Website work...

I had a meeting tonight at Church. I start on our Church website in earnest this week.
I am so excited that I can't stand it.

Visit us: Christ Lutheran

Just be prepared... It's a work in progress at this point.

Jack Sparrow

Have a great day!!!

Sunny Sunday!

Break out the sun!!!!!  It started raining here LAST Saturday.  We had sun on Friday and again today.  Rain, rain, stay away!!!!

9 Pockets

I made 9 pockets for a friend...

Last Day of School Breakfast

I was looking for a bread recipe and J saw the recipe for monkey bread.  It takes 2 1/2 hours to make from scratch.  I didn't think it was possible.  But as luck (his luck) would have it, I had an unsettling dream and was up at 4am.  So for the final day of school, J got MONKEY BREAD for breakfast! 

It took all 2 1/2 hours from start to finish and that was with skimping on the two rise times!  LOL 
When it was done, I poured the gooey frosting over and we ate, w/o waiting for it to cool.  And just in time to leave for school!  No time to spare.  Phew!

An announcement

My parttime overnight job is ending.  I prayed a lot as to what I should do.  The sleep position has changed over the last 6-9 months into an awake position.  I can't handle that.  I know it's only 4 nights a pay period, but they really do mess me up for days.  There's really no way for me to prepare for an overnight or fully recover in the day before or the day after.  I have the children to care for.  I really only have a couple hours in the evening that are all mine, and I share those with the Hubby.

Anyhoo...  I turned in my notice and will be completely done mid-June.  I am very happy with this decision.

I've also decided that I will not be opening up my own WAHM business sewing/knitting. (That's what I thought I might do after leaving the part time job.)  I agree, I do incredible work.  I'm a perfectionist and that's an awesome quality and a detriment at the same time.  I really want/need to sew for my family.  I enjoy sewing because it allows me to start and complete a project in a short amount of time.  It gives me a sense of completion.  My mom-job is never ending.  There are days when everything I do around the house is undone in a matter of minutes.  Sewing really fills that void.  But when I'm busy working for others, it kinda takes the fun out of it.  I love the joy I feel every time one of my children wears something that I've made for them.  I don't get that when I make something for someone else. 

There's also something else.  I've been asked by our church to work the website.  I guess that makes me a "webmaster".  LOL  Kinda reminds me of one of those people who used to play dungeons and dragons.  LOL 
It's a small part time gig, but it gives me the flexibility to work from home and I love that I'll be able to share some of my creativity with our members.  God knew it was time for me to leave the "sleep" job.  The church needs me.  :)

THE DRESSES ARE DONE!!!!!

YAY!!!!!  YAY!!!!!!  YAYA!!!!

Well, if you know me, I've had these two dresses on the "burner" since the beginning of March!  It took awhile to get all the details worked out with my friend, she had a baby and was MIA for a bit.  Then, there were issues with the pattern.   FINALLY, they're both done!!!

Here's the front of the first dress.  The second one is all black.  They turned out wonderful!  It's the same pattern I used for my Easter dress.

Pocket Diapers

Just finished these:

New Sewing Schedule

I've decided to revamp my sewing schedule for the summer.  If it works better, I'll keep it.  :)

I'm going to do all sewing in batches, two batches per month.

I'm excited about it and hope it works out well.

Easter Dresses

Sorry this post is kinda late, but we've been busy around here.  :)

I was able to get the dress pattern to work for me and I was able to get 2 similar dresses sewn for my daughters.  So we all matched!  We were so cute!

The new dress

So I've been asked to sew 2 dresses for a gal.  She provided the fabric and the pattern.  It's a pattern from one of the "Big Four", meaning McCall's, Simplicity, Butterick, Vogue.

I usuallly try to stay away from the Big Four patterns because they generally don't fit well.  They are printed in China (or some other far away place) and for some reason, they don't work up true to size.

This pattern looks pretty cute, so I thought I'd make myself a dress.  I also thought it would be a good idea to make mine first, just in case something went wrong.

Good think I did!!!!
There's a line on the pattern that says:  "Seam allowance of 5/8" included unless otherwise stated, and not marked on the pattern."  That means (to me) that there's a 5/8" seam allowance included, unless stated otherwise, and they didn't mark the SA on the pattern, you just have to know it's there.
Well, I worked up a dress and it's crazy small!!!  Ugh! 
So I got DH (Dear Husband) involved.  We measured the pattern pieces and went over everything.  Turns out, hidden within a paragraph about the finished garment size is "doesn't include darts, gathers or seam allowances".
Okay, thanks for making that clear!  And does that mean then that the gathers under the breast area of the dress aren't included either?  So when it says the finished size is 33", I have to add not only the SA, but extra for the gathers as well?

Whatever. 
I went to the fabric store today.  The girls and I picked out a cute yellow with flowers on it and bought nearly the whole bolt of fabric.  If I can get it done, we're all three going to have matching dresses for Easter!  Yay!  And hopefully I can find a tutorial on how to make a tie, so maybe Jack can match us too.  :)

I'll post pics when all is said and done.

Oh, and the dress that's too small?  I'm going to see if I can alter it down further to fit one of my nieces.  :)  She'd love a new dress, I'm sure!  :)

My Sweater

I made myself a sweater!  I'm always so busy knitting for everyone else.  I finally made the sweater!

Just finished The Devil in the White City

I try to read 2 books per month.  This was my second book of the month and I finished just in time!

I've been ill this week, so reading was an easy thing to do.

This book was more factual feeling than flowing.  So at times it was kinda slow to read.  But I made it through.  Very interesting.  There's enough facts that it makes you wonder why you didn't learn about this before.

Her first trainers!

Well, Mo's about to turn 2 years old.  So it's time for some trainers.  I made one to test the fit and they're awesome.  :)

This is the Trimsies Trainers made by me, Tail End Designs.

Custom Order for Fitted Diapers

I was asked to sew 3 fitted diapers.  They are made with the Fattycakes pattern, so they are side snapping.  Made with Organic Bamboo Velour inside and outside with hidden soaker layers of Organic Bamboo Fleece.  Super soft and squishy!

A Charlie Hoodie

The boy loves this!  He wouldn't take it off.  He wore it to school yesterday and said everyone commented on it.  I think because the background of the fabric is white it makes it look fresh.  He always wears such boy colors.

It's made with the Fishsticks Designs Charlie T-shirt Pattern for big kids  It's a perfect fit!

My new Camera Bag!

This is AWESOME!!!  I LOVE IT!!! 
I've had the pattern for awhile, but never needed to make it.  I still didn't need it, but felt like sewing for myself.  It's from the Boxy Bags Boutique Pattern, by Scientific Seamstress

It went together easy enough.  I'm just glad I happened to have all the supplies on hand!  I might even have enough for one more. 

I plan to make a matching camera strap cover next.

More Projects

Two years ago, I made matching dresses for my DD and the brand new DD we had for Easter.  Well, the dresses were beautiful, though I was home recovering from a c-section for Easter.  So the girls didn't get to wear them on the occasion, but afterwards.  Anyway, they were Blossoming Beauty Sundresses from Crochet Garden and they turned out amazing.  And the tiny one was so teeny tiny.
I had them out yesterday to show some friends and it made me really want to make more.  They're so amazing and beautiful.

So, today I bought more patterns and just finished ordering my thread for them.  Here they are, I can't wait to start!!!!

Market Day Dress:

Seaside Fairy Sundress:

Raleigh Belle:

Lollipop Sundress:

Daisy Halter & Skirt:

All these amazing patterns are from Crochet Garden  Go there to get your copy!  I was able to find my threads at Joann Fabrics and all were on sale right now.

I can't wait to start.  I'm almost finished with my sweater, and I can start these.  :)







The Virgin's Lover, By Philippa Gregory

I'm working my way through Philippa Gregory's Tudor Series.  These are historical fiction and I am entranced by them.  The writing is wonderful.

The Virgin's Lover begins when Queen Elizabeth begins her reign and her childhood friend Robert Dudley tries to inch his way to becoming King of England.  One problem, he's married. 

I'm starting the next book today!

Here I am, a blogger

Okay, I've never been very good at journaling, though I've had great intentions.  I don't want to be a business.  I just wanna share with family and friends all the many projects I'm delving into.  :)  And there are many!  Yeah, yeah, I know I can facebook it.  But there's something that draws me to a good blog. 
I also hope to share some of the many places I have found my project instructions.  So you can make your own.  I can't be the only Sew Crazy Mama out there!

While I can't promise to be here every single day, I do promise to do a weekly blog entry. 
So, follow my blog!