Where I've been for the past 3 months...

...mostly at home, doing projects. Hockey Start also began for all 3 boys. And Mark was traveling a bunch for work to Austin, San Francisco and Boston.

First on the project list was doing Coaches' gifts for all the coaches on my sons' football team. I didn't have a huge amount of money to work with and 6 coaches to buy for, so I had to get creative. I got hooded sweatshirts on sale at Kohl's and also bought a matching t-shirt that I cut up for the freezer paper stencil I did on each.

Here's how they came out:

I wanted them to look a little distressed, so I stenciled in a rough font and then sewed around it a couple times randomly. I also used a football button for the apostrophe.

 I also added an iron-on on the inside for identification.

I added the bulldog from the shirt I bought to the back of the head coach's shirt.

I hope that they liked them. We gave them their shirts at the banquet, but that was chaos. It was a lot of work. Each stencil was cut out by hand, stenciled, ironed on, and sewn on x 6! If you are interested in the freezer paper stenciling technique, check out this link where I learned.

We also got to finishing our Master Bath. It was mostly done with the exception of installing my clawfoot tub. The tub had been sitting in my back yard for the past 5 years where it had sat since buying it in Chicago before we moved back. I got it refinished in January for my Christmas gift. It took a while to get all the pieces together! I had to find feet to fit (not an easy task, but I found them on eBay after a lot of research) and a faucet (eBay again - from England), adapters so that it would fit the holes on my tub (another eBay find) and the fittings and drain.(eBay again!).
After getting everything together, we found out that the pipes where plumbed in at the wrong space. So we had to pull up 6 travertine tiles and subfloor to move them. After moving the pipes and replacing the tiles, we were ready to move on. It took a while to get that all done, and now I am happy to say it is all done! I will share photos soon when we have a sunny day...
I also made a new shower curtain for my shower. I based the design on this dishtowel I found on Etsy.

The fabrics are all from Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric. Like I said, I'll share more photos when we get a sunny day!

I also made a few things for my Etsy shoppe. Here they are

I enjoy making these things, but it gets hard to make them when they don't sell. I just keep making things that I would like to have in my own house. And it gives me creative outlet!

And the last thing that I have been doing is getting myself back in shape. I've lost almost 10 lbs. since the beginning of December. I got EA Sports Active 2 for XBox. I'll tell you, it kicked my butt for the first couple of weeks! I could hardly walk. But after keeping at it, I actually enjoy it. It's easy because you can do it even when the weather is crappy (which is most of the time here during the winter), it keeps track of your calories burned (I've burned over 5500 calories) and you can miss days and go back and make them up. I had a bunch of that back in January and February because I got a sinus/ear infection. Good times -- not! I'm also eating better and keeping track of what I eat online.

I promise to share more of my renovations when it gets sunny and I can take better photos!


Have a great day :)