Month: December 2013

Sewing Leggings

December 31, 2013 kimberlee 2 Comments

Leggings seem to be coming back around again. Maybe they have been around and I am just slow to noticing. I decided that I would make my own leggings because they seemed pretty simple to make – and they really are. The way I made mine there are only 3 seams then a waistband casing for your elastic and then the hem.

I chose to make mine with a little more ease in them than those you buy. I really don’t like super tight things on my legs. I like the way these fit me and they are comfortable to wear. That is one of the things I love about sewing my own clothes – I can make things the way I want.

I did not really use a pattern to make these. I consulted pinterest first on how to sew leggings and found a couple of good blogs with this info. You can look at my Sewing board on pinterest to see these pins-blogs. This helped me figure out how to use an existing pattern for just some basic pants and turn it into a leggings pattern. What I did was take my measurements and then using the My Label pattern I have for pants, I butted the front and back pieces together on the outer sides and then adjusted the size per my measurements, making sure I added in approx. 1/2 inch for a seam allowance. I then took some pattern drafting interfacing, I by this at Joann, and laid it over the two pieces and traced around to make a pattern for the leggings. This way there is no outer seam only an inner seam and the front and back crotch seam.

Sewing these is so fast and easy! You just sew with right sides together your inner leg seams and then sew the crotch seam. Then, turn over your casing for your elastic waistband – I use 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch elastic so the casing is fairly wide. You also turn up 1 inch for your hem on the legs. You are done! So simple. I have serger so sewing these is super fast but you could also use a regular sewing machine and a zigzag stitch. I sometimes use a twin needle for the hems but this time I chose to use a narrow zigzag to sew the hem and the casing. I think this gives it a little better stretch.

To make leggings you will need some fabric that is stretchy with a little bit of spandex or lycra in it. I think mine was from Joann and called Ponte Roma Sew Classic knits. The gray ones I made below that I use to workouts in are the Sweatshirt Performance fabric from Joann. Both fabrics have a little lycra or spandex and retain their stretch after hours of wear.

I have made four pair of leggings now and have some camel color fabric to make one more pair. Two of the pair I use as my workout pants in the morning.

I have lots of other sewing projects and ideas for 2014. Please follow my blog via bloglovin or RSS to receive future updates. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Categories: Sewing

Tags: sewing, sewing apparel, sewing leggings, sewing project, sewing with knits, sewing workout leggings

Workouts Week 52 of 2013

December 28, 2013 kimberlee

This is the final full week of 2013. My workouts this year have been a variety of different activities and dvd’s. I think that is what keeps me motivated to wake up and workout every day, well – at least five days a week. Variety is the key. I also think finding an awesome and friendly facebook fitness group has helped. I really enjoy my little group on there. Sometimes I just log onto facebook to see my group and their posts and skip my personal page of posts. There are some really positive and dedicated fitness people in our Team Krazy Fit.

This past week I worked out most every day except Christmas day and on Sunday. I usually take Sunday as a rest day. My schedule this past week was:

Monday 12-23 – P90X3 Pilates – 30 minutes
Tuesday 12-24 – Cathe Party Rockin Step #2, premix 1 – 33 minutes
Wednesday 12-25 – off, rest day
Thursday 12-26 – Cathe X10, Cardio Blast – 25 minutes, also walked 1.5 miles
Friday 12-27 – P90X3 Yoga – 30 minutes
Saturday 12-28 – Exhale Core Fusion, Energy Flow Yoga – Energy Flow & Chi Gong + Hip Opener Stretches – 20 minutes

Last week I got my new P90X3 in the mail. I had to try out a couple of the dvd’s this week. They were awesome – to put it in one word. The Pilates was a challenging 30 minute workout that worked muscles in my glutes I didn’t know existed. My back side was sore for two days afterwards. I love that dvd! The yoga dvd was really great too. Not the same as I am used to with my Shiva Rea dvd’s but it was nice to do a different type of yoga workout.

This past week I also did my Cathe dvd’s mixed in with the P90X3. I can’t wait for my fitness challenge group to start on January 6, 2014 for the P90X3. Right now I am just trying out a few of the workouts, there are 16 of them, before the challenge group starts.

I hope everyone has had a great week and a wonderful Christmas! I am ready to get back into the normal routine of things but that will probably have to wait at least another week until my kids go back to school in 2014.

Have a great weekend and a Happy New Year!

Categories: Exercise

Tags: exercise schedule, fitness, fitness routine, pilates, working out, workout schedule, yoga

Burlap Gift Bags

December 24, 2013 kimberlee

Recently I saw a cute idea on pinterest for wrapping gifts with burlap. The idea came from the craftsalamode blog. I remembered I had some leftover burlap from a project I made several years ago. I pulled the burlap out of my fabric closet but decided I didn’t really have enough to actually wrap many gifts. So, I put my scissors and sewing machines to work and came up with these simple and very easy to make gift bags.

If you have a serger or sewing machine and know how to make a simple crochet chain you can make these bags in less than an hour – both of them.

Supplies needed:

1/2 yd burlap
fabric scissors
yarn – just a bit of scrap yarn or ribbon
serger set up for 3 thread overlock
sewing machine set up for straight stitch

Directions:

Cut your burlap desired size of bag you want to make. I cut mine 12 in. by 12 in. or 12 in. by 10 in.
Use your serger to serge up sides and bottom of bag OR you can use your regular sewing machine if you don’t have a serger but you will want to go back and zigzag the edges
Sew the lower bottom corners to “box” the bag, if desired – approx. 1 in. on each corner
chain 65 to 75 chains with a size K, L or N crochet hook – or whatever size fits the yarn you are using – with your scrap yarn
Fold crochet chain length in half and sew at that halfway point to one side of bag, approx. 1 1/2 to 2 in. from the top edge Note: you could also use ribbon in place of the yarn if you wanted to

I took a white elephant gift to a party recently in one of these little bags and was surprised when it was the first gift picked. Everyone thought the bag was a cute idea and were amazed I had just made it that afternoon. They are really simple to make.

I also thought they looked cute with the other bags I made in the past couple of years out of Christmas fabric. These bags were created totally on the serger. The pattern came from a great book I have called Ready Set Serge by Georgie Melot. This book has lots of fun serger projects in it.

I like the idea of the burlap gift bags since they are rather simple but can be used for any type of holiday or gift. You can always put a different color of yarn or ribbon to coordinate with the occasion. I know they also have colored burlap and I think I will get some of that in the future to make some in various colors.

Well, all of my gifts are wrapped now and ready for Christmas day. I hope you have a wonderful holiday – Merry Christmas!

Categories: Crochet Sewing

Workouts Week 51 of 2013

December 21, 2013 kimberlee

This past week I decided to do a routine of cardio one day and yoga the next day. I really liked this workout schedule.

Monday – Cathe Friedrich Party Rockin Step #2 premix 1 – 33 minutes
Tuesday – Shiva Rea Daily Energy – Earth & Shavasana – 25 minutes
Wednesday – Cathe Friedrich Party Rockin Step #2 premix 2 – 32 minutes
Thursday – Shiva Rea Creative Core Abs – 24 minutes
Friday – Cathe Friedrich X10 – Step – 26 minutes
Saturday – yoga book – Tara Stiles-Slim, Calm, Sexy Yoga – 15 minutes

These were the dvd’s I used:

The Party Rockin Step #2 dvd was a great workout. I realized I had not done this dvd yet after receiving it a couple of months ago. There is also a Party Rockin Step #1 and I have used that workout. For some reason I had not attempted the #2 dvd but decided to this week. I think I like it better. Although there was a little complication with the foot work on Monday. I had previewed it on Sunday – my rest day – and was all ready. I have found it is best to just watch the step workouts and get familiar with some of the moves before you actually do them. For some reason on one of the moves I missed a step somewhere which sent the long step off the riser – thankfully I did not fall or hurt myself – which I have done before on some of the step workouts. It did scare my cat out of the room though and scared me a little too.

I love the Shiva Rea yoga dvd’s and own quite a few. This week I did Daily Energy one day and the other day I did Creative Core Abs. I was going to do her Yogini dvd on Saturday but just decided to do my yoga book since I got up a little later than normal and my husband was using the TV to watch the morning news. I have a few yoga books and decided to use my Tara Stiles – Slim, Calm, Sexy Yoga book. There are lots of great routines in this book and all the photos are in color, too.

This week I also tried out a new smoothie recipe that I made up. I really like how it tasted. I am calling it Cherry Vanilla Eggnog Smoothie. Below is the recipe:

Cherry Vanilla Eggnog Smoothie

10 frozen, pitted, dark cherries

3/4 c. Silk Eggnog

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

1/2 c. crushed ice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.

I bought the Silk eggnog for my sons since they all like eggnog. When we went to the store after church on Sunday they didn’t have any regular eggnog so I thought since they like Vanilla Soymilk they would like this. Wrong! They informed me they didn’t think it tasted good. So, I decided to use it in this smoothie recipe so it wouldn’t go to waste. I also like the fact that the Silk eggnog has less calories and fat than regular eggnog. A 1/2 cup of the Silk eggnog is only 2 g. of fat. I don’t have any regular eggnog right now to give you the fat grams on it but I am sure it is over 2 g. I really enjoyed this smoothie and am looking forward to making another one soon.

I also decided to order the P90X3 new workout dvd’s last week. They arrived yesterday in the mail. I have not had chance to look at them much as I have been so busy with holiday things the past couple of days. I am hoping to be able to preview a couple of the dvd’s today. I will be joining a facebook challenge group on my Team Krazy Fit on January 6, 2014. This will be a 90 day program of working out 6 days a week.

I hope everyone is doing well and trying to get in a little fitness in between all the holiday activities. Even if it is only 15 minutes a day it is better than nothing.

Have a great weekend!

Categories: Exercise Health Recipes

Tags: cardio, exercise, fitness, fitness program, weekly workout, workout routine, yoga

Fun with Fleece and Yarn

December 18, 2013 kimberlee 3 Comments

Recently I made these fleece hats for us to take a family photo in this year. The hat idea came from one of my twin sons when I made his Halloween costume. He was Toonlink – a video game character -and needed this long pointy hat. His twin brother liked it so well he wanted one in his favorite color yellow. I decided it would be fun to make all 5 of us one each in a different color for a photo. Well, the idea was all good but getting 3 teenage boys to wear them and have their photo taken was another issue. So, we just took a family photo without the hats. Below is me wearing my hat.

When I went to Joann Fabrics to buy the fleece I got carried away – as I usually do when buying fabric – and bought extra with some other ideas in mind. So I got busy with my one idea and here is the result – a fleece scarf with yarn ruffle trim.

I cut the fleece approximately 11 in. wide by the width of the fabric. I then serged the edges using a variegated blue thread in the upper looper. I crocheted this big loopy ruffle and then sewed it onto the fleece scarf after serging the edges. This yarn was just some I had leftover from another project I made in the past. It only took about 75 yards of yarn for both ruffles.

After making my above “sample” version and seeing that it turned out I decided to use this dark green fleece and make a couple of gift items. I have a lot of family up in Michigan, where I am from, and they are all MSU fans. I decided since MSU is going to the Rose Bowl this year this would make a fun gift.

This scarf I decided to add a pocket on each side so you can have a place to keep your hands warm or hold your cellphone, ipod, etc. The ruffle was then attached to the lower part of the scarf. This particular ruffle was crocheted using 2 colors of yarn held together. I really like how it turned out.

I also made another version of a hat for a gift. It was super fast and easy. I used my pointy hat basic pattern and shortened it and made a curved top then just serged the curved edges and turned up the lower edge and used a zigzag stitch for a small hem with white thread so it would be in MSU colors. My son is modeling it in the below photos.

I still have extra fleece to use up and have another idea for a scarf. I am hoping when the Christmas rush calms down I can get it done and post it on my blog before the New Year gets here.

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season. I have been a bit overwhelmed with completing my shopping and getting all my packages mailed out. I feel a little better now that I got the last of the gifts mailed yesterday. I am hoping they get there by Christmas.

Categories: Crochet Sewing

Tags: crochet project, fleece hat, Fleece Scarf, fleece scarf with pockets, fleece scarf with ruffle, MSU color scarf, sewing project, yarn ruffle

Workouts Week 50 of 2013

December 14, 2013 kimberlee

Workouts this week were from my Cathe Friedrich Low Impact Series. I believe I purchase that a couple of years ago. There are some really great workouts on the 10 dvd set. The ones I decided to do were:

Monday – Slide & Glide Muscle Conditioning premix – 30 min
Tuesday – Slide & Glide Cardio – 31 min
Wednesday – Turbo Barre – 40 min
Thursday – Total Body Trisets – Upper Body premix of Chest, Shoulders & Tris – 31 min
Friday – Cardio Supersets – Express mix #1-4 – 26 min
Saturday – Yoga Max – 30 min

Above is the photo of the dvd cover – all the workouts are in the case. I also always use a workout schedule table that I made myself in word to keep track of what workouts I plan to do each week. This helps me stay on track and I feel like if I write it down I am more likely to to hold myself accountable to complete the workouts.

I love all the workouts on these dvd’s and they are all low impact so not a lot of high intensity jumping around. You still get a really great workout though. My two favorites from this past week are the Slide & Glide disc and Turbo Barre. Below are some photos of those workouts:

The Slide & Glide workout uses these plastic discs that came with the workout. I think I have also seen them at the store or you can order them from Cathe.com. This workout is fun and something different. I always feel great after doing this workout.

The Turbo Barre workout is done in bare feet or in my case I wore my yoga grip socks my husband bought me last year for Christmas. It was cold the morning I did this workout and I don’t like to have cold feet! This workout has a light weight – muscle conditioning – section at the beginning and I use 5 pound weights when doing that part. There is also a section that used a loop band for the arms and the legs. Great conditioning and lengthening for the muscles. My cat likes to sit on the chair for part of this workout as seen in the one photo. He is black so he is kind of hard to see.

Today I did the Yoga Max dvd – part of it. The whole thing is about 48 minutes and I did 30 minutes. It felt great to lengthen and tone early this morning. My cat enjoyed the workout too. I was getting ready to roll up my mat to put it in my bag and he came to sit by it.

I am trying to stay on track with my workouts during the holiday time as much as possible. How are your workouts going during this busy time of year?

Have a great weekend!

Categories: Exercise Health

Crochet Pattern for Boot Cuffs

December 10, 2013 kimberlee 6 Comments

Boot cuffs are everywhere these days. I decided it was time I got around to making some so I designed this pattern with a lacy type of crochet stitch. They crochet together super fast!

Here is the pattern pdf – Crochet Boot Cuff Pattern from Kimberlees Korner

The pattern uses a larger hook – size L or 8mm. I decided to use Homespun yarn for this particular pair but other bulky yarns would also work. The yarn I used was leftover from making a mobius wrap a couple of years ago. I was so pleased with how they looked together when I wore them the other day.

These crochet boot cuffs would make a great last minute gift since they are so quick and easy to make. I would classify this pattern as an advanced beginner level. You will need to know basic crochet terms and be familiar with how to chain, skip chains and double crochet to complete these boot cuffs.

If you decide to download my pdf I would just appreciate a follow back on my blog via bloglovin, email or RSS or just Like my facebook page. All the icons for these are in the sidebar. Thank you.

Have a great day!

Categories: Crochet

Tags: boot cuff pattern, boot cuffs, Crochet Pattern, easy to crochet pattern, homespun yarn, lacy crochet boot cuffs

Fitness Friday Week 49 of 2013

December 6, 2013 kimberlee

Fitness Friday this week – should be called Freezing Fitness Friday! It has gotten very cold here in Texas in the last 24 to 36 hours. It was a beautiful day on Wednesday – 79 degrees and yesterday it was 34. Today it is 27 and suppose to go down to 16 tonight. On top of the cold temperatures we also had some freezing rain and sleet early this morning. A lot of people are without power. So far our power has not been affected and I am hoping it stays that way. Praying for all those without power for it to be restored to them soon.

Well – on to the fitness post. Below are the workouts I used this week:

This week I chose to to a schedule of cardio, weights and then yoga. So my workouts were:

Monday – Cathe – Rockout Knockout
Tuesday – Cathe – Lean Legs & Abs
Wednesday – Shiva Rea Yoga – More Daily Energy
Thursday – Cathe X10 Hi-Lo workout
Friday – Cathe Flex Train
Saturday – Shiva Rea Yoga – More Daily Energy

I really like Rockout Knockout. It is a kickboxing workout that uses weighted gloves for part of the workout. Lots of sweating in this cardio session.

My yoga session on Wednesday was accompanied by my two faithful workout friends – my cats. They like yoga workouts much better than cardio. The More Daily Energy dvd has several workouts to choose from in the yoga matrix. I chose to do Evolution Standing Flow and the shavasana which took about 27 minutes.

Today’s workout, Flex Train, took a little motivation to get out of bed and get it done since it was so cold. Once I got moving around everything was good. I was just glad to wake up and have power and a warm house. This workout has lots of different chapters to mix and match. Today I chose to do the warm up, legs & shoulders, disc lunges, legs-firewalkers, core-abs and the stretch. Lots of variety in this workout and the shoulder section gives you a real burn as well as the ab work.

I also created a new smoothie recipe earlier this week. I used some leftover cranberry sauce I made on Thanksgiving in the recipe. I am calling it Cranberry Christmas Smoothie. I thought it was really good! Recipe is below:

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This time of year is busy so it seems more difficult to fit workouts in every day. I usually try and schedule something even if it is only a 20 or 25 minute session. It keeps me on track and starts my day off better if I find time to workout even for just a few minutes. I have not decided yet what I am going to schedule for next week. I might do the cardio, weights and yoga routine again. I am also considering ordering the new P90X3 that is coming out next week. My fitness group on facebook will be starting a challenge for 90 days with the new dvd’s and I would like to participate. Changing my workouts regularly keeps me interested and offers me new challenges. What workouts are you currently doing? Click on Leave a Reply to tell me about them.

Have a great day!

Categories: Exercise Recipes

Tags: cardio, cranberry smoothie, exercise, exercise dvd's, exercise routine, fitness, kickboxing, Smoothie Recipe, weights, working out, yoga

Crochet Motif Jacket

December 3, 2013 kimberlee 1 Comment

The crochet motif jacket is complete. I love the way it turned out! I got the idea to make this from a picture I saw on a magazine at the store. I have been wanting to make one for a while now and decided to start it back in October. I finished it a couple of weeks ago and finally got a chance to photograph it last week when I wore it one day.

The motifs were crocheted first using a large size crochet hook – so they were quick to crochet. The part that took the longest was deciding on placement and then sewing it together. I left it on our dining room table for about two days before I actually got around to sewing them all together. Even after I was done I made a couple of adjustment to the front ones so it would lay right.

When I wore the jacket the other day my husband commented on how nice it looked on me but he questioned the warmth of it. I told him it was more of an artistic fashion item and not a sweater for warmth. It is surprisingly warm though when you have it on and comfortable to wear. I don’t think I will wear it on a really cold day but it is perfect for a mild weather day here in Texas. I love how it looks with jeans and I am currently planning to make a denim skirt that I think will go with it really well.

The yarn I used for this project was from Hobby Lobby. It is called Debut and is one of their brands of yarn. It is really soft and comes in lots of pretty colors. I chose to use 3 colors for my project which were midnight, stormy blue and smoke. I tend to wear a lot of blue or gray in the fall and winter so I thought those colors were best for me.

Sorry for so many photos – I just really like how this turned out and wanted to show the front, side and back views. I am planning to write up the pattern of how I made this and have it available on etsy and craftsy in the future. Right now I am busy working on other crochet, knitting and sewing patterns and have not gotten this one written up and published.

What crochet or knitting projects are you currently working on or have finished? I would love to hear about them. Click on Leave a Reply to tell me about them.

Have a great day!

Categories: Crochet

Tags: blue crochtet jacket, Crochet, crochet flowers, crochet motif jacket, crochet motif sweater, crochet motifs, crochet project, flower motif jacket, gray crochet jacket