Pinterest Challenge: Bathroom Organizer

I cleaned off my dresser the other day. Yay!
That doesn't sound that impressive until I am humbled and honest and admit that I had to clean it because stuff was piled so high i could no longer see my own face in the mirror behind it. I had to stand on my tiptoes. I'm a slob, folks.
But the dresser is now clear and I had to figure out what to do with the stuff that was up there. Most of it was easy to distribute to other areas... but I had a large collection of hair accessories, and the logical place for those would be the bathroom, but I didn't have a great place in the bathroom to keep them together. I threw them in a box they didn't belong in under the sink.
Then I was trolling pinterest the other day and found this pin:

Source: hobbit-house-h.blogspot.com via Valerie on Pinterest

suggesting you use one of those shoe organizers on the inside of the bathroom cabinets. And I went ding! Great Idea.
And then that same day, I saw The Pinterest Challenge (Fall edition) on YHL and I was all, Challenge Accepted, let's make this happen!
But... I didn't have a shoe organizer to cut up. And I had a very small cabinet door. And I needed some different sizes for various accessories. And... I quickly knew I was going to have to custom make this thing... and I wanted it to be pretty!
Sooooo... I did some measuring, and pulled some pretty fabric from my stash, and it came together pretty quickly. All straight lines, and a couple of pleats... topped it off with a package of gray bias tape... done.
Behold:

The backing is a heavy canvas so it has a little bit of weight to it... but it didn't need to be incredibly heavy duty, because generally hair accesories are pretty light. I was going to put a grommet on each corner to hang it, but I only had one... so button holes worked instead. I used some small 3M hooks to hold it up.

 So I popped it up there, and filled it up right away. Clips, hair pins, and ribbons accross the top. Running headbands and embarrassing hair forms in the middle. (is anyone else embarrased by hair forms? Does anyone else use them? I have one for buns and... a bumpit. I'm pretty embarrassed now.) Bottom row is hair flowers and fancy pins, and decorative headbands.

Having a place for the hair stuff means I was able to organize the rest of the cabinet...

So there you go, now you have seen under my bathroom sink. Awesome, no?
So there you have it. Had a problem. Found a pin. Accepted a pinterest challenge. Put my own pretty Pin Spin on it. And now my life is better for it. Yay.
Have you completed any pinterest projects lately? Accepted any pinterest challenges? Made anything to help organize your bathroom?

(Oh, hey... side note. It just occurred to me last time I did a Pinterest Challenge I also made an organizational piece for my bathroom! that's a weird theme...)

(Also, you should go over to Young House Love and check out their Pinterest Challenge Project-- spoiler alert: It's a really cool big standing chalkboard. Oooh...)

Not here, or there, or anywhere...

Just a sneak peak of Sam's Halloween costume I have been working so hard on!
I am really happy with the way it turned out... but in normal fashion, I am freaking out over tiny details-- like yesterday I spent a couple hours handpainting a sign (and a perfect stick to hold the sign...) it was complete and it was perfect and it was handed over to the child and within seconds it was broken.
Sigh. But fixable!
More good things coming...
Are you ready for halloween???

Baby J Quilt

So a couple weeks ago I threw up this pic just to tease you and let you know I hadn't dropped off the face of the planet:

Lovely pretty fabrics to be made into a warm, soft quilt to welcome my best friend's snuggly little girl into the world! Oh, is she sweet! :) Baby J was born just a week ago, and we got to go visit the fresh little one and her parents last week! 

April is my oldest friend... we've been friends literally since birth, sooooo... what are we at, 27.5 ish years of friendship? That's intense. It's weird that we have kids now. It's so much fun to see our kids playing together, as we sit off the the side and talk and giggle. I don't know when we grew up-- it seems like we should still be the little kids playing on the floor. 

Anyway, this is April's second baby girl, and carrying on a Sass family tradition, every new baby in the family (and April is pretty much family to me) gets a quilt. (You may recall I made this quilt when her first baby girl was born).

 For this quilt I pieced 10x10 blocks or ivory and chocolate dot minky. The backing was  a sweet bicycle flannel print in ivory, chocolate, turquoise, orange, and pink. I loved the print because it was sweet and girly, without being over the top or sickeningly 'baby'. (April and I agree-- we are not a huge fan of 'babyish baby stuff'.)

I 'embroidered' a j in the corner of the backing to personalize it with some chunky pink yarn. I used the same yarn to tie the blanket-- even though I went ahead and 'quilted' it stitch-in-the-ditch style around those big minky blocks.

I used a double layer of extra-loft organic cotton batting so it is extra pillow-y and soft.

The quilt is bound with a turquoise satin binding-- with those mitered corners that always give me fits!

I really liked the way it turned out! I think it is cute and fun, and extra soft. Perfect for a cute, fun, soft new baby J! I think (hope?) April liked it too... she saw it and said-- oh I saw the fabric on your blog the other day and I was hoping it was for us! I'm glad we have a similar asthetic.

Here is my friend (looking fab just a few days after giving birth!) and me holding sweet baby girl. (Don't you think I look good holding a baby draped in pink? We should try for a pink one next time...) Love you and your sweet family, April! Congrats on another beautiful baby girl! Welcome to the world, baby J!

Pumpkin centerpiece

While in IA early this month, Z's parents took us to a lovely pumpkin farm for a fall afternoon outing!

It really was so colorful and such a beautiful day. I could have stayed there all day taking pictures of all the cool stuff... but I'll save that for another post. We pulled Sam around in a wagon and looked at all kinds of pumpkins and gourds... he loved it. See our little Pumpkin in with all the pumpkins?

We all selected a pumpkin or two to take home with us. Linda (my MIL) and I selected some lovely fat green ones with a fun project planned.  We made a little run to The Lob, to gather a few pretties, and when we got home, we get to work!
First, we washed our dirty pumpkins.

Then we gathered up our supplies:
Pumpkins, ribbon, burlap, artificial leaves/berries, feathers, beads, sparkly picks, wire, and a hot glue gun.

Next we sat down and layered and arranged and rearranged until we liked the way things looked... then we glued it all down and tied big bows for the top... to create fall centerpieces for our tables!

This one was Linda's and I think it turned out so fun and cute!

This one was mine... and I like the funky spiky feather and blingyness. :)

We even made a mini one for Grandma to put on her desk and she was quite pleased. It was a simple and fun project to create a centerpiece that should last the season. We were happy with the results, and I really enjoyed myself putting it all together!
Have you created any fall decor recently? Just the other day I remembered that Amy Lee and I made that cool wreath for my front door, time to get that out! And my black candlesticks to create Halloween display, maybe? Ooh speaking of Halloween... it's time to get started on the little Pumpkin's costume... FUN!

9 months with Sam

Hey busy little boy, here's what you were up to at 9 months:

Sam @ 9 months

Weight:

at birth: 9lbs 2.7 oz

  at nine months: 21 lbs 7 oz

Eating

Still enjoying solid foods three times a day with your family, and beginning to reduce formula feedings... which you enjoy before naps, bedtime, and once in the night usually between 3 and 4 a.m... same as last month.

Sleeping

You wake up every day around 8:00 a.m.

You nap for 2-3 hours around 11:00 a.m.

You nap for about an hour around 5:00 p.m.

Bedtime is 9:30 p.m.
If we stray from this schedule... you are a grizzly bear.

Likes

Bouncing with Grandpa (S). Everytime grandpa picks you up he turns you to face out and then stands there bouncing you. You smile and laugh and wave your arms like a maniac. You also kick your feet like crazy, and Grandpa jokes that he needs a 'nutcup' when he holds his grandson.

Blankets. Proof you are related to Mama. You love blankets. You love to play with them, chew on them, snuggle them, and you definitely will not go to sleep without one. We have these lightweight gauze blankets we used to swaddle you in, and those are your favorites, but you also love the texture and weight of your quilts and the crocheted blanket Aunt Cookie made you.

Drums. Daddy and Grandpa made you a pair of Sam size drumsticks. You love them and immediately started hitting everything in sight.

Dislikes

Growing teeth. I mean, who does? But you had a doozy of a month pushing those things through.

Firsts

First upper teeth! Actually, 6 teeth broke through this month. It was a pretty crazy month, with two really intense weeks trying to get four through all at the same time. yikes!

First cold. I feel pretty lucky that we made it to 9 months before our first cold... but it was miserable for everyone in the house. Poor guy would only sleep in the stroller or the car, so there were a few sleepless nights for everyone pushing a stroller around and around the living room.

Things I don't want to forget

You are so busy and curious all the time. You crawl accross the room, then turn and smile at me like-- I'm just over here Mama, don't worry, Then you go about your playing.

Your sweet baby chatter. Talking and chattering constantly, but it's fun to get you up in the mornings and you see us walk in the room and smile and say Mama mam mamama or Dada dada dadadadada. We love it.

Your gummy baby smile... you have so many teeth now! Such a young man.

Nine month video footage is short and sweet. You were not really interested in holding still and talking to mama for a video. But you are cute and you have your drumsticks...

9 months from Valerie Pogemiller on Vimeo.

I love you, Busy Boy.