June Sewing Projects

Sewing had almost disappeared from my life this month.  At the end of last month/beginning of this month, I decided to organize my fabric and sewing stuff.  I put it all into clear little bins.  Once it was nice and neat, I lost my desire to sew.  Every time I looked at it, I didn't want to pull it all out and create a mess.  Perhaps, I was also a little burned out from all that sewing last month.  It took almost the entire month for me to feel inspired again.  

I guess it was more than "feeling inspired."  It took an outside motivation. Now that we are going to California and then on to our family reunion, I realized a few days ago that I needed to bring something for the auction.  My aunt came up with the idea for an auction before our first family reunion, which was 4 years ago.  She thought it would be great for everyone to bring an item to auction.  The money would be used for our next family reunion.  It helps pay for some activity, food or whatever.  

The only auction item idea I could come up with was a skirt.  We have LOTS of kids/little girls in the family.  Many of them are close to Lexi's age.  Yesterday, I pulled out my fabric and wanted to do something slightly different.  I liked the hot pink and black fabric, but wanted the skirt to pop.  I decided to try the binding on the bottom.  After making it, I felt my auction item needed more.  Hair bows would be perfect. About that time, I got an e-mail saying that Old Navy was going to have a sale on their flip flops today.  Suddenly, I knew I had to buy some & put bows on them too.   

To be honest, I am not sure the skirt/bows combo will sell.  There are quite a few seamstresses in my family and most of them are probably better than I am.  I don't mind though.  That is why I made it a size 7.  Lexi can have it & will love it if nobody else does.  After looking at it a few times today, I decided that I should make another skirt with the binding for Lexi.  You know...in case she doesn't get to keep the one above.  I went patriotic.  See below.  

Now, I can put my sewing away and head to California.  Maybe, I'll get a chance to ask my mom to teach me some skills.  Who knows?

Summer Trip

I didn’t have any big plans for this summer.  Given the fact that I am poor, I thought we’d have a summer just like last one.  We would just stay here.  We could call it a staycation since we enjoy our community pools, splash parks and parks.  We live in a community that has AMAZING pools that are open in the summer.  The HOA fees are high enough that I want to get whatever I can.  That was my plan anyway. 

One night about 2 weeks ago, my mom called and asked if she could fly the kids and me out to Cali for the month of July.  I was quite exhausted when she called.  It sounded like a nice offer, but too difficult.  She told me to think about it and we could talk the next day.  

When I woke up, I felt differently.  I realized it wouldn’t be fair to the kids to miss out on the opportunity.  Not only would they be missing the vacation to California, but my family is having a big reunion at Bear Lake, which is on the border of Utah and Idaho.  Many of my siblings, cousins & second cousins will be there.  My mom & step-dad are driving their RV, so we would be able to go with them.  Sadly, we don't even get to see my brothers very often, not to mention cousins.  It has been 2 years since I saw one of my brothers and 2.5 years since I saw the other two.  My kids should spend time with their cousins.  

I decided that the main hurdle was my work.  My boss has recently bought me a new laptop, but I needed him to buy several different kinds of rather expensive software in order for me to use it.  I also needed a new computer case.  The laptop is unusually large, so finding a case isn’t easy.  Anyway, I decided to ask if they had any objection to the trip and listed my concerns.  They thought I should go and got busy buying everything. 

The tickets are booked and now I am figuring out how to complete my to do list along with getting ahead of 2 big work deadlines, entertaining kids this week, and everything else I normally do.  Lately, I’ve been working on not beating myself up for dropping some of the balls I am trying to juggle.  In some ways, this trip adds stress and in others it greatly relieves stress.  It’s all good.