Back in business

It's been a while since I posted here. My family just got back from SD earlier this week, and we had a great time seeing our family, and house hunting. It's hard to be here in Baltimore when we know what is waiting for us.
While in SD I finished reading The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers, and all I can say is WOW. I loved the first two books, and the third was pretty great too. Thanks to my mother in law for getting me hooked on Francine Rivers writing! Today I ordered two more books by the same author. I can't wait for them to arrive!
I have been pretty frustrated these past few days and I figure it's due to the lack of sleep I'm getting. Last night Jackson woke up three times again (he seems to be doing this very frequently) and sometimes he wants to nurse and other times I think he wakes up from a bad dream. I'm tired of not being able to sleep through the night. I'm tired of feeling like crap the next day. And most of all, I'm tried of being cranky with the kids and my husband! I'm sure a full night's sleep would help me quite a bit. Today I decided that I'm going to wean Jackson...and he is not happy with me one bit. I'm tired of it and ready to move on. He would say otherwise. So wish us luck. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
Looking back on the summer I can't believe that it's nearly over. I mean, I didn't even take the kids swimming yet! What kind of a mother am I? Anyway, I do feel like I did some neat things to stretch my mind a little. I scrapped a few pages, and made a few purses/totes (5 so far - two I made with my very own made up pattern!), and I also made a skirt. Now I feel like I've lost some sewing momentum so I don't know when I'll get back to the machine. Besides...one of the levers came off last night. The lever that tells you how many stitches per inch, and whether you are going forwards or backwards - it just came off. I managed to put it back on but it came off again. This machine doesn't like me. Oh, how I wish it did! Anyway, I sent off two purses today for my sisters birthdays and once we get past those days, I'll post pictures of the completed items.

Skirt on a whim

Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary! We planned on going out to eat without the kids so I thought it would be the perfect occasion to sport something new. No, I didn't buy something. I decided that I'd make myself a new skirt. Without a pattern. It would be easy. I have this linen skirt that has a drawstring around the waist and just two other pieces...the front and the back. So I thought I'd just cut around the skirt and go from there. I admit that I didn't really have a clue as to what I was doing but I needed to challenge my brain. So after pinning the pieces together and making the drawstring, I began to sew. After all was said and done, I only ended up ripping out one seam. Not bad, I said to myself. When I had finished, I slipped it on, and marched downstairs to show my husband the wonderful things I can do with my sewing machine. He had to hold his tongue to keep from laughing! I turned this way and that, and after we both had a good laugh, we decided that it was just too wide. So I marched myself back upstairs to take it in on both sides. After that, I slipped it on again, and showed my husband. I asked him what he thought. His reaction still makes me laugh. He said..."Well, it looks really yellow..." The size was better this time, but the right side of the skirt was doing this funny poofy thing, so I went back to the sewing machine to try to fix it. I came back downstairs and he said "Maybe you should get somebody else's opinion on this"...so we took some pictures and I emailed them to my mother. Thank goodness for mothers who know just what to say! The end result turned out ok for my first attempt. I did end up wearing it out to eat, and I'm very proud to say that it didn't fall off or even fall apart while I wore it!