The Sewing Bug

So, I started all this because I have started to sew and along with that become CRAFTY. I have always wanted to be crafty, but lacked the creativity. Now with the web, I can just copy. Here is a run down of what I have done so far...

It all started with a class to make a bag.

I tried to control myself, but after I started, I wanted to sew, sew, sew. I wanted to sew Sophia a bag really badly. I ended up doing a lot of shopping at Joann's and on the Internet. The picture below of the office turned sewing room is what came to be.

This is what happens to a room when you let a three year old entertain herself while you try to sew!! I swear, I might be lazy, but not this messy.

During the bag experience, I discovered the Internet and all the cool sites with free patterns, great ideas, and even MOMS that are super crafty and creative. Amazing! I started with this yoga mat bag. I found several and used them all a little, but this one the most: http://boredandcrafty.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/yoga-mat-bag-tutorial/

Here is mine with a bit of embroidery since my machine does it for me.

So after the bags, I wanted to make gifts. I figure, one year of gifts will practically pay for that sewing machine you saw above. (That is IF you disreguard all the things you buy to learn to make the gifts :)

Here are my tries at gifts and let me just say...I am proud of myself! The first crafty things were felt bunnies and a felt bag for Ella. I have no picture, but I found the felt bunnies at http://allsorts.typepad.com/




Next, I made the Crayon Roll that I found at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/. Mine was for a 1 year old boy so I left off the ric rac. (Just proud of myself for knowing what ric rac is.)

My second gift, a memory game with bag, was for a 3 year old boy from Sophia's class. I found this at two different websites.
http://lovelydesign.blogspot.com/2009/02/goodie-bags.html
and
http://inchmark.squarespace.com/inchmark/2009/1/12/fabric-scrap-memory-game.html



And that is where the story begins! I hope to post more projects with inspiration websites as well as pics of the kids, husband, and dogs!!

My First Blog

Hey guys! I am going to try my hand at blogging. This way I can upload what I want and you can come see it when you are interested.

Wish me luck!

What's Grumbeere?

Grumbeere means Kartoffeln.



The End. Thanks for visiting.




Just kidding!



Kartoffeln means potatoes in Hoch Deutsch or proper German. We, however, lived in die Pfalz (Palatinate) area of Germany so were exposed to the paelzisch dialect where Kartoffeln was replaced by Grumbeere. The sad thing is that most of the time I did not know that people were speaking dialect since many times that just meant a slight variation of pronunciation (that I just couldn't hear) or a shortening of a word (which I am totally used to coming from TN). There were certain words that we heard a lot in dialect and so came to know such as Grumbeere and Woi (wine).


The reason why I named the blog Grumbeere though, is not because I love potatoes. For the reason, you have to look closer at the picture and see Sadie's butt up in the air. Sadie is one of our dogs who came to Germany with us. She and Jasmine had a big time in Europe since they could go on long walks without leashes, go to restaurants (where they were NOT as well behaved as the German dogs), and see a lot of Europe. Here they are in Tuscany enjoying the vineyards.






Anyway, Sadie's days off the leash were numbered every year because she could not be trusted during planting or harvesting season and the farmers surrounding our village kept their fields pretty well used during the year so there were a lot of planting and harvesting going on. When Sadie DID get off the leash and was allowed to explore, she pretty much just explored from one Grumbeer spot to the next. She would FEAST on these things as well as sugar beets. Oh man, she loves her some sugar beets!!





The thing is though, even though I had to yell at her constantly to come, even though harvesting season was the bane of my existence as a dog owner, I envied Sadie her joyful abandon in those fields. If I could find such happiness in such small and plentiful things as the pfaelzer Grumbeere then I would be a truly happy person. So, that is what I am trying to do with my sewing and with this blog. I am trying to plant my own field of Grumbeere.