Late Night Genius

Today, I am very tired.  Very...tired...  Ok, so there are probably more of you out there more tired than me, but my tail is dragging today.  I will be going to bed early tonight.  But I have good reason for it.  The reason I didn't go to bed until 4 AM this morning is because I was making this:

This is my flap top, clasp closure zebra zipper bag.  Excuse the crappy pictures on my sewing room floor.  I have been dreaming about this thing for the last 3 weeks and I finally just had to do it.  The design has shifted in all different directions.  The little extra elements have come and gone.  And yesterday evening at work, I finally drew it out and wrote out the steps and came up with what I wanted.  I'm just so excited, despite my level of tiredness, because it came out how I had dreamed!  In my eyes it's just gorgeous!  I know I'm blowing my own horn here, but this doesn't happen to me much!

I put a little flat zipper pocket on the back using this tutorial from Creating My Way to Success.  The zipper around the bottom isn't functional, for trim only, and I bent the heck out of a sewing machine needle on it.  Learned to do that part by turning the wheel by hand.  It's amazing what uses you can find for zippers when you have a whole hoard of them.  The strap is double interfaced with fusible fleece to give it some structure and padding.  This comes in handy when I throw my Daddy's copy of John Steinbeck's East of Eden in there.   

I took a picture of the inside, but I just noticed that my camera decided to focus in on my arm instead of the bag, and it looks quite crappy.  I'll redo that one for later.  But the inside is lined in white cotton, so I can find stuff in there.  The only closure to it is the clasp closure on the front, there's no zipper under the flap, but that's so I can just chunk stuff in there. 

This bag was a great learning experience, as well as a great new product for my Etsy shop!  And on top of all of this, I have something cute to carry around!

My Theme Song for my Christain Life

Just thought I'd share.  This song comes up so many times everyday in my life.  I love Barlow Girl anyway.  Their lyrics hint at a Christian walk that is not always sunshine and roses, like Jesus never said it would be, but so many Christains seem to think he did. 

Just gotta let those dreams go.  As our lesson in Sunday School said this morning in the Andy Stanley "Faith, Hope and Luck" series:  God never promises to save us from a situation, but he always promises to save us through a situation.  I have an incredible peace about what's going to happen in the next few weeks, months and even years for some things, but for others, I'm holding those dreams.  But He's promised to take care of them.  I'll dream again.

A Few Dreams Come True!

So this weekend while I was stuck at work unable to make anything from yarn or fabric, I grabbed my scrappy little composition book and started drawing.  I haven't really drawn anything in a long time, so it was refreshing to get back into it.  I started drawing a few of my dreams.  I drew the reversible skirt, the tote bag to match said skirt, and the lunch bag/tote bag that I have made before, but kept forgetting steps (therefore ripping seams) on.  I also wrote out what exactly to do.  This made life SO much easier when I sat down to sew.  I guess this will become the norm for me.  I also drew out the wallet I would like to make, but realize that it was going to take a lot of work, so saved writing the steps down for later. 

I didn't have time to make the tote bag to match the skirt, but I did make the skirt!  I did have a hiccup in the "pattern" where I ended up sewing the thing together in a tube that was half pink half white, but I figured out what I did and fixed it.

Pink on one side...

White with pink trim on the other!

Excuse the darkness of the pictures.  I was just trying to get Dave to snap a few quick ones.  I really love the feel of this skirt.  It's kind of heavy, so you don't feel like you're running around naked, but it's also kind of light so it still feels summery.  I should probably make several more.  I also like the fact that since I made it, there is no altering to be done to it!  Being only 5 feet tall, I'm used to having to tailor clothes, but this really was made especially for me!

I also made the lunch bag/tote bag for Dave's grandmother.  There are some major problems with this pattern that I'm not sure how to fix.  I ended up hand sewing some of the seams together because it just wouldn't fit under my sewing machine.  I think I'm going to keep the basic shape of the bag, I've just got to make some design adjustments.  I also learned that fusible fleece will not fuse to a fabric with stain resistant coatings.  I've just decided not to look at it too closely and hope that she won't see what's wrong either.  

  I even put a keychain stretchy thing on the inside

And now for the "Why My Husband is the Greatest in the World Moment!"

Last night as I was giving myself an afro from running my fingers through my hair in frustration over the bag, Dave was sitting beside me, trying to make me feel better.  He kept telling me basically that the reason why I was frustrated with myself, is because I dream so big.  He said he would never attempt something like I had done and that he was proud of me.  He told me that he didn't tell me enough that he was proud of me.  Then he sat back and laughed for a minute.  I gave him a bit of the "stink eye" and asked what he was laughing about.  He said, "I was just thinking about *Miss Thang.  All she ever talked about was wanting to be a designer.  And here you are doing it."

I still don't think he knows how much that really made my day.

So I've added "Designer" to the list of things that I am.

And I'm gonna keep dreaming!

*Name has been changed to protect my privacy.  Miss Thang was someone who thought she was the stuff.  She looked down on me a lot through middle and high school.  She's one of those who when she found out that I was marrying Dave and that we had built a reasonable nice sized house together that she pooped a brick and almost swallowed her tongue.  Now, not only am I living my dream, I'm living hers too...and she's not.  That's just a little bit spiteful of me, yes, but hey, I can't help the blessings that God gives me!

Where Am I?

So it's been forever and a day since I've blogged.  And I myself am starting to wonder where I went.  After reading an article about blogging, I realized that my blog has no cohesive-ness.  Sure my title is "Musings of a Craft-aholic" but what is my theme.  But then again, what in my life is cohesive?

My friend Jenilyn from the Grits and Giggles blog (go check it out, now ) is a mommy to a beautiful little girl and has tons of great mommy stuff to blog about.  Another blog that I follow Arm Candy for You, has great mommy stories too.  I'm not a mommy.

Other blogs that I find interesting are from college students.  I am no longer a college student.

I am a Med Tech.  I work second shift.  I sleep way too late because of this.  I have an obsessive and expensive love affair with crafting materials that I may not ever use.  I'm a dreamer who imagines a plethora of things that are supposed to work, and do in my head and usually on paper.

I'm a dreamer.

Maybe that's where I go from here.  Though I may not know exactly where I am, I can always look to where I may be going. 

So my dreams for the next week:
--I have plans on making a reversible skirt out of the rather expensive cotton interlock fabric I bought today
--I also want to make a matching reversible tote bag for the skirt.
--I want to make a bag for my grandmother-in-law for Mother's Day.  It will undoubtably be late, but not too late, and since she things I'm all that and a bowl of grits, she'll love it.
--I want to make a wallet to match the bag.
--I want to make a concealed carry purse for my mother in law.  She has no idea about this.  It would  help though if I remembered the hidden zipper while I was at the fabric store.  Making another trip.
--I want to make a concealed carry purse for myself.
--I want to make a duffle bag for myself.  I have bought so much fabric thinking, "Oooh, that would be a pretty bag!" that I just need to stop and take inventory and sell a few things before I do any more.  I actually have a dream for the duffle bag, but I'm not writing it down for fear of someone stealing my idea before it comes to reality.  I know, I'm a skeptic. 
--I want to make wallets and makeup bags and little zip pouches and TONS of other things, I just don't have the time. 
--I want to one day host a giveaway on my blog from my Etsy shop.
--And on top of all this, I want to keep crocheting
--I want to have a successful Etsy shop.  I've always wanted to be successful at something like that.
--I utlimately want to quit my "real job" one day so I can be a stay at home mommy like my mom was and enjoy my kids while the grow up.  This entails becoming wildly successful at said Etsy shop.
--I want to be pretty (doesn't every woman)


That's all I've got, or want to think about, right now.  I guess my blog is changing directions.  I think I'm going to start updating on my dreams, and how they are going.  Maybe one day they'll turn into the dreams that you try to wake up from, but you can't because you're already awake.  Hopefully they won't turn into nightmares.  Hopefully along the way I can offer some hints and tips and freebies and maybe a giveaway and drag y'all into my dreams. 

For now, I'm going close my eyes and hope for the best.