Bustle Bottom

The past couple of months I have scoured the internet looking for a tutorial on how to bustle.  I know, I know, bustling is for the ladies of the 1800's who rode side saddle, didn't show their ankles and slapped rude men with their quirts.  *sigh*  But I have this weakness you see...

And finally, FINALLY I found the little jewel of a tutorial, rough as it was, lurking on the pages of one of my favorite blogs.

I was completely smitten.  I still am.  And I am going to be going bustle crazy.   Anyone want to join?  I tweaked the tutorial to make this my own version and I'm selling these puppies in all sorts of colors and sizes.

Because every girl needs a good bustle.

The silence is deafening

But I'm still here!  And yes, I did get a little sewing done over the past few weeks.  Not as much as I would have liked, but I did.  I managed to sew little man some pj's!  My first set, ever.  And I think he liked them.  I know I did! 

I really wanted to a spin-off of these in pink for lil lady.  But, I have to find the right pink striped fabric.

So, for now, my little pirate is sailing the blankety seas of his bed, alone. 

I think he can handle it.  He's pretty tough.

Ponies, snow and babies. OH my!

Today was a breath of fresh air.  Winter has been coming in with harsh gusts and sleet and snow, but today mother nature smiled and rolled back the skies to give us such a pleasant day. 
And I shared it with sassy Ms. S and her cute little bro baby B.

Now, with babies, it's tricky.  They have their "days".  I managed to wiggle around baby B's day and catch a few cute shots.

 

When you get shots like these, it makes living in the middle of nowhere worth it.

Because somewhere beyond the soybeans and corn...there is something to do

'Tis the season...

Yes!
It's here.
Christmas.  And before I could begin to decide what I would do for my family...tsk, tsk

But thank God for the internet, right?  Came across the cutest idea and thought to myself, "self, you have to do this!"  It only took me about an hour because I decided to sew everything instead of hand-stitch.  I would recommend hand-stiching if you want to give it a more rustic look.  I simply made my top stitch longer on my machine...not too much of a difference but it's there.

I love them.  And I think my mom and sisters will, too.

Jersey Frills

It's been too long.  So much is happening, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy.  There are a lot of blogs that inspire me.  I could, unfortunately, spend hours on the computer filtering through other people's creativity wishing that it had been me who thought of their genius manifested.  *sigh*  But alas...
So I've resorted to looking and learning and then putting together different colors and patterns that might be a stretch for me.  Sometimes, it's hard to visualize different textures, patterns or colors together.  With this skirt, I took the leap.

My little girl rocked this skirt.  I love it.  And I WILL be making more...

Runner's Block

I think today was one of my worst runs, yet.  Why, at every hill, was I wanting to just "give up"?  I was miserable with my thoughts.  My brain was nagging, telling me that it was just "too hard".  It took everything to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I didn't stop, I didn't walk, I couldn't.  Stopping, or walking, would have been defeat.  I don't want to slide down that hill...it's so hard to get back up.  I figure that if I can just push myself through these sloggish periods in my running experience, then I am on my way to doing "more than I thought I could".  Make sense?  Right now, I'm at a standstill in my running progress. I have only been able to run 6.5 miles due to time constraints.  Husband gets home from school, dinner is on the table, I dash off to run...making sure that I'm not gone too long because he needs to do homework, the sun is setting and there are no street lamps out here.  Fooey.  

So, how am I ever going to run a marathon if I can't even bust the 7 mile mark??  I'm getting discouraged...I won't stop, though.  Running has sort of grown on me...

Round and round

...Makes a circle.  And in my case, a circle skirt.  I was so excited to try this new tutorial (it seems like I'm starting to get braver in my attempts to freestyle sew).  Now, I'm no good at math, numbers or any of that, so it took me three times of reading (two times fast, one time slow) until I felt like I could definitely do this.

I cut the pattern.

Picked my material. (I had a mind to add a few embellishments but decided I should probably master the skirt first.)

And set to cutting and sewing...

It all came together SO easily!  It honestly took me all of thirty-five minutes.  That is, until I realized I had made a grave mistake.  Somehow I had missed one small step...thus, turning my cute little skirt into nothing more than a Halloween cape for a small dog.

BACK to square one.  Arg!  I had missed the small detail of folding my fabric over TWICE.  It's all in the details, all in the details...

So, I decided to make another one.  I couldn't let my mistake dictate to my sense of accomplishment.

Voila!  Much better, different fabric and def not a doggy cape.