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!

A friend of mine came by and took the children to the pool with her today. In the quiet I made and canned salsa, made 6 more pairs of fleece socks, made a tote bag for a friend, worked on school planning, and putzed. I could have done the same with my children here. My children are great helpers. Our youngest son does yell Mom every five minutes and come and tell me things and ask me questions. No matter how much one on one I spend with him it's never enough so I have to tell him that I will give so much time a day totally devoted to him, but I have to spend some time doing other things. He knows that I will listen and pay attention even when I am sewing, cooking, or cleaning; I just can't stare him in the eye at that time. It is tiring, but I love him. Most of the time I try to incorporate him in helping. A lot of the time he doesn't want to and will go find something to do for a few minutes. He is very obsessive about things. Today his obsession is if he had the equipment he could make a tv commercial for his favorite toy. He has come and told me the same thing ten times since three o'clock. I am sure I will hear it again a few times before he goes to bed. Yesterday he spent all day writing a song about his favorite toy. He sung it to me over and over and over. It was very interesting.

Sew Long for Now!

This a picture of a pair of fleece socks I made last evening for our ASG's community service project. These are so easy to make. They require three pieces and it took me no time to put them together. The nursing home I visit once a month listed socks as a need for residence for their Christmas wish list. I think I will make some, but I will put non-skid fabric on the bottom. Most of the residence at the facility we visit do not wear shoes and that will be safer for them.

I have been busy lately with non sewing related things. Even though we do lessons all year around here, come August I get the bug to organize. I usually makes lesson plans and other scheduling. I have spent the past several days working on 52 weeks of plans. We heard from Lt. Col. Cool last evening. He survived h*ll week. He sounded very good and upbeat. Classes started today for him. We are all looking forward to next Sunday when we get to see him take his oath at New Market Battlefield.

Sew Long for Now!

Yesterday was a very productive day. In the evening I put binding on a case used to hold a sail. I also embroidered two gym bags for soccer players. This week is our start to get back into a routine week. We are slowly getting there.

Sew Long for Now!

Captain Kitty's pillow for her grandmother's birthday is finished. She cross stitched the picture and picked out the fabric to go with it. I sewed the border around and made it into a pillow. She did such a great job. I can't wait to mail the present off to Kansas tomorrow.

Sew Long for Now!

One of the things we have been busy with was getting our oldest ready and off to college. Saturday he began matriculation at Virginia Military Institute. It's not going to be an easy ride, but it is what he has always wanted and strived for. This week especially could you pray for him. They call this h*ll week. It is an intense time of physical and mental challenge to get him ready to become a VMI cadet.

Sew Long for Now!

It's done! This is the wall hanging I made for my mother-in-love, whose birthday is today. Blue is her favorite color and her first initial is L. I used an alphabet that has a rose bud to match the material used in the middle border and sashing. Captain Kitty cross stitched her a picture of a bird that we will be making into a pillow tonight.

Sew Long for Now!

My mother-in-love's birthday is next week and I have been working on a present for her. This is a close-up of one part of it. I finally finished "the curtains" tonight. I need to give them a press and Sunday I will give them to the customer at church. I will post a picture of the finished present when I...well finish it!

Sew Long for Now!

Here is a picture of my sweet baby Captain Chaos. His 10th birthday was this past week. He has the sweetest heart and I love the freckles on his face! I often tell him I am going to keep him just because he has handsome freckles. All our children are special because we were told we would never have children of our own. Then when I was pregnant with both boys the doctors told us they would not live. I spent three pregnancies in the hospital and went through many procedures and even surgery to have them all. I wanted six children at least. I am grateful to have half as many. After spending the first six months of Captain Chaos' pregnancy in the hospital we were told he would have a disease worse than Downs and never make it to his 1st birthday. They ask us to choose to have him. We told them there was no choice. Our faith would help us to love and deal with what ever God choose to bless us with. I remember the morning I went into the delivery room. They hadn't told us that they had gotten a special pediatric neurologist to come assist in the delivery because of what they expected. He introduced himself after I was strapped down on the table for the c-section. I was blown away. I don't know if it was anger or just perturbment. Couldn't they have warned me? CC came out healthy physically except for a huge umbiblical hernia. He has had some special characteristics since he was born. The doctors thought he was deaf, nope. They thought he had sight problems, nope. They thought he had autism, the early tests showed not. Reading about Aspergers lately has us convinced that he does have that. We don't think it will affect his life negatively and that we can help him overcome some of the challenges. He has such a loving heart and is my right hand.

Sew Long for Now.

One set of scrappy pillowcases to replace old worn ones. I did tuck in those serger threads last night before taking them out of the sewing room.

Sew Long for Now!

Another embroidery finished. This time a quilt square for a couple to add to an anniversary gift for friends.

Sew Long for Now!

My days have been so busy with laundry, cooking, gardening, lessons, cleaning, and relationships that my sewing is having a hard time fitting in. Over the weekend I did make it to my favorite local sewing machine dealer and JoAnn's for some supplies to work on things, but no actual sewing. Yesterday I was determined to complete something for some one so last night at 8:30 p.m. I embroidered four towels and a wash cloth for a girl to take to college next week. Don't you wish you had all day to sit and sew? Why do people have to eat and have clean clothes any way? LOL!

Sew Long for Now!