Cali

I am finally here in California with my beloved. He's been here for a week, I got in last night. I am surprised by how much the time change has affected me...I've been messed up all day today. Right now, John is at work. I dropped him off a little over an hour ago, he has to close tonight. It was nice being able to drive around with him this morning and we had lunch together, so I had time to somewhat get my bearings. We'll take pictures to share with you, although I didn't bring my USB cable, so I can't upload any until we get home. It's very pretty here...lots of mountains. In some ways it's quite similar to Asheville, except greener...different vegetation. Today is a beautiful day...perfect weather. The area that the Chick-Fil-A John is working at has tons of shopping and a lot of different restaurants, etc. It's really quite a nice place. I came back to the hotel for a bit, I think I'm going to try to work out this afternoon. Then later on this evening I'll head back over near the store to find some place for dinner and pal around. I may even go to a movie, we'll see. Anyway, just wanted to give you a quick update from Cali. Until next time...

B-U-S-Y

I'm not sure why, but lately we have been so busy...even more than usual. It seems like most nights in the past few weeks we've had something to do or have stayed late at work. Even this coming week we have several things going on and John leaves early Friday morning for California. I'm so very proud of him...but I'll talk more about that later on.

First, I know it's way past the Super Bowl but here's a peek at the jerseys that I ripped apart and sewed back together. Let's just say it was quite a chore at times. Although these jerseys were the same size, they most definitely were not the same size, cut, placement.
They really don't photograph well on a hanger, they are just too large for that. I guess I should have had Bubba throw them on and model. Although in reality it doesn't make that big a difference. So here's the 2 finished products from the front view. The center looks like it's sagging more than it is because they are too big on the hangers.
Here is the rear view. This was the labor of love. The names were definitely not centered (who am I kidding, the numbers weren't even centered), but the names were crazy. After much frustration I decided it was ok if they had a little bit of a turn from the numbers to the names. So, that was my Super Bowl project last week.
I did also make this Valentine's Day shirt for Addyson. I think Valentine's is so much fun for kids...I can hardly wait for us to have some of our own so we can have fun on all the holidays. Addy looked pretty darn cute in this shirt too.
Sunday is our 5th Valentine's Day together, but since it's a Sunday that means I will be working. We actually have a really big day, it's our big monthly outreach for students. I'm pretty excited, I think it's going to be fabulous. I digress. While it is our 5th Valentine's day together, this is the very first time we are going on a date for VD. I'm pretty excited. We really don't get caught up in the crazyness of the day, but I do find it to be a fun excuse to do something sweet. So, tonight we are going to see VD the movie, then to PF Chang's for dinner. It should be a lot of fun.

How Did I Do?

So, we ended up getting 10" of snow at our house, all on Friday afternoon/evening. It then sleeted for most of the day on Saturday. Church was canceled on Sunday and we even canceled work yesterday, so we had a nice long break. So, curious about how I did on my list? Well, not fabulous, but not horrible either. On Saturday John and I started cleaning out closets and I purged my dresser as well. Here's a peek at our massive pile for Goodwill. I'm so pumped that we've been able to get rid of so much. We actually still have the guest closet to go through, but we'll have to get everything else put back together first. We bought a few things to continue organizing the craft room, which I'm very excited about. No pictures of that yet. :)

I did make a couple baby gifts. Leighton is the baby girl of someone that John works with. She was born a couple weeks ago and I've been meaning to make something for her, so I did this bib and a onesie. I used the same fabrics and colors so that they coordinate but aren't too matchy-matchy.

I think Leighton is such a pretty name. Hopefully she'll get some good use out of these things.

I also started on some things for Pherson. I made her several things a few months ago when we only knew that she was going to be a little girl, but she arrived a couple days before we had a shower for her at work...and now we know her name. I have also since learned that Baby Pherson got her name from McPherson guitars, which her daddy plays. So, I thought it would be cute to play up that angle. What do you think? Is it ok? I hope they think so. There will be a few more things to come for her.

I didn't change anything on my purse...it's just been the same for now. And, as far as the jerseys go, they are currently disassembled and waiting to be sewn back together with their opposing counterparts. It was actually quite a task to take them a part in such a way that they will look good when I sew them together. It's still a work in progress. I'll show you the final result when I'm finished.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Well, we are due to get 6-10" of snow tonight and tomorrow. So I'm curled up with a good book and ready for it. Of course, I have several projects that I hope to accomplish this weekend as well. But first, I'm just taking some time to relax. My to-do list consists of the following:
- The purse I made last week, I've decided I would like it to have a thicker strap. So I'm going to rip some stitches out and fix that.
- Our Kids' Pastor at church is doing a lesson that coincides with the Super Bowl next week and he's enlisted me for some sewing help. He wants me to cut apart 2 different jerseys (one Saints and one Colts) then sew them back together, making 2 jerseys with opposing teams on each side. I will certainly let you know how things turn out...the pressure is on.
- Baby gifts...there are several people around here who have either just had a baby or about to, so I need to get to work on some baby stuff.
- I've got ideas swirling in my head for some girls outfits, I'm not sure if I'll have time to get to those this weekend.
- Of course, the pursuit to have an organized house continues. We've got lots of work to do in the craft room. The closet in that room as well as the closet in the guest room are screaming to be purged. Plus, I was looking around at some DIY sites and I've got the hankering to do some new design things around the house, specifically in the foyer and in the guest bath.
I am totally confident that the majority of this will not get done...but a girl can dream, right?

Until next time, please click on this link to watch this video. Our video guy from church, Aaron made it last week for a sermon on Restarting Your Marriage. I'm telling you right now, it is hysterical. I hope that you enjoy. And, perhaps Bubba and I can go on a date tomorrow night and "sing and dance and, you know, all that romance" or maybe do some "magic tricks." Ha - I can hardly wait for yall to watch this.

New Purse

It is seldom that I make things for myself. I enjoy making things for other people...and I love making things for children. Seeing as how we don't have any babies, I mostly tend to make things for others. Be that as it may, I have really been meaning to make a new purse for quite some time. The one I've been using now I made a year ago and it's been through quite a bit of wear and tear. It is still fine, but I've been wanting something new so that I have options. This afternoon I whipped up this cutie. I have had the fabrics for months and hadn't done anything with them yet. I absolutely love these fabrics.
Here's a peek at the inside. The coloring looks slightly yellow here, but it's really a sage-y/celadon color. It coordinates with the exterior. It has a couple pockets on one side and a magnetic closure.

I decided to add my monogram in white too. It was very quick and easy, so I think I may be making more of these in the future.

For those of you curious about pics of the craft room...definitely still a work in progress. We moved the new big table in and got things shifted around. But I still have organization do. It'll take me some time. I'm going out of town for work for a couple days, so perhaps the end of this coming week or next weekend I'll be able to make some progress.

Catching Up

I thought before I move on to other posts I'd go ahead and get my past pictures from a few Christmas gifts put up. Here are a few things I made for James and Cameron.
First is Cameron's hooded towel. I decided not to put any applique on it...she's getting to be such a big girl, so I wanted something that would grow with her for a bit. Instead, I found this super cute towel. I added her name in one of my favorite fonts on the hood. Then added a small embroidery at the bottom corner.

This is a close-up of the embroidery on the bottom. It's a flower in the same colors as the stripes and a C in the same font as on the hood.

And here is a close-up of the hood. I'm happy with how this turned out.

This is James' towel. He and his daddy absolutely love Star Wars...so I thought this would be perfect. It turned out differently than I first designed it, but I really like the final product. I put a Storm Trooper on one side and Darth Vader on the other. Also, I was able to get a Star Wars font to use for his name on the hood.

Take a closer look. This towel was a lot of fun to do.

I also made this dress for Cameron. I loved the fabrics and thought they would be perfect for her. Unfortunately, the dress is too big cause she's such a skinny thing. But hopefully with a little taking in, she will be able to wear it. I think it's such a cute dress with floppy pockets, so I hope she gets some wear out of it.

Cameron is very in to her American Girl doll right now, so I made her a pillowcase dress with the same fabrics so that they can match.

That's all for my Christmas gifts for the kids. Now on to more things.

I'm Sorry

I must apologize...I've been on hiatus. It started by just being busy at Christmas...then my first week back to work was crazy busy; I worked major overtime and was worn out. So I have been taking a break. I really worked a ton at the end of last year, so a little break has been nice. But I'm ready to be back. I will post a few pictures of some of the things I made at Christmas, then I'll move on to new things. I got a fabulous sewing table for Christmas, I can hardly wait to start using it. Yes, I still have not been able to use it. It's 2'x6' so it's quite substantial, which means until we start moving some things around in the craft room to make space for it, the table will still stay in the foyer. John and I just talked and this Saturday we're going to rearrange that room and get me set-up. (I would have liked to do it this past weekend, but we both ended up having to go to work). I guess after we get it all set-up I'll have to start calling it my studio, that sounds so much more distinguished. :) Anyway, that's my update. More to come on Thursday (not tomorrow as I have a big night at work). But, lots of ideas are floating around in my head...and I'm still planning to open an Etsy shop. So, until next time...