I/We

I :

don't want to be crafty in the usual way.  Cut out the felt animals, the cute scarves, I want practical, I want wood involved sometimes, maybe some welding.I want to create pjs for my darlings, and I don't want a pin cushion that looks like a lighthouse(thank you Joanne crafts for that one.)  Not saying I want to be different how everyone else is different or any of that shit, I just can't conform to or create all those cute little items I see all around me via internet and craft stores.  Thank goodness I live in a city where roller derby is considered a sport for moms, and black is sold at fabric stores just as much as pink is.

 have my first sewing 101 class coming up in a couple weeks and I have to say, I'm feeling a bit lightheaded.  That may just be the beer, or it could be that I feel like I am actually going to learn how to thread the flippin' bobbin and needle at the same time and correct the timing and make something for heaven's sake!  I'm not asking for the world, here, just a potholder, maybe, and some of those aforementioned pajamas.  I also covet oilcloth tablecloths-whether they need sewing or not remains to be seen.  i would also like to join in one of my former college roommate's claases at Bolt, a great Portland fabric/sew shop.

We:

are getting prepared for the harvest/halloween/fall season here at Chez Hoyt.  Little black and orange ribbons are creeping into the house via my purse, glittery bats and happy pumpkins await hanging by my lovely, talented husband.

baked some colorful leaf sugar cookies today, I and my girls.  I love feeling above my depression and anxiety enough to say that I loved doing something with my children.  That may sound strange to some of you, but for those of you who have struggled with psych. issues, it is like breathing in the freshest smells after being locked in a moldy basement when you can actually feel like a functioning, somewhat happy person.  I will take these things as they come, and I will put them in my heart.

I:

am unemployed.

am growing my hair out.

don't like sweet potato chips anymore, which saddened me a little the other day.

don't understand why Noggin/Nick Jr. has to keep flip flopping it's name.

would like to tune my guitar up and show it to the girls.  and play it.

That's most of the world from where I am.

My momma don't sew!

Okay, so I'm kind of copying the last theme from a dear friend's blog post. But it has been festering inside of me and I feel all kerfloobeldy now-I WANT TO SEW!!!!!

I have a sewing machine that I bought from a lovely woman at JoAnn's last year. It has been sitting upstairs, lonely, dusty and confused for several months now. I read the instruction manual, I bought a pretty helpful book, but now I think I've done something to the tension and it's all wonky! It isn't computerized(I ain't got no money for that!), and since the last thing I sewed was an inside-out windsock in the 7th grade, I'm a little concerned for its future use! I even signed up for a class at the craft store that would go over the basics and hopefully give me some dummy-proof guidance. UNFORTUNATELY, I missed the class because I wrote the time down wrong. Urghh! So now I am afraid to take the plastic cover off and brave re threading it, retuning it and figuring out what the hell I did to the tension! Somebody save me from myself!! I want to be cool, I want to be kitsch. I want to make quirky little animals and hip, vintage aprons and snuggly pillows...
Will my dreams come true? Will I find a way to conquer my fears? Will somebody please help me figure this damn thing out?!

Tune in next time for a second exciting installment of U 2 Can Sew.

-E