Pillows and Piping

Let me start out by saying I honestly don't sew very well.  But I also say "cute fabric covers a multitude of mistakes."  And this is a perfect example.  


I have been wanting to make pillows with piping for a while and finally decided to attempt a couple for the guest bed in Chase's nursery.  The piping itself was not hard to make at all.  I used the zipper foot (first time ever) and just sewed a long, thin strip of fabric around the piping cord.

Then I measured my pillows, cut the fabric, and pinned the piping around the sides with the fabric turned inside out (so the piping would be on the outside once I finished).

I had to cut lots of little notches to go around the corners so they would have a slightly rounded look.

And this is where it gets ugly.  If you are a really good seamstress, you may want to stop reading less you be offended by the messy completion of these pillows.  

I had not really thought about how to actually finish the pillows once I put the insert in.  Looking back, I should have put a zipper in.  But I have never attempted that either.  Maybe next time.

So I just hand stitched the bottom together the best I could.  It worked ok.  But it looks SUPER messy when you look really close.  The good news is that this is the bottom part, and no one will ever see it (unless of course you come to my house, pick them up and give them a good inspection).  

It looks better in the picture than in real life.  But who looks that closely at pillows anyway, right?

They turned out pretty cute and add a fun pop of color on the bed.  We have a few more finishing touches to add to the nursery.  I keep telling Christopher it looks like it is missing something.  And it is...the crib (and the baby too, of course, but you know what I mean).   So I guess the room won't truly be finished until we make the transition to Ashlyn's big girl bed later this spring.

Messy Space Makeover Revealed!

Vanessa was one of the winners for the "Share Your Messy Space Giveaway."  We had a total blast cleaning and decluttering her hallway closet and bookshelf on Monday night.  I am so excited to share some pictures with you.  Hopefully, this will be motivating for you to get started with some spring cleaning too!

 Hallway Closet Before (Floor View)

Hallway Closet After (Floor View)

 Hallway Closet Before (Top View)

Hallway Closet After (Top View)

This may be my favorite picture of all!  "I can stand in my closet now!"  Yay!  Mission accomplished!

After the closet was completed, we spent a little time rearranging the hallway bookshelf.  I love bookshelves.  I am constantly changing mine around at home all of the time.  The key is to have a good sense of balance and spacing.  Vanessa is also thinking about painting the back of the shelves which I think will look great!

Hallway Bookshelf BEFORE

Hallway Bookshelf AFTER

I truly believe there is freedom in letting go of things.  Too much stuff really can clutter your life.  Sometimes, the biggest challenge is just getting started.  Total cost for transforming both of these spaces - $0!  I LOVE IT!

Tablecloths for Curtains

Ok, I really do love Target.  They always have the cutest stuff.  I saw these tablecloths there on Saturday and thought how cute they would look as curtains for our dining room.

This was as super easy project.  I love that it involved absolutely no sewing, not even any stitch witch pretend "sewing." It was as simple as ironing both of the tablecloths to smooth out the wrinkles and folding about ten inches underneath on one side (60 inches was just a tad too wide, but the length was perfect).

I used the white curtains we already had hanging as the "liner" and just clipped the new tablecloths right over them.  It adds a little "spring" to our dining room which Christopher and I both really liked.

  Here is an example of the clips I used to hang the curtains with.  These are so easy and just clip right on to the fabric and then you can slide the rings onto the curtain rod.



Moral of the story - you can find cute fabrics in all sorts of places and don't necessarily have to use them for their intended purpose :)

Last weekend...

Christopher and I took a little trip last weekend to Las Vegas with my sister and brother-in-law. My wonderful parents kept Ashlyn so we could get away for a little adult time. It was so nice and relaxing. 

We planned every day around when and where we were going to eat.  I loved it.  And we got to hang out with Dennis Rodman by the pool at The Venetian.  Ok, not really hang out with him.  But my brother in law did get to shake his hand and give him a manly "chest bump".  That may have been the highlight of the trip for Christopher and Gene.  It took me a while to figure out who they were giving high fives to. 

I am almost 24 weeks!  Tried to get a pic of my growing belly while we were out there but you can't see it very good in this one.  Trust me when I say I am getting bigger :)

17 months

Ash is 17 months old today.  She is such a joy to be around.  I love seeing her little personality develop more and more every day.   She loves to wave to cars when they drive past and look for airplanes when she hears them in the sky.

What's new this month?  About two weeks ago, we made the transition from 2 naps to 1.  She had been sleeping great in the mornings, but then would stay awake and just play in her crib for her afternoon nap, and maybe fall asleep for about 30-45 minutes.  It took a few days for her to get used to staying awake all morning, but it has been pretty smooth sailing since then.  I thought it would be a lot harder, but I guess she really was ready to drop that morning nap.  Now she is sleeping about 2.5 - 3 hours in the afternoon every day!

She is also finally starting to say a few new words!  One of her favorite expressions is "Up please" which sounds more like "up-eeeese".  She says it every time she wants me or Chris to pick her up and let her sit on our desk, countertops, couches, you name it.

She loves my makeup.  She likes to sit in my lap, play with all of my brushes, and carefully watch everything I do.  And then tries to mimic it with her own little set of brushes.  It usually takes me twice as long to get ready when she sits with me, but she is so cute and interested...how can I say "no" to the sweet request of "up-eeeese????"

Warm milk is still her drink of choice.  Warm whole milk.  She loves it.  I try to offer it to her cold.  After one or two sips, she turns her head away and refuses to drink anymore.  She does not really like water that much either.   We also gave her a little apple juice mixed with water and she refused it.

So warm milk it is.  I guess she will drink it cold one day.

WINNERS!!!!

I am so excited to announce the WINNERS for the Share Your Messy Space Contest/Giveaway.  This has been such a fun little adventure...and I have absolutely LOVED reading all of your comments and emails.  Thanks y'all for actually entering this little contest and not making me feel like a fool for doing it.  haha.

I have two FABULOUS judges who helped select the overall "Messiest Space Award" -

Whitney from The Meade Feed and Jane from Modern Jane.

Definitely take a minute to pop by these two amazingly adorable blogs for musings on all sorts of things from home decor to motherhood.  Both of these ladies are super-talented writers, mamas, home decorators...you name it...and oh-so-generous to give their time and take a peek at the pictures you guys submitted.

And now...the moment you have been waiting for...

The Overall Messiest Space Winner is (selected by judges from submitted pictures) is 

KITTY!!

She submitted these pics of her laundry room, and I know she and I are going to have a total BLAST cleaning this space!

And the second Winner is (thanks to my sweet baby girl for helping draw the name)

VANESSA!!

It took a little coaxing from me to get her to actually hand me the piece of paper she picked out.

And once she handed me one, she wanted to give me every single entry.  haha.

Vanessa submitted these pics of her hallway closet...

Congrats to both winners!  And thanks again to everyone who entered.  If you did not win, I would still love to chat with you about any ideas to help make your space a little more functional!  So call me, send an email, leave a comment...but let me know how I can still help! I am so excited to get to work on these two spaces soon.  Stay tuned for some fun before and after pictures!

Pregnancy Hormones???

They really can be so crazy, right?  I mean, let's be honest.  Female hormones, pregnant or not, can make you believe things that are not true and create things in your mind that make no sense at all.  Well, of course, they make sense in your mind at the time, but not really when you say them out loud to anyone else.  Which is one of the main reasons I think that God gave us girlfriends.  To listen to our wacky thoughts and then love us enough to tell the TRUTH.

Here is a perfect example of my own hormonal craziness.  Christopher came home tonight and asked me if I noticed anything new about him.  He then proceeded to tell me that HE GOT A HAIRCUT TODAY.  I immediately started crying.  Real tears.  And then the sobbing started. 

You may be asking, "Anne, why would the fact that he got a haircut today make you start crying?"  Well, let's see.  First and foremost, I am almost 23 weeks pregnant.  This means that anything can make you cry.  And secondly, I am the ONLY person who has cut his hair for the past 6 years.  SIX YEARS PEOPLE.  It's just been me.  And today, he went to SportsClips.

Honestly, my first thought was, "He does not like the way that I cut his hair and wanted a professional to do it."  And that's when the tears started falling.  CRAZY. 

He actually got a coupon for a free haircut at work, and went during his lunch break to "help me out so I did not have to do it tonight."  And then he told me that the old lady cutting his hair was no where near as hot as his getting-larger-by-the-day prego wife.  What a sweetheart.

On another note, the Messy Space Contest ends tonight.  I have a couple of INCREDIBLE judges (Whitney - The Meade Feed and Jane - Modern Jane) who are going to be checking out your pics...and then I will have a little drawing tomorrow.  Hope to announce the 2 winners soon!  Thanks to everyone who entered!  Y'all are awesome!

My Messy Space - Update

Poor Chase's closet. Talk about a mess.

I finally motivated myself to clean it out, get rid of some things, and re-organize so it is more functional and ready for our little guy's baby gear.  I was hanging up his clothes and just had to laugh.  Right now, he has 4 USC Gamecock onesies.  Here's to hoping this child looks good in garnet and black (and for all you non-South Carolina fans, my husband says he does not want any comments saying "No one looks good in garnet and black).

See the fabric on the bottom shelf?  That is the material for the crib skirt once I finally get around to sewing it.  I guess there is no rush since we don't even have a crib in the room yet.

I love a clean closet, don't you?  Speaking of...do you have a closet, office, laundry room, pantry...or any other space that could use a little help? If you have not entered the SHARE YOUR MESSY SPACE GIVEAWAY, you still have one day left.  Contest closes Wednesday at 8pm.  So click on the LINK HERE,  leave a comment and email me your messy space pictures (anewman1133@gmail.com).

Nursery Elephant Art

Remember this cute little guy?  Well, my handy husband used this as a "guide" to create some fun art for an empty shelf in Chase's future nursery.

We printed out a paper "stencil" to use, and Christopher traced it onto MDF board.  He used a jigsaw to cut the elephants and then sanded the edges.

I cut the ears out of scrap fabric and sewed them onto to paper so I could keep the ends from fraying by zigzag hemming the edges.  Please note that I have never appliqued anything in my life and the paper background concept was the best thing I could come up with.  It actually ended up working pretty well.

Painted them 3 different shades of gray with acrylic paint...

A little rubber cement to glue the ears on and a black Sharpie to draw the eyes...I thought they turned out really cute.