First Sewing Project

What do the cool kids do on a Saturday night? I wouldn't know. What do Jason and I do? He plays with a toy helicopter that arrived in the mail today and I finish the hem on my first sewing project. Yep, you can be jealous. ;-)

I started the skirt back in February in my sewing class (read HERE) and have just now finished the hem. I already started on my second project, but kept procrastinating that darn hem... well, I finally decided to bite the bullet this weekend and finish it. I started it Friday night while Jason was at our church's Men's Retreat (again, really cool thing to do on a Friday night...). And then I ran out of thread.

So today I stopped at the store and purchased additional thread and have now completed my first project!! :-)

Here is the skirt in progress -

You have to carefully cut your pattern and then iron it. I hardly ever iron. When my mother-in-law was visiting for Christmas and needed to iron, I found mine...still in the box. I'm pretty sure Jason has used it more than me the past 3+ years...Alas, I am becoming a pro at it now in sewing class.

After you've washed and also ironed your fabric, then you have to carefully pin around the entire edge of your pattern making sure to line up the pattern evenly and smoothing it as you pin.

Action shot of me pinning. Let's just say this is the worst part of sewing. It takes a lot of prep work before you actually get to the machines. In fact, it wasn't until the end of February that we actually started sewing. My friend Brittney blogged about our first night actually sewing HERE.

Again with the iron! Every time I sewed two panels together I had to iron the join and then zig-zag each side to prevent fraying. Did I mention that my skirt has like 10 panels? And that I hate ironing? At least my many-paneled dress hides all most of my mistakes.

Bada-bing! It's a skirt! I tried it on before sewing the final panels together. Good thing I did - the skirt was way too big!! And while that made me feel better in terms of sizing it also stunk in terms of modifying. Technically I should have removed every panel, taken 1/2 in off each one, and sewn them back together. Um, second option? Take out 4 in on each of two remaining side panels have and two really skinny panels that I hope aren't too obvious. Which do you think I chose? (Please do not comment on my uneven panels when you see me wearing the skirt...)

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Bluebonnets and Birthdays

This week and weekend was crazy busy (anyone else noticing a theme... I think we are too busy!)

We had something every night this week from Family Dinner to Bible study to sewing class to Brittney's ladies night to The Hunger Games premiere. And we didn't rest much this weekend!

Saturday was the Chappell Hills training ride. Please note the word "hills" in the name. It did not disappoint! Our organizer said this was our most challenging ride and he was right!

Jason, Doug, and I braved the 44 mile route and made a few extra rest spots to take pictures of the gorgeous blooming Texas bluebonnets. There were fields of the blue flower complimented with a mix of orange and yellow flowers as well. It's one of the prettiest things in Houston. Oh wait, we still weren't in Houston... ;-)

The weather was absolutely divine and I love riding out in the hill country away from the city. It's the best reminder of just how perfect God's creation is and I feel closer to Him in those moments.

After the ride we hurried down to League City to celebrate Miss Sydney's 2nd birthday with friends and family. I can't believe our niece is two already!! She gets more and more adorable (if that's even possible!) every time we see her!

Let's ignore my face in this one...



Here's her gift from Mom and Dad - a fun sand and water play center.





And here she is with our (boring) gift - clothes (which I got a great shot of her tossing behind her, hehe) and a stuffed bunny that's wearing a shirt that says "Somebunny loves Sydney"






Sunday we were signed up to ride in the Bluebonnet Express to prepare us for riding two days in a row, which we will be doing in the MS 150. Jason wanted to take it easy and rode 35 miles while I met up with my old riding group which did 55 miles.

The weather was perfect again but it should have been called the faux Bluebonnet Express. We didn't see near as many as we saw yesterday. (Although perhaps I can get pictures of them in non-biking gear at some point...)


Now we are finally relaxing and I'm getting excited to see my mama tomorrow night when she's in town for work!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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The Hunger Games

You might recall that I spent a week engulfed in The Hunger Games series of books (read here when my original intent was just to read the first one before the movie came out. Since then, Jason has not only finished the first book but also the second. Apparently he does know how to read and is (almost) as addicted as I was. Go Hunger Games!

The movie premiere was yesterday and while I could not convince Jason that a midnight showing was a fantastic idea, he did compromise to seeing it Friday night with our friends Kyle and Meredith. It was a fun double date night with dinner and the movie.
We headed to the theater early (7:30 for an 8:45 showing!) and the lines were already forming -


The movie itself was great! They did a decent job with the editing and stayed true to the book for the most part. Now I can't wait for the second and third movies to come out! (But like Twilight and Harry Potter, I still love the books more!)

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