One-Yard Wonders....Take 1

For my birthday, my dear friend Diana gave me a fabulous sewing book called One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric! It's a great book with project ideas for creating things with, you guessed it, one yard of fabric.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try my first project from the book. I selected the folklore bag, which looked absolutely adorable in the picture! I've always had a weakness for cute bags, so I figured it was a good place to start.

I set off for the fabric store, ready to pick out my "home decor" weight fabric and get everything else I needed. After a lengthy conversation with the fabric cutter as to why my bill was estimated much higher than I expected it to be (reason: I had mistakenly told her that I wanted the entire rest of the bolt instead of just one yard. Yeah. Go me!), I felt I was ready to begin my adventure.

I suspect that my fabric store faux pas should have been my first indication that I might be getting a little ahead of sewing skills, but I decided to press on and give it a try. I soon encountered scary sewing words. Words like pattern. And interfacing. And bent needle (note to self: that home decor weight fabric I picked out requires a stronger needle).

In the end, I'm not thrilled with the results, but I think it was good practice. The bag was supposed to have a top panel all around the top. The top panel was part of what I really liked about the picture, but once I got to it, I wasn't sure how it was going to look with the bag I created (and, to be honest, I couldn't quite work out how I was going to attach it). So, this is what I ended up with. At the very least, the bag is functional and I do like the fabric. And, if all else fails, there's a lot more projects in my book that I want to try.

Les Miserables

During my high school and college years, I was very involved/interested in the world of theatre and musical theatre. With the help of the traveling Broadway series that frequented Charlotte through the years and my semester abroad in London, I managed to see a number of musicals throughout the years - Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Cats, Chicago, Lion King, etc.

My favorite, however, has always been Les Miserables. I've lost official count, but I'm certain that I have seen Les Mis at least four times, if not more.

BUT, it's been awhile. In the hustle and bustle of life, I have gotten away from my musical theatre roots. My iPod has few Broadway tunes, and I had nearly forgotten how fun some of these shows can be.

I have to give credit to the writers of Glee for a resurrection of long-ago delights. While listening to the Glee soundtrack a few weeks ago, I realized that it had been years since I had listened to the actual music of Les Miserables. I pulled the CD out of the closet, dusted it off, plugged it into my car CD player, and got...

CHILLS.

Actual goosebumps. Silly me: I had forgotten how beautifully haunting the music from Les Mis was...the heart (and heartache), the emotion, the tragedy. With the music filling my brain, I have thought about the storyline much more over the past few days than I have over the past few years. I suspect that I will reread Victor Hugo's novel in the near future (it was required reading in the 10th grade, but I haven't touched it much since then), and I may even have to go see it again the next time it's in town....

To make a house a home...

It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home. ~Author Unknown

A little over two years ago, we moved into a lovely rental house in Fuquay. It was a brand new house that seemed just perfect for us.

Two years later, it still is. While things are not quite so new as they once were, we have settled in and made it our home.

The cool thing is that, by this time next week, it will really be OUR home. We have worked out a deal to buy our house from our landlord, so as of next Thursday morning, Dave and I will be happy home owners! (And we don't even have to move!)

And then it was June...

Did you see the speeding bullet that just plowed through here? I only got a glimpse, but I'm pretty sure that was May. Happy (belated) Memorial Day!

Dave and I had a very nice mini-vacation. It started with my 30th birthday. A very big thank you to all who made my birthday extra special!



Before we left, I tested out my new sewing machine by making an Eeyore apron for my sister-in-law and a Little Mermaid half apron for my niece. But you'll just have to image their beauty since I forgot to take pictures! I'm looking forward to spending some more time with my new machine!

After dropping Sadie off at my parents' house, Dave and I set off for Atlanta to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We had fun checking out some of the sites (especially the behind the scenes tour of CNN) and just generally hanging out with the fam.

30!

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

In a couple of days, I'll be the big 3-0! I don't really mind turning 30, but it's still weird to think my days of being a "20-something" are over. The past decade has been an amazing adventure -- college graduation, Bolivia, my first career, my second career, getting married. I'm not sure that they'll be as many "big life" events over the next decade, but I'm sure we'll find ourselves into some excitement just the same.

Coming soon...

Oops. I'm desperately in need of an update. Update coming soon to a blog near you....

In the meantime, happy Friday!

Feeding an Army

The problem I have with a lot of art forms is what to do with the final product. I enjoy the creative process and making pretty (or yummy!) things, but I hate to do so without having a definite purpose in mind -- a definite need in my house, a specific person to give the thing to, etc.

Unfortunately, that same hesitation applies to baking. For the most part, I enjoy baking and trying new recipes. Some of the blogs I read are full of brownies, bars, cakes, and cookies that look absolutely decadent...and that serve 16.

Sometimes I feel like I need to find an army or a soccer team to cook for. But only when I feel like it. You know...I don't want an official position with responsibility or anything crazy like that. I just enjoy baking for other people when I have the time and finances to do so. With two people in our house, that can be tough sometimes. Dave and I both have a sweet tooth, but really, do we need to eat a dozen cupcakes each? Tempting, but no.

Oh well. C'est la vie and let them eat cake. There should be more than enough to go around.