6.24.2011

Turns out I don't really enjoy blogging. I started this blog thinking that it would be fun to share things that I make but I came to find out that blogging is kind of tedious to me. Good to know, right?

Plus, little Miss is keeping me quite busy - not giving me too much time to craft anything, much less share it on the information superhighway (yes, that is how Alex and I like to refer to the internet).

So, all this to say, I am retiring my blog after it's very short-lived existence. Buuut, you can friend me on Facebook: Rachel Goochey.

Thanks, all!

4.14.2011

bits and bobs

I am about 95% finished with an amazing birthday gift that Alma and I (ok, admittedly, she did it all. i wasn't really any help) are making for my mom. I'd tell you all about it but I don't want to let the surprise out. The only hint: it is featuring one of my favorite breeds of canines. Not that that narrows it down at all... wiener dog, great dane, mastiff, scottie dog, boxer, pit bull...

This Easter dress is slowly being made for Alma. I think it will be super cute and it's my first project that involved schirring, which is basically awesome. Unfortunately I made the bodice WAY too small and need to start that part over. It's so frustrating when you think you're making real progress on a project only to be set back about five steps. Live and learn, right?

Even though we have lived in Boise for over a year I feel like it's taking me a while to make good friends. I mean, I have a lot of acquaintances but no one that I feel like I can just call up to go for coffee. Because of this, I volunteered to be the point person to organize a "new mom's" group through the birth center where I had Alma. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this! Apparently they have had quite a few clients express interest in such a group so I am hoping that this will be an awesome opportunity to get like-minded ladies connected. And since my natural birth experience was so important to me, it will be really fun to meet other women who feel the same way!

I know I had something else that I wanted to tell you all but my brain has frozen. It must be the dirty-dishes-laundry-drying-all-over-the-house-projects-to-finish brain fuzz. 

And is it bad for me to admit how addicted I am to playing Mahjong Titans? It's the perfect way to pass the time while I'm nursing if I don't have a good book going at the time. I swear, it is so satisfying to hear the little tiles "click" on my computer when I find an awesome match. I'm a Mahjong Master!

4.09.2011

sewing again

I finished five new hats this morning and that felt really good. Of course, each hat was sewn without a hitch until I got to the last step of each one when they decided to throw five different curveballs at me. Thanks, hats. I really appreciate that. Granted, it was also a morning when I apparently decided to see how many beginner's sewing errors I could make. But all that aside, and they are done! I'm hoping to get some yoga bags done next because I want to have some new items when I make my crafting world re-entry at the Boise State Earth Day event. I have some fun ideas lined up!

I think I like the red one the best!
I had a moment of insanity and thought it would be fun to share pictures of my sewing loft. I call it insane because now you can look at these pictures and see how much of a slob I really am and judge me unconditionally. At least I'm busy, right?

My cutting table which consists of a folding table that I got for $15 at the thrift store and a new huge self-healing mat that I got my my birthday.

This is where I really look messy. Oops.

My $4 thrift store vintage singer. We have a love/hate relationship.

National Geographic inspiration wall!

I call this my storage closet. Alex calls it "deep storage."

Our absurd collection of books that we insist on toting around the country with us when we move. And that is why I have huge muscles.

I have transom windows all along the back wall of the loft and the front looks over my living room where we have huge windows as well. I love the lighting.

What do you like best about your crafty space?

4.06.2011

restructuring

Big things are on the horizon for bellefourche! Since the little bug has been born my sewing has been put on hold, thus my etsy page is dead and my consignment wares are looking a bit thin. I have been needing motivation to get things back up and running and my good friend at Bricolage provided just that. They are restructuring how their store runs and are ending their consignment program, so in the meantime I decided to pull my merchandise from their stock and give myself a chance to rethink how I am running my business. So, look forward to new ideas, more merchandise, better organization and (hopefully!) more reliable blogging from me.

I make big promises here, but can I keep them?

One thing that is keeping me busy for the next few weeks is an order for 100 tote bags! No, no, don't worry - I am not endeavoring to sew 100 tote bags on my own. As a matter of fact, it's not even my order. My mom was asked to make 100 tote bags for this seasons CSA customers with Global Gardens. Being such a humongous order, she asked me to help out. And since Alma Jay is virtually an appendage of me, she got to help out.

No, this is not my kitchen. This is my mom's house. My kitchen is frightfully smaller and not so nicely coordinated.
Isn't my girl getting so big?!

3.20.2011

Sad news

Well this has been a really crappy week for multiple reasons. You know how sometimes it just feels like things pile up unexpectedly? That has been my week, ending with getting up at 5am with a congested baby who is crying because she can't breathe through her nose. Right now she is sleeping on my lap as I type this from our rocking chair. Poor Alma.

The climax of my week, though, was having to rehome my dogs. After we had the baby home for a few weeks we just realized that two boxers, a one bedroom apartment with no yard and a new baby don't mix very well. Nevermind the fact that our littler dog, Wanda, has separation anxiety and housetraining issues. After a lot of discussions with the husband, and a lot of crying (on both of our parts), we realized that we needed to find new homes for Lincoln and Wanda. Fortunately, our good friend Matt and his brother were able to adopt Lincoln and give her tons of attention and a fenced backyard. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find a home for Wanda. We tried Craigslist, mass emails, announcing at church, word of mouth and Petfinder and no one seemed able to take her. Finally on Thursday Alex and I brought her to the humane society and it was just about the hardest thing I have ever done. I cried a lot. I really love those pups.


3.05.2011

Crafty things that I have done lately... don't get your hopes up too high

Long ago I posted links to castle peeps fabric and the pattern for a mei tai carrier. Lo and behold, I have finally made said carrier and I love it. I managed to get it done before Alma was born (she's actually snoozing in it as I type!) and I think that so far it has been my favorite and most useful baby item that I have made. She rides in it when we run errands, walk the dogs, while I do the dishes, run laundry down to the laundry room. And the total bonus: it puts her right to sleep!
Sorry for the mirror picture. I'm at home alone so I couldn't cajole Alex into taking pictures of me.

The first sewing project that I've undertaken since Alma has been born was this awesome changing pad. When we embarked on our first outting I realized that I didn't have a changing pad for her but my mom found this great tutorial on HomemadebyJill (posted for last year's Celebrate the Boy... which I am kind of obsessed with despite the fact that I have a girl. Isn't it the coolest idea, though?). I had a fair amount of the Castle Peeps fabric left and since Alma's first real adventure was to the fabric store, I bought some awesome laminated cotton fabric to use as the waterproof inside. The pattern was really easy but I kind of botched up the corners with the bias tape (which, by the way, was made courtesy of my little sister and given to me in my Christmas stocking!) - don't look too closely in the pictures. I think that this changing pad would make an awesome baby gift for someone.



But my most recent (and most favorite) project has been these awesome buttons! My local crafting team went together to buy a shared button maker (hallelujah!) and last week I took my first go at it. Instead of a baby shower for Alma, we had an open house for her at a new local coffee shop - the District Coffee House - and Alex had the genius idea to make "it's a girl!" buttons with little cigars on them. My mom and I made about fifty of them and we passed them out at Alma's party. Along with those pins, I made a bunch of bellefourche pins, plus fun vintage map pins. I'm trying to borrow the button maker again this week so I can go crazy and make a bunch more!
As seen on Alma's diaper bag - she loves sporting the bellefourche pride.

My pile of buttons that I'm not sure of what to do with now. I just like admiring them!

2.21.2011

it worked!

After weeks of bed rest and prelabor and false alarms, Valentine's Day brought us a beautiful healthy baby girl!

Here's our gal - Alma Jay Goochey, 6lbs 8oz, 19in!



First trip out of the house was to the fabric store. She is destined to be a crafting baby!
Check out more info and pictures about her at our family blog, The Fox Den.

2.02.2011

last day of bed rest!

If a month ago someone had told me that I would need to go on a week and a half of bed rest with this baby, I probably would have been so excited at the thought of laying on the couch for days on end and watching movies. But then I got wicked sick for a week and did that anyway. I spent a week finishing up all of my library books and watching my Netflix movies. Once I was feeling better I was so excited to start all of my anticipatory baby sewing - plus, my back is finally feeling better so I was super game for camping out at my sewing machine.

Not so. Baby G decided to try to come a little early and my midwives prescribed bed rest until February 3, when Baby is officially full-term. So I settled back into my nest on the couch, requested new books from the library and frantically updated my Netflix queue. I have spent the last 10 days watching every and any movie, reading random books, finding crafts that I want to sew but can't yet and beating my husband's butt during some extremely competitive games of UNO.  As of midnight tonight, though, all of that ends and I get to be a regular person again. When I walk the dogs in the morning tomorrow it will be the first time I have set foot outside of our apartment since I went to my midwife appointment on last Friday. My spouse has promised me any kind of takeout PLUS frozen yogurt for dinner tonight as a reward for being successfully inactive for a week and a half (if you know my personality at all, inactivity does not suit me well... I have a bit of high-strung, nervous energy to work off most of the time).

Unplanned for down time has given me a chance to appreciate silly things in my life that I don't normally think about, though, so here is a glimpse of some happy things from my bed rest:

1. My weird dogs, who have been excellent furry companions for days on end.
2. The pdf pattern for these super cute baby sneakers that I bought from sewingwithme and can't wait to sew.




















3. My parents, who are super nutty and felt bad that I couldn't go to the McCall winter carnival last weekend so they brought the carnival to me (Lincoln was less than thrilled about this).















4. My spouse, who loves me despite my currently massive dimensions and my ability to obliterate him at UNO MOD.















5. And, of course, the Bambino. Not that I have ever not appreciated this kid, but the last 10 days have made me so excited to meet it!

1.21.2011

i can't help but love this.


This is a drawing by my friend Joyce Rice who lives in Chicago. I subscribe to her doodle blog, Teeny Robots, and you should too because a couple of times a week she posts hilarious drawings and paintings such as these. The dear husband and I think this drawing is so funny that it is currently the background on our computer. Go Extreme Brobots! And not only is Joyce a talented artist, but she is an awesome seamstress and has a great Etsy shop. Go Joyce, go!

I am at home and am extremely sick. Not fun. My crafting-to-sell has been put on hold until after the bambino arrives and then I have a whole arsenal of ideas to get cracking on. In the meantime, I have an awesome stack of Michael Miller fabric waiting to be made into crib sheets and changing pad covers and I splurged and ordered two pieces of fabric from Fabric.com which will be sewn into a carseat cover and a baby carrier. 
 
I am the most excited about turning the afore-pictured "Castle Peeps" fabric by Lizzy House into this awesome Mei Tai carrier that I bought the pattern for from Sew Liberated. Three cheers for baby sewing projects!

But until the sewing can begin, I need this head cold from hell to clear up so I can vacate the nest I have created on our couch and start being a real person again. 

Oh and by the way, our holidays out here in Boise were fabulous and I hope all of yours were as well! I really need to get into a better habit of blogging...