My First Sewing Project In Years...

I got a sewing machine for Christmas last year and I'm now finally using it. This is my first sewing project since middle school, I'll be turning 35 this year. That is a long time to not sew anything.

I decided to make an LSU bib for one of my pregnant ladies as a going away gift. There's a little rivalry going on between her and the hubby, so why not add more fuel to the fire. Evil. I know. 

I decided to use this lovely pattern that I found on Pinterest by Danielle Wilson on her blog at http://mysparkle.blogspot.com.au It's a very easy pattern to follow. Use one fabric for one side, a coordinating pattern for the other, make a little quilting sandwich...well you get the idea. I, on the other hand, decided to be bit more complicated with it and used four different patterns of fabric. You know, make it a little different. 

No LSU fabric here. Just LSU colors.

I went to Joanne's (heaven) and got  my supplies. I bought four fabric quarters, white double fold bias tape, all purpose thread in coordinating colors, quilting batting, and some embroidery floss (which I bought at Walmart.) You can use what ever fabric you want and make it as girly or boyish as you need it to be. My friend doesn't know the sex of the baby yet and this was just a good way to get around that. She loves (or the hubby) loves LSU, so I chose these colors.

Gotta sew those strips together.

First, I had to sew all the strips together before I could even begin cutting out the pattern. I guess complicated is my middle name, so I had to make it challenging. These are 2" wide, but you can make them how ever thick you want them. I think, the seam allowance was 1/4". Is seam allowance even the correct term? Anyway, make sure that when the sewing is over and done with, that it's enough to cover your pattern. Cut both sets of fabric and the batting and on to the next phase.

I don't follow college football, but it's a nice color combo.

Now, put the batting in between those loverly pieces of fabric and pin. Please, pin better than I did. I suck at pinning. If you're going to do any embroidery by hand, do it before pinning and sewing it together.

This isn't the best picture, but at least the pinning is a little bit better.

You can see here how I sewed it together. It's not perfect, but this is my first bib. I contrasted the colors by putting one color one spool holder and placing the opposite color on the bobbin. 

Why was I humming Brian McKnight's Back At One when I was when putting this together? 

This is the part in her tutorial that took me a day to process after I read it. I'm a visual person. YouTube is my best friend when it came to learning to crochet, threading my sewing machine, changing the starter on my car, etc. So, I broke it down and took some pretty pictures for those of you that are like me when it comes to these kinds of things. You'll be starting on the outside of the bib. The collar area is done last.

Step 1:  Open up the double fold bias tape and pin the unfinished edge to the outside edge of the bib. You'll be using tons of pins. 

Step 2:  Sew one the crease all the way around the bib. I know you're wondering why. I didn't get it either. Then I had my light bulb moment with the next step.

Step 3:  Flip the double fold bias tape over the unfinished edge of the bib. The unfinished part of the tape should fold inside itself.

Step 4:  Pin and sew as close to the inside edge as you possibly can.

The left side shows how close the stitches need to be. The right side shows where the reverse stitching was used.

Repeat steps when you work on the bib collar. Remember to make it long enough to tie in the back. I believe I measured the tape anywhere from 26-28 inches. Also, when you do the last step, sew from one end of the tape to the other. Use the reverse on those first few stitches at the beginning and the last few on the end. You don't want the stitching to come undone.

TAAAADAAAHHHH!!!!

There you have it! Some bibs for that little one in your life. Unique, easy enough to make, and not much money. I think I spent $10 all together. I still have enough left over to make more. I just need to buy more bias tape.

I'd like to thank Danielle Wilson for her tutorial. Even though it's from 2009, it was simple enough for me to do it and the model is just too cute. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. Next one will be about the baby blanket that goes with these bibs. Until next time!

Ugh...

Sorry if it seems like I'm reposting the last post many times. I thought I saved the finished entry, but I guess not. Highly annoyed at the moment.

A Little Crochet In My Life

I do have a couple of crochet projects going on. I have three ladies expecting this year (1 in August. 2 in November) and wanted to hand make their baby gifts. I figured I'd try my hand at Tunisian/Afghan crochet to achieve this. I love that it takes elements from knitting and crochet, making the fabric not as open as it would have if I had made this with the other crochet. I figured why not learn as I go and YouTube the stuff out of the different stitches. Brilliance knows no bounds in my mind. *coughs* Add 40 hour a week job, children and your normal household fun...well, you know these baby blankets will be a real labor of love.

Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Light Blue, Medium Thyme, and Coffee.

My current project is for a baby boy. I thought a nice olive green, ivory, brown, and light blue would be a good color palette for this blanket. It's a bit different with some simplicity,  but I want the baby to be able to grow with it. I making crochet stripes on one side, then a light blue fabric backing with a satin brown border on both sides. I haven't decided whether keep the backing simple with just light blue fabric or make it fun with a pattern with similar colors or a light blue background. Decisions, decisions...

Light Blue-9 1/2 inches. Green-9 inches. Ivory-4 inches. Brown-1 inch. Brown Border-2 inches. Total-42 inches. 

Loops. Loops everywhere.

I had your regular issues when it comes with any type of crochet. That foundation chain being a total pain in the behind. Throw the loops in and the real fun begins. I did miss some stitches on the forward pass and then pulled the yarn through 3 loops instead of 2 on the return. I tried to fix these as best as I can. It's not perfect, but these little mistakes totally adds to the charm. Hey, at least they'll be able to tell it's handmade. 

The Swing of Things...

It's been a long time since my last post. Between two girls in school, a full time job, my parents living with us, my toddler running a muck, and myself trying to keep my sanity in all the chaos, it's been really tough making time to do the things I love to do. I have been doing some crocheting and picture taking. It seems like the only projects I have time for lately. I'll share some of my pictures for this post. No sense in overwhelming anyone with all my hobbies and such. For this set I used dad's Nikon Coolpix L120. I'm still learning how to use it and applying what I learn to my other point and shoot and my camera on my phone. This is the camera back in 2011 for my brother's wedding.

Here are a few of my brother's wedding photos. I think I took over 200 pictures that day. I was very upset that my dad volunteered me to be the photographer initially, but in hindsight I'm glad he did. I was in the zone when I took these. I was running around with my shoes off and I tried any idea that popped in my head. Though there are a few things that I could fix in Photoshop (some contrast), I'm very happy with outcome of these shots.

This next set was taken with my Nikon Coolpix L22 point and shoot camera. When you're a mom, you have the best models in the world close at hand. These are older pictures. I swear I had more somewhere on the computer. Though the one with my girls with their mouths open is hilarious. I still don't remember what happened for them to do that. I just happen to have my camera pointing at them when they did. The composition could be better in some.

This final set of pictures was taken with my Galaxy S3, which only has an 8 MP camera on it. I would love to have the S4 (13 MP) or the S5 (which boasts 16 MP), but alas, the S3 is what I have to work with. Hark! Did a photo op just place itself across my path? Bring out the phone. My hubby is always wondering why I constantly take pictures. How am I suppose to get better?

It's not all about kids and family. I do try to be more artistic with my shots and you can find them at this link: http://boricuamadafoto.vsco.co/ All taken with my S3 and manipulated with the VSCO mobile app. I love it because it has different "films" I can use to give me a certain look that I want. I hope you enjoyed this post and I didn't bore you with my amateur photography. Some constructive criticism would be most welcome.

Lonely 4th of July

It's the Fourth and while many people are out celebration the freedoms that have been paid by the blood, sweat, and tears of our country's soldiers; I stayed home...and sulked...and brooded...all the live long day.

Why be happy on a day where families get together and celebrate with food, drinks, merriment, and fireworks, when my little familiar is no where to be found? Ok, I know where my family is. The kids are with their grandparents and the hubby is working his arse off to provide for us. Unfortunately, work put the man of the house out of state. So, it's the little man of the house and one depressed mama. I know, I know many families/people go through this and I should be grateful that I get to see them sooner than most. True. This is just the first Fourth in 15 where we are all separated. It's either all of us or the kids and I or the hubby and I, but never just me. It has hit me really hard and I really miss them. 

You see in my mind we would all be around our families. The kids wearing those patriotic colors of red, white, and blue waving sparklers and minute American flags. The table would be decked out with condiments, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, steaks, potato salad, and anything thing else you can think of. The tables decorated with some crafts the kids and I made. Oh and that unmistakable scent of charcoal passing by your nostrils with each passing of a warm breeze. Then to watch the fireworks show and watch the girls ooooh and aaaaaah, while the little one figures out how to react. 

That is just a fantasy in my mind for now. I must put my flights of fancy away because life dictated a different reality. It has been filed in my mind under the label "Someday" for when my fantasy becomes my reality.

Fools Rush In

And here I am, making some Puerto Rican food no one likes in the hopes that it comes close to what my <em>mami </em>makes. What's on tonight's Family Doesn't Like menu? <em>Arroz con habichuelas y bistec</em>. Where is the man I love? Working very hard to provide for his family.

It was a hot and humid summer day in Atlanta. My classes started that Wednesday and I was really excited to begin this new phase in my life. The sounds of change sliding down the vending machine, chairs banging against the tables, murmured conversations, and the beeping of that damn microwave filled the walls of the eating area. The smell of microwavable popcorn, cheese fries, and chicken fingers lingered in the air like <em>eau de teenage male parfum</em> in the boys locker room.

I was the fresh meat and I sat alone at the rounded table. Happily keeping to myself by writing letters to my friends back home. I guess I just have that "I'll cut you" face. No one came near me, until someone did. Some brave soul dared to interrupt the flow of my words to paper. He was well dressed in light bluish button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, dark slacks, and black shoes. He balanced his chicken fingers in one hand while grabbing for a chair, turns to me and asks me politely,  "Excuse me. Is it alright if I sit there?" I nodded. He sat and began to inquire about the obvious things. Are you new? What's your name? What's your major? I asked him where the computer lab was. He walked me up a flight of stairs, we traded numbers, and began dating that Friday. We got pregnant in December of '98 with Belle got married in June 19th the following year, and had the baby in September
.
We've seen each other at our best and at our worst. I am so thankful that he is in my life. I'm glad that he is the more analytical of the both of us. It helps him keep me and my dreamy meanderings in check. I believe we compliment each other perfectly. I don't want anyone else in my life but him. I feel stronger and better supported because of him. Who knew that that geeky, comic book loving, animé watching, kenpo styling young man was going to make such an impact in my life and in our children's lives? I'm glad we decided to rushed in. Best decision I ever made.

Lost In Translation aka Bilingual Problems

I grew up in a Puerto Rican household within the U.S. We had arroz con habichuelas, perníl, pasteles, along with tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers and everything that the good ole' U.S. of A had to offer in the ways of food. We also spoke español. That's all that was spoken in the house, amongst friends (dad was Army), and at church. We really didn't begin to speak English until around 4-ish. Thanks to many, many, many episodes of Reading Rainbow, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and Sesame Street, I am able to speak pretty good English without an accent and people wonder where the hell I'm from. I can't really say the same for when I speak Spanish and unfortunately, I write Spanish sentences using the English sentence structure. I have been reprimanded by my daddy many a time because of it (and also for using double negatives).

Being bilingual has its advantages. Being bilingual, light-skinned, and blue-eyed has some real advantages. You can listen in on conversations and no one is even the wiser. Seriously, no one suspects me speaking any Spanish at all. Been asked if I was Greek (Greek, really?), but never Latina.     Anyways, another advantage is when I say full names and sentences in Spanish, I'm suddenly the drill sargeant that says, "JUMP!" and they say, "How high?" There are days when I do feel that I need to learn some angry sounding languages to keep this fun going (German or Russian anyone?) Supposedly, you will get hired faster if you are bilingual. Meh, don't know really know how true that is when people tell you you don't look "Latina" enough. Yeah...sorry, I don't look like your ideal Latina/Hispanic chica, bitches.

That's another post all together. Now, the one disadvantage that I always seem to run into is when I talk in English. The first time I encountered this was when I was 18. We were waiting to get measured for our cap and gown. I asked my friend about the toga.
(Yes, my friends, toga is what we use for cap and gown in Spanish...well, at least in Puerto Rico 3 years prior to that incident). She gave me this look like
I lost my mind. Who knows...I may have by then.


Another bilingual snafu was when I told my daughters that they were "out in the street all day." It made total sense to say this in my mind because my mother would say, "A estado todo el santo día en la calle." Of course, I get that confused look from my girls as if I was speaking in some sort of alien language and they have yet to figure out how to communicate with me. Then when I try to explain, their beclouded looks become glazed and I'm forced to admit defeat by uttering, "Nevermind." Always good to know that I can bore them with tales from my youth. It doesn't matter that they may learn something from it. It's just too damn boring for my 13 and 8 year old to process. So much for sharing my wisdom with them.

I have also just realized that because of this language word cross over in my vocabulary, it has lead to some minor miscommunication between the hubby and I.
After 14 years, we figured out why we have this miscommunication about cups, mugs, and glasses. He would tell me to get him a cup of milk and I would bring it in a small glass. A cup of coffee was pour in a mug. A glass of tea was poured in a tall glass. He didn't understand why I would pour him milk in a small glass when he asked for a cup. Finally, it dawned on me that one plus one doesn't always equal two when you're speaking more than one language.
Now, that we have explained to each other our language conundrum, things go a tad bit smoother. After being together for almost 15 years, we finally understand where we are coming from. At least, when it comes to what drink goes where. I laugh at myself thinking how long it took us to get to this point.