Obsessive Victory

I was supposed to spend the better part of today, cleaning, doing laundry, making brownies, etc because tomorrow at 11am, I am picking up my daddy and uncle from the airport. I am so excited and I had such high hopes for this afternoon... I woke up at 7 this morning and started disinfecting the bathroom, freshening up the couches and washing linens... I was on a roll. Then Kim went to bed for the day... she works the night shift, which means, no vacuuming. grrrr. Vacuuming us a huge part cleaning a house with 4 dogs and a cat. Everything needs to be vacuumed. And now everything had to be put on hold until she woke up for work. at 9 :/ Now what?

I had stopped my mad sewing project for a few days because the thought of all that measuring and cutting gave me stomach ulcers. Especially when my first 2 attempts led me to believe I would have to make a million prototypes before I could make anything good. But today... well it still made me woozy to think about but I told myself that if I took it slow enough and really thought it through, then I could make a real one. Plus, I was out of scrap fabric :/ So all day, I sewed and cut and measured and sewed. I even forgot to eat. And by the time Kim got up for work, I was so engrossed with my project that I couldn't break away. I mean, I wanted to, but... I just wanted this damned thing to be finished!! I was so close!! I think I was at it from 2 until 11... blech. But I finished. And I think it's wearable, even.

Hallelujah! All those nights I lost sleep over this stupid thing were worth it! I mean, there are still a lot of bad stitches and uneven hems, but I feel pretty good about it :)

Now that I've finished obsessing over that tool belt, it's time to face reality and realize that my dad is STILL coming to visit tomorrow and I have accomplished very little in regards to his arrival. Not to mention, it is now 12:30am and I have to be up at 7 and have to spend a whole day in Seattle, then attend a Mariners game at 8pm... I am going to be so tired. And I still have to make brownies.

Summer Projects

Even though it's been raining nonstop for the last 3 days, June is a mere 3 days away, meaning that summer will soon peek it's sleepy head through the clouds and make everything beautiful and set everything right. I have been keeping myself busy work lately, just to stay sane and keep my mind off the things in my life that frustrate me. Like how all our stuff in the garage is getting buried by everyone else's stuff, or that we still haven't heard back from Chase Bank or that our car desperately needs a tune up.

Speaking of work, while I was at Compass the other day, I realized that I don't have enough pockets. I have a box cutter, tape, mini scissors, mini stapler... all things that I have to run back and forth to use while filling orders, organizing bottles, shipping product etc... so I decide to buy a tool belt of sorts. Like a cute one. From Etsy. But it turns out... no one makes a tool belt. They make fanny packs, a hip "purses" and vendor aprons but nothing like what I am looking for. Well... there is this one girl that made these "Joey Bags" that are similar to what I need but the fabric she uses is, well, not cute enough for me. So... I guess I have to make one myself.

First things first: Learn to Sew. I don't have time for this. I need a belt now.

Next: buy fabric. easy enough.

Now I need a workspace:

... eh... it's not perfect but it's functional. I don't have a whole lot of space to work with so I am actually surprised I got a low bookshelf, storage ottoman and a lamp to resemble a desk.

Now to make a pattern. Mind you, the only experience I have with sewing is on a tiny Hello Kitty machine and I hemmed pieces of fabric until they resembled napkins. So I busted out a colored pencil and some news paper and started drawing, pinning and cutting. Low and behold, my first finished product came out looking like this:

Not bad. Actually, it ended up looking very similar to the Joey Bag on Etsy. I used a piece of scrap fabric to practice so the finished product should look a lot more stylish. I think I am going to shorten the length and make it a little wider... so it will be more oblong. and I am going to use 2 contrasting fabrics for the lining and shell. I also need to use some interfacing fabric to give it some structure. But I honestly have really high and unrealistic expectations for this belt. I mean, look at those pockets... they're terrible. And those stitches?? The tension is off and I can't sew a straight line to save my life. So my finished product might end up looking like it was made by a three year old. I know you can't see all the flaws up close but... it's far from wearable. Does anyone know how to make box pockets? How the heck do you sew all the seams onto the front of something? I mean... I made the pocket, then sewed one side to the face of my belt... and then what? Do I have to hand sew it? I ended up folding the unfinished edge under and sewing on top of the pocket, defeating the whole "box" thing I was going for. Now that I think about it... if I sewed all the edge pieces on first... then sewed the face of the pocket on to them it might work... maybe. I will have to try again tomorrow!