Please Vote in my Poll!

We will (hopefully!) find out the gender of baby #2 next Tuesday! I have added a poll to my right sidebar. Please vote on what gender you think the baby will be. You have until Tuesday, July 7, 11:15 am Pacific time to vote--the time of my ultrasound.

*Chinese calendar says boy and it was right for Kaylin
*Sister-in-law's calendar method says girl and it was right for Kaylin
*Wedding ring on string test was inconclusive (bad sign?)

Stay tuned for the results!

Birdie Sling

I've been wanting to make an Amy Butler Birdie Sling since I first saw one online. Then I saw a girl in another ward at church with one. Since I had met her previously, I didn't feel too awkward walking right up to her to ask, "Is that a Birdie Sling?!" It was. After that I knew I had to have one. Before I get into the nitty gritty for my sewing friends, I'll show you the pictures.

There are 6 pleats below the band and curved gussets at the bottom corners.

The inside has 3 pockets (the big one is divided in half).

The last picture is to give you a frame of reference for how large it is. It is definitely a big bag. But as a mom to a 2-year old, and soon to be mom to a newborn and a 3 year old (crazy!), I need a big bag. Also, please notice that my stomach does not (yet) stick out past the bag :-).

This next part is for anyone who might want to make one. Everyone else can stop reading and I won't feel bad.

This bag isn't hard to make. If you've sewn much of anything before, you'll be fine. The directions are very clear. Except for one thing, there is a picture that is incorrect in my pattern (step 6). Luckily the buttercup bag was similar and I knew the picture was wrong. I double-checked online just to be sure. Amy Butler has pattern corrections on her site. All patterns printed after August 2008 should have the correct drawing, apparently my store bought a lot of patterns prior to that.

There is A LOT of interfacing. I used exactly what was recommended and I like how it turned out. It is a sturdy bag, as you can see by my picture of the inside where it was standing on its own. It takes a long time to cut out all of the pieces of fabric and interfacing and then fuse the interfacing. It's worth it.

This was my first time using fusible fleece. I like the finished bag, but I didn't like working with the fleece. Mine didn't fuse on very well at all. It didn't come with directions so I googled it. I'd still use the fleece again, though, just because I liked it in the end.

You can get away with less than the amount of fabric she tells you to buy, probably a yard for each of the 3 fabrics (instead of 1 1/8 yard). There's a lot of waste. I'm okay with that because I'll use it for something else. Maybe a coordinating buttercup bag ;-). I didn't follow all of the layouts for the fabric to make more usable pieces of leftover material. She tells you to fold the selvage to the center, you do not need to go all the way to the center, just far enough to fit your pattern pieces. I also used the band and handle fabric for the outside of each lining pocket instead of using lining fabric. I had plenty of fabric and wanted some contrast on the inside.

The large lining pocket is definitely large. I would possibly shorten it by an inch or two. When I sewed the curved gussets they ended up catching the bottom corner of the pocket.

When sewing the exterior of the bag to the exterior band I'm pretty sure I followed all of the directions and I still ended up with an inch or so of exterior fabric past the band. It all turned out fine in step 7b, so I think it was meant to be that way. I was a little confused, though. It ends up adding a pleat to each side seam.

I added a magnetic snap at the end of step 6. I centered it and placed it 1 1/8" from the top. Next time I will do 1 1/4". I definitely recommend 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" from the top.

At the end there is a lot of fabric to sew through. My machine did alright, I did have to pull the fabric through at the side seams, but it did the job.

I bought a zipper with the plan to put a zippered pocket on the inside. I will be returning the zipper. I didn't want to deal with attaching the zipper to the lining panel with fusible fleece. It would be bulky and hard to work with. If I end up really wanting a zippered pocket maybe I'll make a zippered pouch to go inside the bag.

I bought my pattern at Pacific Fabrics and Crafts in Bellevue. It's not available at JoAnns. My fabric is from the Alexander Henry line at JoAnns.

Let me know if you make one and be sure to take pictures!

Buttercup Bag

I finally made the Buttercup Bag from Made by Rae. I enlarged the pattern 130% on the advice of a few bloggers. I used a tutorial from Wise Craft for the fabric flower (thanks Tip Junkie!).

I LOVE how it turned out. But I didn't keep it. I made it for Kelsey's birthday. Lucky girl.

I want one. But it's definitely on the bottom of my priority list since I'll be back to a diaper bag soon.

Father's Day

We had a busy and fun Father's Day weekend. Eric's sister and her husband came up from Portland. Friday night Eric's sister and her husband, Eric's brother and his wife, and us took Eric's dad to the Mariners game. Eric's mom didn't want to come, so she stayed home and babysat the kids. It was great! The game was awesome! We beat the Diamondbacks 4-3. In the bottom of the 8th we were down 0-3. Then we hit a homerun. And then GRIFFEY came in to pinch hit. I was so excited to see Griffey. Everyone stood up and cheered for Griffey for about 3 minutes because the pitcher and catcher were talking. Then Griffey hit a 2-out, 2-run homerun on the first pitch! Seattle loves Ken Griffey, Jr. We scored again that inning and that was basically the game. So fun. Here's a fun article about the game if you're interested.

Here's Safeco and a view of Quest where the Seahawks (and the Sounders) play.
Our starting pitcher was Jarrod Washburn. We went down to the bullpen to see him warm up before the game.

After a fun birthday party for a friend on Saturday, I gave Eric his Father's Day present. He got a GPS. Lucky guy. Good thing he has a job so I can buy him presents ;-). He's been wanting one of these for a very long time. He loves to drive around aimlessly and always wishes he had a GPS so he could see a map of where he is. He likes to find new ways to get places and this will help him out. He even took it out of our car this morning to bring it to work with him in his car so he could find some new ways home.

On Father's Day Kaylin wore her new dress. Doesn't she look so happy?

Ahhh.... a smile!

After church we went to Eric's parents for a fun family dinner. We had a great weekend!

New dress for Kaylin

I bought this dress pattern awhile back and finally got around to making one for Kaylin. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would and it was a lot more work than I expected. And it cost me about the same amount that I would have spent buying a dress, even though I bought everything on sale. Oh well. It was fun, I learned a few things, and I love it. I haven't tried it on Kaylin yet, she's not cooperative when it comes to getting dressed and putting on a dress just to take a picture and then take it off again would not go over well with her. She's going to wear it on Father's Day (assuming it fits!) so I will take a picture then. Enough of my blabbing, here's the dress:

Close up of the top. Notice all of the gathers and ruffles (that means more work for me).

The back:

I made a matching hair clip with a scrap of fabric and some ribbon. I took a lot of pictures and this one came out the best. Remember, I have a dying camera, so deal with the terrible focus please :-).

Purses for Kaylin

I've been wanting to make Kaylin her own bag to carry her things in when we go to people's houses. I get tired of carrying her diapers, snacks, etc. in my purse and when we're going somewhere for an extended period of time her stuff doesn't fit very well in my purse anyway. She also needs a bag when she is going somewhere without us (aka being babysat). I made a bag like this for my niece and my friends, so you might recognize the picture. The bag is made from a dishtowel and then I appliqued the "k" onto it.

I saw this tutorial for a toddler purse recently and really wanted to make one. It needs 2 plastic bracelets and a small amount of fabric (a little less than a fat quarter). At JoAnn's today I saw a pack of bracelets for $1 so I let Kaylin pick a color, she picked purple. During Kaylin's nap I whipped up the purse using a big scrap of fabric from my stash. It took no time at all. It would be a lot better if I had a working serger (thanks Kim for continually rubbing it in my face that you have a working serger ;-)). I think it turned out cute.

When Kaylin woke up from her nap I told her that I had a present for her. Her eyes lit up and she got super excited. She absolutely loved it. She immediately put the Little People she's been carrying around for the past couple of days into it. She carried it almost all night. Here she is with Eric tonight at Alki Beach, carrying the purse of course:

Camera advice

Since I received such overwhelming and fabulous response to my post about Kaylin removing her diaper while in bed, I decided to ask for more advice. (Update on Kaylin and her diaper: She's taken it off one more time, that's it. I haven't done anything about it. I will keep all of your advice in mind though, should she start up again.)

Another unrelated note: I just heard on the evening news that we have a heat advisory until 6:00 pm tomorrow (Thursday). Because it's 88 degrees and could "soar into the 90s". The headline says "Heat Wave" and we have record high temperatures. Now is the time for all of you NOT from NW Washington to laugh. But please take pity on us also. I know of only one family who has A/C in their house. We are not that family. So my house is in the mid-80s. We turn on fans, we open windows when possible, but it's still hot. We didn't even sleep in our bedroom last night, we slept on an air mattress in our family room because it was cooler. Now all of you with temperatures in the 100s can make fun of us--in your air conditioned houses.

Okay... the real point of this post. My camera is about to die. It could be any day now. It won't take pictures in the heat or sun, which as mentioned above, is all the time right now. I want to be ready when it takes its last shot. So... do any of you have any recommendations?

Here's my list of wants:

1. Small. It needs to fit in my purse, a normal sized purse, with all of the other things I carry regularly like diapers.

2. Fairly fast. I'm not getting an SLR. But I want the fastest point and shoot there is. Within cost reason.

3. Not too expensive. Meaning I definitely need to keep it under $500, but I'd love to spend closer to $200 or $250.

Now it's your turn. If you have a fabulous camera or know of one that fits my criteria, tell me about it! Ready, go!