Clock given to Dwight Eisenhower's parents as a wedding gift

A couple of years ago I took an outside job. I used to sew for people to help bring in extra income, but then as our children got older we had some expenses that we just needed a more steady income to cover. At first I delivered papers. I loved that job. The children helped and we had some of the best time together. You also only had to work a couple of hours a day and it was good money. The down side was that you worked everyday, 365 days a year in all weather. Also, it was really rough on your vehicle and so there was high maintance cost. I was able to change to a job that I work at home for a company taking sales calls. The job is a good one, but the hours are longer than the paper route. I get to be home all the time and my family can pop in out while it is slow to talk. I used to be able to sew between calls, but lately it has been so busy that I can't. I also have taken on a lot of overtime and when I get off I am so tired I just don't feel I can do much more.

Soooo I am feeling whiny about my lack of creative outlet. I have always loved to be creative. I wrote, drew, and painted when I was younger. When I found sewing and fiber arts I felt like I had found my calling. Now, with this stage of life and all the demands of working full-time and having teenagers, but with none with a drivers permit I feel tired and depleted. I need to find a way to get sewing and creating back into my days. I get jealous when I see things my friends have done and I would love to try all the ideas flying around my mind and just can't seem to get more done than repairing the items my family needs. I am desperately in need of finding contentment in my life. Pray for me. This past year especially has been a real struggle with a lot of things that have gone on in our lives.

I find myself shaking my head and laughing, just to prove the truth to my dilemma, it took 3 days of constant interruptions to get this post written!

Sew Long for Now

Happy National Sewing Machine Day!

(No this is not my sewing machine, it is my dream machine that I have on my future wish list!)

Sew Long for Now!

Another aspect of the Eisenhower Museum was some of Mamie's outfits on display. She was a very well dressed lady and was considered an inspiration for older women. She showed that older women could dress fashionable. The pictures are not the best because they did not allow flash photography. An interesting thing about the displays was that they rotated. I wish they would do that at the Smithsonian with the first ladies dresses.

This is one of her inaugural gowns.

I think this may have been the other, but I am not positive.

This is a typical style of dress that she wore. There were several similar to this, all with matching hats.

This was her wedding dress, complete with a piece of their wedding cake in the chevron shaped container at the bottom of the picture.

Another of her outfits with matching hat. I think she gave Jackie O. lessons in style.

Sew Long for Now!

I have been doing some sewing, but don't have pictures of my sewing. I made myself two skirts and have a third one cut out. I did a lot of repairs and my pile is going down. We spent the last two weeks in June in Kansas at my in-laws. We went to The Eisenhower Museum and Library. On the premises was the house Dwight grew up in with items that had been there belonging to his family. I have included some pictures of sewing related items from the home.

These crazy patch pillows have names of the boys embroidered on them. There were seven sons, one passed away as a baby. The woven blanket under the pillows was woven by his great uncle.
Another crazy patch pillow with the embroidered name on it.

This is his mother's sewing machine. It is so interesting to see these things from the past. I have treadle sewing machine similar to this. The belt dry rotted and I need to get a new one, but it works great still.

Right now I am working on alterations on a formal dress we bought our daughter while we were gone. It laces up the back and it had two inserts to put behind the laces to keep the skin from showing. They attached using these teeny tiny snaps and they didn't hold well. Since the dress has a side zipper I removed the snaps and tacked the panels in. I need to adjust the straps, they are too long, and then see about the hem. It's great to look for formals after prom and wedding seasoning, you find real good deals.

Sew Long For Now!