We're back!

Back from Disney! Had a blast! More work to get done now than I have time for.

I have a baby quilt for my niece that should have already been sent...just needs to be quilted. I have another baby quilt for a couple at church that needs to be done by December. I have 4 autograph quilts from Disney to get finished. I have numerous Christmas gifts to get done...

...and now Miss B has gotten sick. She started coughing last night, then woke up at 2 am with fever and headache. Now, I'm waiting for the doctor's office to open to see if we should take her in. Hopefully this is not the flu...but with my luck it is!

Think healthy thoughts and get your flu shots!

Nini

T H R E E !!!!

Only three more days!

Stuff left to do:

• Finish Doll Dresses
• Make sure celebration is added to all ADRs
• Finish the kids pillows
• Finish the squares for the autograph quilt
• Finish packing
• Re-check budget for the gazillionth time
• Clean cars
• Get Damien's hair cut
• Get Brianna's hair done
• Get my hair colored
• Finish copying movies
• Print a bunch of stuff out
• Laminate some stuff
• Clean house
• Pack Truck

And...oh yeah...I need to find my list of things to do!

Last night, Amanda had a bit of a boo boo in her vehicle. She's fine, but their truck is no longer with us. (a moment of silence for the paid for truck). Last night she was pretty shook up about it, and quite a bit upset. So, being the good parent that I am...we went to Zaxby's for dinner! (Dutch Treat!) So...all those great plans I had made for making progress on my to do list fell through. (seems like a plausible excuse to me!)

So, this morning I woke up to a wonderful thunderstorm! Storms always throw my schedule off. It took me longer than usual to get my coffee and get upstairs to start sewing. I got one doll dress almost finished when Shawn and Tasha came with Alyssa. For some reason, Alyssa acted like she had never seen me before and her Daddy was leaving her with a complete stranger. (Gotta love those 2 year old outbursts!)

I don't see any sewing happening today!

I discovered last night that AAA has routed us differently than we usually go to Disney. We will be coming in the back way...meaning we will miss that wonderful Welcome to Disney sign! Of course we will have ample opportunity to see it while we are there and it IS saving us 20 minutes this way, but I was really hopping Shawn and Tasha would be able to see that amazing site as they arrived for the first time!

I made an important discovery last night...gas is cheaper ON Disney than it is OFF!!! That just doesn't make any sense at all to me! It goes against all reasoning. If you have a captive audience, you can charge what you want to. True, it is only a few pennies cheaper, but it is cheaper!

Well, I guess that is all the time I have for random Disney thoughts today. Have a great day!

Nini

Gremlins

If I remember correctly, gremlins got their start back in WW something...can't remember if it was I or II. How pathetic is that! Anyway, Gremlins were reported by Air force pilots as explanations as to things that went a little crazy for no explanation. I always thought it was silly to blame those poor little gremlins for your own mistakes!

I have since changed my mind!

I was attempting to take advantage of not having The Princess today, and the fact that Miss B is visiting with her sister this weekend, and Mr D was watching Disney tv undisturbed. I had those two princess dresses to work on.

Started out by not being able to find the right pattern. So, I went downstairs and reprinted it. Cut it out and went back upstairs to start sewing...only the missing pattern was sitting right where I was looking not 10 minutes before. Strange...

Then I was ready to start. But the fabric was missing...so I tear up my fabric pile, only to discover it is sitting right where it was supposed to be...strange again.

Now, where did my scissors go? Looked everywhere...finally decided to use my paper scissors. Not easy to cut this thick fabric with them, but it is workable. After I finished cutting out all the pieces for both dresses, I discovered the scissors are now sitting exactly where they are supposed to be. How did that happen?

Now my attention turned to the sewing machine. I ran out of thread...now how on earth did THAT happen? I had just bought a new spool when I bought the fabric. It's not like I had a spool of seafoam green laying around. I have NEVER sewn anything in that color before...I guess it is time for a trip to WalMart to see if they have the thread I need...when I go to turn off the sewing machine...there is a full spool of seafoam green sitting behind my sewing machine. Now what is going on here?

Is there another, rational explanation, other than gremlins? Things just do not disappear and reappear on their own. It is against the laws of physics and common sense. Gremlins is the only possible explanation. The only question is, where have they been hiding out all these years?

I actually managed to get the dresses finished, without too many more visits from the gremlins, but I now know they are real. And they live in my sewing room.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

Yes, I know this song has been made into a Sarah Lee commercial. But before that...it was the theme song of one of my bosses a loooooong time ago!

It fits my mood 100% perfect. I have been stressing about these princess dresses for the Cabbage Patch dolls trip to Disney. It took me FOREVER to get the first one made for Brianna. Alyssa's was a wee bit easier. Now I have the wonderful directions from Carla C, so I knew it would be easier than the way I was attempting to do it!

Amazing how much easier something is if you have actual directions on how to do it! I still had a few issues, but they were due to the fabric I was using and not the instructions or construction methods!

Now they are both finished! I actually managed to finish 3 outfits today. I now have only 4 more doll dresses to complete before we leave next Saturday. I am beginning to think I might actually get everything done before we go.

Now time for lunch and then back to the sewing table. Maybe I can get the other 4 done today and then I will actually be ahead of schedule...

Nini

Security?

I was reading about how people 'friend' you on Face book so they can see when you are gone on vacation, and then break into your house. Paranoid? maybe, maybe not. Today, people are so lawless, you almost think you are living in the wild wild west! Too many people don't think twice about the legal, moral or ethical ramifications of what they do, they just do what 'feels' right to them.

Well, that will be another rant for another day!

All that made me think about the fact that I have my own 'security' for our upcoming trip. I have a 120 pound German Shepherd that would devour anyone that woke him up and tried to come in the house! I have my own security guard staying at my house to take care of the dogs while we are gone. And I have a police car setting in my drive way....

Hmmm, wonder what else I might need....

Nini

Another Disney Project?

OK...I have 8 and a half days until we leave...5 doll dresses and three t shirts to finish. So what do I do? I come up with another project of course!! We always get the autographs of the characters and they just sit there in that stupid book. We never look at them again, and we generally loose them after a few years. (sad I know) I thought about making one of those nice home made autograph books, but was afraid it would suffer the same fate! I had a small flash of brilliance. Very small. I'm going to make an autograph quilt. I first saw this idea on the Dis Boards a few months ago and quickly forgot about it. After an hour of searching, I found the original post, and have now firmed up my plans. I'm getting 4 or 5 different tone on tone white prints. (I figure I will need about 2 yards per kid) I will cut 8 or 10 inch squares and iron them to freezer paper to stabilize them. Get some fabric markers and have the characters sign them. After we get home, I'll take the freezer paper off, trim to my final size plus seam allowance, and make a quilt. For the girls I think I might use some of the scraps from their dresses. For the boys, maybe a cute Cars fabric thrown in. At this point, the possibilities are endless. I figure I can do the prep work in just a few hours. A good iron and a new sharp rotary cutting blade should make this part go fast. I'll just pop all the fabrics into a plastic zip loc bag (and have another one for the ones that are signed) and maybe find a small clipboard to aid in the signing. I'm actually getting excited about this little project! Nini

Twelve More Days!

Disney Update!

I have a feeling I MIGHT just get everything finished before we go! I have now finished both Ariel dresses for the girls and two more outfits for the dolls. I only have five more doll dresses and 9 more T shirts!

I should be able to get quite a few of the T shirts knocked out today...that is IF I can get back in the mode of sewing! I seem to have parked myself down in front of a 'Criminal Minds' marathon! Since I love this show, it might be hard to get myself back into the sewing mode. Plus I need to run to Joann's to get some ball point needles. I'm hoping that will help me get the applique on the T shirts done a bit easier!

What a beautiful day outside to waste in front of the TV or the sewing machine! Need to go shopping!

Nini

Ariel, who was your tailor?

Well, to continue on the dress woes...

I found some yummy seafoam fabric for Ariel's dress. I've spent hours and hours researching the way the dress looks in the parks. I've seen several different sun dresses made in that 'style'. I've seen with my mind's eye exactly what I want.

Last night I spent 3 hours drafting a pattern for the peplum. Only to find that the yummy fabric I picked out for the peplum won't hold its shape...too thin and sheer to even add an interfacing or lining. Back to the drawing board.

Then I go with a peplum more in line with what is on Cindy's dress...still not quite what I'm looking for..now if only I had a model that would stay up all night with me and not mind having the pins inserted into her body...(see you have to have the skirt ready before you can attach to the bodice, so to see how it drapes you have to pin it in...er on the model!) For some reason Miss B thinks that might hurt! However it does look kinda cute hanging on my lampshade!

OK...back to sewing...I only have 14 days left to finish 3 princess dresses...got to remember to make one for the doll!

Nini

Had enough Disney, anyone?

Can you believe it is September already? We leave in only 18 days...that means only 17 more days to get everything ready and packed!

I have been trying to get some of our dining ressies tweaked a bit. I have decided not to stress about not getting everything I want, and have made backup plans. But there are a few that I keep working on everyday...you never know when something will open up!

Well, yesterday I didn't check. Seriously! I didn't call or check online. I have been checking at various times throughout the day. Some people cancel their ressies in the morning, some in the evening, and still more through out the day...Well, not yesterday. I was busy so I didn't think it would hurt to miss one day. Boy was I wrong!

Online, I discovered THREE different parties of 6 or more were able to get their ressies at Chef Mickey, on the day I want!!!! This morning...NOTHING!!!

Lesson learned!

On the dresses front, we went to Joanns yesterday, just to look for some princess fabric. I never knew how hard it was to find fabric in the colors I want that would be suitable for a sun dress! I found some flannel in the EXACT color I want...I found some yummy colored fleece in both shades I have in mind. I found some beautiful bridal fabric in embellished, dyed to match lace...could be perfect...IF I had something to put under it!

Trying to find something that is not only the right color, but not scratchy or hot seems like it is going to be a bit more problematic that I thought! Hopefully I can find something today or this weekend. If not, I will have to come up with plan 2! I won't have time to make them if I have to wait past this weekend to get started. Right now, plan 2 is the ever boring, but popular, licensed print, made into a regular sundress.

It will be acceptable, but I really wanted a bit more wow on this one!

Now, just 100 more things to decide on and implement and I will be ready to go to my happy place!

Nini