Goal Update (Busy Weekend!)

So. Long time, no blog.

We had a pretty eventful weekend. It started with me taking Friday off. I needed a day to recharge, and luckily, I still have some paid vacation days left. It was, I think, a very good idea. I'm feeling much better, physically and emotionally.

I got up at 8:30 (sleeping in for me since I'm usually at work before 8), got a bunch of house stuff done (some cleaning, some finances, etc.), and then I got to sew! I'm working on a cute little something to send off in an attempt to fulfill goal #7. Send some fantastic mail.


The cute little something (its finished but I don't want to ruin the surprise) will be mailed off to its new home accompanied by a mix tape (CD). Because I do believe nothing says "I love you!" quite like a mix tape. Or CD. Or whatever. I am feeling pretty excited about goal #7, so some (or maybe all) of you will get a turn to receive a marvelous something (and a mix tape, if you're lucky). I am a firm believer in the power of mail to make a day infinitely better.

Saturday we got up early, listened to the first session of General Conference while my pop-overs baked, and then munched them down with some bacon. Delicious. Then we changed out of our PJs and started in on goal #11. Recover the couches!


Though its probably hard to figure out why we're not SO fond of this early nineties fabric, we tore it ALL off on Saturday and started recovering it with a cream chenille.

Excitement:

When we pulled off the old fabric, there were a LOT of staples that came off with it. We were trying to wrangle them all, but alas, we stupidly barefoot newbies didn't get them all under control. And of course I stepped right on one, squarely in the middle of my heel, and screamed. Loudly. It looked like I had a vampire bite in my heel and it hurt "like the Dickens" as Steve puts it.

No photos of that. Too graphic.

Subversive Sewing

Steve bought me this book for my birthday called "Sewing Subversively." It is really cool, because it is mostly about a process called "Refashioning," meaning you make new things out of old things. Its perfect for me for two reasons:

1. We are on a budget
2. It means less difficult sewing

Basically the idea is to take something you already have (or something you buy secondhand) and make it into something you will wear. I have a lot of clothes with cute patterns or almost-perfect fits, and this has cool ideas about how to make them cute and fun to wear.

Yesterday I finally got up my courage to sew something real on the machine. I took a sweater that didn't fit quite perfectly, cut the sleeves off just so, and made it into a cute sweater vest. I know that sounds geeky, but I think it came out kind of cute. I figure I can wear it to work over a blouse. I'm also planning to cinch it in the back with a ribbon. I'll post pictures when it's finished.

The coolest thing about getting my sewing machine is that I just realized that I don't really dress the way I actually want to dress, but obviously we don't have the money for me to go out and redo my wardrobe. This gives me the chance to use what I have to make what I want.