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!

Migrainous

It's day 4 and I'm still feeling the after effects of the migraine that rendered me useless this past weekend.  Seems like there isn't enough coffee or advil in the world to make this one go away.  But alas, I must drag myself out of bed and get some things done.

I got to use up a couple pieces out of my stash recently.  A friend ordered a set of blankets for twins and I had the perfect fabrics:

Since the babies were not named yet, my friend decided to go with a different kind of personalization...pugs!  This was my first time doing a satin-stitch applique and I really like how it came out!  It was also my first time using Wonder Under, a fusible (iron-on) webbing with glue on both sides, and I'm a fan!  I used it to glue the shape onto the fabric.  Then, I ironed on some freezer paper on the back to stabilize and then zigzag-ed my way around the pug. 

 

Better get back to work now....got a rush order to fill in the next couple of days.  Hoping that the hurricane brewing in the gulf misses us completely!

Stashing

So, when I first started sewing, I read many blogs and saw many references to "fabric stashes".  I thought, I'm not going to be like that, hoarding all this fabric...buying fabric without a project to use it for....but I took a look at my study/sewing room shelves today and found this:

Guess I am a fabri-holic after all.  I seriously need to clean this out and make some stuff!  Better get busy.  

So I'm going to try something new.  I don't know how many people bother to read my blog (besides my moms and my best friend), but I'm going to ask for a little reader participation.   I picked up this fabric on my last trip to NYC and can't make up my mind as to what I should do with it.  

I've only got 1/2 a yard, so I can't make anything big.  But I'm looking for ideas and suggestions as to what I should do with it.  A bib and burp cloth set?  A bib and booties set? or something completely different... It doesn't have to be a baby item....a laptop sleeve perhaps? tote bag?  Think, what would you want to buy that is made out of this fabric?  Please do leave me a comment with your input!

Hump Day

I've finally gotten some of my sewing mojo back this week.  Last week, I took a sewing hiatus due to VBS, and have been having a hard time motivating myself to get back into it.  My orders have slowed down momentarily, and it's just so blazing hot outside. Watching TV, taking naps, sitting under the fan, and reading books all day is really quite tempting.  But, I was able to make this project relatively easily (once I figured out the dimensions and logistics).  It's always nice to do a project you can finish in a few hours.

A friend of mine recently cleared out her maternity wardrobe and decided she wanted to keep her favorite maternity  t-shirt that she wore all the time towards the end of her pregnancy.  Not wanting to wear the t-shirt anymore since it brought back memories of being uncomfortably large, she wanted a pillow made out of it as a keepsake.

The t-shirt:

Re-purposed as a pillow:

Now that I'm on a roll, I'd better get working on my next project before I get lazy again!

Berries and Dots

This weekend I made good on my wifely duties and sat through a Saturday workshop on stocks, options, and other riveting investing topics.  It wasn't too bad, I only dozed off for a half hour at the end :-) As a pre-reward, Andy took my out blueberry picking on Friday night.  We drove 22 miles to this blueberry farm that is really only about 5 miles as-the-crow-flies from our house.  Too bad we didn't have an amphibious ATV...then maybe we could've crossed the undeveloped land and creek separating us from the farm...

Anyway, we picked 7 pounds of blueberries....I think we've maybe got 4 left as of this morning.  They are so delicious!

Moving on to other round things, here's a polka dotted blanket a friend of mine ordered.

Since this blanket was ordered for a mutual friend, I used the leftover fabric and made a small gift as well.