Life...

...Has currently ceased as I spend every moment either working at my current job, or working to be hired at a new job as a teacher.

For all of my actively teaching friends prepping for this upcoming school year:

Tutorial: Zipper Pouches

Sorry for the long break, friends.  I was off galavanting with my best, best friends to celebrate all of us turning 30 this year.  We've known each other since we were in high school, and I can't even tell you what an amazing blessing it is to have not just one, but TWO friends that love you and know you so well.  I hope you have that, too.

For their birthday gifts, I wanted to make them something but had a pretty limited timeframe due to craziness with classes, work, etc.  Enter the easiest sewing project, possibly ever:  Zipper Pouches.

Let me just say, I adore zipper pouches.  As an unorganized person, they help me keep my ish together.   And they're cute.  It's a win-win.  And speaking of not being organized... I can't find my photos that I took for this tutorial.   So, they'll be added later.  Whoops!

Here are the steps to follow to make your very own zipper pouches, what I would call a "medium" size.  I've broken down every little thing as much as possible so it should be relatively easy to follow.  If you're a newbie at sewing (and trust me, I'm far from pro!), your first pouch may come out a bit of a mess due to learning to use a zipper foot, but keep at it!  Your pouches will only become better with each try! :)

Tutorial: Zipper Pouches

1. Gather your materials:

     - 4 rectangles of fabric, measuring 12"x9" ea 

     (2 rectangles will be your exterior fabric, and 2 rectangles will be your interior lining)

     - 2 rectangles of interfacing, measuring 11.5"x8.5" ea

     (interfacing can be at whatever thickness you'd prefer, or you don't have to use any)

     - 1 zipper, at least 12" in length 

     (if you are using a metal zipper, use exactly the length of your fabric; if you're using a plastic coil zipper, then you can use at least 12" or longer as it can be cut down)

     - thread 

2. If you are using interfacing, iron on your interfacing to the wrong side of both exterior pieces of fabric.

3. Lay one exterior piece of your fabric out, right side up.  Lay the zipper along the upper raw edge, right side down (zipper side down).  The zipper pull will be on your left.  The extra zipper material on the left side of the pull will be lined up with the raw edge of your exterior fabric.

4. Lay one interior piece of fabric right side down on top of the zipper, lining up the sides with the raw edges of the exterior fabric piece underneath.  Pin the exterior fabric, zipper, and interior lining together along the top of the raw edges where all three parts come together.

5.  With your zipper foot on your sewing machine, sew along the pinned line with a 1/4" seam allowance.  At approximately 1" before the end of the seam, STOP sewing and backstitch (keep your needle down and in place when your finish backstitching).  

6. Push the remaining length of the zipper down (I call it the zipper "tail"), in towards the fabric.  You want to get it out of the way, and then continue your seam along the two pieces of fabric all the way to the end of their raw edges.  I really had to manhandle the zipper to keep it out of the way AND keep my seam allowance along the remaining fabric, so don't be afraid to really use those muscles.

7. Flip the fabrics - you'll see that now you have an exterior and interior piece for one side of your zipper pouch.  Hooray!  Press both pieces away from the zipper.

8. Complete steps 4-8 again, with these exceptions: the zipper pull will be on your right, and this time some of the fabric will be attached to the zipper before the new fabric is attached.  Once you've pressed the pieces, the fabric will lay out like a book on either sides of the zipper.

9. Open the zipper halfway.  Make sure that the zipper is pinned on the raw edge of the material so the teeth still line up, since it's halfway unzipped.  Tuck the "tail" of the zipper inside the fabric and make sure it stays there!  Take the two interior fabric pieces and pin them together, right sides together.  Leave a gap of approximately 4" along the bottom that will not be sewn together at this time.  Take the two exterior fabric pieces and pin them together, right sides together.  Take your time pinning; re-pin as needed to ensure that both the interior and exterior panels are smooth and lay flat.

10. Sew an ongoing seam along the pinned perimeter of the exterior and interior fabric with a 1/2" seam allowance.  Remember NOT to sew that 4" gap along the interior fabric, and to make sure that your zipper "tail" stays tucked inside the fabric and isn't included in your stitching.  Go slowly around the zipper pull area as your seam should run directly alongside it and if you're off at all on your seam allowance, you may lose a needle if it hits the zipper pull... just speaking from experience. :)

11. Pull your pouch right-side out through the gap you left along the interior fabric lining.  Pull out the zipper so the "tail" is sticking out on top of the pouch.  You're almost done!!

12. Tuck in the raw edges of the interior lining that haven't yet been sewn.  Press them in a straight line (not necessary, but it makes the final sewing easier), and sew along the edge as closely as possible (you could hand sew this, too, but I just use my machine).  Tuck the interior lining in the bag.

You have a new zipper pouch!  Congratulations!  Now go stuff it with things and be happy.

Here are the pouches I made the other day.  The flower print on the left had a panel added to the bottom with canvas chevron print to add some structure as I didn't have any interfacing.  The smaller elephant print pouch in the front has a gusseted bottom so it'll sit flat; see the pic below to view the bottom.  If you have questions on how to do that, just message me and I'll send you the steps!

You can see the different lining material used on one pouch, and the gusseted bottom of the smaller elephant print bag here.  I used a canvas chevron print for the bottom as it's thicker than cotton, but you could use cotton, too.

My zippers were too long for my bags, so I cut them off and made tabs out of the chevron material.  Again, just message me if you need a quick "how to" for those!

Bedtime with Evaley

I had the honor of tucking in my niece tonight.  I cherish these times together because I love to snuggle up and squish into a tiny daybed with a ginormous 5-yr-old who thinks that putting both legs over yours and laying partially on top of you is comfortable... and normal.  I also cherish them because Evaley and I have epic conversations while she does her best NOT to sleep.

Tonight's awesome bedtime conversation:

"Aunt Ashley, can I ask you a question?"

Of course, Ev.

"Will a bright blue-green light come and hit the earth?"

What?

"Will a bright blue-green light come and hit the earth?"

Where did you see something like that?

"On the Weather Channel."

Huh.  Well, I don't know what you were watching, but maybe it was showing you the ozone layer.

"What's the ozone layer?"

Okay, here is the earth. *Holding up my left fist.*  And this is the ozone layer. *Drawing a circle around my fist.*  It protects us from the sun's really, really hot temperatures and dangerous waves that hurt our skin.  So, the ozone layer is good for us and for the earth.

...

"Aunt Ashley, can I ask you a question?"

Yes.

"What's a meteor shower?"

Well, a meteor is kind of like a giant rock that's floating around in space.  And sometimes it comes close to the earth, and goes through the ozone layer.  When it goes through the ozone layer, it catches on fire, sort of, maybe because of the oxygen in the system (because there isn't any oxygen in space and you can't have fire without oxygen), and in the sky it looks like a shooting star.  But it's really a meteor passing through the ozone layer.  And a meteor shower is lots of meteors going through the ozone layer.  At least, I think that's what it is.

"Can a meteor hit the earth?"

Yes, but we have huge telescopes that let us see really far into space so we know if a meteor is coming that's going to hit earth and can make sure it doesn't.

"Like with the dinosaurs?  They got hit by a meteor and died."

Something like that.

"Can you tell me a story about the meteor that hit the earth and killed the dinosaurs?"

Uh... I don't really know that story since I wasn't alive back then.

"Can you tell me a story about a meteor at all?"

Well, I know that there's a lake called Crater Lake, and it's a big dent in the earth, called a crater, where a meteor hit a long, long time ago.  And now it filled with water and is a lake.  Is that a story?

"No."

...

"Aunt Ashley, can you tell me about Pluto?  The planet?  Not the dog."

Well, I don't know much about Pluto.  Basically, there are a lot of planets in our solar system... nope, okay...  imagine that your room is outer space.  Well, your bed is what we would call a galaxy, and it has planets and moons and stuff like that- those are all called a solar system; your dresser might be a galaxy, too, and your bookshelf, etc.  So, inside our galaxy, which is called the Milky Way-

"Like the milk we drink?"

Yes.  So, inside the Milky Way are planets- Earth is one, and the moon, and Saturn, and Neptune...  They all circle around the sun.  The one that's furthest away from the sun is Pluto, and I think it's the smallest too.

"Oh."

But I don't think that Pluto is considered a planet anymore.  I'm not sure.

"Oh."

...

"Aunt Ashley, how do I know that you're telling me the truth?"

Well, I don't lie to you, do I?  You can trust me.

"I decided I don't trust people anymore.  I only trust God."

Oh.  Well, I guess that's okay.  But God puts important people in your life that you can trust.

"No.  I only trust people who have died."

Huh.  And then rose again?

"Yes.  I only trust people that have died and rose again."

You've got me there.  I've definitely only lived.

"That's what I thought."

...

"Aunt Ashley, can you pretend to put make-up on my face while I think of more questions?"

Of course, sweet girl.

High Five For Friday

1. A love seat fort - upgrade from my forts under tables back in the day.  My mom found a box of some of my old, favorite books, and my niece spent hours going through them.  Love this kid.

2. Sometimes you just need to stop and reflect, like Rue does.  He's so wise, that dog.

3. I've been prepping for my SPED content exam for the last week or so.  I'm currently enrolled in Tx Teachers to earn my teaching certification, and have passed tests to teach all subjects for grades PreSchool-8th and English for 8th-12th.  SPED is my last area that I have to test for... and it's definitely the most difficult as a lot of the terms and acronyms are foreign to me.  Thankful for a Starbucks close by where I can hole up and cram!!

4. A perk of living with your parents:  I woke up to this breakfast.  A perk of living with your 5 year old niece:  I used an awesome dinosaur placemat like this one.

5. It is HOT here in Texas, so Evaley and I picked out some organic gelato and sorbet from our Farmer's Market... and then proceeded to have a tasting.  

If you live in the area, you have to try it!  Check out http://newworldgelato.com/ to find where it's available.

Happy Friday, y'all!  Hope you have an amazing weekend!!

Linking up here for High Five for Friday :)

July Bookshelf, Pt 1

I LOVE to read.  When I was 10 or so, I actually checked out 80 books for 2 weeks from the library... and finished them all before the 2 weeks passed.  I still bring recyclable grocery bags that I fill every time I visit.  I actually have my library's website bookmarked on my computer so I can reserve or save titles as soon as I run across them.  I consider it a great accomplishment that my niece likes to go to the library with me, and that checking out a book for her is a fun surprise.  

So, allow me to introduce a new monthly addition to my blog - BOOKS!  I'll provide the list of what I've checked out and, at the end of the month, I'll review what I managed to finish. 

Before I get to the list, however, let me just explain a little about my reading "strategy."  Because book reviews and recommendations are great, but not all that helpful without knowing the tastes of the person making the recommendation!  So here are a few key things to know about the books I choose:

1) I read all genres, for the most part.  I'm not into horror or erotic literature, so you won't see those books here, but you will see fantasy, sci-fi, chick lit, non-fiction, memoirs, etc.  I read YF and JF, classics, biographies...  

2) The reason that I enjoy all genres is because I read, primarily, for enjoyment.  I won't turn my nose up at "books for kids."  Because they're great.  And you should try them.  Because you'll find out they're great.  Or awful and cheesy.  But a lot of them are great!

3) I don't have favorites, and I rarely re-read books.  A book may fall into the category of "one of my favorites," but I have a hard time ranking a book that I love that's a YF against a memoir that I love.  How do you even compare them?

4) If I don't like a book, it will be for one of two reasons: I either can't stand the character(s)/narrator, or I can't stand the authors writing style and the story wasn't enough to keep me engaged.  I may stop reading a book for these reasons, without apology.  There are so many amazing reads out there- why waste time on the ones that I don't enjoy?  I will try to make it through a book if I feel like there is something redeeming in the story... but I'm okay just saying that it just wasn't for me if it doesn't work out.  It's not me... it's you...

Without further adieu, my July bookshelf:

The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks

- Memoir

Barefoot, Elin Hilderbrand

- Fiction, Chick Lit

Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, A.J. Hartley

- Fantasy, Jr Fiction

The Marble Queen, Stephanie J. Blake

- Youth Fiction

How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate, Wendy Moore

- History, sort of Faux-Biography?, Non-Fiction

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's. Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, Josh Hanagarne

- Memoir

The Quilter's Apprentice, Jennifer Chiaverini

- Fiction

Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

- Short Stories that combines into one novel

Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James

- Mystery

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Erik Larson

- History, Non-Fiction

A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France

- History, Non-Fiction, somewhat biographical

Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

- Fiction

**I'll take recommendations for next month!  Let me know what titles you are enjoying!**

Be Extraordinary

I don't know about you, but I live a fairly "normal" life.  I love my family and friends, work hard to advance at my job, and work even harder to enjoy my time off.  At times I feel convicted that I'm not truly focused on helping others the way that I believe I should, and I know that I got through the day without a thought of problems outside of my little bubble.

But there are problems.  There are much harsher realities that other people or cultures experience daily, and sometimes I hear about it but feel as though my hands are tied.  I've thought, What can I do?  How can I help?

Enter Sevenly.

People matter, states their site.  There is no greater calling than to provide, heal, rescue, and service others.

If that doesn't tug your heart and bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will.  Nor could I state it so beautifully.

I encourage you to check out their site and read about their pledge to help others, and how you can get involved.  I just ordered shirts for my husband and me (shown below), as the gendercide issue in China is abhorrent and a point of consideration when we've discussed the possibility of future adoption.  But their previous 'issues of the week' are just as poignant, and I'd recommend you spend some time learning about the various topics and spreading the word about this amazing site.

So, amidst your ordinary day today, take a few moments to be extraordinary, and help someone else that needs it.  You won't regret it!

source

source

Happy 4th of July!!!

I hope you're celebrating with friends, family, food, and fireworks!!

June Recap

Holy cow - where has June gone?!?

And sorry about failing to post ANYTHING for close to a week... oops...

I think that I'll make an effort to recap all of the exciting events from each month, at least until I get used to blogging everything regularly.  Soo....

Top Three Events of June 2013

1. I turned 30!!  It was a whirlwind of time with friends and family, and I'm so thankful for the people that I have in my life right now.  My life at 30 may not look like what I expected it to, but I'm changing the things that I can, and enjoying the things that are better than planned in the meantime.  Super blessed.

Thursday Evening:  JiggyCrunk Singalong at AlamoDrafthouse.  Just Google it.

My friend, Annalee, made me homemade cupcakes with 90's images to match the theme of the evening.

A grainy picture with some of our besties.

The husby and me, sweaty after a night of singing and dancing to 90s hip hop.

Friday Evening: Girls' night out!  Dinner at Fonda San Miguel and dancing at the Speakeasy.  My friend, Aimee (in the red cardigan to the far right in the photo), planned the entire night to surprise me.  We had such a great time.

This is the only group shot I have, and it's super blurry because it's from a friends' phone.  Oh well. :)

Annalee and Joy.  I love this picture.

Saturday *my actual Birthday*:  My family took me to breakfast, and then my husband had planned the rest of the day as a surprise.  

I like surprises, if you can't tell.

We started the morning with a massage that included foot reflexology.  It was amazing, and the masseuse actually held himself over me in the bed and used his knees on my back and hips.  Awesome.  AND awkward.  But mostly awesome.  Afterwards, we saw The Great Gatsby at Alamo Drafthouse; it's my favorite Fitzgerald, and I'd been wanting to see it since it first came out.  I loved it.  And it was perfect timing since I wanted to do a whole lot of nothing after two late, LATE nights and a massage.  We then got ready for dinner at Olive + June which was delicious.  I loved the building, the food, their focus on seasonal ingredients - it was a good pick by Jesse. :)  When we got home, my husband gave me my gift - eek! - a Tiffany's pearl necklace from the Gatsby collection.  Shocked, completely.  I felt spoiled and special and thankful all at once.  Everyone needs a husband like mine, I tell you.

2. My husband turned 31!  His birthday fell on Father's Day this year, so it wasn't quite the celebration that I would've loved to have for him, but the day was still fun.  After church, we met my family for lunch at Pappadeaux.  We went to see The Internship afterwards, which far exceeded my expectations, then grabbed dinner at our favorite Mexican food spot.  I surprised him by having all of his guy friends meet him for some dude time at a local bowling place.

Happy 31st, love!

3. For Father's Day, Jesse and I took my parents to Gruene to see Whiskey Shivers and the Wheeler Brothers at Gruene Hall.  The show was amazing.  If you like bluegrass-y, folk-y, rock-y music that's done well, check them out.  I used to go to high school with the drummer from the Wheeler Brothers, so it was crazy to see him and his brother/cousin so "grown up."  Well done, Pat. :)

Whiskey Shivers

the Wheeler Brothers

Wheeler Brothers, 2

 Other than that, June has been a whirlwind of work promotion, classes, paying off debt (we're officially done and saving for a house!), and enjoying life.  I hope that it's been an amazing month for you, too!