Sewing projects

Although it sometimes takes me a while, I have finally completed a few more sewing projects!!! Hooray :)  Completing these projects is so fulfilling; I love it.

The first was a shopping cart cover that my sister-in-law Emaly asked me to make for her.  It's for our adorable nephew Ty.  Making the cover was kind of a complicated process, with quite a bit of alterations, after a some-what failed prototype.  But I am more than pleased to announce that I have completed and mailed it off to her in Utah :)  She picked out the fabric, a soft white minky for one side and a solid brown for the other side.  Here are some pictures of my little Ani modeling usage of the finished product.

One minor note to make.  After taking these pictures, I inserted my own buckle and strap to hook around the cart to keep it in place.  Now she doesn't have to use the almost-always-nasty-or-broken store buckles.

A sippy-cup or water-bottle holder to the right of Anabelle.  2 separate toy loops along the front to keep shopping time entertaining and fun for the little guy. 

 Elastic around the perimeter to hold it around the edges of the cart.

 And a velcro strap to secure the front piece around the handle

 Brown bias-tape to finish off the edges.

 And a handy bag to carry it all in.  I hope she likes it!!!

The next project I made is one I have been wanting to try for quite a while.  A taggie blanket for our little guy, coming in December.  This is the first real quilting I have done by myself, which was kind of fun (maybe because it was only a 1' by 1' square).  Obviously it isn't perfect, but oh well.  I combined 2 separate flannel patterns, some fleece (the cute animal blocks), and some cream-colored swirl patterned minky.

 The different textures of soft fabrics coupled with the ribbon tags all around the edges should be very interesting and stimulating for a baby.  I hope he likes it.  Oh, and the opposite side is a solid piece of the cream minky.

Well, there you have it, I have finally completed some more projects.  A few others I have made lately, that I don't have pictures of include several sets of burp rags (flannel patterns on each side with an absorbent cotton batting in between). Stay tuned...I plan to complete several more projects in the upcoming months.  That is, if Ani ever decides to nap during the day or I can find some other time to do it.

Happy 4 Years!!!

I know I'm a bit late in posting, but last Thursday (the 18th) was our 4-year Anniversary!  We have had a wild and adventurous 4 years at that, and we are so happy to be together and have experienced it with each other.  We celebrated by going on a BBQ and Blues cruise.  It was a dinner cruise around the Charleston Harbor with a BBQ buffet by one of the best BBQ places around here, Hometown BBQ.  We had a wonderful time, and enjoyed seeing and experiencing more of the beautiful area we live in.  Here's a look back to 4 years ago:
Our engagement photo

 On our wedding day :)

I love you Mike!  Happy 4 years together and forever to go :)

Lewis happenings

Anabelle loves to dance with us :)

This belly pic was taken at about 20-21 weeks.

 And then I forgot to take one for a few weeks.  Maybe this way, you can see some progress.  I am currently 24 weeks, and I believe, visibly pregnant.  :)  Even a stranger at the grocery store noticed this week and congratulated me.  Wahoo!

And if you didn't notice the major hair change, here it is in greater detail...

I began to get bored with my hair.  South Carolina is so stinkin' hot that it was pretty unbearable to wear my hair down since it had gotten so long.  It also took forever to blow dry and turned out frizzy and crazy if I didn't round brush it dry.  Wearing it up much gives me headaches, so I was at a loss.  I decided to cut it and go back to my favorite haircut ever...the a-line.  I've also been contemplating dyeing my hair dark for quite a while.  Mike (and a few good friends) convinced me it was a good idea and that I wouldn't look completely foolish.  So, a wonderful woman in my ward cut and colored it for me this week.  I'm pretty happy with it.  I still surprise myself every morning when I look in the mirror because I forgot overnight what I had done.  So, without further ado, here are the before and after photos: 

Anabelle has still been as fun and crazy as ever, increasing her vocabulary daily and always surprising us with phrases and stories that she uses.  Recent ones include "Are you serious?!", "Don't worry about it", and "Ayuda me! Ayuda me!" (from Go Diego Go).

Sorry about the picture quality, but she LOVES to have her fingernails and toenails painted.  She now chooses 2 separate colors each time so we can alternate on each nail.  This week, we painted polka dots, and she loves them!

Our handsome boy

Here are some photos of our handsome little boy.  We can't wait to meet him.  Isn't he adorable?!

We were even able to have some of the ultrasound done in 4D.  I've never had this before.  It's amazing!

He looks healthy and wonderful, all around. Such a blessing! He weighs approximately 1 lb. 1 oz. Wahoo!  21 weeks 3 days along.  Past the half way point.  Time to start preparing for is arrival...  :)

Anabelle's train of thought

Recently, I asked Anabelle if she wanted to say anything to her Grandma in an email I was writing.  This was her response: Some story about a tree frog that has eyes. (I couldn't write it down fast enough) I will quote the rest: "Then she went into her swimming pool, but she couldn't see in her swimming pool because it was really really dark....And Thursday we brush our hairs around. And we brush our hairs again in another couple days.  We watch movies at home at our house, on Thursday.  We watch Diego tomorrow...This is Daddy and Anabelle (pointing to a picture) This is my Daddy (giggle, giggle).  Only brush Mama's hair.  Paint my toenails, only Mommy.  I don't relax. (true account; we just accomplished the wiggly nail-painting session). And leave my toenails alone.  And Mom pushed buttons (narrating current events).  And look for animals in trouble.  And Grandma push her buttons and look for Anabelle and Mama.  And...eyes, says 'blink blink'.  We turn on lights, turn off lights and turn on lights and turn off lights.  And we ask trees for help."
She certainly covers a lot of different subjects in a short amount of time ;)

The verdict is in!!!

Ok, to find out what we're having, you must figure it out. Mike and I devised this quiz.  Answer each question.  Take the first letter of each answer.  Once you have all of the letters, unscramble and you will know who will be joining our family come December 2nd!!!  The first one to figure it out gets 10,000 points!! :) Good luck to all.

1. Our Dog's name
2. Last Name of 1995 NBA MVP
3. Last Name of QB of Super Bowl XIII Winner
4. Sarah's maiden name
5. Last Name of MVP of Superbowl XXIII
6. Website with a lot of funny videos
7. Mike's favorite movie
8. Sarah and Anabelle's middle name
9. First Name of QB of Superbowl XXIII Loser
10. Sarah's favorite TV show
11. First name of only NBA player to average a triple-double during an entire season

Who's going to win???

Randomness

Just to start off with something to make you smile: Anabelle's super cute 4th of July outfit.

 Now, on to the latest sewing adventure...

 I got this black shirt at target for $2.00 a few weeks ago.  The shirt is a size too big, and I bought it with the intention of turning it into a maternity shirt (although I still don't really need it).  And round of applause please, the project didn't take me months to begin :)  So, since I forgot to take a before pic of the shirt, just imagine a plain old Target or Old Navy shirt.

 So, what did I do?  I rouched the sides, meaning that I gathered the fabric along the side seams of the shirt.  I've seen several maternity shirts like this as well as a tutorial or two on how to do it.  It was really pretty simple.  Ok, so the first thing I did was actually take in the side seams from about the bottom of my chest up through the sleeves.  This was not a necessary step, but I hate when shirts are all bunchy through the armpit area and don't fit properly (and since the shirt was too large, it needed to be done).  Okay, so I ended up taking it in about 1 1/2 to 2 inches on each side and narrowed the sleaves so they would be slimmer.  The result: a bit of a longer sleeve that still hugs my arms.  I like it.


 How did I do the rouching/gathering?  I took a piece of 1/4 in. wide elastic, stretched and pinned it along the side seam of the shirt, and sewed down the middle of the elastic to secure it in place.  Not very difficult at all. I'm sure I will be doing this again.  In fact I bought a $2.00 white shirt just like it.  I will be sure to post pics while I'm wearing it later on to show you all.

Here is a more close-up picture of the rouching.  Now, whenever my belly decides to grow and needs more room, I have a shirt to accommodate it :)

Now, on to the belly photos...

Taken at about 16 weeks

17 1/2 weeks

 and 19 weeks, taken this past Friday.  I'm finally showing just a little bit!!

 In other news, we have our 20-week ultrasound on Thursday the 14th.  Hooray!  And hopefully we find out what we will be having.  We can hardly wait.  I feel the baby moving around several times during the day, and have been feeling movements for about 3 weeks now.  Mike has even felt the baby move a couple of times.  It's so fun and seems so much more real when I can feel our baby moving, and it is definitely one of the most amazing feelings a woman can have (in my opinion).  We are so happy to have another baby joining our family in just under 5 more months!

Mike took me out to celebrate my birthday on Friday.  Actual b-day isn't until this coming Tuesday, but since he's in school and has to get to bed early every night, we celebrated over the weekend.  He took me on a Dinner Cruise.  It was so fun!
Here we are standing on the upper deck of the cruise boat.  And as you can see, we got to dress up a little bit for the evening.

 And here we are sitting at our table.  We were seated at a table with another couple, who were very nice and fun to talk to.  Mike and the other guy, as it turned out, both LOVE to talk about sports, so that kept the conversations pretty lively and constant. The food was delicious, too.  The food began with some very good herbed bread with butter and drinks.  I had lemonade, which btw, was some of the best lemonade I've ever had.  I really should have asked what kind it was ;) We then had she-crab soup, a yummy salad, and our choice of 5 entrees.  I ordered the fresh catch of the night, which was salmon, and oh boy was it tasty! Best salmon I've had in years.  Mike ordered the prime rib.  Both were served with garlic mashed potatoes and seasoned green beans.  Yum Yum Yum.  Everything was delicious and we finished all of our food.  Then we shared a slice of cheesecake.  Needless to say, I was very full by the end of the evening.

The evening finished up with music and dancing.  The dancing was a lot of fun and pretty entertaining as we watched a few groups of older women filling up the dance floor enjoying their girls' night out.  Mike and I danced a few slow songs (as any of you who know my dancing skills understand that I avoid public dancing as much as possible).  Anyway, a huge thanks to my wonderful hubby for the fabulous birthday gift!  I love you.