pennsylvania is an interesting place!

so i had a very interesting saturday and sunday... ***WARNING*** this has absolutely nothing to do with crafting or sewing in any way, shape, or form. frankly, i just had a really good weekend and though i'd share! :)

laura was at my house a little before 6am on saturday morning so we could get on the road for our trip to maryland. after mapquesting, asking the bride, and asking my other "traveling" friends, we decided to take the "short route" to maryland. i was told by my girl amy that the route we were taking was "less than 6 hours".

so we set out... full off coffee and conversation. next thing you know we (woopsie) missed a major exit which would have sent us on our "short" way. well, 47 minutes later we realized that we had traveled a titch beyond the 9 miles we were supposed to drive along the southern tier expressway. we stopped, bought a map (why didn't we have one to begin with??? good question) and i bought a highlighter to mark our alternate route (and laura thought i was crazy to highlight the route... i can't help it! OCD). our alternate route looked like it wouldn't be too bad... it was straightforward. we were taking route 15 almost the entire way! well, route 15 goes through every strange little backward town in eastern pennsylvania. let me tell you, it was an experience. we saw some "interesting things". what kind of "interesting things" you may ask??? well let me tell you...

this for one... so we are driving happily along in a sweet looking little town. there were all kinds of old restored buildings along the road with different shops, restaurants etc. next thing i see is BAM!!! ok, call me incredibly immature, but just like farts never stop being funny, either does the word nipple. especially when it is on a huge sign on the side of a building... that houses old people! i had no choice but to blow a U turn and go back to take a picture. laura wanted us to get out of the car and pose, but i had to decline... i'm immature, but i couldn't stand the thought of some old lady looking out the window with a sigh thinking "tourists mocking our home again..." with sadness. so i took a picture from my car and we drove on... laughing hysterically for hours (literally) and sending it via text to our friends and family.

another interesting observation in eastern pennsylvania was an overabundance of "adult" stores... i mean like seriously, we saw at least 25 of them! no exaggeration!!! the most entertaining of them all had to be "wild bill's" which was located right next to a house of amish people. there they were, in their yard, working... right next to wild bill's!!!

what else... on the way there, laura and i stopped and ate at every available occasion... the best place ever had to be...

SHEETZ!!! i'm not sure if anyone has ever had the privilege to experience sheetz, but it was my first time. let me tell you that it was an amazing experience. you step into what you think is a simple, every day gas station... but then you see the lights, colorful carpet and the TOUCH SCREENS!!! you get to play on the touch screens to order whatever delicacies you would like. let me tell you that their macaroni and cheese was FABULOUS!!! yeah, that's right i ate macaroni and cheese from a gas station! it was quite possibly the most delicious macaroni and cheese EVER!!! if you are ever driving past a sheetz... try it out. you will not be sorry!

there were other various strange people... a rather strange woman in rite aid that had a hard time deciding whether or not we could use the bathroom, random people walking across or along, or in the middle of the highways (yeah, there were a few!) and just a myriad of others that cracked us up at the time, but i can't recall right now. oh yeah, and laura was asleep when we passed the sign for the "landing strip family restaurant"... insert giggle here. oh yeah, and we saw a sign for "bald eagle"... another giggle for those of us who are immature :)

our "shouldn't be longer than 6 hours" trip ended up taking us 9. needless to say we missed the ceremony :( but we did convince the limo/bus driver to come back to the hotel and pick us up for the reception! the reception was beautiful! kasey looked fabulous! her husband (who we were meeting for the first time) was so sweet... and his 3 boys were adorable! the little guy was dancing like it was nobodies business! i taught him the kid n play kick step, the brush your shoulder off, and i'm not sure of the name but i had him adjusting his tie before he broke it down. he was the entertainment for all! too cute... the food was delish, and there was bottled coronas! the coronas made us feel like we were actually on vacation, not just away for the night! we had a great time and it was totally worth the drive.sunday morning we chowed a little breakfast and got back on the road. this time we went the way we were supposed to go on the way there and made it home in 7 hours this time. i still don't understand the "less than 6 hours" crap. i think they all lied! :) the ride home was less interesting... i must say i was happy to see my home sweet home.

well, i think that is about all i have to say right now... sorry for assaulting your eyes for so long :) comments are more than welcome here!!! ***HINT HINT!!!***

wow, could curtains be any more boring to make???

so with all that super cute fabric staring at me, just BEGGING me to make something great with them, i decided that i really need to get these curtains done so that i can get down to business!



i have 10 curtains in 3 different sizes to make. marcia bought 2 different fabrics... a plain blue polyester (it reminds me of the material that cheerleader briefs are made from... i was NOT a cheerleader, but my sister and best friend were), and another blue and lime green floral material that is kind of sheer. the blue polyester sews great... the floral stuff? that's another story. it twists, bunches, moves and grooves and will simply not allow a straight seam. now you are probably thinking, not a big deal right? in the "normal" part of my brain i know it ISN'T a big deal. they are curtains to cover some shelves in the basement of the house my in-laws are selling... they will probably be torn down as soon as the new people move in. but then there is the crazy OCD part of my brain that can not accept such inferior work. so how will i deal with it? i made 3 of the 10 tonight which i will take over to their house tomorrow to see (and hope) that they look ok when hung up in a dark basement. i'm trying to get over these things...



and finally, here she is... my good ole' cheap-o singer. she was on sale at target for $69 and sews like a dream! (i just said "sews like a dream"... wow.) then there is tina's machine... quite a bit more expensive and frankly, it's a lemon. am i right t? all i know is that i have been very happy with my little singer. i have yet to name her... although she is often referred to as some sort of expletive. if anyone has a suggestion, i'm all ears :)

where do i start???

so this is (a small part of) my fabric stash.

now here we are, done with our first indie market, with the next indie market looming in the not so distant future. you may be wondering what exactly i plan on doing with all that fabric huh? well i will tell you...



the 2 black and white fabrics & the green flowered, red flowered, and white flowered will become some fabulous purses- the turquoise with pink flowers will become some super cute grocery bags- that pink plaid is some amazing silk that i'm hoping will become a dress to wear to my girl kasey's wedding -the tan-ish with the white leaves is (hopefully) going to become a sundress for me, as well as the black, red, white and yellow stuff that you can barely see on the end. then there is some nice heavy denim in there that will become wallets, i have about 13 yards of fabric to make my mother in law some curtians for her cupboards in the basement, and i have a bag with fabric to make my aunt-in-law (if that is such a thing) a purse.



wow. i'm tired just from typing all of that, now imagine trying to make it all! i don't know where to start! well actually, the curtains are first... only because my in-law's house goes on the market next week and they need those curtains asap. after that? no clue! i want to make everything at once! i'm excited to get sewing again... since i have taken a break the past few days. no more breaks though...



so, in conclusion, i moved my "sewing center" back upstairs tonight. it was upstairs originally, then i wanted it in the basement in front of the big tv and near the iron. now i want to be back upstairs because i feel like a hermit down in the basement. yes it's nice to have peace and quiet to work in, but hey... i hate silence, it freaks me out! so, back upstairs i went. i had about 47 different bags/ ziplocs/ tupperware containers of things to move... no big deal. then i had to move the chair and table that i work on, again no big deal. THEN i had to move my big table where i do all my cutting out. let's just say that clay was trying to help, but even he looked skeptical in my abilities to move that table. he kept telling me "just wait til my dad gets home... he can move it just fine! he's so strong ya know!" which fueled my stubborn ass to move it myself and show him how strong i am. i did it! ok so i was grunting and struggling like crazy, but i did it! clay helped me move some of my fabric but then was "too tired" to do any more. clay fell asleep in my bed as i got my OCD "sewing center" all set up again.

*** oh yeah, fyi, i had a funny picture on here that i took of clay last night when i finally took him up to bed. he was completely passed out with his hand jammed down his pants (like all males do!) but alas, after some advisement, i decided to take the picture off my blog. there are WAY too many sickos out there. kinda sad that a silly picture could be taken in such a disgustingly disturbing way. my question is... WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???