ahhh... sweet productivity!

so i made another (and far more successful) attempt at the wallet. the denim one on the right was first tonight... then i realized that it was FAR TOO THICK for a wallet- that's why it looks like it's been stuffed. i then decided to make the outer cover part denim and make the inside patterned. this worked MUCH better... the denim makes for a good sturdy cover.

this is just a better picture of all the bows i made last night... how cute is some of that ribbon?
and i made a bunch more headbands tonight as well. i think these are the cutest things ever! if people at the indie market don't buy them, i will be rocking them like crazy!
other than that, i've been a bit crabby on this diet... i'm hoping for a better tomorrow. i had 2.5 points left today! that's nothing short of a miracle!!!

oh yeah, and i'm SUPER excited to go see my man jay-z and mary j blige at the hsbc arena tomorrow... you never know, maybe tomorrow i will be posting a pic of jay and i!!! :)

burnt finger tips and ugly fabric...

so i have had this pattern for wallets for quite some time now... missy (our jambo coordinator) gave it to me. she had told me that it was super easy, blah blah blah. i'm not sure why, but i thought it would be time consuming and a titch more difficult than it was. it actually only took me 25 minutes to make (including cut out time). i forgot to get velcro, so i had to sew on a snap. i think the next time i will either do the velcro, or perhaps a magnetic snap.

can you believe how hideous this fabric is? for some reason, in the store, i thought it was kind of cool. yeah, it's not. it's down right ugly. oh well, i didn't want to use good fabric in case i jacked it all up or anything. and the bow... again, didn't want to waste cute stuff... if you can look beyond the ugliness of the fabric and non-matching ribbon, it's a super cute wallet! i still can't believe how easy it was to make. i will be cranking these little suckers out now!

burnt finger tips? you may ask... well, tonight i continued to make ribbon barrettes. instead of the sticky dots i used yesterday (which i had to go over because they peeled), i decided to use my little hot glue gun. for those of you who have used one before you will completely understand... for those of you who may have never used a hot glue gun, you don't know what you're missing (in both a good and bad way)! it bonds just about ANYTHING together... but it also burns the fingerprints right off of your skin and leaves little glue strings EVERYWHERE! anyhoo, my finger tips are burnt to crap and i (as well as my room) are COVERED in glue strings. well worth it though, i think the barrettes turned out adorable!

one last thing... today is day 2 of weight watchers, i'm not gonna lie, i have had some SERIOUS hunger angst today. knowing that i have to watch what i'm eating is KILLING me! i'm an eater, what can i say? it's what i like to do. :) we will see how it goes. i'm hoping the hunger angst goes away REAL soon... even i can't stand my own crabbiness! :)

something new!

so today i decided to try something new. i used (ok, kind of stole) tina's barrette idea, but made them on "big girl" barrettes. then i decided to give some headbands a whirl... i sat in the living room, watching house (quite possibly one of the best shows on tv right now), glueing barrettes and headbands, and RAVING about how cute they are! gerry just rolls his eyes and repeatedly assures me that they really are SO cute (as he stares at the tv, waiting for house to go to a commercial so he can flip through the channels to watch bits and pieces of dirty jobs and ultimate fighting). he's not really too reassuring but...

i just thought that these coordinating ribbons were to die for... i might enjoy buying ribbon as much as i enjoy buying fabric! i know those are some strong words... i have SO much ribbon that i have bought with no purpose other than to look cute. i figured some day i would put them to good use! thank goodness that day has finally come.

then i realized that i was out of glue... how earth shattering! i was really getting into the groove of these things. but fear not my friends, i have 2 more coupons and will be stopping tomorrow on my way home from work to grab some more glue... and i'm thinking a few more headbands and barrettes!

so that's about it for now. today started my OFFICIAL first day of weight watchers... my mind told me all day that i was starving and would never make it through. actually though, it was a lot easier than i thought it would be... but ask me again in a few days! :)

i'm a slacker.

so after i finished my ill fitting dress earlier this week, i have accomplished nothing. i have been waiting for my d rings and magnetic snaps in the mail... well, the d rings came in. they are TINY!!! oh well, i will have to figure something out to do with them... any suggestions?
anyway, my next atempt for this weekend ( probably tonight as a matter of fact) is wallets. my fellow jambo girl missy gave me a pattern (yes, i know, a pattern...) for a cute wallet. i'm hoping to figure it out and whip out a bunch of them this weekend. here's hoping! let's enjoy the last weekend of summer-like weather for a while...

oh yeah, not that anyone cares but i'm now officially a weight watchers member. i did it online this morning. i just can not stand fitting into NOTHING i own any more... plus if one more student tells me i'm getting fat (or telling me i have a "pillow belly", or that i'm getting "thicker") again, i'm going to cry! wish me luck! :)

oh yeah again, and on my last post when i was begging for responses, i found out that there was a problem in the way i had my blog set up that made it next to impossible to leave a comment. andrew (tina's husband and my computer "mastermind") fixed it for me. thanks andrew! :)
so you know what that means??? comment away!!! :)

so it's not exactly figure flattering...

well, here it is folks... my first dress. *** (see footnote)
it is lined with muslin and i put ribbon details on the shoulders. now you must understand that the sizing here is a complete guessing game. since i made up the pattern of the dress, i had to also make up the sizing as well. i would try it on, pin it in various spots, hope i pinned it right, cut, sewed it back together, and tried it on again. then repeated and repeated and repeated these steps...
it started as a serious mumu. it's better now, but still a bit mumu-y. not ready for kasey's wedding yet, but we will see what happens... i may have to break down and actually buy a (gasp) pattern! i'm now stubbornly set on making my own dress for her wedding. luckily kasey (and my date laura) love me no matter how mumu-y my dress is! at least i hope! :)

*** ok, first of all the dress is NOT flattering. second, i have gained QUITE A BIT of weight lately. third, that picture was taken by me, (with the timer) after a REALLY long day both at work and at home with the kids. this is my very pathetic attempt at explaining why i look so icky in the picture.

ps- is anyone reading this blog? if you are giving me a few minutes of your time to read my blabbering, can you please leave me a comment? negative or positive... i don't care! i just want to know that someone other than tina is reading this! ;)

moving on... :)

so the curtains are FINALLY done! i finished them up last night... thank goodness!

so now i have started my new adventure...trying to create a pattern for a sundress. i have some super cute fabric to make my dress, but i am starting with muslin until i get it right. well, let's just say that the first attempt looked more like a mumu. i took it in a bit and it looked a titch less tent-ish, but it was still REALLY big.
i took it in one more time and went straight to bed. i have yet to try it on again, becuase i knew i would never go to sleep if it still didn't fit right. so, i really hope that when i go home today and try that sucker on that it fits. i REALLY want to get it done so that i can wear it while the weather is still beautiful.

then here is my REAL intention... i want to make myself a dress for my girl kasey's wedding. i have a few super cute silks that i would LOVE to tackle! we'll see what happens! ;)



oh yeah, and i need to get to work on more bags for the indie market! i am waiting for my d rings and magnetic snaps to get going!

nice weather= no sewing

so who can sit in the house and sew on such a beautiful weekend??? not this girl! I had every intention of finishing those damn curtains, but the sun was calling me outside! cooking out, having a few beers, and a bon fire was just far too tempting! but now, there is no choice but to git er done. my in law's house is going on the market thursday and the curtains are a necessity. have i mentioned how much i hate these curtains?

so last night i oiled my sewing machine for the first time. you must understand that ever since i got my machine for xmas, every time i use it, gerry asks me if i have oiled it yet. "the key to making a motor run properly, is to keep it well lubricated" is what i have heard for months now. so my stubbornness overwhelmed me and i never oiled it. well, last night i decided that it was time to oil my machine... i had NO idea what i was doing. i was dripping oil on whatever moved inside that thing. afterwards i began sewing (those curtains) again... when gerry walked in to see what i was doing, i told him that i had just finished oiling my machine. his response??? "i knew it sounded like it was running smoother". give me a break!