sweat ‘n sew

the sweat:

i hit week 4 of couch-to-5K a month ago. A MONTH. for various reasons i’ve been unable to make the jump to week 5.
until today.

i did week 5, day 1 this morning (a run 5-walk 3-5-3-5 combo) and i felt great. really. it’s insane to me. i’ve never been able to run so much as a 1/2 mile. shoot, 1/4 mile was too far. no matter how good of shape i was in, i’m no runner. between the asthma and…well, the “ladies”…i don’t exactly have a runner’s physique.

and tomorrow i go a solid 8 minutes.

i’m also into week 2 of 30 days of green smoothies. it’s…okay. i’ve made my peace with not chewing. and i think i may actually be seeing some results. possibly.

the sew:

really this is like a Flashback post. Way back Wednesday? whatever. because this skirt + blazer were made for guinevere. as you can see…

it was made for an 8-year old guinevere, and somehow got missed for ms. ava, and so now it’s a touch too small to wear. but before it goes back up to the attic to await an 8-year-old gigi* i wanted to get some pics. for posterity.

*really gigi will probably be 12 before this fits her. but at least the letter will be right again.

they were so cute in their matching outfits. i blogged about a 4-year-old ava’s here. and what i don’t have pics of is the matching tie i made harrison. :(

all my three babies in matching burberry-ish plaid found at wallyworld for $1/YARD. it never gets old saying that. ONE DOLLAR.

i used a pattern for this, and i remember clearly how i struggled with that blazer. and how stinkin’ proud of myself i was when i conquered it and it was wearable.

these outfits were the first time i sewed where i felt like it was GOOD. you know? i felt like i was proud of these, and they didn’t look “homemade”. these dresses were a turning point in my sewing—where i really felt like this was something i could do. i was proud of how each girl’s dress was a nod to their age: the vintage peter pan collared dress for the 4 year old, the more sophisticated blazer and skirt for the 8 year old, tied together by matching fabrics and black velvet accents.

but clearly i still had things to learn…like matching plaids on a back seam. couldn’t be bothered back then, i guess.

ha. who am i kidding. i still can’t really be bothered. ;)

starting easy: circle skirts

these skirts.

these skirts should have been blogged a loooonnnnng time ago.  BUT, i’ve figured out a good way of justifying the fact that i made these for guinevere ummm…two years ago.

ready? here it is: THEY STILL FIT HER. two years later—and the girl has grown substantially, but because of the elastic waist and the length she is still wearing them. when i first made them they were closer to mid-calf length, now they’re still below-knee length.

add in the fact that both fabrics were bought at walmart for $1.50/yard, and well…i’d say we certainly got our money’s worth out of em.

i bought 2 yards of each fabric (that’s $3 per skirt, for those following along at home), and followed dana’s awesome circle skirt tutorial—which, EVEN THOUGH IT INVOLVES MATH, is really really REALLY easy to follow.

honestly—neither of these prints are my absolute favorite. but the gal needed some skirts at the time, they’re a super quick sew, and they’re comfy and easy to wear. and they were $3. did i mention that?

that probably explains why she’s still wearing them coughcough 2 years later.

because of her height i couldn’t get the full cut out of my material, and i solved this in a different way for each skirt.

on the brown and peach one, i used a piece to fill it.

now you see it…

i made my quarter-circle pattern piece, then folded and laid my fabric underneath and marked where i needed extra length. then i sewed additional pieces on where needed, refolded and cut the pattern out.

because the skirt is so full and the pattern is so busy you can barely tell where this was done (especially when that part is on the side which is how i MEANT for her to wear it. sheesh)

now you don’t. kinda.

on the silver one i took a piece of tissue weight black knit and added a border to the bottom. because the bottom hem of the skirt is curved and the border is not there’s a bit of wonkiness right where the two meet.

but again, the fullness of the skirt covers a multitude of sins.

i hemmed it with a lettuce edge hem, which you can find a tutorial for HERE.

it truly doesn’t get much easier or more comfortable than this. and let’s face it—no matter how big you are a twirly, spinny skirt never gets old. ;)

fashion show at lunch!

one of the hardest parts of blogging the things i’ve sewn is getting a good photo shoot together. either someone is sick, or miserable, or we run out of time, or it’s raining…

and then before i know it either the season has changed or the child has outgrown/torn/stained the item, and then….oh well.

so this is why 2 weeks ago i sat down and cleaned out the girls’ closets and drawers, making the Great Seasonal Clothing Switch from summer to fall/winter. and while i went i set aside the ridonkulous number of items i’d made and never photographed/blogged.

then we fixed hurrs up pretty and had one massive photoshoot.

boom.

now i have a backlog of photos, just waiting for the blog post to go along with them.

be prepared, internets. googiemomma originals comin’ atcha.

so long and thanks for all the chews.

so on friday i had my wisdom teeth out. yeah, i know—you’re supposed to have that done when you’re a teen.

but my teeth weren’t a problem until i started having babies. then they came in one by one. every pregnancy was another wisdom tooth, another cavity. boo.
the bottom 2 impacted, the top 2 in but sooo far back that i couldn’t brush them. it was a huge cavity in the top left guy that finally forced me to make the appointment.

so off we went to the oral surgeon—me hopped up on a valium + laughing gas + whatever it was they put in the IV. i thought everrrrrything was soooo funny.  BUT…i was awake and aware of everything happening. and about halfway through the procedure i was no longer laughing. i was still very relaxed, but also wide awake. i wanted to tell the doc, but that’s a little difficult when your mouth has that metal…uhh…mouth speculum thing in it? so i started singing along to the piped in music, hoping that would give him a clue.

“oh, are you singing?” he laughed at me. okay, well that didn’t work. apparently singing isn’t too unusual. but whatever. i guess there was enough meds that i wasn’t too worked up.

by the time they moved me to the recovery area and brought jeremy in i was wide awake and fine. packed full of gauze but trying to talk because, well, i’m an idiot? and then trying to explain to the receptionist that no i didn’t owe her $90, i only owed $26 and pulling up my EOB on my phone to show her. with a numb face and mouth full of gauze.

type-A personality, anyone? hope i didn’t drool on her shoulder.

so because i’m a special snowflake my bottom two teeth gave the doc a run for his money. he said they were the worst he’s had all summer. stupid 33 year old teeth were quite settled in and didn’t was to leave. he gave me some meds in the IV for swelling, and a script for more swelling reducing medication, in addition to a powerful pain med and antibiotic. sheesh.

me + pain meds? nope. puke city. so i switched quickly to just ibuprofen and ice (pea) packs, and that’s where i’ve been since.

i spent the weekend crocheting, candy crushing, movie watching gumming crackers and mashed potatoes and I’M ALL DONE NOW.

but the doc warned me that the swelling would continue to increase through monday because of how nasty those bottom 2 teeth were. i hadn’t noticed a huge difference this morning from yesterday…then i realized that i have to push my cheeks out of the way to close my mouth or i would bite down on them. huh. i guess the swelling moved inside.

so here i am, hubby back to work, kids of school-age schooling, and the little two Just Dance-ing. i’m ready to throw down a handfull of pills that are supposed to make me better, and then i’m off to find something to gum for breakfast.

mashed potatoes and eggs, anyone?

here piggy, piggy

every year for the last three years we’ve done an end-of-summer pig roast, hosted at my parents’ house.

and every year i take a ton of photos, intending to put some up here and share the details and invites.

and every year…i don’t.

well let’s change that. i’m currently working on the invites for this—our 4th annual pig roast. who wants a free printable invite?

or maybe you’d like last year’s invite…

(it read: “this little piggy went to THE yourlastname’s”…and the date/time info was one line right above “please bring a covered dish”)

r i g h t  c l i c k  and save that trash for your own piggy roasting adventures.
with love, from the momma to you.

(all fonts/graphics from free sources, including but not limited to: the graphics fairy, dafont)

now, who wants to indulge me by looking at some photos of years past? coughcough i gave you a free printable invite coughcough.

you doooo? aw. how sweet. ;)

the formula for an memory-making pig roast is simple: TONS of food + TONS of friends + games and prizes for the kids + marshmallows + bonfire to end the night.

oh. and a pig.

// 2 0 1 0  P I G  R O A S T //

that year they put an apple in the pig’s mouth. i’ll spare you those photos.

i must have been hungry that year. most of my pictures are of the food.

babies! who aren’t babies anymore! :(

// 2 0 1 1  P I G  R O A S T  //

here’s the awesome thing about this picture: little miss emma there with the disgusted look? she’s not pushing away the gross pig. she’s reaching out for a piece of meat.

this was hands down my favorite photo: gigi, age 2, and emma from above, watch as the men start carving up the pig.

my baby was a baby. and my brother was a hipster.

the kiddos made foam hats that year—a blanket with thousands of foam stickers and markers and a hat for everyone. you would have thought they hit the jackpot.

and we end the night with a bonfire.

// 2 0 1 2  P I G  R O A S T //

do you see how many tables of food there were last year?????

boys. ugh.

you may recognize this little nugget…

the important thing is always having the right tool for the job.

so there it is. one large-ish post covering all three prior pig roasts. #4 coming soon.

my secret shame

i can’t even believe i’m going to post a “before” photo of this chair, it’s that bad. but as awesome as the “after” photo is….knowing just how bad this chair started out makes it that much sweeter.

it’s your typical cheap foam toddler chair…but this one’s been around quite a while.

rewind about 11.3 years. guinevere was around 16 months old, and she had just learned to climb in and out of chairs all by herself. in typical new-mom-of-one fashion i was all she must have her own chair now! so i set out to buy her a little chair all her own.

found a cheap little upholstered number at walmart, how about $15 said the manager because there was no price tag on it, sold i said. this chair has served us well for the last 11.3-ish years, sat upon by many a googie and many a visitor. i’d say we got our $15 out of it.

but it’s showing it’s age…

let’s face it: it was ugly to begin with. the stars and hearts and stripes were never my thing. the torn fabric and accumulated dirt didn’t do much to help. but i could never bring myself to throw it away—knowing it was one slipcover away from being the super cute toddler-sized arm chair of my dreams.

oh boy is that chair disgusting. trust me—it’s way worse than it looks in this picture. when i pulled off the fabric of the seat it actually felt grimy. so, so gross. i finally buckled down and made myself do this because otherwise i was literally giving a large disgusting piece of trash a place of honor in my family room. the cover is really what holds it all together, so with the tears it wasn’t even really functional. so it was unfunctional trash, which obviously is even worse. it was do or die time.

construction wise this thing is crazy simple. the entire body is made of foam, covered with a fitted cover which is stapled to the base underneath.

the base is just a piece of plywood with two curved wooden pieces so the chair rocks.
once you rip out the approximately 9 staples holding it in the base comes off the bottom. such quality.
the only other thing holding the cover on is some scrap fabric pieces attached on the back of the inside corners of the chair, which are pulled through and tied on the bottom of the chair to keep the inside snug. i just snipped the knot with scissors.

from there it was pretty straightforward: slide off and take apart the old cover, label all the pieces, cut new pieces from the new fabric and sew it all back together.

i managed to squeeze it out of a piece of fabric we had left from our family room throw pillows. it’s a durable outdoor fabric, so hopefully it will withstand some rough treatment and another 11 years of use ;) Plus now we’re super matchy matchy. ha.

i cut it a little too close on that front arm and some of the selvedge shows. boo. i forced myself not to sweat it. it’s a kid’s chair.

three cheers for easy, cheap fixes!

see sally go to the library.

a few weeks ago i got the opportunity to be a pattern tester for shannon over at luvinthemommyhood. she was looking for testers for her new sally dress pattern and it was all very hush hush and covert. late night emails, secret photo shoots…i even had to poke out jeremy’s eyes when he accidentally caught sight of an unfinished dress i was working on. sorry, hon. but the sewing world is a dangerous place. if you can’t take the stitches, get out of the craft room.

anyway, now the pattern is released !YAY! so i can share some pics of what i did.

so first of all i was slated for the size 8 testing. i made 3 separate bodices for ava, each slightly different versions of the pattern.

the sally dress comes with three sleeve options: sleeveless, short sleeves, elbow length sleeves.

in the end we went with a sleeveless version, which i shortened to tunic length.

i’m thinking the 3/4 length sleeves in a tunic length over legging = perfect for back to school wear. yup yup.

this fabric…let’s talk about it. i’ve been moving this floral fabric from place to place for ohhh…a bazillion years give or take a century. i bought 5 yards (as usual, that’s my go-to number when i find a cute + cheap fabric) at $1/yard and every summer i plan on making summer dresses for my girls and never do. so i’ve made a pledge with myself to Shop My Stash more and Shop the Stores less…and this was the perfect opportunity.

now let’s talk about the pattern: i love this pattern so much i went ahead and sewed up two more: coordinating dresses for elliot and gigi. this was another five yards of $1 walmart fabric that’s been in my stash since the dawn of time. look at me go with my Stashbusting ways.

it had two different borders: the small stripe one, and the very detailed large border. i varied my cutting direction to showcase a different portion on each girls’ dress, and i really had fun with it!

but hey, you know…it’s cool that i bathed and braided and ironed and dressed and went to the spot i’d picked…and then it started pouring on the way there. it’s becoming the modus operandi for my photoshoots apparently.

turns out a rainy parking lot isn’t a terrible backdrop. but when your little ones don’t want to stay still on a very overcast day you get a lot of this…

so our “spot” was actually outside of our favorite library, and i will go there again at some point for photos because it’s just so pretty. but due to the rain we headed right in to the library where i attempted some more photos…

yeah. nope.

the books worked their literary magic. so i got a bunch of that up there, and a little of this…

sigh. okay so this is what i’ll tell you about the sally dress:

+ it’s a quick and awesome sew. from print out to finish it took less than 2 hours for the sleeveless version
+ a big plus: there’s only 2 pages of pattern to print out. i do love PDF patterns, but i’m cheap cheap cheap and lazy lazy lazy at heart so it a little bit kills me when i have to print out 27 pages of pattern pieces, and then spend 2.6 hours taping them together.
+  it’s got big deep pockets which both the kids and i love. and the way they’re sewn right into the side seams is adorable
+ there’s no closures on the fully lined bodice. i’d never done a seamless lined bodice before so i loved learning a new technique.
+ i found it ran a little snug on my kiddos, so make sure you check measurements before deciding on a size. and maybe size up just for safety. the dresses go on over their heads, but it’s a little bit of a struggle when they freak out because they think they’re stuck. ha. EDITED TO ADD: i was a tester, on a version of the pattern that differs from the final version. i’ve got the final pattern and it looks like the bodice has been cut a little more roomy, but i haven’t sewn it up yet to give you my 2 cents (which obvs you’re dying for). anyway—my prior recommendation still stands: go by the final measurements, not what “size” you think is right. and it’s worth a muslin if you’re not sure. carry on…
+ i’m gauging it at an experienced beginner/intermediate. if you’re looking to add some new skillllz to your repertoire this is the perfect pattern.

if you want to buy the sally dress go HERE. i highly recommend it. ;)