Sewing Failure?

(Photo from Freshly Picked)

I have held on to this awesome tutorial from Freshly Picked in my Google Reader for a while now. It looks so easy and just like the kind of skirt I like to wear... simple cotton, gathered, knee length... and with POCKETS! I've looked over this tutorial a million times and finally tried to construct it myself a few weeks ago. I got the inseam pockets on the first try (woohoo!) and all was going great until it came time to attach it to my 2" elastic waistband. I had kind of a hard time getting used to the whole stretching the elastic from both sides as you're pushing it through the machine thing. Then, I realized that instead of following the directions exactly, I had been slack and actually had 2 times the amount of fabric (my waist measurement) instead of 1.5 times. This really added up when I realized that the elastic wasn't stretching THAT much and that I had a huge bunch of fabric left over all wadded up in the front of my skirt. I couldn't just cut it either because one of my precious pockets was included in that wad! UGH! I put it down and walked away.
Jump to yesterday when I decided I really wanted that skirt. The fabric was too cute and I had made those pockets, dammit! I went outside and sat on my deck with my trusty seam ripper and went to ripping away the waistband elastic. I finally got it off and decided it would be best to pre-gather the fabric and then attach it since I now know that there isn't enough stretch in the elastic. I did that (have I mentioned how much I hate gathering with the basting stitches technique? I NEVER get them even enough to satisfy my OCD) and actually got a finished skirt! I was all proud of myself and put it on to show George. Know what he said after staring at it for a solid minute? "It looks HUGE!" Excuse me?! What did you say?! ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?????! "It's HUGE because I'm HUGE you jerk-off!" Then came my two year old tantrum. I knew what he was saying... it was too full but after the seam ripping and feeling like I salvaged the skirt it was all I wanted to hear. I can kind of agree with him, I should have gone with the 1.5 times my waist measurement instead of a full 2 times but STILL! Oh well, I'll still rock it. I don't care if I look bigger. I think the cute fabric and the pockets make up for it. Hmpf.

... and I call myself a blogger...pfffft!

Man, oh man. I am a horrible blogger. I always think of things to write but then realize that no one wants to hear about it. haha. Then again, I subscribe to over 400 blogs (or something equally embarrassing) and a lot of time I read crap I don't want to so I have decided just to go for it.

Some things that have happened recently in no particular order:

*My business, Thimble Kiss, is booming! I started selling in a local salon, Wink, and have had to replenish clips twice already because they're selling like hot cakes! Its great money for dropping off merch and letting it sit. I even had a girl come up to me at a huge craft show I just did and tell me that she bought one of my clips to wear for her wedding the weekend before! She saw my stuff on etsy but it was really last minute so she popped over to Wink and picked one up. I love those kinds of stories!

*Oh! And tomorrow is my one year Etsy anniversary! WOOHOO! I've sold way more than my 'sold' count suggests, but I'm fairly happy with this year's work.

*Said huge craft show was The Big Crafty here in Asheville. It is a semi-annual show that is definitely the biggest of the year here. I was included with 140 other vendors and had a really, really great day. I also got a pair of earrings from Figs & Ginger and met a few people who's blogs I read and who's names I've seen about town! It was SUCH a fun day and I'm really glad I did it (and made mad dough to boot!)

*My best friend, Christina, had her baby girl! Bailey Annabelle Bolton was born June 12th. I got down there as soon as I could before that new baby scent went away and got some snuggles in. She really is the sweetest little mush ball ever. I also have an affection for angry baby photos. =)


*My summer break is winding down now. We have had a few visitors come into town and had a great time this summer. I've been working and have enjoyed being able to come home at night and crash at seven pm if I want to. Classes start back up in August. I'll be sad to be in class until 10pm three nights a week (after working 10 hours all day...ugh.) but I'm getting closer and closer to finishing. I'm happy to report that this semester will be the last math class of my college career. EVER. I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

*In a few weeks I am heading west! I'm going to visit my bff in Austin. I have no idea what we're going to do except shotgun beers and dance like fools. Should be a good time.

*My friend Annie took some photos of me for my etsy store at The Biltmore Estate a few months ago. Its the largest private home in America and I try to avoid it like the plague. The grounds are vast and gorgeous though so we found some off the beaten trail places to shoot (ie: no where near the house!) and I am kind of obsessed with these photos. I know, its sick to be obsessed with photos of yourself, but there are a few of them that I swear I've seen in dreams. I have an affinity for wheat field/tall grass photos and we took quite a few. Needless to say, I haven't actually used any for my etsy store. I have a few that I am planning to use for some listings tomorrow and I'm excited about that. Honestly though, I need to make more flowers! After The Big Crafty and another shipment to Wink I'm nearly dry!


*I saw a great quote that I think could describe me pretty accurately today. I think it was on the back of a book or in some liner notes. I can't remember the source but it was something along the lines of 'I could never be president because the US media outlets can't say the word "fuck" and so they would never be able to accurately quote me.' I love my potty mouth. =)

So that's really it for now. I am seriously going to try harder to post stuff I find interesting and hopefully won't bore you to death. You can also find me on the virtual book of faces you never wanted to see again here: Thimble Kiss Fan Page

Spring's Bounty

It seems like this time of year is when beautiful photos of local farmers markets start popping up all over my favorite blogs. If you can't beat em' join em'! Here are a few photos of some of the wonderful goods found at the Asheville City Farmer's Market this past weekend!






This asparagus was in the field 45 minutes before I bought it. I LOVE that!
We even have a local company that sells bottled water from a local source. Its tasty too!

Dinner!

So George was having a rough day today. I wanted to make something nice for dinner but with limited groceries in the house, I knew I needed to be creative! We had pork chops and stuff for salad so I went to it to try and make it special. After a long winter of cooking inside, it was time to break out the grill! I had never grilled by myself and managed not to set the house on fire. I have an obsession with cast iron cook ware and even our grill is cast iron! I HEART LODGE!

So I put on my grilling face (which happened to include red lipstick because I had been shooting new photos for my etsy store!), cracked open a beer and got to grilling!

First, I marinated the pork chops in 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice and a crap ton of onions and garlic. I let those sit in the fridge for about 4 hours but only because I had thought about it. I've let them sit for as little as 30 minutes and they still turn out good. This is great for pork loins too! I don't think you'd want to leave them over night because the acid would cook the meat too much. Anyway, a little salt and pepper when they come out of the bag and you're good to grill! Here is the left over marinade after I had all the chops on the grill (you should have seen the people walking down the street stare at me holding this bag of gray juice and taking a picture of it!)

Throw those suckers on the grill and let them go!

MMMMMMMM....meat. That statement is funny coming from a former vegan.
I also made a lovely baby spinach salad with a blue cheese vinaigrette!

I made some creamed corn and when George walked in he sat down and was presented with a platter of goodness! I definitely earned my keep (and beer!) tonight. =)

No crafting = no good.

So I haven't been crafting. I came up with (and am still tweaking) a new clutch that I hope to make and get into the store soon... along with 500 other things I've been sitting on not photographing.

I'm still not feeling 100%. I have a little bit of a lingering cough from this horrible cold thinggy that I had. It will NOT go away! Needless to say, I haven't been to the gym because I still can't breathe (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!)

I do get to go on vacation this week! George and I are taking advantage of my spring break at school and heading down to Miami and then driving to Key West this week. We leave Monday and I'm SUPER psyched!

I also cut over six inches off of my hair today! It was pretty cathartic and it just feels OH SO MUCH lighter! She thinned it out and put a lot of texture in which is really nice too!

okay, so that was my quick recap of the whole lot of nothing going on with me!


(ready for Florida!)

Copy Cat

Okay, I just turned on VH1 morning music videos because I couldn't stand anymore nick jr. and I saw this video by some guy I never heard of that looks like it is filmed in front of the EXACT store from the Like I Love You video... his outfit even looks similar! COPY CAT! Okay, glad I got that off my chest. = )

Justin Timberlake "Like I Love You"


Jason Derulo "In My Head"

Sick Ick Ick

I've been sick for about week now. It started as swollen glands, a horribly sore throat and head congestion. Then morphed into laryngitis. Now the little bugger has dropped into my chest and is punishing my poor lungs. I'm hacking constantly and I won't even tell you about the gobs of stuff coming up every morning. It feels like that fat guy (in the mucinex commercial) has decided on camping out and has started a proper camp fire in my lungs. OUCH. I'm ready for this to be over.