Saturday, June 04, 2011

do we actually have time for hobbies??

So in the midst of the madness of trying to move our little family across the country, Jamie and I somehow still manage to find a couple spare minutes to indulge in our hobbies!

The other day I decided I wanted to use a sewing machine. I don't know how to use a sewing machine, but that didn't stop me. (I've watched my mom sew lots of times, so I figured it couldn't be too hard, right??)

My sweet sweet neighbor, Terri, was kind enough to let me borrow her sewing machine. I tried to act confident so she wouldn't know I was using her machine as a guinea pig!

Anyways, after a few hours of intense cursing and watching youtube videos on 'how to thread a bobbin'... I finally DID IT! I sewed. The hard part wasn't the actual sewing- it was figuring out all the stupid logistics of winding the thread, replacing the bobbin, inserting a new needle after I broke one (apparently you are NOT supposed to sew right over the top of the metal pins holding the fabric in place... good to know).  

(photo credit- Jamie)

I started with a super easy project. I sewed a curtain for Audrie and Annie to have a little puppet theater/ stage curtain. I put it on one of those cheap tension rods and stuck it in a doorframe. They LOVE it! And it's easy to pop in and out when they want to put on a show (and with Audrie that is several times a day). Thanks, Carrie, for the idea!


Here's a quick little video of the curtain in action (Audrie is standing on a stool behind the curtain) :


I also sewed a fitted sheet (ooh aah) out of hot pink minky dot fabric for Annie's crib and I was really impressed with how it turned out. I don't have any pics of it yet, but once I build up my sewing repertoire (ha!) I'll snap a few photos of my projects.

And if you haven't been keeping up with Jamie's etsy shop, Instrumental Lighting,YOU SHOULD! He's making new instrument lamps all the time and has made several sales. I'm so proud of him and he loves 'saving' old instruments and giving them a new purpose. He even has started making some of them into 'Touch Lamps' (anywhere you touch the lamp it turns on and has three level of light settings for every time you touch it... so COOL.)

 

Here is a sample of a few of his latest instrument lamps:









Anyways, that's a little update on our hobby-ing. It has been fun sitting across the dining table from Jamie at night, working on my sewing, while he builds lamps. Kind of a little glimpse into our geriatric future someday! :)