i love my life

I say that with all sincerity. I love that I am able to stay home. My *job* is to care for my family and our home. There are many people who would rather have a career even after having children. I am not one of those. I always knew I wanted to be a wife and mommy. I am living MY dream and feel so blessed.

Once upon a time, I thought staying home would yield me some free time. Such *might* have been true after my daughter was born and I got over the sleep deprivation of having a newborn. Not so much at this stage of the game. The days turn into weeks, the weeks turn into months... yadda yadda. I know things will be different when my youngest goes to Kindergarten next year and I remind myself of that when I want to have my *own* time. That is going to be a life changing event for me having all my children in school and one I don't really relish just yet quite frankly.

I really like sewing. I think and dream of sewing a lot. Lately, unfortunately, I don't actually sew a lot. That makes me sad, but I know this is a season. I miss sewing. I have done a little here and there, but mostly my life consists of anything other than sewing. :-(

Enough of whining, let me be the *glass is half full person that I am* and share what I have accomplished. First off I kept my end of the bargain with my MIL and made her three beautiful skirts for her Italy trip. Sorry no pictures of that project, but I can say with certainty that she absolutely loves all three of them. They were the only thing she packed to wear on her bottom half for the 10 day trip. I was so happy she loved them that much. :-)

I also made myself a top I hated (Vogue 2980). I had made this before and the fabric was too spandex-y (is that a word?). I knew the fabric was part of the problem, but I thought sizing up might help too as that pattern seemed to run pretty small. If you know me IRL, you'd know I'm pretty cheap frugal and spending $4 on a pattern I already had would be silly. So instead I'd use 1/4" SA's in the side and underarm seams and see if that gave me a better fit. Well I think the fit was fine, but the fabric was a bad choice. It's too clingy and I feel self-conscious wear it. Will I try it again? I'm not thinking so even tho I love the style.

I did make the marvelous Jalie jeans. That will have to be a whole different post, but I will say I LOVE them! I have worn them many times already and plan to make another pair again soon. I have some modifications I need to make, but I can't even begin to say how thrilled I am with them.

I think that is all in the sewing department. I did get a lovely souvenir from Italy tho...



It's so fun to look at foreign pattern magazines. I sure wish I could get my hands on them regularly at an affordable price. I also got a yummy bar of Swiss chocolate too. :-)

My immediate "to do" list item is a pair of overalls for Halloween. My oldest son is going to be Super Mario and I can't find a pair in any thrift store to save my life. I've been to 12 and overalls just ain't out there. They are not popular anymore and you can't even seem to buy them at a retail level. If I would have planned ahead better maybe I could have scored a pair on eBay, but I didn't so now I'm sewing a pair. Thank goodness I have Ottobres galore. I found a pair in one of the early non-English issues. They were a few sizes too small, but I sized them up and they look like they'll fit just fine so I'll be working on those this week. Have I mentioned that Halloween is really my least favorite holiday? I'd rather buy the kids each a bag of candy and do something fun (bowling, movies, etc). Such a party pooper huh?