what a fabulous idea

Dryer sheets for stabilizer... I could hug the person who thought of this.

Check out this fantabulous website.

on a roll

I mentioned in a couple of posts back that I am nearly craving sewing projects. Here is one I have been wanting to do for a month or so: a sewing machine cover.

No more dusty threads!

The fabric I used is by Robert Kaufman called You Got The Notions! Click on the picture of the fabric to see it a bit more closely. It is cute and compliments the new curtains. I love the fact that it has a sewing theme.

In addition to the fabric, I also used a clear, rawther heavy-gauge vinyl - a remnant I found on the "reduced for quick sale" rack at the fabric store. It is a buggah-beww to sew on. I'd just as soon get some sort of iron on vinyl, if there is such a thing. Ha-yever, it is all done now. Truth be told, I have two more machines I need to cover, but whew, don't know if they are going to be lucky enough to get such fancy duds as my old, faithful Kenmore.

gotta love an engineer mind

This morning, King and I were having one of those sweet, relaxed-over-breakfast, enjoying-the-last-day-of-summer-break-before-the-kids-go-back-to-school, kind of conversations. Among the things we talked about: I have almost known him longer than I knew my dad: 21 years. So, after he went to his office he sent me this email:

You knew your Dad for 20 yrs 316 days. You have known me now for 20 yrs 310 days. So on August 12, 2009, you will have known each of us the same amount of time, and after that date, me for longer.

I Love you, and it is with immense honor that I could even begin to compare with your Dad.

Tee hee hee, isn't that silly/wonderful/fun that he would have put all that engineering and math to such frivolous use this morning. God, I am so blessed and thankful to have TWO incredible men in my life.

doh... it's nearly midnight ..again

Lately, I have been practically obsessed with surfing the internet for sewing tutorials. Tonight, this is my favorite. She makes it sound and look so easy.
So, tomorrow it looks as if I may have to take a trip to the fabric store. I can feel a quilt coming on. I mean, just look at this one.

don't be curious

King and I joined Netflix, as I may have mentioned, and last night the movie we watched was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . It was a very long movie with some pretty cool scenery. Cate Blanchett is beautiful in it. Brad Pitt is pretty good. But, I have to tell you, I hated the movie. It wasn't because of the storyline, or the acting, or because it was a decade long. I didn't like it because it is a bitter reminder that we are getting old. The man that I adore is growing old. I am growing old. I want so badly to be able to freeze time when we were young and newly married. Before children. We were spontaneous. We were joyous. We were SO. MUCH. IN. LOVE.

We love our children. We are still very much in love. But, we are no longer spontaneous. We are more frustrated than we were and we stay stressed 85% of the time or more. Life is slipping away while we have our noses to the grindstone trying to mold these beautiful children of God in the way they should go. We no longer have that wonderful, stay-in-bed-all-day, ooey-gooey on screen romance like that of Benjamin and Daisy.

Funny, a young friend of mine happened to watch the same movie the same night and commented that she LOVED it. The difference is that she is currently in that wonderful young love phase of her life. She is also a dancer and as beautiful as Cate Blanchett or better. Which leads me to another reason that I didn't like the movie. *sigh* Time has a cruel, cruel sense of humor.

in which we made bias tape for the first time

Here is a dress I just finished making from a man's dress shirt. I didn't take a before picture of the shirt, but it looked similar to this.
I found a tutorial online and went to the thrift store and bought up a bunch of shirts. This was my first attempt. I changed up a few things to suit my sewing style. And I may put the finished dress in the embroidery machine and put a big hot pink monogram on the front, but we'll see. So many possibilities! It's a bit big for her now, but that won't stop me from letting her wear it. Since she is toilet training, dresses are a helpful clothing item to make going potty much easier.
The most exciting thing for me was the fact that I actually made bias tape to line the insides of the armholes. I don't know why it seemed like such a daunting task, but truly it is easy breezy.



Bias tape: For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, if you take a non-stretchy fabric, such as a cotton dress shirt and pull with the length of the fabric, it doesn't stretch, same thing with the crossgrain, but if you pull diagonally between lengthwise and crossgrain, a non-stretchy fabric WILL stretch. Henceforth you cut on the diagonal (or bias) and can make bias tape. Clear as mud, right?

childhood favorites

Little Jenny Wren, the incredibly talented Australian doll-maker who made #5's sweet dolly this year, is having a very generous give-away to celebrate turning 50. She asks her entrants to tell her about their favorite outfit from childhood, no matter if it was lovingly handmade by mom, or equally as lovingly store bought.
Here is a picture of one of my very favorites from childhood: a cotton knit top with different colored buttons. It wasn't even so much that it was "the coolest thing since sliced bread", but moreso that one of my very favorite people in the universe, my cousin, had one exactly like it.
It's amazing how much cousins influence how we grow up. I thought my older cousins surely hung the moon. I can see it now with my own children as they idolize their own cousins. No one can lift your spirits like a cousin can. Getting mail or a phone call from a cousin can lift you higher than a hunk o'fudge.

ps- I'm the one on the left.