In the Works: Swishy Barn Dance Skirt

I’m pretty excited about how my foray into sewing has now merged with my newest potential hobby: barn dancing!  (Fabulous, fabulous fun.  My friend Marie was right — my mouth hurt from so much smiling!)

This morning I’d planned to make my last pair of swishy pants.  However, when unrolling and rotating the fabric to match the pattern I became dismayed to realize that things were not going to turn out quite as I’d envisioned them to be.  In fact, I was no longer sure I liked the fabric at all!  Fortunately, Maggie — my friend and teacher  — still liked it, so I gladly passed the fabric on to her, and we decided to try a new project.

I quickly latched on to the idea of making a skirt for barn dancing, since I’d enjoyed the experience so much the night before and hadn’t felt like I had quite the right dress for it. Maggie pulled out some skirt patterns from her plentiful stock, and I quickly fell for a swishy skirt pattern.  Off to the fabric store we went!

After a store stop and a quick Thai lunch break, we came back with a beige linen fabric — and bonus — were able to actually squeeze TWO skirts out of the fabric!

Part I of the process is done: 1. Ditched old fabric and pattern 2. chose new pattern 3. picked out new fabric 4. cut fabric pieces 5. discovered fabric bonus!

In a couple weeks I will share back about Part II — and hopefully have a swishy skirt to share!

Much love and many blessings! ❤

Today’s 4 Miracles

Miracle #1:  I made my own pants — and in half the time!  I’ve started meeting with my friend once or twice a month for sewing lessons.  So far I’ve made 2 pairs of pants and 2 pillow cases.  I’m a bit of a slow and steady learner, but I’m starting to get more of the hang of things — this pair of pants took me 4 hours!

Miracle #2: I fixed my computer keys!  After reaching the end of my rope with the “e” and “r” key randomly not working, I watched a youtube video today on taking the keyboard apart. I took the two keys off, cleaned a little around them, and put them back together.  They don’t seem to be 100% but they are MUCH, MUCH better. . .  which is fortunate, because when I began this blog post, I wanted to smash my keyboard into pieces.

Miracle #3: My rose bush is still alive!  You may have read in some of my previous blog posts that I’ve been having some issues with our rose bush, a wedding gift from this past May.  First there was an asian beetle.  Then, apparently — caterpillars.  The poor plant was left with nothing but stems.  I wasn’t sure the rose bush was going to make it, but I clearly still know nothing about plants.  The last few days I’ve noticed some beautiful fresh leaves with rosy trim.  Plants will never cease to amaze me.

Miracle #4: Zumba Learning Fix!  “What if it were easy?”  At the beginning of this month I became a certified Zumba instructor, and I’ve started trying to learn the routine for my first class.  I received a “My First Class” DVD and started on the first song, but I struggled not to copy the instructor, as I normally would as a participant.  (As an instructor we have to learn to start with the opposite foot that we are used to, since we are mirroring the participants.)   I’ve started thinking about one of my coaching questions: “What if it were easy?” and I applied it to this scenario.  Why not actually capitalize on how good I am at following?  So, I video recorded myself following the instructor and today started following myself in my own recording!

What were your miracles today?  I’d love to hear about them! ❤  Much love and many blessings.

I Made My First Pants!

It’s kind of crazy how dreams are becoming reality.  Not too many years ago I wasn’t even dreaming.  I was advised to “have fun” — but I didn’t know what that meant.

Then I started thinking: “I might like to do that someday.”  And “Maybe I could try that.”

And now I’m doing things.  I talked with my friend years ago about learning how to sew from her — and now I’ve sewn two pillow cases and a pair of pants!  (Just need to manifest my own sewing machine!)  I kept thinking I should dance more, that it might be nice to take a dance class — now I’m going to teach one!  I’m journaling and going Live in the mornings; I’m blogging every night. My first Artist’s Way 12-week group officially starts tomorrow. Things that took FOREVER for me to get going are suddenly all locking into place.

I’m beginning to feel the abundance, I’m opening, I’m freeing up, and I’m so grateful.

Wishing the same for you each and every day!  Much love and many blessings. ❤