The BIG 30

Today is my birthday. I have made it to the BIG 30. Can someone please tell me when do you start feeling like a grown up because I still feel like I am 16 (and would kill to have the body I did when I was 16).

I spent some time this weekend going to my BFAM’s (brother from another mother) wedding, celebrating with friends, getting a pedicure and just enjoying the time spent with people I love. I received some great gifts, not that I expected any. Shout out to my husband for the best ammonite bracelet ever. I also thought about some of the things I want to focus on for the next year of my life. Put on your galoshes because this might get deep, not too deep, just a little, maybe like a puddle. Here goes.

1) I will embrace this hair of mine, in all its long, going grey, kinky glory.

2) I will focus more on the people/things/experiences that fill me up, rather than weigh me down.

3) I will evaluate the time suck that is technology and try to eliminate the use of it that is not really contributing to my life.

4) I will sew more, and hopefully blog about it more, because it makes me happy, very, very happy.

5) I will continue to de-clutter my home and mind from the things and thoughts that don’t make me feel good.

6) I will try to not compare myself to others so much.

7) I will kiss and hug and squeeze my dog more, because I think she feel like a 3^rd wheel since Lenora entered the picture.

8) I will spend more time building up the people I love so much, myself included, rather than focusing on their weaknesses.

9) Finally, I will slow down. I am not quite sure who or what I am racing against but I am pretty sure it’s not a competition to see who can get to the end the fastest.

Whew, did you make it through all that. It feels good just to write it down. I feel like I have accomplished so much in 30 years but still have so much further to go. I guess life is really about the journey and not the destination. Now its off to the sewing machine to work on #4.

I could not resist this picture. Lenora is fearless. No Kirby will get the best of her.

Simple Sewing

My husbands Aunt Tiny blessed me with the mother load of fabric. I'm talking suitcases full of vintage goodies, apparel blends, you name it, it was there. In the stash was this little beauty just dying to be made into something pretty. It is a heavier weight and the border print just screamed tablecloth. And since I am still a little bitter over my missing quilt pieces I needed something simple to sew. All I did was trim the selvedges and miter the corners. An hour later and she was done.
Check out those mitered corners. Great tutorial here. I wanted a double fold for a clean finish so just fold and iron once, then follow the instructions for the miter. When you are done it will be double. Sometimes you just need a simple little something to sew.

Fancy Pants

I should be sewing on my Christmas quilt. The one quilt I have made in ages that is for me/my family and no one else. The quilt that I loved so much it took me almost a year to find exactly the right cherry reds and lime greens. But ever since the basement ghost came along and walked off with 4 of my quilt pieces I have become a little pissy about it. I don’t really have a ghost but how else do you explain 4 missing pieces from 420 stacked into perfect blocks? We don’t have a cat so I cant even blame it on that.

Which reminds me of the one time when I was still living with my mom. I laid out a quilt on her basement floor and left it for the night to sew the next morning. When I came back to it there were pieces everywhere with chewed edges. She has 3 cats and I swear they had a keg party on my quilt. I never did get it laid back out the way it was originally.

I digress. So since I became all pissy about the Christmas quilt I just had to sew something adorable for little Lenora. The Anna Maria Horner Quick Change Trousers were the perfect project. I made the cloth diaper bum adjustment mentioned here, and a short while later I had the cutest pair of reversible pants.

Check out those little birds. I have been holding on to this fabric for a while waiting for the perfect project to come

along.
Can you get any more adorable than that? I see more of these pants in my future. They were easy and pretty quick to sew.