Day One - One More Time

Well here we go - Day 1...again. I've decided to try blogging again. Tried a couple of years ago and couldn't get the hang of it. Not sure why - probably the logging in and adding something new each day confused me.

I'm naturally blonde - or was at one point in my life. Now my boss says I change hair color more often than I change clothes. He doesn't even look surprised when I leave the office one day as a blonde and return the next as a redhead. To his credit he didn't even bat an eye the day I showed up with DayGlo Royal Purple hair. That was not planned - it just happened. Fortunately it was just before Halloween.

Besides changing my hair color on a regular basis, I also do all kinds of needlework crafts, scrapbooking, grandkid tending and work full time. My needlework lately has consisted of going into my sewing room and turning on the sewing machine, going to my fabric stash to find a piece of fabric I want to make something out of and then realizing that the pattern I bought 5 years ago is not the correct dimensions for the body I have now. Turn off the sewing machine, put the fabric aside - and go watch trash TV (usually NCIS, Criminal Minds or Big Bang Theory). I think I may have to stick to making items that I do not have to starve myself for 4 weeks to actually zip or button. Like bags - I make absolutely terrific totes and bags. Some of my friends refer to me as the 'Bag Lady'.

I learned to sew by trial and error. My mother and my grandmother were both excellent seamstresses. Unfortunately, I was a terrible student and never wanted to sew when they wanted to teach me. But I must have soaked up some of their skills by osmosis. My first real attempt to make anything on a sewing machine was when I was in Home Ec in Junior High. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they actually had electric sewing machines and that I didn't have to use both feet to run them! I made a jumper that year - and wore it once. My teacher made me take the zipper out and re-do it so many times the fabric shredded. I didn't try to sew again for many years. I kept the stand from my mother's sewing machine and am in the process of restoring it. I gave the actual sewing machine to my sister-in-law and bought a replacement. I am sure Mom would be happy to know that we shared! We both wanted it and this way we both get part of Mom's legacy of sewing.

Then I got married and started having kids. I made shirts, pants, jackets, pajamas, quilts...I even made them sleeping bags one year for Christmas. My best friend and I used to make T-shirts assembly line style. We would set up our sewing machines on the opposite sides of the kitchen table and I would sew a seam on a shirt, throw it to her and pick up the next shirt. She would do the same - sew her seam, throw it back to me and pick up the next one. We now live too far away from each other to get together for sewing sessions - I miss her...lots.

Now I have grandkids - way more fun because when they behave like brats I can send them home. Oh - and I can spoil them while I have them so that they behave like brats when they go home - LOL. My mother always told me 'What goes around, comes around.' I never gave her a fraction of the grief my kids gave me...but I do get to sit back and smile now that they are grown and have their own children to deal with.