Archive | January, 2008

My Very Own Project Runway

by Melissa on 29. Jan, 2008 in crafts

Last Saturday night I was trying to keep myself occupied while Chris was busy playing chess –he’s an awesome chess player– so I decided to make a dress. I have a couple of dress patterns that I’ve found recently, but they don’t particularly cater to a growing belly. So, I thought I would be creative and modify one of the patterns to make a dress of my own.

Just like on Project runway, I had until midnight (or until I zonked out of sleepiness). Then, the next day I had a few hours to fit the garment to my model (me), and send it down the runway (aka church). I ran into a few issues which took me up until sacrament meeting to solve. We were a little late for church. It turned out great, though. Here’s how it looks:

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Am I in, or am I out? Now that I’m looking at the picture, I think I should have ironed the dress before taking pictures. Oh, well. I’m particularly proud of the back of the dress, because the pattern called for a 19″ zipper, and I didn’t have one on hand, but I did have a bunch of matching buttons and some ribbon which I colored black with a sharpie marker (ghetto, but fabulous!). Here’s a view of the back…

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I love how this dress turned out, but I think I’m going to make another one in some more exciting fabric.

P.S. That fabric I have had for years, bought it from Wal*Mart for $1 a yard!! I know so many people boycott that store, but I won’t hide that I love it!!

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Floor Pillows

by Melissa on 29. Jan, 2008 in crafts

We don’t have very many sitting options in our apartment, so I’ve been thinking of making floor pillows. I’ve thought about it a lot more since getting the Amy Butler’s In Stitches book. My motivation increased when we had two couples over for a movie night. It was too bad that I only had time to make one by the time everyone came over. Since then I’ve finished my set of pillows, and I’m very happy with them!!

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I didn’t really make them much like the pattern in the Amy Butler book. I didn’t use buttons, and I used a combination of polyester fiber-fill and high density foam. I think the combination makes them more comfortable and gives them more structure.

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Valentine’s Candy

by Melissa on 25. Jan, 2008 in celebrate, food

The only reason why Valentine’s day falls in February is because it’s the bleakest month out of the year, and people need something to brighten it up. Although for those not fortunate to have someone to share it with, it’s an even bleaker month. (is bleaker a word?)

Valentine, or no Valentine, I do love the red candy. I was reading a friend-of-a-friend’s blog, someone I don’t know(is that weird?)… and she was talking about how she loved the cherry hearts. All while reading this, I was thinking, “yeah, YEAH! Me too!!!” Then I promptly went to Walgreens and picked up two bags. She should get a commission from Brach’s if you ask me.

I also got chocolate at Walgreens, dark chocolate. YUM. During Christmas we (my mom, sisters and me) made chocolate dipped cinnamon bears which were delish! I wanted to do the same, except use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, and cherry flavored gummies, instead of cinnamon. Wednesday evening, Chris and I decided to try melting the Hershey’s chocolate and see if it would work. I know, I know, Hershey’s isn’t my first choice in chocolate, but it was the cheapest at the store. I have to say… by melting the chocolate and adding just a little bit of milk, the chocolate transformed into something divine! I’m really happy that they worked out as well as they did.

Now I’ve got to figure out what to do for Chris for Valentine’s day.

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Preparing the Nest

by Melissa on 25. Jan, 2008 in adventure

Now that we have just 13 more weeks left until our little Nelly Pea is born, we’ve started thinking about all of the things that we need to do and get in order to be fully prepared for her blessed arrival. Carseat? Check. Stroller? Check. Blankets? Check. Crib? Crib?!? NOPE.

There are a TON of things that we need to get, but it’s the crib that has worried me most. We live in a one bedroom apartment that has limited space. The full sized cribs you can get at Ikea and similar stores are far too large for our apartment. We have a perfect sized closet that could hold a crib, but it’s just 4 inches too narrow for the standard. So… being the crafty, DIY person that I am… I decided that we should just build the thing ourselves. My mother-in-law didn’t give us a miter saw for nothing!! (Thanks Linda, again, BTW)

So, with our limited carpentry skills, Chris and I are making Nelly Pea’s crib. Saturday we spent about an hour and a half in Home Depot trying to get all of the measurements down to figure out how much wood we need. Just ask Chris how stressful it was. OH GOODNESS! I think I just about had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the hard wood section!! AK! Monday, we were hoping would be a bright enough day (much like Saturday), so we could just work hard all day, and get it all done, before Chris had to go back to work on Tuesday. NO, no, we weren’t so fortunate. The weather has been frowning on all of the bay area for the last week. All we were able to do Monday was make the cuts and sand. It was far too cold and wet to paint the wood. DANG!

So instead of a lovely photograph of a completed baby crib… here’s a picture of Chris, sanding all of the pieces, he’s pretty lovely, too. He did such a great job. (Thanks also to Uncle Steve and Aunt Karen for the sander–this project would not have been quite the same with out it.)

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Saturday in San Fran

by Melissa on 15. Jan, 2008 in adventure

This last Saturday we decided since the weather was impeccable we needed to go out on an adventure. It was kind of a gamble to head up to San Francisco, but we did anyway. We drove up and parked by the Golden Gate Park, and got our bikes out and rode around the park, along the coast, up to the Legion of Honour and ALMOST to the Golden Gate bridge. I say almost because I pooped out about 1/2 mile away from the bridge. It was just so much uphill for me and my pregnant belly!! It didn’t help that I was hauling up the hills on a 40lb 2-speed 1960s Schwinn. It was so worth it, though. I had such a great time exploring the nature and architecture that San Francisco has to offer. Many thanks to Chris for suggesting the excursion.

P.S. I’ve added a couple of pictures of me in there… my belly is getting bigger!! (Thanks for your comment, Lindsey!)

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