Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hair!

So I chopped my hair! It feels so great to have short hair again! I love the new girl I went to, she was super cute and awesome. The haircut is good, but I think a work in progress. I think we were both a little nervous going from so long to so short. Here was the before. It looks extra bad because I had it up so it was all teased.



Here is the after! I love it. So cute and there is even a peekaboo blonde/carmel color to peek out. Things I would change: Next time, I am going to have her cut the bulk out of the side. It is kind of heavy and I don't think the angle is dramatic enough, I am also going to make the peekaboo part more bold. I think we were afraid to go too bold and it doesn't really get its point across I think. Also, she cut my hair partly with a razor. This makes my hair SUPER frizz for whatever reason. I am going to ask her to use only scissors on my cut so I don't end up looking like a poodle which incidentally I do right now because of the lovely summer fog we get her in San Francisco.



I especially love that I can pull it up like this!



Now I am off to finish my baby present so I can mail it off this week! My baby nephew is turning one in just a few days! I can't believe it!!

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Saturday!

It is one of my favorite days again! Saturday Sew day!! While I have one project I am already working on and one in queue, I am getting excited about these patterns that I just bought. I blame JoAnn Fabrics for having ridiculously cheap patterns that I can't resist so that I have more patterns than fabric! Here are a few I bought last week. I need to pick out some yardage soon.



Firstly, I seriously want this shirt. And while I am doubting my ability to make the collar, I am just going to go for it and I think it will work out for me! ha!



I also bought two Cynthia Rowley skirt patterns. I love the overall look of the tulip skirt and top. I am going to try for the whole look of this pattern I think. Although I am not sure what fabric to make the top in. I feel like it should be sporty but the pattern doesn't have a difference from the top fabric to the skirt fabric. I might do a sweatshirt knit and a taffeta. I think that would be an interesting juxtaposition. Or just a nice heavy knit and taffeta. I am not sure yet. I just think it is so cute!!



And finally I LOVE this skirt. I just got my hair cut(pictures soon when the weather does not make me look like carrot top with an afro) Although when I have frizzy hair I am thankful of my years of practicing in my mom's mirror with bobby pins cause I just take 2 minutes and pin it up into a super cute beehive or prom do! I love having short hair again!! Anyways, back to the pattern. I love this skirt pattern. It is super cute, high waisted and a good length. I think I am going to get a couple of cute scoop neck tees from American Apparel and pair them with this look. I am going to try for a heavier fabric here and I can't wait to see how it turns out! I am off to the fabric store today! I also have to get snaps for my mickey look and then hopefully I will have pics of that later this week! It is turning out SO CUTE! Then I have to work on nephew #2's present!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Mickey part 2


Here is another part of my nephew's gift! A quick little Mickey hat! Now in his little jumper and little hat he is going to be just like the mouse himself! So fun! I used this pattern from Ravelry. It was SO quick! I used wool and it is a little linty. I hope my sister likes it!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Cristen, don't look any further!!!



My little babies are turning one. Ok, they are not MY little babies and really only the oldest one is turning one but whatever. I love that I get to make them fun stuff! I am working right now on a gift for my oldest nephew. He is OBSESSED with Mickey Mouse. I am not sure how that happened or why, but whenever Mickey is around, he has the biggest smile and he does a happy dance.



When he is pissed, if you play him a Mickey song, he is instantly calm. It is amazing to watch and super true. AND his birthday is a Mickey Mouse theme, so I thought I would give a funny gift a whirl. I saw somewhere a jumper that was black on top, red on the bottom and had white buttons, just like Mickey. So I bought a pattern at a great price, bought some fabric and here we go! I am so excited to work on this today. My thoughts are that it is going to look like this:



Lets hope that my sewing skills exceed my drawing skills. haha. I will show you how it turns out!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

You can never say I don't have enough flowers!



My boyfriend spoils me. With flowers. and right when those flowers die, he usually buys me more. I love it! Yesterday he brought home my very very favorite, sunflowers! They are so summery and sunny and lovely. I love having them in my home, especially right now because it is so dreary and grey and foggy out there. Well, that is summer in San Francisco for you! Don't be jealous of me living in northern California in the summer, please. Cause it pretty much sucks. Call me in January though when it is snowy and cold where you are and its just cold here. Hmmm that doesn't sound as good as I wanted it to haha.



Well anyways, I digress. My flowers are lovely, and I even had some extras of the fuzzy ball flowers to put in a jar in my kitchen. So nice to have summer sunshine in every room!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Yum, Donuts!


Someday I will graduate to real quilts. The kind you bind and work super hard on. But for now, I am satisfied with my scrappy, tie quilts. They are quick and easy and satisfying and cozy. The exact thing you want to work on/snuggle under when your eyes are going to pop out of your head from pattern reading. I made my first one in college, it was pretty much the first thing I ever sewed and it got me through some pretty lonely nights. I made it with my mom and when I was missing home I always had it to remind me of my family. I love that quilt. But, it is pretty beat up and has holes in it and needs to move on. So here is my new quilt. It reminds me of here. I am so happy to be where I am right now in life and I know all the things that I have had to do to get here and this it is representative of that.



I love this spoonflower Heidi Kenney fabric. It is the neatest thing! I haven't washed it yet, so I have yet to see how it stands up in the wash. But I am hoping for great results.

In other news, I just finished the series of Lost. I loved it. After reading a bunch online about it, I think I have decided that I really liked the ending. It was sweet. The series was a good companion for sewing, and I am going to have to find something else to fill the quiet in my house while I stitch. I am happy and have things the way I want them. One project in the works and one in que. I am working on a super cute dress and I have an old pattern for a shirt I have coming up. I love my wardrobe right now! I think more than half is homemade which makes me so proud! I need to get on the knitting train and really work on that so I can have some handknit sweaters too! All in good time!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Sew Sew Sew!





This last couple of days have been nice! I have been sewing away! I have been working on McCalls 5714. It came out really nice! It is a fleece, so it is warm and cozy but still very cute!



It was perfect to wear today out and about it kept me snuggly warm. I have another pattern I am going to work on tomorrow that is cut out and I have the finishings for my donut quilt. It should keep me and my sewing machine quite busy for the upcoming week! I am always in a better mood when I can hear the hum of my sewing machine and a new piece of sewn clothing.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

La La land(Image Heavy!)



Hey kids, long time no writing. I have been holed up in my house stiching only a little, cooking boring things, and only venturing out to walk the pup. B-O-R-I-N-G!! BUT... Ryan and I made a whirlwind(for reals) trip down to Los Angeles! It was a fun, torture filled road trip that we took in one day. Yes that was 16 hours of driving thank you very much! But it was fun and worth it and thankfully over(haha) ROADTRIP!!!



We went down because there was a HUGE art show at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It had all of our favorites, Barry McGee, Steven Powers, Margaret Kilgallen, Keith Haring, and many others. But the most exciting was definitely Barry McGee and Steven Powers' art. They built a little city, with stores(real stores!), and signs and an apartment building and all sorts of craziness. You really had to see it in person to get the full effect but I did get some pics!








Ridiculous.
Anyways, it was an amazing show and I am glad we did it. Now I am back to sewing up clothes and watching LOST. I have been watching Project Runway too. So fun. :)