completed and working

Hey guys! I have been working a lot! I do have more fabric in my stash than I know what to do with right now, but that is good because I have a craft show coming up in November in Sacramento. And I have nothing made for it. But I am doing really well making things selfishly. I guess I have also been working on a ton of presents. It seems like everyone's birthday in mine and my husband's families are between September and February. But, I have completed a few things for me. You will have to forgive my classy work bathroom shots, It is the only place I can take a full length picture of myself. I have tried at my apartment, but we get so much sun that it doesn't really work. It is weird.

But! I finished New Look 6145. It was pretty easy, there were a few weird directions, and I only consider myself to be a beginner/intermediate sewer so it could be that I just didn't understand why they wanted me to do something, so a couple times I just did my own thing. I like how it came out.

I am also working on the $5 in Paris sweater. Here is the Ravelry Link. I am making mine is all grey. And then if it works out, I want to make one in cream too. So far I think it is pretty cute, even after I have had to frog it a bunch. It is my first sweater, so you can imagine how frustrating it is. I have a whole list of things I want to knit after this. I just want to thank You Tube for being an awesome knitting teacher. Haha. 

My next thing I am going to attempt is that lovely Christine Haynes dress and her secretary blouse too. I am going to make the dress out of courderoy because to me I think it would benefit from the structure of courderoy. Maybe a soft brown and dark brown trimmed. I can't wait to see how it turns out! 

Work work work

I have been on a roll! I got some fabric this weekend at regular old JoAnns and on Sunday, Ryan and I declared it a work day and we got down to business. Right now I am working on New Look 6145

I am making it in all black, and I can't wait wear it! 

I have a couple of things in the pipeline, one being this gorgeous dress(the one on the left) from Christine Haynes:

I have a really pretty fabric to use, but right now I am debating using something else because the fabric is really busy. I can't decide. I was thinking of using a black trim with this:

The more I look at it, the more I like it, so it will probably be that pretty little number soon enough!

Sew what?

So. I think I got my sew-jo back! I am so pleased. It seems like every change of the season I am more inspired to make a ton of new things. The first thing I tried was a peter pan collar shirt that I found a tutorial for on Pinterest. I sewed up a quick knit shirt, from a pattern in Wendy Mullin's Sew U Homestretch book. I love my serger, I am still figuring it out, but it is great for a 15 minute knit shirt. Then I followed the collar tutorial and voila! A super cute, super quick satisfying top. :)

Now, I have a list of things that I want to sew on Pinterest, a full Ravelry knitting list, one sweater started and a pattern cut out.

It is go time!

And Now

We just got back from a beautiful reception/party that was thrown for us by my husband's lovely mother. It was so fun and she worked so hard. The only thing was that it was in Toledo, and the weather was just as cold as it is here normally in San Francisco. I was really looking forward to some HEAT! But, there was no heat. It was a fiesta theme, so I dressed like Frida and made Ryan dress like Diego Rivera. He changed later in the night to jeans but I held on! Even if I was freezing in that sweater and wishing that I had my winter coat. In Ohio in August.

But there WAS awesome friends, adorable kids, lots of family and lots of love. There is nothing I could have asked for more.

And I made my little dress! And embroidered it. And it took forever but was cute and fun. Now we are back and just an old married couple. Which is so much fun!

and then

We saw a black cat on a black sand beach. And then we drove all the way to Hilo to see the active volcano! It was pretty neat. It was freezing cold, but we stuck around to see it glow!

It was an amazing experience we will not soon forget. I already miss Hawaii!

The Next day...

Was Friday the 13th! Ryan and I went snorkeling. It was so much fun! We were in a boat that was chasing Hawaiian spinner dolphins and they would get to a place, throw us out of the boat and we would watch then swim by! It was pretty crazy and amazing. Ryan had that silly camera up there, but we forgot to charge it so we couldn't get any pictures or videos of the amazing time we had.

When we got back from snorkeling, we walked around the little city by our hotel. Since it was friday the thirteenth, some of the tattoo shops were doing tattoos for $13. So we got some!

Mine came out pretty cute, but hurt like hell.

Ryan didn't fare so well. The girl who tattooed him, didn't seem like she had ever tattooed before. It was pretty funny. So the tattoo looks like a stencil and a lot of the color fell out. But it is cute right here!

So What we did.

So, we drove our car to Vegas, stayed for four days and on the fifth day we drove home. I was so thankful to have so much time off of work. I essentially had 2 weeks off which is crazy. When we got home we stayed in San Francisco for one day being married at home and petting our dog and walking our dog and just hanging out and then the next day we were off to beautiful Hawaii! 

Well first we were trapped in the airport for a whole day because our flight to Kona on the big island of Hawaii was cancelled. But I wasn't sweating it, I WAS ON VACATION!!!

When we finally did get there and get settled, we were so tired. So we had some dinner in paradise and went to bed. Can you see that my crazy self was COLD in an open air restaurant? I am such a freezebaby.

In the morning we woke up to a lovely sight. 

Then we had breakfast at an even lovlier sight. Let me tell you, they have this stuff in Hawaii, coconut syrup, omg. I don't even LIKE pancakes and it had me eating pancakes. Oh! and the Guava juice. Forget about it. Also, pretty much everything is open air restaurants. Which is amazing. I loved hearing the flock of parrots that hung out in those trees! It was cool because we have a wild flock of parrots in San Francisco, so it was a little bit of home hearing them here too! 

The first day we pretty much relaxed. We layed out by that little bay in the picture above and then sat by the pool 

and drank drinks. It was pretty amazing. Everything slows down in Hawaii which rules. You don't feel bad taking naps after you have sat by the pool all day. That is great. Then we had dinner and it was up to bed to hang out and watch tv(which we never ever do because we don't have one!) An amazing and awesome first day on the big island!

And

The best part of our wedding was how much time we got to spend with our friends and family. Well, actually, the people that came were pretty much all just family. Except for the wedding crashers, but that is a story for another time. I loved that most everyone there has been around since the beginning. It made everything that much more special. And they are all pretty good with their Elvis pose, don't you think?

After the wedding, we had a chance to chill out with our friends and just hang out for a little bit. It was great. We had fun toasting to our marriage.

And picking up our friends.

And at our reception dinner, my dad even wore a tuxedo teeshirt. Because he is hilarious.

Oh, hey, I got married!

Saturday 7/7 I married my best friend in Las Vegas, NV. We had an awesome time filled with our families and closest friends. I felt like a queen and seriously had the time of my life! We got married at The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. These people are pros. It was so smooth and easy and fun! Everyone was nice, the chapel was adorable and I felt so relaxed.

We did an elvis wedding. we thought it would be funny, and not too serious, like us. And it did not disappoint. Our Elvis was cheesy, sweet and perfect. I have never had a better time. And by the next day we had a video of our ceremony, and we had purchased a package with our photos and had them on a disk and they even printed some of them out! I spent a lot of time researching pretty much everything about this trip. Ryan and I had never been to Vegas for real, I had spent one night there 4 years ago and he was there when he was a teenager. Every place that I chose was perfect for us and treated us like royalty.

Ryan wore a sharkskin suit we picked up at a vintage shop on Haight street in San Francisco. It was so cute on him. By the way, I love this face he is making. My husband rules.

My dress was made by the always lovely Kpoene from Mignonette Bridal. She is also a dear friend and when she offered to make my dream dress come true, I jumped at the chance. I wanted 50's and simple. She gave me that and more. My veil/headpiece actually came from my mother's veil when she married my dad! I wish I had a better picture of my hair, it was done by Shag Me Salon in Las Vegas. The girl who did my hair was AWESOME! She made it look beautiful in like 10 minutes, I swear. It was rolls! So neat. I ended up making my petticoat, and it was not perfect but it did the job. And I loved it.


We stayed at the Golden Nugget, which was AMAZING. I can't say enough good things about that hotel. The staff was great, the pool was really fun with a shark tank in it, and the rooms were so cute and comfy. I LOVED staying on Fremont street. I must say, I went to the strip for a night and I much preferred old Vegas. It was so neat!

All in all a great, easy, and fun experience. And I got a husband out of the deal!

Shower time!

I just got back from an awesome whirlwind trip to Ohio for my bridal shower. What a crazy tradition! Ryan and I are now stocked with awesome stuff! Enough to last 2 lifetimes I think. People give you so much love when you are ready to commit yourself to someone forever. My awesome mom and mother in law hosted my shower and since Ryan and I are getting married in Las Vegas by Elvis, it was a Casino theme. It was so cute!

Our cake was a cassata cake from Corbo's which is the same cake made by the same bakery that my mom had for her wedding. It was so cute!

My mother in law made these awesome centerpieces too! She is out of control and super crafty.

And I even got this super cute crown! I have been wearing it at home too.

Now we are t minus two weeks until marriage time! It is pretty exciting. I am ready to be married!

What's up beaches?

So, even though we are crazy busy with wedding stuff, we are still trying to keep ourselves relaxed and having fun. Recently we too k a little trip to Baker Beach here in SF. It was amazing and warm and not windy like Ocean Beach. And it has a really neat view! I think the background of this photo looks like a painting. Where has this been all my SF life?

This is just to prove that I am not the only one who liked this beach!

Crazytown

Blogger is not my friend. I hate when I have a lovely post that I have been typing and then it is gone. I can't retype all of that thought! I don't remember what it was! I will try a little. My last post was a million years ago! Since then it has pretty much been wedding wedding and more wedding. It is crazy that even a super small wedding takes over your life. Especially when your wedding is 6 weeks away and you don't have your wedding dress because your friend in Chicago is making it and she is still working on it. I am trying to calm the tiny bridezilla that lives inside me with Tae Bo and chocolate, but it is hard! Oh, but I wanted to show you my ring! 

It has lost a lot of the oxidation, and still looks lovely, but I think I am going to have my jeweler re-oxidize it before the wedding so that it matches my wedding band!  The white diamond is from Ryan's mom from her wedding to his dad. That is so neat to me, because it is where he came from. 

I also bought my shoes! They are knockoffs of the lovely Kate Spade version, and I am in love. They are so sparkly! And they are not super high as to murder my feet on my wedding day. 

And Ry got his suit! It is from the 60's and is a sharkskin suit. I thought that meant real shark skin, but I am naive sometimes haha. It just refers to the shiny-ness of it. It is a really nice green color and it has some shiny blue thread in it. He is a handsome guy! Hopefully he will take care of that gross mustache thing he thinks he has going on. haha

All in all things are really coming along! It is exciting! I have been making a lot of top secret wedding stuff that I can't share yet, but will share once we hand them all out! 

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it is in SIX WEEKS!!! Then I will be a Mrs! Awesome. 

Hi!

There is all sorts of sewing going on in here! I made these jammies!

They are McCalls 5989. So cute, so cozy. I love them!

We also have been working out the details about our honeymoon! We want to go to Kona Hawaii! I can't wait!

hey there!

Oh hi! The wedding is coming along, we got our rings, they are lovely, I will show you soon! I am actually back because I have felt a huge drain in my creativity/sewing. I got a lot of cool sewing stuff for Christmas but the motivation unfortunately did not come with it. And last year, I made a new year's resolution sewing drawing that I stuck to pretty well, so I thought I would make another one this year and see if it helps me stick to my guns. For some reason, posting what I make seems to motivate me to make more! It has been really helpful that Jo Anns has been selling the patterns for $1 or $1.99. How can you say no when they are so cheap! Now I just need to pick out some fabrics!



So, here is the list. Let's see what I can knock off! The first two are from the Colette book.

The ruffle front shirt is McCall's 6518 . I am thinking this would be cute in a fun cotton, like a cow boy or cow girl dress.

Next, is simplicity 2209. It is a Lisette pattern. I really like the dress, it looks relatively simple but adaptable to be more like a shirt/tunic.

Then I have a super cute pattern for a peter pan collared dress. It is Burda style 7494 I LOVE peterpan collars!

Then I saw this strapless dress on a mannequin at Jo Anns and it looked really cute even super simple in a cheap satin. I thought it might be fun to try this in a cotton or even a cute gold satin for my wedding trip! It is Simplicity 0489

Then its back to Simplicity 2209, the Lisette pattern, cause I want to make the jacket too. I found this super cute spider web fabric that I think would make a super cute light jacket!

And then there is this super cute pattern for shorts. All this working out I have been doing lately, it might be nice to actually be able to wear shorts on my honeymoon! So I thought I would try making a couple of pairs of these. It is McCalls 6403

I could also use some new pj's! I found this cute pattern for a robe and pj pants the one I have is McCalls 5989, I think I am going to make the robe just out of a soft knit and lose the ruffle cause I don't really like it. I am going to make the pants out of some cute different flannel. I think I might try making the shorts too, because for some reason lately I have been HOT when I sleep!

And then, something I have been wanting to do for awhile is make a new quilt. I found a super cute pattern for a spiderweb quilt and I am going to make that for our house.

Wow, there you have it! This is what I am going to attempt to make this season! Wish me luck!! :)

It is ok, Ryan has already seen this and he also doesn't read this.

So! I bought a pattern for my dress! I am going for the short dress with either sleeves or not, I haven't decided yet. I don't know if I am going to try it myself or ask my lovely friend Kpoene to make it. She is awesome and actually makes wedding dresses but I don't want to make her feel obligated! And I think it will be fun to try to make it on my own. I am going for a cute fun Vegas wedding look.



This is the style of veil I want! Birdcage, isn't it cute? It is from Glideshadows on etsy! I am thinking they make the cutest ones!

We are still trying to navigate making a ring. It looks like the girl we want to use might be too busy, so we are going to have to try someone else. I am glad I have my tattoo or I would be so sad! I want my engagement ring. haha

So, I am getting married!

Yay! Its been awhile, but I have exciting news! I am getting married! Ryan proposed on New Years Day, on the beach and it was awesomely great.

We are getting my ring made custom, I have Ryan's mother's diamond. I can't wait to show you my ring! We are trying to work with an artist to get it made. So, in place of a ring until I get it, I got this tattoo. I love it. It is the cutest little reminder that I have a finace(what a weird word!) This is what I am thinking something like this:



or this



Now I am planning a Vegas, Elvis style wedding for July of THIS YEAR!!

So, my year is off to a good start! What about you?