Crochet Flower Headband

*I am a Craftsy affiliate and this post does contain affiliate link, all opinions are my own.*

I crocheted something!!!  I saw this headband pattern on Craftsy a while back and I knew I had to make it for Violet.  Learning how to crochet has been a goal of mine since before I had children so I stopped trying to "teach myself" and I took a beginners crochet class at Article Pract in Oakland last year.  In the two-part class I learned the basic crochet stitches and I made a cute bunny!  After the second class meeting I started making a scarf but I never finished it and when I tried to finish it months later I had completely forgotten everything I had learned in the class.  

I was determined to make this headband for Violet so I contacted my instructor and scheduled a private lesson to refresh my memory.  Kira (my crochet instructor) helped me get started on my project and she gave me some tips on completing the project.  This headband pattern (size newborn to 10 years old) is really a great pattern for any beginner and the results are cute and satisfying, I recommend giving it a try!

4 Down, 26 To Go (Vogue 1236 Pattern Review)

I made myself a dress!!! I was very excited when I finished the dress and horrified when I finally tried it on.  I haven't blogged about it yet because I had to re-take pictures of me wearing it and I never really wore it again after I realized how frumpy it made me look.

I bought Vogue 1236 a year ago and I intended to sew it to hide the baby weight, but I never got around to sewing it.  I'm sure it'd do the job well in the future but who wants to look big when they already feel big after having a baby (did I tell you I gained 65lbs during my pregnancy)?  

Last summer when I saw this pattern, I loved the dress in the picture and I thought I'd make one similar (with seersucker striped fabric). I shopped for seersucker fabric but I never found any (in store or online) that I loved so I waited (and waited). I finally decided to give up and buy red stripe seersucker fabric, and while reading the yardage requirements on the pattern I noticed that it also said chambray as a suggested fabric. I had enough chambray in my fabric stash so I used that instead of buying seersucker.

Source: voguepatterns.mccall.com via Ashley on Pinterest

The pattern was simple with few steps and the dress came together easily (although I did add a few steps of my own).  I serged all my raw edges because the chambray fabric I used is thin and frail. The pattern instructions say to overcast part of the shoulder seam (and the belt) where the opening was left, but I didn't want to do that so I top stitched close to the edge of the shoulder and arm hole area.  My top stitching closed the opening and helped keep my facing down. I used feather weight interfacing but it refused to lay nicely on the inside of the dress (and if I bend over you can see down my dress, eek!).  I didn't add the lingerie snaps or the belt hoops because I didn't think they were important.

If I was to make this dress again I would shorten the straps and try it without interfacing, I'm petite (barely 5' 1") and the arm hole dropped down too much and shows off my bra.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the dress because I think it looks like a poofy disaster on me.  The combination of the material and the cut just don't do me any favors.  The moral of this story is don't rely on pattern pictures because they use models (who are tall and tend not to look short and frumpy in things!).  Also, make a muslin first and save money to buy a dress form!

2 down, 28 to go

For my son's first birthday party I baked 48 cupcakes and a cake so I figured it would be a great opportunity to try making my own icing to frost my baked goods.  I tried cream cheese frosting and I wasn't a fan of the flavor so I tried making buttercream frosting, success!  I'm definitely going to have to make some more of this stuff!  You can find the recipe I used here.

1 Down, 29 To Go!

Wooohooo, one thing checked off my list!  I finally made lasagna...ok, I made lasagna cupcakes.  That still counts, right??

I pinned this recipe a while back and I looked for wonton wrappers forever.  I tried Safeway, Lucky's, and Trader Joe's (almost everywhere except Ranch 99, which should have been the first place to look...lol!).  I finally found wonton wrappers in the produce section of Safeway.  The brand I found is organic and they are already cut in a circle so that eliminated one step of the recipe.  The receipe was easy and it wouldn't have taken very long to make if I had left the meat out to defrost while I was at work.  Oh well, next time I'll remember to do that.

If you want to see my other pinned recipes, you can follow my on pinterest: 

Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Ashley on Pinterest

30 Before 30

I'm getting closer to 30 and there are a lot of things that I haven't done in my life so I thought I should create a list of 30 things that I would like to do before I turn 30.

No laughing please...

1. Learn to crochet (for real) DONE
2. Learn to knit
3. Learn candle making
4. Learn to print and screenprint fabric
5. Learn to cross stitch
6. Go to Hawaii (again)
7. Learn how to make Bosnian Pita
8. Learn how to make icing  DONE
9. Have another baby  DONE
10. Sew a dress for myself  DONE
11. Sew a suit
12. Organize my large amount of shoes
13. Master pattern making
14. Learn how to use Photoshop
15. Organize my house!
16. Make French toast
17. Make lasagna  DONE
18. Plant a fruit and veggie garden
19. Fix up my sewing room
20. Learn how to make sushi at home
21. Learn how to take better self-portraits
22. Improve my Croatian and Spanish skills
23. Make my own bokeh
24. DIY decorate a pair of shoes
25. Make a great thrift store find!
26. Refashion something
27. Go on a picnic  DONE
28. Upcycle something
29. Buy a set of matching dishes for the kitchen
30. Learn how to make a cappuccino