31 by 31, Two Month Update

I cannot believe that two months have passed since I made these goals. Unlike my 30 by 30 list, I feel like I have more direction. There are a few goals crossed off, some in progress, and I can see what ones I need to put on my to-do list.

If you are new here, I wrote down 31 things I would like to accomplish before my thirty-first birthday next May. I try to update my progress monthly.

Here’s the list:

Home
1. Paint, and decorate dining room. *I think I am focusing on the office and eat-in part of the kitchen this year. I picked out colors, and bought paint already.
2. Build a display shelf for hubby’s decoys.
3. Finish piano project.
4. Build a piece of furniture.
5. Plant garden. Can/preserve. *Garden is planted and looking great! I have been picking and freezing berries.
6. Put together 31 meal binder.
Family
7. Potty train boys.
8. Go on a family vacation.
9. Make a new chore chart. *Been using last year’s, need to complete new one this week!
10. Mail Christmas cards.
11. Have Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving.
Marriage
12. Have 12 date nights. *June we went to see a friend’s band play. July we picked blackberries in the rain, and are having a golf date tonight.
13. Go on a mini-vacation with hubby.
14. Go to a Tiger game.
Personal
15. Read 12 books.
16. Start nursing clinicals. *Start this fall!
17. Get a 100 bowling average. (Don’t laugh! I have been working on this for five years now. This IS my year!)
Money
18. Whittle down debt.
19. C.N.A Recertification, start working part time.
20. Sell crafts (somehow; etsy/farmer’s market/craft fair).
Cleaning/Purging/Organizing
21. Clean out and organize garage.
22. Find a system for paper. Tackle paper clutter.
23. Go through cookbooks.
24. Organize photos.
25. Work on blog organization.
Creative
26. Sew everyday for 31 days, only using stash.
27. Crochet a hat a day for 31 days.
28. Make a quilt.
29. Work on one photography skill a month.
30. Complete 31 pins.
31. Do 31 refashions. *5 done, 26 to go

How are you progressing on your goals? I love posting this list monthly. It helps me see those projects I want to complete that I overlooked the past month.

Blue Jean Buttercup

I’m a big purse kind of gal. My ‘purses’ are more like tote bags. When I find a nice big bag filled with pockets, I carry it forever. Sadly, I’ve been this way most of my purse carrying life.

So I can’t blame the twins.

My purse contains all of the essentials; wallet, phone, nail clippers, gum, toothbrush and toothpaste, a crochet project, a Kindle, planner, notebook, pens, cars and trucks, sippy cups, snacks, two diapers, wipes….wait! I think I may be able to blame the boys for some of the load.

I keep a grab and go bag inside of the big purse. This contains the true necessities; wallet, chap stick, phone, and keys. Usually I just pull this bag out and leave the big heifer in the car.

I have been thinking about trying to leave my baggage at home. This means I need a smaller purse.

And this is July Refashion Month.

I set out to sew a purse, with the “Use what you have” mantra ringing in my ears.

My folder of projects I want to sew someday had the perfect bag; The Buttercup Bag from Made By Rae. This pattern has been sitting in the folder for years (like three years!), taunting me.

I was intimidated by this pattern. It looked complicated. Not the pattern, but all of the finished bags floating around the web. I had myself convinced that a naptime sewer like myself didn’t have the skills to make such a beautiful bag. Heck, I have never sewn a pleat.

Then I reminded myself of the awesome bag I made last fall….and carried through three seasons. (I will show you this beauty when I find pictures.) I can do this.

So I decided I was just going to try it.

With a pair of jeans. (Because if I messed the bag up, it wouldn’t be a total waste of fabric…) Everything else came from my stash.

Here’s the finished product:

This was my first time working with piping. And sewing pleats. (I decided at the last minute to add piping.)

The main bag body was cut from a pair of jeans in my denim stash. The purse upper (stripes) and lining came from fat quarters hanging out in my fabric bin.

I lined the purse upper with heavy interfacing so it would resemble the structure of the denim.

I wanted to feature the bright striped fabric a little more, so I changed up the straps. I cut a piece of denim and the striped fabric 2 inches by 20 inches. Then I sewed them together. The straps were looking a tad short for my taste so I added a loop and D-ring to each side. This gave me a couple more inches of strap length.

The pattern suggested a cute little button detail. I had to skip this step because naptime was coming to an end, but I may add it on in the future.

My favorite part of the bag is the inside.

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but this fabric is absolutely beautiful! Aqua and pink dahlias on a white background.

I added a flap to the pocket from the striped material. I also inserted a loop on one side seam, and a key holder on the other.

Overall, I am so pleased with this bag. The pattern was very easy to follow. I highly recommend this pattern.

I do wish I had checked back at Made by Rae before cutting the pattern. She suggests enlarging the pattern by 130% for a bigger bag. This bag is on the smaller side (for me anyways). Maybe next time…

I think the outside needs a little more pizazz. Maybe paint, embroidery, or applique. For now I’m just going to live with it, I may find it doesn’t need a thing.

Do you have a project on your list that intimidates you? I cannot believe I let this one sat around so long!

Are you a BIG bag girl? If you like big bags, check out Nelesc’s denim bag. I am adding this bag to my list.

Birthday Refashions

The boys had their second birthday Saturday.

Since their birthday is only two days after Independence Day, we always have an insanely busy holiday weekend.

Friday we purchased, and picked up their birthday present; a huge wooden playscape. During Saturday’s naptime I stained and weather sealed the set. Now we are just waiting for some man power to move it one more time and set it up. (Expect updates soon!)

Since we decided not to throw a huge party this year, I spent a little time making them birthday shirts.

These tanks were refashioned from daddy’s old softball shirts. I used the same method as I did for these muscle shirts. Instead of binding the armholes, I folded to the inside twice and hemmed.

The collar and applique came from my scrap pile. It’s hard to differentiate in the photos, but one is blue and the other black. (We try not to dress the boys the same.)

Their birthday celebration was low-key, but absolutely wonderful!

Do you throw big birthday bashes every year? This was a difficult decision for my husband and I to make. Our family loves a good get-together. But they are extremely overwhelming for us. We decided to keep our focus on the boys this year (instead of planning, cleaning, cooking, and being a good host/hostess).

Independence Day Refashion

For everyone in the U.S., happy Independence Day. (And happy Thursday to everyone else. Hey, we all need a reason to celebrate now and then.)

Today’s refashion is another baseball inspired refashion. Since our school colors are red and blue, I am also throwing it in as a holiday refashion. (Two birds, one stone…)

All-star baseball tournaments start next week. The twins needed something that will show team support, and keep them cool while we cheer on their big brother.

This refashion is short and sweet. I bought the tanks at Wal-Mart for $2.00.

I traced our last name from the back of my step-son’s baseball jersey onto freezer paper. Then cut the letters out with an exacto knife. Iron the freezer paper to the shirt. Lastly, paint. I painted three coats (letting dry between each application). Finally, remove the freezer paper, and try to get your boys to pose for the camera.

Normally, all the boys allow me to photograph is their backside. Today they were hamming it up:

They even performed a little dance number:

Happy 4th!

Refashioning the Basic Black Tank

My second refashion this month involved two tops.

The top on the left was one my mom bought for me when I was pregnant. It wasn’t an actual maternity top, but bloused out in the front like one. I try to avoid clothing that solicits the “When are you due?” question.
The top on the right is one I bought on clearance for $2.49. Just a basic black tank.
I loved the turquoise lace thing on the front of the blousy top, so I seam ripped that out. Next I sprayed it with quilt basting spray and stuck it onto the back of the tank.

You could probably skip this step, but I didn’t want to deal with any shifting. I also pinned it for good measure.
I took the tank over to my sewing machine. I dialed the machine’s speed down and took it nice and slow. Then I stitched on the outside edge of the insert with a straight stitch.

Here’s a view of the inside.

Here’s the outside after stitching. You can stop right here if you’d like. I had plans of wearing this tank on date night with the hubby, so I wanted to give it a little more va-va-voom.
I carefully cut out the tank under the lace close to the stitch line.

Much better! I am so glad I was able to incorporate that turquoise insert somewhere. I love the color paired with the black tank.
What do you think, did you like it better before or after the back was cut out?
Are you refashioning along? If so leave a link in the comments, I’d love to see what you are up to!

Sharing here:

July Refashion Month, Tutorial: Short Sundress Fix

I meant to have this post up yesterday…

I LOVE sundresses! But…for some reason most of my sundresses have become way too short for comfort. I’m not sure if this is due to the extra poundage left over in front from the twins, or that they were always short, and my modesty has lengthened. Either way, expect to see a few sundress refashions this month.

First up, this dress was so cute. One of my summertime favorites. About 3 years ago. This little number became so short, I didn’t even feel comfortable having it posted all over the Internet. I can only imagine the Pinterest captions…

Just imagine gnarly knees (really, my knees scream Tomboy!), and a dress that hits mid-thigh (and that is modestly speaking).

Want to see what I did?

First I chopped off that bodice.

Then I searched high and low for a piece of elastic that fit snuggly around my waist. There may have been cuss words coming from my sewing cave, because EVERY stinking piece of elastic in my stash was a least three inches too short.

Determined to ‘work with what I got’ I rummaged through our donation box looking for a garment I could rob of elastic. I found a pair of hubby’s old long johns. Perfect!

Now that that elastic situation is taken care of, sew elastic in a loop.

From here on out this process may be a bit off the wall and disturbing to all of the seamstresses. I apologize ahead of time.

I HATE when elastic gets all twisted up in my clothes. I already have a little extra fluff around my waistline, I don’t want rebellious elastic adding to it. So this is my “No Roll Elastic” process.

Slip the elastic around the skirt, skirt right side out. Line up the top of elastic with the top of skirt.

Pin and sew, using a zigzag stitch.

Theoretically you could stop right here, that is if you didn’t snag the heck out of the elastic while looting a pair of long johns. But, I had to keep going…

The next step is to fold the elastic to the inside, twice. This hides all evidence of mistreated elastic.

(Here it is folded over once, fold over one more time.)

You need to stretch the elastic to eliminate gathers. Pin and take it over to the sewing machine.

Sew the bottom edge with a zigzag stitch. Gently stretch the elastic while feeding it into your machine.

You’re finished!

*Note to self, make a new ironing board cover!

After: A skirt appropriate for chasing my little boys in:

One refashion down. Only 30 more to go!

No more worrying about showing my derrière while toting a two year old under each arm.

Have you ever been in the “oh crap I don’t have ______ (supply)? Are you the patient type who waits until you can head to the store to pick it up, or are you like me, swiping elastic, buttons, and anything else I need from my families’ discarded clothing?

Refashion July Month at House of Estrela

When I found out I will be starting nursing clinicals this fall I had to admit that my life is going to be very different. Class, studying, and not much else.
I started to fret, “How am I going to work on my 31 by 31 list?” The only reasonable answer I could come up with is to finish as much as I can in the next two months.
Magda from House of Estrela is hosting a Refashion July Month. One of my 31 by 31 goals is to do 31 refashions by May 11th. Initially I had planned on 2-3 refashions a month for the next year. Then Magda invited me to join in with her fabulous guest line up.

There are 31 days in July….. I have a goal to refashion 31 items…. can I get it done?
Pop on over and visit Magda and her guests. (She has an awesome guest line-up!) Refashion along and post to the Flickr group. Lastly, stop back here to see what I am up to. (And if you feel I am slacking PLEASE give me a little guff!)
Are you in? Stop back today to see refashion #1.