I must be nesting...

So, the past two days I have been holed up in my sewing/laundry room (slash utility room... ugh) working on a new canopy for Avalyn's jogging stroller... and while I was doing that I decided to organize and clean... excessively.

First, let's start with the stroller. Here's the before picture.

Notice how the canopy covers nothing? What's worse is when I walk with it the thing flips back all on its own. Very annoying!

I also added a five point harness. I did this a while ago (as in over a year ago) but I strengthened them quite a bit since my daughter is so much stronger now.

From the back. Totally adjustable. Like the lone sandle in the background, and messed up rugs. That would be Avalyn's doing.

So, I went to Joann's and bought a yard of laminated cotton ($17.99 per yard, not exactly cheap), and a quarter of a yard of clear vinyl ($2.39 per yard, much better!). I didn't need any bias tape since I'm using the leftover fabric of the old canopy to line the new canopy with.

First I marked where the old canopy was and added  about eight inches in the middle. Nice big canopy!

Next was actually cutting and sewing it all went well, no issues really. Until I tried to get the metal rod back into the original fabric. It was all kinds of sticky from whatever adhesive was used to keep that rod in there. So, I used the old canopy fabric to make a new place for the rod.

You wanted to see it. ;)

Here's the finished product. What do you think? I really like it!

View from the top - yep I added a little window!

 If you can't tell from the two pictures above, my laundry room/sewing room is a freaking mess. It doesn't help that I haven't done laundry in a week, so I have sorted piles of clothes all over the room. I'll give you a few before pictures.

             

The Staples box contains socks that don't have a match, the stuff on top of the dryer is random junk that came out of pockets... you know rocks, acorns, money, sorcerers wand, sunscreen, coke bottle (yeah, I wish those last three were jokes). Also, that's where the detergent, fabric softener, and stain remover are. There's really no good place for them. I need shelves, or better yet: cabinets!         

Here's the after. Not a lot better, but it's an improvement. I put the stain remover and fabric softener on the ledge behind the washer, the other stain remover is positioned (rather precariously) behind/on the dryer and ledge. I kept the detergent on the dryer for easy access. It's hard to reach the ledge for every load of laundry with a giant 34 week baby belly in the way! The curtain is a leftover from Avalyn's room. I actually like it down here. I was thinking of painting the room a really happy yellow and these would look nice with that.

Here's some inspiration for what I want it to be:

Happy yellow!

I like the idea of a bulliten board, or peg board on the wall the sewing machine is on. Love the open shelving, too... and the hanging lamps. Can I just love all of it? I don't have the original source of this one, but I found the image on Pinterest.

And I will certainly be making a curtain to go around the ugly that is the furnace. Check out the before and after of this laundry room on her blog. I found the image on Pinterest but the blog post has a lot more pictures!

Here's the layout right now, then what I want it to be...

In the second picture I replaced the hot water heater with a tank-less hot water heater that will mount on the wall, moved the central vac over by the furnace, and added shelves to the wall with the window. I doubt this will ever happen as seeing I want to put a bathroom downstairs eventually... guess we'll see.

                 

Okay, back to reality... Here's a picture of my messy sewing table. Totally not able to work there easily. And yes, I was "watching" Grey's Anatomy on Hulu when I was cleaning. Anyone watch the newest episode? I can't wait til Thursday!

Why hello, messy table. You are messy.

My thread cabinet - this is where thirty percent of my thread was.

This is where the other seventy percent was... nice huh?

This this the blank wall next to the furnace. I hung a poncho there... yeah, I don't have a clue as to what to put here. The switches make it sort of hard to work with.

Clean! I managed to fit all of my fabric in a tote, all the thread in the cabinet, and all of my odds and ends in the storage slots on my sewing table. The hamper and backpacks on the floor need a home, and that cord that's all rolled up needs to be put in the garage where Matt is going to put ends on it for the generator. It's too heavy for me to carry, so it's waiting patiently for him!

Here's a nice little summary of what's going on in here...

My many spools of thread. I have like a billion of each color (if a billion means three to nine spools of each).

So, am I nesting? Or is this something anyone would do if their room was this messy? I also scrubbed the floors and vacuumed... and scrubbed the washer and dryer... and the walls... It's not just me, right???

Project Number Two… Check!

I got the curtains up! Yey me! What do you think?

Yeah, I need to steal Matt’s drill to actually get the middle screw in, but otherwise I like how they turned out!

Clearly my garage sale futon leaves something to be desired in this room, but what can I do? We have no other seating so it will stay for now.

Project Number One... Check!

Woot woot! Poncho is done! Well... kind of. I didn't put the button on yet. I've got to get out the baby wrap and put it on someone (probably Matt - poor guy), then put the poncho on said person (*cough* Matt *cough*), and find a good placement for the button. Until then, here is what I have!

I don't want to post the steps because it's from a pattern, but I will tell you I found the pattern at Joann Fabric's and it was $2.99, See&Sew B4266. You can find it on amazon for $4.88. I bought three and a half yards of no pill fleece fabric in an olive color, and a half yard of the patterned blizzard fleece.

 This picture is horrible. My gray carpet looks greenish... ew. But see the pop of blue in the hood? Yes, I made it more complicated, but isn't it cool?

 It fits! Ignore the weird look on my face, I broke out laughing when I took the picture because Avalyn was trying to climb me.

 Yeah, it's pretty good at hiding my baby belly, too!

Here's the cost break down:
Striped fabric: $6.49/yard @ half yard =  $3.25
Green fabric: $4.99/yard @ 3.5 yards = $17.47
Pattern: $2.99
Button: $5.95
Thread: Free (already owned)
Total cost: $29.66

Not to shabby eh? Anyone else make something they love, or do anything crafty lately?

Oh, the crafts!

I have been on a craft kick lately. Matt even took me to the fabric store yesterday after we went to Sears. What a guy!

Here's what I bought:

 No I didn't buy the car seat, just the stuff inside it! I have five projects in the works. Here's number one: Make a poncho! I wanted something that I could wear and wrap Avalyn up in (because we don't put her in a jacket in her car seat). This seems to be the ticket. I can just lift her up and wrap it around her until we get into the store. It will also work for new baby when he gets here. Since Avalyn will (hopefully) be able to put her own jacket on by next fall, and I will be wearing baby into the store. Avalyn won't lose her toddler seat in the cart yet. ;) What I didn't picture is the button I found. It's two inches around and a dark brown color. I decided to use only one button because otherwise the poncho will be too complicated for what I need it. The striped fabric is for the inside of the hood, it also has teal in it, just for a pop of color.

 Here's project number two: Rip apart the old car seat cover and make a new one. This was a used car seat Matt got from his friend. We are so grateful for it, but I would like it to match Avalyn's seat a bit better. So I'm going to take the sucker apart and cowafi it. That's a word. Now....
I'll use the same batting, and the old fabric will act as my pattern template. I also intend on making it fire retardant with help of a spray I found. I figured this would be the safer alternative to the slip covers you can find online. I don't have all of my supplies for this one yet, though. I need some bias tape and another yard of fabric for the inside of the canopy. I'm thinking something black and white with some red mixed in, hopefully some fun contrasting shapes for his little eyes. If I don't find fabric with all of those colors, then I will just get some red bias tape for the canopy. That will be a fun pop!

 Project number three: Another sweatsuit size 2T. I'm going to see if these things are sell-able. They were such a hit at Christmas with all the kiddos and if I can find a way to make a little mad money, that would be great. They take me about three hours from start to finish so they aren't difficult.

Here's what the finished product should look like:

The outfit I will make won't be made with a zipper though. They're expensive and difficult, not to mention they can get stuck on the clothes underneath, or pinch sensitive skin. Ouch! I'm using snaps instead. That little model, by the way, is Alyssa. Isn't she sweet?

 Remember these beauties? Yeah, needs something more huh? On to project number four!

 It's simple. Put up a curtain rod and hang some curtains. I went with white. Can't go wrong there!

 Project number five is relatively simple, too. Gross, but simple. See that toilet seat? Yeah, it's wood... and it's cracking in places that pinch other places. It's got to go! Unfortunately, the metal screws are all kinds of broken down. Thanks to urine. See it's totally gross. So, I'm going to have to take the seat off from underneath. The trick is to find the right tool in Matt's monster tool box to get the thing off there. The old owners were kind enough to leave behind white plastic seats, but didn't take the time to remove the old seat. Who can blame them?

So, lots of projects! I won't be doing them in order. From easy to hard it's probably: Curtain rod, toilet seat, poncho, sweatsuit, and finally car seat. Which one am I most excited to tackle? The car seat of course!

After writing all of that, I just realized that there are two more projects I want to do. Figures huh? I want to dye the pink canvas of my new double jogger. Black would be the best bet. I also want to switch out the harness on the single jogger. I just need to buy some canvas to reinforce it. Yep... I'm sure there will be more to come... A slip cover for the pink baby swing perhaps. Who knows.

Anyone else going project/craft crazy? Matt thinks I'm nesting. I think it's winter and there's nothing to do. ;)