New Blog Makeover

I need to write some stuff down before I go mad.

So last week, I wanted to rebrand my blog. The last 2 (ok, 4) years are definitely years I did NOT plan on. I have decided to NOT go back to nursing and to go back and finish my business degree instead.  The longer I decide on what I WANT to do, is nonproductive time and I can almost literally hear interest on my student loans ticking as each second goes by. So now that I have a plan, I feel a bit better.

So I have been changing a lot of loose ends in my life as well. I have a beautiful walk in closet, that is filled with clothes and junk I don't use. I have been working on getting that purged, and because of that, other areas in my life are cleaning up as well.

So that leads me back to the blog. I am really excited about working soon, because I have not bought myself any fabric in a really long time. This week I'm going to start on the skirts and dresses I want to make. I'm really excited!

So the header, background and main part are done. I still have to work on the sidebar and decide if I want to change those or keep the same accounts. I wont be able to work on that until later this week.

I have literally complained about Feedburner like 10 times over the last few years (as I was going through old posts). I usually get blogs I love emailed to me, so I can take time to read them when I'm out of the house or just so I don't miss them. I made a new email address last week, to get JUST BLOGS emailed to it. I spend like 4 hours on Saturday morning signing up to the blogs I HAVE to get to that email address. So this morning I'm checking my regular email, and Feedburner JUST started emailing them to me again. I can't figure out when it will and will NOT work, but I CAN tell you, as soon as I make a decision and do something about it, it WILL start working again. So I have been adding blogs I have forgotten to add to the new email address, and deleting them off my mail email address.

I hope it doesn't mess with my email subscribers to my blog, since I changed the URL as well. That is another 3493820th detail that I need to worry about later. (I have to figure out what's up with photobucket too)

Here is a picture of my beautiful cat  daughter's hedgehog for you to admire today :) His original name was Jacqueline after the First Lady.  Now HIS name is Jack. You can probably guess why. Hope everyone has a fantastic productive day, including myself as well.

Clutter

Over the summer I have gotten into the bad habit of putting things down in my room/sewing area NOT in it's proper place. My closet is horrendous. It's so easy to shut the door and not see the mess, but it's starting to spread out into other areas of my life. It's just one of those subconscious things that I feel like my life is full of clutter, and it is!  I am very *really* overwhelmed with everything going on it my life right now. I made a major life decision to return to school to finish my accounting/business degree instead of continuing on with nursing. When I started out, there was NO way to predict what would happen in my life. I know I'm not the only one to switch majors a few times. I originally started out pursuing accounting, then felt so out of place that I switched to nursing. I didn't realize that business is something that you grow into, and it's going to feel very foreign at first. But I have to look at the positives instead of the negatives.

1. I used to be so pissed that I was going to have to pay a lot of extra money in student loans for my accounting degree. I had all my pre-reqs done plus the first year in the College of Business. When I switched to nursing, I had to take a year of pre-reqs before I could apply to the Nursing Program.

2. Unlike accounting, I can use my nursing experience for the rest of my life. I mean, everyone uses basic accounting skills in their life, but not everyone understands medical problems.

3. I have a goal to look forward to. I can stop feeling guilty about "wasting time".

I am sure there are more positives, but my mind is very full right now.  

Quick Note

So there's a giveaway that one of my fave blogs (May Chappel) to read for inspiration is having.  It's called MY Favorite Things Giveaway. But I think we are either siamese-twin broken up spirits OR she has complete access to my brain, bc they are all of MY favorite things too!

Awesome fabric and sewing stuff. Check it out here if you love that stuff too.

wonder clips
awesome fabric 15 YARDS WORTH PLUS:
bloc loc ruler
carolyn friedlander patterns
creative grids ruler
rotary cutter
AURIFIL THREAD
nail polish
quilter's dream batting
dear stella rainbow THICK charm pack!!
violet craft fabric
sweet as honey bundle
Sara Lawsons NEW Jungle Ave
and a few special from the creators of C+S

You have to see the pics to believe it. How special is this lady?! This is bigger than my fabric hoard, and she's GIVING it away!! What a sweetheart :)

Awesome giveaway: Cotton+Steel

My favorite LQS, Pink Castle Fabrics, is sponsoring a fabulous giveaway to win a year's subscription to the Cotton+Steel monthly subscription club on one of my favorite blogs: Lily's Quilts. The winner gets a monthly bundle of 12 FQ: 9-10 prints & 2-3 basics. The bundles for purchase come in FQ, 1/2 yd, and full yd increments. Go to their website: pinkcastlefabrics.com to order your bundle today!

I got to meet Brenda last year when she turned her online store into a real store in Ann Arbor. They carry the best fabrics! They carry all the well known designers like Moda, Art Gallery Fabrics, RJR, Michael Miller, Riley Blake, Liberty, plus super awesome Japanese fabrics like Yuwa, Lecein, and Kokka among others. They also carry other types of fabric besides quilting cotton like linen, canvas, voile, double gauze, and I think they might be getting some knits in this summer! They also carry an awesome selection of paper patterns for quilting and sewing patterns! And one of my favorite things in the whole world: a beautiful selection of Aurifil threads! I love going and spending hours in the shop. In fact, that's my plan for tomorrow morning, because they have hundreds of  fabrics on sale for 40%!!!  That is the biggest sale I have ever seen there! They are moving out a bunch of great prints and solids to make room for the spring/summer/fall fabrics that are planned to be released later on this year. I'm super excited because I have some GCs from Christmas that I have been wanting to spend, but birthday and mother's day money! I haven't been getting gifts this year, just requesting money for fabric that is supposed to come out later this year. But with this sale, I might have to restart my savings for that collection! So make sure you enter on Lily's Quilts. So far theres not quite 500 entries!! I am REALLY hoping I win this one because it's so awesome!

SMS Day Giveaway!!! May 2014

***EDIT: Sorry for getting this post up late. My laptop literally died when I restarted it to put up the pictures. Which leads me to apologize for the crappy pics. They died with the laptop and I'm just using the ones off my phone***

I have known about SMS Day and have been entering since 2012. You can read all about the day at sewmamasew.com.  I think it's about time I give something back. Every time it comes around, it kinda comes up when everything is kinda crazy in my life, and I don't have something awesome to share. So before we get to the good stuff, I would like to share some super important information for females, and I appreciate you taking the time to read it before you enter or coming back and reading it later.

I started this blog after I Googled quilting in fall 2011. My sister had passed from cervical cancer at the age of 29 on August 7, 2010, and I was 31, and I was looking for a hobby to help work through my grief. She was diagnosed with Cervical Cancer Stage 3b in January 2009. She had been "leaking" urine when she laughed hard the summer before, and it was getting progressively worse. She had just finished all her exams and graduated from Eastern Michigan University, to become a teacher. She worked as a Store Manager of a Burger King, for the same owner/boss since she started working there at the age of 15. Fast food restaurants do not offer health insurance for all employees (at that time; it may have changed with the Obama Care thing). In fact, to qualify for health insurance you must have a title of "assistant/manager" and work full time at 40 per week. There are two options to choose from, Crappy and Crappier, and then they deduct a chunk of money from your check. My sister was making MORE money working at BK, than she would as a teacher, and every time she went to leave, her boss just kept raising her salary. She was very loyal, but she was getting too old mentally and physically to work there. (This turned out to be a good thing for her; her bosses were so incredibly giving while she was sick by keeping her on PAID leave for over a year, and were paying for the "better" insurance out of their pockets for her) So in the fall of 2008, she made an appointment with a urologist, (but she had to see her primary doctor to get the referral-so add 3 months), and saw him after 3 months. He did a cystoscopy (put a camera/tube up her urethra- aka your "pee hole"), and did some "examining" around the area. He said to make an exam with a gynecologist. He saw a tumor in her vaginal canal, but didn't bother telling her that. She made another 3 month-from-now appointment with a OB-GYN for January. On December 17, the pain that she had been having in her abdomen became much more severe, so she, her fiance Frank, and my Mom, went to the ER. They did a bunch of tests, and sent her home with some pain meds. A week or so later, my Dad called me on my way home from work, and told me that my sister had been diagnosed STAGE 3B. She didn't even get to her scheduled OB-GYN appointment yet. They started treatment immediately, and my life completely changed forever. At this time, I'm a RN and have experience from working at my first hospital on their Oncology floor for 3 years, and worked at St Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, for over a year. I have only worked on Oncology floors, so I understood the treatments and prognosis, and what each entailed. My stomach flipped and I knew how serious it was. Her cancer was the size of a softball (i think?), but had not metastasized (moved to a lymph node or other organ) yet. To make a long story short, she had missed her PAP smear for over 2 years. Cervical cancer is caused from HPV, which is a STI that you can get by SKIN to SKIN contact. You don't even have to exchange any fluids or have intercourse. You can get this by friction. It's possible to get, even if you both can have underwear on! (according to some reputable websites I found during researching: HPV and Cervical Cancer). Cervical cancer has been known to develop on it's own as well.

There is a test that can be done every year to detect if there are any changes to the cervix, such as abnormal cell growth or surrounding infections, and it's called a PAP smear, and it's exactly for detecting cervical cancer. It's been around for a long time. It's the not-so-fun doctor appointment, where you put on a gown and lay on the table in stirrups, and the doctor takes a special Q-tip and swabs inside you for cells to test. One of the cervix's job is to tighten when pregnant, so the baby doesn't emerge early, so it has a very special job to do. The government has recently changed it's policy on PAP smears, from getting them annually to once EVERY 3 years. They changed this to try to save money on "unnecessary" health testing costs. It is true that the majority of tests will come back negative, but this can be deadly for the small amount that have an abnormal test result. Sometimes insurance even states that you shouldn't start getting tested until you are 25!!! Lots of women will get normal results every year, but I think it's dangerous to wait that long for the women who may develop cancer rapidly, like my sister. I suggest that you get a PAP done every year starting when you are sexually active or after you turn 18 years old; whichever comes first. I would suggest to my daughter to get one by the time she is 21, if she is not yet sexually active. A really nice woman emailed me today, said if she would have waited until 25 she would have not gotten treatment in time, and could have died. You need to be an advocate for yourself and demand this every year! The last that I knew, most insurances will still pay annually for one, but "suggests" testing every 3 years. Please tell your female friends about this, if you feel comfortable enough to discuss it with them. Please ask your adult daughters if they are caught up on their annual PAP. My mom feels incredibly guilty that she didn't ask, although it's not her fault. Your friends and daughters may pass the info on to their daughters or their friends, and even if 1 woman is saved, that will make me incredibly happy! For them and their loved ones! I believe my sister got one of the 4 deadliest strains, and both her and I were not vaccinated with Guardisil (a vaccination a girl can get to help prevent the deadliest strains of cervical cancer)  because we were too "old" when it came out. I'm not recommending the vaccine, to each their own, but I have provided the link to their official page if you are interested in reading about it. (Plus I never like to jump into a new treatment without years of post-research, if I can avoid it). It has been out for about ten years now.

 There are like 80 strains of HPV or something like that. It's not the same strain that causes warts or herpes. Sometimes HPV has no symptoms at all, and it's possible to contract and go away on it's own. It says that cancer can take years to develop, but I don't think that is necessarily true in every case. My sister drank alcohol occasionally and was a social smoker, but she did not sleep around (as far as I know). Her boyfriend before her fiance, cheated on my sister and got that girl pregnant. I think it may have come from him, but I hate to make an accusation like that without finding out for sure. Plus it's not like he did it purposefully. This is why it's important *I think* to get a PAP smear annually, especially if you have ever had a past positive test for HPV, or  have had any findings in your PAP smear that may indicate abnormal cell growth. Remember, HPV sometimes does not show any symptoms at all, until it is too late. Many people do not know they even have it, and that's why you should never be embarrassed if you get it. It's not because you are a bad person.  The PAP is not needed if you are pregnant, because your OB should be checking down there frequently anyway. The technology for HIV/AIDS have significantly improved, and thankfully isn't a death sentence anymore, but 20 million Americans have HPV currently, and it's growing. That's one of the reasons why it's also important to get checked out for STI's as needed. Please see here for the government's Center for Disease Control on cervical cancer, to find out more. If you are going through Menopause, you still need to get your annual  PAP exam. It's still possible to get cervical and ovarian cancer after The Change. Please discuss this with your primary care physician. If your doctor says that you no longer need one, that is the old recommendations. Please remember my sister, and be an advocate for yourself and firmly request one if your doctor doesn't think you need one. You may just be saving your life! When I started working at the hospitals I was blown away by the amount of people who have or had a diagnosis of cancer. It's even more than you think! Thank you for reading this. It means a lot to me. SO now let's get to the good stuff!!!

So I started quilting to help with my grief. I've made a bunch of blankets and a few quilt tops, but have never completely finished them (or blogged about them). But I got some new books to help with that. Since Google Reader died, I have found it easier to keep up by using Instagram. I follow as many people as I can who quilt or sew cute clothes (my other obsession)!

I *am* giving away Heather Ross fabric "scraps" There are 9 pieces total of various sizes. But I have to be honest with you. I bought these from thegreatfabricdestash on IG. The description read "Heather Ross scraps $20". I saw the gnomes and fish, and pounced on it. I was super excited, and couldn't wait until they came. When I opened up the Ziploc, I became less happy. Most of the "scraps" came from PJ pants. These are the first HR prints that I have, besides Briar Rose. I wouldn't have bought them had I known they came from the PJs. I am 99% sure the photo did not show this or was left in the details , so I felt duped. I don't know if they have ever been washed or not, or the history, because I bought them as "scraps", I didn't care if they were washed or not, and I already have pets so I didn't care. My cats come into this room, but don't go by my sewing area, just to let you know. I have a dog, but he stays on the floor or bed. I know that this does not matter to some people, and I know there are HR maniacs (no judging here!) out there that would love to have these! So instead of trying to resell them and make up a fair price -are the PJs even worth as much as the true fabric?!- I *finally* remembered that SMS day was coming up, so I have been holding on to them to giveaway! As you can see, my blog has taken last priority lately and I wanted a bigger audience to have a chance to win these. I have a bunch of projects in progress and I feel confident to finally start to share them here.

The first pic is of the pieces I got that are obviously attached to PJs, except for the dotted fabric. It got cut out of the pic, but the pink gnomes have buttons on them. The bike fabric is folded over so you can see the hems. The dotted fabric is pulled down to show you the selvage, but it's folded exactly in half from selvage to selvage. You can see the picture I posted on my instagram account here, which shows it better. (sorta-it IS from my crappy phone). The other pic I posted is here on IG. As you can see the fabric is switched around in the instagram pics. The coke can is there so you can see how big the fabric is (without me measuring it!)

Pic 1: Pink Gnomes, Sushi and Bikes have definite hems

Picture 2 contains fabric that has been cut with scissors and do not have any sewn hems. The dots above do not have hems either. There are 5 pieces. The striped fabric in this picture is folded in half, and you can see where the wrong side of the fabric is showing at the top. There are: blue gnomes, bags of fish, goldfish, a small pink bike and stripes.

Pic 2: Blue Gnomes, Goldfish, Bags of Fish, Pink Bike and Stripes.

RULES: I'm following the rules from sewmamasew.com. This giveaway will close: Friday, May 16, at 5 pm PST/8 pm EST. I will choose a winner by a computerized randomized draw program. I will try to email the winner by 11 pm, on Friday May 16th EST. I will ship the prize on Monday, May 19, so please respond within 48 hours, by Sunday, May 18th by 11 pm*EST/7 pm*PST, or I will have to draw a new winner, and I don't want to do that!!

I know that some people don't like Rafflecopter, so I made the first question super easy. Just tell me what way you follow me in the COMMENT section. PLEASE make sure you click on the rafflecopter so it can count your vote! Email me (ksmith8@emich.edu) if you have any trouble signing up for Rafflecopter, but I think you just add your email and name to it, and you are done. I promise it's super easy. I wanted to use an electronic counter and not have to go through all the comments myself to see if people did what they were supposed to do, to make it fair for everyone!

EDIT: I made some changes to the rafflecopter on Wednesday May 14, at 9 a.m. I forgot that some people do not have or want a G+ account. I accidentally switched my blog out of blogger to G+, and I can't go back to Blogger. I couldn't remove the original first question in the rafflecopter that asked to leave a comment, so now it's a bonus 5 point question. The new rafflecopter allows you to leave your answer within the rafflecopter box, and if you want to leave a comment below for the same question, you will get 5 extra points. I wanted to be as fair as possible, and that's why I went with rafflecopter.

Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to read this post, more than you know! And thank you to SMS for hosting this awesome event.  Good Luck to all of you, and click here to go back to more giveaways for supplies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals: Celebrate Wool Applique love "Spring Basket" on An...

Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals: Celebrate Wool Applique love "Spring Basket" on An...: Greetings blogging friends and welcome to the next celebration and giveaway in A Month of Monday Giveaways!! but first... "Thank You&...

Happy New Year

So I suck at blogging.  I have already planned to take my blog back to recording my sewing projects. I have not started any quilts or dresses in SOO long. Last October I took some sewing to my LQS, and I took my cutting mat. I left it in the car and it warped. I tried to set really heavy things on my pool table in the garage to kinda warp it back into shape, but that failed. I asked for one for Christmas, and thought I was getting it, so I didn't rush out to get one. Well, I did not get one for Christmas and it has been snowing for 3 days with a wind chill. So of course I haven't ventured outside to go get one. I plan on doing that today hopefully.

I had a great Christmas. It's always hard when you lose a family member, especially if they are in your immediate fam. My sister passed in 2010, and this is the first Christmas that I have felt ok about celebrating. It's really hard to enjoy a holiday when a major piece is missing. It's not like that are coming later, or live too far away. She's gone and won't be coming back. I think about her every day and I miss her a lot. I'm sure we would have been best friends later on in life.

So I asked for a dress form and an extension table for my basic sewing machine. I ended up getting both! Plus that cute mint cart from Ikea that everyone has (or wants). I built the dress form and sewing cart myself! My kid has been sick for most of her vacation with this horrible cough. I have quarantined myself into my bedroom so I don't get it. I've been realllllly lazy and have spent most of my vacation reading in bed. I have to clean my room tomorrow and reorganize everything. I was planning to do it AFTER I bought the mat, so I would get some inspiration (or major caffeine from Starbucks) to move some stuff around.  There is a Starbucks across the street from Joann's. I also got some gift certificates to Pink Castle Fabrics, and I want to get some Rapture by Pat Bravo. It is SO pretty! I also got the Washi Dress pattern by Made By Rae, and I'm hoping that I can buy a FQ bundle and have some left over for a dress!

I checked out a bunch of books on making patterns, other dress making books (Colette!!!) and a TON of novels. I have been using my Goodreads app to find books I would want to read, so I don't have to go through the aisles looking for something interesting. I could easily spend like 5 hours in the library looking for books. After this bunch of books, I plan on sewing. I haven't done any free-motion quilting, but I plan on learning that this week. I just have a bunch of stuff to do to make that happen and that's what I plan on doing this weekend!

getting better

I'm feeling a bit better this week.  I actually have kept a log of what I have eaten/drank. I just need to exercise, drink more water, stop drinking Coke, and I'm well on my way. I've lost 3 pounds from my doctor office weight. I feel a lot of this is extra water weight, while my meds are being adjusted.

I have been keeping a tiny notepad on my nightstand, so I can keep notes. It's been helping me focus a bit better.

I've read 3 fiction books this past week, so I feel like I'm actually doing something, instead of watching tv. I also have dressmaking and pattern making books checked out. I'm learning SO much. I'm still bummed that I'm STILL not better since I got sick last weekend. I missed a skirt making class that I've been obsessing about for MONTHS. I also have a book out on making bags. I never had an interest, until I had the idea that I can make bags to match my dress!

I have over 3K email. I've erased the entire thing TWICE. The first time I used my iPhone, and thought I reversed something to make all the email magically reappear, like the hour I just spend deleting all that email didn't exist.  So it took about another week to get over that, and I tried it again. I pressed trash, exited out, and saw I had 300 emails to read. Pretty good from over 3000. Then I noticed about 15 minutes later all the email came back again!! So I'm going to have to do this manually on my laptop. The bad thing, is I get really distracted and start 5 different side projects while I'm doing it.  I find that I need to reorganize my pinboards, and transfer all my bookmarks to pins, that way I have more memory (or whatever it's called. I don't care, i just want my computer to run faster). Then I find that I need to blog about 5 different things, while entering giveaways and checking Instagram on my phone.  It's been a difficult task. That's what I get for abandoning my laptop for a month.

I KNOW that I'm going to be unsubscribing to a lot of crap emails I get, and try to figure out a better way to read my blogs.  Some blogs I haven't even seen since Google Reader died. On my iPhone, i can only load a few pages of blogs. So 10 blogs at a time. I subscribe to like 8000 or something, because I have a lot of different interests.

Thanks for reading this rant. I promise I'll be more interesting next time. After cleaning out my computer, I'm going to start on my room. So I can start sewing presents. It's been fun seeing what other people make.

The past month

I haven't opened up my laptop. I just didn't FEEL like it. For the first couple weeks, I was pretty good at going through my email. Then around the 4th week, I had almost 2,000 to go through. I deleted more than 900 during my first sweep through them. It was a bit more than my iphone could handle, and I did something that REVERSED that process and I got back my junky email. Oh, thank you Apple, because of all other things to mess up, email isn't one of them. grumble grumble.

Because I could only delete somewhere between 50 & 100 at a time, I reluctantly decided to open my laptop and get back to business...because that number is driving me insane. I get over 100 email a day. Thank YOU Google (not-anymore-reader).

But you know what? I'm not stressed about this blog. I don't care if I didn't get around to writing something. I have been using it as a : GO DO this already, pathetic girl.

Something happened mid-month that is horrible beyond belief. It's a very private issue that I haven't talked about on my blog, but it's serious. It has nothing to do with rape, so don't get to worried there. The only person it hurts is me...and maybe the people who really care about me, but in the end, it really just effects me. So now that's been almost a month ago, and last week I started getting hives again. That happened way earlier this year when Spring was trying to emerge as winter was clinging on. I guess the temperamental season changes doesn't help this much. I was SO SICK this past weekend. I even missed my skirt class that I have been dying to attend since this past summer. Like I have $50 to waste. I'm so pissed, and I really hope I get to work out something, that I can take another class at a different time. I fell asleep 5pm Friday and woke up around 4pm on Sunday. I slept through Saturday.

I know I'm depressed. I know that it's a situational depression that really is dependent on how this will play out. I see a Dr at least once a month. She's aware of this and has been prescribing me meds for this for over 3 years.

I know that I've gained a bunch of weight and am HATING it.

I know that I have too many mind-numbing activities going on.

What I can do: I have a treadmill on loan. Right now it came possessed, and I have to figure out how to run/fast walk on a few inclines without going from 2 to 8 incline and from 2 to 9 speed. There is no way in Hell, I can attempt something like that any time soon.  I don't have a goal because I have NEVER worked out before. I figure if I can lose 10 pounds and increase my metabolism, it will be a win-win.

Changes have been made so I have fresh veggies, and sometimes fruit on hand so I can eat that instead of cookies.

I am quitting Coke. This is one of the hardest things I've had to do. It's ALWAYS there. There really isn't an option to get this out of the house.  I'm thinking on ways to do it though.  I drink sweetened tea instead. This is the same sweetened tea that I've drank ALL my life (when I wasn't drinking coke) when I've weighted 90 pounds, so I'm not too worried about cutting EVERYthing down to water and carrot sticks. Tea is good for you.

I need to start journaling. Which is different than blogging. I want to buy a new notebook for this. I also want to start a Fitness journal, where I record what I'm eating and drinking and how much I exercise.  Just to keep track of where something might be going wrong.

I need to start SEWING again. Just because I don't have a backing for a quilt, isn't a good excuse not to put together the top.

I need to start making a real effort to be friends with the friends that I have. I tend to isolate and not keep promises....which makes me go back to feel bad about myself...vicious cycle.

I REALLY hope that I can take a different class. I didn't feel right about going in with a super high fever and fever spots/hives. I guess we will see tomorrow. If not, I'll just act like I donated to a good cause. Because I like that spot and I don't want to get bitter over it. It's not worth it.

I have good things going for me, if I work for them. I also need to find something new to read. I love to read about ANYthing I find interesting.  From the non-fiction, biographies, sewing books sections to just about anything from Stephen King to David Sedaris in fiction.

I think anything good to battle the anxiety and depression that I'm having is good for me. The only thing I can do is pray and wait for a (hopefully good) answer.

Government Shut Down Hurts Everyone

I'm going to copy and paste the email I received from the White House. Did you know that House Republicans have voted over 40 times to try to sabotage Obama Care? As a nurse, I'm ashamed that I don't know much about Obama Care yet. I know the goal is for every American to have health insurance at a low cost and affordable. What I think, is that there is a lot of fear of the unknown. We should have put this into place 30 years ago, but that didn't happen. Now that tons of people are getting sicker and have chronic diseases, which costs billions of dollars, it's like stepping into an impossible problem. Obama Care isn't going to be perfect. It's an initial attempt to try to bandage an hemorrhaging problem. It's like putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound. It's going to take years to get all the bugs out. I don't understand why the House Republicans are so against it, but they are seriously effing with innocent people, and that's what makes me angry.  Here is the initial letter I received from the White House a few hours ago:

(insert image of White House that didn't copy)

If the United States government shuts down tonight and our economy takes a hit, it will be because House Republicans let it happen.

Right now, there's a bill sitting in the House that funds the government for a few more weeks. It doesn't demand the repeal or delay of the health care law, or deny women access to birth control, or include any other failed, partisan proposals. It funds the government. That's it. And if Republican leadership allowed a simple yes or no vote on this bill -- like the Senate has -- it would get enough support from members of both parties to pass.

Instead, the government that these Republicans were elected to fund will close down and that will hurt our economy. Americans across the country won't be allowed to show up for work. Paychecks could be delayed, meaning some folks will have to cut back on groceries or maybe even not pay a few bills. Businesses will have fewer customers. Veterans won't get services they rely on -- and it will put benefits for seniors at risk.

Even though they've already voted over 40 times to defund or delay the health care law, this group of Republicans in Congress is so obsessed with the idea of sabotaging Obamacare that they're willing to take the economy hostage to do it.

Take a look at how this shutdown will affect millions of Americans -- and then make sure you share it so other folks know, too. (that's the same link from above)

President Obama has said time and time again that he's willing to work with folks on both sides of the aisle to grow our economy and even improve the health care law. But using the threat of government shutdown or defaulting on the bills our country owes is reckless and irresponsible.

In fact, shutting down the government won't stop Obamacare. The Health Insurance Marketplace will still open for business starting tomorrow, without delay.

Washington needs to stop manufacturing crises and focus on the issues that matter: creating jobs and building a strong middle class. Taking our economy over the cliff just to score political points isn't fair to the millions of Americans who show up every day to work and do their jobs. It’s time for Congress to do its job.

Make sure you know exactly who this shutdown is directly affecting and then pass it on.

Thanks,

David

David Simas
Deputy Senior Advisor
The White House
@Simas44 

P.S. -- You'll still be able to sign up for affordable health insurance onHealthCare.gov starting tomorrow, shutdown or no shutdown.

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What are your thoughts on this? 

worries

Going through the past week's email filled with the blogs that I love, I've noticed that I'm not the only one that feels down. A lot of women feel stressed this week/end. They are women busy with life and dealing with real BS, they are women busy with their families and raising kids, they are women moving into new places and making it their own, they are women who make beautiful things, and they are women that are just down-bc it doesn't seem like they do much that would make their life stressful...oh my mistake, she broke her makeup.

I like following tons of different kinds of blogs. My IG followings are over 1000. I follow people that make a ton of stuff with fabric, whether its quilts, garments, bags, ect. or maybe they are designers or sell fabric. I love looking at them. I also follow a ton of different clothing stores, and make up stores, and vintage stores.I love women that dress like pin ups from the 50s...I follow a lot of them. I follow anyone I find that has pretty pictures. It's easy to talk to people. It would be weird to comment on a bunch of stranger's facebook....but IG is really anonymous, and I like that. An illusion of being social without really being social.

So hopefully next month looks up. I LOVE fall and Halloween.
My days will be filled with substitute teaching.

Have you seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall? First of all, I love Mila Kunis and Jason Segel. Mila because she's so pretty and she's Meg's voice, and Jason because he's awkwardly tall-and I know how that feels by being so small. My guy friends have urges to pick me up and throw me like a baby. The ending is my favorite part. Insert amusing smile. Before he starts to pick himself up from his depression, there's a scene where he's in bed, looks at the clock-it's 2:something PM, and he pulls the covers back on his head. That is how I feel a lot of the time when I am depressed. I just want to sleep, so I don't have to think. I know that something great is going to happen beyond the horizon-like a super awesome vampire musical-but I have to get that to happen somehow. And I'm clueless, stuck, and kinda lost. Plus I've never been active in my life on purpose. I don't understand why someone would run on purpose, if not in extreme danger from a murderer or a snake. Being sore and sweaty are not fun at all. I hate both.

So tomorrow is a new day. If I can get up and walk around the block, I know I can make it to the vampire show. I have to. There is no other choice, besides waiting longer.


PS: Sarah Marshall: my fave part is the psychiatrist song. When I get mad, I yell the same way.

Kashi Sea Salt & Olive Oil Hummus Crisps

Since I'm a BzzAgent, I was recently sent a bag of Kashi Sea Salt & Olive Oil Hummus Crisps to try out in exchange for my honest opinion. I was skeptical that I would enjoy these. I love fresh hummus, but how can you turn hummus into a crisp that actually tastes good without being weird? Kashi does it!

My initial impression of Kashi=Healthy Food. Besides fresh fruits and veggies, most health food doesn't taste so good to me, especially as a finished product out of a bag or box. Ever had a plain Rice Cake? They ingeniously use the word "cake" for a reason, folks. Otherwise it would be called Rice Coaster. I know that a lot of my friends like and buy Kashi products, so I had a little hope that I would like these.

Basic Info
There are 3 flavors: Sea Salt & Olive Oil (the one I received), Caramelized Onion, and Sundried Tomato, Basil & Feta. Each bag is made from air-popped chickpea crisps made without any partially hydrogenated oils (the bad fats), high fructose corn syrup, or artificial anything. Each serving size (27 crisps) contain 120 calories, 3.5g fat, 3g protein, and 6 g of whole grains. What's awesome is there is no saturated or trans fat so all the fat is the good kind of fat that your body requires. Not sure how much protein you should be taking in daily? Check out Kashi's FB page that will calculate your daily required protein intake based on your weight and activity level! I didn't even know how much I should be eating, so I did this quick quiz. It's recommended that Americans get 25-35 g of fiber each day. I love the fact that these Hummus Crisps are so much better for you compared to regular potato chips, that are only made with fat and salt. I feel way better choosing crisps over chips! Nutrition and ingredients are the first thing I look at when picking out a new food product. I don't want to eat something that is worse than what I'm already currently eating!  I feel for the most part, that Kashi is a good company known to have healthy products, so I was excited to try this product.

The Verdict

When I tried the crisps, I was pleasantly surprised.  They have a good flavor, but not over the top.  I could definitely taste the sea salt and other spices/flavors, but it was just right for my taste. The flavors weren't trying to overcompensate for a bland product. The crisps are a little smaller than the size of a round nacho chip as well as a similar texture once you pop one in your mouth.  It's hard to believe they are made from chickpeas! When I was done eating, I didn't feel super dehydrated or like I ate a bunch of grease, like I do after eating normal potato chips. I didn't feel guilt, because their fat was from the good kind of fat that your body needs! I bet the other 2 flavors are just as good and I can't wait to try them out next. The crisps were so good, that I destroyed that bag in about 2 days, and I'm not even a big salted snack eater!

Next time you see these, you should pick up a bag or two! And feel better that it's a better snack that regular potato chips or something coated in orange dust that sticks to your fingers while you're eating them!

Disclosure statement:I am not an expert in dietary nutrition, although I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about nutrition, being a nurse. My review does not state that this product is "all natural" or contains only "natural" ingredients, or does it claim not to contain any artificial ingredients, please see Kashi's website for that information. I am only basing my review on the taste of the product, not on the Kashi Company or any claims made against the company concerning GMOs.

I'm a BzzAgent and received this product complimentary as part of a campaign.

Tuesday September 10th, 2013

Snazzy title, huh?

Guess what today's national holiday is?  Well, there's a few. So I'll go over the main ones that overlap on the websites I'm checking out.

1.  TV Dinner Day. It was introduced in 1953 by Swanson & Sons and changed the prepackaged meal industry forever. Wanna know the first meal? The first Swanson TV dinner featured Thanksgiving Dinner. The meal came with turkey (and hopefully some gravy), cornmeal dressing, peas and sweet potatoes.  Not exactly what's on *my* table, but for an easy dinner, it passes inspection by me.  The original tray was made out of aluminum and had separate compartments for each food. You had to bake it for 25 minutes.  Because consumer microwaves didn't exist back then.

***I remember when everyone in my family got one around 1985.  I thought we were five minutes from living it up like the Jetson's. Unfortunately, in my opinion, we were closer to flying cars when the amazing microwave came out in the 80s compared to the "electric car" of today.

So each meal cost around 98 cents and they expected to sell around 5,000 their first year.  To their great surprise, they sold over 10 MILLION of them.  If you do your math, that's just short of 10 MILLION DOLLARS in 1953! Of course the TV dinner has evolved since the first year. It has added a dessert compartment, started selling breakfasts in the 60s, the Hungry-Man meals in the 70s, microwavable meals in the 80's (SEE?!!) and in 1986 the original Swanson TV tray was submitted to the by  the Smithsonian Institute into the Museum of American History.  Good stuff.

Thank you Mr Swanson, or I wouldn't be on a consistent diet of Smart Meals & Lean Cuisines!!

2. National Swap Ideas Day.
   This day sounds stupid, was my first thought.  Basically it encourages people to share ideas to help each other out.  It sounds like a painful brainstorming activity in High School that your teacher just randomly decided to do out of the blue, and picked out your group members for you, on the day everyone forgot how to think and communicate. On second thought, this sounds terribly painful to me. This one gets 2 thumbs down.

3. Lace Making Day. I guess this is pretty self explanatory.

4. SEWING MACHINE DAY!!!
   Apparently there are 2 days that this is celebrated on. The other is June 13th. Nobody knows who came up with either day. Makes sense for today, since September is National Sewing Month. I sew on a basic Singer 2932:

5. World Suicide Prevention Day.  Go check out the facebook for today.


Did you know there are actual calendars based on FOOD?! Today is TV Dinner Day, but yesterday Sept 9th was :

Wienerschnitzel Day!!!

Humongous Text is what I get for copying and pasting. This website (AKA my new favorite site) actually goes over each day of the year (and some days have more than one food!) AND THEN links to a recipe of that food! Mmm.

I found out there are also entire months dedicated to specific foods. I bet you're dying to know what's under the September Food List!

National Chicken Month-YUM!
National Honey Month-YUM!
National Mushroom Month-DISGUSTING. BLECH.
National Papaya Month-Yum.
National Potato Month. TRIPLE SUPER YUM.
National Rice Month. yum.
Whole Grains Month. Yum in toast.

So of course after today's September 10th Lesson, I'll leave you with 3 interesting events from This Day In History.

1897. The first drunk driving arrest: On this day in 1897, a 25-year-old London taxi driver named George Smith becomes the first person ever arrested for drunk driving after slamming his cab into a building. Smith later pled guilty and was fined 25 shillings.  In the US the first laws about operating a motor vehicle while impaired with alcohol became legal in New York in 1910.  In 2005, 16,885 people died in alcohol-related crashes and almost 1.4 million people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

For some reason, I thought cars were invented much later! And the most meaningful to me:

1991. Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was released as a single. I have probably spent hours wondering what Kurt's life would be like today. Go ahead, entertain that though. Would there be another bean? a few new wives? a reality show? the coolest guy alive still?  Go buy Bleach. then Unplugged. then Nevermind. But you should have all 3. Then buy In Utero. You will thank me.

Teen Spirit on LP: Nevermind

And the most surprising to me:

1977. The guillotine falls silent. ? The guillotine is what they used in France to cut off peoples heads starting in The French Revolution. The French thought this was more humane than the other execution methods like hanging or a firing squad.  So a French DECAPITATING MACHINE was built based on machines already in practice in England and Ireland, tested on CADAVERS, and on April 25, 1792 a highwayman became the first French to be executed by this machine. It was named "guillotine" after physician and revolutionary Joseph-Ignace Guillotin won passage of a law requiring all death sentences to be carried out by "means of a machine."

More than 10,000 people lost their heads during the revolution including Louis XVI (16th) and Marie Antoinette (former king and queen of France). In 1981, France outlawed Capital Punishment.

I seriously can't believe that lasted so long! I thought this was a 1700 thing. Not a 1970 thing! Don't know what one looks like? It's a big huge razor blade of death. 

Your head goes over the bucket and you face down until the blade falls and cuts off yer head

Isn't that crazy?! Oh, the things you learn, when you are googling something else!

Wanna know what else happened on Sept 10th?

Level 306 Savory Shores!!!

Have a wonderful September 10th, wherever you are!!! 

Why does time fly?

I don't know what it is, but time has been going by SO FAST.  I am majorly behind in almost everything I have to do in life.  I have it written down, but I surely haven't done most of it. Some of the things I hope to accomplish this month:

Finish Flutter
Quilt a friend's quilt
Send Allison her gift (I SUCK!)
Get the stuff for said gift. Suckage squared.
Send back my shoes and get the right size
"cash in" all my store credit from the various stores I have credit (and show you)
Finish my staple dress
Take Made by Rae's Learn to make a skirt class at Pink Castle Fabrics next week
Go to the meetup tomorrow and not punk out from anxiety
Finish my requirements
Reminisce my allergy test with you 
Find proper vitamins and actually take them

But the main one I want to concentrate on...is lose some weight.

Add to Goals:
Drink 64 oz water minimum
Exercise-walk everyday, and increase daily.
Calculate calories
Journal: diet/exercise
Look up FitBit

I actually had an allergy test done when I was around 10.  If you want to spend a day in Hell, go get yourself one!!  What they do is make you strip your top (which is super embarrassing when you are 10 years old and sitting with your Mom), then make about 40 numbered circles 1-40 (or however many it is) in Sharpie on your back.  Then the Sadist with every allergan known to man comes in, and drops a miniature drop or two of an allergen numbered 1-40 in the corresponding circle on your back. The allergen has a mystery number so you don't have a psychosomatic reaction to something (just kidding, I made this part up), but you won't know what the mystery is after the test.  Believe me, it sounds intriguing before the test, but that's before you find out that you really ARE allergic to something.

 To make sure this is done without any mistakes and to prevent spillage and cross contamination into other allergens to produce a False Positive (or a Super Allergen if you are allergic to both!), the Dropper Nurse will go slowly as possible.  Most likely you WILL be allergic to the first five on your shoulder, then some on your lower back, a couple spots mid back, then a cluster on the other shoulder.  You are told to "lie still for 15 minutes" to absorb the mystery numbered allergens.  If you are extremely allergic, you will have an anaphylactic reaction, and they have epinephrine shots loaded to go to stick in your arm.  If you are "highly allergic" it will start to burn and itch like a new strand of Super Mosquito just bit you.  You can't scratch or you will cross contaminate the test.  If you "highly" allergic to more than 3 things, the test will make you cry.  I advise getting this as an adult, so your Mom doesn't get to tell you "STOP it. and DON"T you dare touch!" about every 35 seconds, alternating and getting more and more pissed at you as the seconds slowly tick by.  If you DO have your Mom come, you will ask "is it over? it is almost time?" more than ALL the "are we there yet?"s combined.  Once your test starts, you are warped into another dimension where a second of time here is really half a day there.  I cried because I was so pissed.  I didn't have allergies, and if I did I didn't know it at the time.

Finally the stupid test was over.  Guess what I was allergic to? Cat dander, dust, and hayfever things and some kind of plants.  Normal allergens that almost everyone has a reaction to.  No food allergies. Nothing important.

I don't understand, if time is a constant, than why does it change in reality?  Does anyone else find this weird? Oh, and does anyone have a FitBit?? or some other techie band that calculates every movement of your day? I think that would really motivate me.

HELP!!! I never know when I get comments on my blog!

I stupidly switched to the G+ version of BLogger, when it was announced that Google Reader was going to be killed. I thought that was the next logical step in the process. Ever since, I do not receive my comments by my email. I've spent hours in the settings trying to set it up right. I hated Captcha and that is one benefit of changing from Blogger. However, most blogs I read, have not made the move, and still have the old Blogger Captcha comments. I'm frustrated because Real People are leaving nice comments, and I was feeling SO lonely, because I thought I have not received a comment in months. G+ will notify me at the bell at the top, when someone follows, but it doesn't notify me when people leave comments, although it's set up that way. i have G+ app on my iPhone. Besides +checking Blogger multiple times a day, there MUST be a better solution! +Allison Kennedy ?

Sweet Fabric/Sewing/Quilting Giveaways

This one is a bit late, but Heather Bailey (HELLOmynameisHeather) is having a month full of giveaways! It started on August 1st, but there is some time left to enter! She is having a big prize on the blog daily, and giving away a $15 GC to the heatherbaileystore.com everyday on Instagram (@heatherbailey) I actually won Day 21 on the instagram contest! Her store is so awesome, and she brings a little piece of heaven to my life!

The second awesome contest is a month full of giveaways by Alison Glass Designs blog. There are multiple awesome people hosting giveaways this month for her new awesome collection that has JUST hit stores. The first blog to host her giveaway was at Olivia Jane Handcrafted, and she is so cute! She made the sweetest skirt featuring Feathers from the Sun Print collection in Flame. I actually won this giveaway!! I was allowed to choose a color from Feathers. I chose teal, and was allowed to choose an embroidery pattern. I chose the Flowers because I could see myself actually using these on something. I don't know how to embroider, but it's literally NEXT on my Must Do List! I feel blessed to be so lucky! Besides the bunch of blogs featuring her new collections and giving away prizes, Alison is have a HUGE giveaway on her blog that will last all month. The grand prize is the total collection of all her fabrics! That's 74 fat quarters of beautiful colorful fabric!!  That's over 16 yards of fabric if my math is right. On October 15th she will pick the lucky winner. Check out her blog and the listings of some awesome bloggers that will be giving away some of her new collections!

Make sure you follow them on Instagram! @heatherbailey @alisonglass and ME: @Karries3
 I have been on IG a lot lately. I've added so many quilters/sewists to check out their work. I love it!

Also there a few more here:

Maureen's Weekly Friday Giveaway: http://www.maureencracknellhandmade.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-fabric-giveaway_23.html. A 40 Fat Quarter Bundle of Sunnyside by Kate Spain from the fat quarter shop. Ends Sunday.

Take 5 Mad Mod bundle and Take 5 book: http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/blogs/insideqn/2013/08/21/a-take-5-giveaway/. Ends Sunday midnight Mountain Time.

Quilt Trends. Books. http://www.quilttrendsmag.com/giveaways/index.shtml

Angela Walter interview at The Intrepid Thread: http://intrepidthread.blogspot.com/2013/08/friday-fun-day-interview-with-angela.html

AND more Alison Glass at The Fabric Worm http://fabricworm.blogspot.com/2013/08/announcing-fabricworm-giveaway-allison.html

Of course I found more giveaways checking my mail.

Fashionable Fabric giveaway at A Quilting Life: http://www.aquiltinglife.com/2013/08/fashionable-fabrics-giveaway.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AQuiltingLife+%28A+Quilting+Life%29

Big fabric friday at sew Mama sew: http://www.sewmamasew.com/2013/08/free-fabric-friday-73/

Plus a Lily Ashbury giveawy: http://www.sewmamasew.com/2013/08/lily-ashbury-fabric-pattern-giveaway/

Still Without Laptop...

Does anyone else have trouble coming up with what to post on your blog? I'm a sloooww quilter, so what else do I want to post about during the week where I accomplish nothing? Most of the time, I have ideas, but I'm too busy or lazy to write up a post. I don't use my schedule button like I should, I know. I bet it's a God-send to millions of bloggers our there...

Of course the week without my personal laptop, is the week where I could have posted about a million (10) posts. It's how it goes, I guess.

Even though I'm a day late, there was an awesome link up at Ellison Lane Quilts, where everyone linked up their studio/sewing rooms! Some are SO great, with mountains of rainbow fabric calling my name! I'm so jealous. I've actually been meaning to post my sewing area for a few months, but I was so tired yesterday that I forgot to link up and win some awesome prizes. GRrr.

So that will be up on the blog one of these days.

I'm exactly half-way done piecing (sewing together the different fabrics to make a design) a quilt top from a fabric bundle that came with a pattern called "Flutter", that I bought over a year ago from a quilt shop about 30 miles away. It's a spin on the log cabin block. But I am SO OCD. I know that with quilting there are minimal rules...basically you need a 1/4" seam allowance, but there are no rules to creating a quilt. My fabric bundle came with 8 fabrics: 4 solids and 4 prints. I figured out what color/pattern was used in the pattern, and I followed the instructions EXACTLY. I have always been a green grass/blue sky kind of girl. I'm awesome at paint-by-numbers! When I see a pattern of a copy of something, I want to make it Exactly As. I'm so weird! I guess I'm scared of being creative. I really don't know what it is. I know what I like, and I know what I don't like, and i feel that not many things fall in the middle. Of course, this only is reflective of material things. I would like to think I'm a very open-minded person that tolerates almost everyone/everything. For example, I don't like red, orange or yellow very much. I'm a natural redhead, and I know these colors don't look good on me, at all. I tend to stick to blues and gray. I guess this could be a positive thing, because it gives me a chance to *really* grow in the future?

I'm making a surprise for my blog friend, Allison +Allison Kennedy  (Okay, Allison!). She has been kinda down lately, and when I saw the 2 surprise objects back-to-back, I had an awesome idea.  Unfortunately, my car is also being fixed at the SAME time as my laptop, and I have to get materials for my present tomorrow. I want to ship this out by Monday. She loves to show off her awesome fashionably finds from homemade artists and independent designers, and she looks so cute doing it! I think the accessory I'm making for her will be perfect for her. I hope she thinks so too!

September GOALS 
1. Finish up my Staple Dress #theStapleDress by April Rhodes;

*** if I run into trouble, I can join up at the next Southeast Michigan Crafty Meetup (SEMI) at Pink Castle Fabrics, on the 1st Thurs of the month. My teacher Karen (One Girl Circus) will be there to help any problems I have. Which in all honestly, I probably will. I think I should just go to meet new people. I'm at a weird stage in life where all my friends either live too far away, are partying, or starting families. I'm done with partying and my "family" will be all adults next year. Plus I love sewing, and everything seems so nice!

My Staple Dress, so far

1a. Make it to SEMI in September (see #1)

2. Finish Flutter AND quilt it!

3. Check out an Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild meeting; (either this Wednesday or Sept 25). I haven't even made an entire quilt yet, and I'm super nervous around new people-especially when I feel incompetent-so this one might wait a few months. This meets the last Wednesday of the month.

5. Sign up for the skirt class or Washi dress class (again at Pink Castle Fabrics) with Rae Hoekstra (Made by Rae)! She's the one who PUBLISHED this pattern. It's super popular! Plus she is super good friends with Karen, my teacher for #theStapleDress!!

Washi Dress. Made by Rae

6. Send out Allison's surprise
7.Try to blog at least twice a week

8. Look for a new NURSING job (this will take some time)

9. Get my hair chopped AND donate to somewhere

HAH! If it only looked like this, then I wouldn't have to do this one:
*I wish I had the original source to this pic*

9. Find something to do with #nordika. I wanted to do my version from Maureen Cracknell's zig-zag pattern she used to do her nordika quilt! A tutorial was supposed to be on Bernina's (i think) website, but so far I haven't seen it. There is another idea I have to make this, but I basically have to make a pattern with math. That is complicated! (i think)

Sweet, beautiful Norkida, Oh how I love thee!!
 By Jeni Baker (In Color Order)
designs for Art Gallery Fabrics
This is my first fabric obsession!

 ***10: Fix my blog buttons. Apparently the code is wrong, and goes to my Photobucket page. WTH. Sometimes these tedious blog things are a pain in the ass. This one I'm working on as soon as I hit Publish!

11. Figure out how to make a Watermark and use it.
12. Clean up my Pinterest page
13. Clean up my blog and make sure everything WORKS.

I really hope to accomplish all of these. Maybe the Modern Quilt Guild can wait awhile though.

The Staple Dress class I took was SO AWESOME. First, it was at my favorite fabric store. I got to take the first class they offered (I think). Learning new skills is so awesome. (sorry, awesome is my go-to exclamation)  I learned how to make a pattern, copy it, cut it out, and make a dress from the pieces.  It's very different from quilting, but at the same time, I'm pressing fabric and using my sewing machine, so some of the basic concepts are the same. I'm just adding to my knowledge base! I love it!

Now I can do basic adjustments to my clothes, such as fitting my measurements and hemming! And I'm talking basic. The Staple Dress pattern is so versatile. You can make a dress with or without pockets, with a straight or dropped hem. From there you can add a collar, change the neckline, or even make it into a tunic. You need to check out the hashtag link #TheStapleDress to Flickr that shows all the awesome dresses that people made!

My teacher was so inspiring! Karen is SO NICE. I was a nervous wreck with my rotary cutter, and I knew at some point there was going to be blood shed, and I was right. I'm just glad I got it out of the way. I was the one who gave Brenda (the owner) to get a first aid kit, haha. Brenda is awesome too. She was super funny when we were the only ones in the store. I can tell she has a really great sense of humor. What's really funny, is the day before my class I found her website from a blog hop that was featuring a kid pattern. I immediately book marked it "READ NOW" because I saw so much info that would be useful for sewing. I didn't realize it was her, until about a week later. If you ever have a chance to take a class from her, DO IT. She is so calm, positive, and caring. She nurtures you through the process. I'm a visual learner, and she adapted her skills to show me, then would watch me do it. I'm lucky because there was only another girl in the class, and I know when word gets out, that there will be a ton of UM girls coming to learn to sew. Karen was able to spend a lot of individual time with me. While we were all working, we would talk and get to know each other. Women that sew, are generally super nice, caring, funny people. So far, I haven't came into drama that I know probably exists, so it's shiny and new to me.  I hope it stays that way forever!

Today's News

So there is something wrong with my laptop.  it was shutting off by itself, so I did some sleuthing on Google, and it's probably some feature built-in that makes it shut off to prevent over-heating.  And I already knew I was having some heating problems with it. I used half a can of air on that bad boy the week before.  It helped for a quick minute. I even unscrewed the case to see if I could look at the fan to see if it worked.  Apparently, I have a model where the fan is built in the back? Anyway, it's behind a bunch of stuff.  On every website that I read, it said that I could only do this (remove the case and look at the junk in the fan) if I felt confident to do so. *I strongly recommend that you feel confident to do this*=was repeating on each and every page...and I was like, Why the hell not? I've removed dozens of staples from some skin graphs off of a junkie's leg before. I've digitally decompacted a few people in my lifetime.  I've even given birth via Caesar's way.  How could I be lacking confidence when all I was going to do was open my computer's shell and have a looksy around and attempt to evaluate my air-can skills?

After I started opening up the shell super carefully, and making an identical mini-diagram/schematic for the loose hardware, I started checking with a few more websites.  Um. It said not to touch any of the sensors or spray air too close/crooked because the liquid would damage the insides.  Damn. Why wasn't this talked about during the confidence warning?  Then I looked up my laptop's model and was very dismayed to see that my fan was hidden in the back, and not visible-just like my old Mercury Cougar's engine block-and that's the time where I started to lose confidence that was quickly being replaced with unsurety and major remorse. So I decided to Abort Mission!! and put my laptop back together so I could turn it on to see if it was worse off than before I started...

...and luckily it was not! That was a big fat sigh of relief because I can't afford a new laptop/computer/iPad right now.  Even though all 3 are on my Wanted List.

TOMORROW IS MY DRESS CLASS. I am so stoked for it!!! However, I have yet to buy then wash any fabric for it! And I have SO MUCH to do before I go tomorrow. I have to be up early for a 9:30 appt, then to JoAnns or Hobby Lobby to pick up some cheapo fabric, then go hang with my Uncle for a bit, then take Ash to her first consultation with a Physical Therapist (her hip hurts her constantly and she might have slight scoliosis! <sad>, then a 5 minute Ortho appt for Ash, then home to wash cheapo fabric, then the SOS to replace her learner's permit that we failed to find after the FIRST time we got it, then to Pink Castle Fabrics by 6!!! I am so excited!!! I also have to pack up my sewing equipment *and I totally just remembered that I forgot to make a cute sewing machine cover! d'oh*, verify receipts before my first appointment, and find some time to wash my cheapo fabric.  If I didn't have so much crap to do today, I would should have went today. BUT, with the world's greatest invention (yes, the internet) I can virtually shop at Joann's and Walmart to compare prices on some needles/notions and pick out some fabric at Joann's! I love the internet.

 I *really* wished that I knew that I was going to have an extra $80 this week last Saturday so I could get some pretty Nordika instead of some cheapo fabric.

Ok, so I wish I could have picked up some Nordika in time for this class. I still might try to sneak and get some tomorrow in between appointments.  That means another 20min trip (each way) to Ann Arbor and back, so it depends on this Chase check if I actually get to do that or not. Otherwise my first staple dress with be cute cheapo fabric, followed by dozens and dozens of glorious dresses made with Art Gallery fabric. I love dreaming about it!

Pink Castle Fabrics and My First Dress!

A few months ago, Pink Castle Fabrics expanded their online store into a REAL store!!! They opened their store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is about a 20 minute drive for me from my home.  I was SO excited when I found out about it, because I have been visiting fabric stores in this area, and I haven't found one where I'm overwhelmed with happiness. Now I have a Local Shop where I can visit and check out the fabric in person. There is another big fabric store in Ann Arbor, but it was a giant batik store, and I was super disappointed when I found that out. Instead of bright solids, the fabric looks waterpainted. Not my look at all. I desperately wanted a store where I can learn how to quilt and sew and improve my skills.  You can only get so far by teaching yourself!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE their fabrics.  They have a huge shop of bolts, precuts, and what's really cool is they have Blogger's pick out bundles to sell.  I love going in and checking out all the new bundles that they have just put together!  What I love the most, are the boxes of stray fat quarters and fat eights that haven't made it into a bundle of their own. It's SO awesome to pick through the boxes and find some gems that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten my hands on! (And they are super cheap which is a bonus for me!)  Last week I was able to pick out a FQ (fat quarter) of a newly released line called Briar Rose (by Heather Ross) that everyone is going nuts for.  I only wanted a little piece of the collection to put in my stash and hoard away.  

This is my favorite print: 
Isn't the Mom Bee awesome?!

It is a really good line, but I have a hard enough time deciding what I'm going to do with the collections of fabric I have! My first quilt top I have made has similar colors to Briar Rose, and Nordika (Art Gallery Fabrics) (by Jeni Baker/In Color Order) came out at the same time and I would choose that fabric over ANY fabric every made. Art Gallery Fabrics makes the best fabric I've ever seen and touched. It's so soft!

I actually bought the whole Nordika FQ collection with the coordinating solids and 2 yard of my favorite print, in hopes that will be a dress or a skirt!

Tulip Vines in Licorice

 Isn't this the best?!! It will look great as a dress or skirt all year round in the the summer or winter depending on what I match with it!

Whimsicol Tide Panel

Whimsicol  Mist Panel

I LOVE these Whimsicol Panels!!!! When i learn how to make the Staple Dress, I am definitely going to try to make both of these in the pattern. I have so many plans for this dress!

So this is what I'm going to learn in ten days:

April Rhodes: The Staple Dress

It's going to be a really basic dress pattern so I will be able to learn how to fit a dress to my size, and make the proper adjustments, and I haven't been this excited in a long time!  Plus there are SO many different kind of wonderful dresses that have been popping up everywhere.  You must look at them!