Trying to Get Motivated

Been feeling a bit unmotivated lately - maybe it's the string of cold weather or maybe I'm just crashing from a busy December and just need to relax for awhile.  I think it's funny how sometimes you go on vacation to get a break from the real world, but then need time afterwards to recover from vacation.  For me, it's because I never quite get enough sleep when I'm away from home.  But I've had a few orders come in so deadlines are always good motivators.

Anyway, I have managed to complete a few projects lately.  I have to admit, when I first saw this fabric in the store, I was left wondering who would ever use it....but I had a client looking for a fantasy themed blanket and this was a perfect fit.  I think cutting the fabric along the line of the design really added a lot to the blanket.

I also sold my first bib and burp cloths set!

And on a completely unrelated side note, I booked my tickets to go back home to NJ mid-February....and you'll never guess how much the tickets were!  $165 R/T from Houston to Newark - SCORE!  If you know me, you know there a few things that really bring me great joy: food, sewing, babies, and saving money.  So, if anyone wants to come visit...check out kayak.com!

Sewing on the Go

Been on the road alot lately as evidenced through my nearly empty fridge.  Right now, I'm sewing from my room at the Holiday Inn Express in Victoria...TX that is (I wish it was the other Victoria, but I don't supposed I'd be able to bring all my sewing equipment there).  I basically pack up my entire sewing room and set up shop in the hotel room.  The cleaning ladies probably hate me because no matter how hard I try to clean up, there's always loose threads and lint pieces stuck to the carpet.

Seems like I've had a lot of non-gender orders lately.  It really surprises me that so many people want their baby to be a surprise. It makes things much more challenging for the gift-giver (and gift-maker).  I have to find gender neutral fabric, which to me means, no flowers of any kind and no pink.  Also, without a gender, there is no name, so I can't personalize the item. So, in conclusion, people should find out the gender of their babies (and name them) before they are born so I can make even cuter blankets :-)

This is a set I made  for twins.  Found the turtle fabric on one of my trips to Victoria.  I think I might have to go back and buy some more while I'm here!

Here's a close up of my new tags/business cards:

Another cute non-gender blanket:

2009 to 2010

Happy New Year from Long Beach, CA!

A quick recap of our holidays: spent Christmas hanging out with the family in Plano, TX, where Santa definitely loaded us up. We had a great time hanging out, playing Wii, eating wonderful food, and watching the dogs play (what do you get when you mix a 1 yr old bull dog and a 6 yr old mutt of about the same size? - endless hours of entertainment).  Here's a picture of our tree - we ran out of room and started hanging gift bags on the tree...

Believe it or not, we even had a white Christmas in TX!

 

Then we headed off to Long Beach, CA, where we rung in the New Year (well actually I was so lame I slept through it...)  We've been hanging out on my father-in-law's boat in the Long Beach marina. We were right in the mix of things as some daredevil set a new world record for longest rally car jump by jumping it across the harbor and onto a barge here in Long Beach at the stroke of midnight EST (which was really 9 pm here). Here are a few pics of the view on this side of the country...

Our home on the water - the Ka Nalu.  With 5 people living on the boat, there are no secrets....

View of the marina:

Beautiful CA:

Thought I'd take this reflective moment and write a non-sewing entry.  After all, I am on vacation.

2009 has definitely been an interesting year for me.  It started off really well with a new job and a dream trip to Paris and Barcelona.  Unfortunately soon after, my lupus decided to rear its ugly head again and make life challenging.  It was tough this time as I was forced to make some life changing decisions and quit my part- time job just to focus on my health.  With a chronic illness, I suppose jslik designs was born out of my need to have a flexible work environment and desire to do something I enjoy (not that I didn't enjoy helping the community while working at the United Way).  I know that God has really blessed me in that my husband has a stable and good job, allowing me to have the option to do whatever I want.  2.5 years ago, while we were deciding whether to move to Houston or San Francisco, I really think that God's guidance led us to Houston where the cost of living is lower and life is slower-paced.   I would have never anticipated all the health obstacles I have faced since then and I know that if we had moved to San Francisco, things would have been tighter.  Sometimes it can be tough to have to deal with chronic issues at such a young age, but I do see alot of good that has come from it.  My relationship with my husband and family has strengthened through the trials and I've learned (or am in the process of learning) to let go of things that are not as important as I thought.  On top of all that, I've now got my own little business, which I am fiercely proud of.

So, although I may have hit a few low points during this past year, I'm definitely ending it on a good note and am looking forward to the next year.  Who knows what will happen?  I know one thing for sure, I'm going to learn how to drive stick - I've been married almost 4 years and can only drive 1 of the 2 cars we own...(I'm ashamed to admit).  I've done many practice runs on side streets, but the one time I took it out on the "highway", I traumatized myself (and subsequently my husband through my reaction) by downshifting from 5th into 2nd at 50 mph....oops.   I guess you could call it a New Years resolution, but once you label it that, I'm likely to fail as I do at most my "resolutions".  Anyway, this next year, I'm gonna work on being healthier, eating well, exercising, and growing jslik designs.

Happy New Year from jslik designs! (pictured L-R, CFO and CEO)

Zig Zag

Well Christmas is over now and we're back home for a couple days of rest before we jet out to Long Beach. We spent Christmas with my husband's family up in Plano and even got a bonus white Christmas!  Who knew that you could have a white Christmas in  TX?  We had lots of great food, and exchanged a LOT of presents.  One of my favorites was the new enameled cast iron dutch oven I got - can't wait test it out.  My favorite gift to give was this quilt I made for my sister-in-law:

Here's the backside of the quilt:

So, all in all, it was another great Christmas.  I've got a couple of days to do some sewing before we head out to spend time with my husband's family in Long Beach.  Can't wait!

This Just In

That's right, I have official business cards now! And, the best part is that they were free (except for shipping).  After receiving these cards, I noticed that the font size was really tiny so I called them up and asked for a reprint with a larger font - they agreed and charged me nothing!  So, I should receive them sometime this week.  I'm going to use these as a tag on all my items as well and will put the washing instructions on the back side.  Much more professional than the pieces of paper I'm using now!

On the sewing front, I've been busy working on a few projects...I just finished up a special mystery project that can't be revealed until later this week (hint hint).  And, I've got a few baby blankets I need to get moving on since we'll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks.  Can't wait to spend time relaxing with family! We'll be up in the Plano area for Christmas and then fly out to Long Beach, CA to spend New Years.  With all that going on, I won't be getting much sewing done, so I'm getting a head start now.  I'll post some pics when I get a chance!

Back and Running

I'm back from my wonderful trip to Chicago.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself and spent quality time with some of my closest and oldest friends.  I spent the first part of the week with my friends Cassie & Toby and got to meet my new "niece", baby Stella.  I also spent a few days with my friends Jeanne & Doug in their new swanky urban condo right in the heart of downtown Chicago.  Although I had planned on spending my vacation sewing-free, my sewing expertise was called into use as I helped Cassie make a few awesome recycled sweater stockings for her familiy.  While I was at it, I couldn't resist making a few extra booties for Stella and her friend Caleb:

My sewing nerdiness has been increasing each month since I started jslik designs....I think I reached a new level this week not just by sewing on vacation, but when my friend broke her machine's needle, I proceeded to produce a sewing machine needle from my purse....yes apparently I do carry around spare sewing machine needles in my purse.....and a tape measure.

As promised, here are some pictures of my latest blanket - a masterpiece!  I have to give credit to my friend Eddie for commissioning it and going fabric shopping with me.  We spent an hour or so combing through the fabric shop and finally came up with this:

Well it's gonna be a busy busy week for me! I've got a big project to finish up and it's gonna take me the better part of the week.  Plus, I've got to do my Christmas shopping...I've gone shopping TWICE now and managed to get nothing for anyone on my list except for myself! Whoops....:-P

Magic Pants

It's been quite a busy week as I've been trying to wrap up a few sewing projects in preparation for my trip to Chicago.  Earlier in the week, I accompanied my husband to Victoria (TX that is) and planned on spending my time in the hotel sewing, but unfortunately after packing up my entire sewing room and machine, I neglected to bring the power cord/foot pedal for the machine.....not one of my brighter moments...  After a few attempts at hand-crank sewing I gave up and spent my time watching Law & Order marathons instead.  So, that left me with a few short days to finish my projects. 

I'm excited to go to Chicago to visit my best friend and her 3 kids.  I decided to make what I have named "Magic Pants" for the two older girls.  They are "Magic Pants" because they're rolled and hemmed at three different lengths.  So, as the girls grow, you can take out the outermost seam and roll down the hem to make the pants longer.  Since I've pre-hemmed the pants at each length, you don't need to do any sewing, just rip out the seams and the pants unfold to a longer length. 

My best friend also just gave birth to a little girl 2 months ago.  I thought about making the baby some "Magic Pants", but decided flannel was not a good material for babies as it can't stretch to accomodate bulging diapers.  So, I decided to make a pillowcase dress instead.

Whew, got everything finished up just in time :-)  Well I'll be gone for a week, but I've got an awesome blanket to post about when I get back!