One Week Down...

One to go! 

When we were doing the math it was going to be 3 weeks before Cory could come home and get us, somehow it only feels like two-ish now... He has actually been gone for 11 days already, but since he "reported" last Monday and it is only Tuesday now it only seems like a week? I don't really know, it is all kind of running together already... We have been so busy it is hard to keep it all straight. All I know is he will be home in 7 days, and that makes me happy!

We had our first appraisal today. I was super nervous and stressed out over it and it was just 20 minutes of two guys (he was training his nephew) stepping into each room, taking a picture and some notes, and looking at the yard. I don't really know what I was so stressed about! We have another one on Thursday. That one is earlier in the day, so I can enjoy the rest of the day and not freak out every time Grace tosses a toy on the floor or spills her juice.

With all of the cleaning, scrubbing, cooking for the helpers, FaceTiming with Daddy, and cleaning some more, I have been too exhausted to do anything crafty. It just felt wrong... So I busted out the sewing machine again tonight and started a couple projects, just don't tell my M-I-L... she would have my head! I have had several projects rolling around in my head for "when I get some time" and since that never happened, I decided to forgo the early bedtime and get some of them going.

Ever since someone gave Grace one of the little pillow pets I have wanted to make some little travel pillows for us grown-ups (mostly myself...) to take on the long ride. Since we are leaving in just over a week I thought I better get started... I had some flannel left over from other projects and decided that would be perfect for these.

I really just eyeballed what I thought would be a good size, cut, and sewed. I am pretty sure my seams are crooked, but once you stuff them you won't really notice. Plus, I don't really mind, it is just going to catch my drool for 9 hours, its nothing fancy!

The other project I started was kind of a test run, of sorts, for a dress I am thinking about making for myself. I found THIS really cute, and easy to make, maxi dress, and THIS super cute maternity dress that I really want to make. (I don't usually wear dresses or skirts, but for some reason I am all about it this year...) I have really only done small scale projects; kids clothes, small stuffies, and pillows, so to sew a women's-plus-sized-maternity dress is a little scary to me. OK, alot scary... So, I thought that I would test out a Grace sized version of the maxi dress first.

I grabbed an old T-shirt that we had donated to the Make-Grace-Awesome-Nerdy-Clothes pile, this time it was GOONIES! I laid a shirt that fit her well on top of it and cut it down to a rectangle about the width of her shirt (including the sleeves) and the length of the old shirt (from below the neck-line to the hem) and from there followed the instructions in Katy's tutorial.

Since I didn't think Grace would put up with a belt of any kind I added a piece of elastic just under the "sleeves" of the dress, so that it will still have a nice shape to it. I used some of the fold over elastic I had bought for headbands so it would be nice and soft on her tumm. Never one to measure first, I went ahead and sewed in the elastic without trying it on her, now I am a little nervous it wont hit her right... She seams to love anything Mommy makes for her though, and surprisingly, so does Cory, so I am not too worried about it. I still don't know if I am ready to tackle a project of MY proportions yet, but we will see...

I will try to post pictures of Grace modeling her sweet new Goonies dress, and the finished pillows in the next few days. If anyone has any questions on either project, please, feel free to ask!