Hello!

So, I'm alive. This weekend was hectic and crazy to say the least - it was a good weekend though, and that counts for a lot in my book!

I worked the craft fair Saturday as planned. We won't talk much about this - I was working the booth for both my stuff and for another business. Well, the other business did fabulously. I sold nothing. Not a thing. Sigh. Oh well. What can I do? Not much at this point.

Anyway, got home. Change clothes and almost instantly turned right back around to head out with the family to a Chicago Rush game. What a nice family outing it was. I've never seen an arena football game myself and had no idea what to expect at all but it was kind of fun. It moves faster than regular football for sure. Sadly, our team didn't win - but we had a great time anyway!


When we got home, we all just crashed! We were tired. And then it was back up early on Sunday morning. Time to work the farmer's market. Where again I sold nothing. Again, oh well. And a sigh. After that I came home and napped. I was exhausted. I think I would have stayed in bed for the whole rest of the day - except, it also happened to be my birthday! I am now all of 31 years old =)



My dear husband made a fabulous dinner for us (my mom, dad, and sisters came over) and made me lovely cake! It was yummy. I am truly blessed by my family =)

Of course, the kids couldn't wait for presents - which cracks me up so much. But alas, present opening is a big deal.

So my baby sister game me a blanket she made. It's gorgeous and so soft!



I love it. Hubs completely surprised me with a Nook!



Very very fun. I've read one book on it so far (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency which is free should you own a Nook and go into Barnes and Noble with it this week! Which you should because the book was very good!) It's a fun toy. I think I've carried it with me everywhere since getting it. Because I never know when I'll be able to whip it out and do some reading (or play sudoku or need to get on-line).

Anyway, this week has been pretty ho-hum so far. Lots of softball. Lots of laundry. Lots of cleaning. But in between all of that, I've been cuddling under my new blanket and doing some reading =)

Pencil Bags

I haven't accomplished nearly as much as I had hoped to by this point. And to top it off I'm short on sleep, but I did manage to whip up some pencil pouches.



I kind of forgot about these until my mom suggested I make some. I've given them out as gifts in the past and they are always well received, so I figured, hey, why not?! I think they're pretty neat because of the way they can wrap around a notebook (or other things too!)



And they are all fully lined so they are all pretty inside too.



Never having made more than one at a time though, I learned a few things. Next time I want to make a large batch of them - pick fabrics in the same color line. I lost track of how many times I had to change my thread yesterday. Although I don't want 6 of the same exact one - I really do like making each one a bit different. But maybe 6 blue fabric and 6 reds so I only have to change thread twice.

Also, as I finished the last one, I think I thought of a better way to put them together. Now, I've never had a pattern for these, I saw someone talk about a similar idea on a blag and just set out to make one. I've made it the same way ever since. When you are only making one, it seems fast and easy. When you are on your 11th one, you start to wonder if there's a faster/better way. And I think I figured it out. So I'll definitely need to try out the new way to make it and then give a few to people to try to make sure they hold up. Although I think the new way I thought of will make them more durable than what I've done now, but these ones will hold up well too because my family - we test ours to the limit and not on purpose - my kids are just naturally rough with them LOL!

Anyway, I have a few more ideas floating around in my head - I want to make a cute Kindle holder. I was thinking I need to design an iPad case then beg my husband to buy one so I can test it out! No, just kidding, an iPad is not in my future anytime soon and I really am okay with that =)

Came back to add this - this morning my 10yo came down and was admiring them and telling me how great they looked. She told me that I could probably sell them for 3 dollars! Um yeah, they are 4.50 to make at this point LOL! Good thing she's not in charge of pricing I guess ;-)

Wish I were smaller ...

because then I could wear this gorgeous little dress:



I made this last week for a little birthday girl!



It was so fun to make. It really made me wish I still had a little girl to sew for. Of course, when I did have little girls I didn't have time to sew. So sad really.



Anyway, I loved working on this dress. I think what sealed the deal though - the little bloomers. Be still my heart!



Anyway, this week will be a very busy week around these parts. I'm doing a craft show next weekend! Yikes. What the heck was I thinking? Oh wait, I wasn't - my mom signed me up for it LOL! Anyway, next week my 10yo and I will put things up in our now empty etsy store which is also very exciting!!

And a belated mother's day wish to all the mothers and like-mothers out there =)

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 =)