Sewing Sunsets

Yesterday, I was so tired that I although I had some time to finish hand sewing the buttons on the shirts I recently made, I knew better than to even try to sew.   Maybe today……. 

My daughter returned to college yesterday.  She had a very early flight because for some reason, finding nonstop flights from the airport nearest us is almost impossible.  This means that we usually have to drive an hour and a half to get her to the airport.  She and hubby left the house at 4:30 a.m. and even though I was able to go back to bed, I didn’t go to sleep, so I was very sleep deprived myself.  And sleep deprivation and sewing definitely do not go together.

I would love to sew today, but I have lots of chores to do so sewing may have to wait.  Oh, my goodness, what am I saying?!  We all know that sewing is much more important than chores! 

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

In a way I feel like I’ve taken a “vacation” from sewing.  I can’t be too sad about it, though, because my daughter has been here visiting.  Since she is now a grown up young lady and attending college in another state, we don’t get to see her very often.  I enjoyed this past week although I suspect it was rather boring for her.

Yesterday, my daughter and hubby had an errand to run and they graciously dropped me off at a local fabric store.  That was great, but as they were pulling away, I noticed that the store didn’t open for another 30 minutes.  Since it was cold and windy, I wandered around and finally found an appliance store that was opened so I went in and waited. 

It was finally time for the fabric store to open for the day and when I went in, I noticed that the store had been remodeled.  It took me a couple of minutes to get my bearings, but I found the thread and began looking for some thread.  I had only been there about five minutes when my daughter called and said they were finished with their errand.  She and hubby graciously gave me some extra time to spend petting fabric.  Would you believe that I left the store with only one spool of thread and no fabric?!   I just figure that’s another excuse to make an extra trip or two to the fabric store soon.

I also got to go pet some doggies yesterday.   I love to pet doggies as much as I love to pet fabric.   Actually, I might love to pet doggies just slightly more than I love to pet fabric.   My own sweet doggy died this past October and while I still miss her, I need another dog to love.  I have been going to doggy adoptions periodically over the past few months, but I knew I wasn’t quite ready to seriously consider getting another furry friend, but I think I’m almost ready now. 

My day yesterday was a pretty good day even if I didn’t get to do any sewing.  I got to pet fabric and doggies and that just made it a great day.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I believe I have mentioned how real life often has plans for me that completely interferes with my sewing time.  In this case, I can’t complain too much because I’ve been able to spend some time with my youngest daughter, which is nice.

Yesterday, we went to visit an aviation museum because my daughter is interested in that sort of thing.  Although I would have rather been sewing, it was in interesting place.  However, since I do not fly, I was just hoping that I wouldn’t have nightmares about all those airplanes and space craft type things chasing me!  Although I did have weird dreams last night, no planes chased me.

Today will be spent running some errands, but one of those errands is very near one of my favorite fabric stores and hubby has offered to drop me off there while he and my daughter run another errand.  Now that sounds like my idea of fun!  Fabric therapy!  Lots and lots of wonderful fabrics to pet.

One of these days life will settle down and I’ll have tons of time to sew.  I will have lots of time to sew, won’t I?

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Believe it or not, I had time to sew yesterday!  My daughter is at that age where they stay up late at night and sleep half of the day so I had lots of time to sew yesterday morning.

I sewed the buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html)  on both the girl’s shirt and the boy’s shirt, and I got the elastic inserted into the waistband casing of the shorts.  (I’ll have pictures to share soon.) I had hoped to hand sew the buttons on both shirts last night, but we made a trip to the grocery store instead.  Maybe I’ll have some time to do some hand sewing tonight.

In the meantime, I cut out another little sundress out of the cute yellow ladybug/daisy print fabric that I bought at JoAnn’s recently.

I would love to have some time to sew today, but my husband is off work and my daughter is here so I doubt there will be any sewing time for mom.  Hubby seems to like to come in and talk to me when I’m trying to write a post here.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

My daughter is home from college so I’m not sure how much sewing time I will actually have this week.  I am firmly convinced that the cure for the “sewing slumps” is definitely not having time to sew!   When I have plenty of time to sew, I often find myself in sewing slump mode, but when it seems that I won’t have much time to sew, that’s when I want to sew the most.

I did mark the buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html ) on the shirt of one unfinished project yesterday, but that’s as far as I got, so there is nothing to share here yet.  Maybe I’ll have time to sew today……….

In the meantime, I decided to go to my favorite charity’s website to see what was going on there.  Mission of Hope (www.missionofhope.org ) is located in Knoxville, Tennessee and is very dedicated to helping the folks in the Appalachian region of northeast Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky.  This past fall, I sent a large box of children’s garments that I had sewn to Mission of Hope, and as I continue to sew children’s garments, I hope to have another box to send to them in the near future.  It makes me feel good to know that perhaps just a little bit of my time and my sewing skills might be able to help someone else a little bit.

I encourage everybody to find a way to help others by sharing your skills and talents in some way.  Many people who quilt, knit, sew, and crochet are kind and generous folks who enjoy helping others.  And it provides a good “excuse “to spend more time quilting, knitting, crocheting, or sewing.

I have often read stories of how just one small, seemingly insignificant act of kindess or generosity has changed someone’s life as a child and then that person has gone on to do great things in life.  Sometimes just one word of kindness is all that is needed to brighten someone’s day and give them some hope for the future.

Maybe we can all sew a little kindness today.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Yesterday, I mentioned finishing some still unfinished sewing projects by sewing buttonholes and buttons.  I had fully intended to show a picture of the buttons, but totally forgot, which is my big sewing “duh” for today.

Granted, this isn’t a great picture, and you really can’t tell too much, other than there are some buttons and elastic there, but it was the principle of my forgetting that is my “duh”! 

I managed to finish the sundress last night and got it pressed, so I have put it aside for now, and if I have time this week, I will sew those buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html ) and buttons, and I will insert the elastic into the shorts waistband casing (www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html , and www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html ), which should finish all my unfinished sewing projects.  Once those are done, I have promised myself that I can start sewing another sundress.  That should go very quickly.  After that, I have plans to sew a short sleeved girl’s dress with some ruffles around the bottom.

Now, let’s see if real life cooperates and allows me to sew.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Last night I finally got a chance to finish the sundress.  It was nice to sit and watch tv and sew by hand.   I still need to press the dress well in order to consider it complete, and although today will be busy, I hope to spend just a little time in my sewing room.

Even though I really want to sew another sundress, I need to finish a couple of unfinished sewing projects.  I recently made a girl’s matching top and shorts set out of the same fabric that I used for the sundress.  The top still needs buttonholes (www.sewseamless.com/Page10.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page19.html ) sewn.  Even though I could sew on the buttons by machine, I prefer to hand sew buttons, so if I get the buttonholes sewn, I will have another “excuse” to do some hand sewing.  A boy’s camp shirt that I made some time ago also needs buttonholes and buttons, so I guess I’d better get busy!

The girl’s shorts still need elastic inserted into the casing at the waist.  (www.sewseamless.com/Page36.html , www.sewseamless.com/Page37.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page38.html ) Even thought inserting elastic into the casing might be considered a bit easier type sewing, I would rather sew buttonholes.

Of course, as we all know, when I’m really in the mood to sew, it seems that real life always has other plans for me.   I can’t complain too much this time, though, because my college aged daughter is coming home for a visit, so if I don’t get to sew for a few days, that will be ok.  When she leaves to go back to college, I may need some sewing solace and/or therapy.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Even though yesterday was a holiday, I spent a few minutes in my sewing room.  I still haven’t completed the sundress that I’ve been working on, but I did make progress.  I sewed the gathered skirt to the bodice (www.sewseamless.com/Page9.html and www.sewseamless.com/Page18.html ) and then I pinned the lining down so that I could hand sew over the raw edge of the seam that joins the bodice and the skirt together. 

I also pinned up the hem so that I can hand sew it later.  I like to use my seam gauge to measure the hem, press it up , and then pin it.  Although I could machine sew a blind hem stitch, I prefer to hem by hand and the blind hem stitch (www.sewseamless.com/Page20.html ) is my favorite.

The sundress is still not complete, but at least I’ve made some sewing progress.  Since all I lack is the hand sewing, maybe I’ll be able to sit and watch tv and do some hand sewing sometime this week.

Before I cut out another sundress pattern, I want to complete a couple of other unfinished projects by sewing the buttonholes on a couple of shirts and inserting elastic into the girl’s shorts that I recently made.  When I complete these garments, then I can cut another sundress out of that cute yellow ladybug/daisy print fabric that I bought at JoAnn’s this week.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

I still haven’t had the chance to do much sewing.  What do I keep saying about real life having other plans for me?!

I did get the sundress skirt and bodice sewn together last night, but I didn’t get the chance to press up the hem.  By the time we got home from our little excursion to the hardware store, it was getting kind of late.  (Hubby goes to the fabric store with me sometimes, so I return the favor by going to the hardware store with him sometimes. ) 

Since I haven’t been able to sew for the past several days, I am glad that I did get to go to JoAnn’s this week.  Not only did I get more fabric; I also got some sewing notions to complete a couple of other projects.  When I sew a garment, I usually have the type of button I want in mind by the time I finish the project.  Unfortunately, I’ve been disappointed with the selection at JoAnn’s in my area.    

I tried to take a picture of the buttons that I got, but my camera wouldn’t cooperate, so I’ll try again later.  When I was at the fabric store, I found the perfect buttons for the boy’s camp shirt, but finding the color buttons that I wanted for the girl’s top was harder.  I really wanted yellow or green, but I couldn’t find the right size button in those colors.  I finally found some red buttons, but I think they may be a little too much of a pink red for the girl’s outfit.  Oh darn–another excuse to go to the fabric store!

Hmmm…..I wonder if I can do a little sewing today with all my Easter sewing goodies?

Happy Easter!

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com

Since my week has been so difficult, I decided to treat myself to a little fabric therapy yesterday.  I still had some money on the gift card that my hubby had given me for Christmas so a trip to JoAnn’s seemed to be in order.

For the most part, I needed buttons and elastic to finish the girl’s shorts and top set that I recently made and shared here.  I also needed some buttons to complete a boy’s camp shirt that I made a few weeks ago.  I found these items and then decided to look for fabric.  Since I have been having sew much fun making this little sundress, I wanted to make another one so I began to look for fabric with that in mind.  I found the cutest yellow fabric with ladybugs and daisies on it.

I seem to be drawn to fabrics with daisies on it lately, for some reason. 

Before I can start sewing with this fabric, I need to finish some the shorts and top and the other sundress.  I still haven’t sewn the bodice to the skirt yet, which is the last bit of machine sewing that I need to do. 

It felt sew good to get some fabric therapy yesterday!

Now maybe I can also sneak in a little sewing therapy this weekend.

Happy Sewing!

www.sewseamless.com