315.

It's where we live, ya'll.

But we have folks complain when they're trying to find our place the first time that they can't see our house number.  We're not all about turning on outside lights much, especially in the summer (read: BUGS.).

Oops.

Well, my husband had another brilliant idea to remedy that:

Mo betta, yes?

Home EC Class: Project 10

Hemming Jeans

Lessons learned:
   determining correct length
   working with heavy materials
   determining your machine's limits

I am so impressed with how my jeans came out!  And how EASY this tutorial was to follow.  "Too long" jeans is something I frequently have a problem with but I'm always hesitant to try hemming them -- I don't want them to LOOK hemmed.  I want them to look like I bought them that way.

I was so excited when I saw that this was one of the tutorials in my Home EC class because it specifically said they were going to teach us how to hem jeans in a way that you would keep the original (factory) hem.  Yay!

I found these jeans at a consignment store for $10 so I figured there really wasn't too much of a risk if I totally screwed them up.  But I didn't!  And I didn't really have that much trouble with my machine through some of the really thick parts of the jeans.  I did have to hand-wheel around the side seams on both legs, but to be informative, these jeans ARE a little lighter-weight than normal denim.  That was probably a smart move on my part, starting with something like that for my first attempt at hemming jeans.

So excited to be able to take these jeans out of my "to-be-hemmed" pile and add them to my wardrobe!  Thank you to my husband for snapping my photos for me!

kitchen sink remodel...

I have another home project post for you today.  When we moved in this house over 4 years ago (geez, has it been that long already?), the sink in the kitchen was a beautiful, pristine, spotless, stainless steel, double-basin sink.

As you can imagine, it has seen A LOT of washing, soaking, staining, etc. in the last 4 years.  For a long while, after trying to clean it and not seeing great results, I just turned a blind eye to it.  I HATED the way it looked but I just got over it.

Well, the time approached when I could no longer turn a blind eye and I quickly became beyond embarrassed by how it looked, and pretty much done with it.  I told my husband that and within 2 seconds (true story.), he was asking me what I wanted (what kind, what color, how big/deep, single or double basin, etc., etc., etc.).

My husband?  He's a problem-solver.  :)

I had a problem with my current sink, so he was going to fix it.

So over the course of the next few months we saved our pennies and began thinking, researching and looking for a new kitchen sink.  And faucet.  Of course we'd have to have a new faucet because the current faucet was also part of the ghastly sink.

Jeff found an AWESOME set that included, along with the main faucet, a hot water faucet, a purified water faucet and a soap pump (which I'm not sure I'll use much but whatever -- it came with it) on clearance.

Love that word: clearance.

We ended up with a really pretty brown colored, deep-set, composite granite, double-basin sink.  I didn't even know they made sinks in a brown color but it goes perfectly with the color of our countertops in the kitchen.

Again, the before shot is always SO embarrassing, but to really appreciate the end result you gotta show it:

Like night and day, huh?  I love the new deep basins because I can put dirty dishes in there and you can't even see them!  :)  And the new faucet is fabulous because 1) it has the stream or spray option with the push of that black button you see on the nozzle, 2) the nozzle pulls off from the faucet to be able to use as a sprayer and 3) it swivels SO much easier and nicer than the other faucet.

I am so happy with my new sink.  This project was a success due in very large part to our good friend, Matthew, who has mad skills in the plumbing department.  He and his wife and little girl live in Wake Forest but they came down for the day so we could put him to work installing our new sink.  Sweethearts, those Seerings.  :)

Oh!  I also got an outside shower out of the deal!  That was my brilliant husband's doing.  He decided that if we, er, I mean, Matthew was going to be down there messing with the plumbing due to the sink install, we might as well get an outside shower put in, too.  Something he's been wanting and that just makes sense around these (beach) parts.  :)

Jeff pretty much took care of this project, except for the plumbing part of it, of course.  But the design of the shower is his:

entertain in style...

Wow, this blog is turning pretty random, huh?  I'm posting about all kinds of things on this one, but not very frequently, sad to say.

Sorry 'bout that.

Here's another random thing to post about -- our brand new entertainment center!

THAT.MY.HUSBAND.MADE.

Beautiful, huh?  That's the only kind of work my husband does.  :)

I kinda of don't even want to show you what kind of set up we had before he got this built.  It.was.ghetto, ya'll.  GHE -- TOE.

But to appreciate the beauty of what we have now, I have to show you.

Ugh.  Yes, that is 4 TV trays with various and sundry equipment, and I attempted to cover all the wiring by throwing some fabric over 2 of the trays.  That pretty much just served to ghetto-fy it even more, and collect dust.

The entertainment center we had before we got this nice TV (from my oh-so-generous parents) wasn't going to work so we had to quickly get rid of it and kind of "make-do" with something else until Jeff could get one built.

That was us, making do.

But look at us now!

a gardening progression...

Nothing to post on the sewing front right now, but I do have something house-related to post: my husband has decided to grow a garden this year!  Not a topsy-turvy garden, but a full-grown (no pun intended, ha!), raised-bed, in-the-yard garden.

He did a lot of research on the front end, about dimensions, irrigation options, seeds, etc.  Then he got to work in April putting his plan into action.  I'm pretty proud of him...

[the board he used to measure his beds out, then he spray-painted around the corners and edges to mark]

He decided he wanted 3 raised beds and then decided how much room between each bed, how far back in the yard, which side of the backyard, all that kind of stuff.  He really thought of everything, taking into account that eventually Deacon will be old enough to play catch so Jeff didn't want the garden to hinder throwing across the full length of the backyard...plus, we'll eventually have a shed out in the backyard, so he decided which side the shed would be on and left room for that.

I'm telling you, everyone says I'm the planner -- maybe I've rubbed off on him in a few areas.  :)

He got a strapping young man looking for some extra cash to come out and dig the sod out around the whole area so he could put mulch down around the beds -- he'd already thought of the issues with mowing around each bed and decided to just make one big rectangle.  Such a smarty-pants.

The next thing Jeff thought of was how to efficiently water the garden once he got his seeds planted.  His brother, Tim, and his wife, Leslie, were down the weekend of Easter and they helped Jeff put in his irrigation system.  He'd already had a line brought out to the garden from the spiget (sp?) on the back of the house so all he had to do was put in each line (4 lines per bed) and connect it all.  Each line has holes that drip water once the water is turned on...

See how the soil is dark in spots?  That's the underground irrigation system after it's been on for a little while.

I'm telling you, the man is BRILLIANT.

So now we wait.   And wait.  And wait.

About a month later (the beginning of June), this is what we have:

The very early stages of banana peppers, watermelons, sweet corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, green peppers, yellow squash and zuccini.  Oh, and we bought a tomato plant to put out there.  The banana peppers are in the hanging basket.  Also, he started some of the watermelons, green peppers and banana peppers inside in pods and then transplanted them after about a month.

And this is what we currently have, as of this very morning, June 18:

Look at that!  The first fruits of his labor!  It's crazy but there is a tiny little watermelon out there, about the size of a large marble.  But it looks exactly like a watermelon, with the stripes and everything.  Jeff says it will likely get to the size of a small basketball so we have a while before we can pick it.  :)

We're excited about the garden, but we're trying not to have expectations that are too high with this being our first year attempt.  We'll see how it goes and make adjustments as we need to for next year.  If there is a next year.  :)

I'm sure I'll post here and there as we get more growth and veggies popping up...

Home EC Class: Project 19

Full Apron

**Yep, I skipped another one -- project 18 was a laptop case and I do plan to do that one, but I need to get my materials for it.  UPDATE: posted here. **

Lessons learned:
   creating a rounded pocket
   creating binding
   customizing to fit your body

I really like how this project turned out!  The only thing I kind of messed up on was the measurements across -- the next one I make will be wider to come around my body more, but for my first apron and semi-piece of clothing type of sewing project, I'd say it was a success!

I think the color scheme is really cute, too.  The body of the apron is a fitted sheet (that was tagged as a flat sheet) and the tie and pocket details came from a pillow sham (I already had the green fabric I used for the sash).  I found both pieces in a local thrift store.  :)

Home EC Class: Project 17

Fabric Storage Cubby

**Yes, I skipped project 16, which was a ruffled duvet cover, for now.  I'm thrilled to be able to learn how to do something like that but I'm not quite ready to tackle something that large right now...**

Lessons Learned
   constructing a cube
   working with interfacing

Okay, so the plan originally was to build three of these little deals and use them for toys, etc. in Deacon's room.  I was going to have my husband build a simple 3-opening structure to house them and that would go underneath the window in the nursery.

However, I got all the panels built for ONE box and then I had the baby.  Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech.  No more sewing going on for quite.some.time.  I finally got tired of looking at the panels and got a hankering to move on to the next projects so I finished up the one and decided to use it as photographed above.  It works.  For now.

I think what delayed me in finishing this up (besides the obvious task of caring for a newborn that takes.a.lot.of.time. :) was that I didn't exactly follow directions in one particular section.  We were supposed to leave room on the edges to be able to just sew right up the sides and connect all the panels together.  I, um, didn't do that.  So I had to figure out a way to connect mine a different way.

I basically just tacked them together with thread at the corners and then tied a ribbon around the perimeter to minimize the gaps.  Obviously, there are still gaps (hence the reason we're not throwing toys in there), but they are minimized so my mission was accomplished there.

I was kinda bummed at how this one turned out but really, that's my own fault.  In the future, when I get around to using up the rest of the materials I purchased to make three of these, I will do things a little bit differently.