JACKPOT!

These postings are few and far between. Life is so full of curve balls these days I am just trying to stay as relaxed as possible and ride it as I can. Sort of like when you are body surfing and you get pounded and you are in the wave and its like a big washing machine and you are scraping on the bottom and don't know which way is up- if you relax, trust in the knowledge that you will pop up eventually and go where the ocean wants you to, it can be a small bit easier. Its the resisting and fighting against what you can't change that gets you pretty beat up. Some days easier said than done, but I am trying!
S0 we went to a sale today and that gorgeous purple beauty is all mine. 12 pounds of swirling pearlized thunder. And matching shoes and the most swanky bag to house it all. And the shoes are my size! All that, in pristine condition for $5! Thats one thing I think so much of our generation lacks- the way older generations took care of things. Things weren't so disposable back then. We didn't need so much either. There was also a rule book inside and on the front was written,"team captain" I suppose this ball has some pretty powerful mojo to go with it. Bowling has really become a family affair. The local alley gave away coupons so each kid can bowl a free game -with shoes- every day of the summer. So if the kids and I go it costs only $5. Now that I have my own shoes it will cost even less! Good clean (and pretty hilarious watching the little ones bowl) fun!


So after I came home with this treasure, I found a package waiting for me. From my colorswap partner, Mary Lynn! It was Nuetrals month and she put together such a lovely package. What I love most was that she included yarn and patterns to go with the yarn. There is a hat pattern with the merino that looks very cute. And that Merino is soft and yummy! Note the open bag of werther's chewy caramels. If you haven't had these, you might not want to- its one of those things that I ge started on and that is it! So I will have my hubby hide these from me so that they last a few days instead of a few hours! I love those little yellow flower quilting pins too. All these lovely goodies- what a great package!! I better go feed those kids. We have been stuck home with horrible asthma this week and we are all getting a bit squirelly. Asthma or no asthma, we are hitting the pool tomorrw. I am sure they will be better by then. Summer is almost over! I need my water fix! Have a great weekend!

Fun sewing...

Phew! It has been a crazy few weeks with out of town guest, a few parties and way too many overtime days at work.I think the worst is over where the overtime is concerned so now I am trying to get out my swaps and my goodie bags to the winners. I hate to make a kid wait for fun mail but work just took over! For fun, I just completed Whip lash's "wardrobe surgery" which you can see modeled above. I am happy with how it turned out. My whole inspiration was the excitement of getting new school clothes. I have great memories of new Hee Haw overalls, A Smile overalls (which seem so horrible now!) and this cute little dress I had with tiny hot pink flocked flowers. There is nothing like fall for new school supplies and back to school clothes! In that spirit, this was made for M out of a shirt I found at Salvation army and an angora sweater I had in my stash. I love the whole idea of turning something into something else. The skirt is made from 6 panels (3 for the front , 3 for the back) cut on the bias so I would get some zig zaggy striping going on. Here is how it all started:



I thought the shirt had a lot of nice details that could be used. I love the embroidery on the front and had thought it would be great on the hem of the skirt but I ended up liking the velvet ribbon alone better. So it became this cute belt.





I love how it turned out. I used some very cute apple fabric from my stash for the back. It is a piece that a friend brought from China and I have been wanting to use it but afraid to use it all up!


I blanket stitched the neckline on the sweater after running a line of stitching on the edges I cut and added a little french knotted "M". The outfit is all very sweet but not too girly to me because of the colors, which I am happy about. I think the belt will look cute with other things as well. Heck, I may make another one of those for her from different fabric, just for fun. I had saved the cuffs of the shirt for a little purse and heck if I can find them. I am sure they are somewhere "safe" and I will find them in a week or two! The purse can wait, I guess. So there is another installment of Whip lash.What a fun project! I love that it gives me "assignments" so I can get out of my usual routines. Better go make something for dinner before they get all crabby!

Birthday fun!

It is my sweet boys seventh birthday today. Sigh! I can't belive he is already seven, and then on the other hand, those seven years have been so full it seems it couldn't possibly have been only seven years! We have had lots of fun today. We started out with plenty of birthday hugging and I decorated the house last night after he went to bed which he loved. Tuesday and wednesday there are free movies at Regal Cinemas so we went and saw "Doogal" which we laughed a lot at. Then to Dairy Queen to meet up with a buddy and off to the free library show. This week there was crazy juggling guy and my palms were literally sweaty because he actually had me tense! He had all these plates spinning and then with the tall unicycle and he was just crazy enough that I couldn't tell where the act ended and real guy began! Now we are home for a little R & R before the festivities at Nana's later.
He has been asking for a bag like his sister's since I made hers so I figured it a perfect present for his birthday. I really love making things for them for their birthdays. I tucked a little bowling game into a drawstring bag inside and he was thrilled with both. I feel so lucky that my seven year old still gets excited about homemade gifts from his Mom! I hope that lasts awhile longer. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.
Lastly, we used his new bag to put the comments in for the birthday goodie bag drawing! He picked two winners and here they are:
www.simple-studio-journal.blogspot.com who has a 6 year old and a four year old which is almost exactly what we have here, and little Colin (6) whose mom is www.wrensnest.typepad.com. I was happy he was pulled out because his mom said he didn't get as much mail as his older siblings so I was glad he would be getting one. If the winners would just email me with addresses, the goodies will be on the way!
Now I have some more birthday snuggling to do! I hope everyone is having a beautiful August 2!