Tuesday, June 26, 2012

more totes

Here's the latest thing on my sewing to-do list. Totes. I've made four now, and I'm getting pretty good at them. I think.
my very first bag
 It takes more time to plan and cut and prepare than it does to actually sew them up.
no pic of #2, this is #3 love the blues!
I'm having fun with fabrics. Can you tell? Playing with trim, and mixing up the prints. Getting that little pop of color with the black/white/grey combo. Adding pockets here and there as time and fabric allow.
oops, forgot to hide the trash can, sorry...
I'll probably do a more in-depth blog about them over at Createlivity. Probably. For now, though, I just wanted to share. 


It's possible I'll take requests...



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

fresh start

I got a new job. This year, when school starts, I'll be working in a new district, a new school, a new classroom, with a new group of kids. OK, they won't all be NEW, they'll be new to ME.

I'll be teaching at Onate High School, and not driving to Anthony any more. I'll have the same holidays, start and end days, weather days as Raine. I'll have a 10 minute drive to work/home. I'll be working in the community I live in, and contributing to it. I'm happy for the change.

Less than two hours after I was offered - and accepted - the job, my new department head called me on the phone, welcomed me to the department and shared information with me, about the classes I would be teaching and book lists. He offered to meet me at school later in July to make sure I had teacher's editions, and information about what was expected of the students at the grade level I'll be teaching. He made me feel welcomed to that new position. How cool is that?

So tomorrow is the big "moving out" day for Gadsden High School, and Ron has said he would ride out there with me, to help load up whatever it is that I'll be taking with me. Mostly, that will be files and office supplies, and some books. If it will fit in the car in one load, good. If not, I'm leaving it there. Really.

So I'm a happy camper. Tomorrow, I'll be a hot & sweaty camper. A camper looking at a fresh start.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

going through it

It is time once again for the boxes to come out, and be gone through, and hopefully go away. Ron pulled out some boxes for me to go through the other day. Last night, I went through one that was marked movies and slides. It was a big box, and daunting to think of having to go through that much of that kind of stuff. When I got the box opened up, it was only about a third full of slides and movies, and the rest was mostly trash. I did find some handy dandy hex wrenches, some small screwdrivers, and some keys.
Not for a brand new pair of roller skates...
I also found a handheld electronic game called Merlin. It made me laugh when I pulled it out of that box, and then, Carl had the same reaction when I gave it to him this afternoon. He put a new set of batteries in it, and it actually worked! 

I'm going to see about digitizing the slides and the movies, if it isn't too costly. May not do it all at once, or anything. Go through them and see which ones we want to get copies of. From what I've seen so far, some are very similar. My idea is to put them on some type of memory card so I can plug it into one of those frames, and have a slideshow of them. Make copies for my brothers, and perhaps other family members who might be interested.

I'm in that purging mindset, but it has taken a while to get through some of this stuff. I think there is only so much of "that place" I can visit at a time. Fortunately most of what I've uncovered has been easily dealt with, in and of itself. Still, the memories can be somewhat bittersweet, remembering people and places that are no more.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

tote

I have to share my tote bag. I drew up a plan after I had made a few of the fabric baskets, and figured that making a tote would be similar.

I've had the pieced cut out for a while, and finally - after working on kid's clothes for a while - got around to cutting out some lining for the bag. And sewed it up. It is a basic bag, with no pockets or anything, although I will probably experiment with those on my next bag. The whole thing came together well, and has some body to it, and feels nice and strong, although I may put another line of stitching around the top, especially at the handles, but also I've noticed on the baskets that it helps/looks better.

tote and carry!
I added a decorative line of piping. I've been practicing with piping, and I've been using my zipper foot, to get a closer seam. I think it helps. Yes, I know there is a piping foot, but I haven't got one of those, while I DO have a zipper foot.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

are you ready for it?

I've been busy at my sewing machines, and I'm almost ready to post my projects over at Createlivity. I didn't get to photograph Shelbi in her new jammies, but i'll include a shot of the fabric. CUTE! I finished a top for her that I just love, love, love. I did take a pic of that, but I won't get to see her in it. But I want to. Maybe they will get a phone pic and send to me. It is a little empire waist top to wear with leggings. She picked out a turquoise fabric with dragonflies all over it. A fabric I have admired for a while, so I'm glad to get to make something out of it. Especially something that turned out that CUTE!

I also have some stuff finished for Raine as well. Hopefully we'll get a shot of her modelling her style. It looks like animal prints are IN this year! I'm really happy to get to sew for the kids, and have some fun with fabrics for them.Pretty soon I'll have to work on some new school uniform pants for Raine for the fall. The pants and shorts I made her last summer worked out so well, and she'll still wear them next year. This year's project is khaki pants & shorts.

So, I'll be doing some more cutting out soon, for the girls. In the mean time, it is bag time for me! I have a couple of bags that have been in my imagination for a while now, and I've been itching to finish them. I keep getting side-tracked, though. For good causes, you understand, but side-tracked none-the-less. I also have a couple more fabric baskets in the works. I think the variety of projects helps keep my creativity fresh.

That and I am procrastinating cleaning out the craft/sewing room.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

all quiet... too quiet?

On Monday I took Shelbi home, and left Raine to visit for a few days in T or C. She must be having a good time, there, too. She didn't even call until this evening. The had gone to see Dark Shadows today, which she seemed to like. She's gotten to ride Shelbi's horse, pet the cats, play with the dogs, swim and who knows what else.

This week has been quiet around the house. No one but me asking "What are we going to do now?" Fortunately it's been a long time since I've had any trouble answering that question. There ALWAYS seems to be SOMETHING to do.

The chores, of course. Time for the annual clearing out of Raine's room. She worked on it some last week. She put in an honest, if reluctant, (and supervised) effort, and did some part each day. Ron, was ready to move things around a little. We actually put a smaller bed in her room, so that she would have more room to play in there. Having things picked up and put away will help that as well. That's going to be one of her new weekly chores.Time for her to practice taking care of her things - not that she abuses them as much as she neglects them.

I've gotten some sewing done as well, this week. I've finished a top for Raine, and one for Shelbi. I also got some flannel pajamas done for her as well. In the works are flannal pajama shorts for Raine, and shorts and a top for Shelbi. I'm hoping to get some "fashion show" pictures on Friday because I'll take the clothes to Shelbi when I go to pick up Raine.

I've been enjoying episodes of Downton Abbey, which Carl gave me for my birthday. (Yeah, this is the gift that had to come to NM by way of Hawaii. How does that happen when they started in the continental US????)

It's been calm and quietish here this week, and totally discombobulated as only moving EVERYTHING in a room can be. I'll be glad when Raine is home.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

alamogordo

Yesterday, I took Raine & Shelbi to Alamogordo to see the Space Museum, and the IMAX planetarium show. They were hoping for a visit to the zoo as well, but I made the executive decision to prioritize the museum. Both of my parents did jobs that are - more or less - represented in that museum, and I really wanted to share that with the girls. Also, Raine is interested in a wide variety of science-y stuff, and I thought she would like it there. So we went.

The girls spent about an hour and a half exploring the museum exhibits. Some, they were fascinated with, others, not so much. They watch a good bit of a movie of the space shuttle astronauts doing some exhibitions on weightlessness. I thought that was interesting, too. They pushed buttons in the space station recreation. They attempted to land the shuttle on the flight simulator. They looked at the rockets, and the moon rock, and tried a space capsule on for size.
future astronauts?
We did not get to the planetarium show. There was a field trip group of 180 there, and the show had sold out, along with the other shows that were any of the times we could stay for.  Still, I think the girls enjoyed the trip.

We also visited my dad's cousin, who lives in Alamogordo. They enjoyed seeing the girls, and had not seen Shelbi for a very long time.

After all that, Carl took Raine for an evening of computer games, and Shelbi and I went to see Mirror, Mirror at the cheap theater. We really enjoyed that movie, I must say.

So, today, we took it easy. Well, as easy as doing some serious cleaning in a kid's room can be. Raine's room is getting the treatment, a bit at a time, and it is a struggle to get through it. Whew! But, I got a little sewing in, and the laundry taken care of for the week. Wonder what will appear on the agenda for tomorrow?