Tired to say the least

Last night (or rather this morning) I got a grand total of 1 hour sleep.  I wasn't very thrilled to have to take care of my two girls on that little sleep.  Since I was born, I've suffered from insomnia and one would think I would be used to running on so little, but I still get pretty grumpy and have a really hard time thinking.  I felt so bad for the girls having to put up with that today.  

So it was wonderful when a few things happened today to help cheer me up.  First I found out I sold two items from my etsy store and I also had an email asking about customizing a flower play mat.  So that made me pretty excited, then when Michael got home (also super wonderful), he handed me my latest issue of Ottobre Design.  Then after the girls went to bed, Michael and I had our Sugar Baby Date Night.

Now I'm considering getting some ice cream and wait for Michael to finish his homework so we can snuggle and watch his Star Trek.  I hope you have a lovely night's worth of sleep!

Sugar Baby: Dulce de Leche

Our next date night we made Dulce de Leche.  At first I decided we would make it from scratch but decided it would take too long and since we are doing all our candy making after the girls go to bed, the faster the better.  So we went with her Option #2 and as I call it, The Cheaters Option.  Basically, just boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk forever.

When we poured it out of the can the top portion wasn't done enough (tasted like macaroni and cheese with a caramel after taste), but the stuff on the bottom was done, so we mixed it all together in hopes of evening it out more.  If it wasn't 9:15 at night, we probably would have let it boil longer, maybe next time.

We only had a small taste that night and decided we needed to try it with apples.  Michael thought it was alright with them and a friend tried it seemed to really enjoy them.  It wasn't really to my liking, but I'm super picky, so you shouldn't skip trying it based on my opinion.

Ottobre Designs: Magic Tales Hooded Jacket

This week I made Eleanor a fleece sweater.  I used another pattern from Ottobre Designs from their 4/2012 issue.  It was really fast and easy.  I could of had it done in an afternoon if my husband didn't suddenly need me to go to town for him (half hour to the nearest grocery store).

I got the fleece from fabric.com.  I was expecting the caterpillars to be much smaller, but I still like it.

Source

The only problem I had was with topstitching.  They said to topstitch with the edge of the pressure foot as a guide, but that was the same size as my seam allowance, so it didn't tack down the seam allowance very nicely.  Next time I make it I will adjust what I do to make it look nicer inside.

All that matters is that Eleanor loves it, especially the hood.  She was wearing it while we read the book Do You Have a Hat? and nearly each time it asked that she said, "Yes, it's on my head."

Ottobre Designs: Funky Boy Pants for a Girl.

I've been getting Ottobre Designs since Mother's Day and I love them!  They are so lovely and come together really easily and well (once I figure out what they are saying).  I've known for a while that Eleanor needed pants, but I was able to procrastinate for a while due to summer and calling her too-short-pants 'capris'.  But now it is cold outside and she has officially become too tall for all her pants.  One of the reasons I waited was, because I couldn't find a good jean pattern I liked (or for free).  I was torn on using the Funky Boy jean pattern from the issue 4/2012, because the pockets really bothered me.  They are fairly long and low.  Out of desperation, I gave in and gave it a try.

They were really easy to put together, up until the fly, but I am new at flies so it is all on me.  The only thing I changed was the back pockets and I accidentally put the coin pocket on the wrong side.  I used the Bow Pocket Tutorial by Simple Simon and Co.  Instead of using their measurements, did cut the rectangles a little smaller to match the width of the pocket pattern better.  I love how they turned out, I just wish I had been brave enough to place them higher.  With the pockets so low it makes it look like her pants of falling down, which they were, but made it look worse.  I think that if I use this pattern again I will bring the pockets up a lot closer to the back yoke.

The waist seemed a little snug and low, but open in the back, so I'm not sure how long they are going to fit.  I don't think they were intended for children who still wear diapers.  They are kind of like skinny jeans that are extra long.  For the most part, I'm happy with how they turned out and so is Eleanor.

The flower fabric I used in the pocket make me especially happy.

Sugar Baby: Rock Candy

The first recipe we tried was Rock Candy.  If you want to make your own I found a fairly descriptive blog post about it here.

My only memory of eating it was on a family trip to Wisconsin.  We stopped at Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota and my daddy bought us all some.  I think mine was purple, since it was my favorite color at the time.

It was pretty easy to make, if you don't mind being patient.  We choose to do the tooth pick method instead of string so that we could get more individual candies, instead of just two large ones.  The only problem we had (other than my husband not realizing the recipe continued onto the next page) was we forgot to dip the tooth picks in extra sugar after dipping in the sugar water.  If we had done that I think we would have seen results a lot sooner, as it was we didn't start seeing any (teeny tiny grains of sugar sized) crystals forming anywhere till 5 days after we made the sugar water.

Finally, 10 days after we started we gave up and took them out.  They are definitely mini rock candies.  We also spooned out the crystals that were forming on the surface to get the most from it we could.  It looked like Michael was taking out ice.

Despite being so tiny, they do taste like I expected them too, pure sugary goodness.

KCWC: Final Results

This week turned out really productive!  Days One and Two, I was able to get two patterns traced out for the much awaited fabric.  

Day Three, I traced another pattern and cut out the pieces from fabric.  

Later that day, one of my packages of fabric came! Yay!  The only downside was that one of the fabrics I ordered mysteriously decided to become a blue damask home decor fabric instead of a blush pink stretchy cotton.  I've only been having problem after problem with this month's fabric orders, but that is way too much drama to go into.

Day Four, I was able to make a little progress on the top and got my new denim prewashed for Eleanor's new pants.  I also got my other box of fabric I had been waiting for.  I can't wait to make her the vintage footie pajamas, but they have to wait till after I make her pants.  I think she is down to one pair of pants and they might also be too short.

On Day Five, I spent extra time sewing (aka procrastinating on cleaning) today, since I knew I wasn't going to sew on Saturday due to it being our Sabbath and going to Michael's brother's birthday party till late at night.  The shirt is finished, though, except for the elastic shirring around the waist, since I don't have any elastic thread.  I even asked Michael to pick some up this week, but the Walmart employees had no idea what elastic thread was.  

I love how the shirt turned out so far.  If you haven't tried Ottobre Designs, you really should.  Their patterns have such amazing little details that really make the outfit and their directions for finishing really make it look professionally done.  I find it great that most of their items look like more everyday kid comfortable that you could find in most any store, in contrast to lots of sewing patterns that seem to be ultra frilly and ruffles galore.  Don't get me wrong, I like ultra frilly in the right time and place, but I find it hard to incorporate in regular every day wear.  Anyways, back to the shirt.  Eleanor loves it!  Lately, she has been really into princesses and crowns.  She even makes some out of her Duplos.  And I thought that the main fabric was perfect, since it has little crowns on it.  When she tried it on, she pretended to put on the crown.  It was so cute!

Day Six. Sabbath and party.  (I had to include Day Six, even though I didn't sew, because I'm too OCD to not to). 

Day Seven, I got one pair of jeans cut out.  I'm using a light weight denim so that they will be comfortable for her and not too stiff.  I'm not to keen on the pocket the pattern has so I'm going to try the Bow Pocket Tutorial by Simple Simon and Co.  Hopefully, it will turn out super cute.

Source

Maybe later on today I'll get more done on the jeans, but for now I am just going to read a story to my girlies.

KCWC: Getting Started

I decided to join a ton of other people in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge.  Everyday this week, I will be spending at least one hour doing something sewing related to make clothes for my girls.  At the beginning of the month I ordered a bunch of fabric, since Eleanor needs pants and warm pajamas pretty desperately.  I wasn't planning on participating, but I figure I have all this fabric coming (hopefully soon) that is going towards kids clothes anyways, so I might as well.  While I'm waiting for some boxes to come in the mail I'm going to work on getting ready for some major sewing.  I need to trace a couple patterns from my Ottobre Designs magazines for her pants and a sweater and maybe a shirt pattern or two depending on how much I get done before my fabric comes.  Hopefully this turns out to be a fairly productive week!

luvinthemommyhood Sweetheart Dress

More pattern testing goodness!  This time luvinthemommyhood let me test her Sweetheart Dress.  It has a lined bodice and a heart cutout in the back.  I'm sorry you are going to have to bear with grainy pictures again.  We plan on get a new dslr sometime this winter.  I should just use my husband's iPhone, since takes better pictures than our camera.   

The pattern was really easy to follow and came together rather quickly.  I think that even beginners would be able to sew this up without too much frustration.

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with the heart shaped scraps.

Laurel loved spinning in it.  I think she looks like a dancer here.