Halloween Purses

Remember how I mentioned that I went a little crazy and bought way too much Halloween material? Remember how I created my own Holiday called Halloween in July instead of Christmas in July? Remember how I decided to make all my sisters, mom, and sister-in-laws purses since I had bought so much luxurious fabric?

I did it! I finally finished the last two bags! I had previously mailed out all the bags to everyone and now my littlest sister has finally got hers. Of course, I didn't take pictures of all the bags, I'm forgetful sometimes. But this is the front of my bag in that hideously wonderful Alexander Henry 'The Ghastlies' old lady fabric. I love the old ladies in this fabric. You can just feel them glaring disapprovingly at you whenever you look at them. No wonder I feel guilty all the time lately.

Even thought I bought yards and yards of many different, velvety soft, cotton fabrics I still had to piece the front of my bag together because I didn't have enough. I guess I should have bought just a little bit more.

Lesson learned for next year, 'When in Doubt, Buy More Fabric.' Thought I already knew that, but obviously I didn't. Next year I will be better prepared. Maybe you need to place your order now, then I'll have even more excuses to buy fabric!

Crafty Items

I'm thinking of turning this into a quilting blog. Hahahahaha! I don't sew near enough to do that. But I did finish a quilt I've been working on all year. Granted I took a Block of the Month club, so it was supposed to take a whole year!

But I'm very excited it's done! Well, almost. Now I have to get it quilted and then I still have to bind it! But I love how it turned out.

Where I Sew

There's this blog I follow. Every week they spotlight someone's Sewing Space. They are all pretty fancy stuff. Some of them look like a designer came in and decorated. I thought I would join the trend and show you where I sew.

I get to sew under this gorgeous tree. When we first bought this house a long long time ago Olaf's aunt and cousin came and painted this tree just for Calvin. He asked for a Hole in the Trunk and a Squirrel on a Branch. And over time we added Glow-in-the-Dark stars and moons on the ceiling. I made these simple curtains for him, they are muslin edged in leaf-decorated fabric. Calvin moved out of this room four or five years later but we kept this awesome tree. And when I look at it, it reminds me of my sweet little boy Calvin, not the older Calvin.

And then Olaf shot an antelope and hung it on this wall, long before I started sewing for real and needed a Space to sew in. When he hung it up Boomer the Basset Hound didn't like it. He would wander down the hall and peek in the room. He'd look up and see the antelope head and start barking. It was the funniest thing ever! He made us all laugh so hard with his barking at the dead antelope head, as if he was afraid it was going to take his place.

When I started writing this I meant to make fun of the fancy rooms that all these other sewers have and show them that sewing could be done in any kind of room, no need for fancy wall decorations that need dusting, pretty table covers, and other totally impractical things that would only get in the way of sewing. And instead I found out why my sewing room is so special to me.

Boy Pants

While searching around different sewing blogs I came across these.

These lovely pants came with a whole tutorial so you could make them for your kid. The saddest part? These were on a little boy.The second saddest part? They're not jammy pants. I felt so bad for him. There comes a point in your life when you need to pick up new sewing projects and quit sewing "cute"things for your kids.

A Project Finished

Last spring I got together with my sisters and sisters-in-laws. It was so much fun. I love hanging out with my sisters. We just laugh and laugh. And eat and eat. And laugh some more. Last year we decided to do a Sister's Weekend Quilt. We were all supposed to bring eight quilt squares that we had made to swap with each other. all the squares turned out great, they were all different and beautiful. When I got home I had grand plans of finishing my quilt right away. But I didn't really know where to start. So even though I bought some material to finish it off with, I hadn't done anything beyond that. So this weekend when we came to Vegas I decided I would have my Mom help me finish. And she did. And I got the top finished!

I love it! I was worried I wouldn't like the colors I picked to go with it, but I think they turned out great.

And the theme of our weekend was "Worn Out" because we all needed to sleep a week to recover from our adventurous Sister's Weekend!

Good News Minute

It's Friday! I have made it through another week again! Sometimes on Tuesday or Wednesday I just don't know if I can make it or not. At my church we have a Good News Minute at the beginning of the women's meeting every Sunday. We have a lot of older women who are always announcing Weddings, Baby Births, Mission Calls, College Graduations, Children getting off Drugs, etc. Every time I'm in there I want to raise my hand and say "I made it through Another Week!" I just know that after the chuckles I would get those looks afterwards, Why is it so hard to get through a week? A lot of these older ladies have forgotten how hard it is to raise kids and occasionally make comments as the few children we do have run through the halls; I can't really blame them, they just sat for three hours!

For this week my Good News Minute includes making two purses; a couple zipper pouches; buying plane tickets to California for my Hubby & I to go and pick up an old car we just bought from my Grandpa; surviving daycare kids and my own two children not at camp; not cooking one real meal since Hubby and First Born are camping and are the only ones who really eat my food; making it to both Baseball games for Baby; Letting Middle Child play with lots of friends; getting a second job interview at the same place; and getting a decent amount of sleep. Hope your week was good too!

School

Many of you know that I graduated from college recently. I had a friend who also graduated several years ago after she had children. She talks about how she can still feel the relief of not being in school. I remember thinking during school that it wasn't such a big deal, it didn't take up much of my time, and I wouldn't feel much different. Now that I've been out over a month I can't believe how much time I have now.

I am still busy in the evening with Baby in baseball, husband and two older children in scouts, and other miscellaneous activities. But I can not believe how much time has been freed up without worrying about homework, mulling over homework, dreading doing homework, procrastinating homework, doing anything but homework, and finally doing homework! The first week out of school I was cleaning and getting ready for a grad party. Every time I turned around I thought I should be doing homework and then realized I didn't have to worry about that anymore! It was so liberating! Now that several weeks have passed my house isn't as clean as it was before because it's not fun to clean when it's in lieu of homework. I find that ironic. Granted there were weeks during school when I had big projects or loads of homework and housework was forgotten, but usually it got done pretty well. Now it's not done much at all. But I have been replacing homework with sewing. I have rediscovered sewing and am having a blast trying new things out all the time! And that is much more fun than cleaning. I won't be cleaning in lieu of sewing!

Brown pouch I made all by myself

Brown pouch
Originally uploaded by dons5

I think this is my favorite cosmetic pouch that I've made so far. I just love the fabric colors and design and the inside has this matching green kind of crazy lining that is just fun. It was my first attempt at a pleat and I thought it turned out looking good. I was pleasantly pleased with this pouch!

I have recently been sewing things. I started with baby items, bibs and onesies, but have branched out from there. I started making zippered pouches and have had so much fun. I think I like making pouches even more than baby stuff! Now I just need to learn how to make more tote and bags to go with the pouches.

I have always enjoyed sewing but haven't done much with it for probably 15+ years and now I have found fun things I can sew quickly. Since I don't know what to do with all this fun stuff I sew I set up an etsy.com shop, 3 C's Creations, named after the boys of course. Although I've only sold one thing to my sister it's been fun sewing and maybe one day people will discover my shop and I'll have an excuse to sew even more.