Has it actually been over a week since I was last able to blog? February has been such a hectic strange month here. This past week I spent a lot of time on lessons, cleaning, painting, and visiting that I got hardly any sewing done. I did finish hemming and altering a dress skirt for some one. I am in the midst of altering a pair of dress pants. My biggest problem lies in the above picture. This is my mending stack. Picture middle age lady with greying hair standing on ends. LOL. Maybe this week I will get it to come down.

Sew Long for Now!

I know the flylady tells you to get dressed down to shoes that tie to start your day. When I do that some one finds a reason for me to leave the house. I needed to get some things done so I kept my p.j.'s on today. I washed three loads of laundry, mopped my kitchen floor, cleaned my bathroom mirror, cut Captain Chaos' hair, fixed a pair of pants that were ripped for some one, and have been altering a skirt and pair of pants for another person. I also finished a section of FPU (Financial Peace University), a Dave Ramsey program we are taking online. Oh how good it feels to get something accomplished!

Sew Long For Now!

So much has happened in the past week. We spent four days with out power. We had a bad wind storm on Sunday and the power went out. We used our kerosene heater and two kerosene lamps we had. The one above was my Grandma's. She used it, my parents used it, and now we use it. We camped in our livingroom. It wasn't too bad. The worse thing...my treadle sewing machine's belt is broken so with no electricity I couldn't sew. Don't worry I have been knitting and crocheting.

My husband got a bad absessed tooth. They couldn't get the infection out, it only got worse. Yesterday he had to have the tooth pulled. I have spent several days going back and forth to the dentist with him.

Today is our only daughter's 13th birthday. I now have two teenagers. I just don't feel that old. What did we do. Shopping of course. I took her to buy a new Bible she wanted. Then we told her she could not wear make-up until she was 13. She and I went shopping for make-up and a lighted mirror. I showed her how to apply it. I probably am not the best resource though, I never wear make-up. I have, but only rarely. The rest of her present will happen over the next several weeks. We are helping her paint her room and I am making her new curtains.

Sew Long for Now!

I spent yesterday's sewing time working on digitizing two designs. This is the one I sewed out. It is a patch for a 4-H club. I need to sew it on heavier material. It was fun working on this. I also digitized a design that a quilt guild will be using in the center of their ribbons that they give at quilt shows. I will sew that one out today. The other plan today is to work on some alterations I need to do and go to Alpine and get some stabilizer to use with more of those uniforms.

Sew Long for Now!

This program has been rudely interrupted by a computer crash. Last Friday we had ice and lots of power surges. On the last surge our computer dumped. We have spent hours and days getting the programs back up and running and recovering our files. I have done a lot of embroidery lately. I did a cute blanket for a baby shower. It was an adoption shower. They gave the lady a shower when the adoption was final. I finished 5 Christmas stockings last night. In February! Talk about being organized for next Christmas, if I could be so good. I have two items to digitize next, more embroidery, and some alterations. Life is good.

Sew Long for Now!

The uniforms are done! I spent the rest of Friday mending and hemming. There is nothing like the feeling of accomplishment you get when your mending pile starts to shrink. Now if my ironing pile would do the same!

Sew Long for Now!

Have you ever had one of those days? One where everything you try to do just goes from bad to worse? Last week was not a good week so I set my mind that this week I was going to accomplish some things. It was looking like it was not to be. I am embroidering these Taekwonda uniforms. I just have to put the name and city on the backs. It is a flat place they go, doesn't sound too hard. Well,...they are made out of this very very heavy canvas material. You can't hoop it. I tried hooping cut away stabilizer and then using spray adhesive to hold the material in place on the hoop. Nope. The material is so heavy that it drags to the sides and will not hold down. I tried pinning the material to the stabilizer to hold it steady. That just caused the stabilizer to get pulled out of the hoop by the weight. I was so upset last night because I had tried on three different ones these methods and each messed up so I had three different uniforms that needed to have the embroidery ripped out. Finally, I drove over to my favorite sewing shop and talked to them. Hoop it all stabilizer-duh-why didn't I think of that. I didn't hoop the stabilizer and cut out the section with a pin like you usually do. I pulled all the protective covering off and stuck it to the bottom of the hoop. Then I pushed the material down bonding it with the stabilizer. It worked. Now to finish ripping out the booboos I made and redo those uniforms.

Sew Long for Now!

Last week I felt bad all week. I wasn't sick, just very very tired. The only sewing I got done was making five napkins for us. Our old ones are getting in bad shape and so I am using what cotton scraps I find to make us new ones. Great way to use up those scraps of fabric.

Sew Long for Now!

Good evening! Berta the first picture is for you. This is the sweater I wore the skirt with. I wore a white button up shirt. My sil gave me a gift card for Christmas and I found this sweater on mark down after New Year. I chose the burnt orange because I did a little reading a few years ago on colors trying to improve my wardrobe. I need a lot more help, but I did come to the conclusion that I am a fall or sunset. I used to wear a lot of blacks and blues and they didn't do me any favors. My peach complexion, brown with red (and grey) highlighted hair, and brown eyes makes me look better in these earthy tones.
I finished one of the most unusual requests I have had in a while tonight. This is the golf bag I sewed up. The pocket you see pulled away at the seam on the side that is top on the picture. By the time I recieved it the nylon was in shreds. Yesterday I put an ample amount of fray check on it and let it dry over night. I could not take the bag apart due to the way it was constructed. I could not put the seam back because of the shredding. What I did was to fold under the sealed edges and hand sew them making the pocket about an inch smaller on one side and then tapering it back into the seam on the bottom. I sewed a running stitch down the torn part. Next I ran a running stitch back up that, but opposite of the first line of stitching so that all gaps were sealed. Last I took small whip stitches along the side to be sure that nothing would fall out. The bag belongs to one of my son's teenage friends and he is going back to college tomorrow. His mother didn't want him to spend the money on a new bag, but she didn't want him to duct tape and look shabby either. I think it turned out nice and I don't think he will be embarrased to be seen on the golf course with it.
Last here is a picture of our cat who is a big baby...well...being a big baby! After my busy day sewing yesterday I went in to find him laying like this on our bed! He is so funny!

Sew Long for Now!

Here is a picture of the new skirt I made. I couldn't get a good picture of what makes this different, but there are four darts on the front that are 14 inches long each. I enjoyed wearing this skirt to our monthly ASG meeting last night. I did decide that the next one I make will have more material around and deeper darts. Of course that means re-figuring the darts. I think the next one will be black. I can never have too many black skirts for some reason. I attached the waistband my own way, but with the ability to remove it. We did not go over the way to attach the waistband at our neighborhood meeting, we will do that next month. It felt so nice to be able to sew for myself this week. Lessons with the children went well. I have been very blessed this week. Today I have spent the day sewing for others. I had two bags to embroidery, two shirts to mend, three pair of pants to hem, and one golf bag to mend. I have everything except the golf bag and one pair of pants done. The golf bag has to wait until tomorrow because it is made of nylon and the part that has tore is shredding. I coated the edge with no fray and will let it dry over night before I attempt to hand sew the seam back. I have to hand sew it, it will not fit on the machine! The one pair of pants is a pair of nylon athletic pants. I have to remove the zippers out of both legs before I can cut them to length and hem. I will not be replacing the zippers, but sewing the legs shut. It has been a good productive day!

Sew Long for Now!

I finally found time today to sew. I made a cup glove and found an embroidery to put on my new bag. I also found some print material in my stash that I want to line the bag with. It is inching it's way along.

Sew Long for Now!

Our mail today held a copy of this quarters newsletters from our homeschool group. I didn't have time to read them before, so I took them to violin lessons to read while Captain Kitty worked. Our group has a newsletter published by the youth. Captain Kitty is on the staff. This issue was about recipes and favorite memories from the kitchen, especially culinary disasters. I read the newsletter to see what CK had written. A poem on the last page especially caught my attention. I could not find a name as to who had written it. It seemed appropriate to the content of the issue and I thought they found it in a book to go along with the newsletter. I thought to myself that CK would really like the poem and I wanted to mention it to her to be sure she read it. On the way home I began to talk about this poem. She starting laughting at me. The poem that I thought they copied from a "professional" book of poetry was written by my daughter. She was a little miffed they didn't put her name on it. I told her I wanted to put it on my blog for others to enjoy.

Snowed In

On a cold winter's morning,

When you've nothing else to do,

The clouds have snowed you in,

And no one can get through.

You should turn on your oven,

Or gather round the fire,

You should bake, cook, or sing,

To raise your spirits higher.

By Captain Kitty age 12

On the sewing front: I went to one of the neighborhood meetings of our ASG last night. It is called the designer club. We are working on making the perfect skirt pattern. Below you will see a shot of my muslin. I can't wait to sew this skirt up. I only wear skirts. Sometimes I will wear a dress or jumper, but I am most comfortable in skirts. The way you make this and the darts really make a difference in the fit and look. I think when I finish one it will be much more tailored looking and make me look thinner. It is also way easy to do!

Sew Long for Now!

Some suede laying on my work table awaiting ideas and inspiration for a new bag. Hmmm. Should it have embroidery? Should it have some material with a print included? What should be the shape? How many pockets? Should it have a stiff interfacing, or a thin one?

Sew Long for Now!

I look around at friends blogs and see the reflections and meditations for the past year and the new year. 2007 was not my best year. Neither was 2006. Here is 2008 and it finally dawns on me that man's time frames don't matter. As another Christmas season ends and the hectic pace of life doing seamstress work for others slows down I chose not to be upset that I hadn't done all the little things I wanted to with my children. I decided that what does it matter if we bake Christmas cookies in January. My children had ask to make gingerbread houses and I never got around to even getting the supplies. I found kits marked down this past weekend and told them that they got to make New Year's houses. They thoroughly enjoyed spending New Years Eve afternoon building their masterpieces. On New Year's Day they began to eat them as we watched the Rose Parade hoping to catch a glimpse of their older brother who was playing in the VMI Regimental Band. We have plans for January that include baking those cookies and making snowflakes to hang around the house. Life goes on. How I chose to view it is my choice.

I started out the New Year by cleaning the sewing room. Oh, how much easier it is to be creative in a clean place.

Sew Long for Now!

Keeping Christmas

by Henry van Dyke

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.
But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is keeping Christmas.
Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellowmen are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts hungry for you; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open -- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world -- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death -- and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you can keep it for a day, why not always? But you can never keep it alone.

Sew Long for Now!

5 Days until Christmas! I am oh so happy to be finishing up sewing for others and gifts to give! Below you will see one of the tea towels I embroidered for an Awana leader for Capt. Chaos. I have embroidered 10 tea towels for teacher gifts this week.

I also embroidered four cup gloves for our pastors. These go on those to go coffee cups like Starbucks. I am getting them Starbucks gift cards also. I will put these around an empty cup and put the gift cards in them.

I embroidered some altar clothes for another lady to give her priest. I still have two sweat shirts to embroidery and a coat to hem. If I have time I will make the table runner for my Momma, if not I will make one and give it to her for Mother's Day. Off to sew some more!

Sew Long for Now!

Ahhhh! All my little elves are home now. We went to VMI today and picked up Lt.Col. Cool. It is so nice to have them all here. Of course no sewing was done today. I did make gifts for Sunday School teachers Saturday and I will have to post a picture later. I am off on this chilly night to finish the pot of potato soup I am making for supper.

Sew Long for Now!

For you Linda, a picture of my new curtains. The material had a border on both ends and I choose to use it as the bottom of the curtain. I finished hemming a pair of pants and embroidering a saying on cloth for some one to frame for a Christmas gift yesterday. Today I am working on gifts for my children's Sunday School teachers. According to Capt. Chaos, 10 days until Christmas!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I decided our bedroom needed cleaning. I am embarrased to say how long it has been since I gave it a good cleaning. While working on it I saw the material I bought in October to make a curtain for our window. I decided to finally finish that project. The curtain was easy to sew. Nothing fancy, just a rectangle with a rod pocket. Now the bedroom looks so complete with the new curtain and cleaned. I took a break from other sewing. Today I must make myself get some done. Twelve Days until Christmas, my presents are not all finished. Are yours?

Sew Long for Now!

The soldier costumes for the ballet are done. They took a lot longer than I anticipated. I forgot to take a picture of them before they were picked up yesterday. Now, onto the stack of sewing for other customers I have here. I also have Christmas sewing to do. Oh, yea there is only 2 weeks until Christmas. I wonder if I can get it all done? Sometimes I feel like the cat in the picture (Orion is his name). Trying to reach forward, but something blocking my way. I can do it if I back up and take another way around! I am trying to type with that cat laying across my lap and arms now. It is very hard you know. He has been very loving lately.

Sew Long for Now!

The cutting is finally complete. 112 pieces cut out on this part. Today I start the sewing. I need to finish them by Friday. Hmmm.... Can I do it. Only with God's help.

Sew Long for Now!

The evening has been spent cutting out costume pieces. I have more to do. I need to stop for tonight though. Supper to fix, time to spend with the family. Over the weekend I didn't do any sewing. I did go to our annual ASG chapters Christmas luncheon. It was nice. They had a fashion show which was filled with beautiful outfits. They also had a fashion show of aprons members had made. Oh, the ideas. The runway was raising and it was almost like being at a high fashion show!

Sew Long for Now!

One of my favorite Christmas decorations.

I finished up the basketball pants and they have been picked up. Now on to more work on the soldier costumes.

Hope everyone's weekend is blessed.

Sew Long for Now!

Sewing is in full swing again here. I have been working on embroidering 12 pairs of pants for a jv basketball team. I have the stuff and need to finish cutting out the soldier jackets for the Nutcracker. The phone has begun to ring a lot with requests for sewing for Christmas. I keep playing the lines of an old song through my head, "If we make it through December every thing will be alright I know. It's the coldest part of winter and I shiver when I see the falling snow. If we make it through December every thing will be alright I know...."

Sew Long for Now!

The table topper was completed late Wednesday night. It graced Thursday's table. A table surrounded by family and new friends. One friend was a lady, 87 years young, who lives by herself. She was an only child and through her married life never had children. Now, except for a cousin she is alone. We invited her to join us and were so blessed by her. She has history. She told the children about her college life at Kent State in the late 1930' early 1940's. She told about being in the U.S.O. She told about playing for the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony. She listened to Captain Kitty play the violin, Captain Chaos play the piano, and Lt. Col. Cool play the guitar and gave them all helpful advice. We invited her to minister to her and she instead blessed us.

No other sewing has been done since then. There has been shopping and decorating and more company over the weekend. Today I have to get back to business.

Sew Long for Now!

I am an avid coupon clipper. I love a sale. My husband tells the story about how he mentioned to me one time that our lawn mower needed a new tire. I was shopping and found a lawn mower tire marked down to .25 so I bought it. It didn't fit the lawn mower, but for .25 it was worth a try. He thinks I was silly for buying it. Hey, it was on sale! LOL. Yesterday I went grocery shopping. I haven't been in a couple of weeks and had been saving up lots of coupons for things I was hoping were going to be on sale this week. Nothing beats combining a coupon with a sale price. I also had quite a few Krogers coupons for money off your total grocery bill if you spend so much in a certain department. When I finally got to check out the clerk looked at me and ask if I was really going to use all those coupons. I said yes, that I had put a lot back because I found the store brand cheaper. When the sale was totaled I had $104 and some change in coupon savings.

On the sewing front I embroidered a sweatshirt yesterday that had 10 words on it! It took two hoopings with my biggest hoop. I did not get my table topper done. I mentioned that to the General and he volunteered to take Captain Kitty to both her dentist and orthodontist visits today and also to pick up Lt. Col. Cool from school. Yes! I will get it done.

Sew Long for Now!

11 more of the soldiers leotard undershirts are finished and now all 17 are gone to be fitted to the toy soldiers. They will be back this week for final hemming and seaming. Next onto the the outter vest that will make them look like toy soldiers. The reason they are made in two parts? Ease of movement while dancing. We also cleaned the fish tank over the weekend. Can you say ewwww! Today I hope to finish up the table topper (I know I say that everyday), and embroidery a sweatshirt for a lady. Shopping. I greatly dislike grocery shopping. Today I need to shop for some supplies for our Thanksgiving celebration. We will be having the General's sister and an elderly lady we have met who has no family besides all our family. I hear my parents are stopping by for dessert.

Sew Long for Now!

Cutting out. That's about it. I spent my time in the sewing room yesterday cutting out more parts to costumes for the nutcracker. I still have two pieces to cut out, they added more costumes. I need to get that done and sewing started today. I really would like to finish my table topper this weekend. I would like to use it next week. Oh, we had snow flurries here last night. It helps get you in the mood for the holidays!

Sew Long for Now!

I snapped this photo this morning while trying to get ready for our day. Captain Chaos and the kitty are watching the Bali sharks eat. They both looked so cute sitting there intent upon watching. Yes, cleaning the fish tank is on my to do list. We used to have a scum sucker fish, but the sharks ate it one day. There have been two craw fish living in the tank since July. C.C. caught them in a stream. One died last week and before I could get the net to scoop it out they had ate it. The kitty often tries to get his paws into the tank to get to the fish. I think if he ever did they would eat him! No sewing was accomplished yesterday due to running! I think if I could never leave the house I could accomplish a lot. I am off to sew out a digitized design tonight.

Sew Long for Now!

I hemmed the pants yesterday and that is about it. I have been working hand quilting in the evenings. I have a quilt I pieced together years ago and I also started hand quilting it. I put it in the closet for one reason or another. Last week I got an urge to work on it. Two evenings this week I have pulled it out and quilted while everyone watched some TV. LOL, well as much TV as you can watch with no cable.

Sew Long for Now!

I have almost cut out all the soldiers shirts. They keep changing the pattern and the number needed so that makes it hard to complete. I need these shirts done by this coming weekend. I just remembered this morning that I also haven't taken a look at that Bernina sample. Maybe this week. I can't tell. I am getting excited Lt. Col. Cool gets to come home for a break next week! I am so looking forward to him being here for a few days. Well, off to hem some pants.

Sew Long for Now!

The dolls are finished and delivered. We hope that three little girls will be happy to receive these for Christmas. Captain Kitty made the dress for the red headed doll in the middle. This weekend brings lots of work. I have to cut out more soldier outfits for the ballet, work on digitizing an embroidery, hem some pants, and the list is longer but the time is not. I love when people ask me will I not be bored when my children leave home. I have so many ideas and dreams of things to make that I hope to never find myself with nothing to do!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday Captain Kitty and I worked all afternoon on the Salvation Army dolls. Captain Chaos went to a birthday party, so Kitty brought her sewing machine into my room and we set to work. I made all the slips you see here to go with the bloomers I made before. I have not attached the snaps on the back of the slips yet. Captain Kitty finished all but the snaps on her dress for the red headed doll. I made dresses for the other two dolls. Today we need to add the snap closures to everything and they will be ready. On the way to take Captain Chaos to the birthday party we went by one of the local area quilt shops and I bought some Christmas fabric to work on a new table topper. I still need to quilt the last one. I also need to sew out a digitizing I am doing for some one and hem some pants. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. No worries here!

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was violin and piano lesson day. We also had to run errands due to a birthday party and church today. My only sewing related event of yesterday was going to JoAnn's to purchase a 12 1/2 X 12 1/2 square Omnigrip non-slip ruler to help with some Christmas presents I want to make. I had a coupon and you really need one to purchase this ruler. It retails around $20. Today I have to finish the doll dresses. Let's hope I find time between school, running, etc.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I thought I wouldn't get any sewing done. We all had dentist appointments and I had lots of errands to run. By evening though I found some time. I digitized a design for a martial arts group. I also began the doll clothes. Above you see two sets of bloomers. I had a pattern of sorts. It was a hand drawn pattern on a piece of copy paper with hardly any instructions. I later figured out I did it the hard way. I have ideas now on how to do the next ones much easier!

Sew Long for Now!

I had entered my name in a give away over at Mountain Musings and look what I received in the mail! My children told me this was the best type of mail! There was a magazine with recipes also, but a certain girl had disappeared with that to check out the ideas. Thanks Sarah! I embroidered a jacket over the weekend for a customer. I also cut out three outfits for the Salvation Army Christmas dolls.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I finished remaking the sweater. It's a bit wrinkled in the photo from the manipulation I had to put it through to get it in the hoop. I will hand wash it and lie it flat to dry before giving it to the customer. I hemmed the sleeves using a fancy stitch on my machine that looks like pansies.
Here is a close up of the sleeve. I didn't use interfacing so that it would get that ruffles look. I think it turned out sweet. I also put both sides of my table topper together.

Sew Long for Now!

Because of the season of life I am in I don't often get to go to all day workshops. As part of my birthday present I got to spend all day yesterday at a workshop learning to make a quilted table topper. I did not complete mine in class. It is completed up to the point that I need to sew the two halves together and then attach the batting and backing and quilt it. It was so fun to spend the day sewing for fun!

Sew Long for Now!

I have a few people I sew for who bring me clothes to remake. That is the only type of sewing I do for them. This cream sweater is plain. The lady wants me to make it 3/4 sleeves. She wanted black and white pansies on it and there is a place on each sleeve that needs something done. I am going to put the two pansies on one sleeve to cover up a set of holes she tried to mend and on the other sleeve I will put the one pansy to cover up an ink spot that can not be removed. This is the front that I have embroidered already. I think it would look good with some black sheer fabric ruffled around the bottom and the bottoms of the sleeves.

Sew Long for Now!

I never got time to try out the pattern sample this weekend. I did hem a pair of pants for a lady and fix the too much gather in my shirt. Saturday we picked up our rat and went to my parents farm. One of my brothers had a deck built on the back of my parents home and surprised them with a hot tub on it. We went up to test it out! My parents grilled for us and had a pumpkin pie for my birthday. I love pumpkin pie. I have decided though store bought cannot compare to home made. They are not hard to make either. Sunday was my actual birthday and the General had to work. The children and I went to church, I brought a pumpkin pie Captain Kitty had made me to Sunday School.:) When the General came home he brought me a beautiful card, the roses, and French horns (another thing I have had a sweet tooth for). He ask me if I wanted to go out and eat, but I declined. Instead he fixed me grilled steak and fried potatoes at home. Ahhhhh! That's my idea of a great birthday.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday the only sewing related thing I accomplished was downloading the free trial from the new Bernina software. This software lets you put in your measurement and it gives you a 3D view of your body in the pattern. You can even audition fabric with the style. I think I see my Christmas present. You can find it at My Label. I think I will play with the sample this weekend.

Sew Long for Now!

Thank you God for the rain. It has rained on and off here the last two days. We desperately needed it. Rainfall has been sparse lately. In the afternoon yesterday I spent some time catching up on our families mending needs. I hemmed two pairs of jeans for Captain Kitty. I altered a shirt for her. I also tried to fix a shirt of mine. It is a store bought shirt. I really like it. The only problem is my shoulders and chest are smaller than my hips. Whenever I buy shirts to fit my hips they are huge and gapping in the shoulder and chest area. With the make of this shirt I decided to put elastic in the neckline to give it some gather. I made the elastic too short and got too much gather. I am going to cut it out and try again.

Sew Long for Now!

My company left this morning. It has been a whirlwind bit. I went shopping after moving the rooms and broke down and bought a bedspread and new sheets. I purchased some fabric to make curtains for our bedroom, but have not gotten to that yet. I also broke down and purchased new curtains for the living room. I wanted to make them, but I also wanted new ones up. I altered a bridesmaid dress, hemmed some lined dress pants, shortened and hemmed four shirts, and embroidered an item. During the time my company was here my father-in-law ended up in the hospital here. He missed all the events of parents weekend at VMI, which he had traveled from Kansas to see. I spent all day Saturday at VMI and then the General brought our son home on Sunday and he attended church with us and spent the day here. It was busy, but nice. Tomorrow, life goes back to our normal routine. What ever that is here!

Sew Long for Now!

The moves are all completed. I have been so busy. I have six of the undergarments for the nutcracker soldier costumes put together. I have so much sewing to get done before Friday. My company starts arriving on Saturday. I love the layout of where my sewing room is now. It used to be our oldest son's room, then our youngest son. It needs paint. I feel like I am in a cave with the grey walls and black trim! Maybe next spring we can make it look more lady like.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday I cut out some of the parts for the soldier jackets for the nutcracker. They will be wearing an under garment of spandex type material with the sleeves attached to it. There will be a vest type garment to wear over this. I cut out 6 front and back panels of the spandex type material. I cut out 12 sleeves from the jacket material. I need to cut out 12 sleeve linings and then I can complete this. I have one complication. The General and I went furniture shopping this morning. We were given a king size bed frame a few months ago. Captain Chaos needs a new bed. We bought a king size mattress and box springs and are giving him our full size bed. Another complication. My in-laws are coming in two weeks. My mil cannot walk up and down stairs. The only beds they could sleep in are downstairs. We will be moving rooms around again! I promised I would not do this again. (I have been known to move bedrooms around in our house once a year) It seems now I have to. My sewing room will be going downstairs in Captain Chaos' room and he will be moving up stairs into my sewing room. I will also have to finish the nutcracker outfits and a formal dress I have to alter before they get here. My life is never boring! The good news I got a new couch and love seat also! Our couch was my parents. It was in my parents living room for 40 years and when they moved they got new furniture. I took a lot of their old furniture. The couch survived in their living room because it was the company sitting room when we were growing up and no one was ever allowed to sit on it except guests. A few weeks at my house with Captain Chaos using it as a tumbling mat did it in. That was five years ago! Next weekend they will deliver my new couch and loveseat. The next few weeks should prove to be more hectic than the last few. Lessons will go on, along with all the outside activities, and add all the moving, extra sewing, and cleaning to get ready for three extra guests for a couple of weeks. Well, it will give me some incintive!

Sew Long for Now!

Do you ever wish that you had enough time and energy to sew all the ideas in your head? Or even to complete all the small tasks piled next to your machine? I am trying to get some mending done. One of my shirts that I really like got some stains on it. My solution...embroidery over the stains and continue to wear the shirt. I have done this on several clothing items to extend the life of the garment. Recycling. Sounds better than cheap!

Said shirt in progress of being remade!

Sew long for Now!

Has it really been that long since I updated here? My only excuse is that life has been so very very busy. I have been sewing. Nothing major, just little things here and there. I do have several bolts of material and a pattern laying here to make jackets for a local ballet company's preformance of the Nutcracker. It started out 12 jackets and now they want 16. Lessons are taking up a big part of our time lately. That and home renovations and winter preparations. We have been harvesting the ends of the garden and I have been putting up the produce from it. I have made lots of salsa. The General began the task of getting our windows ready for winter. We haven't done this in a few years, so it needs it. He pulled two of the windows out and sanded them, re-glazed them, and then gave them a new coat of paint. We only have 8 more to go!

This is my new acquisition. For national sewing month my local sewing shop had sales each week. I purchased this one week. This lovely piece of equipment is a ruffler. I have tested it and it really works!

Sew Long for Now!

I finished five walker caddies for the ASG community service project. They actually take a bit of time to make. They came in a bag precut from our chapter. With this green corduroy it was hard to decide what to do. Since it has nap on one side and not on the other, which do you want to show the most. I decided to put the nap on the outside. It gave directions for sewing the pocket by sewing a seam down the center making two pockets. I changed this a little. I took a magazine and measured the width, then I made one pocket big enough to fit a magazine or folded newspaper and the other pocket is smaller. We are putting more effort into our school lessons so I have had less time to sew. I still have walker caddies to put together. I told the nursing home we volunteer at that I would make socks with polar fleece and non-skid for Christmas. They want as many pairs as I can make, five hundred would be nice! I doubt I can do that many. I have three dolls to dress for the Salvation Army to give at Christmas. I am also helping make costumes for the Nutcracker Ballet one of our local ballet companies is putting on. Right now I have the toy soldiers jackets to work on. Then there is the usual hemming and such for people.

Today was a gorgeous fall day here with beautiful blue skies and a nice wind. I adore autumn. I doubt it will be a colorful autumn here because of the lack of rain and high temperatures we have been experiences. That doesn't bother me though. I still love the feel in the air at this time of year. I love the smells of autumn. I love the sounds of autumn. I love autumn!

Sew Long for Now!

This is one of my favorite pictures of a sunset I took off my front porch this summer. Days end. It's been a busy day. Yesterday I did some sewing. I finished another tote, hemmed some pants, and began five walker caddies. I also cut Captain Chaos' hair, and went shopping. Today I put up 10 pints of salsa, hung out clothes, swept and mopped the kitchen and livingroom, and cooked, cooked, cooked. My list still has many chores I needed to get done, but my body has given out. It has been a year now since my last surgery and I am just starting to get back into the swing of life. Five surgeries in four years drained me. I still have things I will never be able to do the same the rest of my life and I am finally overcoming and adapting to these changes. Even when you think you are ok, 2 weeks after surgery or even three months after surgery, your body takes a while to heal. Spiritually, you think everything is fine. Even spiritually and emotionally it takes time. Some days I just take a deep breath and think I actually feel like doing something. Life is good.

Sew Long for Now!

Our computer has been feeling cranky the last several days. Every time I come on to post about our trip to New Market something happens. Here's a picture of my two boys on Sunday. We went to New Market Sunday morning to see our eldest take his oath, charge the field, and get his shoulder boards. Then we watched them parade in downtown New Market. Later that evening we all went out to eat together. We are so proud of him.

This a picture from earlier in the day with his sister.

Sew Long for Now!