You can run...

One of the unmitigated and unintentional perks of this homeschooling gig (and I say unintentional, because I would never home school solely for this purpose) is that the girls' contact with the host of various germs, particularly of the stomach bug variety, is much more limited during the dreaded flu season. This past season seemed especially bad for the vomit-for-a-day-or-two type viruses and every time one of our friends got hit I would count my blessings and hole up in the basement so as to avoid the accursed sicknesses.

That's not to say that we got of Scot free, between Joseph's bronchitis and Lucy's 2 week tonsillectomy ordeal (and the flu for me last fall), we got in on the sickness action, but I've said it before and I will say it again: NOTHING IS AS BAD AS THROW UP WITH LITTLE KIDS. Nothing.

We were pretty legitimate recluses for the last 5 months- no play places, limited play dates with friends, and basically staying home all the time with the exception of the few commitments the girls have: catechesis and choir. I was amazed that they hadn't picked anything up at those 2 places and I found myself saying little prayers in my head on my way to drop them off that they would stay healthy. When it comes to avoiding throw up, I take it all very seriously.

And then yesterday it found us.

I should have known that something was up when I saw Naomi rolling on the floor of the bathroom proclaiming that she was not well, but her penchant for theatrics when it comes to anything illness related kept me hoping that it was nothing.

So I proceeded with what felt like the most pressing of all concerns, sewing some new window treatments for the window in front of our sink, which was previously clad with the ugliest set of horribly sewn (by yours truly) sheer maroon monstrosities:

I begged Naomi to overcome her discomfort and go outside with the little girls while Joseph "napped" (screamed) in the crib and I ran downstairs to sew a quick new something or other for the kitchen window.

I got roughly 8 minutes into the project when Naomi came back in to lay on the couch and Bernadette followed as always. I waited a few minutes and never heard Lucy come back in so I yelled up to asked the girls to check on her and that's when the "shit hit the fan", as they say.

It became clear that Lucy had never gone outside with girls, but instead sneaked into my room to douse both her own face and my bed sheet in my lipstick, bronzer and mascara.

And then Naomi started throwing up and didn't stop for several hours.


I'm going to go ahead and say that the only one with any luck of avoiding getting stricken with this virus is Lucy, whose skills in the stealth department are unmatched thus far in the Hahn home, maybe she can find somewhere to hide.

And because I know you were wondering, I finished my window furnishing project, which is apparently all that matters anyways.

Stay healthy, party people!

Bloggers Who Craft Spring Fever GIANT Giveaway

Say what you will about mom blogging, but I am going to go ahead and say that it has been an absolutely huge blessing to me since I took the plunge roughly 3.5 years ago. I have made countless friends both online and in real life through the blog and it has been a great place for solidarity and encouragement.

In honor of the goodness that is mom blogging, in honor of the amazing fellow bloggers and especially the fabulous readers and in honor of crafting for others, I give you:

I am really, really excited about this because gifts! and handmade things! and you might get them all! That's right, one very lucky lady (or gent who would not need to buy a gift for his lady for at least another year) will win some great handmade goods and while the collage gives you the deats, here they are some extra tidbits and close-ups:

1) Katrina of Cedars and Tiny Flowers has an etsy shop called Hatch Prints in the works and her prints are gorgeous! This beautiful watercolor is one that she shared with all the ladies at the recent blogging conference and everyone was, as they should be, super impressed.

She hand paints her quotes and then digitizes them and prints them on super classy paper and they are really beautiful, I can't wait for her shop to open!


2) Cassie of Kent Heartstrings is a friend of mine from college and I never knew back then of her penchant for fun and awesome crafts. Her blog is full of so many fun DIY ideas and guess what?! Her etsy shop it now open! Head over there and look at her adorable creations. She is graciously giving away one of her bright and fun bead necklaces and a spring weave that will brighten your home and life.

3) Nell of Whole Parenting Family is the queen of quality organic handmade wonderfulness. She recently started selling handmade lady leggings in her shop and they are on my birthday wish list, they are beautiful. She is so sweet and giving away one of her contour cloths and one of her bandit bibs, which are incidentally the cutest bibs ever (exact fabric TBD)

4) Jenna from Call Her Happy makes embroidered necklaces that are some of the most unique and pretty handmaid items on Etsy, in my opinion. I bought one for my sister last year and she immediately fell in love- they are just perfect. They are the perfect size and so intricate and detailed. Jenna is generously giving this beautiful flower necklace to the lucky winner.

5) I do not have an online shop, but I love me some sanity sewing time and I love you readers. I am a little obsessed with the fact that Spring has officially begun today, warm weather is right around the corner and I am all about Spingy scarves right now, so I made some for you!

I don't get to reply to every comment and I know I won't get to meet every wonderful lady who reads this blog in person, so this is my little thank you and I am only sorry that I can't make a "Thank You Scarf" for each and every one of you.

So that's that! This is the mammoth mother of all Spring Time Giveaways and you should absolutely get on it and tell all of your friends and mothers and sisters and daughters and you get it.

Happy spring and happy Rafflecoptering!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cabin Fever Creativity Link-Up (round 2)

2 years ago I hosted a little crafting link-up here on el bloggo, it was so fun to see how much talent so many ladies have, either in the sewing realm, or just putting really fun, nifty home decor together realm and I loved it. Therefore, because it is winter and I need something to do to brighten my days, I am doing it again. Also utilizing my very shoddy sewing abilities is something I do a lot every year around this time, because again, it is winter, it is depressing and I need something to brighten my days and starting and completing a little project, even if it is lame (it always is) and having an end result to look at just makes me happy.

Sure, you might say "Ana, couldn't cleaning your house accomplish that same thing?" To which I would respond, "yes, but it's cleaning, so no"

And you might be thinking "I make babies, that's creative enough", and i totally agree, but unfortunately that process takes significantly longer than sewing a pillow case or spray painting a table, so this is something for those in between times.

Whether it's an old post, or whether you make it into a new blog post, either way just link it up! Whether it's really awesome or really stupid (see below project) just link it up! It may be the most fabulous homemade kitchen set south of the Mississippi, or it may just be a really lame hair clip, it might be an adorable thrifted piece of wall decor that you spray painted, or might just be a stupid altered pair of jeans, or it might be super cute home made burp clothes, or simply a really quick and easy skirt alteration. Whatevaaaa!! Link it! I love it all!

Here are some of my very favs from last link-up:
Christy's adorable crocheted heart garland
Micheles wonderful "busy bag" crafts
Lisa's hilariously awesome knitted monsters (come back to blogging, Lisa!!)
Kate and her AMAZING sewing skills (she won the giveaway, I was so impressed)
Dwija and her so so SOOOO practical and crafty purse insert
Anne and her very impressive reupholstered chairs
And of course Heather and the most amazing coffee creamer snowman, which I actually won in her giveaway and she sent to  me filled with loads of candy for the girls (but I ate it all) and so many other goodies including home made play dough that we kept and played with until it molded. It was all very fun and wonderful.
That is just to name a few, go through the link list to see all the very inspiring craftiness. 

This time around I think  I'll just keep the link-up going throughout the month of February and maybe feature some favorites here on the blog every once and a while.

And just to further reassure you that no matter how silly or shoddy you think your project is, it's worth doing and linking up, behold a recent spur of the moment creation of mine, it should make you feel better about any and everything you've ever created:

A few years ago we bought a $30 couch and love seat set at a church rummage sale and it came with some giant ugly pillows which matched the horrible print of the couches that we promptly put slip covers on. But the pillows were too enormous and unruly to cover and use so we put them in storage and I recently found them and decided that they should be used to something. I happened to be wanting to either make or buy some sort of giant reading pillow chair things for the girls' room, so that's what I decided they would be for- here's how it went down:

I happened to have a plain white new before used twin bed sheet from the Walmart that was living under my bed, and I only needed the one twin sheet to cover all 4 pillows.

Step one: fold a bunch of fabric around 2 pillows length wise and cut it
Step 2: cut random shape (I chose heart) out of random remnant fabric and sew it anywhere on the white fabric (I tried to make it look like a heart shaped throw pillow)
Step 3: Sew down the side
Step 4: Sewed it closed on one end,
Step 5: Shove both pillows in,
Step 6: Sew a stitch between the pillows
Step 7: Sew the entire thing shut on the other end

And voila:

 Not at all Pinterest worthy, but totally functional.

This one really showcases (or pillowcases, HA!) how messed up my heart shapes turned out, but that just makes them fit in with the typically messed-up room all the more.

An InLinkz Link-up

paring down the flannel

Really Ana, another alteration? What do you think this, is a sewing blog? A fashion blog? Do you actually fancy yourself fashionable? No no, I promise, it is not and I am not and this is not the course on which the blog with stay always and forever. It may be due to my incessant pinterest perusing, or to a total lack of other blog material and blogger's block (like writers block, but you know), or to an early onset of cabin fever. Whatever the reason, just bear with me for one more wanna-be fashion-y post with a sort-of before/after alteration.

I have been searching all over for a cute flannel shirt, one might say that I have been a little obsessed with it as of late, I would just say I was excited about it. I bought one at the store and returned it, tried on a bunch at TJ Max but they all fit super weird and last week I almost bought one at Old Navy but refused to shell out 30 big ones for a shirt that would probably not be a comfy as I wanted. Enter this weekend's rummage sale and a super soft and comfy albeit super large Croft and Barrow flannel shirt purchased for a whopping dollar fifty!

The problem is that I didn't actually take a before picture, which is usually essential for one of these posts. But luckily I was a little bit overly preoccupied with altering men's shirts around this same time 2 years ago and recovered a couple before photos which capture exactly how this weekend's purchase fit before:

Only flannel and red.

Lookin good.

A simple method to use is as follows:

• button up the shirt to be sewn 
• turn it inside-out and lay it flat 
• then button up a collared shirt that fits you well and lay it over top of the big one
• pin the shirt-to-be-altered to match the fit of the shirt that fits well 
• then sew along the line. 

I just took it in about an inch and a half from the cuff to the bottom of the shirt on each side and shazam, I have my comfy flannel to be worn a multitude of ways. Or at least 2 ways:

^all alone with an accidental popped collar on the side.

^add some pearls

^plus a sweater

And I plan on wearing it with sweat pants as much as I like, but I will likely spare you the photoage.

And if you are wondering whether I took a photography class called "How to never include the top of your head in a photo 101", I did not, I am just really good at it. 

Here you go, in case you weren't feeling nauseous yet from the glut of pictures. The top of my head in all it's glory.

Now I am done, for realz. And I promise to give you a super deep, meaningful and ultra intellectual post next time. But first I have to work on gathering some good bribes for Mike to write a post for me.

Happy Monday!

you're the inspiration

Friday night Lucy came down with the black lung. Or the plague. It's possible that it's just a cold. Ok, it's only a cold. But holy drama, she was acting like she was going to need some sort of medical emergent intervention on Friday night screaming bloody murder from her crib every hour on the hour and in the end I was doing something I have not done in over 9 months: sleeping in bed with her.

I had to kick Mike to the guest bed just so I could get 1 extra hour to add to many 2 other hours before the girls awoke and descended on my Saturday, which conveniently saw Mike working all day (not complaining, just saying.)

Anyways, to keep the day moving along yesterday, I took a jaunt to a local church rummage sale to check out the goods and came home with a few $1 necklaces, an extra large flannel shirt and a pair of giant black polka dot shorts previously worn by no one younger than seniors home age and more inexplicable sleep deprived inspiration to do something with my new pieces, but we'll focus here on the polka dotted Grandma Erma shorts

Let's get down to brass tacks. Here is the bottom frock before:

When I grabbed them at the sale, I liked the print and was really hoping that it was already a skirt that I could just alter a little to fit me. Then I saw that there were actually 2 skirts, one for each leg, connected by more between the leg fabric. I almost put them back down but then I figured that I would only be out $1.50 even if it didn't work out. Lucky for me it did work out just fine.

I snipped out all the excess middle fabric, then sewed the legs together and worked on taking the waist in and the hem up after that. It took about 45 minutes all told and unlike a lot of the things I alter and end up barely wearing, I wore it to Mass today and think I will be exploring its full potential all fall and maybe winter long.

I wanted to wear it like this to Mass:

(And what's that you're thinking? You'd love a tutorial on how to turn your awkward height almost ankle boots into slightly less awkward ankle boots? You got it: fold down the top and wear.)

But then I figured that I should tone down the outfit for the holy sacrifice of the Mass and maybe stick with a classier look or something. Here's what I actually wore:

I wore the look and all. Actually, I was wearing the smile pictured below for almost the entirety of the day because Mike so graciously got up with the girls this morning and let me go for a nice extra long run today (i.e. longer than 6 minutes flat). He be da best.

So in the end the I think I will wear the finished product a teeny bit more than the geriatric MC Hammers.

Linking up with Fine Linen and Purple for some what I wore Sunday action!

Insomnia Jeans

My wonderful mother has passed down many a trait to me: her hotness, her driven spirit, her amazing capacity for productivity, her prayerful spirit... crap, I am thinking of one of my other sisters. I can really only hope that God will grant that I turn out even a tiny bit like my mother and I think I will be set for eternity because she is simply amazing.

However! There are a few things about my mom that she apologizes to her daughters frequently for passing down: her frequent migraines, sickness during pregnancies, sinus issues, and as I lay in bed for hours last night wondering why on God's green earth my body would not let me pass from the awake state to the glorious state of slumber I realized that my dearest mother has indeed passed on to me one of these less-than-desirable things: occasional insomnia. (Incidentally my sleep deprived self has been been slapping well rested self across the face repeatedly today for the post I wrote yesterday.)

Anyways, once it came to me that my dear mother is often dealing with this sort of thing I decided that it could all just be genetics (as this is definitely not the first time and surely not the last time the insomnia bug has struck me) and could not get the phrase "insomnia genes" out of my head. Which then led me to wonder if there is some brand of denim out there called "insomnia jeans", which then led to me obsessing over a pair of jeans that are in my closet that I never ever wear but that I could certainly alter and wear all the time. I was THISCLOSE to fixing them right then at 1 on the morning, but I resisted the urge.

So naturally in my sleep deprived stupor this afternoon I went ahead and got to it.

Here be the jeans before the scissors:

Too big everywhere, weird white-ish wash, but oh so comfy. And once I got them out of their borderline parachute pant state I didn't actually mind the white washness so much.

After, on my way out to my semi-professional desk job, aka, my porch:

 A slight improvement I think.

And that's really all I have for you today. Here's hoping there are no other alteration inspirations tonight. Sleep tight!

Linking up with The Pleated Poppy for kicks!

5 Favorites

Joining Hallie and so many other lovely ladies for some very good things because it's my favorite thing to do on Wednesday.

-1-

This dress-to-shirt alteration

I found the awkward length dress at a garage sale during my parent's weekend visit for $1, and while I did kind of want a denim dress, I wanted a short sleeved denim shirt more. I love love love my old navy denim number, but it is just getting too hot out for the button down long sleeve look. So I took off some length, hemmed it right up, then took down the sleeves from their weird rolled and buttoned up look. I am wearing it right now while the girls play in my next favorite thing...

-2-

Don't worry, there is less than an inch of dirty swamp water in there. And what are they doing? Playing bed time, of course. What else are you supposed to do in a baby pool? Seriously, this thing has kept them occupied with non-destructive play for over 2 full hours in the last two days. It is incredible.

-3-

While I am not a huge fan of wrangling all three girls and the energy that it takes, I do so love the South Bend zoo. There is a great assortment of animals in a really small area so you can get super close to them. 90% depressing, 10% fun, but still fun. Yesterday we were feeding some rather sizable fish in one of the zoo ponds and some sort of crane bird with an enormous beak swooped down and devoured one of the fish right in front of us, like we were watching the discovery channel. 90% disturbing, 10% awesome, but still awesome.

-4-

I will not say much, except that my dishes are finally clean, without me scrubbing them down before loading them in the dishwasher. I feel like a queen. It is amazing.

-5-

Both this writing desk and my new dishwasher were given to us by my parents this past weekend they are both favorites. This belonged to my mother's late parents and they had it specially hand made by their favorite wood-worker. The top part folds down to cover all my junk and there are lots of fun compartments to put even more of my junk in. The prettiest junk holder I have ever seen. Yes, that is a cocktail sitting on top.

finished product

This winter is killing me. I mean really, I have never longed for some freakin sunshine and fresh air so much in my life, or at least not this much since last winter.

I am so sick of the walls of this house and at different points find myself thinking about giving the girls laxatives so that I have more diapers to carry out to the trash can (THAT IS A JOKE please don't call CPS). It would just be nice to be able to introduce Lucy to the great big world of the outdoors without worrying that her little limbs will freeze and fall off the moment she is out with 75 layers on.

It's really killing me.

I have taken to sewing even more these days in an attempt to not bite every single finger nail off or start having deep conversations with the wall.

While going through skinny clothes that I'll never fit into again to give to less fortunate skinny people, I found a sweater shirt/dress and started to throw it into the giveaway bag but stopped myself. I got it at the Notre Dame Old to Gold sale, which is basically the biggest yard sale you have ever seen with tons of awesome stuff but most especially cute clothing that once belonged to a very fashionable, perhaps very wealthy, college girl who wore it all of one time and gave away, and you get it for $1. This number had a BCBG tag on it, so I figured it was a decent piece of clothing and that I could probably turn it into a cute. or at least wearable, little girl sweater dress. So I went for it:

Plus, if Naomi knows that she gets to wear the finished product and pose for pictures, she is much less likely to protest and it makes the process much easier.

I seam ripped the straps and buttons off, sewed up the 2 sides for a nice 4-year-old girl fit, then re-sewed the straps and button on in a good place for her. This is what we got:

She loved it and wore it all day and even though it could stand to be a little shorter right now, I am pretty sure it will still work for her next fall/winter, so it's all good.

Basically, I just need to have projects to do right now and ones that only take 30 minutes and then I have a finished product are theeee best.

Have a great rest of the weekend, party people!

It snows and I sew

Or something like that.
The last time I decided to revamp an old maternity clothing item into something wearable it was snowing, so I am sort of establishing a pattern. Or not.

Since today is the last day of the Cabin Fever link-up, I thought it would be good to sew something in its memory.  Also, I had an idea in my head to turn an old, thrifted motherhood maternity dress into a skirt that I could wear now and told the kids to try to stop me, I was on a mission.

Here's the victim of my shears:

It really doesn't get more awkward than this, I don't think: the dress itself, the fact that I am photographing myself in the bathroom, in front of the shower, the way I am standing, the look on my face, etc. But I found the awkwardness of the photo fitting since it is- or was- the most weird fitting, unflattering dress in all dressdom.

So I wanted to make a skirt out of it while keeping the band right under the bust because there is a tie in the back that I thought would be nice to have for my ever growing, then shrinking, then growing, then shrinking again figure.

First I laid the dress out and hacked off the top, but left some extra fabric to fold over and sew onto the little seam on the inside:

1- the little seam 2- the sad remains

Actually first I had to thread the bobbin, and my hand was attacked by a vicious, albeit super cute, teething baby:

Once I pried my hand from her amazingly strong jaws, I folded the fabric down and sewed it to the seam:

and was able to keep the tie in the back:

Then I cut off a little of the length so as to be able to wear it with my fav boots, but then ended up liking it better with the shorties. Ok, I did not love it with either, or really at all, but it is an improvement on the sorry excuse for a dress.
And shazam:

With lots of text and explanation, in case you are drunk in the middle of the day

And I went against my instincts and took a picture with the turtle neck tucked so you can see the little band, although you can't actually see the tie in the back, but I think you'll live.

Ok, you can't even see the band. Also, I realize that the steps I laid out don't really make any sense, and neither do the pictures, but I tried-- this is why I never try to do tutorials.
That's all I have for you today.

I will be announcing the winner of the Valentine's Day Cabin Fever Creativity Link-up and Giveaway tomorrow, stay tuned!!

Valentine's Day Cabin Fever Creativity Link-Up and Giveaway

Because Jamie said I should, and because I have a half-way decent dinner in the crock pot, the baby is sleeping on me, the girls are playing their favorite game (dress up dogs and lay them down for naps in the nursery) and because I managed to finish a rather shoddy (when are they not) alteration project I am just going for it: the first ever (and probably only ever) Valentine's Day! Cabin! Fever! Creativity! Link-Up! + Giveaway!
The only thing longer than the title was that sentence.

I couldn't think of anything better, plus all I kept thinking of was this:

Only, more creativity

Here's how it goes: pick a project, small or big, do it and link it up.

It does not have to be alteration of clothing, it could be making cute little baby head bands, making you own felt play pizza, creating faux boot socks from an old shirt, or doing your own Rosary hopscotch. Whatever. Make it and link it. If you're busy wrangling 3 little ones one of whom has been recently birthed, and you've already posted projects, just link the old posts.

Here's my most recent little project, in honor of Valentine's Day of course.

My mom gave me this wonderfully bright red cropped sleeve sweater turtle neck and I just could not resist taking the scissors to it. I have hacked the neck off of sweater's before because as a mother with raging crazy hormones that make me hot hot HOT, having anything tight around my neck just makes me feel like I am being strangled. So I chopped the neck off.

But then I realized that one of the sleeves had a hole in it, so I tried to fix it and it went horrible wrong. Sooooooo, off came the sleeves!

Then 1995 called and asked for it's sweater vest back. Whatever.

You most certainly do not need to be crafty, the purpose of this is really to help make these long winter days a little less dreary and... long. Having a little project that you enjoy and that you see an immediate result with is fulfilling and fun and linking it up makes it even better, say I.

And just for fun, at the end of the link-up (in a week or so) I will choose a winner based on what? I have no idea and send you a prize of your choosing, although you have to choose between a scarf or a nursing cover:

I have materials to make an identical infinity scarf to the pinky above and for a different, more toned down, floral print nursing cover. And if you are a gentleman and joining in, just know that these would both make spectacular gifts for a lady friend... or mother.

So I will leave you with that and if I get even one linker I will consider this a huge success, even if it is just myself.

If you're writing a new post remember to link back to this link-up in the post.

Happy winter!