Maternity Skirts- Simplicity 1359

I made these skirts in early December and have been wearing them fairly regularly with tights or with fleece-lined leggings. You make the pattern in your pre-pregnancy size and it came out perfectly fine. It is a simple pencil skirt with a belly pattern with no ruching, which I personally dislike. The waist is elastic, so you can adjust it to fit. 

I took all of these pictures with a self-timer after school one day before the light disappears at about 4pm.

 I made three from knits from Jo-Ann. I made simple black one because I was tired of how my maxi skirts would bunch up around my tights. These are all a size 8. 

So neutral...

 I am still wearing all regular tops, nothing specifically for maternity. This is an Ann Taylor Loft one that was always a little big, and all of my Target tops are super stretchy and still work.

Side view-32 weeks pregnant

 This one is a grey knit with small gold polka dots. The side picture was super blurry, but you get the idea.

 This one is my favorite- a very 90s inspired neon cheetah print knit.

 I still look mostly like old Molly from the back (and I really need a haircut!)

 I always wear my shirt over the skirt, but this is just for your amusement! I look like I'm stealing a bowling ball!

I got the pattern on sale for $1 and it also has shirts, pants and a long skirt. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to sew some simple and easy maternity clothes!! It's only four pieces and I made all three assembly-line style in just a few hours. Plus, they are stretchy knits so you will get a decent amount of wear out of them.

Only five more weeks and it's baby time!!

Christmas Croissants

While in Oregon over Xmas, Andrew, my mom, my dad and I made croissants. They are incredibly time consuming, so none of us had ever attempted them before. It took four people three days to make them, but they turned out to be delicious! My parents got a marble pastry slab for Xmas, so that helped too.

I forget the recipe we used, but you make the dough and let is rise several times. Then you roll it out with butter and then wrap it in plastic and let it rise in the fridge. You repeat that a billion times (Andrew did all of the rolling) and then cut them into triangles and roll them up. Then you let that rise again and bake them.

 They did turn out to be beautiful and were really good!

Since Xmas, we have been making a lot of bread- in large part due to the radiator heat. The house is tropically hot and the yeast goes crazy. I'll make a summary post later when I upload the pictures from my phone!

A nice green dress for Xmas- Simplicity 1360

 I wanted to make another version of Simplicity 1360, which I made over Thanksgiving break. I wanted to make a green one, both for general wearing and to have a holiday dress that fits. Jo-Ann of course had no green knits that were nice or the right shade of green. I ended up buying this from fabrics.com with some baby fabric; it is a hunter green bamboo rayon.

 But they had my old credit card number saved, and I was forced to get a new number with the Home Depot data breach. Then I had to fix the number after getting an email like five days later and I didn't think I would get the fabric in time to make the dress. Luckily, I got the fabric on Wednesday and I was able to cut it out on Wednesday night and then sew it up on Thursday.

Sadly, I couldn't find my Santa hat, but I got to have a reasonably festive outfit for our class party on the last day before winter break!

I did a much better job on the knot the second time around!

 This is from mid-December and I am much bigger now.

 Nice and simple back.

 I always blink. I still have quite a few pairs of tights that fit and can be pulled up over my belly (these are from Forever 21) so that's good. This week has been super cold and I am LOVING my fleece lined leggings I bought from Charlotte Russe. How did I not own any last winter?!? They are so warm and comfy and they have no elastic in the waist, so I will be able to wear them until the baby is born.

I cut out the same dress in a purple knit when I cut out the green, so I will whip that up soon and then I will have three! Perfect! They are great dresses and I will be able to wear them post-birth as my stomach (hopefully) resumes its previous shape.

The Finished Baby Quilt for Vicky!

I apparently started this quilt at the end of June, meaning to finish it by the time her baby was born in August. I, unsurprisingly, did not finish it in time at all.

Here is the post with the fabrics I chose, and it had to be gender neutral since they wanted to be surprised. They had a boy, though and he is super cute!

So I started the quilt in the summer and made good progress on it before we went to Europe for two weeks. Then I had misread the amount I needed for the grey fabric, so I had to order more from fabrics.com and wait for it to arrive. That all overlapped with school starting and feeling exponentially tired until around Halloween, when I started feel peppier.

I finished up her quilt in November and dropped it off at Windy City Quilting to have the actual quilting done. I doubt I could do that on my machine and I wanted it to look really nice. She did a pattern called "bubbles" on it and it only cost about $70. She did a great job and is in the NW suburbs near O'Hare, so not very far away at all.

She said she had about 35 quilts in line to do, but she would try to squeeze it in before Xmas because it was a small quilt. She total delivered and I got it in the beginning of December! Then I did the binding on my machine and the quilt saga was FINALLY complete. Just in time to bring it to Oregon at Xmas and give it Vicky in person!

And now some pictures...

Back from quilting, but before binding.

the front

front close up

 The back is the animal print's corresponding fabric with the alphabet. Very cute!

the back

 After binding, the finished quilt!

folded in half

the front

folded to show a little of the back too

tall Andrew holding up the front

the full back

I am super proud of this quilt. I think it is adorable and I put a lot of work into it and I hope baby Monroe enjoys it for many years to come!

Handmade Baby Things from Grandma!

My mom made a bunch of baby things and sent them to us in early December. They are so cute and I'm starting to really feel excited since his arrival is only seven weeks away!

Mom made a cute fleece blanket that matches...

 An adorable baby quilt with appliqued animals. Plus she did a great job on the binding, and I know because I just finished Vicky's quilt and my own binding was kinda mediocre.

 Close-up

So cute!

 And she made him a sleep sack with a monkey...

 And then three outfits from a vintage baby pattern that she found!

tiny

medium

big!

That was really sweet and they are all so cute! I can't wait until he is born and I can put him in all these tiny adorable clothes and take a picture of him on his baby quilt!

Thanks, (soon-to-be) Grandma!