Feeling nostalgic... and another hectic weekend

I was roaming around flickr when I came across this person’s photos. A fellow Atlantan… so I had to look. Many a photos caught my eye, but it was this one which took me back to a place and time when I was a child.

... I can't paste the original pic because it is copywrighted and no use permitted... so here's the link over to the pic. Check it out.

I remember the first time I saw a passion flower. I was about 11 or 12. I was in North Carolina visiting my cousins. As a child, the beauty of there surroundings was oblivious to me… but in retrospect it all seems so quaint. Lots of greenery, a LONG gravel driveway, a little one room cottage with a fence, lots of trees, horses (although they were starved, and eventually taken away from the owners), and fresh air. I would go there for a few weeks during the summer to visit. I don’t have any sisters, so being with my cousins made me feel like I had sisters. Oh, how I do wish I had a sister. I want to have one for Kaytlin. My mom has a sister, they are… well… like sisters! I don’t know this feeling… *sad*. Back to the nostalgia…. We were walking down there extremely long driveway on a hot summer day to check the mail (and possibly bringing the starved horses some table scraps) and there it was…. The most amazing flower I had ever seen. My favorite color is purple… and it’s not often you see a truly beautiful purple flower… especially not in the wild. It (and some of its sisters) were just growing there, right alongside the driveway. I was amazed by it. I had never seen such a complex flower. I picked it, of course, and to this day I still have it pressed in an old journal… the journal I took to NC that summer.

Oh how I do miss childhood sometimes.

I really want to look into planting a Passion Flower plant. Research pending.

Now that the nostalgia is over (well, the writing about it... not the feeling) I can move on to discussing my busy upcoming weekend. My mom bought fabric for me to make her some curtains for her kitchen and guest room two weeks ago when I was at her house. I PROMOSED her I'd have them done by this weekend when they came down to visit (they live far). Umm.... well.... they're not. I actually haven't even taken the fabric out of the bag. She'll be here tonight. Good thing my house is spotless (thanks to hubby :-) ), because there will be no time for cleaning!

I've been working on a top for Kaytlin all week... but that's a post all of its own. I'm 75% satisfied with the way it turned out, but I really wish I would have done a test using muslin or some other fabric that didn't cost me a fortune. It's made with denim and this gorgeous uber-femme embroidered linen.

I also had my first two sales to work on! Yay for that! I am finishing the custom tutu tonight. Okay.... it takes 6 yards to make a childs tutu. Kaytlins tummy is about 22". The customers waist was we'll say 30" ;-). So I figured "Okay, her tummy is about a third bigger than Kaytlin's, so I'll get a third more fabric!" EEH WRONG! *immitates Jeopardy's "I'm sorry, that is not correct" noise*. I used 9 yards of tulle and I swear it only got me halfway done. Maybe it's because I'm being a lot more careful doing this one than I do when I'm making Kaytlin one (which takes me about 30 minutes because I just whip right through it). So I had to go out and buy some more.

Today was a very strange payday. Every single payday I go to Joanns.... but not today. I have TOO DANG MUCH FABRIC laying around ALL OVER my house to buy any more!!! I'm trying to make it less obvious to my hubby... you know... kinda like scooting your peas around on your plate to make it look like you ate some. I've got a basket of "scraps" in the bonus room (which is actually fabric that will hopefully one day soon be used to recreate the stuff in my etsy shop). I've got a big basket in my guestroom that has two stacks of fabric about 18" high. Then there's a joanns bag in my car (that I'll bring in once I figure out a place to put it). Then there's another shopping bag sitting on the dining room table... and beside that is my AB fabric. Don't even get me started on what's in the guest room closet. That's mostly 1/2 yard or less of fabric that I just can't get rid of. Plus there's a few grocery bags of scraps ranging in size from pretty good size to teeny enough for Kaytlin to use for crafts. Oh I forgot to mention the two bags I had sitting in a corner where I keep my sewing table. I think there's three cuts in that bag. I'm addicted. I can't stop.

I finally bought clothing to sew for MYSELF! Can you believe it?! I can't either! I looked and looked then finally found a pattern that would be figure flattering, something that wouldn't show too much, etc. Then I get it and DOH it can only be used with jersey knit fabrics. Luckily it was 40% off.... I got a pretty blue color. Blue brings out my eyes. Who knows when I'll actually sit down and MAKE it! I still haven't made that purse!