child at heart

Michael unfortunately just told me that pants are acceptable for women in Eldoret. Sad day to me. I’ve got a good plenty of skirts and dresses from my overseas trips so I plan on just sticking to those with maybe just a few pairs of capris or jeans for lazy days or something crazy which he said is ok. Good thing, I’ve really been in a sewing kick lately. Not much has turned out good because I’m either too stupid to read the directions right, to impatient and ready for the project to be done NOW, or the skill level is just over my head. But I’ve been trying and I do enjoy that part of it.

I recieved a free 1980s sewing machine last week from Montgomery Online Yardsale on Facebook. There has been some great things on there! If I was not moving in 5 months I would be getting a ton of stuff for a place to move into. It needs a tuning from a sewing store which I’m hoping to budget from my spending money next month.

I am having a yard sale in February to get rid of AN ABSURD AMOUNT OF JUNK I’ve accumulated since we moved into this house – when I was 7. Yes, I know. And this includes like half of my clothing. Some doesn’t fit. Some I will never wear again, period. Some I just don’t need. Also, I’m only planning on leaving a few outfits behind to have for when I visit back home. I don’t need 2 huge wardrobes. I went through my closet yesterday. It was insane how much I had in there yet didn’t even remember ever owning – much less wearing. I think this move is going to be great for me in SOOOOO many areas of my life.

I’ve also had to set aside specific days of the week to work on sewing projects otherwise I sit down and want to try ALL THE PINTEREST PINS and get absolutely nothing done. Plus I want to try to sell some of the things I can make – little things – to help get enough for my plane ticket by April. Plus then I will have a stock pile for if people want to buy them, I need gifts, I get invited to a baby shower (with 8 pregnant ladies at our church right now I’m sure that will be happening a good bit) or anything. So my planning looks a little like this for this week:

• Tuesday: Sew baby bibs
• Wednesday: Try sewing a few infinity scarfs
• Thursday: Sew snack/sandwich bags
• Friday: Sew zipper pouches
• Saturday: Skirts and shirts

Obviously some days nothing will get done and some day I may get 2 projects done. Depends on the week and the complexity of the project. For instance, if I put my ipod on with a good playlist, I can pump out 10 bibs in about an hour. The zipper pouches take some thinking to make sure I put the fabric together right so I may only get 2 out in an hour. Get it? Also I’m always getting  calls for babysitting so I may take a night off and just divide my Saturday up with AM doing one thing and PM another. Or if I’m busy on a Saturday then I will not have any sewing for the weekend.

Next week is not fleshed out yet, still looking on pinterest for ideas of fairly easy projects. I’m only booked like this:

• Tuesday: Sew rice bag hand warmers
• Wednesday: Sew Felt Slippers
• Thursday:
• Friday:
• Saturday: Scrap project day (get rid of box of misc. pieces of fabric)

My ultimate goal is to get where I only shop for sewing supplies and fabric when I have a great coupon or it’s on sale, and make most of everything I need or want. Also, I know where I was in Meru you could buy a manualy operated sewing machine so if possible I would like to get one so I could make things for the children and possibly teach the older ones some general sewing principles so they would have that in their life.

Note to self: Talk to Michael about previous idea.

Anyway that is my hairbrained sewing life. If you are a sewer do you have any advice or tips for me? Coupon places to look? Patterns you want to throw out? What is your favorite sewing blog or tutorial site? If you live nearby would you want to do a sewing lesson date once a month or twice a month?