i'm back in the saddle again!

so tina convinced me. it is time to stop being so lazy and start sewing again! she keeps making all these fancy new creations... lamp shades, new style dresses, crayon rolls, ruffle bottomed pants... and all this with a lame wrist! check her out, she has been a busy little girl!

we were talking and she asked what i thought about doing the september indie market. i hemmed and hawed (get it? hemmed? bad joke.) because i haven't made anything in so long. i still have some bags, belts, headbands, wallets, and barrettes... but as for anything new? nada.

as i talked to tina trying to decide what to do, i looked into my sewing bins. i found about 13 bags that were already cut out and just waiting to be sewn together, as well as a crap load of fabric that has never been touched!

needless to say i think i've got the itch again! last night i cut out 7 more bags! i have a few more kids bags to put together... sponge bob, cars, care bears, mickey mouse and a cute princess one with tiaras. i am going to do some more denim bags, although this time i am going to line them with some colorful fabrics. i will be doing some more wallets too... frankly i think they are awfully cute! they're very functional too! mine is stuffed with store discount cards and works great!

well i guess this means you should stay tuned for some actual craft blogs in the next few days! oh yeah, and tina and i are going to share a table at september's market... that way neither of us need to have a ton of stuff done... just enough to fill half a table! :)

now, just for a few pictures...

gracie LOVES her new brother... so far! let's see what happens when the newness wears off!

clay... being clay! by the way, he is heading to the track tomorrow to see what it's like to ride his dirt bike on a real track... might this be our ticket to the x games someday? if so, he better remember who birthed him and show mama the money!!!

carter (or chippy (short for chipmunk) as we call him) was LOVING his spaghetti tonight! lately he suddenly is eating things he normally would never even look at let alone eat. but he STILL refuses to even try watermelon, which drives me crazy!!!

store bought flowers and new shoes! :)

so mother's day and the indie market are over. i must say that mother's day was FAR more impressive than the market. i think we all had very high hopes that people would flock to the market after a nice sunday brunch with mom... but unfortunately that did not happen. the turn out was quite sad i must say. nothing against mary stephens who runs the market, frankly she is amazing! she is an adorable little peanut of a girl that has 2 kids (which i NEVER would have guessed), makes amazing stationary, and organizes and runs the whole market! anyhoo, the attendance was not what we had hoped for... although it was a perfect time for me to try out some new beers at the pearl street. though i am typically a fan of the blue-eyed blueberry blonde ale, i now also enjoy the don cherry. i also discovered the street brawler stout... i'm not typically a stout drinker, but i saw the word "chocolate" in it's description and got sucked right in. it was DELICIOUS!!! ok, ok, enough about beer (i never thought i would ever speak those words!)

now on to mother's day. i'm a firm believer in the fact that there are ALL kinds of mothers. those to pets, to students, to friends, to other people's children, to yet unborn children, to husbands... you get the picture. i hope that every mother out there had a fabulous mother's day. i myself did... although for some reason, carter decided to sleep in until 8:30 (which he never does) even though i had to be up at 7:00. figures doesn't it? well, i was then given a few of the best gifts ever. clay had planted me some flowers in a chocolate milk carton at school ALL BY HIMSELF... he told me repeatedly that HE did it, not the teacher (god bless her by the way)! he also had made me a fabulous little pinch pot with animals stamped on the side (yep, there was an elephant on there!), as well as a short poem that read as follows...

mommy

clayton

fun

prite (pretty)

tucing (talking)

sewing

ticling (tickling)

i love you mommy

mummy (which he pronounced with a strange accent)

i was shocked to see he wrote talking and sewing... who ME? ha! kids are too funny! what's that saying... out of the mouths of babes? i also was given a STORE BOUGHT BOUQUET!!! can you believe it tina? i then recieved from gerry a fabulous lilac tree (there is one at our house that was planted in the wrong spot long before we moved in that grows like crazy but has NO FLOWERS!!! isn't the whole point of a lilac tree the fabulous smelling flowers?) i also received the best footwear EVER! i am typically a fancy, high heeled, more sexy sandal wearer in the warmer months. my new shoewear is VERY atypical for me...

i have laughed at people in crocs for the past 2 or so years. i have snickered when i saw people put them on their little boys (which i did just last week... got them camoflage ones- they LOVE them!) and swore i would never wear such ugly things. then i tried on my sister in law's crocs a while back. i loved how they felt on my feet, but still mocked her for their ugliness. i bought my mother in law some for xmas and she adored them too. when she would be at my house i was finding myself wearing her crocs around. well, i have to say that i am now a very proud (and extremely happy) owner of adorable pink crocs. funny, now i think they are not only comfortable, but cute too! so mock if you want, but i love my crocs... i want more now! :)

mother's day!!!

so tomorrow is mother's day. i would just like to wish a fantastic mother's day to all the moms out there (whether your "child" is human or animal), as well as those mothers to be!

do you know what else tomorrow is??? yep, the indie market! i made up for my week long procrastination today... ok, the procrastination was longer than a week. so what if i was up until (let me look at the clock) 1:00am finishing? i got stuff done didn't i?

anyhoo, i got a few more bags done, as well as some more wallets. now that i think of it, yesterday i was able to squeak out a few more belts too that i never took pictures of.

well, it is bed time. i will be up early to get my junk together for the market... and hopefully be showered with love and adoration (and maybe gifts!) from my loving boys. i will report back after the market and let you all know if it was a success... i sure hope it is!

once again, happy mother's day to you and yours... :)

suburban vs rural life example 1

so tina was bragging about, i mean showing, the flowers that she was given by her husband and daughter. well i wanted to brag about, i mean show, the flowers that clayton got for me... ok, ok, so tina's are beautiful, store bought sunflowers in a cute fancy vase (she probably pronounces it like "vaaahz"), while mine are lilacs, hacked off of my mother in law's trees in her yard, and stuck in a dry wall bucket. tina's are surrounded by nothing but the glorious sheen of a wooden table, while mine are surrounded by a garden hose that leaks. oh life in the country is so grand! :)

no sewing tonight for me... i'm awfully tired and have quite the headache. besides, i wouldn't be me if i didn't procrastinate until the very end! 3 days until the market!

ps tina- you know i'm teasing you right? you are fancy though... you DO have a fancy schmancy lemon tree in your dining room! i wish i were a fancy schmancy girl! :)

ever feel like smashing your machine with a sledge hammer?

so i finally got back into making some bags tonight... (and by the way, i have just realized that i start just about every blog with the word "so")

i started with this pink and black polka dot bag... simple and easy. no problems... flew right through it! it had been cut out already and just needed to be thrown together.

and then i started on the black and white bag... i have realized that if i spend one evening cutting bags out and having them all set, i get a LOT more accomplished. therefore, last night i spent an hour or 2 cutting out a TON of new bags. i already have a stack of cut out bags that need to be put together, and now add to it the pile i cut out last night.

well, i decided that i wanted to try a new design for a bag. i didn't even try out a muslin prototype or anything like i usually do... i just folded the fabric and cut how i saw the bag in my head. i must say that i enjoy the design... now, i'm not exactly in love with the way i did the handles, but oh well!

now, the wrinkle in my sewing plan... i was having some serious thread tension issues. i must have threaded and rethreaded my machine 47 times! i was getting so frustrated and impatient with my machine that it made me stop and wonder how it is that i deal with kids all day long at work (and then at home too)! i was clenching my jaw so tight and swearing like an osbourne (as in ozzy's family... ever see their show??? they swear a TON! well, the joke made ME laugh... anyone else?) anyhoo, this bag should have taken me less than an hour, but it ended up taking me well over 2 hours. i will let you guess who was not very happy... here is a clue, ME!!! so the bag does not yet have a snap in it... that will have to be done tomorrow when my patience returns.

4 days until the market!!!

by the way, my college roommate mo had a baby boy today... vincent john siftar! YEAH! :)

gotta bounce...

no sewing last night...

so i got NOTHING accomplished yesterday... but for a good reason. i had to take my sister in law into the hospital to get herself checked out... she is 7 months pregnant and was not feeling too fantastic. she didn't want to go, said it was from carrying her daughter aroungd, blah, blah, blah. turns out she was right. but i made her go and get checked out anyway... better safe than sorry right? turns out the baby is doing great (little tre- he is going to be david martin the third... i told her i would call him tre, short for tres) and she is fine too... just a little necessary rest :)

also, i just have to pat myself on the back and let everyone know that i went to weight watchers yesterday and lost 3.6 pounds this past week! i'm so excited! yeah me!

well, tonight it's crunch time... indie market is only 5 days away!!! i have some SERIOUS work to do!

wallets and belts!

so i am always lecturing tina about trying out new things instead of stocking up on what she does so well... and here i am, making new stuff! i absolutely LOVE this wallet pattern! it's so easy and i think pretty darn cute!

gerry and clay went out turkey hunting for the weekend (insert country-hick joke here). i was flying solo with carter and wanted to spend the day sewing today. my niece tori was singing the national anthem at the buffalo bisons game today, so carter and i went for a bit. tell you what, she sang AWESOME! it was awfully chilly though... we left after an hour. when we got home carter was exhausted and went in for a nap. as he napped, i sat down at my machine and rocked out 4 wallets while i watched "mona lisa smile". once i put the boys to bed for the night, i whipped out 2 more wallets and decided to try out some belts.

when i had purchased the wrong size d rings (WAY too small for purses) i had to find something to do with them. i decided to try out some simple ribbon belts... if i had a little girl i would put one on her!

so even though i had a very unproductive friday and saturday (too busy recuperating from jay z on friday, and too busy reminiscing about the jamboree in the hills on saturday) i made up for it in a few short hours on sunday. now i have some SERIOUS bag making to do this week. i have a few sweet fabrics for bags that i really want to get done.

7 more days until the indie market! why do i always wait until the last minute???

oh yeah, ps, tomorrow is my first week weigh in at weight watchers... i think i did pretty well this week. after i got over my hunger angst that is! we'll see what happens!!! :)

last night was FABULOUS!!!

so this has NOTHING to do with sewing... but last night i went with my friend keri to see jay z and mary j blige at the hsbc arena. now don't get me wrong, i appreciated winning free tickets, but the radio station tickets were AWFUL! luckily, keri had a hook up... one of the teacher aides at her school worked there and got us down onto the floor!

i must say (even though i may be a bit biased due to my obsession with jay) it was an EXCELLENT concert! mary j sang her dang heart out with a mix of old school classics and some of her newer hits. and then there was jay... my goodness he was fabulous! he did every song (or at least a part of every song) that he could squeeze in. being down on the floor was sweet... if only we could have gotten close enough to get a good picture. i'm not going to lie, i'm AWFULLY tired today... but it was well worth it! keri and i had a great time... we ate and consumed a few beers at the pearl street (where the indie market is held) before the concert, then had a few cold ones afterwards as well. it was a fantastic time, loved hanging out with an old friend again ;)

well, tonight will be completely unproductive... the only thing i plan on doing once the kids are in bed, is watching what not to wear (LOVE that show) but i MUST get some stuff done this weekend for next sunday's market. wallets and purses need to be produced asap! why can't the days be a little bit longer???

first indie market down...

date: saturday april 12, 2008
time: 10:45am
place: pearl street grill & brewery- buffalo indie market
so here we were... finally all set up... giggling like absolute nutballs! tina and i both giggle like crazy when we are nervous... let's just say we couldn't stop!






we borrowed a screen from tina's mom and covered it with some sheer curtains (that tina's mom got at a garage sale). we hung bags, dresses etc. from the screen and even from screws in the walls! tina's mom also hooked us up with some stand kind of things, not to mention she has given us about 47 million excellent ideas! i tip my hat to good ole' grace... what would we do without her? on that note, i must also tip my hat to tina's hubby andrew. he has helped us with just about everything since the day we decided to start sewing together... and he is very patient when tina and i talk 47 times a day!













it pretty much looked like a fabric explosion at our table! the people to our left had fancy lit up displays with cool rocks and chunks of wood. the ladies to our right had all kinds of stands etc. as well to showcase their stuff. we on the other hand... we rocked the fabric explosion!







so, all in all, it was a success. once we got over our nervousness, we had a blast! a few delicious blue-eyed blueberry blondes (aka the most DELICIOUS beer i have ever tasted!) from the bar, not to mention their killer loaded pub fries and we were happy campers! we sold a bunch of our things, learned a LOT about the craft selling life, and most importantly... had a great time! we are looking forward to next month's market... i have SO MUCH WORK TO DO!!!!! but don't let me fool you, i love it! :)

i think we are market ready!

so... i had a REALLY cute sign all painted up tonight. clay stood by my side oohing and ahhing as i painted the sign for our table. it looked fabulous! then i ran outside to grab myself a celebratory beer from the garage. when i came back inside, there were mysterious smears across the canvas that i had just finished painting. when i asked clay if he had touched my painting, he said "maybe... but you can just paint over that stuff with white mom!" if only it were that easy! so now, the sign for our table tomorrow looks like this... crap.







and then come the new "supplies" needed for the market. cute bags, tissue paper, a cute pink sparkly thing to keep money in, a cool little dish to display my cards in, and most importantly... NEW PENS! i don't know about anyone else, but i thoroughly enjoy new pens. they give me a feeling of pride, newness, and excitement. i think it's a reminiscence for me of starting off the school year with fresh school supplies. each september you would have new supplies and a new outlook on your educational career... and then november hits, and your organization kick and new supplies are all used up. but by golly, for that first month or two, you are feeling good, feeling organized, and LOVING your new, fresh notebooks, folders, and pens!











lastly, here is most of the stock of stuff i will be taking with me to the market tomorrow. a gazillion bags! every shape, every size, every fabric. no two are exactly alike! what you get from me is genuine one of a kind bags... probably because every time i make something i am trying something new! :) well, wish us luck! tina and i will be ready to rock by 11am when the market opens... hope to see you there!

it's crunch time!!!

ok, the buffalo indie market is tomorrow morning... i still have a LOT to do! i'm not gonna lie, i'm starting to seriously panic! i have so much stuff to do to get ready for tomorrow and i don't know where to start! i have procrastinated all week long. i have done NOTHING for the show... but i have a new blog set up. i have been playing (and i'm sorry to brag, but beating) tina's husband at online mastermind. i have been watching a lot of tv... what is wrong with me? every night i talk to tina and she is doing things, getting ready... and what am i doing? NOTHING productive! i guess i'm up for a busy night tonight! well, hope to see people there... cherry wheat beer, here i come! :)