Random Facts About Me

Today my head is swimming and I'm having a hard time grasping any specific thoughts. So I'm going to give you random ones. (And yes, I'm still struggling with pain).

Middle child at the sky deck!

1. I'm afra

id of heights. I don't like them. I took the kids to the top of the Sears Tower (that yes, is technically now names the Willis Tower but not in my mind) and it was terrifying to step out into the glass and look down. I was freaking out.

2. However, I went out on the bridge at the Grand Canyon and just felt peace. I think it's because there were no little people or cars down below me so I wasn't quite sure how high we were. And the Grand Canyon is HUGE and that look down felt not so big comparatively. Also, it's gorgeous there and I think I was so in awe of it that I just forgot I was up so high.

3. When I was in 7th grade, during social studies (maybe it was geography) I accidentally tipped my whole desk over. I was reaching for a pencil and I thought I could reach it. Turns out that I couldn't. And the desk just went over. I was thinking about it because I fell on my right arm/shoulder and it hurt so much. I was just trying to not cry because everyone was looking at me. That tends to be the reaction when a desk tips over. Not my finest moment.

Me at Grand Canyon

4. That same year, I got something stuck in my eye. I could barely see my eye was in so much pain. I had to leave the class during language arts to go to the nurse. The nurse couldn't get it out, even with an eye wash. So she patched my eye and sent me back to class to get my thing while we waited for my mom to come pick me up. I also felt humiliated.

5. I think I feel humiliated and embarrassed a lot. Probably a lot more than I need to, and yet, I am kind of klutzy and have a tendency to say things that I shouldn't. And so I end up feeling embarrassed and humiliated. When this happens (or I just perceive it happening) I turn bright red in my face. Like bright red. Like I'd rather the Earth opened up and swallowed me than have everyone watch as my face turns into a lobster.

6. My name is actually and really Brandie. And no I don't know why. And no, it's not short for anything. And yes, it's actually spelled with an ie on my birth certificate.

7. I like even numbers. Or multiples of five. Odd numbers (that aren't a 5) bother me. I will also not read the last e-mail that arrives in my inbox if it means that I will have an odd number of unread e-mails. No, I don't get it either. But there it is.

My Mrs. Claus Apron

8. I love aprons. Just love them. I could have 100 and it wouldn't seem like enough. I didn't know this until a few years ago, but I really, really love aprons. I even have a category on this blog for aprons. I don't know how many posts are there, but I wanted to make sure they were grouped together LOL!

9. I am currently going through all our digital pictures - deleting bad ones/multiples of the same thing, removing red eye, organizing them, tagging them, etc. At the rate I'm going, if I never take another picture, I'll be finished in about 5 years. It is a daunting task. But I work on it for 30-60 once or twice a week because it's enough to get something done while keeping it from being overwhelming.

10. Because of my shoulder and pain and treating it, I've spent a lot of time this week watching the show Brothers & Sisters. And I'm in love. I'm at the start of season 2. And I am enjoying it a lot!

Aprons

I LOVE aprons, just love them. I own more than I should (though not enough in my book and I am always on the look out for a new one to add). Most I've bought, one I made, one I had made for me, and one (which I will never actually use) was made by one of my husband's favorite relatives when he was growing up. She is no longer with us, but I hear amazing stories about her and am so grateful we got something she made. {side note: I should take pictures of that and share!}

Anyway, all of this to say, I love aprons. About 5 months ago my mom asked if I would sew two aprons for her. They were fabric panels so all I needed to do was cut and sew. No problem!

But they sat. And sat. And sat. Um, yeah, I kind of have procrastination issues. But last month I slowly but surely worked on them and was finally able to give my mom the finished aprons yesterday. Phew!

I've actually finished quite a few projects this year and realized I haven't shown any pictures around here. So maybe my theme for NaBloPoMo will be featuring some of the things I've made. After all, that was the point of the blog when I first started it eons ago!

Skirt Apron ...

So not only did I play with a pillowcase last weekend, I also played around with a skirt. A skirt also purchased at Goodwill.



So I brought it home and stared at it. Them I held it up to all the fabric I own to see if anything matched. It didn't. Which bothered me because I was thinking for sure I needed more than just the skirt to turn it into an apron (okay, so I was hoping to get 2 aprons out of it). But I stared and thought ... and then I began to cut it up.



And somehow, using only pieces of the skirt, I managed to whip up this apron.



And oh yes. I am in love. I really am.



This is not at all what I had planned when I bought the skirt, but it is so much better than what I had planned. Sigh. I really made this with intentions to part with it. But I just don't know if I can.

Anyway, all this apron sewing has me back in love with sewing, so I'm hoping to have a few more projects to show next week. And I'm still knitting away when I get the chance to =) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Aprons ...

So I'm on a major apron kick right now. I really do love aprons and think I can never own enough - ever. So I'm sewing lots - except really, I won't be keeping all of them. But more on that later - for now, let's talk aprons.

A few weeks ago I mentioned to you all that I bought some new fabric and some items from our local Goodwill and I've been wanting to play around with it, but didn't have time until last weekend.

So I pulled out one of the pillowcases:



and turned it into this:



I really do like it. It's simple and it was pretty easy to whip up. I took pictures of all the steps and might try to write up a tutorial. We'll see. I have a habit of assuming people can read my mind and not always saying all the steps/directions. I guess I can try and if it sucks, I'll have to trust you to tell me! LOL!

Also, keep your eyes open. I have 5 other finished aprons that I can't wait to blog about =)

Happy Pi Day!

You probably didn't know, but today (March 14) is Pi Day. 3-14 is perfect since pi = 3.14 I'd say!
We celebrated this on Friday by eating some pie with some friends. We enjoyed cherry and apply pie. We also ate some very yummy pasta dinner. My friend was insistent my family brought only hunger to her house - and it's always nice to be treated to a home cooked meal by others, but to celebrate Pi Day and her baking us some pies, I whipped this little apron up for her!



The pocket though, has my favorite part -



(the embroidery was being offered for free at Urban Threads in honor of Pi day! And also they have a lot of really awesome embroidery - both machine and hand - patterns!)

I have enough of the apple fabric that I might have to whip one up for me to have one too!

Anyway, hope you all had a good Pi Day and if you mssed it, I say for sure, eat some pie this week to celebrate! =)

And an apron ...

I finished the apron late last night, but was too tired to take pictures and share them!

The apron is reversible which is pretty neat!





I admit, the blue-ish side is my favorite side.

And I didn't realize how much the pattern had influenced my fabric buying until I was putting it together yesterday. I was at Jo-Ann's a few weeks ago buying other things and I saw the blue and bought it. I didn't have the pattern with me, I guessed on how much fabric to buy. I bought the pattern while ago, stared at it for a few months and then tossed it into the pattern stash. I haven't looked at it for a few months, but clearly, it made an impression on me - here's the picture on the pattern:

Umm, doesn't that look a little familiar? At least I didn't use a similar greeny fabric for the other side LOL! The apron is so cute - it's called Miss Emmaline and you can get it from Sew Liberated here. I think there are a lot of great patterns over there actually!

So in general, I think I got a lot done for the 2 craft days I took part in! Another craft day is coming up Dec. 15 and 16. I like that. I like to have an excuse to kind of ignore everything else and just craft for two days (not that I did ignore everything else, but I did do the minimum amount required to keep this house running LOL!)

And as always, you can see more photos here!

Aprons!

I made this tonight. I just finished (so sorry for the por lighting - it's 2 am so there is no natural light around here! LOL!) Seriously, this is one of the most favorite thing I've made in a long time. ::sigh:: to bad it's kid sized! I completely love it!
I love the colors, I love the embroidery, I love that it is reversible, I love that there are pockets on both sides. I just love this! LOL!

Close-up of the embroidery! I saw this design and just knew it had to be on an apron. Oh, it's so perfect. I'm glad I followed through with my first thoughts!

Close-up of pocket against background fabric. I felt like these fabrics might be risky to put together. But really, I love it now that it is done! I wanted something bold and bright and colorful and funky and I feel like I got exactly what I wanted!

The other side - it's reversible! i might have already mentioned that once. I might have even already said there was a pocket here as well. But forgive me for repeating, I'm just so proud of this! LOL! I was not originally going to make it reversible. That was not the plan. But then I thought for as wild as the other side was, maybe it needed a more toned-down side to it. Maybe it needed a side to wear on a quiet day. Or maybe when my children didn't want to be my helping hands, but wanted to just wear it for the heck of it. I don't know, but as I cut the first piece, I just knew it needed to have two sides to it. And really, I love how it came out. I am so pleased!

Close-up of fabric on other side - and I just love
this fabric. It's not as wild, but it's not plain either.
It's still cute and still has character, it's just a slightly
quieter version!

So yes, I love this apron that I made. Seriously, I do believe every little girl I know will probably get at least one from me over the course of the next year. And I think I'll be whipping out quite a few more for my store I really don't want to mention all the time! But I am so in love with this apron. You can not believe how much I love it. I can't believe how much I love it! I told my dh I needed to go buy more fabric and make a matching mommy sized one! And tonight Little Man was playing with the kitchen things, trying to "help" me out, so now I have to try to get some boyish fabrics and make him his one little man sized apron! Okay. Now I must sleep!