A "just in case" skirt.

I'm getting ready for a quick little trip to NYC this weekend. I just wrote that like I do it all the time, but actually I NEVER get to do anything like this. I'm meeting up with a college roommate that I haven't seen in over 10 years. So I'm packing, trying to see how much I can fit in my carry-on because I don't want to waste time or money checking a bag, and I suddenly realize that I could use a skirt, just in case. I'll wear jeans and a cotton top. Then I've packed slacks, a sweater, and a couple more tops in a grey/black palette (plus the necessary undies and pj's). What I wished for was a simple knit skirt that could go with the things I've already packed. I do not want to go shopping again. Black friday did me in, plus the thought of taking kids in the dressing room with me kills that idea.

So I went to the stash. The knit section ;). I found this soft cream colored double knit.

Perfect. I cut two pieces to make a simple tube, serged the sides:

 (I know, my sewing table is piled high right now. Too many projects, never enough space). I had to serge the sides a few times, playing around with how much ease I wanted. But now I have a simple long skirt, "just in case."


 No hem, I just serged the bottom because I didn't want to lose a single inch off the length:

And no real waistband (just elastic serged on) because no one will see that part:

Yay, now I think I have everything for my trip!

Sewing-wise, this was a nice break from the getting-ready-for-Christmas marathon I'm in right now.

Where have I been?

I have been so excited for the past six months to finally plan, measure, and pick out tile for a new floor. My husband took a week's vacation and I naively believed that we would get most of it done during that time. Yeah. Well, it has been one month and one day since we started and we are maybe half way done. Maybe. Probably not since each step is taking about 10x longer than I thought it would.

So since I'm not one of those super bloggers who plans and writes for six months in advance... and I very sadly packed away my sewing machine because there was no room for it (it might be driving me into depression to not sew, seriously)... I decided to post some pictures of the floor project.

This is the front rooms right before my lovely mother in law helped me grout them on Friday. We both worked like dogs so now I can stand in these rooms and see a light at the end of the tunnel.

(of course we still need to remove the haze on the tiles, and sand, paint, and reinstall the base boards. blah)

And here's a picture of my almost unusable kitchen. Tools everywhere. This makes me want to go live with my sister in Tallahassee until it's done. But the kids must go to school...

And here's my super husband with his brother who constantly amazes me with his generosity of time and effort. That guy has worked on our floor like it was his own. Here they are leveling the family room. There is now one row of tile in this room. Small victory!

Finally, here's my little hero. Many hands make light work, huh?

New (to me) website...

I should probably just go ahead and take a class on web design since it appears that I am going to keep up with the carolina fair designs website myself. I have never been 100% satisfied with how it looks, and that's probably because I am not a professional at this. And I haven't hired a professional (yet) because first, I have no idea how much that would cost, I'm afraid to ask... and second, I think I'm afraid to lose control over it. So, maybe the look will change every year, who knows. This change came about because I ran across some web design software that had a free trial period and I started playing around, and lo and behold, I like it. So here it is...

Tell me what you think, but don't be too hard on me :). No, be honest. I will put on my thick skin. And head on over to facebook before you buy anything because I sense a coupon coming...

Little Owl Bib Tutorial in a Slideshow

A month or so I wrote a guest post for my friend Chris' blog, Pickup Some Creativity. It was really fun and a lot of people got a kick out of seeing my bias trim stash:

(this is my trim stash)

At the end of my little shpeel about how much I love bias trim and how easy it is to use (you can read it here), I posted this little tutorial in a slideshow showing how to make an owl baby bib.


I just watched it again and I had not noticed before that picasa was keeping track of the number of views. It is really funny how that number drops by over 90% after the second slide - where you see what notions you need to make the bib. I guess that not everyone has a stash of fabric, wonder-under, and bias trim on hand?

 After you’ve watched the slideshow, you can download the appliqué pattern here. Enjoy!

Rotary cutters are for calm, unhurried use only.

Okay, so I know most of my readers (at least I think I do...) and I don't think anyone will be too alarmed or grossed out by this post. Most of us have sewing injuries of one kind or another, right?

So the day before yesterday I was trying to cut some material for a leotard strap (another long story, really, I have been doing way more sewing than blogging lately. Do you know how expensive little girls' dancewear is!!!!!). My two oldest are in school again, the baby was taking a nap, and my 3 year old decided to look for a certain junky dollar store toy. It just so happens that I had the day before thrown that toy in the trash (a funny thing happens when I pick up a toy for the 100th time, a little voice in my head says 'if you toss this, you'll never have to pick it up again.' And unfortunately, I listened to that voice this time).

So Connor is looking for his junky toy, I am trying to cut, and I tell him the truth: the garbage men took it, and it is long gone. Scream, slice, fingertip separated from finger. I'm not going to show any gory pics. I think I only took off about 1/4" anyway. Not enough to rush to the hospital or anything. But I did remove some fingernail along with a nice fleshy piece.

Okay, so here's my reaction, which my husband thinks makes me certifyable.  I was mad. No pain really (does that mean I was in shock?). But blood on the fabric. Wasting precious 'nap time' to bandage a stupid injury. And Connor keeps screaming, not because I'm hurt, of course, but because the junky toy is gone.

I was so mad I picked up that piece of my finger tip and threw it on the carpet! When my older kids got home from school they were so fascinated by my story they spent a half an hour crawling around looking for it. No luck, it must have blended in too well.

Right, well, I better go vacuum now. Hopefully my little diva of a model will cooperate soon and I can post pics of the dancewear. I'm actually quite proud of how it turned out.

And I would love to hear about your worst sewing injury. Come on, I'm not the only one, am I?