Time for an Update!

These past 5 months have really flown by! As this year is winding down, I thought it was time to get back to writing. I'm trying to slow down a bit, get away from the speed of social media, and take time for myself, to think, feel, and create again.

Family

My sons are both doing really well. My youngest, Jameson, is now 6 and in Kindergarten. He's bright and eager to learn and has picked up reading quickly. My older son, Ian, is almost 13 (I know, almost a teenager!) and in 7th grade. He has shot up so fast the past couple of months that he's outgrowing the clothes and shoes before we get the next size up. Ian will be going on his first solo hunt this weekend. He hopes to get the 8-point buck we've been seeing around. It'll be a great prize and will help fill up the freezer. He's also still an active member of the boys scouts and is slowly working towards the eagle scout level.

My husband, Justin, will be heading in to shoulder surgery at the end of this week. The doctor understand his pain and is going in for exploratory surgery and to look for something specifically wrong which hasn't/isn't showing up on any x-rays or scans which he thinks is what's causing the problems. The chronic pain is real and we are hoping, wishing, and praying that this fixes it.

College

I've been attending college full time this fall semester. I originally was signed up for 15 credit hours but dropped a class so I had a more bearable schedule of 12 credit hours. I've been taking flat pattern, tailoring, textiles, and internship. I drive 2 hours, round trip, 3 days a week to attend classes. I really enjoy the classes but even at 12 credit hours it's too much when you throw in driving and are also trying to run a household and business. I plan to not take any classes during the spring semester to get my business built back up. After that I'll just take a maximum of 6 credit hours until I complete my degree. I'm already doing what I love and the degree is just a bonus. I've learned from this semester that it's not as important as keeping my stress level down and maintaining my already full plate. I still plan to graduate, just on a longer time table.

Work Projects

With college taking most of my time, I just haven't been able to create on the level of intensity that I used to. However, with my Internship, I'm required to work about 12 hours a week- and as a self-employed seamstress I can pick when I get to work. I tend to do more secretarial type work within those 12 hours-- answering emails, running my online businesses, organizing projects, prepping things for my workers, shipping, etc. I have been able to create a couple of dresses, hand dyed yarn, make a backpack, work on a T-shirt quilt, and design some dance costumes. (I'll share photos in future posts.) I also changed a regular T-shirt into a T-shirt dress for a customer. I took the sleeves off and also lowered the neckline. 

  

Personal Projects

Most of my time working on personal projects has been squeezed into an hour here and there. I hand dyed some yarns for myself and for a sweater while I was dying the yarn for work projects. Before school started I completed a knit shawl and a caplet for myself and I also knitted an easy scarf for a birthday present and a surprisingly quick sweater for my younger son. Most of my projects have been hand-work so I can get away from my office for awhile. I'm also participating in a Mystahhhhry Shindig, hosted by my sister. I'm behind but there will be plenty of time to work on it when classes end in a couple weeks.

That's it for now!

1st Day of Preschool

Today is a big day here in my house! My youngest son started preschool for the first time today. He is so excited. He had no anxiety issues, gave me a hug and kiss, and ran off to play. He's getting to be such a big boy and I'm so proud of him!

Both of my boys are in school now and I'm so happy for them. I'm also really looking forward to the time alone. It's been years since I've had this kind of solitude! I have so much to accomplish that I will probably never be bored. Business is good and I enjoy the work. And speaking of work... I better get to it!

1st Day of 5th Grade!

Ian heads back to school today! I'm not sure who is more excited, him or me. I hope he has a great year! :)

Sewing Saturday: Cutting Fabric and a Custom Order

It's really great to have my husband home! Since he was deployed the past year he decided to take off work for the month of May. He's been working around the yard and taking care of all those things I just never could get around to. Plus, he's decided to screen in our little porch. I'm so excited!

But life is always busy these days. We're still knee deep in homeschooling. Actually, we work on a year round schedule, summer vacation is only a short 4 weeks here. However, that just means less time to be bored when we are stuck inside with 110* temps and no need to waste time reviewing. I took the time to plan out our next years worth of vacation days and have worked in several breaks for vacation! We've started planning a road trip for next year... Yosemite National Park, Redwood National Forest, and possibly the Grand Canyon! It's exciting to be able to live our lives on our own time table. :)

Enough of that! When I get the chance (usually late at night) I get to work on my little sewing business. Lately I've been going through my fabric and just cutting, cutting, cutting. I have so much cut that I think I'm set for the next year for projects to complete! I've cut hundreds of diapers and covers (photo of only part of what I have done below) and I've cut countless wetbags, cloth wipes, unpaper towels, and grocery bag dispensers out.

I'm also working on a custom order for a neighbor. I've completed the set of 9 contoured nursing pads and am working on the matching diapers sets to go along with them! Everything is turning out great and I can't wait to finish them so I can get them to her!

I better get back to work! :)

Wordless Wednesday: School Days

Back to School!

I can't believe it's already school time again. The summers seem so much shorter then they used to be. My older son, Ian, started 4th grade this year and my younger son, Jameson, is going to part-time preschool. I took them out for a couple of photo memory shots last Wednesday 8/15/12. They sure are growing!

Bowler Style Shirts

I made several shirts for Jameson this spring. He's grown so fast and was really in need of some thing to wear! We are still pinching pennies so I thought I'd dig through my patterns and fabrics to see what I could come up with. They turned out really well even though my model wasn't so cooperative! :)

We had lots of fun picking out the fabrics together. One of the best parts for me is that Jameson has an original shirt made by me that he loves to wear!

Have you ever made any clothing for yourself or a child? Did they love it or hate it?

September… Already?

Didn't August just start? Where did the time go?

Anyways, I've been super busy over here!

I've been sewing my little fingers off on an up-cycled jean diaper cover order. I got them completed this evening- thank goodness!

I've also been working on some Sweet Treat Halloween Candy Bags. I've just started on them but it shouldn't take me too long to get them done.

And I've been making copies of all my patterns. I can't tell you why yet but I will hopefully soon. I'm so excited but I have to keep the secret for now!

Other then sewing I've been very busy with the boys.
Jameson is growing like a weed! He's one short month away from being 2!

Ian's been doing pretty good in school. He talks. He gets in trouble. And he talks some more! Ok, so the talking is the only problem. This week I helped him study for a test on different communities. He was having trouble getting it so we made a visual map while we studied!

Lastly, I'm doing really well at keeping my stress level pretty low. I'm getting more sewing time in, more time to cook meals, and more time to just have to myself. Everything seems to be going pretty good!

Back In Business!

Life is unpredictable sometimes. Just when I think everything is going good I take a 180 turn!

Ian will be returning to the public school, beginning tomorrow. I loved teaching him, having him home, and seeing him learn and grow but my stress-level has gone through the roof trying to keep it and everything else going.

Because I'm not homeschooling any more I've found a lot more time to do my chores around the house, to cook and sew! I hope to get my blog back up and running better. It's seen better days and needs a little TLC.

I have decided to do away with my destash shop but all my other shops are back open and in business!

Backpacks and Crayon Wallets

I have a new product that I'll be adding to my shops shortly. Over the weekend I made my testers and they turned out really well! The only thing I wish is that I'd gotten these patterns earlier so I could be ready for the school year! Oh well. I bought the pattern from Amy E. at Pattern Play and AEBaby. She's been an online friend for a while and I just love the stuff she makes. :)


The backpacks are for preschoolers, aged 3 to 6, but I made the first backpack for Jameson who is almost 2. He loves it and will grow into it more. As soon as I gave it to him he ran off to fill it up and wore it around the rest of the afternoon. He's too cute, but I'm biased.

The crayon wallets are also a really neat new product. I've made crayon rolls in the past but I didn't really care for them for some reason. I really like the wallets because you have your little pad of paper in there too and everything is ready and waiting to be used! I made this crayon wallet for my nephew's 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday Collin!

This week I'll be working on several of these items to list in my Etsy shop. I better get to work!

The Truck

We just finished up our 2nd week of school here in our house. This past week we started the writing course, Writing Strands 2. This lesson was about describing something and using adjectives. For someone who struggles with this subject Ian did pretty well for his first try and he wanted to show it off to all of you!

The Truck

I have a green, small truck.

It is a fire truck made by Tonka.

I got it at a store.

The End.

An Update

How are you all doing out there in blog land? I've been super busy with my boys and have been too exhausted to do much blogging.

School is going OK but it's a lot of work and I'm not sure I'm doing the best at it. The subjects I'm teaching Ian aren't bad, it's the constant battles or the same question asked again in 10 different ways to see if I'll give in or give a different answer. And the funny thing is, he doesn't act like that in everyday life just with school work. The only thing I can really say is that I've got a few more weeks of a trial period before the public school starts and then we'll see.

Here are a couple things Ian (and I) made: No sew fleece blanket and pillow (for the couch in the basement, it can be chilly down there even in the summer!)

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Things are going pretty slow in the sewing room. I've done a couple small projects and a couple big ones. The small ones are a set of 5" travel sized cloth wipes for my car and a drawstring bag for our Math-U-See blocks.

The 2 big projects I finished are 2 aprons for my shop, Heather's Custom Sewing.

Clothes Pin Apron

Scalloped Edge Apron

And I've been doing a little bit of hand sewing here and there on my hexigon charm quilt. So far it's about 15x18 inches.

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Also, I'd like to remind everyone of the sales I've got going on right now.

Heather's Custom Sewing and Hen and Chick Cloth are having a Christmas in July Sale. 25% off all items, use coupon code XMASNJULY at check out.

The Sewing Stash is in it's last week of the going out of business sale. 75% off all items, use coupon code SOLONG75 at check out.

Both of these sales will end this Friday or Saturday or whenever I have the time to go in and turn off the coupon codes. :) Happy Shopping!