Now I'll never clean out the fabric bin.

Applique has created a whole new level of fabric hoarding. I can't throw away even the tiniest scrap of fabric, just in case. Never know if I'll need it for a flower petal or bird's beak. Hehe.

DIY madness

With a new sewing machine plonked smack in the middle of the dining room table, it's been a lot easier to work on projects for me & the kids. Apparently that was enough motivation to take on my first patchwork projects. Ugh. Now I know why people love sergers.

Patchwork dress for Katy:


And a matching shirt for Emmy:

Mmmmmm, tasty.

You ever heard of yellow watermelon? Not me. But that didn't stop Emmy from diving in headfirst.

And now you see why I never have action shots of her in the outfits I make. Teehee! Maybe I should start making her clothes out of vinyl.

Finally!

After realizing my old sewing machine is never going to 'just die already', I gave up and bought a new fancy-schmancy computerized model. I had no idea how easy (and quiet!) a new machine would be. Hmm...I can see a few DIY projects in the near future. Especially now that I won't wake up half the neighborhood.

At the Beach, Take Two

Well, to say this beach trip went better than the last one sums it up quite nicely.

Everyone had a great time, we went swimming every day, headed to the beach one afternoon, and nobody vomited. That's my new definition of a successful vacation.

Although it was a lot of driving. Almost 5 hours on Sunday, 4 hours on Monday, 4 hours on Tuesday (we tried to take a short cut back to Wilmington from Emerald Isle - who knew they wouldn't let you drive through Camp Lejune?) and another 4 hours home on Wednesday. The beach at Emerald Isle was amazing, nothing like the commercialized giants that I'm used to seeing in South Carolina. Perfectly peaceful, beautiful white sand, and the fishermen outnumbered the sunbathers. And not a Wings or Eagles store in sight. In fact, it was so de-commercialized that we had a somewhat difficult time finding a place to eat lunch. Finally we came across Flipperz, a tiny little diner in a strip mall that reminded me of the Food Shack in Jupiter. Seafood? I'm happy.

I think Katy went on Sesame Street withdrawal about half way through the trip. Public broadcasting in Wilmington doesn't carry it, at least not while we were there. We got home Wednesday afternoon and (wanting a bit of a rest) I played an old episode for her that we had taped before we left town. I think she squealed for five minutes nonstop, she was so excited. I thought her head was going to explode when Elmo came on. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of rest.

Back home, back to work, back on the blog. At least this vacation didn't take us back to the hospital.