Goodbye Okinawa, Hello Taipei!

Our adventure has finally begun! After a brief hour and half flight we are now at the Taipei airport waiting out an 11 hour layover. Ew. It was so hard to leave Lily this morning! She was being so cuddly and sweet. It was nice to get some puppy cuddles before leaving though. Hopefully she’ll forgive us maybe we can find her some European dog toys to make it up to her! I’ll try to update about our trip as often as I can.

The Birthday Boy

So as most of you know, Josh’s 23rd birthday was this past Friday! Wow, 23, already? Gifts are always difficult for him, he doesn’t ever want anything! So since I’ve been sewing up a storm lately I decided to whip him up some pajama pants that actually fit. Your all pretty aware that Josh is a tall, lanky fellow. Size smalls usually fit him in the waist but his legs are so long that smalls just look plain silly! I found a decent pattern online and ordered it, luckily they messed up the order and sent me the nighty pattern I wanted, so I contacted them and they shipped this pattern out right away! The nice thing is, I got a free pattern out of it. Thanks Fabric.com ;) ! So Wednesday morning I sprawled out went about making my hunny some jama pants!

We all know the floor is the best place to work! Space is limited in our house! So cutting out pants legs for Joshy long legs was a bit intensive!

Finished project! The only part that the fit was a little off on was the crotch. These are unisex pants so I’m guessing when you make them for men you should lengthen the crotch! Maybe I should suggest that for the pattern. Hah!

I believe that he had a pretty decent birthday! We spent the night in and had a dinner, of his choosing, and some cookies because he didn’t want cake! Today he was supposed to head to Guam but the nearby storm thwarted the plans! They’ll still be going but for a much shorter time period. Come next Sunday we’re Europe bound! What a great little escape nestled between both of our birthday's! Don’t worry we’ll take plenty of pictures and if we get wi-fi along the way I’ll try to keep you updated! I’m going to have to keep up with my classes while we’re gone which has kind of got me down, so I’m trying to get a lot of it out of the way this week. Also trying to sew up a more comfortable version of the birdie sling purse with a longer strap for traveling! Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Shower of Babies!

Our friends Sandra and Steve are expecting a sweet baby girl in the next two weeks! This past Saturday was the baby shower so I can finally post pictures of the items I made her. I still need to work on my appliqués a bit if I intend to sell any onesies, but it was a good start! I can definitely say that my machine does NOT appreciate the super soft cotton that the onesies are made of and it was a fight. I’ve heard that’s a common problem, so it will just take some love and getting use to.  My FAVORITE project was the Molly Monkey doll! She’s so cute, I really wanted to keep her for myself! Luckily I have plenty more fabric so I will just whip myself up one at a later date!  I also made a monkey laundry bag with removable head for easy washing and/or playing with it! It took the longest but it will be super cute in Lorelei’s monkey themed room!

     

When I grow up…

Lately I’ve been pondering the age old question “what do I want to be when I grow up?” To some of you 22 is grown up and my mind should have been made up some 4-6 years ago and I should be in career mode already. Things just aren’t adding up that way for me. Whenever I was in high school, I had my heart set on a design school, somewhere, anywhere. I wanted to design clothes, and I wanted to do it well. Something happened along the way and that ambition faded, as well as hopes for a potential history degree. Seemed like a good idea until I realized how many papers I would have to write to get that degree, and my heart just isn’t in writing. Luckily my hobbies are taking me other places and I’m starting to get ideas. I love to sew, LOVE, love, LOVE it. Some days I just don’t feel like straining my neck and dealing with a hot iron, but for the most part once I start something I have a hard time putting it down. I’ve cranked out a lot of projects recently(but I can’t post pictures yet because they’re baby shower gifts for a pal) including some custom PJ pants for Josh! I’m starting to think that a home based business venture might be in line for me. I’m not crazy about the idea of getting a job here on one of the bases, and spouses have a hard time getting jobs here since the locals are given preference, anyways. There’s a girl here who sells fabric and patterns and a few custom things on the side, and she told me I should start selling custom purses, that there is a killing to be made. While I love that idea, that’s a lot of work for one product. Purses take a lot of cutting a lot of fabric and a decent bit of sewing to put together. I love making purses, but I’m afraid that wont be good enough. I have a bag idea for a “grocery keeper” so to speak and I might be trying that out soon. There are craft fairs and things here pretty often since there are a good many people who sell different goods from home. Apparently there aren’t a lot of people who sew here, aside from hobby wise. I’ve always been really grounded but now I seem to be floating away again, I’m not sure that this is actually a good thing to get into. Any thoughts or feelings? Should people turn hobbies into jobs? I feel like maybe if I get a jump start now, when we get back to the states I can try to get things lined up to sell to small vendors. Am I going to have support from my family and friends?

Sorry about the seriousness of this entry, it’s just been bugging me a lot lately. If you have some ideas, suggestions, or advice please throw it my way.