Up keep

So, I kinda gave up on this blog. I know, I know, pretty obvious. As much as I loved sewing last year, it sorta grew old to be because of my perfectionist attitudes. It's not like I completely stopped sewing, just stopped posting what I was sewing because I wasn't fully proud of it. My sewing changed this fall when I was lucky enough to inherit my Granny's 1983 Bernina Bernette Serger. I was even luckier to be blessed with an amazing friend who has opened my eyes designer's such as Patty Young, Toni Coward and Alexander Henry. I was also introduced to patterns, designer patterns not your Mom's old Simplicity or Vogue's. And let's not forget Ottobre...oh, the fun pictures that are soon to come.

Playing Dolls

I loved dolls when I was little. The only reason I got into Barbie dolls, was not for the story line of Barbie loving Ken, but all the great outfits she came with. My Mom kept her childhood doll under bed and I was under strict orders to not touch it. I was an obedient child, for the most part, but the lure of this doll was more than I could stand. I remember the clear plastic case that held not only the doll, but the numerous outfits my Mom had to go with her.

I have two girls. My Dad says they're my human baby dolls. I love dressing them, and they, in return, love getting dressed. I shop a lot on eBay and have drooled for years over what they call "resale/custom" outfits but would choke on the prices these sets would go for. Immediately after learning how to sew, I searched eBay for some ideas of items I could make. I landed on a dress, going for $40, a simple t-shirt dress. Unbelievable. I went out the next day, bought 2 pink t-shirts from Target, some fabric from Joann's and whipped together matching dresses for my girls for $7 per dress! It was a great way to learn the basics of sewing, to make little mistakes that I thank goodness could be fixed with a little fray-check!

Here's my sweet 2 yr old Rosemary modeling her new dress!

New Existence

I used blog all the time. It's strange thinking back on all those things that once consumed me, all those things that I felt the need to write about, all before kids. The girls changed me, they made me better. The circumstances around their births, their growing up, have given me a new sense of maturity, and emotional maturity if you will, that I never imagined it could.

Hence why my other blog slowly faded away. My reason to blog no longer existed due to this new existence in my life. All those thing just didn't matter to me anymore, I changed and I welcomed this new phase.

When I was growing up, I remember my sister sewing doll clothes. My project was a pillow. It did get finished thanks to the bobbin on my Mom's 1970's Singer machine. The more that bobbin would bunch up the less patience I had to learn so I gave up. For years I never realized the creative potential in myself. It wouldn't be until I got married and began scrapbooking that I was onto something. The person who introduced me to blogging also introduced me to card making. I loved all these paper crafts but as my girls were born I found myself having less money to invest in these fun crafts.

It only took me one day to learn to sew and how surprised I was how easily it is to sew on a machine that worked. I love this feeling of creating without a pattern, just coming up with ideas on my own with items around my house or thrift stores. It taps into a part of me that for years I never knew existed but so glad I discovered it.