Where's jslik?

Yes I'm still alive and kicking.  Apologies for the long hiatus, but the past couple of weeks have just been a whirlwind!  First of all, my sister flew into town and I've enrolled her in the Jslik Sewing Academy....but more about that in another post.  I've also been working hard to make a dent in the queue of orders I've got going (not that I'm complaining).

In between all that, I took a break and flew back home for a tour of the Northeast.   A good college friend of mine got married over the weekend in Connecticut.  So we flew to my parents in Jersey, swiped a car, and headed up the coast.  I got to play a few roles the wedding weekend....

My friend Pauly let me play hairdresser...

Then for the wedding, I got to play dj since my friend asked me to "dj" his wedding.  Back in college, I threw lots of dance parties at my apartment...earning me the nickname - dj jLin....so for one night, dj jLin lived again!  It was a blast.  Here's my good friend and his beautiful bride, busting it out on their first dance.

She means business!

Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with old college friends (I guess now that we've been out 6 years, we can call ourselves "old friends").   I got to spend a few extra days with my family as well.  My neighbors in Jersey celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and we were able to attend that party as well.  As the story goes, they got married on a hot hot day at city hall and went to the equivalent of Applebee's afterward.  They never got to have a big party so they decided if the marriage lasted, they'd throw a party someday.  

So, 50 years later, here they are having their "first dance".  

The Lin clan came out in full force to celebrate

Me and my husband

I had a fantastic vacation as always and miss living in the Northeast more than ever.  Now it's back to the TX heat and humidity....gonna get my sew on this coming week!

Slow Monday

Today I think I'm running as slow as my internet....which is painfully slow...It only took me 5 tries to load these pics...

Last week, I only managed to squeeze one post in since we spent most the week in Victoria and then picked up a visitor on the way up.  My sister flew into town and will be hanging out here for the next month and we'll be doing lots of fun stuff here in Houston.  We've already gone blueberry picking....and I'm gearing up to give her some sewing lessons :-)

In my last post, I got to show off my blanket in action.  I meant to post some actual pictures of the blanket, but forgot to bring them with me to Victoria (oh the inconvenience of having a desktop).  So, here they are:

Another customer saw the fabrics, loved them, and ordered a bib and burp cloth set:

A jslik Bundle of Joy

I'm happy to report that I had a great time on Friday night's girls night out AND my pants stayed together :-) Whew!  I've been wearing my re-vamped jeans a bit lately and have been loving them.  (Although I learned the hard way that they are not appropriate for going out to dinner if I'm planning on chowing down....let's just say I was glad I had a long shirt on b/c I had to loosen a button)

Yesterday a friend and customer of mine posted a couple of pictures on my jslik designs facebook fan page and they just made my day.  Thought I'd share with you if you haven't seen them.  This baby recently graced the world with his presence and is now enjoying his blankie!

Precious beyond words! It's funny because I had planned to post his blanket in this post and I just so happened to get these pics.  Perfect timing!  Unfortunately, I'm in Victoria this week and forgot to bring some actual pictures of the blanket so I can't show you the rest of it.

Friday Funday

I've been gearing up to go out tonight for a girl's night out on the town.  A friend's mom is turning 65 and she wants to celebrate with some dancing....so a bunch of us are gonna hit up the local club tonight.  As the event has drawn nearer, I've been hit with the sad realization that the last time I got dressed up to go dancing was at least 5 years ago.....when I was in college for crying out loud.  Even sadder is the realization that a 65 year old woman is the one motivating me to go out tonight.  I guess when I first graduated, I lived at home, worked at 60 hour/week job and spent all my free time sleeping.  Then I got married, moved to a little town in NY, where there was no such thing as clubs.  When we moved to the Houston area, but I had no friends to go out with.  Now that we're settled in up here, I've finally got some girlfriends and we're going out!

Now, onto the dilemma of what to wear.  I obviously don't fit into anything I wore in college, plus I don't have any roommates to borrow clothes from....I'm feeling more depressed by the minute as the realization set in of how lame my life is.  Taking a look in the closet didn't help much, as my wardrobe consists of business casual clothing and shorts and t-shirts.  First, I decided to start with pants - I pulled out my tightest pair of jeans - I picked up these skinny jeans at a liquidation sale where you couldn't try anything on.  Big mistake - they're the perfect length but too tight, and someone had yanked the zipper pull off. So unless I wanted to look like a sausage popping out of the casing, and have someone telling me XYZ all night long, they're unwearable.  They've been sitting in my closet for the longest time, waiting for in hope that I might fix them someday (and lose a few pounds to squeeze into them).  For awhile I had gained a little weight and could not wear them at all, but much to my surprise, I tried them on and they fit (very snugly), but the important thing is, I could button them.  So, I decided to tackle this project in pursuit of an outfit that might be club-worthy.

I took a pair of my husband's old jeans, took the zipper off that and reattached it to my skinny jeans. I didn't have the right color of thread, but hey, who's looking that closely?  Here's the result:

Now, onto a top.  I stopped at a local thrift shop and picked up a beautiful Ann Taylor silk tank for only $3.39.  There's a small stain, but you really can't tell.  I couldn't believe my luck.  Paired with my skinny jeans and a pair of heels, I have the perfect outfit.

Guess I won't be chowing down for dinner.  Now, I just have to pray that they'll hold up while I bust a move on the dance floor.  Wouldn't want to bust my pants open.  All I can say is thank goodness for whoever invented spandex!

Red White and Blue

Here's how I started my day today....with a little red, white, and blue....and a little green and pink mixed in.

We're back from a semi-impromptu long weekend in Plano.  Originally, we planned on having the family come to visit us here in Houston, but Hurricane Alex was threatening to rain out our weekend so we just decided to head up to drier ground.  On our way up, we made a pit stop at our favorite blueberry farm and picked 11 pounds of blueberries (in the rain).  We proceeded to feast on blueberries all weekend long.

We spent time with my in-laws, hanging out, eating good food, playing our favorite game - six cubes.  That game can get very competitive! One of my favorite parts of visiting (besides seeing family) is hanging out with Beau the bulldog.  His funny personality, partnered with his goofy expressions makes him lovable and quite the entertainment.

He's a great watchdog....he works hard from 9 am-12 pm and then from 3-6 pm.....otherwise he can be found snoring.

Sometimes he forgets to put his teeth away...and wonders why everyone is laughing at him...

The highlight of the weekend was when Beau learned to play the piano.  Since I was not present when Beau debuted his talents, I'll just tell the story as I heard it.  My brother-in-law was tinkering on the piano, and Beau was taking great interest in it.   Later on, when the family was hanging out in the kitchen, they heard a phantom piano note.  They walked over to the piano in the dining room and sure enough there was Beau, the 70-something pound bull dog sitting on the piano bench.  When I got home, I decided to test the piano trick  and sure enough, Beau climbed up onto the bench with me and we played a duet.

  

I think this piano trick trumps the skateboard riding bulldog trick for sure!

I Love Grandmas

Yesterday, I started the first out of four treatments to get my teeth back into gear and was pleasantly surprised with a big blanket order in the process.  The dentist's office manager is going to be a first time grandma and she is just so excited.  When she found out that I made custom baby items, she immediately had to pull up my site and put an order through....or a couple of orders...  I'm really excited about the items I'm going to make for her -  her little grandson is going to have his own stash of jslik blankets, bibs, and other goodies!  Just might make going to the dentist's more bearable.

So much for my efforts to restrain from buying more fabric - now that I've got all these orders, I've got a reason to go shopping!  Picked these up from my local shop:

So, I must say, hooray for grandmas - not just because they are awesome in general, but because they are great clients :-)  Grandmas were made to spoil their grandkids and what better way than with an awesome custom jslik blanket?  Looks like I'm going to be busy the next couple of weeks!