And we have a finished product

My first made-from-scratch piece of clothing that is actually wearable.

Yay!

And in light of my triumph over the sewing imps, I am entertaining the thought of opening my own Etsy store. For those of you that have never heard of Etsy, it's an online shopping community specifically for handmade and vintage items. But it will take me a while to create enough merchandise to open the store, so that won't be happening in the near future. 

But that's in the sights for now. We shall see how it goes.

Next project: Super Hubs has requested a button-down shirt. Pattern and fabric have been bought, and cutting has begun. I told him not to have high hopes. Updates on the trials and tribulations of collars and cuffs soon to come.

Aspirations of a Green Floral Print

There once was a lovely fabric that only ever wanted to be made into clothes. For some unknown reason it was banished to the clearance bin at Wal-Mart, but I saved it, took it home, washed it, and safely tucked it away until the perfect project came along. And then it's big day came: it was going to be a tunic.

Then half-way through, this happened! The iron completely melted it in a mere second. Apparently the overheat protection function on the iron broke...at least that's what I like to think. Super Husband is kind enough to let me continue thinking that (though there's always a strong possibility of user error) and he even bought me a new iron.

But it seemed that all hope was lost for this bargain cotton print. But thankfully, the tunic could be made into a shirt. And there was much rejoicing!

As I said to Ben, I seem to have more mishaps than are even probable with my sewing projects. It's a bit ridiculous.

So after I figured out we could save my fabric and all the work wasn't completely gone to waste, we went out to Target to get a new iron. And I came home with this:

The sewing machines were right next to the irons, I just couldn't help myself. And when I saw how cheap this machine was, it seemed too good to pass up. A heavy duty metal frame, but only the most basic of stitches. With as much trouble as my machine gives me,  for my own peace of mind and for the sake of my marriage, I just needed something that would just work. And this does. It was cheap, so not too much can be expected, but I'm happy to have something new. And with the help of my new machine we are getting closer to being finished with my once-tunic-now-shirt project. So we'll see how it goes...

This is Heidi modeling the progress so far

Destined for TV Fame?

Last night Super Hubs and I were watching "Worst Cooks in America" on Food Network. Now, I don't cook in my house because I am not good at it. Ben is good at it and enjoys it, so I gladly let him cook for us. We were discussing how neither of us are such terrible cooks that we need to be on that show. Ben is actually a good cook, and I can do the basics - cook a piece of chicken, brown ground beef, make rice, heat up a can of vegetables - so if I ever have to I can feed myself.
But I do pride myself on being able to bake - Ben's the cook, I'm the baker. Even with our lopsided oven I enjoy baking cakes and brownies and people always seem to enjoy them.
But apparently I have issues with cookies. In the middle of our show, Ben wanted some cookies. We always have the stuff around for homemade cookies, and they're easy to make. So I whip up a batch, stick em in the oven, and pull em out a few minutes later...and the crisp smell of burnt cookies wafts out to fill our house.
Perhaps I should've been on that show...

I can feel my fingers, so it's time to blog

Today is supposed to be the beginning of our terrible winter storm. Last year the storm actually brought a few feet of snow, but so far today it's not living up to the hype. Just some sleet. Still keeping my fingers crossed that it'll get bad enough to close my office tomorrow...

So a lazy Sunday afternoon with every heater in the house on and Ben and I snuggled up in blankets. Oh the joys of an old house...Right now I'm sitting with my feet propped up in front of the furnace for them to thaw out.

I would be sewing right now if my machine was cooperating, but alas...she's on the fritz. When she broke on my yesterday I almost broke something else. But this is a good excuse to catch up on the blog. Kendra, I was in the middle of finishing your last chair cushion, so when the machine decides to work again it'll be the first thing I do.

The holidays were busy busy as usual. But besides that I haven't done anything else because of my Christmas present from Super Hubby.
Best. Present. Ever.

The break was nice; I even took some time off work. Christmas was all of the Jackson families squeezed in when we could: my dad's family before Christmas, and the rest of my family on Christmas Eve for the annual IHOP dinner after church. This trip was a special one because it was my nephew's Layne first pancake experience. You could tell this was a big deal because of all the pictures that his mother took to document the occasion. And that little kid racked up on presents; I'm pretty sure he had more than the rest of the family combined. Well at least he's at the age that he doesn't know what's going on and can't say, "I don't like that."

Christmas morning we spent with Ben's mom and family. We had a wonderful non-traditional Christmas meal of beef strew. I actually didn't have to eat turkey or ham once over the holidays. We'll mark that as a victory for the taste buds. I'm just glad we got to see them for Christmas since the week prior they all had the flu and then Ben's brother got walking pneumonia. But they managed it.

New Years we spent down in Orlando with Ben's dad and family. We usually only get to see them once or twice a year, so we go down for as long as we can when we go. Our little nephew down there has started talking since we last saw him and loves balls, bubbles, bowling and balloons. Somehow I was christened Aunt Bubbles and Ben's not going to let that one go. I think I'm stuck with it.

And now that the holidays are over it's back to the normal swing of things. Hopefully we won't have any pipes freezing and bursting this year that cause a mess of things.

It's still not snowing...yet...

Ok I think I will go try the machine again. I might have to kick Ben off the Xbox and play some Mario Kart...