I Can Up-cycle...Can You?

Since the weather has been so blah lately, there hasn't been many outings. Last week I was actually able to sew a few things on my list of things I want to sew. Of course, my list grows faster than I can get things done. However, I was really pleased with my projects last week. The first, I'll post later as it's a birthday gift for someone and I'll wait until she gets it. The second is a curtain for our front door. It's waiting on me to go to the store and buy sash rods so it I can hang it and it can model for pictures. That leaves me with the third project...re-purposing our old car seat cover. I can even call it up-cycling.

This poor car seat has been through a lot. I actually inherited it from my sister, so Bliss and Zade have both used it along with Kallie or Evie, my nieces. It is still in good condition...nothing is falling apart, it's just stained.

I started by washing it and hanging to dry. The on to disassembling it. I've seen where some people have just made a removable cover, but I was afraid I would like the way that looked, so I just went for completely recovering it. I recovered it because I wanted to use the cushiony foam. So, I used my trusty seam ripper and went to town.

It took like five minutes to take apart. Then I cut out material for all the pieces. I only used about a yard. And if I didn't use a directional pattern, then I could've used less. But I had found this fabric and fell in love with it. I wanted it for the kitchen, but decided that wasn't the look I was going for in there. Anyway, I cut out my material and some interfacing which served several purposes....1) I didn't want to see that ugly plaid through my cute fabric and 2) it helped the fabrics stay together somewhat.

Then, I sewed the fabric to the separate pieces just following the old seam lines. I then zigzagged around the strap openings. I sewed all pieces together, again by just following the old seam lines. I cut out the outer side panels with a coordinating fabric and sewed them on adding elastic to the outer edge to help hold it on.

The hard part came when I had to reassemble the seat. I had taken it apart months ago and couldn't quite remember how everything went. So after about half and hour I got it figured out.

I love how it turned out. I was pretty nervous that it would look pretty crappy, but I like it. Et voila Miss Isla has a custom car seat.

BTW...I'm not liking this new picture thingy with blogger.

Congrats

I want to give a shout out to my big sis who was just accepted to the University of Alabama PhD program. We're all so proud of her...our nerd(I didn't say that, her husband did!)! Roll Tide and Good Luck.

This will be shorter that what I had planned. As Isla has just fallen and busted her mouth. Must care for the poor girl.

Sickness and Sergers

Much to my chagrin, I overcame my weight-loss plateau by catching that pesky stomach virus my family was all too willing to share with me. Even after I held heads over bowls, toilets, and sinks, wiped brows with cool, damp rags, cleaned clothes and beds, and found whatever flavor of gatorade anyone could want...I'm repaid this way? So goes motherhood, right? Thankfully, I caught the nasty thing before Miss Isla, so she escaped thanks to my fighting immune system. I've never asked Blasen to stay home from work, but I did that day. I can do a lot and I probably could have survived that day without Blasen...I just didn't have it in me. So thanks to my hubby for staying home and taking care of the kids.

I've just been cleaning, trying to feel like my house isn't infected any longer. It's times like these that I wish I could just put my entire house in the washing machine...or better yet, the dishwasher.

I made plans again to go celebrate my birthday with Blasen. Mother Nature decided to ruin it this time. The freezing rain/sleet started Friday morning right when I was loading the kids in the car to head to Huntsville. We made it through one store with my sister and her kids and called it a day. The only place you normally find icicles in AL is the inside of your freezer. So when there are icicles hanging off car bumpers, that's when you should head to the house. Unfortunately, the stomach virus had kept us shut in all week and we were all ready to kill each other...eer, maybe that was just me.

We all survived and maybe it made us stronger. While we were all green in the gills, Miss Isla was loving life and her new found mobility. Yes, she's taken up full-time walking. Well, we'll say she walks more than she crawls. It's so funny to watch her, because she has to concentrate and it's a lot easier if she has something in her hands. She thinks she's so big. My baby has grown too fast! Bliss says Isla's too big now, so we need a new baby. I think that sometimes too...then she wakes me up at 2am to eat and I think "do I really want another one of these?" But remember, I have given up on getting any kind of substantial, meaningful sleep.

To finish off my week, I did get to finally get my "new to me" serger out of the box, thread it, and practice a bit. I've had it for a few months now and never had the nerve to get it out. It intimidates me...I won't lie. If something has 4 different things to thread and requires tweezers to actually thread it, it can be intimidating. But I did it and can't wait to use it again.

How to Successfully End a Dinner Party

I thought I'd post about my birthday. It went like all other things these days...not according to plan. It all started Friday night when we were at some friends' house for dinner. We were done with dinner and playing a game while the kiddos ran around like crazy way after their bedtime. (We all need this at times, right?) Well, Zade walks in to where the adults were crying and I think he is choking on something(he has a history of choking on hard candy). Then I realize he is sick as he starts throwing-up everywhere. This is all in slow motion...literally seconds pass as I first see him enter the kitchen. And yes, thankfully, it was the kitchen and not some carpeted or harder to wipe down room. Poor kid. Needless to say, that ended that dinner party.
The rest of the night went somewhat the same. I'd hear him start to get sick and I'd sprint down the stairs hoping I wouldn't go rolling down them half asleep. Why, you ask, didn't I just stay close by? I was hoping that this incident was a one time thing related more to the combination of likely too much soda, late nights, and running around chasing each other. To my dismay, it was a full on stomach virus. Hopefully, we have infected no one else.
So, no going out for my birthday. Blasen did, however, get me a comfy Alabama sweatshirt. And my mom and 2 of my sisters came on Thursday for lunch. And thanks to everyone who sent me birthday messages. So not too bad after all.

Adding Time to My Day

So the getting up at 5am to go to the gym is working out well. This is day 4 and I'm making it. Granted, I didn't get to go yesterday because some little helper messed up my alarm clock and I didn't realize it. I was pretty bummed. I really like this getting up before everyone else. It actually makes my day so much better. AND I'm a better mommy. I RELISH the time when everyone is asleep.(Is that bad?) That I can get that in the mornings gives me time to wake up. (If you didn't know...I'm not a morning person. Just ask anyone that's ever had to live with me.)
Sleep and I are enemies. If I could go without sleeping, I would. It's just a waste of time. No matter how much or little I sleep, I'm still tired when I get up.
Another part of getting up early that I like and was a huge motivator for this change is that I have more time during the day to do things that I want to do, like sewing. Yesterday, the stars aligned and everyone laid down for a nap at the same time and I actually got to sew for awhile. I made some boppy covers for my friend, Jeni, and her new baby and a holder for my MP3 player. I'll post pictures once gifts have been sent. That's no fun when I don't post pictures, huh? We'll here's one of cute Miss Isla. By-the-way, I spoke too soon about Isla's success of sleeping through the night. Last night went well, but the couple before that were back to the old days. Hopefully, we're rounding a corner.

Update: So I took a picture after all of the MP3/Ipod holder.

Sorry...I meant to give a link to where I found this. Here's the tutorial at Make It and Love It. I used here basic idea and made a few changes of my own. She has lots of pretty easy good ideas...go take a look.