Hall Closet

The dreaded hall closet.  Or perhaps linen closet is a more accurate description.  It houses things like our towels, first aid stuff, make up, lotion, etc.  But no matter the nomenclature it. was. ugly.  We have lived in this house for almost four years, and at least 50% of the stuff in here was stuff we just bagged up from our old apartment and threw in here.  Why?  Why did we do that?  Probably because while moving we didn't have time to actually go through the stuff we didn't even use there!  I just can't believe we took the effort to move bags of old make up and lotion to our new house so it could sit unused for four years.  Oh well, we live, we learn, we purge.   I also remember that feeling when we first moved here from a small apartment, before kids, and had entire unused rooms and thought, oh my gosh, how will we ever fill all this space?  Ha ha ha.  Anyway, it was a balancing act of a closet, anytime I wanted to throw in a new bottle of ibuprofen it would literally fall off a shelf.  I had the opportunity to do this closet this week thanks to several factors.... school vacation (my mother in law was home....) and low census call day at work (I didn't have to go in....) so, I had a whole morning with no children, one with my mother in law and one with my mom.  It was great.  Not only did I do this closet, I did other spring cleaning!  It was amazing.  This project consisted mostly of tossing old, half used, some unused bathing/bath/makeup products which are brands I don't use.  It was interesting to see how much some things in my life have changed (like, remember when I used to get every Clinique give away that existed?)  Needless to say, there was a lot of unused wrinkle cream and Clinique Happy perfume samples.   (I love that I thought I needed wrinkle cream when I was twenty-six!)
I tried to recycle all the containers I could and not just toss things right in the trash, but my compromise was with the old nail polish.  I tried to empty the actual nail polish in the trash and recycle the bottle but I seriously thought I was going to poison myself with fumes the smell was so strong and toxic!  I had to open all the windows for like two hours, I was glad the kids weren't home.  Any suggestions for disposing of old beauty/bath products in an environmentally friendly way?  I hate just tossing things in the trash I feel so wasteful. 

Now as for the after I know what you're thinking 'It doesn't actually look that clean or organized?" (It's also a terrible dark picture, but oh well)   because that's what I'm thinking when I look at this picture.  What can I say, organization has never been my thing.  I'm still toying with the idea of buying small sorting bins/baskets for some stuff, but I have a strong history of buying organizational 'things' and making clutter out of them somehow.   I am just happy there is so much free space on the shelves! 

Wiksten Tank

This is only my third year sewing, so I'm so excited to finally take part in the Spring Top Sewalong hosted by Rae!  Two years ago I was a beginner and was sewing my first pair of Quick Change Trousers and barely keeping a straight line....  and last year I was eight months pregnant and dreaming of someday making cute tops for myself.  And that day has finally come!   (Although there are definitely some adorable maternity tops in the Flickr pool)  I've been going slow making clothes for myself, I started two years ago with the Amy Butler Barcelona Skirt, and this winter I made myself two of Meg's Schoolhouse Tunics, which I have yet to share here.  So, I have had my eye on the Wiksten tank since I've been seeing it all over blogland and it looked comfortable and easy.  I haven't made myself anything yet where fit has been too much of an issue (as in bust darts, which seem so scary to me...why?)  This has been just fine as I am nursing Amelia and waiting to drop a final few pounds post baby weight, so flowy, comfy garments have been just peachy and this tank seemed to have all that.

I have to say, I love wearing it, it feels so soft but I didn't so much love sewing it.  Well, it's not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just that I thought it would sew up quicker than it did.  Ahhh expectations, I really should just learn not to have any, right?   The bias binding came out great, but was a little fussier to attach to the neckline than I expected, at least to get it to look nice.   I chose a really soft, light purple/grey shot cotton, and I also bought some voile but I made the first round in the (cheaper) shot cotton to be sure of fit.  This whole nursing thing messes up all my measurements, the same thing happened with the Schoolhouse Tunic where my bust measurements said to make a large, but I had to take it in so much everywhere else I think I will just make the medium the second go-round.  So, obviously figuring that fit issue out adds to the sewing time, but I learned some lessons here and that is always important.  Taking the time (not rushing!) to figure out fit is key, spending time on a garment only to have it fit as well as something you bought for $10 bucks at Target is not going to make me happy.  This is probably not news to anybody but me.   I also learned that with a simple color, and solid fabric, having nice looking seams and neckline is really important, because they show!  You can't hide your wonky hem stitching in a bright print. 

So, maybe the second one in voile will take me less time, or maybe I will take these lessons to heart, that the enjoyment of sewing should be in the process and not just in a quickly finished garment.  Or, I should expect to save the quick results and rushed hemming for things like kid jammies.  Looks like this second voile Wiksten will have to wait though, I just realized next week is Kids Clothes Week!  Because more self-imposed deadlines are just what I need to apply the above lessons, right?  It seems time to finally make a Geranium!

Project Simplify 2013

I have really been feeling the itch for spring cleaning since, I don't know, February?  So I was excited to see Project Simplify on SimpleMom and figured I would give it a go.  What I love about her is the no pressure, do as much or as little as you want attitude. Somehow that makes it seem so more manageable.... if I can tackle one shelf, one closet I will feel accomplished rather than give myself the lofty and impossible goal of tackling the whole house. 

So, this week I started small and easy with this large bookshelf.  The before is on the left, the after on the right.  It stands in our living area, next to the front door so it's definitely a main part of our house.  It holds cookbooks and I have slowly been converting the lower half of it to hold art supplies for Claire.  However, the bookshelf is overstacked and unorganized, the middle shelf has become a catch all for everything we pick up off the floor but aren't sure where to put, and Claire's art stuff consists full of broken crayons and stacks of drawings.  Clearing this off has been important to me lately because I really want to create easily accessible art supplies for Claire to inspire creativity and allow her to create art without being prompted by me.  And I just made it in under the wire, as the second week of Project Simplify starts tomorrow!  I just barely managed to do this today while the girls were napping, while also cleaning up after lunch and the morning.  After working all weekend and working again tomorrow this was just about all I could handle!  But seriously, I really do feel a sense of satisfaction, even for such a small project!  This success gets me motivated to start on this weeks task of closets and boy do I have one nasty hall closet to tackle!  
Update: As you can see, the playdough and tools are all by themselves, easily accessible on the bottom shelf and I did notice that Claire played independently yesterday after her nap with the play dough for the longest time probably ever.  She spent over an hour with her farm animals and play dough, covering them in playdough, putting them to sleep in play dough, you name it.  It was really cute, and hopefully inspired by an uncluttered art area!  

Matching Deer Skirts

I can't believe that Amelia is 10 months old and this is the first time I have made something matching for the girls.  It's not that I'm against them wearing matching stuff, but so far I've felt like it just hasn't been my thing, in the same way the outfits I put them in (much to the dismay of my mother I think) are never really coordinated.  I just feel like an eclectic look of a skirt, pants, rain boots and a shirt and knit vest, or mismatched handmades together just looks so cute in a way that only a little kid can pull off.   Or maybe that second reason just gives me an excuse to maximize their wear of handmade clothes.  Mainly I think I don't do it because one of my favorite parts of sewing is finding and using new fabric, and once I've sewn with a fabric it doesn't excite me to make the same pattern again, let alone in the same fabric.  Case in point:  I just sewed like a crazy person to finish a new Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress in some adorable new Lotta Jansdotter fabric that I can't wait to share, and through a fabric cutting accident, I now already have matching fabric pattern pieces all cut out and ready to go on a top for Amelia and I am dragging my feet, ready to be onto the next thing.  I promise, I won't cheat her out of it, she deserves that adorableness too.

But who could argue with matching skirts once I figured out I had just enough extra deer fabric leftover for Amelia, especially using Dana's Simple Skirt pattern?  So easy, that pattern whips up easily in under an hour, I even sewed some with Claire in my lap, and Amelia on the floor!  I bought this fabric at ZFabrics earlier this winter for Claire, as she absolutely loves deer, and it wasn't hideous so it was something that I would actually enjoy sewing.  As the pictures prove, matching homemade clothes are pretty cute, I may be guilty of it again in the future.  I'll just be sure to stay with the mismatched shirts and accessories.