LEG WARMERS
In the previous post, I wrote about making homemade baby leg-warmers. I attempted my first set this week and it was unbelievable how simple they were to make. Start to finish it took maybe 5-7 minutes. Generally, I make things and have high hopes which promptly go right in the can because - duh - sewing requires some skill. It's an easy concept, but the details usually do in the whole project. Not so with the leg warmers. This is a perfect project for someone with zero sewing talent :)

As I was whipping the first set together, Lucy asked if they were for her. She tried them on and loved them. Later that day we went to target together and picked out a few more knee high socks. I sewed up 3 more pairs in about 20 minutes. She loves them and asked to wear them today! Yahoo for one success in this sewing adventure. (Pics to come)

BREAD
A few of my good friends have been enjoying the fruit of fabulous fresh bread daily via the brilliant cooks at Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. I took the plunge this week and I'm in love. I've made a loaf every day and still have enough for one more in the fridge. It really does take 5 minutes. You don't need any special talent for this, I promise. It's easy and the results taste better than any thing I've ever had from a bakery (at $5 a loaf!) This is doughy and moist bread with a crispy, french crust. They've got a recipe in the book for chocolate bread and all sorts of variations on the standard dough. And the authors have recently come out with a new book for baking healthier, whole grain bread daily. Plus, the writers are Minneapolis natives. The only hiccup I've found is in forming the loaves. I must not quite have the method down because when mine bake up, they have wierd projections. Thank God I'm pregnant and am not concerned about my carb intake. Fresh bread IS better than dessert.

SEWING EXPO
Last week I took classes at the Sewing and Quilting Expo - I was certainly one of the youngest there, and at 31 that's saying something. Many grandmotherly types approached me and thanked me for coming and my interest in sewing! Apparently, I'm single-handedly keeping the sewing movement alive in my generation.

The big take-away for me was Paper Piecing: a "paint-by-number" method of quilting that is about as no-fail as it gets. You literally sew right through a paper pattern to guarantee that the seams line up. As long as you can count and sew on a line, you've got it. I'm thinking of starting a baby quilt for Grunditz babe #2. If you want to learn more about paper piecing, I'd love to show you how it works. This is the vendor I took the class from - they've got a bunch of patterns on their website. And I'm willing to pirate a few of the ones I have for you if you are really interested in trying it for yourself.

Warning: this is a combination baby post and sewing post. Men, please clear the room.

I've liked the concept and ease of baby legwarmers (such as agoo or babylegs) but they seem rediculously priced (10-15 each). Gosh. Couldn't a crafty girl just figure out how to make those on her own?

Glad you asked. This awesome lady did - and she provided photographs on how it's done. Turns out you just need a cheap pair of socks and a sewing machine. I think I might have my staple baby shower gift figured out for the next dozen Rock babies.

After a staunch stance against cleaning with 'green' products in favor of BAM! CLR! and BLEACH! I may have just been converted to vinegar.

So what if my house smells like a pickle jar?

It began on the advice of my doctor who recommended a bath in water plus 2 cups of white vinegar to help with an ailment I was having. The same day, we got delivery on our new washer/dryer. The washer smelled like moldy butt stink, so I threw some vinegar in there too. Might as well right? I had a gallon. Then I mixed up a spray solution and used it to spray down the inside of the washer and the soap container. Worked great. Clean, fluffy clothes with no smell.

After my bath in vinegar - I found not only did it cure the problem, but it also sloughed off my rough foot skin (Take that Heel-tastic!) AND it made my skin quite soft. Though - I do smell like pickels.

Next, my kid peed in her bed during a nap (a rare occurance these days). Out came the vinegar spray.

And for the final nail in the coffin, I cleaned the entire kitchen - including the windows and floors - with my spray solution. I might be completely converted.

Except for the stink. Any options to enjoy the benefits of vinegar with out the "I just dyed a dozen eggs" smell?

Now that the house is off the market, I've found a renewed sense of nesting rising up within me. Move over sewing machine! My latest project: finding a cheap or free retro stereo console to renovate into a cabinet for our stereo system.

Since we put the house on the market, our large stereo components and monster speakers have been relegated to the storage area. But I miss having music on throughout the day. And now that we are able to have fires in the fireplace, Tim and I are missing our records. So here's the plan:

1. Find a cool retro stereo console piece that is in good shape (nice finish - retro not 80s!)
2. Tear the guts out completely.
3. Rebuild shelves inside to house our turntable, radio tuner and cd-player.
4. Open up the speaker area on the sides (usually covered with some type of mesh) and fit that area with small shelves to hold new, compact speakers with guidance from our good friend and audiophile Mike B.
5. Use the rest of the speaker space as a house for all of our records and cds.
6. Shake your groove thang in our cool retro but modern and useful stereo console.

So does anyone have an old stereo console unit they'd like to donate to my new pet project??

Small group season kicked off last night, and this year will be my 10th group. I have to admit my excitement has dropped over the years for group, as I've lost sight of the reason for joining a group in the first place. Who needs more meetings? Who needs more "friends"? I'm all full up, thanks.

This morning I read:

Share each other's troubles and problems and in this way obey the law of Christ {side note, the law of Christ is to love others as he has loved you} If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody. Galatians 6:2-3

Then it really hit me: the reason for small group isn't for me to build relationships and get deeper with other women. The point is to share each other's problems and troubles and in this way love others as Christ commanded me to. I was only fooling myself. I'm not too important to help someone in need. I haven't out-grown this command.

I'm working diligently on the second dress of the same pattern as dress one (but an alternate design). I picked the wrap bodice that has separate straps thinking, "Gosh. I did this once- I bet number two will be a breeze!"

I got hung up for almost a week on how to attach the straps to the bodice. Sweet Maren gave me some pointers, but it turns out, I really did need to lay them like back-to-back "C"s and then cut little slits every inch or so and painstakingly pin the dastardly thing - then sew. Then rip out the seams because there were puckers. Then re-pin and re-sew. Ha ha! Success!

I got a little cocky and decided to sew the back bodice without reading the directions. Which led me to ripping out those seams and resewing them--only to discover I had forgot to put one of the sections "righ-side to right-side" and sewed them inside out. (I do this more than I'd like to admit. Again, might be related to that D in sculpture class.) So I had to rip it again and resew it again and finally attach it. All this ripping and resewing took me about 3 precious hours and was peppered with lots of "stupid!" "poop!" and "dumb thing!" explicatives while Tim dozed and watched the Gaters game.

I finished up by assessing the fit first on my dress form and then on my own hot body. I'm not convinced the fit is going to be any better on this one. I might need to take a break from wrap bodice styles for a while. I've had it!

So, I'm beginning sewing dress #2 tonight. I thought this was going to be a breeze, since I've sewn a dress from this pattern before. But there is a really wonky thing going on with the shoulder straps. I find the toughest part of getting this stuff to work correctly is begin able to see in geometric-3d-spacial awareness. And anyone who has seen my legs, and the many bruises on them, can attest to the fact that I do not possess spacial awareness. To prove this point: I would have had a 4.0 in my major in college but for that stupid sculpture class in which I finished with a D! I just cannot see in 3d. It's a handicap of mine.

All of this to say, I have curving shoulder straps which attach to the curved edge of my bodice. I'm supposed to sew the right sides together but when you put a curved edge together - it seems to be going in opposite directions... i.e. more like two "c"s back-to-back rather than laying on top of one another. (Is that making sense?) Am I doing this right? Somebody who is advanced in 3d thinking, can you figure this out for me?

p.s. I stuffed the body form with fluff and taped a cardboard bottom on. It really does look like my body! It's so cool; I can't wait to try it out! And an extra bonus: if I'm out of town and Tim is missing me - he could dress up the body form and invite it for dinner, watch a show, and hit the sack. Hee!