From the monthly archives: April 2011
It’s a short post today because I have to go into work early, get a billion things done, drive 3 hours round trip for piano lessons, come back for a two hour choir practice, then youth service music practice, and then probably eat somewhere in there. Oh and do some laundry. Our clean clothing options are becoming seriously limited. I need a maid.
So, it’s a busy day. But the real reason this post is so short?
………………….————————————– —-Source: sundayinbed.tumblr.com via Rebecca on Pinterest
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I stayed up until 4 in the morning last night/this morning sewing. I’m pretty sure I’ve created a sewing monster inside of me. I.can’t.stop.it. I’m.consumed.
If you see me walking around mindlessly today with a seam ripper, trying to rip out all my imaginary bad sewing, please have compassion on me. And if you see my husband walking around in dirty clothes and starving to death, have compassion on him too.
~Whitney
Oh yeah, I totally look like I know what I’m doing! Well, looks can be deceiving.
As of today, I have sewn many seams, ripped out possibly more seams, made 10 – yes 10! – darts, sewn in two regular zippers and one invisible zipper, made a skirt with a lining, then ripped out the lining because it was impossible to fit into, made another skirt, and made a disaster of a dress.
I’m most likely throwing out the first skirt, but the second skirt just needs hemmed and it will be good to go and pretty cute if I say so myself. Now the dress? Wow. That’s all I can say.
Don’t worry, I’ll share pictures. Possibly. But in case I chicken out of sharing my first dress to the world wide web, I’ll go ahead and give you a verbal picture. Imagine this gorgeous fabric that in your imagination looks so beautiful on you, but in reality looks like a grandma. And the pattern is made for a model, not a short waisted/short limbed/average person. So the waist of the dress hits me square on my hips. And the hip part of the dress hits me on my thighs. Do I look like a circus attraction in your brain? Because that’s what I look like in person. Haha! But today my mom is going to help me try to fix the dress and possibly even start all over with new fabric.
Speaking of my mom, she rocks. Seriously.
Isn’t she absolutely gorgeous? Here we are celebrating my first skirt. Right after this picture I realized that I sewed the skirt together incorrectly. After unpicking each and every teeny tiny stitch, I declared that I would never make that mistake again!
But back to the heroine of this story – my mom. She spent all day Monday and Tuesday teaching me how to sew. I couldn’t ask for a better teacher! She really knows her stuff. And she possesses just the right amount of patience and sarcasm. She took turns telling me that I was doing great and then laughing at all my lopsided stitches. We had so much fun sewing together! I’m so glad to be able to share this experience with my mom. I feel like I’m sharing this with my mother-in-law too because she’s the one who bought me this machine! So a huge thank you to both of my moms!
I’ll be back soon with some pictures of the sewing progress!
~Whitney
Thank you to everyone who participated in my very first giveaway! It was oh so exciting!
So many people came by (163!!!) that I joked with Timothy that we might crash the server. Ha! I think you need millions of people to do that, but it was fun to think about.
We had 28 comments, so I used that fancy random number generator from random.org, and the winner is …
Comment #12!
Erin Bolin
Yay!!! Erin is a wonderful friend I made in college … she is an absolutely amazing newlywed and if you haven’t met her, you’d love her!
I’ll e-mail you to get your info so I can ship your presents to you.
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I hope all of you had a lovely weekend and are having a good Monday. After work, I’ll be learning how to do a little of this …
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Yes, after months of just gazing longingly at my sewing machine, I’m actually learning how to sew today! My mom is going to be teaching me, so please pray for her patience.
I’m going to try to make a dress and that’s where this poster comes in. If the dress comes out weird, I’ll be making do with something else. So if you see me on Easter wearing something you’ve seen a billion times instead of a handmade dress, you should probably come hug me.
Can you tell I’m nervous? Ha!
Have an amazing Monday! And seriously, be in prayer for us. :)
~Whitney
I surely can’t believe it, but this is my 100th post! If I knew how to throw internet confetti, I totally would.
100 is a number worth celebrating, and what better way to celebrate than with a giveaway?! Giveaways are one of my favorite things about blogs. I’ve signed up for billions of them, but have never won any of them. But that doesn’t keep me from trying! Ha!
So I wish I could give all of you dear, beloved readers a little present to thank you for helping me reach 100 posts. But see, I’m a newlywed. And newlyweds spend their money wisely on take out and movie rentals. If you would like the chance to win some really amazing giveaways, head on over to Pioneer Woman. One time she gave away a $200 gift certificate to Anthropologie. No joke.
As a token of my love and affection for all of you, I am giving away three things I have made. They’re all things I learned how to make while writing this blog, so it only seems appropriate!
1) a knit daisy headband, 2) a purple flower pin, and 3) a felt pink and cream corsage. If you’re interested in the size/what they look like on, you can check out the pins here and the headband is just like this one I made a while back except I made the flower a bit smaller so you don’t look like you have a garden growing out of your head.
The way to win is to simply comment on this post. Say whatever you want! Tell me your favorite color, a random fact about yourself, write some song lyrics, share your favorite Starbucks drink … whatever floats your boat. You can only comment once, but you can get an extra chance to win by sharing the giveaway on Facebook. If you share it, then be sure and comment again on here telling me that you shared it so you’ll get the extra entry. I really think it would be cool to see how many comments we can get on this giveaway!
The giveaway closes at 12:00 am Sunday night/Monday morning, so be sure and enter before then. At that time, I’ll see how many comments there are, use that online random number generator thing to pick a number, and whichever comment corresponds with that number wins! (So if there are a total of 52 comments and the generator picks number 12, then whoever has the 12th comment wins. Am I over-explaining? lol) Monday I’ll announce the winner and I’ll mail the package (or just hand it to you if you live nearby). And that’s how it’ll work!
I’m really excited about my very first giveaway! I wish I could give more to you. Every person who has read/commented/shared the love has absolutely made my day. Every day. Blogging is so much fun, and you guys are what make it fun!
With all my love,
~Whitney
Happy Thursday, everyone!
I’m here today to share a previous diy with you. On this old post, you could see a little peek of this headboard. A dear reader saw it and asked for some more info – so here you go!
This is a headboard that my dad and I made when I went to college. Yes, the same dad who made this. Let it be said that he officially rocks.
I’m really sad that I don’t have any pictures of my old room when I was in college. It was probably my favorite room I’ve ever had! (Aside from all the rooms in the house I share with my man now. Love makes rooms look beautiful, what can I say? haha!) When I moved into my room in college, we didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on furnishings. So my parents and I kind of made it a mission to see how cheap yet simultaneously awesome we could make a room. In my opinion, it totally worked! It was the first time I really got into Goodwill, and I haven’t been the same since.
We splurged on the blanket. Okay, my parents splurged. When I started drooling over it in the store, I think they knew I wouldn’t be able to survive without it. It was from Anthropologie. Oh my. If I could decorate my whole house in Anthropologie, I would die a sweet death.
But back to the headboard. I’ll give you one guess who came up with the idea. Yup, my dad.
He had a whole box full of beat up wooden picture frames in his garage. I know, who has stuff like that lying around?! And he got the genius idea of painting them in colors pulled from the blanket, layering them on a huge piece of wood, and making a headboard out of it.
I don’t have any pictures of the actual process. But here’s a rundown: we took my beloved blanket to Home Depot and matched some paint to a few of the colors in the blanket. Then we fixed some of the broken frames and sanded them down. Then we went to town painting. Dad handled all of the headboard building and painting. Then we laid the headboard on the ground and grouped the frames on top of it until we liked how it looked. I wanted it to look a little random. I think if the frames had been symmetrical and balanced, it would have given off a completely different vibe. Dad nailed them into the headboard and voila! Gigantic, colorful, cheap, diy-ed headboard.
I love it with every ounce of my being. It’s been said a billion times, but there really is something about making stuff yourself. Every time I look at the headboard, I remember the fun times we had making it. Love was put into every detail. You can’t get anything like that at a store!
This is currently our guest room. Whenever I get around to it, I’d like to make pillows that suit it a little better. But for now these pillows (handmade by my Mom and I back in the day – yay!) add some more color. As if this room needs more color! Ha!
So there’s a little headboard diy for you. If you have any questions about it, ask away!
~Whitney
Welcome
I'm honored that you took time to stop by my blog! My name is Whitney, and I'm a diy loving, piano playing, sewing obsessed, thrifty, non-house cleaning, crafty newlywed. I love God, my husband, and life as a wife. If you'd like to know more, just check out my About Me page. Much love!
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