I have pants

Several of you asked about making pants out of towels. I had never done it before, nor had I seen it done before. I know a lot of people make things out of towels and these were so soft and so bright and fun I just had to try.

Have you ever tried to take a picture of your own legs??? Its not as easy as it sounds. So, I apologize for the awkward pictures (and never mind that cottage cheesy looking thing sticking out of them...that's just my leg). They turned out very cute and since they are just bummin' around the house pants, I wasn't overly concerned about perfection. Although I do need to re-sew the waist band. I can sew a 1/4" seam like nobody's business, but a 5/8" seam always seem to knock me off my game! I may go get another towel and make myself a "shower wrap" because these towels are just too pretty and I wanted to be surrounded by them at all times :-)

More shopping, but I swear it all has a purpose!!

I have more fabric to share with you. I'm sure right now you are all thinking "does this woman ever make anything or does she just buy fabric all of the time?" Well, recently it seems that I only buy and never create. But that's about to change. All of this purchasing really was for a purpose. My computer time will be hit & miss over the next two weeks. But I will be creating and I will have loads of great things to share with you upon my return. So hang in there with me and watch the beauty unfold (how cheezy does that sound??). Now, for my most recent purchases:
I just love aqua fabrics. I'm starting to collect them for a particular quilt I have in mind.

My pink stash is strangely low...so I just have to buy some more.

You guys know how I feel about greens and these cute little numbers were begging to come live at my house. I couldn't deny them that, could I?

I bought this piece to match a jelly roll and charm pack that I have. Stay tuned to see the awesomeness that this will become!

And this piece....well it was $1.99 a yard. And its polka dots!! Love it! I ordered 1/2 yard and I got over 23". I love this place! :)

I'll try to post as much as I can over the next two weeks, but Jason is home and my computer time gets severely limited when we all four have to share! :-)

I've been shopping...

I haven't been creating much lately. Although I have a lot of stuff cut and ready to sew ~ that will be next week. I have, however, been shopping. That's always fun! I found the cutest flannel for $1.99/yd!! Its so soft and cuddly, but it has some body and strength to it, too. I originally planned to make myself some pj's but after I got it home I feel like its just asking to be a cute little quilt. I haven't decided yet. Maybe it needs to be folded up and put away to "age" and then I'll see what it asks to become.

I also found these gorgeous towels for $2!! That's TWO DOLLARS! I plan to make some 'round the house pants. I love wearing capri's around the house and my current ones are looking like...well, like I love to wear them around the house every day. I thought these might brighten up our cold gray winter we're having.

And then, remember that "mistake" in my fabric order last week? Well, in that same order I had ordered a 1/2 yd of this fabric. I ended up with over 23". Do you think its because they not only can't read orders, but they can't cut straight either? In all fairness, every piece of fabric I ordered came with at least 3 extra inches, and one piece I ordered half a yard and it must have been the end of the bolt because I ended up with a horribly wrinkly piece of fabric that was 42" long!!! So, I guess I can't complain too much about messed up fabrics and strange cutting angles, huh?

Phew.....I'm exhausted!

Amy left yesterday and I spent the better part of the day cuddled up under my blankets in bed just trying to recover from the weekend. I'm not in my 20's anymore and I was made painfully aware of this yesterday. It wasn't even that I was nursing a hangover (there was drinking but not that much). I was just exhausted. We never stopped moving all weekend. She arrived Friday evening and I met her and some other friends for a late dinner and a few drinks. I got home that night and bid Jason farewell as he left for a trip. Then those friends came over to my house and we continued to catch up and have a few more drinks. Amy and I stayed up until 1:30 am chatting and Carter got us up at 7:00 am Saturday morning. We headed to another friend's house Saturday morning for breakfast and then went straight out to shop and eat lunch. I picked up the sitter and we went to see Bride Wars with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. It was a cute movie about best friends ~ so appropriate that I saw it with Amy & Tracy. After the movie we raced home, changed clothes and then we were off to BUNCO. We got home around 11:30 pm and again stayed up until 1:30 am. We met 20 of our closest friends for Brunch at 10:00 am and I was back home and in bed by 11:30 am. Like I said, I'm exhausted! But we had so much fun!!




I did manage to get one thing made while Amy was here. I used this gorgeous fleece to make a wrap using this tutorial. I had no idea they made fleece so pretty. I wore the wrap to BUNCO and I plan to make several more in various colors. They are easy, comfy and pretty. What more could a girl ask for?

I'll be back soon....

My dear friend Amy is in town for the weekend. Not much blogging will be going on, but lots of fun, alcohol, staying up late, BUNCO and other silliness. When I get back, I will have some fun new crafty things to share!!

Does this look like something I'd buy?

So, I ordered some fabric online the other day. I ordered a half yard of Kaffe Fassett Aboriginal Dots in Blue:

I ordered other fabrics, too. But the Dots were not in the box. But this was:

Now, don't get me wrong. This is perfectly good er, uh, pretty (?) fabric??? I guess. Maybe. However, I'm going out on a limb here. But the type of quilter that might order Kaffe Fassett (on a regular basis, from this particular store) doesn't strike me as the type of quilter that might also order fabric with wreaths and poinsettas and jingle bells. But that's just me. Maybe I'm wrong. The store gave me a refund for the Kaffe Fassett fabric and is letting me keep this other stuff. I don't even have to send it back. Oh Yay!

**disclaimer. This post is not meant to offend anyone that may like the above fabric. Its just not my style and I found some irony in the whole situation.**

50% on Fabric.com Designer Fabrics. This includes Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett and others!! They already have low prices to begin with....that's Kaffe Fassett at around $4.00 per yard!! FOUR DOLLARS???? And Amy Butler.....oh, how I wish I had a money tree in the back yard!

I'm in a swap...

I joined in on I'm a Ginger Monkey's FQ swap. I take two FQ's out of stash (I think I have enough) and I send them to my partner. Then I get two FQ's back. Easy Peasy. Unfortunately I still owe Anne Heidi a Polka Dot & Rick Rack swap item from Sharon's swap back in November. I went to make my item last week and realized I was out of giant rick rack. I've ordered more and then I'm on it....it'll be out in a flash. I apologize for getting so far behind. But I'm getting all caught up and I'm on a roll. 2009 is going to be the year of Jessica!!! :)

Boogey, Boogey, Boogey...

I've been boogeying all week. I missed one day, but that's ok because on Thursday I threw out over 100 items. Gone! I cleaned out an ECB. Oh, you don't know what an ECB is? Nom, you do right? Any other of my local friends out there reading my blog? A good friend of mine, Ann, coined the term "Emergency Cleaning Box". You know, when you just can't stand the clutter and junk mail anymore but you don't have time to really go through it all? You just throw it all in a box and deal with it later. Well....I went through several ECB's during the holidays. Between illnesses, and emergency trip back to KY and all of that snow I just couldn't seem to get caught up on things. So I filled several boxes. Those boxes are stacked up in my room ~ or at least they were. I cleared them out this week. I kept the stuff that needed to be filed, but didn't have time to file them. So, in reality what I did was condense three ECB's into a half filled one. But I'll get there. Someday.

I've been sewing every day. And I'm on cloud nine. I love love love having my machine in the middle of my kitchen table. Because not only have I met all of my decluttering goals this week, I've kept up on the dishes, picked up toys each night AND still found time to sew my little heart out.

I think I might have to tell Jason that my machine has found a new home. Do you think he'll mind?

Things aren't lookin' so good

Jason is flying all day today and he's scheduled to be back in Boston with just enough time to get off of his airplane and catch the last flight home to Seattle. It doens't look like we're stickin' to the schedule..... He took this picture out of the cockpit window this morning. Hhhmm, wonder if I should hold dinner?

Whatcha Workin' on?

I've been busy busy busy! I moved my sewing machine to the kitchen table earlier this week because I was teaching some friends how to make bags. My sewing machine has been in my kitchen since Wed and I have to say....I've been very productive this week. I wonder if there is a connection??? My quilting corner tends to get cluttered faily quickly. Its also only about three feet away from the bed. We also have the computer desk in our bedroom. It can start to feel a little cramped. Especially this time of year when we tend to leave our big heavy curtains pulled to help keep the heat in. Jason is working a lot this month and I'm not serving a family dinner very often, so I guess I can keep the sewing machine out in the kitchen a little longer, right? Afterall, the boys and I can eat at one end and push my stuff to the other, right? RIGHT?? LOL!! I'd love to show you what I've been working on. But I can't just yet. How 'bout some teasers, though?

I started with this....

And that become this.......

And I'm just so stinkin' excited over what these fun 30's prints have started to become, I can't STAND it. I hate keeping secrets...but I'm just not ready to share yet. Soon enough...soon enough. Now I'm off to sort some laundry. Hardly seems fair, huh? I have all of these beautiful fabrics out and begging to be played with. And I have to do laundry. Hhhmpppff. Ben asked me today (after I nagged him for the fiftieth time to pick up some toys) "Why do you get to sit and do everything you want to do all day? Someday can I just have a day when I don't do anything except just play?" I told him he could have that day just as soon as I get mine!

I've been sewing. I've been boogieing...

I've been sewing, but I can't show you what just yet. Remember that giveaway I hosted for my 100th post back in September? Ya know, the custom made gift? Well, I just finished it, like an hour ago. I'm so awful! But alas...its done and it will be on its way to the Lonestar State by the end of this week.

I've been boogieing and flinging and crafting lately. But instead of posting a boring update of "yup, its done" every single day. I think I'll just check in here to let you know its done on Sundays. That way the rest of the week I can post about more fun stuff. Agreed? Check out that nice clean cutting table surface. Isn't it pretty? Isn't it just screaming out for some fabric to be piled up all over it? (Never mind the mess beneath it....haven't gotten that far yet!).

I need your help....

I forgot to post yesterday. Everytime I sat down at the computer I'd think about it, but then I'd get distracted by email, or facebook or perusing fabric sites.....sigh. Anyhoo, I did my 27 fling boogie yesterday + a little extra. I also dug out my little corner. I cleaned off my cutting table, I set up my sewing machine and got it all plugged in and ready to go. I cleared off my desk and now I all have to do is carve out some time to get sewing! I also crocheted a little yesterday.

Now, on to the help I need. How adorable are these little quilt cabinets? I saw them over on Selvage Blog.

And I have to have some. They are sold at Michael's for.........

ONE DOLLAR!!!!!!

Did you hear me???? ONE DOLLAR

Seriously, these are so cute I'm literally in pain! My heart is breaking ~ why? Because my Michael's discontinued them and no longer has any!!! OMG! How could they discontinue something so stinkin' cute??? So, this is where you guys come in. If you have a Micheal's near you and would be so obliged, I would pay you to purchase 10 of these for me and ship them to my house. Seriously, I will. Paypal, check, money order.....whichever method you prefer. Pretty please? Anyone?

Update on my goals...

I did my 27 Fling Boogie today. I haven't done any crafting, but I plan to start tidying up my corner and I'll start by folding up some fabric tonight and putting it away. Not much else is going on around here. I really need to dig out my quilting corner before I can even think about any crafting....so for the forseeable future, that'll be my daily crafting task. Bummer.

Wanna Boogie?

Are you familiar with Flylady? I've done bits and pieces of her system for several years now. I don't do her whole program. Its a bit overwhelming and its all based on baby steps. I'm not a baby steppin' kind of person, but I do like some of her core principles. Considering one of my goals was to declutter, I thought sharing my game plan with you guys might help keep me accountable! :-)

One of Flylady's little "assignments" is called a 27 Fling Boogie. Basically, she'll give this assignment on various days and you grab a bag and run through your house and find 27 things to throw away. Well, my house is buried right now. So, my first mini goal is to do a 27 Fling Boogie everyday in the month of January. I figured that should get me off to a good decluttering start, right?

I'll report here to let you know that I've done it. So if I miss a day posting, I expect you all to harass me until I come back!

Another mini goal of mine is do something related to crafting everyday. It might just be straightening up my desk or refolding a piece of fabric that was left out. Just something in that corner ~ everyday.

So, today is January 1st. I've completed my 27 Fling Boogie (plus some) and I bought some new card making supplies at Micheal's.

(above picture borrowed from the Flylady Website)