...but you can call me Kristi.

There's a lump of metal that sits on the table in my office. It has spinny things, and pokey things, and pully things. It has Singer written on the side of it, and it is on loan from the girl in the next cubicle. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have a sewing machine.

 It's probably been 4 weeks since I first borrowed the sewing machine. The first week it didn't work. The thread got jammed up by the bobbin (not the bobbin thread, the "main" thread). I had a friend who is quite the little seamstress come out and look at the problem. It took about a week for her to be able to come out, but it was well worth the wait. She walked in, glanced sideways at my little machine, and *POOF* it worked! Apparently it just needed a knowing gaze to tell it to quit jackin around. I wonder how many projects you have to do to earn the respect of your sewing machine? I mean, of course, if you don't have a Theresa to come over and put it in it's place.

 My first big project was a set of curtains for the office. If you look here you'll see my pretty new office - and my ugly mess of cords under the desks. My husband picked out the fabric for this project on a trip to Hancock's. This is the first time he's ever "liked" a fabric, so while it wasn't in line with my original plan, I quickly changed paths and bought a few yards. I made simple panels, hemmed on each side, with the top folded over for a rod to go through. Of course I didn't have a rod, or really any way to hang it. Enter super-fantabulous IT-man husband. He had some cable stuff (technical term of course) which we threaded through my curtains and wrapped around the desk. It's sturdy enough that the curtain doesn't dip in the middle, but descreet enough that you're not thinking "oh my goodness! What has this girl done?!"

 My next big project was to make a shirt for myself. I used this tutorial and it was such a breeze. See, I have a pattern, but I'm terrified to use it. I've gotten as far as cutting it out to the correct size, but to be hones I"m intimidated by it. So my solution was to go patternless! The tutorial was great. The only problem I ran in to was my own doing. My advice would be to try on the shirt you want to use as a pattern. What? That's obvious? Oh. So after finishing up my pretty new shirt I squeezed in to it and thought "why is this so tight?" I then squeezed in to my pattern shirt and thought "that's why!" It fits, it's just a bit snug going over the top.

 Anyway, I'm not done with it. I still have to clean up the arm holes and the bottom. I chose to leave the edges raw because I think it looks nice that way I am nervous to hem anything. It actually looks pretty good, however I am incapable of cutting fabric without leaving a million jagged little edges, so I still need to clean those up.

 The shirt, while cute, was a little plain for my taste (and Kelly's  as well, she added a ruffle neck but I didn't want to was scared to try). So I made a ruffle, and turned it in to a flower. I see tons of tutorials for these out there, but they all require a) felt and b) a glue gun. I have neither. I started on the edge and just tacked every few inches together. It was floppy, and had to be arranged correctly on the shirt, however once I sewed it on it looks amazing! I'm not sure this shirt is machine washable any more, but it may never have been. I'm not 100% positive I backstitched at both ends of my seams. So to be safe, I will be hand washing this baby.

 My other big project to date is the tie I made for my son. To me, this was the "no big deal" project. It didn't take long, and was pretty easy to do (re: straight lines). I didn't have any velcro, so I used a large safety pin instead. My little man wore this to a wedding Saturday and it was a hit! He got SO MANY complements there, and at lunch afterwards. In fact, he had so many compliments, I decided he would wear it to church yesterday. A huge thank you to Nicole at Wannabe Crafty!

 I've made a few other projects I do not have pictures of <links coming soon>: snack bags and tissue holders mostly. The snack bag I liked a lot. It was for a gift to my son's day care teacher. I made a few homemade cookies - check out Sugarbelle for some great inspiration! She is amazing, and the reason I thought to attempt cookie decorating! - and packaged them in the re-usable baggie. I stuck a note inside explaining exactly what the bag was. She seemed excited, and I hope she enjoys it and puts it to use.

 So what do I want this blog to become? I enjoy blogging. At the same time, I don't think I can keep up with the pace I had strarted for myself. I was "great" at blogging and "bad" at family, or vice versa... and you can see which won out. :) But that is important to me. As much as I think I would enjoy having a popular, stunning blog - it's more important to me to have my family life where I want it. Maybe one day, down the line, I'll be able to devote more time to blogging. The blog world is such an exciting place, and I would truely be honored to consider myself a part of it. But now is not the time.

 I find myself rambling again, but to answer the question I have posed: I would like this blog to be a record of my accomplishments - mostly in sewing and crafting, but possibly in other things as well. I enjoy cooking, and I am starting to try new recipes and/or my own creative spin on recipes. I think it would be nice to document this so that I can see how far I've come. As I said, I've recently begun sewing, and I would like to use this as a place to list my projects. I think writing down my progress weekly will help me to stay on track and not lose interest. I think many of the reasons behind my "project add" are based in my forgetfulness. I want to do this! and this! and THIS! But I never do any of them. I may start a few, but I quickly lose interest. I'd like to keep a tab of what I accomplished this week, what I'm currently working on, and what I'd like to start in the near future.

 The final thing I may do with my little piece of the web (I say "may" because I am most definitely NOT going to over-commit myself), is to link up to my favorite projects. Right now, I have a filing system on my computer for projects I'd like to try. I use notepads, copy/paste the direct link, and put a quick title "shirt for me," "baby gift - blanket," etc. I think .

 So there we have it folks. The thoughts of an accountant-turned crafter-turned blogger-turned blog hermit/lurker-turned blogger again, but you can call me Kristi.

***I will have more pictures and the rest of the links soon. I just really wanted to get this posted while it's on my  mind.***

***How could I forget my other major project! I made these pillows for the living room! The original pillows are a deep brown suede-ish material. They are pretty enough, but I need some color in my life! I used an envelope-back pillow tutorial <again, link coming soon> to make theses cases and I LOVE them!