Sewing...

When I was younger my mom tried to teach me to sew. I wasn't too interested... I'd rather have her sew for me, which she did. She sewed pillows and curtains when we redecorated my room (or several of my dorm rooms in college), she sewed many dresses for me, including a prom dress my junior year, and once, she even tried her hand at making me a swimsuit. She's pretty talented, but I wasn't patient enough for it.

Well, when Jas and I got married, I was interested in getting curtains on our windows and making our house "homey," so I tried sewing (thankfully, my sweet friend, Tab, let me borrow her machine)- and I was fairly successful. I didn't follow patterns or anything, just made up the rules as I went.

It's been several years since I've made any curtains, and now, I'm suddenly more interested in sewing. I guess it's because baby girl is on her way and I want to have her nursery ready, and my mom won't be here for another couple of weeks! (You see, she made the curtains, crib skirt, etc. for the nursery when N was born.)

Lucky for me, my mom bought me a sewing machine and I have an incredibly talented friend, Sarah, who is a sewing queen. She's amazing. She has made a quilt for baby girl, and is in the process of finishing up the bumper pads. She came over a couple of days this week for some sewing time with me and it was so much fun! Of course, I still don't know what I'm doing, but I'm learning- and I take directions well. It was mostly her, but I did help with the crib skirt. Here she is after finishing the cover for our glider...

While Sarah worked on nursery bedding, I had another project... my sweet mother-in-law brought us several outfits for baby girl when she came in November. She also picked up these for a steal-of-a-deal, thinking we could use them for layering underneath outfits for the sweet baby. For one reason or another, I was inspired. I wanted to make some appliques to cover up the "born in 2005," so I began some internet research for my project. I found instructions, and some adorable patterns (from Martha Stewart's website) and set off to the fabric store.

Are they perfect? No! Are they cute? Yes! Don't look too closely, my zig-zagging is not straight, but they are so adorable homemade!

Do I lay awake thinking of my next sewing projects? Yes! I think I may be hooked!

Thank you, Sarah, for all of your time, energy, and help- and thank you Grandma J for the shirts that inspired the project and thank you Mom for starting me off on this sewing journey! Love you all!