Hemming Jeans and Creating Quilts For The American Girl

Well, I cannot begin to go on about how much fun I had hemming my kids' pants this weekend. See the link I found about hemming jeans like a pro. I really do feel like a pro. My girls went to school this morning looking like I spent a fortune altering their pants. Please try it. I feel like a fool for ever even thinking about paying someone to hem their jeans!! After the seventh pair of pants, my eight-year-old picked up all the denim scraps off of the floor and proceeded to explain how the bits of denim mixed up and then sewn together would make perfect little 'casual' quilts for the American Girl Dolls we have living with us. Hmmm.....anything to put a smile on a sweet little face. We spent most of Sunday afternoon creating miniature denim patchwork for our dolls in residence, Felicity and Emily. Then, when I was all finished, the kids decided the quilts should be monogrammed so they would know whose quilt was who's, and then kicked up a notch by selecting patches to be ironed on. Pictures will be posted soon. These were actually the second set of quilts made for Felicty and Emily and I am getting quite good at it. I can crank one out in about an hour. My kids help by choosing, sorting and handing me the fabric and they even press the pedal once in a while. My creation for the weekend--plenty of beautifully tailored kids clothes and doll blankets. P.S. All MUST praise Dacia Ray for sharing her know-how on the jeans. Thank you!!!

How To Do Nothing

For me, today is day four of having both kids in school full-time. For the past 4 days, I have worked on my house trying to recouperate from the summer. I realized this morning that I have not made time just for me to do nothing. The kids' closests are organized, the drawers are in order--even under the bathroom cabinets are in order. All laundry up-to-date, floors cleaned, etc. Today, I carved out some time to do nothing. I started by scrolling through TIVO to catch up on a few shows I have missed this summer, but then I soon found myself dozing and did not stop myself. About 45 minutes later, I was myself again and back on my feet. And, boy did I need that. I cannot remember the last nap I had. When dh arrived home from work, he asked what I did today, and I was so quick and pleased to announce to him, 'nothing.' How do you do nothing? For me, it means turning the television on and losing complete focus. I love it.

I added a self-portrait. This totally captured my emotions for today. Unbelievable. I'm colorful, very much full of thought and reflection today. I'm not going to hem those jeans I talked about yesterday, but I am going to make a difference in my household today. As soon as I am done here. I'm going to carry up every, single item that should be upstairs. Then I'm going to carry down every, single item that should be downstairs. I will then update my calendar with all the school vacation days. A realistic estimate of time for these tasks should be 30 minutes. I'm going to spend quality time with my dogs today. I'm going to brush them, give them their heartworm prevention meds and flea and tick protection. Today is going to be a good day. And, as for tomorrow, even better.

I need help hemming jeans

Okay, it is the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year in our home. I'm here. Rather than hemming my kids' new jeans for this school year or making capris out of their old ripped jeans, I'm here. I have tons of fabric which I carefully purchased througout the summer to work into fine pieces of art for our home, but have not yet started on those projects. I'm choosing to be here right now rather than doing anything else. I spent the past 5 hours shampooing the carpet in our house. It looks great. All the summer dirt is gone from the floor of our house. What a major accomplishment that was!!

My story is interesting today. I have about 7 new pairs of jeans for my kids which need to be hemmed. I love my sewing machine and only use it for quilting. My sewing machine is soooo special to me that I am actually afraid to use it on fabrics as heavy as denim. I purchased Heat-n-Bond at a friend's suggestion, but then another friend told me not to use it because she says that 'after two washings it comes off'. So far, I've done nothing to shorten the kids' new pants, but folded and stacked them neatly. Any home remedies out there to cure my problem and settle my fear. Our local seamstress charges $12 a pair to hem and, frankly, I am not in a position to shell out all those beans!!