Nepeta

Check out the beautiful yarn that came to my home today!  Let me introduce you--blog readers, this is "Nepeta".  Nepeta, these are my blog friends.  :)  There.  Now we can all be friends!

Nepeta is a gift.  I follow Robin Edmunson's blog "Rurification".  She lives in southern Indiana.   Her posts are often about the process of becoming rural.  Every now and then we get a "guess who left the poo" post; there are often posts about plants (and things to do with them in season!); there are jams, dyeing, creating....Lots of wonderful things! I often try some of the things from her blog--things like making jelly from the berries on my field and throwing away the bitter seeds or putting chive flowers in white vinegar--that one sure made my little one smile (it turns the vinegar pink, her favorite color!).

This July she has been doing several give-aways from the blog--right now you can get a copy of her new jam book. I've seen the preview--it's a beautiful book!   I passed on some of her earlier give-aways, but I couldn't pass up the chance to win these yarns!  So, I entered the contest....

And am thrilled and floored that I won!

Thank you, Robin, for the gift of Nepeta and thank you for your wonderful blog posts!

Challenges with Finished Sewing Projects

Original pants with seams marked to make a pattern.

It all started with a pair of pants, a Craftsy class, and me.

I signed up for "Jean-ius" at Craftsy.com and successfully copied my favorite pair of pants.  I was so excited!     My husband took some photos for me and I was going to post them to the blog.  That's when it hit.

"It" is the challenge of loving myself for who I am and appreciating the fact that I have a functional body.  The pants photos didn't do that for me.  I fell from the wonderful high of accomplishment down to a low of not fitting the runway
model mold.

A few days have passed.  I haven't worn my new jeans yet.  Maybe I'll break them in on Sunday after church.  After all, they are new--I don't want to wear them outside for weeding just yet!

Daryl Lancaster wrote a nice post about sewing with handwovens recently and referenced a weavezine column she wrote a few years ago.  Know Thyself is a good reminder that I am who I am.  I have a body with quirks...some of the quirks are new and I haven't gotten used to them yet.  Some of the quirks are as old as the rest of me.

So, huzzah for challenges.  Huzzah for finished projects.  And, huzzah for taking the time to learn something new.

The finished, re-created pants.  They fit just like the originals!