizable group, recruiting anyone who was bored on a Friday night to come dancing with us. We did shows and all sorts of things, and everyone loved it while it lasted.

However, over the course of the next few years, everyone moved onto other things, some to college, some to the military, and then it was just down to little ol' me. I was in every show, going to private lessons every week, doing everything I could to move ahead in the dance world. I was on the fast track to competitions and was striving to become a coach myself. Twice a week, I was spending upwards of 2 hours getting ready to go to dances and classes, which lasted maybe a few hours, and I loved it. I excelled in the smooth dances, such as the waltz and foxtrot, and enjoyed every second of it.

All good things must come to an end, however. Or rather, make room for new good things to come into this world. Six months ago, we found out that I was pregnant, and almost immediately after that, I stopped going to classes and dances, mostly from being overwhelmed with the prospect of becoming a new mom. And so, I really have been completely out of practice for the last six months, not so much as practicing a box-step in that time. Which brings us to now:

Tomorrow night, after six months, I'm going to a dance. A West Coast Swing dance. For any of you that are in the know about ballroom dancing at all, WCS is one of the sexiest styles of ballroom dancing. This is a very intimidating prospect when your waistline has expanded to about 60 inches and your center of balance is 30 degrees from where it used to be. Oh, and of course there's that added intimidation of dancing next to size 6, gorgeous blondes and brunettes that have 10 times more style and attitude than you do.

Don't get me wrong, I love most of the people in our little dance community, but most of them are completely unaware of the pregnancy (it's been very well hidden, thus far). I, at this point, haven't even told me coach. Needless to say, it's going to be are rather large night, and really, I would rather crawl under a rock for the next year, and pretend nothing's going on.

So why am I doing this, you ask? Because I love the father of my child. We might not be "together", but I still love him for everything that we've been through and everything that we have yet to go through together, and for his determination to put up with all of my nonsense and stick around for both the baby and me. He loves to dance, and he's had a terrible week of preparing for finals and working twelve-hour shifts, and the added bonus of being in the hospital with me. And so I want to do something for him. 

Of course, in order to muster up the courage to do this specific kindness for him, I have to do something for myself. In this case, that happens to be going out, getting a bottle of nail polish, a can of mousse, and a fabulous dress, and getting dressed to the nines. You'd think I'd have this one in the bag, I'd be totally calm about it, same ol' same ol'.

Nope.

The prospect of dressing this new, rounder body in anything other than sweats and my work uniform is terrifying, at best. So now, the goal of tomorrow is to try and put myself together in the best way possible, looking at all the different options, and going for the maximum "wow" factor (within reason). Oh, and all of this on a budget much thinner than even a shoe string. We shall see. More to come.

Kati

Munchkin's First Quilt (Part 1)

I don't have any know-how at all when it comes to quilting. I've never really been interested in quilting, or really ever had any desire in any fiber of my being.

And then I saw this:

And then I thought maybe quilting wasn't so bad after all. This lovely quilt was created by Lee, of Freshly Pieced, and I must say she did an excellent job. I love the contemporary, folkish feel of this quilt, especially for a little girl.

So after seeing this, of course the first thing I did, with my loads and loads of experience  was start cutting out my own little triangles. This lasted about an hour before I realized that maybe there was just a touch more to this whole process than originally expected. I love it when crafters can make projects look completely effortless, and they're not. True skill there. 

With that in mind, I went back to the drawing board, determined to start with a slightly less complicated quilt, just to get my feet wet.

After scouring the internet for a few hours, I found this:

Much less intimidating. I found this gem on Pinterest (along with the rest of my life) from a blog called Museum of Happieness. Just a few strips of different fabrics sewn together, no problem, right? Wrong. Turns out coordinating colors and all of the other steps involved in making a truly gorgeous quilt aren't nearly as simple as they appear. I really should stop assuming things.

Anyway, I am in the process of attempting the "block" quilt, if you will (I really have no idea what it's called). It will, of course, feature the lovely butterfly fabric that I'm using as the main theme of Munchkin's nursery:

I found this little gem at Joanne's on sale for about $5/yard. I like it because it's not obnoxiously girly or over-the-top, but it's not neutral either. The entire color scheme of the nursery is very soft and spring-like (pictures to follow), defiantly feminine, but not in a little girl way... If that makes sense.

With my first quilting experiment, I've determined that I'm not actually brave enough to attempt machine-quilting the top with my little sewing machine, and so one of my grandmother's avid quilting friends has offered to take care of that part for me at long as I have the top completed, and send all the additional supplies to her. I'm so grateful for social people like my grandmother who have friends of friends of friends who love babies and doing things for babies and for the babies of the friends' grandchildren. Much less expensive, and you can ask for help from people you know you can trust.

All of my assumptions about quilting blowing up in my face has brought back my resolve not to become a quilter. I think this will be little Munchkin-Face's one and only quilt made by her ambitious (or over-zealous, either way) mother. I might attempt matching sham or two for her bed with the triangle theme in mind, but we'll have to see about that once we get through this one. More to come.

Farewell for now,

Kati

Our Ambitious Journey

    When I first found out I was pregnant, I didn't really know what to think. I'm twenty years-old, unmarried (un-anything), working in downtown Bend, OR. The prospects seemed slim. My options seemed slim. Munchkin's daddy and I discussed all of the options that we could think of, of which there are the most popular three, and after a few months of going back and forth, decided to raise her ourselves, with the help of both of our loving and supportive families. 

   We've had a few hiccups along the way: a lot of visits to the hospital, a lot of sleepless nights, but here we are, 25 weeks into this, and things seem to be smoothing out for the long-haul. Although we aren't seeing each other at the moment, I could not have asked for a more supportive copilot in Munchkin's dad. He's stuck with us through thick and thin, and  has always been there when we've needed him most.

   Another key player in our little story is my best friend, who has been there before and after everyone else, as well as our families, who have all, in one way or another, made this journey a little smoother and little less terrifying. We really couldn't be blessed with better people.


  Anyway, mushy stuff aside, now that we are where we are, I've decided to give Munchkin Face the best little life that I can possibly provide. Like every mom, I want her to have great memories of her childhood, or at least do my best to make it as memorable as possible. This, of course, is more than a little difficult on a shoestring budget, and so I've taken the resolve of going the DIY route, if it'll cost more time than money. That time can be turned into quality, bonding time, and as she gets older, with making things for her instead of buying them, I feel like there are bigger lessons being taught then how to shell out some cash.

 I've been sewing on and off for about 6 years now, and have a very dependable Elna 2600 that I wouldn't trade for the world. I've always been a little bit more on the creative, "make things exactly the way that I want them" side, and so with this new little bundle of joy on the way, my goal is to not only have everything that I can provide for her, but also keep all of those little nuggets of wisdom that come from the learning process on file.

  One thing that I've noticed over the last several months is that I would've really liked to have seen some pictures of what my mother looked like when she was pregnant, as well as maybe what our nursery looked like, ect. Obviously times were a little different back then, but for some reason this lacking has become a slightly significant factor in trying to stay confident and strong during this whole process. And especially with having a little girl, I want her to have that sense of self that comes with identifying with your mother.

  So with all that information, you're probably wondering why I decided to go with a blog instead of something a little less public. The thing is, between Munchkin's dad and I, we have so much family spread from coast to coast, it's hard to keep everyone as updated and involved as they'd like to be. I really want to try and bridge that gap.

 Also, over the years, I've benefited so much from other people's blogs on just about everything, that it's only appropriate to try and return the favor to some little mini-me out there that doesn't have a clue of what they're doing, and who doesn't have the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom with a huge kitchen, sewing room, and Nikon D3000. Not that I have anything against those ladies, that's just not everyone. 

I suppose that'll have to do for now. More to come later.

Kati