A quick update

I just wanted to give a quick update. I have not been in a sewing bliss lately and a lot of my "throw" it together home made pattern just aren't coming together.
I tried the knot shorts from Elsie Marley but when MEC tried it on it was just not working at all. I am going to either try to salvage the short, remove the knot completely and the half lining and try to make a shorter version or just scrap the short altogether and turn it into a dress or maybe a bermuda who knows! The crotch was a bit wonky too... I need to work on my pattern drafting techniques. Maybe I will break down and find a PDF pattern on etsy.
Anyhow this sets me back into great deal of frustration and thus my sewing isn't my best friend at the moment booh.
In the void left by my temporary separation with my sewing machine I have been exploring the world of infographics, what's not to love trying to make sense of data in a visual appealing way a new way to spend a lot of hours lost on the internet.

On another note, I have been trying to spend some quality time with my mountain bike aka Black Beauty. Last week end for Mother's day some friends of ours took the kids for an impromptu trip to the Zoo and we got a hour to spend on the trails. I did lots of walking but some riding too.

This past sunday not only did I worked up the courage to go on my own but I even dared going in a new spot (I only went once before about a year ago) by myself and did a few downhill I would have walked not so long ago. However the up hill were trickier!

Thanks for checking in and good night.

Mountain Biking

I have been really itching to go Mountain biking more often. Unfortunately finding a baby sitter for the kids to go with B or finding a riding partner to go on a 30 minutes notice on a Sunday afternoon has its challenges. So two week ends ago I really tried to work up the courage to go by myself! I didn't sleep that much the night before because of 4 additional kids sleeping with us and so I chose the easier path which was to put the bike in the car and drive to the trail entrance instead of climbing this brutal street to get there!
So here I am at the parking lot by myself after getting lost on the way. I hop on my bike and I am so glad I did work up the courage to go.

Second hill I come to I of course switch gear the wrong way and so instead of easing into the climbing I struggle in the big ring. After quickly realizing that I won't get very far in that ring I down shift but then my bike feels like the chain popped of. I look at it put it back and continue on.... This happens a bit later on another hill and again on the way back followed right after by a clank and a dead stop. I look down and well I'm no bike mechanic but I didn't think my rear derailleur was supposed to dangle off the bike!
Yes my really strong little leg yay right broke the rear derailleur right through the attachement!

So my bike ride turned into a push your bike walk. I believe people thought it was a new type of exercise because not one of the biker or hiker I saw on the way back stopped and asked if I needed anything! Maybe they thought that I was soooo lazy or tired I had to push my bike on the flat! It would have been nice to have someone stop and try to turn my bike into a single speed one so I could ride along.

I have to say the day was beautiful, the hike was beautiful and it is the only time I was happy to have spent mucho $$$ on my bike to get the lighter model!

In the parking lot in order to find more partner I did harass someone, maybe we will meet to ride maybe not!

For mother's day we did manage to get out with the husband. I did walk most of the very very rocky downhills but I did practice a drop off and a bit of single tracks. Petit a petit my confidence is creeping up....

The KCWC 2012

Well I kind of failed at this challenge thing. I did draft pattern and cut fabric on day 3. On day 4 I managed to sew MAC's short. However on day 5 friendship used up all the free time. On day 6, I managed to complete MAC shorts but then decided to add a pop of colors in the form of a pocket. However I decided to go the difficult route and it did quite work out. To MAC's dismay only one pocket was added. In his little mind if I was able to hack together one pocket it should easy to add a second. Since I'm far from satisfied with the results of my creativity I am now scratching my head to figure out how to fix that mistake.
On the girl side of the sewing project pile I have been struggling with the drafted pattern by my little fingers. It reminds me very much of when I was taking drawing lessons. When I was sketching a person posing, my drawing was perfect until I tried to draw the lower legs and feet. By that point all the mistakes had accumulated making it impossible to complete the drawing.
This is exactly how I feel with my latest repurpose dress attempt. It sits half done on the ironing board. However I will have to complete that one.
In the mean time I started a version of the knot shorts for the little missy and completed the baby blanket with the most beautify Amy Butler fabric. I want to redesign my whole living room to make pillow with this fabric. In the mean time I will have to give this baby blanket to my friend before I keep it for myself. Minky is so so soft.

To sum it up, I pretty much flunked the challenge. I wasn't even able to take let alone post a picture in the flicker pool. So maybe it will be better next time! In the mean time this challenge or idea of it really kick start my imagination hopefully something good will come out of it.
In the mean time I have about 30 sewing projects, to which have been added a few more home design projects for which I have little to no time. To make matter worse I have now discovered apartment therapy and pinterest and now I'm just dreaming at beautiful house and hoping to find our next house...... one can always dream