katee didn't...

do much along the lines of being creative in the past few weeks, unless you count the no-bake and snickerdoodle cookies i made for the youth fundraiser lunch after church last sunday. here's a picture to make your mouth water...



i've pretty much put sewing and knitting on the backburner for now. i'm working on catching up on school assignments for my 7 college courses, getting the house in order for our rental inspection, and have been dealing with a sick kid who had to have surgery, along with stuff for our family business. one of these days i'll have a bit more time to do the creative things i want to do. i am still working on painting that dresser, it's been a slow work in progress. the drawers are all painted, now i'm working on attaching drawer pulls but have to drill new holes which is proving to be a pain because the drawer fronts are curvy and it's hard to measure exactly 3" on them. i hope to have it and a bookcase finished by this weekend so i can organize the master bedroom. then i need to paint the walls of the main rooms of the house before next friday too!

it's getting crazy up in here!

jerry rigged....tuna casserole...

jerry's my hubby, so occasionally i might post about something he's done...

back when i was pregnant, i was feeling horrible all of the time, my hip and pelvic bones were out of whack (what do you expect for a 9 lb. 6 oz. baby who was 2 weeks early, right?). so he started fixing dinner several nights a week to give me a break, even though i was home and he was working all day.

one night he decided to try to make tuna helper (with chicken because he "hated" tuna). he made two boxes and decided to get "fancy" and make it in the oven as a casserole. he followed the directions for one package, not two, so it ended up with super thick sauce, and a few of the rotini were a bit crunchy. it was pretty good! since then, we've added things to it, like chopped broccoli, bread crumbs (decided against that one), and adding cheese to the top just a few minutes before it's done. it's actually turned into a family favorite, and the majority of the time he takes over the kitchen and fixes it to still give me a break. he's taking a little early evening nap, so i'm fixing it tonight...yum! (unfortunately, no extra broccoli in the freezer tonight, but still looking forward to it anyway.)



oh yeah, he doesn't hate tuna any more!

bloggity blogging...

i have taken the past two days and redone the backgrounds of all of my blogs, that's my "katee did it" for the weekend. if you want to check them out, go to my main blog looking toward the Son and the links are on the sidebar. i just love the options available from the cutest blog on the block. if your blog needs a free and easy facelift, check them out!

on another note, i've started painting the freebie furniture i have sitting in my garage. it's part of my objective of getting organized, so i can start creating stuff more often (along with organizing the garage so we can set up a home gym with our weight machine and a treadmill, along with the other miscellaneous stuff we have to workout with). the first dresser is going in my bedroom, partly to hold sewing stuff since that's where i'll be setting up my permanent work space. the other things i have to paint are an armoire for the baby's nursery (which will be complete with dr. seuss decoupaged drawer pulls), a book case (also for my room/work space), a small dresser (for my bathroom), and a papasan chair that will go into my older son's room. once this stuff is all out of the way, the workout space can be set up too. i'm so excited to finally be making some headway in getting organized so these creative juices can flow more freely!

too much planning...

too little doing.

i need to jump in and get some sewing projects finished. it just seems that life keeps coming up and getting in the way. it needs to stop!

i'm almost finished with the pink newborn diaper cover for my friend, then i'll have three to go for her. (and at least 3 for myself) hopefully i'll have a picture of it to share tomorrow. i am finished with the body of the piece and have one leg's ribbing knitted, so i need to do the other leg and then sew it up and it will be completed. i think i'm going to skip the crocheted chain drawstring tie for hers because they'll just slip on and off for photo shoots, unlike mine being used to actually cover cloth diapers.

i think i'm going to sew some soakers before i knit my own though, just so i'll have a couple of fleece soakers for baby dude to wear over the cloth dipes. hubby's not thrilled with cloth, so i've been going back and forth, using both cloth and sposies. but now that money is so tight, i'm using cloth as much as possible and saving the others for when we go out or have someone babysit. i wish we could do it 100% of the time, but that's not going to totally fly with hubby, so i'll take what i can get. (someday he might get on board, we'll see.)

so tomorrow i'm going to finish the pink diaper cover, finish sewing burp cloths, and start something new...

project organization...

i have three notebooks and a calendar/organizer, and i am using them to organize different parts of my life. the calendar/organizer is a no-brainer, if i would just enter stuff into it (see how it's blank for this week? it's not as if i've had nothing to do or no appointments)... the blue one is for family stuff, currently it only has information about the kids' school projects entered in it. the green one is going to be for my college classes, but currently has a priority "to do" list written on the front page, no entries pertain to said classes. and then there is the pink one...

my pink one (the prettiest one IMO) is for my creative stuff and i've made a long list of things i want/need to do where sewing, knitting and decorating are concerned. boy have i come up with a long list! i need to get the burp cloths and cloth diapers finished quickly, and also finish up my knitted diaper soakers (three for me, and four for my toddlerazzi friend), and then...



i just got the new amy butler book, little stitches for little ones, and i have made a list...and boy is it long! there were several things i was already going to do, but now this has given me focus on where i want to go with the nursery.

since the nursery theme is dr. seuss, i did an etsy search to see if i could get ideas since dr. seuss fabric is a rare (and expensive) find. i found a couple of pictures of a perfect little smock that has become my inspiration for the nursery. so now to find fabrics in a similar pallet to create an amazing nursery for my little snuggle bear!

working on a sling...

i'm a member of a "sew your own diapers" yahoo email group. i have been privately emailing another member to learn how she makes her adjustable pouch slings. i'm trying one with some extra fabric i have laying around here, just to get the jist of how to make the adjustable part (and the cushioning because that's confusing me too). i think i have it mostly figured out, we'll see. once it's finished i'll take some pictures...then get the fabric i really like and make a "real" one!



so many projects in the works...(here's a partial list)
1. paint all of the walls in the interior of our house
2. paint the armoire for the nursery
3. paint the dresser for the master bedroom
4. paint the papasan for the teen's room
5. sew papasan cushion for painted papasan
6. sew cushion covers for the glider and ottoman in nursery
7. sew dust ruffle for crib
8. sew neck pillows for teen and tweener
9. knit diaper covers for my photographer
10. knit wool diaper covers for baby's bum
11. sew diapers for baby's bum
12. sew fleece diaper covers for baby's bum
13. sew quilt and shams for teen's bed (redecorating for b'day)
14. make french memo boards for my workspace, tweener's room, office and sewing area
15. finish knitting throw for tweener's room
16. knit throw for teen's room
17. knit two throws for family room
18. knit throw for master bedroom

okay, i'll stop there because that will keep me busy all year...that doesn't include the sweater/hat/booty set i want to make for baby or the three prayer shawls i'd like to make for friends who are sick.

bartering diaper covers...

works for me! i posted a picture of the diaper cover on my facebook profile and the photographer who took thad's newborn pictures offered a barter. i haven't had the cash to get the pics i wanted yet. so if i knit her a few of these (not sure what will be fair, we still have to work it out), she'll give me the cd of the photos to do whatever i want, copyright free. that's awesome, because that's worth a lot money-wise. if i were going to order them from her, i'd be spending at least $200 or so!

yay me! haha (yes, i watch too much disney with my tweener daughter!)



updated info: i am knitting her two newborn-sized covers, one in pink and one in baby blue, and then i am knitting her two larger covers (6+ months), both in bright and fun colors for older babies...stay tuned for pictures of the finished products!

first diaper "soaker" (cover)...

this turned out really cute, and i even impressed my hubby! this is the first item i have knitted that wasn't a scarf or throw or something else shaped as a rectangle or square. i found the pattern at ottobre design. if you link on their "print for free" tab, you'll find it there among a bunch of other cool stuff, but here's their direct link to the pattern.

i have wool/soy blend yarn that i'm going to try next. i've been told that acrylic will work, but that 100% wool is best. other people say that wool blends work well too. i have no idea, so i won't know until i try.

next up...the ottebre cloth diaper and teddy bear rattle. i'll be modifying the diaper by not using velcro closures, but pins or snappis, but i'm certain it will turn out cute because i'm using an old t-shirt and putting the picture on the bum of the diaper! stay tuned...

finally...

i have decided to start a "crafty" blog to talk about sewing, knitting, cooking, baking, etc. all of the things i like to "do" when i actually can take some time to do it.

i'm starting off the new year determined to do more of these things because i enjoy them and i'm tired of not doing them!

first on my list is a cute little red acrylic diaper cover that i've knitted. it's the first thing that is not square or rectangle, where i've actually had to increase and decrease...and i did a pretty darn good job, if i do say so myself! it still needs to be sewn together and i need to make the drawstring for it, so once it's finished i'll post a picture. this was a "test" item before buying wool to make diaper soakers to go over cloth diapers for my little one.

i'm on a tangent, and no one is going to stop me! haha