I can't believe that my niece Lauren can pull herself up now!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Plant Progress
Thought it was time for an update on my plants I'm growing on our balcony. Although the balcony really only gets morning sun, I am pleasantly surprised at how well they are doing!
About 6 Weeks Ago:
Now:
About 6 Weeks Ago:
Now:
And I added a tomato plant just to mix it up a bit:
I hope they all survive the move to the house! I'm sure they will, it's only 3 miles away.
About 6 Weeks Ago:
Now:
About 6 Weeks Ago:
Now:
And I added a tomato plant just to mix it up a bit:
I hope they all survive the move to the house! I'm sure they will, it's only 3 miles away.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Our Big Purchase...
...the biggest purchase of our lives so far! It's a Cape Cod in a great part of Valpo and we are so excited to move in! Here's the story of how we came across our new home.
A little background information about our past home purchase experiences (yes, there's more than one!):
The first time around we found a like new 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home with a finished basement. It passed inspection with flying colors. On the morning that we were supposed to go in and arrange financing, the company John was working for called a company-wide meeting and announced they were closing their doors. So, needless to say we could not arrange financing on my salary alone. A couple months later, we put an offer on another house that was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom built in the early 1900s. When our home inspector Dr. Death was examining the basement, he discovered that the house was INFESTED with carpenter ants. It would have taken thousands of dollars to repair, so we decided that it was best to pass on the house. We ended up renting a 2 bedroom apartment which we have lived in since we got married in November of '07.
About a month ago, we got the itch to look for a place to call our own. After quite a few dives and disappointments, I came across a brand new listing that I had this funny little feeling about. We HAD to go look at this house as soon as possible! I arranged a showing with our realtor for that night at 6:15. We pulled up to the house and it definitely had character. After going through the rooms and checking out the back yard, we called for backup. Backup = Moms and Dads! We all agreed that this house was too good to pass up, so John and I decided to make them an offer they couldn't refuse (not really, I just love The Godfather and wanted to us that line). The house had only been on the market for SEVEN HOURS!
Our offer was accepted within 24 hours and the house passed inspection. We will move in some time between July 15th and 22nd. There are four bedrooms and two full baths, a living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry, coat closet, and two linen closets. There's a great covered porch on the front and a nice deck on the back with a privacy fence. All that's left to do is close and move in! Of course, there are a few things that we will be improving upon. I plan on blogging every step of the way, including:
A little background information about our past home purchase experiences (yes, there's more than one!):
The first time around we found a like new 2 bedroom 1 bathroom home with a finished basement. It passed inspection with flying colors. On the morning that we were supposed to go in and arrange financing, the company John was working for called a company-wide meeting and announced they were closing their doors. So, needless to say we could not arrange financing on my salary alone. A couple months later, we put an offer on another house that was a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom built in the early 1900s. When our home inspector Dr. Death was examining the basement, he discovered that the house was INFESTED with carpenter ants. It would have taken thousands of dollars to repair, so we decided that it was best to pass on the house. We ended up renting a 2 bedroom apartment which we have lived in since we got married in November of '07.
About a month ago, we got the itch to look for a place to call our own. After quite a few dives and disappointments, I came across a brand new listing that I had this funny little feeling about. We HAD to go look at this house as soon as possible! I arranged a showing with our realtor for that night at 6:15. We pulled up to the house and it definitely had character. After going through the rooms and checking out the back yard, we called for backup. Backup = Moms and Dads! We all agreed that this house was too good to pass up, so John and I decided to make them an offer they couldn't refuse (not really, I just love The Godfather and wanted to us that line). The house had only been on the market for SEVEN HOURS!
Our offer was accepted within 24 hours and the house passed inspection. We will move in some time between July 15th and 22nd. There are four bedrooms and two full baths, a living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry, coat closet, and two linen closets. There's a great covered porch on the front and a nice deck on the back with a privacy fence. All that's left to do is close and move in! Of course, there are a few things that we will be improving upon. I plan on blogging every step of the way, including:
- Removing Wallpaper: Scrape Your Way to Sanity (or I may call this Scrape Your Way to Insanity, it could go either way.)
- Toilets: Are Pink and Blue the colors for you? (If so, I've got two toilets with your names on them. I'll leave them by the curb for you. Seriously.)
- Wood Paneling: What were they thinking?
- My Own Sewing Room: Hallelujah!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Busy Saturday
First off, let me say Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Mike. Sorry John and I didn't get you anything... yet!
Well, so far, I've had a pretty busy Saturday. Good thing I still have one more day left in the weekend! My Saturday has been all over the grid, from shopping with Mom to planting my flower boxes and starting and finishing a new sewing project. And the day's not even close to being over!
About a month ago, I started some flowers from seed for my flower boxes on our balcony. I've never done this before, so I am pleasantly surprised that I have not killed them yet. They will eventually grow to become blue Forget Me Nots. We'll see what happens!
Here are some photos of the plants and our balcony. Not much to work with here, but I'm trying to brighten it up with the flower boxes and a vining plant called a Hyacinth Bean Vine. A woman that I work with gave me the "beans" to start the hyacinth plant and you can see a picture of what it will hopefully look like in the near future here.
The sewing project that I started AND completed today was a sort of prototype reusable coffee cup sleeve. I thought that it turned out pretty well for the first go-round. I created the pattern from a cardboard sleeve that I received when I purchased a Hazelnut Skim Latte from Evelyn Bay Coffee Company just down the street. Honestly, I hardly ever purchase coffee in the morning, but it was delicious and I needed the sleeve!
Here's a photo of the completed project. I really should do photos of my projects as I progress. Maybe next time!
The buttons that I used belonged to my great grandmother. I love looking through the bag, because there are so many different buttons and I discover something new every time.
I am thinking about producing a few of the sleeves and selling them to local coffee shops. Let me know what you think!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Well, so far, I've had a pretty busy Saturday. Good thing I still have one more day left in the weekend! My Saturday has been all over the grid, from shopping with Mom to planting my flower boxes and starting and finishing a new sewing project. And the day's not even close to being over!
About a month ago, I started some flowers from seed for my flower boxes on our balcony. I've never done this before, so I am pleasantly surprised that I have not killed them yet. They will eventually grow to become blue Forget Me Nots. We'll see what happens!
Here are some photos of the plants and our balcony. Not much to work with here, but I'm trying to brighten it up with the flower boxes and a vining plant called a Hyacinth Bean Vine. A woman that I work with gave me the "beans" to start the hyacinth plant and you can see a picture of what it will hopefully look like in the near future here.
The sewing project that I started AND completed today was a sort of prototype reusable coffee cup sleeve. I thought that it turned out pretty well for the first go-round. I created the pattern from a cardboard sleeve that I received when I purchased a Hazelnut Skim Latte from Evelyn Bay Coffee Company just down the street. Honestly, I hardly ever purchase coffee in the morning, but it was delicious and I needed the sleeve!
Here's a photo of the completed project. I really should do photos of my projects as I progress. Maybe next time!
The buttons that I used belonged to my great grandmother. I love looking through the bag, because there are so many different buttons and I discover something new every time.
I am thinking about producing a few of the sleeves and selling them to local coffee shops. Let me know what you think!
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Extreme Makeover - Closet Edition
As my family can testify, as well as John, I am not the most organized person. Every once in a while, I get the motivation to clean house and organize things.
Today, my sewing/craft closet got a much needed makeover. Here's the closet before:
I have a TON of fabric, all of it I've accumulated in the 10+ years I've been sewing. Up until today, it was stuffed inside drawers, Rubbermaid containers, etc.
I decided that since there is a closet rod, I would try hanging all of the larger pieces of fabric from pant/skirt hangers and buy a hanging canvas shoe organizer for the smaller scraps.
I worked on it most of the afternoon, and I am pretty proud of how it turned out.
TA-DAAAAAA!
Today, my sewing/craft closet got a much needed makeover. Here's the closet before:
I have a TON of fabric, all of it I've accumulated in the 10+ years I've been sewing. Up until today, it was stuffed inside drawers, Rubbermaid containers, etc.
I decided that since there is a closet rod, I would try hanging all of the larger pieces of fabric from pant/skirt hangers and buy a hanging canvas shoe organizer for the smaller scraps.
I worked on it most of the afternoon, and I am pretty proud of how it turned out.
TA-DAAAAAA!
Friday, April 24, 2009
I'll give it a whirl...
Greetings, all you lovely blog readers out there. All three of you.
I started this blog over a year ago, but I've never posted anything. While chatting with Rachel, she said that I should blog about my day to day activities, so I am going to give it a shot. If you know me well, you know that I like to sew on occasion. On occasion = whenever I shut off the TV and actually do something productive and/or creative.
Last night was one of those nights. I had just visited Rachel, Mike and Lauren in Portland and visited the largest fabric store in the US, the Fabric Depot. Only 70,000 square feet of the most awesome fabrics I have ever seen. I practiced great restraint and only came home with four different fabrics, which John was thankful for.
One of the fabrics was meant specifically for the lining of an Amy Butler Birdie Sling tote bag, which I had been planning on making since January. I started the tote bag Thursday night and finished it tonight after work, spending about 6 hours total cutting and sewing. I love Amy Butler patterns - they are very modern and if I could afford to buy them all, I would.
Here's the bag, in all it's finished glory! I used John's guitar hanger for this shot.
Here's a picture of the interior of the bag. There are two pockets on the inside.
A close up of the pleating on the bag...
And here's my sewing room... I mean dining area. Someday I will have my own sewing room, but until then, the kitchen table will have to do.
And, yes. Those are picture frames on the wall with no pictures in them.
Next Project: a little something for Lauren!
I started this blog over a year ago, but I've never posted anything. While chatting with Rachel, she said that I should blog about my day to day activities, so I am going to give it a shot. If you know me well, you know that I like to sew on occasion. On occasion = whenever I shut off the TV and actually do something productive and/or creative.
Last night was one of those nights. I had just visited Rachel, Mike and Lauren in Portland and visited the largest fabric store in the US, the Fabric Depot. Only 70,000 square feet of the most awesome fabrics I have ever seen. I practiced great restraint and only came home with four different fabrics, which John was thankful for.
One of the fabrics was meant specifically for the lining of an Amy Butler Birdie Sling tote bag, which I had been planning on making since January. I started the tote bag Thursday night and finished it tonight after work, spending about 6 hours total cutting and sewing. I love Amy Butler patterns - they are very modern and if I could afford to buy them all, I would.
Here's the bag, in all it's finished glory! I used John's guitar hanger for this shot.
Here's a picture of the interior of the bag. There are two pockets on the inside.
A close up of the pleating on the bag...
And here's my sewing room... I mean dining area. Someday I will have my own sewing room, but until then, the kitchen table will have to do.
And, yes. Those are picture frames on the wall with no pictures in them.
Next Project: a little something for Lauren!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)