third trimester - bump update

I've made it to 28 weeks with no full-time bedrest yet. It's looking like I'm not going to make it out without some though - we'll see. Better a healthy baby with bedrest than one that comes too early! Third trimester cheers!

Only one project in the works lately...

If you've missed me (all 3 of you!), you probably already know the fancy project I've been working on for the last 4 months.

Actually, "mild hyperemesis" is not fancy in any way, but I've been busy trying to do anything I can to help things along in our home. Thanks to lots of friends, play dates, meals and family we survived the worst of it and now we are on to *hopefully* better days. My creative brain has been broken and may only now being revived, but without much extra energy to do any more than is absolutely necessary (read: take care of my child, eat, cook, laundry, etc.), most of my pretty projects are on hold.

But I am halfway through and there is a tiny BOY growing in my belly! I am thankful and excited (albeit nervous - who knows what to do with a boy?!).

Here is a fun comparison of bellies at 20 weeks. I feel enormous compared to the first time around, but seeing the picture doesn't do that feeling any justice. ha!

I finally started back to teaching my piano students (no one fired me, yay!) last week and while I am struggling with fatigue due to pregnancy insomnia and more motion sickness than I had with the girl, I am doing well.

A final note: for the pray-ers in my life, I went into preterm labor with my sweet girl at 24 weeks and was on complete bedrest from week 25-36 with her. This pregnancy has been totally different, but my body may end up doing the same thing. Or, it may not. We are watching things closely with my doctor, but I ask that you pray we don't have to weather almost 3 months of bedrest with an energetic 4 year old this summer ... or with an already weakened prego either. It would be awesome to be able to keep up my strength until October 1.

I'll pop in and out of here in the next few months, but for now, the blog is on hold. I know the world will not be the same without it - ha!

little handsome man - onesie vest and bowtie diy

Lately I've been honing my sewing skills by upcycling an old pair of my dad's dress pants into a cute little size 18 month onesie vest and bowtie complete with little shorts! My nephew needed something to wear to a family wedding, and my sister found THIS inspiration. I offered to try. And it worked!

There was no tutorial, but I pretty much copied it exactly from the picture... with a green polka dot bowtie and pocket square and three buttons instead of two. But pretty much the same.

I drew out my own rough pattern on old packing paper so I'd at least get both sides of the vest symmetrical - and the rest came together so quickly! I found a thrifted napkin (seen here) that would work perfectly and hoped that polka dots wouldn't be too feminine.

Um, how baby manly can you get?! :-)

Then I tried my hand at little shorts - mostly using Dana's pant tutorial and a pair of Ladybug's old jeans. I used the old waistband from the pants and had a few trial and error/imperfections to work out, but on the whole I'm pleased. My favorite parts are the little faux front pockets and the little coordinating fabric in the back.

front:

back:

Now we just have to wait and see if they fit this little guy for his uncle's wedding. I'll update and get pictures of it on this sweet guy after the wedding in June!

Update: With the exception of rolling up the shorts, it fit! See it on him HERE. 

a grey and yellow nursery (girl version)

While Asa's nursery was dark and boy, Ella's nursery is soft and whimsical. It's amazing that two nurseries of the same color scheme can be so different!

(Ella's room is on the side of the house without much light and I didn't have our tripod, so excuse the slightly yellow photos, please!)

The walls are a very soft gray. The curtain, a bright canary yellow.

Isn't the rocking chair sweet?

Custom art pieces fill E's house, and the nursery is no exception. Here is a dreamy painting of a tree (which has now been accompanied by several gorgeous paper flowers surrounding it! I wish I would've snapped another picture.)

However, in my opinion, the curtain is by far the show stopper of the room - handmade by E. Isn't the smocking gorgeous?!

Her crib linens are technically "mismatched" but they still go together so well! Mixing patterns is something I love but have a difficult time achieving.

Another art piece - this one upcycled and bunting-like streamers criss-cross the air. Something for sweet Ella to stare at in her crib... 

E included some vintage (chair, stool) and more whimsical decor. Recognize this?

E! Thanks for letting me feature Ella's nursery!

I love the contrast between both of the gray and yellow nurseries. Soft vs. bold, matching vs. mixing, dark vs. light, whimsical girl vs. graphic boy.

What fun decorating is!

a gray and yellow nursery (boy version)

I have been waiting several months to do my boy/girl gray and yellow nursery features - and here is the first!

We finally met my nephew, Asa, a couple weeks ago and it was a family effort finishing up the nursery and prepping it for the photo shoot. ("Photo shoot" being used very loosely here, folks.)

There was still enough light when we finished up and snapped the photos.

Besides gray and yellow, you will quickly see that Asa's room is owl-themed.

My BIL, Shawn, is quite the artist and designed and painted the "Asa" mural above the crib. Three walls are a slate gray and window wall is golden yellow. Crib linens will be featured tomorrow, so I won't go into them but see the peek of gray rug? IKEA!

Several of the decorative owls were found at Hobby Lobby. I also had a few squares of wood from a failed decor project that I brought along with three wooden initials. We painted the squares yellow and the "AMH" white. Cute, no?

Shawn is also quite handy with a bottle of spray paint and perfectly coated this ceramic owl. I think he's my favorite one!

And, remember the 9-square shelf for Ladybug's nursery? My dad built another but this time a custom built-in window shelf and bookcase! So impressive.

Jenn fell in love with these prints on Etsy and I quickly told her I could easily duplicate them in InDesign. So I did.

The full-size dresser was a thrifted find that they painted and then my preggo sister helped haul it up the stairs! Sheesh!

While we were there J&S came across a discarded garage sale lamp on the neighbor's curb - in all it's floraly goodness. But, seeing past the flowers, they saw a great lamp and Shawn used his mad spray painting skills (seriously, I'm jealous. He's that good.) to get this lamp in tip-top shape. Doesn't it look amazing? Practically brand new!

(I just realized I don't have a full-picture of the built-in, but every picture I took facing the window is awful! The other half is up a few pictures.)

We had fun "staging" the shelves.

Even the littlest details were thought of, like fan pulls.

And that's it! What do you think? Didn't it pull together nicely?

I really, really like it - J&S the hard work was worth it!

toddler discovers shredder

... this is what happens when a certain toddler goes to work with Mama only to discover change in the drawer and a shredder in the corner.

At least the reverse still works! (Oops.)

a couple new shop items (*gasp!*)

It's been awhile, hasn't it? The summer has been slow going for the shop, so I've tried not to go thrifting too much. That always gets me in trouble.

But, the other day I had the itch and the girl and I drove out to one of my favorite thrift spots.

I found these adorable crop tops - although I don't think I'd ever put my child in one,  they are so cute and summery!

another sweet pink dress ... (I think I need to sell these as a lot for someone and get some other colors in my line!)

A sweet little yellow toddler nightgown...

And a summer sweatersuit from West Germany - I include that tidbit because from the tag (that says: "Made in West Germany"), I can tell it was manufactured at least from 1990 or before which makes it vintage for sure! (Because West Germany was no more at the end of 1990.) It's in really great condition although like the crop tops, I'm not sure I'd put a baby in a sweater for 100 degree temps, but it's still cute.

Feel free to stop by the shop or click the button on the right side of my blog to visit! I'm slowly clearing out my sale items and hope to have my new all-baby/children's schätzli shop up by Sept. 1. I'm still not sure if I'm going to open another shop - like schätzlipatterns or something like that, but I'm deciding. Too much great vintage for one person!! 

Wish me luck and I'll be back with another shop update at the beginning of the fall. 

Ciao!

Some neat nursery additions.

I'm horribly late to the draw on this one. But last year, we added some fun little additions to Ladybug's room and I wanted to show them off.

For Christmas, Uncle Ryan and Erin got her the cutest little canvas growth chart. Very needed to chart this girl's growth! I think I'll measure her on birthdays and half-birthdays for now.  There are two little marks down at the bottom at 28" (12 months) and 31" (18 months). Yay for sweet, sweet growth charts. As long as she doesn't rip it off the wall, we're good.

A verse I can't stop relating to our sweet little girl after all of the troubles we had getting her here.
So I made some subway art for her room. I still have yet to hang it up, but I kind of like it on her side table. So, there it stays for now. Love these IKEA frames that hold 8-1/2" x 11" paper. So convenient not to edit to 8x10!

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Shawn made this amazing letter art for her first birthday last year and it sits on her big shelf. So pretty and creative! I love it - something that isn't too babyish that will grow with her.

Remember my post about nursery curtains? No, of course you don't. It's been over a year!! Well, friends, I've finally taken your advice and this weekend I finished her curtains. Hip hip hooray!

(Excuse the photos - it's really difficult to photograph a sunny window!!) I prefer curtains to the floor or short, but these aren't too bad for in between. I'm so happy I finished these - I hate unfinished projects.

Yay! Love these additions. Thanks to the aunties and uncles who contributed.

an OWL nursery

My soon-to-be nephew, Asa, is coming in August and I've offered to help with the nursery fixin's!

J & S have decided on a yellow/gray nursery theme with owl accents. Here is their inspiration photo. Lovely, huh? I heart these colors together!!!

source

Before I knew the nursery or gender details, I did know about the owls, so I have been collecting DIY owl ideas as I came across them. So much fun! Once they found out it was a boy and that the colors were yellow and gray, I decided to make a little owl lovey for Asa.

Here's the tutorial from Make it and Love it. Hers is more plush, but I used mostly felt because I was on a budget. And it's still soft and sweet.

I found a remnant of yellow felt at JoAnns - 50% off. Score! So I used that for the main body pieces (because the squares you can buy are too small). At Hobby Lobby I picked up a 25 cent sheet of gray for the wings and orange for the beak/feet. The green came from the scrap bag.

The directions were fairly easy to follow and I stuffed him full of batting leftover from my headboard project. It was flat batting and even though I tore it into manageable pieces - I still thought he was a little lumpy. Not too bad though. Gotta use what you have!

What a loveable lovey. I can't wait for Asa to pose with him!! :-)

Finally, I'm waist deep in nursery sewing projects. Instead of sewing for the nursery over the trip, I actually sewed for Jenn (a shortened a gown and sewed in curtain linings) and brought home the chevron nursery fabric instead. It's probably for the best, so I can just take my time and not feel rushed to finish in 4 days. We're making the crib sheets, skirts and bumper all based on the inspiration photo below.

source

We're also sewing pillows and curtains. I'm finished with one sheet (thanks to MADE) and just beginning the crib skirt. Lots more sewing to do!

When the nursery sewing projects are more complete, I'll update my progress in pictures and then feature the whole nursery later this summer.

I'm psyched. Totally.

Replacing Worn-out Elastic in Vintage Clothing

So I decided to brave an attempt at fixing some sleeves on my little vintage dresses. Two had the exact same problem: worn out elastic in the sleeves. Otherwise they are in excellent shape!

So I whipped out my trusty elastic thread and went to work.

(Excuse the bad lighting in the photos...)

After I took out the old elastic, I was left with this:

I sewed around the sleeve following the old sewing marks with some elastic thread and tada! Re-ruffled sleeves.

What a difference, right!?

Here's the other: before...

... and after! Much better.

I also took it around the waist of these pink corduroy overalls, but the effect wasn't quite as great because of how heavy the corduroy is. It worked okay, though. I'm good with how they look now.

I love elastic thread! What's your secret sewing weapon??

A few new shop finds for Easter.

I had some glorious hours last Friday all to myself. I got an orange pedicure... (complete with iced Passion tea from the 'bucks)...

... and went thrifting! (Totally my new favorite pastime.)

Here are some fun things I found.

a Polly Flinders size 7 smocked dress. I'm in love!

the sweetest Easter dress - complete with bunnies and daffodils

Two more 1970s jumpers!! Not nearly as sweet as the strawberry jumpsuit, but very, very cute.

I adore this polyester nautical jacket. Not very summery, but I'm listing it anyway. People are crazy for the nautical stuff.

And remember the little cowboy button-up?  I went back and found the pants that matched!! hahaha! (And sold it this week -yay!)

Thrifting. *sigh* it's so much fun.