Holy Guacamole!

Did you know that the Avocado Capital of the World is just a few short minutes away, in Fallbrook? Neither did I! But since I love avocados, and Fallbrook happened to be hosting its annual Avocado Festival last weekend, I decided that Mom, Mark and I should go. And I also decided that Mom should drive because her car, more than mine or Mark's, most resembles an avocado.

Wow - what a scene! It was an avocado mob scene, to be sure. Although it was mostly like a really really really crowded street fair (actually, that's precisely what it was) - they were anticipating 75,000+ people - there were a few avocado-related booths. They had avocado fudge (!), fresh quacamole (yum!), avocado pottery and crafts, and fried avocado. But mostly it was just your usual street fair fare - snow cones, tee-shirt booths, sausages on sticks. And it was soooooo crowded - parking was slim to none (luckily we didn't get a ticket or towed for parking on someone's front lawn), and by the time we made less than one circuit through the street doing the slow-paced street-fair shuffle we were ready to go. But at least I can say that I've visited the Avocado Capital of the World! Woo hoo!!!

Fabulous Teddy Wear

I think Teddy Bear is going to benefit the most from my sewing classes. I used the last bit of yellow flowered fabric that I had to make a nice poofy Easter bow for him. Doesn't he look nice? Awwwww... He can be sure to look forward to many fashionable clothing items in the future: a vest, booties, maybe a tail warmer. What a lucky dog [insert evil laugh here]!!!

Anne, you're very proud of me, right???

Ok, so I know all these posts are about sewing, but that's my current kick so you're just going to have to like it or lump it. About a year ago I bought some fabric from reprodepot.com, that's pink and has tattoo images on it (skulls, hula girls, hearts with knives sticking through them, snakes, etc.), that I had wanted to sew a tote bag with. It was going to be my knitting bag, since I'd found the pattern in a wonderful book called Stitch n' Bitch. Well, after my first sewing class I decided to break out on my own and do a project all by myself - hence this here fabulous tote bag. It turned out pretty well, the only weird thing about it being that the pattern was rotated 90 degrees from the selvage ends of the fabric. So, in the end, the pattern is sideways on the bag, but I guess every project is a lesson learned, right? I'm going to bring my bag in next week for a little sucking-up teacher's pet session; the two other girls in the class (ages and 13 and 14) just really have no idea who they're dealing with!!!

First Class Project: A+

In light of the fact that I was never going to learn how to sew without some serious help, I decided to sign up for a month's worth of sewing lessons at Baker's Sewing Center. Baker's is located in historic downtown Escondido, and like most businesses there, has been around since about the 1940's. Mrs. Nancy, my instructor, informed me that the class would be sewing pillow cases during the first two classes, so I headed down to JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts store to pick out fabric for my first project. I chose a nice yellow cotton with small white flowers that would match a quilted bedspread that I have. Let me say that JoAnn's is completely mind-boggling - there's so much, too much really, to choose from. Anyway, by the end of my first class, I had completed one of my pillow cases, and was almost done with the second, which I completed about 15 minutes after I got home that afternoon. Yesterday was our second class, and I sewed up a "decorator" pillow to match the pillow cases that I sewed the week before, complete with an envelope back so that it's easy to pop a pillow form in and out of. So voila! Here is my completed set - all the yellow items are the ones that I did. By the way - the quilt hanging above my bed was made by my sister Tyleen, who is a quilting genius.

Intimidation

Back in February, my Mom gave me a shiny brand new sewing machine. Unfortunately, the last time I even touched one of these crazy contraptions was back in my eighth grade home-ec class. I vaguely remember sewing some sort of shirt, but when I received my gift, I couldn't have recalled how to even turn the thing on. I took out the book that accompanied the machine and started to read. I found all the parts that were labeled on the sewing machine diagram, but was still pretty clueless - feed dogs? Throat plate? Tension indicator???? The more I read about it, the more my mind began to swim. I referenced a couple of books I bought - Sewing 101 and Sewing for Dummies. Since I'm at the remedial level, neither of these books helped.

You know how when people are afraid to speak in front of an audience, they tell you to imagine your audience naked? Well, I tried the same approach with my sewing machine. I decided that the best way to take away the serious, dangerous, needle-stabbing demeanor of my machine would be to slap a few stickers on it. So I did - and I can tell you that there's nothing like a small image of Raggedy Ann with an axe stuck in her to lighten the mood. Looks like I'll be on my way to sewing for Project Runway in no time!