[Project from the Past]: Buncha Baby Clothes Part 1

So, I've got baby gifts I need to make (2 girls and 1 boy) as well as sewing up some summer goodies for my daughter. It reminded me that there are some baby gifts I made almost 2 years ago that I never posted. The pictures have just been sitting in a folder all lonely like. Let's get to this - summary style.

This little set was for a friend's baby who will be two in about a month. She had three boys and then a girl, so I wanted to give her some girly stuff. Let's talk about the onesie first.

You've probably seen these over and over. I helped my little sister make some for her girls and this was the first one I made on my own. (Tutorial I used)

The faux necklace was made with fabric paint. When making the ones with my sister, she figured out that it's best to put your shoulder dots in and then the one(s) in the center - working your way back up to the shoulders.

I was at my friend Nicole's house and she taught me how to make the flower. (Silky layers of fabric cut in circles, just singe the edges with a lighter so they don't fray.) I think I sewed the flower on by hand, but don't really remember.

The pants started out as big clearance shirt from Target.

 I used a pair of my daughter's pants to measure the leg length for the new pants and cut them out of the sleeves. With no hemming these came together fairly easy.

I'm not impressed with my waistband work here (and couldn't quite even out the elastic in the casing, but figured with enough putting on and off it would stretch around more even).

Using some more fabric from the shirt, I made a few ruffles. It was my first time adding a ruffle bum on pants instead of the bum of a onesie. It's a little crooked, but overall I thought it looked fine. I liked the outfit all together. The next gift I made for her is one of my favorites.

 When I only had my boys I envied mothers of daughters who got to make all this cute stuff and keep it for their own child! So, when I found out I was having a girl, I did some sewing and made some cute stuff. I also bought a bunch of fabric to make more stuff that I never got around to. This fabric was part of that stash.

 My idea started as just a simple onesie dress. (Tutorial I used ) Then, I got inspired by the print.

 I figured ballet shoes need something ballet-y to go with them, like a tutu. So, I added some tulle to the hem.

 And my very favorite part - the skirt on the shirt! How did I make it? Uh, just trying a few things out. It took a few tries to get it right, but eventually folding the tulle just so and tucking it into a folded black ribbon and sewing them together. Add a little bow and sew it on to the onesie. Ah...I guess it is not too late to make something like this for my own girls.

 This next set (I told you I was back-logged!) was for my husband's cousin. I still feel a bit guilty when I look at this because I put some work into this (loving all of it, if that's ok to say) and her older sister had her first baby like 6 months later and I gave her squat. Timing is everything on good gifts from me (and apparently gifts at all. :( ) Anyway...

 I had been wanting to try making rolled flowers. These are no sew and held together with glue (I used fabric glue.) They came together pretty easily and quickly. (Tutorial I used)

I made a matching headband too. Notice how the leaves match the green lace of the headband?

This was my second time making "baby legs" (basically leg warmers/substitute baby pants). I don't know if I ever blogged about the first pair.

Here's a terrible picture of them.

Anyway, the are very easy to make. There are several tutorials online, but I can't remember which one I used.

This baby was going to be born in Texas. There's nothing like hometown(state) pride so, a personalized onesie was in order.

At this point I was still a pretty novice applique-er. I still sort of am, but am getting better.

This is another favorite baby gift. I think is is the fabric that wins me over so much. I used the same onesie dress tutorial as above.

I added a little ribbon on the bottom to bring out the aqua "stitching."

A little bow up top out of the same ribbon.

And to make it a complete outfit, a little headband, complete with bow to match the skirt.

I've got more old baby stuff to post, so, stay tuned for part 2 when I can get to it.

An Ad for Exercise

Wow, I didn't realize I haven't posted for such a long time. I have no projects to report nor recipes to review today (at least not right now). 

 Instead, I just wanted to share a success. That little box full of Xs is proof that I finished an exercise program! Now, lest you be too impressed, I did not do my 30 days of the "30 Day Shred" consecutively.  There is speculation as to exactly how it should be done. Some people say everyday for 30 days, others are of the a few times a week camp, and in a few places I have read that Jillian herself said it wasn't intended to be every day, but more like 2 days shred, 1 day cardio, repeat and then rest. Whatever the truth may be, I started a lot more consistent and felt I wasn't progressing and just hurt, so I dropped down to 3 times a week about halfway through it all. On level 3 I never could do all the "Natalie" moves, but still felt like I was getting my butt kicked. Maybe when I go for another round of this in the future I can handle the jump-training a bit better.

One of my favorite parts about doing the "30 Day Shred" besides the obvious physical benefit was my partner in crime. My 2.5 year old was super into it. She loved turning on the ceiling fan for me and getting sips out of my water "bottle" (it's a collapsible one called a Platypus and I LOVE it.) She loved talking to me about "the girls." Jillian and Anita were fine and all, but her favorite was Natalie, especially when she would occasionally talk. Some days she'd also exercise with me. On one particular day, still pajamas clad, she requested a ponytail on top of her hear like mine, got her socks and shoes on, and made herself some weights out of Trios. (I semi-stealthfully too this blurry pics that morning while trying to do my own exercises!)

And then she got her shred on. There were some exercises she liked better than others (don't we all?), but was always adorable, especially with that skiwampus form that kids have for proper exercises. One day in between my shredding days, I did a Pilates DVD and my daughter was NOT happy and said that is was not exercise. When I later showed her another Jillian DVD I had gotten from the library she was very excited, especially to find out who the two girls in the background were!

Today was the first Monday in a long time that I didn't start out sweating alongside my DVD player and Jillian Michaels tough, but also encouraging, love. Instead I hit the pavement to continue prepping for the long journey of training for a marathon this fall. The nice morning air sure beats the stagnant torture of a treadmill. Exercise-wise, running has always been my first love. I'm not great at it, but it makes me feel good. And I've been super proud of myself. My husband kindly laughs as I keep telling him how proud I am of my exercise habits. So, if you know you need to start exercising (and we all should be), let me be proof that even though it is hard at the start, it gets easier and more awesome. 

Once while running awhile back, I realized as I felt my muscles working hard and my lungs and heart really pumping, that exercise is really what our bodies were made for. It was sort of a silly epiphany, but it has changed the way I look at exercise. It makes it better and easier in some way.

(Extra info - I love keeping track of my exercise type, minutes, and distance if applicable on a spreadsheet. I'm sort of a little nuts about it, but there's something awesome about seeing it all logged in. I also use SparkPepople to track my exercise, though not always. If I'm on counting calories mode, I use it religiously for food and exercise.)

Recipe Review #11

These three recipes should fulfill your breakfast, lunch and dinner needs.

Let me start with saying I don't love oatmeal. I am trying to like it more because I know it is good for me, so I thought that this recipe for Overnight Oatmeal from The Yummy Life looked like an interesting one to try.

She has several versions and I went for the Apple Cinnamon variety. I don't have chia seeds, but I do have flax, so I just added those instead. Also, I just used regular and not Greek yogurt.

You are probably wanting to know how it tasted. Well, It was cold oatmeal, so that was a bit weird, but I still sort of liked it. I have only made it that one time (and this was actually months ago), but have recently thought about making it again, perhaps trying other flavors.

I have found a few recipes from Our Best Bites that I like, including this Caribbean Salad. I'll admit that the picture just looked pretty too and that alone made me want to try it before even reading the recipe.

Mine is not as beautiful, but it was mighty tasty. Instead of black sesame seeds, we just used the regular ones that we had.

The recipes suggests craisins or dried cherries. I chose the cherries because they sounded like a better match. The salad was really good and now that I am staring at it, I think I might add it to my list of meals to make in April. (Again, this was made months ago, I just am now getting around to doing a write-up.)

I'm always excited when I find a crockpot recipe that works. This potato soup from Plain Chicken has easily become a favorite. You don't need a lot of ingredients and the soup really is so good.

Though the recipe calls for hash browns, I have used a variety of frozen potatoes, including tater tots. I'm actually planning of using regular potatoes the next time I make it. The soup turns out really creamy, but not too rich. The added toppings are a must in my opinion.

A trick I use for bacon, is that I bake the entire package it in the oven whenever I need it for a recipe. I resist the urge to just eat whatever I don't need and freeze it. This saves me time later. I freeze a lot of things and have been taking pictures a long the way. I know there are a lot of posts about freezing food lately (which I LOVE!), but would anyone be interested in my two cents on the matter?

Recipe Review #10

I promise I didn't make all these sweet things at once.

Who doesn't love monster cookies? This recipe from Recipe Girl looked like it had the best of all worlds - peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M's.

 I have made this two times. The first time I tried a few batches the big size and then a few the small size. I liked how the smaller ones turned out better. The second time I made them I just made regular sized cookies (baked at 375 on light colored cookie sheets). The funny thing about these is that both times I have decided on the first day that I didn't like them that much. They are really rich and I even halved the chocolate chips and M&M's.

 The second and third day they seemed so much better. I'm not sure why this is unless I just got used to over-sugaring myself. I shared them in a group setting and everyone liked them. However, after some debate, I decided to not keep this recipe as a "go-to" cookie. The main reason is that the ingredients are pretty expensive compared to most other cookies. Anyway, you should try them, you might find it worth the cost.

I love truffles. I don't think there ever has been a chocolate treat I have liked more. When
I saw this "Easy Dark Chocolate Truffles" recipe I instantly repinned it and put it on my mental "to make" list.

The directions were written great and they truly were easy! I opted to use both the coatings she did and dip some too.

My truffles were not as pretty as hers. This is my good cocoa one.

This is my ugly one. (I only did 2 of these.)

My almond ones were a little prettier and my husband liked these the best.

I made the most of these ugly things. I added peppermint extract to my melted chocolate (it's dark, though it looks more like milk chocolate in this photo).

I'm not so great at dipping, so these were not quite as good as the others, but still very tasty. Plus there is something marvelous about a hard chocolate outside and a soft smooth inside.

 And not surprisingly, they were kid approved!

It's been quite awhNutella cookies. Nutella is good. Cookies are good. So, I thought when I saw this recipe from Tasty Kitchen that these would have to be great.

What was great was using up all of my Nutella. I decided I didn't want to buy it anymore and this was the perfect way to finish it off.

They were easy enough to make, but I didn't like them.

Once the first batch was out of the oven, I added chocolate chips to the rest to try to improve them,, which i did, but not by much. So, thumbs down on this recipe for us.