The Yoga Skirt

A couple Sundays ago, I was up really early before church and couldn't decide what to wear.  I remembered that I had just recently acquired some blue and white striped knit fabric, and thought it would make a nice skirt.  So I jumped online, found a blog post about easy knit skirts I had pinned a while back on Pinterest, and got to work.  The blogger called it a yoga skirt - after similar skirts that were being sold at Old Navy.  The knit makes it stretchy and comfortable.  The waistband is what makes it neat - it doesn't need elastic or a zipper, since the knit is stretchy, but still snug.

First, I took some quick measurements to figure out how wide I wanted the waistband and the length of the skirt.  Then I grabbed some tissue paper and drew myself a pattern.

Next, I had to line up all the stripes on the fabric so the edges would match up.

Then I cut out the three pieces (front of the skirt, back of the skirt, waistband), sewed the waistband together, then the two sides together.   I attached the waistband, stretching the top of the skirt as I went to match up with the waistband.  I had to use a zig zag stitch for most of it to make sure the fabric would still be able to stretch without popping a stitch.  Finally, I hemmed the bottom of the skirt.

The whole process, pattern to wearing it, took me two hours.  It's the fastest I've ever completed a sewing project!  I wore the skirt to church that morning :)  I really like this skirt - it's lightweight, and comfortable, and really easy to make.  I had never sewn with a knit before, so I was kind of nervous, but it wasn't too difficult.  I'll definitely be on the look-out for more knit fabrics so I can make more of these in the future.

A Reunion in Atlanta

Just a week after we got back from our trip up North, Jeff and I headed back out on yet another trip.  I had just started my second summer session class (a seminar on terrorism) that Thursday, and that weekend we'd be heading down to Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend of mine, Ruth, whom I had met and become close friends with while I was in Jordan.

We left at 3:30am on Friday morning to drive down to Atlanta - painfully early, but totally worth it since it meant I would get to spend some time with Ruth and Janelle (my last roommate in Jordan) before the wedding festivities got too crazy.  We had a lovely breakfast together, complete with lots of stories about the bride and groom and how all of us had met.  Afterwards, we went to the church to help set up some of the decorations.  Back at Ruth's house, Jeff had been helping Ruth's brother-in-law cook shrimp for the wedding reception.  It was fun to see a little of the process that goes into it, as well as see Janelle demonstrate the proper way to eat shrimp.

That afternoon, we went to a local park where the rehearsal dinner would take place.  Jeff helped man the grill, and I helped put up streamers.  It was an "Up" themed dinner - one of Ruth's favorite movies.  There were balloons and bird houses and lots of delicious food.  It was so much fun!

my sweet friend Ruth

We left a little early since we were staying about an hour and a half away.  My great-aunt and uncle live in a beautiful home high up in the hills with a gorgeous view.  The best part - it's called Rivendell.  We got there just in time to see the last bit of the sunset fade away.  The next morning, some of my cousins came over for breakfast, and we got to spend time catching up.  We also played spades, and I learned how to shoot a slingshot.  There was something oddly satisfying about launching acorns into the air...

the beautiful view

shooting acorns

clearly, the love of Tolkien runs in the family...

After breakfast, we packed our nice clothes into the car and headed back to Atlanta for the wedding.  It was a beautiful service.  Ruth was a radiant bride!  After the ceremony, there was this tunnel of swords thing that her brothers led, which was really fun to watch. "A kiss to pass!" they would say, blocking the newlyweds' path with their swords.

a kiss to pass...

friends from Jordan reunited!

Janelle, Ruth, and me

The reception was party!  There was dancing, lots of yummy southern food (although I didn't eat the shrimp, still don't like seafood...), delicious punch, and of course, I had a very handsome date :)

my studly husband :)

After the reception, I changed back into comfy clothes, and we headed back to Rivendell.  Janelle joined us, so we could hang out the next day before we had to leave.  We spent a couple hours talking on the porch with my great-aunt and uncle, and found out that Janelle met some of my family in India when she was student teaching.  Small world!

The next day, we had a big breakfast, then we went on a short hike to see some nearby waterfalls.  Then we went to the lake, went out on a paddle boat, then went down the big rock slide next to the lake (the water was so cold!), and then finished off with dip in the swimming pool.  Aunt Andrea made the most delicious pork tenderloin, with this fantastic chipotle plum sauce.  After stuffing ourselves full of food, we packed our things up and said our goodbyes.

It was a quick trip, but it was a great weekend celebrating marriage and enjoying the company of friends and family.

Jeff, me, Aunt Andrea, and Uncle Rich

Building a Coffee Table

Almost a year ago, I was browsing the craft section of Pinterest and came across this really cool looking coffee table.  The couple had found this old door, cleaned it up a bit, attached some legs and voila! A really cool vintage coffee table.  I immediately fell in love with it, and decided to do it myself.  So I spent the next month or so scouring thrift shops and Habitat for Humanity's Restore in order to find the perfect door.  I finally found it one day in the back of Restore, and promptly bought it for $21.  It was old, and made out of solid wood.  This project would be done almost entirely at my parents' house, since they have the space and all the fun power tools a girl could ever want.

I started off by stripping most of the paint off of the top of the door.  Sections of it were peeling and cracking off, and I didn't want to worry about possible lead paint chips coming off later down the line.  I decided to leave some of the old paint (that didn't come off with the first two rounds of paint stripping) around the edges so when I distressed the new paint, the old paint (which is a different color) would show through and give it some depth.

Then we loaded the door into my dad's car and drove it to a friend's to use their table saw to cut the door down to a better size.

After cutting it down, we had to secure the top piece of wood to make sure the rest of the door, which was fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, wouldn't fall apart.  We did this using an awesome tool called a Kreg jig.  It lets you drill a hole at a specific angle to secure two pieces of wood together - it's a really strong joint, and the holes are easily hidden.

testing out the new Kreg jig

preparing to drill the hole for the screw

power tools are lots of fun :)

After the pieces were secure, I got some crackle medium to put on the panels.  I wanted the new paint to crack, so it would look older and show the old paint or wood underneath.  Crackle medium is the easiest way to do it.  Once it dried, I re-painted the door.

After the paint dried, I began to distress it.  This part was a lot of fun - I dropped a hammer on the door, hit it was a crowbar, scratched it up, and basically just enjoyed beating the wood up to give it more texture.  Then I used a little wood stain to darken some of the edges and fill some of the new dents in the door.  After that, I sealed it with 3 coats of polyurethane.

all ready for polyurethane!

All of this had been done over about 4 months of various weekends at my parents'.  After I finished the top coat of polyurethane, the door sat in my parents garage until this summer.  I had sidetracked by other things in life, and I was stuck on what to do for table legs.  I had found some affordable options online, but nothing I saw really struck me as being right.  On spare days this summer, I went back to me parents to finish up with the polyurethane - I had to do several coats on the back of the door to make sure the old paint on that side wouldn't chip off.  Then the past couple weeks, I finally made a decision on the frame and got to work.  My dad and I bought some lumber from Lowe's - the wood was the same size as some of the more expensive table legs, but unfinished (meaning not sanded or stained), and about twice as long.  We bought two of these and cut them in half, which only cost us $10.

Building the frame was so much fun!  My mom wisely suggested that we miter the corners of the frame, to give it a finished edge.

lining up the frame

securing the legs

We used the Kreg jig for the frame.  The outer frame is there to provide stability for the legs.  We quickly discovered some warp in the wood, which meant we had to get a little creative with attaching the legs.  We used shims (slim, angled slices of wood) in between some of the legs and the frame to make sure that all the legs were straight and level when attached.

Once the frame was built, I did 3 coats of wood stain, followed by 2 coats of polyurethane to seal the stain.  The polyurethane took a long time to dry since it's so humid here.  After it was dry, we brought it back inside, placed it on top of the door, marked the frame's position, then drilled holes in the frame where it would be screwed to the door.  We were lucky - the frame sat level on the door, so we didn't have use any more shims.  We clamped the frame onto the door and screwed it in.  For a final touch, we put felt pads on to the bottoms of the legs.

And here's the final result: the coffee table in its new home :)

A Trip Up North

In between summer school sessions, Jeff and I took a few days off to go visit family up in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  We got to walk around Valley Forge, hang out with cousins, collect some eggs, visit Longwood Gardens, celebrate my granddad's retirement (at 78!), and play lots of card games.  Here are some fun pictures from our trip:

Jeff getting some Lego time

picking strawberries from the garden

I LOVE this place! - the beautiful ruins at my cousins' farm

the newly-built fantastic herb garden

visiting Valley Forge National Historic Park

pretending to be a soldier

The log cabins at Valley Forge

Checking out the inside of the log cabins

The deer are totally not afraid of people in Valley Forge - I was within 3 feet of this one!  Didn't even flinch...

Americanization: one of the stained-glass values in the George Washington Memorial Chapel 

the woodwork in the chapel took years - and was done all by hand

I loved the stone work!

collecting fresh eggs

the eggs we collected

all dressed up for Grandpa's retirement party!

my cousins - getting flashy with their bowties and pocket watches

Grandma and Grandpa showing off their dance skills

at Longwood Gardens

hanging out on an old cedar-of-Lebanon

a super cool tree house

some of the flowers were huge!!!

watching the fountain show

hanging out with my sweet husband in the greenhouse

playing spades with Grandma and Grandpa - Jeff and Grandpa won...