The beginning of the beginning

I am afraid that my ability to crawl around on the floor to get new projects cut out is lost. I have been having some serious back pain the past few weeks that just keeps getting worse as my belly gets bigger.

Saturday I had the house to myself (something that never happens) while Frank and Zach were at a baseball game. It was my intention to sew all day and get some new projects started to be sewn for the rest of the week. Well I finished up 2 wallets and got out some fabric to start cutting some bags and I couldn't even sit on the floor for 10 minutes before my body started protesting. So I laid down on the couch on used my alone time for a nap instead.

But I still really want to sew! I wish I had planned better and gotten more stuff cut out before my body gave up on me. I have no problem with sitting in a chair at the sewing table. It's just the crawling around on the floor that kills me. I am thinking I can bring my ergonomic office chair out to the dinning room table and set up shop there for a bit. Hmmm...perhaps I will give that a try.

I still have things I want to get done so I am just not ready to give up yet.
Before the baby comes I would like to finish recovering my 2 living room chairs. I got one finished a couple weeks ago and it completely wiped me out. I also abused my poor fingers poking them with all the pins. I kept unknowingly bleed allover the pretty new fabric and then had to spot clean it out. Luckily I able to save it a get al the blood out. I am quite proud of how it turned since it was my first time recovering furniture. Now I just have to do the other one. I have it all cut out so it is just a matter of pinning the pieces together properly (which is a pain in the ass) and getting it sewn together.



I would also like to make a mobile to hang over the baby crib. I had planned to take the easy way out and buy one but I haven't found anything I like that is baby safe. I am thinking about making little stuffed robots and maybe some stars and stringing them up. Unless anyone knows of anything like that I can just buy for a reasonable price? But we'll see what my body allows me to do these next couple of weeks.

For now it is time for me to go find my bed. So I will leave you now with a picture of one of the wallets I managed to get finished during my alone time on Saturday and one that I did for a custom order. ENJOY!

Oh geeze I haven't posted anything in a long time. After I finished with Bazaar bizarre and Capsule I kind of took a leave of absences from sewing and anything else that wasn't baby related.
And here we are already in July. How did that even happen. I firmly believe that nine months actually moves much faster when there is a baby coming at the end of it. I could be wrong though.

Over the past couple weeks I have been slowly working my way back into sewing and creating. Nothing huge, I am just removing my body from the couch a little more often and spending more time with my sewing machine or doing other projects that have been looming over me.

The first project I busted out was transforming Zachary's room into a baby friendly room for two.
Zachary was very understanding during this process and was willing to part with about half of his very large collection of toys and crap that has been taking over his room. He showed more maturity than any 5 year old I have even met as he helped me pack up his things to donate in order to make room for his little brother. And in return for his maturity he now has and awesome Space themed room that is clean and easy for him to keep organized.


Another project that has been looming over my head the past few months is a baby quilt that I decided to make when I found out I was pregnant. I am not really sure why I decided to make it but I did and it took me forever. But this weekend I went into a nesting frenzy and decided that I had to get it done so I did. I am so happy with the way it came out and I can't wait till this baby is out of me and wrapped up in his super special quilt





The quilt is made from cotton scraps that I had left over from other projects and I framed and backed it with super soft, dark blue fleece. The from is also appliquéd with the blue fleece to keep everything in place. I am pretty proud.

Other than that I have just been working on getting some wallets made. I was almost completely sold out after I finished my shows so I have been in some desperate need to get some made. Hopefully I will get them listed in my shop tonight and then get moving on a custom order that I have been putting off for some time now.

Eeek!

8 Days.....That's all I have left before Bazaar Bizarre. And gosh darn it I am so freaking nervous. I have been sewing like crazy trying to get enough stuff together. I wish I had talken some time off before the show But I didn't and I am totally regretting it now. I may have to take a stress induced sick day next week sometime. There is just so much I need to do still. Let me list it here just so I can keep track
Need to get a sellers permit (ack!)
Need to buy bags
Need to gocco bags
Need to either buy or make price tags
Need to sew, sew, sew (I have this fear that I will never have enough merch)
Sign up for propay?
Get displays completed and ready
oh and .....
Get blood glucose testing done (has nothing to do with bazbiz but still has me stressed out a bit)
I think that's it. I hope that's it. I think I need to grow a second Jodie my poor pregnant self is spread way too thin. I will be happy when next month is over and I can breath once again.
Please send me kind words to ease my nerves.
8 Days.....that's all I have.

Another Peek

I pretty much love my obgyn. We went for our monthly check up today. Everything is great and things are progressing exactly as they should be. We told her, very sadly, we were not able to find out the sex of the baby. She told some fibs and now we get to have another peek. So, on Monday we will another ultrasound to look into "pelvic pain" and "size and dates" and hopefully the baby will cooperate this time and we will have a chance to see what it is. Yay!

I am amazed by how quickly I burn through things like interfacing and Velcro. I hate going to the fabric store so whenever I do I try to stock up on these two things and it just never seems to be enough. So today after I get off work I am making the trip once again to the fabric store to buy 2 things in abundance. Velcro and interfacing. Hopefully this time I will get enough to last me more than a could weeks

This weekend was beautiful. Hot but beautiful. So it was really hard for me to commit to something like sewing when the weather was telling me to head to the park for a picnic. I was a good girl though. Once again I neglected my family and kicked the boys out of the house on Saturday so I could get some sewing done. But it just turned into me sitting in the living room completely surrounded by fabric cutting away while watching season 1 of Desperate House Wives. I did get quite a bit cut ready for me to sew up but my hand is still sore from all that fun.

Sunday Morning Frank and I woke up and had breakfast at the thai temple. I had my usual vegetarian yellow curry and pad thai and Frank had his usual soup bowl. My food was super tasty as always but Frank was thoroughly annoyed that they raised their prices. I am guessing that is what we have to expect with the way the economy is going though. While walking back to the car we passed a yard sale where I found a spice rack that made the most fantastic display for my wallets. And for only $1 there was no way for me to pass it up.

From there we made our way up to Lawrence Hall of Science where we had some god educational fun. They have a pretty sweet Speed exhibit where I got to do some virtual skiing. We also made a stop animation Power Puff Girls movie that was more awesome than you could even imagine. After that we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and bubble blowing and I finally made my way back to my sewing table in the evening where I managed to finish up a couple more wallets.
Now the weekend is over and I am back at work where I should be busily pulling files for a meeting I have tomorrow.

So, I am off to pull some files!

Slow and steady wins the race?

I haven't posted anything in a while even though there has been more than enough going on. So, for that reason this post will probably be a bit of a ramble. Just warning before you get too invested here.

First of all Frank, Zach and I went and had an ultrasound last Thursday. We were all extremely excited to see the baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl. Wittle baby had other plans for us though and made sure that it's private parts were completely hidden by it's umbilical cord and closed legs. Tricky little bug. We had two people trying to figure it out for us. The first person was the tech and she said "It's most likely a girl". Then the doctor came in and said he was pretty sure it was a boy. So we are left not knowing. For now.

Frank and I are trying to take a no stress, no fight approach to this baby. So we haven't really discussed names yet. We were going to wait until we knew what is was that way we would only have to duke it out over one name. Eventually we will need figure it out though. I already have my heart set on two names. For a boy I really like the name Jonah. Frank mentioned that he liked the name a couple weeks ago and it kind of just stuck in my head. I really can't think of another boy's name that makes me happier. If it is a girl I really, really like the name Mirabelle and of course we would call her Mira for short. I just think it is the sweetest name ever but I am pretty sure Frank will have a problem with it. Maybe we could work out a deal of some kind.

Over the past week wittle baby has gotten quite active. Punching and kicking around in my stomach. The other night I thought I would test out some music on my belly and see what baby likes to listen to. I started out with Wilco and there wasn't too much interest there. Next I tried Zach's favorite band The Terrible Twos Still nothing so, I went for some Coltrane. Baby was totally down for the Jazz. Then Frank came over and decided he would impose his own tastes on our developing fetus and broke out with Rage Against the machine which made the baby so crazy I thought my uterus might explode and then went on to some Hieroglyphics. So if this baby comes out with any anger issues I told Frank I would place all blame on him.

I am slowly but steadily Preparing for Bazaar Bizarre. Frank and Zach went away last weekend so was left alone to sew and destroy our apartment without any distractions. I was hoping to get more done but it is hard to get a good grove going when you have to eat 50 times a day and sleep more than any one person should ever need to. But I did get quite a bit accomplished and I am really happy with every piece that I got finished.

I think my goal after this week will be to get one piece cut and at least one piece finished a day and that should leave me with enough to fill my table for 2 days....I hope.

This whole Bazarre bizarre thing has got me completely stressed out. I have never done a big show before so I have no idea what to expect. I don't know how much stuff I should bring, how many bags to order, how much change to bring, if it will be bad for sales not to have a credit card machine and holy crap I need a hair cut. All these thoughts keep popping into my head and putting me into a bit of a panic.
I know everything will be ok. I just need to stop over thinking the little things and work a great stock of goodies and that is what really matters.

Things are about to get busy here

I got word today that I am one of the chosen few vendors to participate in the Bazaar Bizarre Maker Faire 2008 (http://bazaarbizarre.org/). I am beyond excited about this opportunity. I had to re-read the congratulatory e-mail several time just to make sure it was really true. I thought maybe they were saying "Congratulations! There is no room for you."

The stress is starting set in though. I have so much to do to prepare and so many fantastic things to make.

Luckily I was able to squeeze in some sewing this weekend. Somewhere between my son's first T ball game and his 5th birthday party I was able to complete 4 wallets that I am pretty excited about.

Making room

Recently I have been over whelmed by my craft supplies. Mainly my fabric collection. When you have three (soon to be four) people and a large cat in a two bedroom apartment there just isn't a lot of room for boxes, basket, drawers, big totes, little totes and suit cases of fabric that may or may not ever get used. I have a serious problem I am a fabric hoarder and I fear that it will soon swallow me up. I like to buy it and I like to keep it forever and ever. I even feel the need to keep fabric don't really like it too much anymore because I might like or need it for something in the future.

My goal is to have my life and apartment completely organized before my baby is born in August. I know this probably won't happen so I figured the least I could is to tackle my fabric problem. My first idea to solve this problem was to get a three bedroom apartment. So, I brought this idea to my husband who immediately asked "Why?" Me being the honest person that I am told him it would be nice if we could have an office / sewing room where I could have more room to sew and store all the masses of stuff that goes with sewing. My husband who likes to think of himself as a minimalist immediately said "If you need a bigger apartment to contain your stuff then you have too much stuff". I guess he could be right about that so now on to plan B which is simply to not have as much stuff. Last night I started plan B by going through a good portion of my fabric and purging what I know I will not use and let me tell you there is a whole bunch of it.

Now the next step will be organization. I need to find a way to store my fabrics so it isn't everywhere and it is easy to find when I wan some thing specific. I have no idea how I am going to accomplish this great task but I am open to ideas so let me know if you have any.

Finally a productive weekend

Over the last few weeks I have been slowly growing a pile of projects just waiting to be assembled. But between a son that has been sick, my lack of will to move, and the general business of life sewing has sadly been put at the bottom of my list. So this weekend my goal was to conquer that growing pile and finally have some new finished work. I was able to take full advantage of Saturday morning cartoons, nap time and kicking my husband out of the house to do his reading and make a good dent in it.

Back in the saddle again

Unfortunately the first third of my pregnancy hasn't gone exactly as I had planned. I guess I expected to be the same as my last pregnancy where I felt no different until I hit the forth or fifth month. But, when they tell you no two pregnancies are the same they really weren't joking. This time around I have been nauseous and completely exhausted since conception.

Thankfully this fetus is finally letting up. Starting last week I was finally able to get off the couch and get back to my sewing machine. It feels so good to have the energy to create again. I was starting to get sad every time I logged onto Etsy. Looking at all the stuff everyone was able to create and all I could manage to get my body to do was sit in front of the tv and vegetate. I am back now and I am ready to go!