Life And Free Fabric

*Giveaway closed*

Life, my friends, is crazy.   I know you've seen posts like this from other fellow sewing bloggers who've had babes recently.   So here's yet another.  I have no time to sew! Boo hoo hoo... [insert mini pity party here].  And I hate it because not only do I love to sew,  I so enjoy taking part in this little community as well.  I enjoy the inspiration, the sharing, the feedback and the give-and-take.  I love participating in it.  Unfortunately, I will be participating on a much smaller scale here for a while.  As you do when you have small ones it seems.  I have been able to keep up with my blog reader for the most part.   I read blogs on my phone while I'm nursing or rocking sweet little Jane to sleep.   Sometimes I have to speed-read when I'm behind because I really don't want to miss anything.  I have so enjoyed living vicariously through you all and the awesome things you've been sewing.  If you've noticed I'm not commenting as much, that's why.  It's hard to comment on a phone.  On a related note: Does anyone else have trouble with Disqus on their iPhone?  Every time I try to comment in the Disqus form on my phone, it disappears.  I doubt that there is anything wrong with Disqus.  It could just be part of Apple's conspiracy to make me upgrade and spend more money on my gadgets.   I have an ancient iPhone 4 (said with sarcasm there).  We also have an old Macbook, so we are doubly screwed with out of date operating systems at the moment.  We'll have to purchase an upgrade soon.

 

There seems to be some animosity between Jane and Mr. Octopus.

I'm back at work, three weeks now, and I can't explain how hectic my day is.  I start at 5:00 am on the dot and I get to sit down finally around 10:00 pm.  And then I usually remember how I have to wash bottles or do a load of laundry before the next day.  It's daunting to think about a whole school year of this to tell you the truth.  I've asked myself many times how I'm going to keep it up.  I've had a few moments of calm here lately, though.  I'm hoping I'll find a balance soon.  Being a working mother is not something you can prepare yourself for.  I thought I knew what I was taking on, but I wasn't truly prepared.  I miss my baby something fierce during the day and I've cried almost every morning after dropping her off before work.  So I'm spread a little thin at the moment and my emotions are on the surface.   But like I said before, I'm hopeful that some balance will come soon.  I see glimpses of it on the horizon :)

Ok, end of the pity party now.  It's not all work and no fun in these parts.  There is plenty of play, too.  It's impossible not to be happy when you get to wake up to this every morning.

She is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever, I tell you.  She is now four and half months old and full of giggles and smiles and drool.  Lots and lots of drool.

Several weeks ago, the lovely Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic sent me an email out of the blue to tell me she was sending me some fabric.  She told me she wasn't taking a "that's okay" from me, that she was sending me something and that was that.  She is giving away more fabric to other fine folks as well.  I love the pledge that she made.  See, that's what I love about this community.  There is a generosity that you don't see around other communities like ours.  I think Carolyn sensed I needed a little pick-me-up and pick me up she did.  She also told me I was special.  Carolyn, I bet you say that to all the sewing bloggers ;)

I got the package the other day and it was such a treat.  In an effort to keep my karmic balance in order, I am going to give away some fabric, too.  Do you folks like free fabric around here?  I hope so.  I am going to give away one piece that Carolyn gave me, along with a few pieces from my own stash (which shall not be photographed... eep).  But don't get your hopes up about that black and white polka dot (sateen, Carolyn?).  I already have plans for that.  Leave me a comment below and make sure I can get in touch with you by email if it's not connected to your profile.  I will choose a winner by random number.  I'll ship anywhere.   Once the winner is chosen, then I'm going to look through my stash and pick a few pieces.  If the winner is someone I "know" I'd like to try and pick things that I think you'd like.  It won't be stuff I'm just trying to de-stash, I promise.  M'kay, sound good?  The only catch is that you have to be patient with me and shipping.  It may take me a week or two to get everything together and get to the post office.   I'll leave the giveaway open until this Friday, September 6th and I'll choose a winner on Saturday.

I've also been remiss in thanking some folks for sweet gifts they sent to me and Jane over the summer.  Amber from so I sewed this... made me the most adorable little baby dress out of some super cool batik fabric for Jane.  It was such a thoughtful gesture and you know I'm a sucker for a funky batik. And almost she fits in it now! (She's really not a big baby, in case you were wondering.)  And Phillipa at Gloria and Me included a copy of Growing Up Sew Liberated when she sent a couple of 60's patterns I won on her blog, which was very thoughtful and kind as well.  I am very excited about making up those bubble pants for Jane.

As a thank you to Carolyn, Amber, Phillipa, and all you awesome people out there in sewing blogland,  I made this video.  Actually I was multitasking when I did this.  I wrote a grant last year for eight of these Hue Animation Studio Kits for my classroom and they just came in the mail.  I am planning on doing a stop motion art lesson with my fourth graders and I had to test out the cameras.  It was so easy, people.  I've done a stop motion video before if you remember the couch I upholstered, but I won't go in to detail about how I made that video.  It was cumbersome and just dumb, really.  Since then I haven't been able to get the idea of teaching an art lesson about stop motion out of my head.  I even tried it with my art club last year the roundabout way.  It wasn't successful.  These Hue cameras are awesome and I'm really excited about teaching this lesson now.  I promise I didn't just buy the cameras for me to play with ;) Only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the quality of the photos. The color is off as it is with document cameras it seems. But for our elementary school purposes they will suit us just fine.


Thank You from Liza Jane on Vimeo.

Thanks, guys.  I'll be popping in from time to time when I can.  Hope you'll stick around with me!