Crazy Life

My life has been so crazy for months now. I really thought that when Stephanie went off to college I would have so much time to do other stuff - actually hoping to sew more than I had.

There is so much craziness in the world - on our way to drop Stephanie off at college we had to drive through LA - well it was on fire. The smell reminded me of the San Diego fires, not a happy memory. I do remember firefighters from all over the near by cities and states that came to help, I choke up every time I think about all those men and women that risk there lives to same our lives and material possessions. I just had to try to capture the moment.




I love to drive and see the country. I remember my first drive to San Francisco in 1999. My family and I drove up for a state fashion competition, I actually brought home a ribbon that year, But what I remember the most is the wonderful green rolling hills. I driven out there several times since but it has always been at night. I was actually excited that I was going to be driving during the day. So I drove and drove and it was brown and dry. I then run into this:




Why? How? Who? I don't know the story behind this sign but I sure didn't enjoy my drive like I had in the past. Crazy!

Crayon Roll

I was asked to teach a sewing class on how to make crayon rolls, there are a lot of free tutorials out there. So I followed this one: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/


It came together quickly. You only need 3 pieces of fabric 1 piece of interfacing and a ribbon.


I loved the rest of her site.

But I don't like the way it turned out. The 1" for each crayon makes it hard to get the crayons in. I don't think that my 2 year old nephew could get them back in the pockets by himself without getting frustrated.

I also don't like that it ripples because the inside pocket is the same size as the outside fabric both fabrics curve around the crayon.


I wonder if you do a pleat at the bottom of each pocket if the outside fabric will lay down better and make it easier for the crayons to come in and out of the pocket.

I'll have to figure out that math and do another one, But I'm sure there will be a big time difference in putting it together.

This tutorial was quick, even though I wasn't able to use my rotary cutter - It's missing and the mat is warped. You shouldn't put things in Storage that can end up deformed in the heat!

Steph's at CMA

On Tuesday Sept 1st we woke up at 2 AM loaded up the pick up with all of Stephanie's stuff and headed to San Francisco. It was a long drive. We spent the night at my Brother's place (he wasn't home he was working) Then woke up early again on Wednesday to head over the Bay bridge to Vallejo CA.

It was a very busy day - we checked in with financial aid, we checkin with the Records Office, we bought books, and finish paying for the uniforms. She bowed out of a swim test and decided to just take the swim class. Then they finally let us into the dorms - by this time it was already 3 PM and we still had to drive home.

So we took all her boxes put them on her side of the room and said our good-bye's.

Don't get me wrong I'm a little sad she is gone - but what the rest of the world doesn't know is that she was having a really bad time in High School her freshman and Sophmore year she got nothing but F's. She was ditching school and making all kinds of bad choices.

So I pulled her out of school and homeschooled her - she redid everything she did four years of High school in two years (with the very big help of Dehesa Charter School).

So you see she and I have been attached at the Hip - 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the past 2 and a half years. It was time for her to move on.

Someone told me how mother eagles show there children to fly - they put them on there backs the fly really high and then they drop them. If it looks like they don't get it they pick them up mid fall and fly high again and drop them.

Steph's College Fund

Well Steph's College Fund is non-existant. I now wish that even though I believed there wasn't enough money to pay the bills for the past 18 years I would have set a little something aside, I now know that even $5 dollars here and a couple dollars there would really help right about now.

Stephanie has worked really had to get into one of the top Maritime Academy's in the Nation unfortunetly it's about $26,000 a year. She's almost there she has applied to every Grant, every Scholarship, every special Fund she knew about.

But here we sit 2 weeks away from dropping her off at College and she is still $2,000 shy of what she needs by Sept. 2nd.

So she takes some notes from Mom - when all else fails and the day job isn't paying the bills - you start your own business.

Here is what Stephanie is selling on Etsy: www.giglekimy.etsy.com

If you don't see anything that you would like to purchase but would still like to help stephanie with a few dollars - you can click here and make a donation through Paypal. This is not a Tax deductible donation it goes straight into Stephanie's Checking account.

Thank you all for your support.

I love Bags & luggage

I love quality bags and suitcases. I can admire there craftmanship and detail. I still can't seem to bring myself to pay that kind of money for them - But they are certianly eye candy.

I'm on a lot of mail lists - and one that I like to receive is the infomat - I like to see what is going on with the fasion industry. So every year last week in August is 'Magic' in Las Vegas - oh I would so love to go. For now I'll just drool at the pictures, and browse the manufactures websites.




Here is a really cool one: www.globe-trotterltd.com

Another year Older

My life has been really stressful these last couple of months, and I haven't been doing all that I normally do, like blogging! I still can't manage to get the house organized and all the boxes emptied and out of the house. Clutter seems to cripple me.

Yet the move was a good one, because we were able to host my nephew's 2nd Birthday party at the pool - actually one of the many pools in this gated community.

It was great! He is such an adorable child, his mom calls him a holly terror, but isn't that what all 2 year old boys are?










And then on August 9th was my Birthday and a wonderful friend dropped by and gave me a cake. I'm sure I'll get back into the groove - I'm hoping soon!

Shoulder Bag pattern

So I've been having a really hard time getting work done during this move, and it doesn't help that it's been 116 degrees for over a week now.

On Friday I logged into my facebook and a friend had posted this:




I knew she did catering but didn't know she had started baking onesies. It was just the motivation I needed I ordered some mini lemon and snickerdoodle cheesecakes and this wonderful black/white angel food cake.




I picked them up around 11 AM. Cake home and went straight to work. I had that fabric cut and ready to sew - meanwhile the computer was on and I was writing everystep and Illustrating from the snapshots I was taking of the steps. That made the writing of the pattern go quickly.

For my reward I stopped and had my choice of one of the 3 wonderful desserts laid out on the counter.

Needless to say by 7 PM I had a new bag and a fully written and illustrated pattern - Ready for Etsy. Well not ready yet, my proof reader (my sister) is on vacation. So it might be a week before it gets posted to Etsy - but It's done.