Sewvivor - Understated - Cassie Scott

Welcome to my Sew-vivor audition! Thank you so much for taking a peek at what I have to offer. I'll introduce myself, then get right to it.

My name is Cassie Scott. I am a 31 year old mother of two, living in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. Last summer while pregnant with my second son, I suddenly had this crazy moment where I thought, "I'm going to sew every.last.thing my baby wears!" And I hastily bought a sewing machine off Amazon (not after extensive review shopping, of course). I didn't sew a single thing for that baby the rest of that year. I didn't even break the machine out until January.

Around September I came across the ever-so-popular plus quilts on Pinterest. Wow! Could quilting be this modern? I couldn't justify the price of purchasing one from some of the fabulous creators I'd come across, so I continued to swoon. Come the New Year, I finally decided to take out the sewing machine and give it a go on my own. I busted out my drawing pad and got to work on a pattern. I noted the finished sizes of the ones I'd been fond of, read up on the basics and got to work. I can't tell you how proud of that first quilt I was. I hurried through it and we've loved it to death. I look at it now compared to what I'm sharing today, and my goodness! It's awful! But that's the process of learning, right?

I have made countless quilts since January. Crib sized, mini's, a lap size I raffled to raise money for a mission trip. Each one has gotten better, and I've fallen more and more in love with quilting. I was incredibly excited to come across the opportunity of Sew-vivor through Family Ever After. Though I'm nervous to put it out there, I feel this would be a wonderful chance to expand my skills and knowlege, and meet some new friends along the way.

Meet Clementine. She's a gorgeous toddler quilt finishing at 36"x44". Machine pieced, quilted and hand bound. The top is a combination of a white 100% cotton solid and a vintage sheet I collected from an annual vintage market. The backing is a 100% cotton, modern black & white sketch print, and sandwhiched between is a medium weight cotton batting. I then straight line quilted on the diagonal with a veriegated cotton quilting thread in pastels. Finally she is bound off with a black and white stripe. It combines my love of vintage and modern elements in to one gorgeous quilt, perfect for any little girl.

Thank you again for taking the time to stop by, and good luck to the other contestants!

the best year of my life

How did I get here? Every last mother says it. I feel like just yesterday I was right here, in this very moment, where Ryan was so new and tiny. At the same time, I just don't remember him ever being this small before.

Ryan James 10.01.11

Ryan James, September 2012

Child of mine, you are something beyond special. You change so much every day, it's hard to remember exactly how you were just yesterday. It breaks my heart knowing that in just over 24 hours, you will be 1. This whole year has been faster than any other moment in my entire life. You are the best thing that has ever happened to us. We love you.

Love, C

In these moments

He keeps my hands busy and heart full.

IKEA Hemnes Night Stand Makeover

I found this on Pinterest and freaked out a little. I liked it so much, I thought I could try my hand at updating my four year old Hemnes night stands from IKEA.

This was a $6 makeover. $5 for a tiny can of stain and $1 for the two foam brushes. I could have used stain and foam brushes that I already had, but I'm pretty sure the stain is in the garage is either a. frozen or b. dried out because I didn't put the lid back on it all the way. And the foam brushes? I know I have some, I just figured it was easier to buy them rather than rummaging through the house. The paint I had on hand.

Before:

After:

And now for staged photos with random props gathered from my house:

Bon Voyage Note Cards - Gift from Ashley

White Ceramic Owl - Gift from my mother

Gray & White Tray - Ikea circa 2010

And check me out. Pizazzing up the insides!

Wrapping Paper cut to size - IKEA circa 2010

You were pretty cute before little thing, but you're fitting the beach cottage chic of my bedroom even better now!

Stain: Minwax Red Oak

Paint: Martha Stewart Driftwood

Both available at Home Depot.

If you're thinking of tackling a small project like this, it's easy! You could get away with purchasing a tester bottle of the Martha Stewart paint for around $3, a small can of stain for $5 and a couple foam brushes (one for the paint, one for the stain). I applied two less than perfect coats of paint with a large foam brush and three coats of stain. I wanted a worn, shabby look, so in between coats I sanded a bit with an ultra fine sanding block I had on hand and rubbed a little stain along the edges of the drawer and door. 

And that's that! Hope you enjoyed!

diy: wine bottle lamp

I was never much of a wine drinker before. But now, quite often. Often enough to have a few empty bottles lying around. I've come across the idea on Pinterest in the past and thought it might be fun to try.

Yesterday I took down our Christmas tree. I packed up everything and had it all ready to be stored away when I realized I hadn't packed two strings of lights. Instead of opening the boxes back up and packing them away, I started furiously stripping labels from wine bottles.

I fed the lights through the top of the bottle and doctored up the back. There are other ways of doing it for a cleaner look. Battery powered lights in the bottles, drilling holes or cutting the bottoms out, etc. I took the lazy crafter's way, and I'm still happy with it.

If you're interested in more information about wine bottle lamps, here are a few links: one & two

dear ashley,

Here's a peek. Let me know when you get it.

- C

weekend mornings

It's my first day off after a full week back to work. We slept in until 8:00 & spent time lounging in bed. Now I sit here in the quiet on this blustery island morning, enjoying a hot cup of tea. Love lazy mornings.

good day sunshine

Today I woke up to this chubby face. I heard him wiggling around in his cradle before my alarm went off, but that's normal for him. As it sounded, he started to babble. I jumped right up. There he was, big smile on his face. He's never awake that early! I got in some good quality cuddle time before work. He really makes getting out of bed right when the alarm goes off, the easiest thing in the world.

You say goodbye, I say hello

2011 was a whirlwind. I've made pretty lofty goals for myself the last two years, none of which I've followed through. This year I have goals I'm hopeful to see through, but they're much more manageable.

1. Take care of yourself!
We all make health and fitness goals, and really, how often do we actually accomplish them? No goal this time. Just a promise to do things that make us healthier, happier people. Be more active. Eat more vegetables. Eat more meals at home.

2. Family is forever!
Now that I'm back to work, I miss Ryan like crazy and I sure see Jim less. With 12 hour shifts, I don't get a lot of you're with either of them. It's time to start making it count! Male the best out of the 30 minutes of family time we get on those days and continue to show Ryan how much we love him.

3. Money matters!
I sure love to shop, no secret there. But this year I want to be more mindful with our money. Less spending and more saving. Instead of buying lots of little things we might not need, save money for the big things we will use for a long time. Meal plan and grocery shop more wisely. Stop buying beauty products I won't use consistently.

4. Finish a half marathon!
This is the only "lofty" goal I have this year. I want to lose my baby weight so badly, I'd do just about anything to get it. I registered for a half marathon with a fellow mom of mine and I'm going to complete that thing even if she has to drag me across the finish line. I was training for one in 2010 and never showed up on race day. I'm not making a big training plan or a time to finish the race in, I just want to finish.

Those are my goals for the year! Hope you'll help keep me accountable and maybe even share your goals with me. Inspire me!

-C

Baby blues

There's not a lot, it seems, that Ryan takes from me. Besides the red hair, fair skin and chubby cheeks, I'm not sure you'd know he was mine. He came out looking identical to his daddy

While waiting for the ferry a few days ago, I noticed something spectacular! Ryan's eyes are changing color. They started out a pretty dark blue-gray, but now a beautiful golden brown spot has started to grow. Just like mommy! I have hazel eyes with lots of fun golden brown spots and speckles. Needless to say, I'm thrilled.

Thanks Ryan, for finding something to share with your mommy!

today

Curious hands & chubby fingers made me happy.

Our Christmas

As I lay here in bed listening to Ryan while he sleeps, I can say without a doubt, this was the best Christmas ever.





Hoping you and yours had a very special holiday and we wish you the best for the new year.

-C

our first family photos

This last Saturday we had a friend take our first family photos. I was starting to have a lot of regret for not having maternity or newborn photos taken of myself and Ryan. I mentioned it to Jim and he said we could still get photos done while Ryan is still itty bitty. Though he's not his newborn 7lbs, these are still so fabulous.

All photos were taken by Ciera of Pixiedust Photography. She's an incredibly talented photographer with a passion for child and family photography. You can find her work on her blog, Pixiedust Photography and her Facebook page.

discovering new things

I've seen a lot of change in Ryan over this last week. He's suddenly becoming so much more aware of the things around him. He has been grasping at his blanket or burp cloth, feeling and inspecting it, and moving them around.

I had literally given him a toy just last weekend to see if he'd like looking at it. I'm not even sure he realized it was there. After this new discovery, I pulled out a little stuffed elephant that was given to him to see if he'd be interested in it. My goodness, does he like it!

He loves to hold on to it. Regardless of whether he's actively playing with it, his little hand is grasping an ear or a foot on that little elephant. He'll sit and have a whole baby conversation with it. Cooing, smiling and giggling at it. I find it so fascinating. I was afraid of losing that tiny, cuddly infant, but these new discoveries sure are fun.