Honey, I'm Home!

I'm sitting at the desk in my new bedroom in my apartment! I'm surrounded by boxes, but luckily my kitchen is (mostly) put away, thanks to my mama and her wonderful help: she washed all my new pots and pans and helped me figure out where everything should go. My family has left now and I have a few hours to unpack before I need to head downstairs to begin training. Pictures will come soon, I promise! Once I find my camera, that is...

Busy days

I've had absolutely no time this past week to post anything; my mom's been working full time and so in addition to taking care of the house, I've also been driving people around town, which makes for a very exhausted me at the end of the day! I'm also trying to get everything in order to move into my apartment, which I will do in just 11 days! :) Hopefully once I settle in, I will be able to post on a more regular basis--things around here have just not slowed down recently. I should be off, though; we're celebrating my paternal grandfather's birthday today and I need to bake a cake. Mmmm, yellow cake with lemon icing!

Busy busy!

I've been writing more than I've been posting the last few days; I have several things in the works, as well as some pictures! On Tuesday I purchased a sewing table, so I now have that set up in a corner of my room. I also have several skirts I've finished and material that was just purchased today to work on AND a pattern coming for the 40's swing dress from Sense & Sensibility patterns. In addition, I'm headed down to the beach in the morning to see my best friend, go to Mass at my priest friend's new parish, and just hang out til Sunday afternoon. While I'm gone, you might find this post interesting: http://applecidermama.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-do-you-think-of-education-for.html

The woman who writes this blog, Bethany, is a young Catholic mother and shares my viewpoints on many things. I've just discovered her blog, but am enjoying reading her archives. Happy Friday!

Seamstress heritage

My great-grandmother Margaret, with whom I share my given name, was a seamstress by trade. She actually has quite a fascinating story, having been sent from Ireland to America as a young woman to follow her sister, who had run away from home. On the boat over to New York, she befriended a woman who was traveling alone and, when they arrived in New York, the woman offered a ride to Margaret to their common destination of Pennsylvania. The woman’s cousin, who was a coal miner, had come to bring the woman to her family; Margaret accepted the offer and, nine months after she arrived in America, she married the young man—they went on to have 5 children.

Why do I mention her? Well, I’ve been sewing quite a bit lately and I’ve been thinking about her. She died before I was born, so I never got a chance to meet her, but from what my grandmother has told me, she was quite a talented seamstress. My own grandmother taught me how to do some basic sewing when I was a freshman in high school; a few elastic-waist skirts, but until recently, that’s been all I’ve known how to make. Last week saw the creation of a denim skirt with a zipper (!!), a major accomplishment that is not diminished by the fact that the zipper went in and out at least three times before I was satisfied :). I’ve discovered that it is incredibly fulfilling to see a project that is practical from inception to completion.

This recent sewing binge was actually brought on by a $3 pattern from Walmart, Simplicity 2955. I saw it while looking for something else entirely and thought “That might come in handy someday,” so I picked it up. It was sitting on my desk, burning a hole in my pocket, so to speak, so a few days later, Mom and I made our way to Jo-Ann’s, one of the fabric stores near our house. There, I picked out a lovely turquoise patterned fabric and the necessary notions. After that skirt was completed, I went back and bought a brown flowered cotton; then I went back for denim… You see where this is all leading. This weekend, as mentioned the other day, I went through my old “craft box” that hadn’t been touched in probably 5 years. I found the lovely toile that I’m planning to make a skirt from and enough plain blue fabric to make a simple blouse to match the toile skirt. Coincidentally (or not), there is also a blouse pattern in the Simplicity 2955 pattern, so that outfit is my next project.

My other big project at the moment is to do some redecorating in my room. The desk that I currently have is the only consistent piece of furniture (besides the treasured dollhouse that my Grandpa made for my 5th birthday) that I have had since childhood and it is no longer serving its purpose. As an English major, I have a lot of books, so many that right now, I have books stacked on top of the shelved books, as well as a 3-foot pile on top of the bookshelf. Since I have several filing boxes, I no longer need the storage space in the desk, so this weekend, Mom and I are going to try the flea market to find a smaller desk just for my laptop/printer so that I can purchase another bookshelf. I also want to get a small sewing table to put underneath my window so that I don’t have to commandeer the dining room table every time I want to take on a project. I also want a dressmaker’s dummy, but I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself.

I think my great-grandmother would be proud of me.