a little new.

here's a couple of little fabrics that i bought when up in puyallup earlier this month (whoa, it's almost september) at pacific fabrics. i am in love with the wonderland (bottom floral) and the black floral just popped. i'm not sure what i am going to do with it, most likely a purse. the orange dots will work well for lining of a bag.

part of me thinks i may have blogged about this already, if i did- sorry.

for the month of september i am not buying fabric. its very hard to type that. but i really need to be making projects, and sam and i are trying to spend a little less this month.

however, i have several fun fabrics that have been bought recently, so i will still have something fun to share.

a little strawberry sunshine.

i think that shall make a nice name for this apron. however, i most likely won't always make this apron with strawberry yellow fabric, but for this one it fits.

do you see the pleats? completely last minute, because the top wouldn't lay correctly. still doesn't. but hopefully the recipient doesn't mind. this is the apron i made for sam's cousin for her wedding shower gift. she's very bright and country, so i think it fits.

i'd brag and say "my design, my design", but.... come one- it's just to square pieces sew together. i had really intended for the waist band to be twice the width, but then realized it would have been way to wide high on the sides... not sure how to fix that problem. also the band threatened to hide my pleats, something that i wanted shown. i'm trying to work out the issues as i make the next apron.

i've got a couple of changes zooming around the brain. sewing related, time related, spacial thinking related....

but that's another post!

you shouldn't sew when you can't think.

fyi. just in case anyone out there thinks that you can sew** if you aren't thinking.

yesterday i was working on an apron for a bridal shower i am attending on the 5th .(could i please get a round of applause- i started this project almost 2 weeks before it needed to be done!)

i just finished an apron for another bridal shower that i went to last sunday (sam's cousin is getting married). there is a small chance that apron was finished hours before the shower.... but.... well, it got finished (and i think i shall be blogging about it next).

so i am working on this new apron, and not using a pattern. there are lovely apron patterns out there, but they always call for so much fabric (i don't know how much fabric i am using for this apron, but because i didn't read 1 or 2 yards, it feels like less) and they don't look complicated.

hmmm.

so i cut out the bottom piece to the apron. i trace, measure, and cut- and hold it up to me.

probably would have helped if i had made the width wide enough for the pleats i want(ed) to do.

no worries, i'll just flip the piece.... ok, now its a tad shorter in length.

no worries, i'll just add a contrasting trim and lengthen the apron.

phew, crisis averted.

so, then i am ironing the bottom piece in half so that i can get a nice crease in the middle to use for measuring my pleats.

so i iron, get the crease, and flip it over. and promptly iron out the crease.

as i look proudly at the flat piece of fabric, i go "huh?"

oh yeah. i wanted the crease. great.

i grab the iron, create my crease again, unfold the fabric.

and grab my scissors and aim to start slicing up the crease.

and then i stop, scissors in hand, and i give them a strange look.

what am i doing?

well, the pleats are formed (barely, and with using the seam ripper) and i move on to another aspect of the apron.

the straps.

i make them: like a good old spaghetti strap style, folding in towards the middle- creating another crease, folding each end up towards the crease, and then ultimately folding it over to create finished edges.

so i start top stitching, going very slow to ensure i keep my 1/8 seam allowance.

then i flip and do the other side.

and as the strap is finishing i notice an very interesting fact.

i decided that 1/4 seam allowance on the other side would be groovy.

that's just awesome.

well, hopefully you will all be on pins and needles, curious in how this "apron" turns out.

**i just spell checked and that first sew was typed " so"... so apparently, don't blog if you can't think either

a possibly scarry post.

today is august 25, 2009.

christmas.

christmas is coming.

it is only 4 months away.

4 months.

no longer 12, or 9 or even 6.

but 4 months.

4.

and have i started sewing yet??????

if you can't find me, i am hiding under my sewing table, trying to make the calendar fly back to march.

are you kidding me?

i am currently in my 6th outfit of the day. i cannot decide what to wear. do i have exciting plans or a big event today? nope. just lounging around, homeschooling and cleaning and playing with the kids.

and yet, i cannot decide what to wear, and i keep changing my clothes (which is wreaking absolute havoc on my hair).

why?

what is wrong with me? i really love almost all of my clothes, so why should getting dressed be such an issue.

well, a professor i had at college once said, "when you open your closet, it isn't that you don't have anything to wear, it's that you don't have anything that reflects how you are feeling".

i really agree with that.

however, i have this weird mind attachment to clothes, where i think "hmmm, i haven't worn that in forever, i really need to try and wear that" or "well, i made that, so i need to be wearing it" or "jeans again? i need to mix it up with a skirt".

it is utterly frustrating. i am utterly frustrated, mainly because i know that i will be changing my outfit yet again.

so it makes me wonder, do i need to free up my closet space? get rid of the stuff in the drawers that i just never wear, put it in a box and slowly pull out one thing at a time, and if i don't wear it in a week it gets donated.

and with the items i have made. well most of them were "practice items" and i have yet to make the project again. so that means that aren't truly stellar. should i just recycle my fabric? reuse it for something else?

but even as i type that, i have ridiculous sentimental attachment to this red wrap skirt i am wearing, regardless of the fact that it points in areas it should point, and the tie is so high every shirt gets puckered out with it.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

there are so many more important things i should be doing with my time then stuck in this stupid clothes fiasco.

but, i am still off to change again.

Update:

i settled on something to wear (for now). and i have had some new revelations on my frustrations:

1) i am so stinkin' tired of summer clothes, i am ready to move towards different things.

2) when your body goes through weight gain and weight loss, it definitely makes a difference on the clothes you have owned.

3) just because i liked something 2 years ago, doesn't mean i have to like it now (especially we i know that the majority of my clothes didn't cost a lot- target clearance!)

4) i think i would much rather have 10 outfits that i feel fantastic in, then 40 outfits i feel obligated to wear, that make me feel ok.

5) i need take more time when i make a skirt or top (or stop making those items) because if they don't turn out, they don't look great on.

well, that's it for now. i have to go and tackle the clothes mess i have left in my room.

don't stay up to late.

it sure is a nice thought, going to bed at a reasonable time. but when you have children who are not simultaneously napping during the day, one must relish the evening time when the house is silent (even though this evening has been interrupted twice by henry- who just can't settle down, and mason who is still sick).

i am still pretty tired, and as i type, my eyes are squinting to stay awake (it is definitely time for bed), yet i am still craving a little bit of my own time.

so for fun, i thought i share the randomness of life.

even though i have sworn off designing bags i have yet another attempt flopped on the ironing board. this time i am staying to what i know, and its basically a new twist on an old favorite. and that's really all i am sharing.

well, and these two pictures.

why random brown straps? because after sewing these, and just casually trimming the ends (there are two separate straps here) i was shocked to find that they were absolutely even. no ruler, no laying them out debating which side got trimmed. i just got scissor happy, and perfection.

ahhhh. happy.

speaking of really random things that make me happy (beware this is SO superficial i feel bad posting about it) these are the little vases in my kitchen window, (no i couldn't photograph the window, because oddly enough a window that looks clean to my eyes, turned up ghastly dirty in the picture) and i spend a good 75% of my day standing in front of this window.

and i just love that i feel skinny in this reflection.

because some mirrors and some reflections are NOT flattering.

and for some reason, i love this reflection (i warned you, totally superficial)

but it did get me thinking, of how i feel i can use this window for encouragement and prayer.

more details to come later.... i have an idea a brewing. so give me some time (months?) and let me see what i develop.

man alive, do i need to recharge my batteries (shameless picture here). i am so tired (still squinting) and am trying to get up early- 5 am- so that i can have my oatmeal, mentally wake up, and then exercise as sans kids as possible.

well, i drug myself out of bed this morning at 5:45, and tomorrow (or um in 7 hours) sam gets up at 5, so i will have a buddy.

thank you Lord for coffee.

i am just trying to be more productive.

see my list below?

sewing tasks, and my exercise plan are scribbled on this handy notepad.

but that is only a tiny fraction of the current plate i am trying to handle.

i've got home-schooling campbell (we started our school year today!), the camping blog, our family blog, the little etsy store i am trying to start up, sewing for said etsy store, sewing for myself, my sunday school job, Bible studies to be done, Bible studies that are starting up again, and i am wanting to take on a special responsibility in our church's women's ministry.

again- more details to come.

so many things.

but, i'm not staying up to late.

it's purple.

that was my exclamation when i spied this little purple blossom in our back yard.

how do you get a beautiful purple blossom growing in your back yard? its easy. absolutely neglect the yard for months, refuse to water or mow, and allow feral thistles to grow at random. and you too can have a beautiful purple thistle.

amidst tall, dead yellow grass.