How to be Awesome at Sewing

I decided to try a project yesterday.  A sewing project.  Not my quilt--that's coming soon.  This is supposed to be an "easy 2 hour fun happy joy kit."  At least, it said something like that on the box. 

I got this kit on clearance at Hobby Lobby, and it looked super cute.  It's for an apron, and I thought it would make a good gift.  So yesterday, I decided to do it.

(This also coincides with the moment when I discovered Pandora Radio, which made the entire event much more pleasant.)

So I get the stuff out of the box. 

It really is designed to be easy.  They have all the pieces stamped on one piece of fabric, and I just needed to cut them out and put them together. 

No prob!

Well, ok, slight prob.  I really hate cutting.  It makes me wish I could go back to kindergarten and take better notes, because I never seem to be awesome at it.  This particular pattern was more difficult to cut out because large portions of it were white and the background was beige.  And see, I'm kinda color blind, so that was pretty difficult.  I mean, I can see most colors, but distinguishing between two colors that are very similar is really hard.  (That's one of the reasons I like really bright colors.)

But, I did it, and it went ok. 

The first thing I had to do was figure out how to sew the "flounce" on, which I finally decided was that ruffle on the bottom.  Since it was supposed to be ruffly (flouncy?) it was actually longer than the bottom of the apron, so it took forever for me to pin it and re-pin it, until it matched.  I finally got it sewn on, and I was ecstatic with the results.

Look at that, all sewn together and stuff!  Awesome!

That was only the beginning of course, and I ended up having to get out my iron and ironing board, which I did not know was part of the bargain.  And although I know the basics of how to work a sewing machine, I tried to push myself to new levels of awesome by doing things like, pivoting on the needle instead of starting over when I got to a corner.  I also tried really hard to sew the entire length of one side without stopping and starting every five stitches, 'cause that's what I've seen them do in the videos about sweatshop workers, and I figure they probably know how to do it really well.

My biggest problem that I had was that they kept going back and forth in the directions between "1/4 seam allowance" and "3/8 seam allowance."  Really, people?  The difference between 1/4 and 3/8 is exactly 1/8 of an inch, which is like, a fuzz width.  How does that make a difference?  And I didn't want to go looking for a have a tape measure, nor was I about to spend millions of hours drawing lines to tell  myself where to sew ('cause I probably couldn't have stayed on the line anyway) so I just estimated.  Which means, I just made all the seams the same, which could probably have averaged out to about 3/8 of an inch, 'cause they weren't exactly straight.

In the end, it turned out alright, so take that, varied seam allowance! 

That ruffle at the top was kind of a pain.  I don't really do gathering...

It came with a couple of cute accessories, although the beads did not have a loop on each end as pictured in the instructions, so I wasn't really sure how to attach them, and in the end, I just sewed them to the top of the apron.  And they instructions had this part where I was supposed to gather the material horizontally in the middle and then put the pin on vertically, which made no sense to me, so I just put it on without gathering.  Seemed logical.  So here's the finished product:

Ta Da!  Now I have a nice gift for someone, and I hope they don't read this blog. 

By the way, the "two hour project" took me a little over four hours.  Yeah.  Unfortunately, it's not like I saved myself a lot of money by doing it myself, 'cause I'm pretty sure I could have gotten an apron for the price of the kit.  But maybe once I get really awesome at sewing, I will be able to buy cheap fabric and turn it into cute stuff like this for much less than it would normally cost.  That's the idea anyway.

Step 4

Treat Yourself Like You're Awesome

I am lucky that I learned this lesson at an early age.  I know many people who feel guilty when they do something for themselves or take time for themselves, and that's just sad.  Doing awesome things for yourself makes you FEEL awesome, which in turn makes you act awesome. 

I try to do one nice thing for myself every day, but really, it's usually more often than that.  I know things that make me happy and I do them.  They don't have to be big things--I mean, cruises make me really happy, but I don't go get one for myself.  It can be small things, like wearing a lotion that smells nice or taking a fifteen minute break to read a book.

1)  So the first step in Treating Yourself Like You're Awesome is knowing yourself.  What do you like?  What makes you smile?  What makes you happy inside?  I know that sounds super cheesy, but I also know people who can't answer those questions.  Not awesome.

Things I know about myself:  I like bright colors, chocolate, dancing, my friends and family, books, laughing, and learning new things.

For example, bright colors make me really happy.  Like, really happy.  So if I need a pick me up, I wear my yellow shirt or my brightly colored jewelry, or I paint my nails blue.  Or like on the previous post, when I'm setting up my moving plan, instead of numbering the rooms, I use a bright color-code so that every time I see it, it makes me happy, even when I'm doing something I hate, like packing.

2)  Pampering yourself is another great way to Treat Yourself Like You're Awesome.  I mean, who doesn't love to be pampered?  And this isn't just a girl thing.  I know several guys who love this stuff.  Massages, pedicures, facials, makeovers, spa time--those are all awesome ways to relax and de-stress.  Even if you can't spend the money to go to a spa, there are lots of pampering things you can do at home. 

And pampering doesn't mean the same thing to everyone.  Sports, hobbies, etc. can all be in this category.  I know working out for me is a form of pampering, because it's time I set aside just for me, and I feel great about myself when I do it. 

3)  And then of course, everyone likes buying things for themselves.  That's always fun, and a great way to be nice to yourself.  I probably do this too much, and I'm gonna need to scale back now that I'm not working, but that's ok.  It will just make it that much more special when I do buy something.  And it doesn't have to be something big.  Whether it's clothes, a latte, a video game, jewelry, sports or hobby equipment, etc. buying something can be a great way to reward ourselves for a goal met or a job well done, or to give us a pick-me-up when we're discouraged.

I personally love buying books, and I have a membership at Books-a-Million, so I get a discount, which is great.  I also love buying craft supplies, which is double fun because then you also get to do the craft!

4)  Saving the best for last, the best thing you can do to Treat Yourself Like You're Awesome is to only use positive self-talk.  This is gonna sound all psycology-ish, but it's really just common sense.  If someone you loved told you, "You can't do that.  You can't do anything right," or "You're terrible at that," you'd be heartbroken.  And yet we tell ourselves those things all the time. 

Don't. 

Just stop. 

Only talk to yourself like you would talk to someone else.  I know it sounds kinda silly and feely-good, but it makes a huge difference.  When you hear yourself start being negative, just be like, "Self, you can't talk to me that way."

(And by the way, please say that out loud in public sometime, and have a hidden camera to record the reactions.)

And don't even tell me you don't have time to do this stuff.  You make time for what's important, and you are important. 

Ok, so start Treating Yourself Like You're Awesome today.  Ready?  Go!

How to be Awesome at Moving

We're moving. 

After seven years of living in an apartment in Hoover, we're finally buying a house!  This has been a long and difficult process for us for many reasons which I'm sure most people have heard be whine about.  BUT the point is, that's over, and we close on our house on July 8th.  I'm still cautious about being too excited, 'cause I'm sure something horrible will happen before then, but I have to go ahead and plan like it's actually going to work out.

So that means we're moving.

I.  Hate.  Moving.

I mean, I'm really excited about getting a house, and it's gonna be awesome, but moving is just horrible.  It's like, let's take your entire life and put it in a blender, pour the contents into several random containers, seal them, and then hide them.

Boo.

So I'm trying to make the moving process as painless as possible by Being Awesome at Moving.  That means several things.  First, it means getting a head start.  I have had a little over a month's warning, (we officially get possession of the house on the 13th, and we'll probably move in that weekend of the 16th) so I'm trying to plan ahead.  I've been cleaning and organizing and decluttering as much as possible so that I can figure out what actually NEEDS to be packed and what just needs to be thrown away (and probably should have several years ago).  I am amazed by all the just junk I keep finding.  I mean, where does all this stuff come from?  I am not a super high-maintenance person unless you count needing lotion instantly available at all times, and yet I seem to require massive amounts of random stuff in order to survive.  Amazing.

The second thing that Being Awesome at Moving means is getting organized.  If there's anything I can do, it's hyper-organize something.  You should have seen me when I moved to college for the first time.  I might have gone a little overboard.  (I had a list for each category of things that I needed, lists of which boxes everything was stored in, and then a list of all my lists, complete with decorative and appropriately-themed clip art on each page).

So I decided to get organized by color-coding everything.  I assigned every room of the house a color, and then label everything accordingly.  I have post-it notes to color code all the boxes, colored dots to label the furniture, and colored ribbon to tie on plastic bags, suitcases, or anything else that needs a label.

And of course, I have a master list.  It looks like this.

And so to help the (I am sure, hehe) plethora of friends and family that will be coming to help us move, I also made labels for each of the rooms so that whoever is bringing in boxes/furniture/whatever knows what color goes with what room.  They look like this:

AND I made Brian and I packing apron kits so that we'll have everything we need at our fingertips while we're packing!

I have also heard of people numbering every box and keeping an inventory of everything that goes in each box in a notebook.  Not sure I'm going to make it to THAT level of obsessive, but kudos to those people.  That's hardcore.

A third way to Be Awesome at Moving is to get lots of boxes. 

However, I have currently put a ban on my husband bringing any more boxes into the house because we have reached the point of diminishing returns.  More boxes are no longer helpful to us, but instead, become something else to trip over and constantly move to new spots on the floor while we try to get to the stuff we would like to put IN the boxes. 

Not to mention that actually packing boxes is like the worst game of Tetris ever.  At least in Tetris, all the pieces do conceivably fit together in some way.  Not in packing.  I always end up with big gaps and nothing that will fit in them, or boxes that are stuffed too full to close.  And then you have to wrestle with the packing tape.  I got one of those super-cool tape dispensers that is supposed to make it easier to tape up the boxes.  Doesn't work.  Yesterday, I managed to hit my head on the table, cut a finger on the jagged metal teeth of doom, and halfway tape my leg to the floor, just trying to get one box sealed.!

This is why I hate moving.

But yeah, so we have lots of boxes, and I'm sure we will get more, but not until we fill up all these.  Then the problem becomes, what do we do with all those boxes once we pack them?  It's not like we have a lot of room in our two bedroom apartment (aka the reason we are moving).  We had to break down the guest bed and turn the guest bedroom into a staging area of all our packed and maybe-sorta-packed stuff. 

Which means, if you plan on coming to stay with us in the next month, I hope you like the couch......and packing.

Awesome Reading!

Since reading is on List One, I've been trying to do it a little every day.  I love love love reading, and Brian and I read together every night, but during the school year, I never had time to do a lot of reading on my own.

But now it's summer, so I'm just going to read everything that has ever touched a bookshelf.  I've already read The Hunger Games series, which were fabulous, if a little depressing.  Today, I just finished The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan.  It's a historical fiction based on the love story of Emperor Jahangir and the woman Mehrunissa, who would be come his twentieth, and last, wife, Empress Nur Jahan.  The book is a fascinating look into the Mughal Court of 16th and 17th century India, a historic period that I don't know much about.  It was a good story, and the writing is pretty good.  Not the best ever, but worth reading definitely. 

I actually picked it up because the second book, Feast of Roses, was on the clearance rack at the book store, so I got both of them.  I'm excited to start the next book and continue the story!

I'm also listening to a book on tape right now, called A Year in the Merde.  (My appologies to my French-speaking friends.  I didn't name it.)  I have read pretty much, if not all, of that book before, but it's been several years, and it's hilarious, so I got it from the library.  It's about a British business man who spends a year working in Paris, and about the cultural adjustments and funny things that happen to him.  There are a couple of shady parts, but for the most part, it's decent. 

I discovered books on tape for real just a year or so ago, and have found that they are an awesome way to occupy myself while I am doing other things, like folding laundry or doing dishes.  And the library has like, a million of them, so that's awesome.  One book is typically about seven hours on CD, and you can put them on your mp3 player, too.  That's a lot of laundry.  :o)

I Pretty Much Have to Have This

Michelle Glenn found this for me on Etsy here.  I am pretty much obsessed with it now.