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Zippers are the Bane of my Existence

I mentioned previously I’m trying to make more homemade gifts for Christmas this year. What a mistake that is turning out to be! The Jacksonville Jaguars stadium cushion has been a little difficult. I’m going to list my mistakes/frustrations:

1. Only buying a yard of fabric – this means I have to be very diligent on measurements. No mistakes, and if I make a mistake, I’m hosed. I tend to make a lot of mistakes…

2. Enlisting my mom for help! My mom has been off from work and she came over to help me organize my sewing area and to give me some tips because I’m still very new to sewing. I’m very appreciative, thanks Mom! However, I said, “Mom, I need you to help me figure out these boxed corners because I’ve struggled with them before.” She proceeds to send me in a totally different, possibly more difficult direction with the cushion! Is it harder? I don’t know yet! I still don’t know how to do a correct boxed corner and my eyes were glazing over doing it her way…

3. Now to the zipper. I’ve tried installing approximately 8,098,567,456,432 zippers since I began sewing. No really, it’s been that many! Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I’ve tried many different ways, watched many different videos, read tons of tutorials, tried invisible and regular zippers, etc. I have yet to get it completely right. My mom has not ever tried a zipper. So I explained to her the basic process. Together, we figure it out! Finally, hallelujah! But guess what?!? We forgot to account for the seam for the zipper when we cut our fabric, so I have to rip out the zipper and will have to do it again! I rip the zipper out of the too small fabric and call it a night.

4. Now, I’m on to Day Two of the cushion. I’ve learned finally how to do a zipper, and I’m actually excited. I’m going to show the darn thing who’s boss. I cut my fabric, allowing for tons of room, and go in for the kill. Guess what? My bobbin runs out of thread! I didn’t realize it until it was time to pivot, so I thought I was halfway done. I was pretty devasted.

5. So after reloading my bobbin, in my frustration and hurry to tackle the zipper, I loaded my thread wrong twice in a row!!! My machine started making that dreaded sound and I haven’t been so aggravated in a while. I actually let out a very loud yell of a very bad word that I will not repeat here.

I did manage to finish the zipper and sew a couple of pieces together before I had to leave for an appointment. I hope the rest of the piece goes a lot more smoothly than that did!

Anyone else have something that they just can’t seem to figure out?

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Slowly getting back into Fitness…

One of my biggest accomplishments in my “Finding Jenn” journey has been quitting smoking. Per my quit smoking app, as of this post, it’s been 246 days and 22 hours – not that I’m counting or anything…

Quitting has been tough! When I was at the peak of my “Slump”, I was using it as a crutch and using it to aid in an eating disorder I had developed. I’m in a much healthier place, but I’ve also gained a bit too much weight back for my liking. I’m going to try and lose the extra pounds in a healthy way, through diet and exercise, not cigarettes, coffee and not eating!

So, today I ate healthy and ran/walked, for the first time in awhile! It felt good! I only made it 1.7 Miles, but baby steps are ok with me.

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Elf on the Shelf “Car”

I mentioned that in my journey to “find myself,” I want to be a better overall person. For me, this includes (now) that on Saturday morning, while your husband is out golfing, when your seven year old wants to make your Elf on a Shelf a Car – that you will help and I mean really help. Not just point her to the hand me down Barbie car that we already own! I’m still learning how to craft, so it’s not the best, but all things considered, I think we did an ok job. The most important part is we had a good time doing it.

Here are our supplies:

Our spray painted pieces:

The finished product:

Rosy the Elf using the car! She seemed to like it at least, and it was nice bonding time with my seven year old.

Have you made anything cool for your elf?

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Homemade Christmas Presents

So, one of the many things I’m trying to do in my quest to find myself is to try new things. I have never been one to make anything myself and have always opted to buy things or give gift cards. I’m all about the easy way out over here. Or at least I was!

Once I started sewing, it kind of opened my eyes to this whole new crafting world that I had always shunned and dismissed. I just started really looking at Pinterest about six weeks ago! Anyway, I can ramble on forever if I don’t get to the point – homemade Christmas presents are a goal of mine and I just finished my first one.

My aunt and uncle in-laws are coming to town next weekend and my goal is to sew each of them a gift for Christmas. I always struggle with what to give them besides pictures of the kids anyway – so I’m hoping this will be more heartfelt. I just finished making her a Christmas themed throw pillow and I’m going to make him his favorite NFL team covered stadium cushion.

Here’s a pic of the throw pillow:

It’s got a zipper at the bottom, so my goal is to make her other pillow cases for other holidays so that she can reuse the pillow and just switch out the pillow case.

Do you have any homemade gift ideas?