the past weekend and the week ahead...

So it's been a couple days since I've updated this, but it's only because I've been so busy! With work, home chores, AND sewing! So exciting!

Friday I got to leave work early and be with Benjamin for the weekend. Nothing better. Quality time with my man is always my favorite. A few friends came by to visit which is always nice. I also made a bunch of bows and practiced sewing and reorganized my room and work space.

Saturday I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more. Living with two guys has it's benefits... as well as set backs. I do better with the male population so living with Jack and Ben is easy. No cat fights, no missing girl products, guys are also willing to take out the garbage... but cleaning is not on their benefit list. I always try to dedicate a day or a solid couple of hours to cleaning so I could do a decent job. Jack is also gone on vacation to his house in Maine so he's gone until the 13th, so that left room to clean and for the apartment to stay clean, at least for a little longer than usual. After my cleaning spree, I rewarded myself with some quality sewing time and made even more bows and my sister's wrap skirt!! Yayayay!! I have a how-to post all ready to go, I just need to fill in some final details when I get home. Ben and I also made pizza together for dinner :) I love when we make things together, my favorite!

I put some meatballs on my half :)

Sunday Ben and I spent some time with his parents and then finished out the weekend at home. I sewed and started a new lesson from the E-Course. I'm really loving my new hobby. Ben's mom also bought me more patterns! I'm nervous to try them out and make something like a pair of shorts, but she assured me it's not too difficult and if I mess up, I have a seem ripper. And she's right. So I'll be taking that on this week.

and....

MY PHOTOS CAME FROM POSTALPIX!!! Sooo so happy with this purchase! They came at some point over the weekend. I can't wait to get on my scrap booking game. Hopefully I could make two scrap books before the summer ends. Well, COMPLETE one, and have one in the works by the end of the summer. One being for my mother, and one for Benjamin and I. But then at the end of the summer I want to start Project Life. I debated on waiting until the new year or not, but so far, because of school, my years have begin in September and ended on August. When the new year comes around, it's just winter break for me. So since this is a week to week project about me and my life, I think it's appropriate for it to start at the end of August. It'll be the start of my Junior year and beginning of the better part of my life. I can't wait.

As for this week...

Only two days of work! Then time to celebrate the 4th of July. I'll be going to Ben's parents house. His sister is flying in from Chicago with her boyfriend for the long weekend and a party. I haven't met her boyfriend yet so I'm excited. I also can't wait to spend the weekend on the boat in the lake! Since I've been working full time, I barely feel like it's summer, so I'm itching to be in a bathing suit and soak up the sun. Hopefully I'll have lots of photos to share with you as well as enough to make a 4th of July scrap book page!! I just keep thinking about a year from now, five years from now, and even longer. I can't wait to look back at all this stuff. I'm constantly thinking of what can be a good page or concept and just love this new part of my brain opening up.

Check back for the wrap skirt post soon! Hope someone tries :)

OOOO!! and yesterday was the 1st, which means, my Umba Box should be coming soon! I really can't wait to open that up and get my goodies. I'll be sharing that too, of course!

Progress

I sewed for a couple hours last night!
I also get out of work early today, so I could sew right when I get home! Yay!

I was working on the first lesson on the D.I.Y. Dress Up E-Course by Red Velvet via A Beautiful Mess blog (if you would like to purchase this, hurry! it's only available for sale until July 31st!) which was making bows. My sister LOVES hair bows and I'll be making plenty of those out off all the scrap fabric I have that Laurie gave me. I'll be filling all the empty spaces in her gift box with them :) I want to make them until the stitches look perfect and they look like they came from the store. I'll post pictures of the finished products, but can't post a how-to, sorry! You'll have to purchase the course :)

After I perfect the bow, I'm going to make another wrap skirt for my sister's package. I'll be posting a how-to for that, though! It's a perfect little skirt for the summer or for a beach cover up. Can't wait for that!

As for my goals from the beginning of the week.. they're coming along. It's hard to accomplish these goals day to day because of my work schedule. I feel that once I'm back in classes in the fall I'll be way more on top of things. I also want to start a Project Life scrap book come Fall. I figured I'll make a scrap book or two for the summer and then start a Project Life book when the seasons change. That way I can document my entire Junior year and hopefully continue to my Senior year. Besides sewing, something major I want to do is take more pictures and document more of my life.

..well, me and Benjamin's life. I want to look at something when we're older. See us back when we were young, before we make any big crazy decisions, when things were simple. I also want to have something for our kids to see. With losing my father at a young age, and my mom barely keeping any photos past when my sister and I were 2 and 3, I wish I had more to look at and remember him by. I wish I could see more photos of me growing up. So I want to start the habit now. So I could remember how Benjamin and I grew up together as adults, our firsts, our love.

Update!

So I have some pictures from my day yesterday! I just have to upload them to my Mac. Once I get those all uploaded, I'll publish the post and you could see my little day on the farm.

But, an update! On Friday I made a post talking about some of my goals for the weekend. I didn't think I'd be as busy as I was so I kind of majorly slacked... I did think about them all weekend though. And thought about how I wasn't doing them... sigh.

• Order pictures from PostalPix App   CHECK!
• Go to fabric store and get some nice fabrics    CHECK!
• Do at least three lessons from the D.I.Y. Dress Up E-Course TWICE! (the first couple lessons are really simple just to feel out the sewing machine and get the basics down. I want to do the projects twice so I could keep the first product for myself, then make a second one, hopefully better crafted,  for my sister. I'm sending her a birthday/care package to Hawaii soon!)    Ugh. Didn't do ANY. Like I said, I was really busy :(
• Sketch some dress/skirt/tank designs in a sketch book    Well... I put the sketch book on my sewing table...
• Think of 5 DIY Projects (I have three down so far!)      I thought of one more, making that four!

Okay, not that bad!!

Today, I'm going to try and do one or two lessons of the E-Course after I finish my trial-adjusted-children's-pattern-shirt. and that's after I get out of work at 5, and after I make dinner for Benjamin and I, and after I finish cleaning my room and then the living room so I could clean the bathroom and kitchen tomorrow.

Ah! Busy Busy. The first lessons in the course are so easy that I'm sure I'll bust them out easily once I'm in the groove. I NEED to finish those three things today, that way I could start fresh with new goals tomorrow.

weekend means....

Friday. Yes.

I'm mostly excited because a) I get out of work early today, b) good friends are supposed to visit today, and c) I could finally start tackling some sewing projects! Weekend means my time.Well my time I get to spend with Benjamin. No schedule, no obligations, just time with my man filling in time as the weekend passes. But thankfully it's midterms for Ben in summer classes so that means he'll be studying this weekend which leaves me some quality time with my new sewing machine.

Some goals for the weekend are...

• Order pictures from PostalPix App
• Go to fabric store and get some nice fabrics
• Do at least three lessons from the D.I.Y. Dress Up E-Course TWICE! (the first couple lessons are really simple just to feel out the sewing machine and get the basics down. I want to do the projects twice so I could keep the first product for myself, then make a second one, hopefully better crafted,  for my sister. I'm sending her a birthday/care package to Hawaii soon!)
• Sketch some dress/skirt/tank designs in a sketch book
• Think of 5 DIY Projects (I have three down so far!)

 I think these are pretty fair and doable by Sunday.

For today, I want to put together an inspiration post to get my creative thoughts flowing. I want to think about what I want to make, find similar things on the internet, and put together a little board of inspiration. I also want to put together a post of the things I ordered my sister/plan on making her. It'll mark my progress on my gift box and give me motivation to start putting together the handmade stuff. And if there is time... I want to put together another inspiration post to start re-doing my bedroom. Ben and I live together, but I have my own room. It's more like my giant closet. I have my vanity, dresser, a table and chair set, jewelry armoire and all my shoes, books, and everything else girls have. I sleep in his room and use half of his GIANT closet for all my dresses and nice clothes to be hung up. So this is completely my space to do as I wish. I love living this way. I think it's why we get along so well. We both have our own space and we're not on top of each other and we have little escapes. We're a perfect team together.

Time to get on with these inspiration posts!

xx
V

Anxious...

So last night I actually had trouble falling asleep because my mind was racing with what should I make first? what else can I sew besides clothes? what fabrics/materials are best for what kinds of clothes? and endless other questions that are probably easily answered, but no so much for me, the beginner. I was planning on going to Winmil Fabric in Chinatown, but their hours don't work out for me since I work a full time job. So, I'll have to wait for the weekend :( But Ben's parents are coming in this weekend and I'm sure Laurie would like to join me in the fabric store while Ben and his father, Bruno, are looking in collector's and antique shops. It would also be nice to have some company and it's another bonus that Laurie actually knows what she's doing and in my eyes, a professional haha.

There are some things needed.. or wanted... for purchase! The list...

• Umba Box gift subscription for Lauren, Ben's sister   CHECK!
• Famous Frocks pattern dress-making book from the Ruche website (except it got bad reviews on Amazon. meh. maybe I'll do a little searching...)
• D.I.Y. Dress-up E-course from Red Velvet / A Beautiful Mess blog    CHECK!
• This Oscar de la Renta fabric and this Marc Jacobs fabric from the Mood website (so pretty!!)

 Exciting things!

New Sewing Machine!!!!

I am so grateful. With my paycheck tomorrow morning, I was planning on buying myself a sewing machine to get my sewing projects started. Ben's parents were to visit tonight so we could go out to dinner, so I had one picked out on Amazon and was just going to run it by Ben's Mom, Laurie, to see if it was okay. When they got to our apartment, Ben's Dad walked in holding a box which turned out to be a sewing machine!!!! I was so excited! I couldn't believe Laurie bought this for me. It was so thoughtful and it makes me so happy that she's just as excited for me to learn as I am. It was great motivation and now I can finally stop talking about everything I'm going to do and now I could actually do it.

Tomorrow after work it's to the fabric store! Ben doesn't want me going alone but I'd rather do this trip solo. The last thing I need is him rushing me around when I'm trying to figure out what I want. Not only will I have trouble deciding what to choose, I also don't have any idea of what I'm doing. I'm mostly nervous about how much fabric to buy. I'd rather buy too much than too little but I'm also trying to save money here. I'm excited for this new shopping trip :)

As for Laurie's gifts, I got... (ignore the terribly quality of the picture. it was taken on my iPhone in my poorly lit room... or as Ben and I call it.. my cave)

a Brother LX2500 sewing machine!

a utility box filled with all the basic sewing tools

and..

a pattern to learn how to read them, alter them, and see how to make my own! :) Also those are the two fabrics I got on sale at Joann's that Laurie taught me some basics last time Ben and I slept at their house.

I made a basic wrap skirt with the second pattern on the bottom. We couldn't find any fabrics in my size at the time (the smallest they make is a size 6... I'm a 0 or 2. sigh.) so we used a hemp wrap skirt my sister sent me from Hawaii as our pattern. It actually came out very nicely! I'll be making my sister her own skirt to wear in Hawaii as well some other things as I learn. I'll post a how-to on the wrap skirt I make in the next coming days :)

I also plan on purchasing this D.I.Y. Dress Up E-course from Red Velvet (which I got to via A Beautiful Mess blog). It has 17 sessions, each it's own project. You learn how to make things from bags, dresses, tops, and more; as well as alteration and make-your-own-pattern lessons. If you're interested, you better hurry! This e-course is only available for purchase until July 31st. Everyone who has purchased the course will still have access to it, but after July 31st no new purchases will be able to be made.

I'm also going to convince Benjamin to let me use his nice camera to take pictures :) He's very supportive of all my new found hobbies, or my want to make these hobbies work. I'm too excited. My mom even asked me to make her curtains. Can't wait! :)