Great Trick

I just love that braided collar on this darling little dress Ashley made for her little girl. It's so unique, refreshing, and the best part, it stretches! (my little caterpillar has a huge head!) I will definitely try this one someday. Actually I recently repurposed one of my old t-shirt into a halter dress for my girl, the print is almost identical to this one! Love it how great minds (mine is not as great, but does have some great ideas once a while) work the same way! I will show you mine once I finish the matching capris I made from the cut off sleeves. Want to make Ashley's darling little dress? Don't know how to make the braid? Don't worry! Ashley also has a tutorial on that. Ashley's blog Make It Love It is one of my favorites. She is insanely talented, and so generous, she shares tons of great tutorials on her blog. Check out what she did to a simple flip-flop!
She also inspired me to recover our jogging stroller. Look at this amazing tutorial on recovering a carseat.
She made everything look so easy! And she has fabulous taste on fabric and everything else! Wish I had time to copy everything on her tutorials. Jump over and see what inspires you for your next DIY project.

Garden Updates

No word needed here! Just enjoy!
Side of our deck. No pink Nicotiana this year! Sad! But the white ones are strong, and very fragrant.
Side of the driveway. Should take some close up pics of those gorgeous purple-cone-flowers.

Behold Our New Jogging Stroller

Ta-Dah! Our brand new jogging stroller! Or should we say, brand new stroller cover! Isn't she a beauty! Yeah, I decided this jogging stroller is a girl, it has cute black and white floral fabric for my little caterpillar. Well, I wanted to take some in progress pictures, but there is nothing special about making this cover. I just took the old one apart, using them as pattern to cut new fabric and batting, then sew them back just like the old one! Not hard, just tedious! But it's absolutely worth all my efforts, both Stubborn and little caterpillar loved it! She even climbed up and sat in it while I was still installing it. Stubborn worried about me making it too girly (won't match the black frame), or screwing up entirely, so I was very happy that he liked my fabric choice. Although I had a totally different color combination in mind, I couldn't convince myself to buy new fabric, while I have a huge stash in the basement already. I wanted this new seat to be as strong as it could possibly be, so that ruled out all my lovely cotton and linen. I bought lots of those sample square upholstery fabric ($.50 each) at the old FabricPlace before it closed down. I loved that place, and was devastated when I heard the news, but I seized the opportunity and bought tons of fabric on super deep sales. Anyway, I think I used about $10 worth of my fabric (plus some new batting) to make this new cover. Still have some leftovers for the shade, if I can figure out how to take it apart. For now, our lovely "new" jogging stroller just have to stick to the ugly old shade! But at least it's blackish (very faded), so not so obvious. I reused the original straps and buckles, so I don't destroy the integrity. I also reused the old mesh for ventilation. I couldn't reuse the old bias tape, so I made my own with the same stipe fabric. Some extra batting, and Wa-lah! This is how it looks like when the back is totally lowered. Remember I said some extra batting? That sounded like a great idea, provides extra comfort for my girl. But it's not that great at the end of the process. The last step I did was fold the bottom and fold it again to create a pocket to hold the seat frame. There are 2 layers of fabric and 2 layers of batting before folding, and there were 4 times that after all the folding! I couldn't even feed them into my sewing machine! The result, I squeezed and pushed and pulled one side through, and broke my needle! I couldn't find all my sewing machine attachments (all in one small bag), I had to finish it by hand. See, not so good looking, but it will hold until I find a new needle.
There you have it, story about our new "old" jogging stroller. If I ever figure out about the shade there will be another post for that, otherwise, this is it! I am done! Finally one item off my to do list. Again, here is the before and after picture! I just love to staring at it, and feel proud of myself!

Projects That Teasing Me Now

I have been surfing the blog world like usual, did I tell you that I am addicted to reading about other people's life, looking at other people's babies, and admiring their brilliant crafting or sewing projects? OK, you probably knew this already. Here are just some new ones I found, and so desperately want to go home and make them for my little caterpillar. Not that she really need more clothes, she might have enough clothes to rotate a month already. Hehe!

Found this at Girl Inspired. Just by looking at the picture, you can never guess this adorable boutique style outfit is made from a adult T-shirt! Check out the amazingly simple tutorial on how to make this adorable top and matching pants.

How about this cute Button Top from Shwin and Shwin? I love dress my little caterpillar with those very girly dresses, but I love these earthy color paired with simple design (kind of like those Japanese sewing books) even more. I thrifted some linen shirts before, this might be the perfect project for them. Oh, while you are there, you should check out all her other tutorials as well! I am drooling over these super cute outfits now! I can literally hear Stubborn calling for me at the basement door (my sewing place is in the basement) "Time For Bed!!!"

And there was another sew-along dress I saw earlier this week. Just cannot find it now. It's so simple, yet so darling. I actually dream about making it! Well, this should be enough eye candy for today. Go get inspired, and make something beautiful this weekend.

Jogging Stroller WIP

Remember the "new" jogging stroller I showed you last time? Did I tell you we were so excited, didn't even check the fabric for damage? Let me tell you, there are a lot. First thing I saw was how dingy the seat was, then all the torn seams! Like these,
It's not only too dirty, but also unsafe for my baby to ride it. So, I did what I never thought I'd dare to, took it apart! Well, there is nothing to worry about, I found a great tutorial on how to recover a baby carseat! OK, it's not about jogging stroller, but it covers all the basics, and there is not much difference between covering a carseat and a stroller. So, this is what the stroller seat looked like after 2 hours.
Am I brave or crazy? Will show you more process later. Hope I won't totally screw up, because that jogging stroller is useless without a seat! Which means $50 down the drain. Well, let's just consider we donated that money to charity (that yardsale was for charity).

Perfect Weekend

OK, did you had enough of negativity on my blog lately? I sure did. This past weekend was the perfect chance to bring some happiness back to our life.

First thing first, you got to go thrifting on a warm sunny Sat! Am I right? I saw a couple of postings on Craig's list last week about this yardsale, or should we say items there were going to be at this yardsale. We have been thinking about getting a jogging stroller, so Stubborn can take little caterpillar out running more often, so he will get more exercise and she will have more fresh air. Of course, that means some quiet time for me to cook or clean. Well, it's not that we couldn't afford a new jogging stroller, it's just we really don't know how often we are going to use it, and whether little caterpillar will like it or not. So, we decided to thrift one first. Ta-Dah! Isn't it great? Another angle. Oh yeah, the deck floor I refinished last year still holding up really well. And see my new deck gate in action?

OK, enough with the stroller, there are more to that story, I will tell you all about that another time. Well, Stubborn heard about this sand sculpture event at Revere Beach, and we decide to take this "new" stroller for a test run. Yeah, I washed it already, so we packed a wet stroller in the trunk with all our other beach stuffs. Didn't have enough space for all 3 beach chairs, so we decided to take none! A beach hut, big beach towel should be plenty. Oh, we were so happy we went there. Those sand sculptures are amazing, and those artists (from all over the country) are just so talented. See more pictures at my flickr.

And there were live music
mary go round
and lots of playing in the water
and again,
and again!
Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well. I am working on multiple projects at the same time, will share them with you as soon as they are done.

Bad Luck Spreaded

Oh no, I didn't fall again! Thank goodness. My back and foot is actually getting better, very slowly, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. It's little caterpillar and Stubborn. They are both sick!

Little caterpillar had running nose for several days, we thought it was just those "daycare nose" thing. So we were still kissing her all the time. Then Stubborn got it from her, plus more. Yeah, running nose, sore throat and coughing! He is a big guy, looks very strong, but everytime there is something around, he will pick it up. And you know what, whenever he gets just a little bit temperature or cough a little bit, he will complain non-stop, saying he feels like dying! OK, suck it up! I almost broke my back and my toe, and I have been in so much pain for the past week, yet I still had to do the laundry, cook dinner (normally 4 dishes and a soup, but down to 2 or 3 dishes and a soup this week), and clean the house! Who was helping me? And did you hear me complaining like that? Sometimes he can be such a baby!

Then little caterpillar started diarrhea yesterday. The poor thing pooped every hour! The daycare called Stubborn to pick her up earlier, and she has to stay home today. But at least she was and still is in good mood, and very playful. Her poor little bottom is so red, looks like a monkey's behind. We started giving her some traditional Chinese herb medicine, lots of Pedialyte and water, and soft food, oh yeah, yogurt. Hope this is just a stomach bug, and will go away fast. Little caterpillar is still picking up everything and then putting them in her mouth! How long will this stage last!?

Anyway, looks like this weekend will be another "relaxed" one. We cannot really go out with her like this. Oh, did I mention that I was having diarrhea as well, also my throat hurts too. But I have to suck it up, and be a good mom and wife, take care of those two! So miss the days I was still my mom's daughter, not someone else's wife. Sorry about the complaining! I really needed to vent it out. There are some refashion and sewing projects coming up soon. Yes, I have been sewing with a almost broken back.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Bad Luck Weekend

Last weekend we had pretty bad luck over here. It all started great. Stubborn went back to lab for some experiment that has to be done on a weekend, I did another happy photoshot of my little caterpillar right in their lobby. Did I mention their company has a lobby that looks like a tropical jungle? After a great lunch, we came home. We let her playing in the yard wearing that gorgeous dress. Bad idea. The dress was too wide, she ended up stepping on it and fell. The poor thing's knee was bleeding! Not too bad though, she didn't even want to stop playing.

Anyway, I found myself a bit restless during her nap. I washed both cars. Then I thougth why waste all these car wash detergent? I can clean the porch railing and floor with it. Well, the railing part went pretty well. I got rid off all those bird poops and layers of dirt. I sprayed them clean with the garden hoes. I also wet the floor. Of course, I was holding the garden hoes. Then I turned around to get the bucket, I slipped and went flying. I fell down the stairs, landed on my lowerback on the wooden stairs. I was in shock, and a lot of pain. I didn't dare to get up by myself, so I quietly screamed for Stubborn (didn't want to wake up my girl). I felt so embarrassed! I had never fell in my life! Even though I was in lots of pain, I thought I could just walk it off. So, I still did some gardening after that. An hour later, when I finally got back inside, the pain was too much. I laid face down on sofa, so Stubborn could put some oil on my back. Well, little caterpillar was very playful after a long nap. She decided that was a great chance to ride mommy! YOu can imagine how loud I screamed. I was crying uncontrollable, Stubborn had to grab her and run upstairs.

The next day, Stubborn left for work again. Since I was in too much pain, I stayed home with my little girl. We were coming down from the second floor, I didn't want to carry her, worrying about dropping her. She was playing on the stairs, so I turned around to make sure she was not going to fall. Well, I slipped again! This time, my left big toe prevented me from falling all the way down. I thought I broke it. When I called Stubborn telling him that I fell again, he thought I was joking.

So, for the past several days, I have been walking around like an old lady, couldn't sit down or get up easily. Couldn't sleep well either. So I got really dizzy and couldn't go to work yesterday. Well, at least the x-ray result says I didn't break any bones. But how long will these bruises last? Now little caterpillar knows about my pain, she tried to comforting me everytime I screamed and cried. She said "mommy's in pain", "mommy's crying", while making the pain and crying sad faces. What a sweetheart! Hopefully my back can recover fast, so I can pick her up again.

The Kelleher Rose Garden

Everyday my shuttle passes by this wonderful place near Museum of Fine Arts and Fenway. Finally went there with AK last week. It's much better than I thought, and much bigger too. They have over 10 classes and 200 varieties of roses. Almost 1500 plants! Wish you can smell them while reading this post. For more pictures, please go to my flickr set The Kelleher Rose Garden.