polkadotbug

Starting Off Slow….

I can’t believe this.  I’m not one to make resolutions but I thought I’d try this year.  I have been reading everyone’s inspiring lists of goals and resolutions for this new year of ours and felt compelled to try something. 

Not a whole list though, just one thing. 

I didn’t want to pick something too difficult, or something I’d feel too bad about not accomplishing if I started slacking.  I just decided that I wanted to try to tend to my blog more.  I have such a great time reading so many other blogs and I really want to be part of the loop.  I want to open up a bit and say more and throw myself out there… sort of.

It took me 2 weeks into the new year to even post about that great resolution of mine.  I know I don’t have too crazy of a life over here in Western New York but there must be something I can find to write about - even if it’s just something little. 

I think my problem so far has been that I felt like I couldn’t post unless I had something crafty to show.  Forget that.  If you read my blog only for crafty things, then you can skip the ones that may not be so crafty.  I can’t imagine there are too many people who read my blog at all, let alone for my crafty stuff.  There are million other people crafting more interesting things and blogging about it!  That’s where I find my ideas.

Ok, here is one crafty thing I did over the holidays.  I know I said I wasn’t only going to post about crafty things, but I do have a few to share.  I’ll start with this- a sweet little handprint project on some fabulous Andalucia fabric that I stuck in an old wooden frame I had sitting around. I just had to find a reason to get some of that on the walls – in the bathroom. 

I love it. Handprints are too cute.  It makes me smile every time I have to use the bathroom, that still doesn’t have a door….

Farewell Christmas

I can’t believe it’s already over and I am just now posting about it!  How sad.  Before everyone is 100% ready to be done with the holiday, I will share a few pics of mine.  I’m very relieved that the hustle is over, but we did have lots of fun.

Here is the ugliest sweater winner in the middle.  That would be my sister.  :)  I just looked like a dork.  Her sweater seriously gives me a stomach ache!   Ellie looked really wacky because she also had crazy Christmas pants on that you can’t see in the pic.  The Salvation Army can have their sweaters back now.

Next for a little carriage ride around the village.   I didn’t actually go on,  I stayed back and took the pictures.

Me, Molly, Abby, Santa and pony dressed as a reindeer.  This little event funded a wild horse rescue, hence the horse activities.  It was very cute.

Here’s some tree decorating.  It feels so weird to be putting these up right now when we are preparing to take it down! 

Abby fighting with some beads.

 

Finally, the girls playing in one of the new toys.

Ok, I feel better that I got something up here.  I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and is de-stressed and catching up on rest and relaxation.

Cheers!

Snow Time

The snow, and frigid temperatures have arrived.  Molly is in her glory.  I am not.  Well, I do really like the snow.  I just wish it could co-exist with 70 degree temperatures.

Molly has so much fun outside.  I remember when I was like that- a million years ago.  Abby had her first adventures out in the snow and loves it.  We had a hard time getting her back in the house.  Well, that was after she figured out that she could actually move in that suit.  For a very long time she just stood there with her arms sticking out to the sides (the classic baby in snow suit pose).  What a cutie.  I still find myself trying hard not to bite her chubby marshmallowy cheeks off.

Every year we have an auction at work for our holiday party.  This year the money we raise will go to the WNY food bank.   For this year’s party I contributed two things: 1. a bag/purse with a matching checkbook cover and key fob and 2.  a doll.  This isn’t just any doll though.  This is my boss and former CEO of our company. 

This would be so much more funny for you if you knew him.  I wanted to put a picture of the real man here too, but I figured I shouldn’t do that without his permission.  Anyways, he looks just like doll!

I also made a new little girly out of the fabulous Andalucia fabrics.

I made this weird ruffle bag too.  I had something different in mind, but this is what came out…. 

Ah yes, and some new cute hair clips.

Other than that we have decorated the house and are just trying to stay warm in these negative wind chill temps.  I haven’t gotten any presents for the kids yet, so I guess shopping better fit into the schedule sometime soon!

I did add a few things to my Etsy shop too.  It takes me forever to list these items though, so it’s gonna be a slow process filling the shop up!

Hope everyone else is warm and in the holiday spirit! 

Halloween and Remodeling

 

We have seen everyone else’s beautiful children and their fantastic costumes so here are mine.  Molly wanted to be a witch and luckily my mom already had a costume from a garage sale.  It was nice not having to do any work except for struggling with a 5 year old to sit still so I could paint her face that she insisted on having painted.  We actually ended up wiping most of it off before we even went to the party because it was too itchy.

Abby was a little lamb.  I got the idea from Martha’s site and altered the instructions so I could whip it up in 20 minutes.  That’s all the time I had.  What a cutie.  She was the hit of the block running up and down the sidewalks yelling at everyone.

I didn’t have a ton of time for costumes because Andrew was out of town all week and I was in the process of priming and painting the dining room before he got home.  We finally had our ceiling put in and we are so excited! 

Here is the before, after tearing down all the wallpaper that was painted over. Sorry about the blurry pics this post.  Andrew was away and I wasn’t prepared to get out the nice camera.

And the after.

I had such a hard time with the color.  I always gravitate toward greens and browns.  We were going to go a darker brown but I changed my mind last minute and went with a green.  Nuts! It’s a darker olivey green that seems to change color depending on the light and time of day.  The ceiling is also green but a few shades lighter.

Let me tell you that being 5’2” tall and painting 10ft ceilings isn’t the most desirable job that one would want.  I did it though, and all before Andrew got home…thanks to the help of my mom who came and helped a couple of nights. 

I have some shows coming up so I must dive back into sewing after my week of focusing on being a single parent with remodeling on her mind.

Celebrating One Whole Year

My youngest munchkin has turned 1.  Instead of a cake I decided to do a cupcake pyramid.  At first I felt a little bad about not making an elaborate birthday cake, but the cupcakes were just as time consuming and special (I thought).  There were two different kinds and they were stuffed- chocolate stuffed with more frosting and yellow stuffed with lemon.  Mmm… 

What a big girl she is getting to be already.  Her attitude and stubborness are getting much bigger too.  Hard to believe that happens so quickly!  Happy Birthday baby girl. 

On a crafty note, I had my first experience with knit!

I saw this great zebra fabric (in chocolate brown) on the clearance rack at Joann’s.   I initially bought it to cover a chair cushion, but it was so cheap that I bought the rest of the bolt so I could make more things out of it.  It’s stretchy and super comfy.  My serger had no problems putting these pants together for me.  I didn’t even hem the bottoms because they rolled up so perfectly.  They seriously took about 10 minutes to make and Molly loves them.  I used some scraps to make a matching headband.  I love simple things… 

Slow Cookin' Pork

Today was a day of intense yard work.  My back is killing me.  I did a lot of digging which never hurts too much when you are actually doing it.  I wish someone reminded me of what I was going to feel like later.  Above, Molly and Abby hard at work in the grass :)

We have a nice sized yard and it has so much potential.  It just needs a bit (or a lot) of work.  I'll have to say that Andrew and I have the front looking pretty nice after a few summers here.  We're envisioning great things for the back yard and are trying to make that a reality.  I dug all around the pool we had put in last summer so we could add some rocks and plants or something to make it look a little more attractive.  Andrew didn't want the pool and I insisted on having one because it is something I always wanted.  To him it's an eyesore and extra work that he didn't sign up for (ok, that might be partially true).  I promised that we would make it worth it and the kids and I would have so much fun with it.  I still promise that we will as soon as we figure out how to warm the water. I was 7 or 8 months pregnant last summer when they installed it and it's located under a good number of large shady trees (Andrew trying to put it in a location that wasn't so obvious).  I love you Andrew!   I was so large and hot and really did try so hard to swim in it.  The poor baby in my belly would freak out as soon as I got in.  Could either be because she was freezing or losing oxygen because I couldn't breathe the water was so icy.  Poor Molly always wanted to go in and she would swim around with her teeth chattering and lips turning completely purple.  We are having some tree trimmers come this week to see what we could do about making some room for sunshine to hit the water. 

About the pork.  While we were busy digging, there was some pork stewing in the crock pot. The pork is from Duink Farms of course.  He is a local farmer who has naturally raised pork, chicken and lamb.  He also has some really good veggies.  Andrew and Molly go almost every Saturday morning to get eggs and whatever else we may need.  A couple of times Mr. Duink had some pork in a crock for folks to try and Molly absolutely loved it.  She would go each week in anticipation that he might have it again.  Funny thing for a 4 1/2 year old to look forward to, eh?  Well, they bought the pork (uncooked of course) and we tried to replicate Mr. Duink's slow cooked pork here today.  We just stuck it in the crock pot with a sliced onion, garlic and some diluted bbq sauce.  Molly also put in some salt and pepper because it "definitely needed that" (she is such a cook already).  She didn't really understand the concept of it needing to cook all day.  Every half hour I'd hear, "you think the pork is ready now?" 

Before she went to bed tonight she had a chance to try some of it.  I think it was a success.  Andrew just shredded the rest up and we'll have sandwiches tomorrow.  I am typically not a huge fan of pork but I do like pulled pork with barbecue sauce. 

Man, this is bad.  Andrew has the food blog and I am writing about food!  This goes to show you how little crafting I have been getting done. 

Still Chuggin Along

This is one of the newest bags I have made.  It's amazing how just the fabric alone can make just about any bag look so nice.  I really enjoy this one.  Too bad I have to bring it to the Market.  Maybe no one will buy it and I can keep it for myself!

 

Another new one and a new style I tried.  I like it too, but not as much as the first.  I think I just prefer the bigger bags.  How great are the sunflowers?  They are from Molly and Andrew.  Almost every time they go to Wegmans they come back with flowers for me!  I know, not only does he buy me flowers, but he also does the majority of the grocery shopping!  And, did I mention how great he cooks?  I have it made.  Seriously.

Ok, just a short post today.  I have a long list of things to get done that isn't getting much shorter.  It is also early in the morning and Abby is next to me throwing toys on the computer.  I just wanted to get it out there that I am getting a couple things done!  Today I have my two girls and my sister Angela's 3 year old son too.  Mom (aka nanny) is on a 2 week vacation so we have to take turns staying home from work and watching the kids. Yikes!  I am so thankful for mom!  I just wish she would get home soon.  :)  I don't think I will be getting much done today...

 

For Whom The Ceiling Falls

Ready for a shock?  I will make a brief television appearance!  Yes folks, me!!  Lindsay Schwarzwaelder, from Buffalo's channel 4 news was here to interview me about my blog and crafts on Friday.  Hi Lindsay!  The first week of May, they are doing a series on local blogs during the morning news.  I guess I will be part of craft day.  I still can't believe that I do anything newsworthy, but it is exciting anyway.  I was so nervous about it.  Again, polkadotbug just came to be and I am already being recognized (or at least noticed) for it.  Pretty cool.  Luckily, it will air at 6 A.M. so I don't have to worry about too many people watching!  Unless they are like me and have a baby that gets up at the crack of dawn.

I am so excited about my new endeavors and creations but am having a really hard time finding time to get anything accomplished.  I only work at my "real job" 3 days a week now and with just the small amount of sewing I have been doing, I have neglected everything else.  My poor house.  I can't even keep up with the laundry these days.  We have a list a mile long of projects that need to be done on our 150 year-old house. 

I have turned our dining room into my "work shop" and risk having half of the ceiling falling on my head.  The other half already fell last summer so I don't have to worry about that.  Soon I'll move out of the dining room (so we can replace the ceiling) and into our back room off of the kitchen.  Since moving in 2 1/2 years ago it has been a junk room.  Once I move in, it will probably still be a junk room!  Although, Andrew just got done sanding the floors and it looks great.  There's a ton of potential there.  I have a vision of a glorious, organized and cozy work room/studio.  We'll see how that goes.  Once I get it that way I'll have to move back out anyways because the room isn't insulated and Buffalo isn't warm for too long.

How boring life would be if there wasn't always a project to do!

(Yes, you've made it to the end and the photo has nothing to do with the post.  It's just a nice picture of Molly.  Andrew took it - he's the official photographer of the blog, and his too - but it's just food, no crafty stuff :) )

Pleased to Meet You

Hi...For those of you that have no idea who polkadotbug is, I figured I would talk about how this all started for a minute.  Believe it or not, I really just started all this crafting, creating and sewing a few months ago.  I have always been a do-it-yourself kind of person, but I never sewed clothes, accessories, or anything of the sort.  I actually never sewed much at all except the occasional curtain or hem.  A few months back I offered to make baby shower favors and saw the cutest little travel tissue covers.  I sewed a bunch of them for the shower and really enjoyed it. That led to looking at crafty little things online and discovered the wonderful world of Flickr and Etsy.  There was so much stuff that I loved and really wanted to try making myself.  This is how my bonnet came to be.  I ran across a pic of a cute bonnet and after just having a baby girl, I decided I wanted to make one.  I purchased a bonnet pattern from Amy Karol (aka Angry Chicken) and started my venture.  I made a few bonnets from the pattern and then started changing it up until I got the bonnet I loved.  Mind you, this is after having to buy a new sewing machine because my ancient Singer decided to crash right in the heat of my bonnet project.  Now, a few months down the road from that baby shower, my very first item sold on Etsy last night!  It was a bonnet, of course.  Unbelievable. 

The bonnets led to the desire to make some other things.  So I started making some dresses, bags, aprons, bibs, etc.  It took a lot of fabric and a lot of trial and error to come up with the reversible dress that worked.  I paired up with my friend Caren and together we had enough to get ourselves a table at the Buffalo Indie Market.  It is still kind of surreal to me that this all happened so quickly.  Up until a few months ago I was just a mom of two working part-time in a protein crystallography lab (just like everyone else).  How'd this happen?!? I'm just having so much fun and glad I found something that I really enjoy.  I am definitely not an expert sewer, designer, or anything similar to that and would never claim to be.  Hopefully I am doing a good job though and can help someone else who just started to get it right (or at least close).

One more thing - polkadotbug.  The name is actually derived from the nicknames of my lovely girls.  Molly, the 4 year old (going on 20) is nicknamed Bug.  We have called her that since she was an infant (Snugglebug, turned Strugglebug, turned plain ol' Bug).  When I was pregnant with my second, we asked Molly what we should name her.

"Polka dot."  She said, without even thinking about it.

We called her that until the day she was born (and a few days after because we were so used to it).  She is now 8 month old Abby.  Anyways, you get the drift.