Feeling Crafty!

SO, we were in Idaho Falls one day and decided to stop at D.I to see if they had any good furniture for the baby's room. (We didn't have ANYthing to put his clothes in except the closet that has no door.)

Lo and behold, they did have a little dresser for $15, hooray!

But the most exciting find, I think, was a glider! There was a stool that could go with it, but the two weren't part of a set. We got them both for about $20! No squeaking when it rocks, and I can put my feet up!

The wood was in great shape, but since the fabric was *cough*hideous*cough* and looked pretty used/dirty, I recovered the cushions! (You can't tell, but the chair was this pale once-pink plaid mixed with blue...ugh)

Here is the transformation:

(Forgive the shoddy camera work, these are from my phone.)

I found an entire bolt of that blue fabric at WalMart in their bargain stack for $5. Nice. I made the covers removable with velcro closures, so I can take them off and wash them. The most impressive part? I did it in an afternoon while Zach was at work, so he was wowed when he came home. =]

I LOVE rocking in this thing. It's going in the baby's room as soon as the storage junk is cleared out! (No space in our little living room for it, sadly)

"New" maternity skirt

I found a brilliant woman's blog tutorial on how to change an old too-small skirt into a maternity skirt, and guess what? I made it.

Ta-Dow!!!

The skirt was originally ankle-length, and had been shoved into a forgotten corner with a broken zipper, waiting for me to remember and fix it. It popped into my mind as soon as I saw the tutorial.

Here's the stretchy panel... the instructions called for an old Tshirt, and this is all I had:

Even though it's a little funky to have the panel all striped and whatnot, it works like a charm. And now that I have the know-how, I've got a feeling I'll be combing DI for some more skirts to transform!

In other news, my little boy has been such a wiggler! It's super cute to feel him poking/prodding/whatever-it-is-he-does-in-there. He's still teasing his daddy by holding super still as soon as Zach puts his hand on my tummy to feel him move. Lol.

I've been feeling really good lately, just easily winded and some back pain. And I'm seriously starting to outgrow the maternity clothes I have. So making the new skirt for free was exciting!

Anyway, happy weekend to everyone!!

Emmons Family Update

I'm playing catch-up blog, but I'm too lazy to make separate posts. So you get it all in one big whopper. =]

In either July or August, Zach took me to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. I don't think I've posted any pictures yet, shame on me!

We had a blast!! It was my first fair ever, and I loved just soaking it all up. Zach said it was "almost as good" as the one he grew up with in CA. I guess poor Idaho has a lot to compete with.

Zach went the cultured route and had a gyro for diner, but I bought a hand-battered corn dog to feel more state-fair-ish. Right after I ate it, I saw this poster on one of the vendor's stands.

A pig dipping corn dogs in grease... made me feel super classy. =]

I think this also happened in August: to celebrate 2 years without an accident, Melaleuca threw us a party at the Rexburg Air Museum that was catered by Texas Roadhouse. Kind of a random location, but it was soooo fun. They gave us free candles and $25 (each) to Texas Roadhouse.

Zach had a blast educating me about all the planes. He knew all of their names, specs, history, etc.... As everyone was cleaning up, one of the museum volunteers noticed us looking, and had us come back where he was working. He gave Zach a tour/quiz of all the model planes and WWII plane history, etc. A night well spent!

**I would like to note that I have lost weight since that atrocious picture of me in the middle there. Hooray!**

I have been feeling super crafty. My new favorite thing to do (besides writing) is making fabric flowers! I turn them into hair clips, embellishments, headbands, etc...

The picture of my friend is her showing of the headband I made for her birthday. (Yo yo flower and buttons.) The bottom right is a card I made for some hair clips I was taking to my old roommate's baby shower.

I learned a new technique the other day (See top right photo, which demonstrates how to make most of the flowers in the top left photo) from an awesome blog... check it out HERE.

Aaaaand, as part of our mega pre-holiday excitement, we carved pumpkins with our friends John and Cassandra Beck. They were going with a Mario theme, and I was looking for a relatively simple design, so....

They made Mario, and we made one of the bad-guy-mushrooms! (I never played Mario as a kid, I think it's called a Gumba or something?) Yes, I know, theirs is a little more impressive. But we were pretty proud of ours too. =]

Last week or so, I won 2nd place in the English Department's Pre-Professional Conference (I'm still not sure exactly how to explain what that means) Fiction writing contest. AWESOME! I was so stoked and excited, and Zach was super sweet to be excited with me. He called his mom to tell her, and started the news like this, "Mom, guess what? [pause] Your precious daughter-in-law ...[increasing suspense]... won 2nd place in a writing contest!" We realized later she was probably totally expecting us to say I was pregnant. Oops! ha ha ha.

Zach has been rocking out his homework like a champ. He's been swamped with tough classes and work three nights a week, so today we got a little rebellious and ran away to the Cocoa Bean when he was supposed to be in Physics. It was super fun, and brought back a flood of memories from when we were engaged. (Speaking of which, November 7th will mark one year since Zach proposed! Hooray!)

Anyway, that's life according to us so far. Maybe I'll be better at keeping this updated so you guys don't have to sit through all that again. =]

Saturday

Sometimes I do things during the day just so I can have something to show for my time.

Example:

On Saturday Zach worked 8-5. After dropping him off, I came home and started cutting out pattern pieces for another sewing project I just started. (I'm making his and her robes for Zach and me!) That took all the way until his lunch break at 11, but I finished! After taking him back to work, I made grabbed a few groceries, ground some wheat, made bread, and did my work out video! I was exhausted, but super proud of myself. I chronicled my efforts with pictures, again, to prove I was productive.



Also... the donut peaches in the picture = TO DIE FOR. The sweetest, yummiest fruit ever. Plus they're easy to eat because of their shape; a few bites around the edge and toss the pit away!

After Zach came home, we did a walk around campus (2.2 miles!) and he worked out a little in the gym while I read As You Like it for my Shakespeare class this coming semester. We came home... and were sooooo sore. In fact, when we woke up this morning for church we both felt like we needing a good oiling, like the tin man. I couldn't stand up straight without hurting. So we slept in and found a later sacrament meeting to go to. Now I'm feeling much better, but I can't say I'm excited about how I'll feel after tomorrow's Sweat and Ab Ripper workouts... I'll probably get some more peaches to compensate. =]

Also, here's the picture of the dress I made for Robb and Karen's wedding! (I discovered Simplicity's "New Look" brand of patterns. $3.44 each!)

Summer Summary

My break ends this weekend! I've been too lazy to go online much, so here's another list-blog.

This summer I read:

1. The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
2. FableHaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
3. The Lightning Thief (#1 in a series called Percy Jackson & the Olympians- Thank you Kristen!!!)
   
4. The Sea of Monsters(#2)
5. The Titan's Curse(#3)
6. The Battle of the Labyrinth(#4)
7. The Last Olympian(#5)
8. A Day with Wilbur Robinson (The picture book Meet the Robinsons is based off of. I bought it for $3!)
   
9. 
10. Anastasia's Album. Found it for $1 at Half Price Books. It has old photographs of the Romanovs, a biography for children, etc. My best find of the summer!
    
11. Currently in the middle of Brisingr (#3 in the Eragon series) and Rules

I sewed:

1. A baby sleeper, which has an unfinished neckline because I ran out of ribbing
   
2. A toddler dress. Turns out it's extra long... my bad!
   
3. A fully lined jacket... Cute, but bigger is not always better, even with kids' clothing!
   
4. A nursing cover for my aunt Peggy, and a matching wet wipes case.
   
5. A little girl's nightgown
   
6. Another Margaret Sling Bag in super cute paisley fabric, with matching wet wipes case.
7. Tomorrow I will be making another lined jacket and another nightgown. Let's hope I can get the sizing right this time. =]

I saw:

1. Terminator #The New One. I hadn't see any of the other ones, but it was pretty good.
   
2. Imagine That-- loved it!!
3. Harry Potter #6 - liked it a lot!
   
4. Race to Witch Mountain (ended up getting a $10 fee from Redbox because I forgot about it...oops)
   
5. A Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game! I'm the Diamondbacks' most ignorant fan! I don't know anything about baseball, I just like to yell. We each picked a random player to be our favorite. I lucked out and picked Ojeda, who happens to be one of their better ones. We also discovered that I am good luck-- the Diamondbacks won!
6. "The Magic Flute," broadcasted from the Met. Awesome.
7. Knowing, with Nicholas Cage. Prettttty creepy, but interesting
   
8. Hannah Montana the Movie. Ohhhh yeah. I'm half adult, half kid. I've got the best of both worlds.
   
9. Wizards of Waverly Place the Movie, in conjunction with a wizards party with my girlies (see photo below).

AND, best of all, I wrote:

1. The first bits of my newest story! I'm going to put up a super rough draft of the opening on my writing blog. It's historical fiction with a bit of a time travel twist.

So pretty much, I've been having a blast.

The end.

Past Tense To-Do List

Friday:

• Turned in two assignments that have been hanging over my head for a long time. *phew!*
  
• Had a super fun evening that included a picnic, a merry-go-round, playing with clay, great conversation, frozen custard, and an awkward comment from some dweebs on their bikes.

Saturday:

• Finished up white glove!!
• Made breakfast snacks for the rest of the week and put them in the freezer.
• Started my Russian paper... sort of.
• Went to the civil defense caves for the first time and played glow in the dark tag. Ohhhhh snap. Uh-mazing.

Sunday:

• Went to some most excellent church meetings. Our bishopric even came around to say bye to everyone. Love those guys.
• Put darts in Sam's dress so that it would fit her better. Helped Bethany put darts in the waist of her pants so they would fit her better. Hemmed Jenny's pants for her so they would fit her better. lol. Our apartment has a habit of buying cheap clothes even if they're too big. Made a hot pad that matches my spiffy apron.
• Borrowed paint from my neighbors so that Zach, Rob, and I can paint our sculptures tonight!!! Pictures soon to follow.
• Ate rice krispie treats made out of Cocoa Crispies. DeLISHious. And soon, I will be eating Sam's famous curry. Hoooooray!
  

Monday, Finals Week officially begins. But Sam and I don't plan on letting that get in the way of our last-days-together fun time!

Pretty amazing.

That's right, y'all. I made that adorable bag with my sister and her sister-in-law last night! Becca's amazing at getting me motivated to do projects like this. Even when they take about 7 hours to do, and we have to stay up until 0-dark-hundred to get them done. Sooooo fun!!! (Also, in this shot you can see my crimped/waved hair! Andrea did it for me. It felt like dreadlocks, lol.)

I'm feeling pretty adventurous lately. I made a homemade doll by mySELF (and altered the pattern), made that intense bag (again, had to alter the pattern), participated 100% in the ward closing social (human foosball, water balloon volleyball, human battleship, and a climbing wall), and went to school with super crazy curly hair.

Oh snap. Look out, world. =]

Baby Clothes!

I love my sewing class so much! Sometimes I wake up from a daydream and realize I was imagining myself sewing something on a serger, matching up seams, threading the serger (it's so cool! Air pressure threading!), etc. So crazy. My projects get "stuck in my head,' so to speak.

Anyway, now that you all officially know I am bizarre, enjoy these pictures of my adorable creations!!!!!



Every project so far! A sleeper, newborn hats and bootees, and toddler bibs. (Actually, the bibs are big enough to be smocks. lol)


Close up of the sleeper. I'm in the process of doing a pink one out of stretch terry. It's all cut out, I just have to get matching thread.


My very first projects, baby boy hat and matching bootees. You can't see it very well, but they're sitting on top of the boy's bib.


Extra credit bootees and hat, right next to the girl's bib.

Coming soon: Matching onesie and pants! (the pants are being graded, and I'm putting ribbing into the legs of the onesie.)

I am a genius.

No, seriously. I am.

haha, today I was babysitting my cousins Isaac and Lily. They are... rather active, and aren't supposed to watch too much TV. I found a great idea online for this bean-bag toss box. Check it out.

 

It kept them entertained forever! Plus, I had them help me make some bean bags (one held the funnel and one poured the little cup of rice) to play with as well. They love it. Lily thinks it makes a good mask. =]


This next picture is of two projects I'm rather proud of. Firstly, I made a bag for all of my toiletries (hair, make-up, toothbrush, etc.) out of a pair of jeans that were too small for me. I used some cheap ribbon to make loops on the inside for my toothbrush, hair brush, etc. I left the pockets on the outside for the few make-up things I use all the time. It was a quick, hurried sewing job, but I like it just fine. Then I looped a ribbon through the belt loops to hide the random stitches I had to make around the top. lol. You'll notice I cut out the zipper area, because I thought it was a little awkward. Plus, the ideal size jeans to use would be children's. (Nobody wants to see just how big their waist actually is anyway.)

I also made a homemade block for my niece Anna. It has ribbon loops in the seams for her to grab onto once she's old enough, and a little felt bear that tucks into a pocket on one of the sides. There's a big jingle bell inside the stuffing, so it acts like a gentle rattle too. I'm hoping to be able to make a few more before I leave her. I made a set for my nephew, and he seemed to like it.

 

Happy Spring!