The 90 degree weather has heralded the new season. So if you need me I will be here:

Watching this:

And this:

A little of this:

Some of this:

And this:

I may get back into a rhythm of posting soon, but for now it is too hot to think of anything but sitting by the lake. So, once again, I am reminded of why we tolerate the winter here in Michigan. Anyone want to visit? Everyone’s welcome!

When you actually find yourself typing this into a search engine, you’re in trouble!

Okay, not really. What was interesting was that the search actually gave me some good information. Not really about how to stop thinking so much, but that feelings of depression and lack of motivation often come from feeling a loss of control. It explained things exactly, and made it so much easier to accept the way I was feeling. And just knowing why I was feeling that way made it so much easier to move forward and take control again, in a less controlled sort of way. My theory is that the more I embrace the realization that I can’t control all of life, the more I enjoy life and suffer less from bouts of depression over that loss of control. It works most of the time. I still find myself confused on occassion. Adding in environmental factors, such as a lack of sunshine for days at a time, has made it a little more confusing to figure out. And since I have been through a clinical depression, I need to reassure those who care about me that this is nothing like that! Don’t worry. It is just a case of cloudy weather and four day vacation plans gone awry because of illness and bad weather. But the sun is shining now and warm weather is on it’s way!

I have had quite a few projects going on around here, but cloudy weather made them a little difficult to photograph. And I got a new computer. I am really enjoying a little faster speed and feeling totally spoiled! The man picked up this cast off at a smigeon of it’s real value. Again proving why we have not bought a new computer since 1995. I am still working on getting pictures from his computer to mine. He isn’t to blame. I am the one that is slow in actually doing anything that isn’t a part of my routine already. But I was wanting to post these finds from my local thrift shop. I love that the fabric is always $1.99 even when it is nearly 3 yards of shantung silk! And a little lace that is making me want to make a blouse or skirt. Hmmm. Dreaming!

And at my first garage sale hunt of the year and I found a big back of scraps for 50 cents! Nothing really exceptional here, but I always love having more variety and I had a lot of fun organizing it to fit on the shelf with my other useful scraps! Now if I could just sew faster!!!

Last week when I was out at the thrift store I found this fun pillowcase. I was also excited that it was half off! Man, how lame when I don’t even want to pay full price at the thrift store!

I also spent this morning recreating the newborn baby pants pattern that I used last week. I had made some alterations to a larger pattern, but stupidly forgot to record my changes and couldn’t find my scrawled notes anywhere. So I started over. The problem was I had this new pattern and I hadn’t actually tested it. I kept eyeing that pillowcase and finally gave in. I am very excited about the results.

Someone is going to have a pretty funky baby! I haven’t decided who yet, since I am sure that not all of my friends who are having babies will really appreciate this groovy print. The man came home, held them up, and said, “That’s disgusting!” So I guess it isn’t for everyone, or everyone’s baby! I made my pattern and turned it into a file this time, so I don’t have to recreate it every time I want to make a pair of baby pants. Smart, huh? And I put it up for you to download here. Open and print with Acrobat Reader to make sure the sizing stays the same. And I still haven’t tested this on an actual newborn, so use at your own risk!

Today, I spent the whole day gardening. I also decided that I really don’t like gardening. Bummer. Now I will have to rethink all of my plans for our yard. I spent the whole day making a crappy section of the yard (that we always forget to mow) look slightly less crappy. But only slightly less. Unfortunately, the before and after pictures aren’t worth boring you with, and hardly seem worth every aching muscle that I am feeling right now! I decided that the reason I don’t like gardening is that you plant these little things (and when you have to do as much cleaning out first as I had to do it takes a lot of work) and then they look so pitiful and tiny. Then you wait, sometimes for months, for those plants to fill in and look like they are actually supposed to be there. I guess when I work this hard I like to see the results. Like reupholstering furniture, or sewing a quilt.

Or adding a little length to my daughters shirt. Which is what I did last Saturday. She just keeps getting longer, but not wider. So it is hard to find shirts for her that are long enough without being really wide in the shoulders. I thought I would try to extend the life of this shirt by extending it’s length.

I know I am kind of mixing styles here. I love the asian parasol print on this fabric. The theme doesn’t match, but the colors looked so nice. I tried a few times to get a picture of the girl wearing it that was worthy of posting. This is the best picture I could get of her, even though the photo is a bit blurry.

She looks so cute most of the time and then you aim a camera at her and her shoulders drop about 5 inches and she gets this funny depressed look on her face. In this one at least having her hands in her pockets keeps her shoulders at a more normal level, and the mopey depressed look isn’t as pronounced. Anyone have any tips for how to encourage kids to look a little more normal for the camera? Isn’t she so cute, anyway? I can’t believe my first baby is turning 11 in two weeks! Where has the time gone?

I went to a baby shower today. It was fun and the food was wonderful, all made by the most amazing hostess! Here was my contribution to all the cute baby clothes this baby girl will be wearing when she arrives!

I used this pattern. It was pretty simple and I kept thinking off ways to add more detail. I must admit I didn’t actually read the instructions. I tend to get confused by written instructions. Maybe that is one of the reasons I stink at knitting and crochet. I altered a pattern that I already had on hand to make the pants smaller. I had to do a little research to figure out what sort of dimensions a pair of newborn size pants should be.

I had fun with the bias binding. I guess I like the handwork and being able to listen to old episodes of some of my favorite radio shows while I do it. If I was smart I would always have some sort of handwork on hand that I could pick up and do when I need to relax. But I haven’t gotten a system down for doing that yet. Oh, well. I made long cuffs on the sleeves and legs of the pants in contrasting fabric so that they could be rolled up for a tiny newborn and rolled down as she gets older. I wish I could see how the sizing works out. I know some of you have used this shirt pattern. How did it fit for your babies? What would you do different?

This is a post about my failure! I decided I wasn’t going to buy any more new fabric. I was only going to recycle things from the Goodwill (a company I like to endorse.) But then the fabric shop (the one I don’t really want to endorse) went and had a half off their clearance prices sale on fabric I have had my eye on for more than a month. So I caved. I am weak. And it felt so good. Hmmm. I hope this behavior doesn’t spread to other areas of my life!

But look! I am so excited and can’t wait to make some more cute stuff!

I have already finished one project, but I can’t show you until after the baby shower on Saturday.

I was at the library looking through the sewing section and was so excited to find this book published in the seventies to give me more ideas for my attempts at clothing reconstruction.

I couldn’t believe it was still on the shelf? Seems like they would have pulled it a long time ago even though I know if you wait long enough things come back in style. The funny part was the pictures of the kids. They all had such funny expressions. You can almost imagine what they are thinking.

I am not really sure what the kid below was thinking, but at least he looks slightly amused.

And would you really want your kids to walk around feeling like this if you made this for them?

This I actually thought was kind of cute, but she doesn’t seem too impressed.

These girl’s seem to be surviving.

I was feeling really sorry for these kids. They look like they are huddled up and slouching in misery from having to wear these table runner shirts. But it is okay, it will be over soon.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything very helpful. Maybe a few ideas on what not to try. But it was good for a laugh and also funny to think that these kids are now all much older than me and I am still feeling sorry for them.

I am always amazed how a break from anything can make you think differently about that thing. Here are a few of the things I learned this week. First, I love all the inspiration and ideas that I get from reading the blogs of other crafters. I also realized how much it can suck me in. I plan to try to limit my craft blog browsing to just a few times a week instead of checking a couple times a day to see if anyone has posted. I have also realized that I need space to contemplate and develop an idea if I want it to be more original than recreating what other people are making. I have to admit that there are times that what I see is just so cute that I can’t resist the urge to make one for myself, but if I do that too much than I stop coming up with anything on my own. I also realized that I could live without a computer. Surprise! I never thought I could say that. I would have to make adjustments, but it wouldn’t all be bad. Most of all, though, I realized how much I missed checking up on my family, that happens to be spread far and wide! So if I ever turn off the browser again, I will consider keeping up with family as essentials as checking the bank account.

So what have I been doing with this time that I haven’t spent browsing? I have been thinking about a little clothing reconstruction and finally grabbed one of the man’s old t-shirts. He didn’t seem too happy when I started cutting. It was so grubby that I wasn’t even too concerned with getting a usable final product. Just thought it might help me work towards finding a usable pattern. I thought I would try making a shirt for the girl. I thought the sleeves needed something more, so I cut into this fun polka dot contrasting fabric. Here is what I came up with.

I added a little something to the pocket to hide a bit of the completely threadbare part and make it all look a little more intentional.

Sorry, to have such close cropped pictures. The girl was not acting very cooperative when I wanted to take photos and the results would probably embarrass her if I was to actually post them! Ahhhh, the preteen years!