It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas!

I LOVE this time of year! Crazy and commercialized as it gets, there is nothing like it! I have a few more jobs to finish before the holidays, and that makes a creative soul happy! I'm one of those people that works best under the gun. I don't do well with down-time and do believe that an idle mind truly is the devil's workshop! No crashing and burning here~~ Just put on some Christmas music and sew away! Onward Comrades!

I feel very honored to be working with a friend heading up a project at our church called "Lots of Little Dresses". We are collecting pillowcases, elastic and trim to make these precious little dresses for some of the 6000 children that live in the city dump in Guatemala. 

 I love this one! It is made from a king-sized pillowcase and has a little scalloped edge and ribbon. Some little girl is going to be so happy wearing this!!

 But THIS one is my fav! I had the perfect color bias-binding to draw out the peach. Sweet little dresses!

We will start sewing on January and they will be hand-delivered by our mission team in February. I am so grateful for the gift of creativity. If you are interested in donating supplies or helping with our project, please feel free to contact me! How are you giving back this season? I would love to hear the exciting things you are in the middle of!

Very Thankful

I've seen so many people on Facebook this month listing something every day that they are thankful for. I sit back at my computer and get lost in my own thankfulness. Even though life sometime seems bad, God is so good. I am truly blessed with everything I need...food, shelter, clothing. And a lot of things I want...a loving husband who cherishes me, two beautiful children, parents that were excellent role models, a wonderful church family, and more friends than I can count. I hope that you will sit back today and ponder on all God has done for you. Even if you don't believe in Him---He believes in you! <3

Lazy Sunday afternoon snack! 

 

My boys have been bugging me to crack open the uncarved pumpkins on the porch and toast the seeds for them. I would have done it earlier, but I knew I would eat them all myself. :D I had never heard of pre-boiling them in salted water, but these are fabulous if you still have pumpkins hanging out! I got this recipe from:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/toasted_pumpkin_seeds/

 

 Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Ingredients

• One medium sized pumpkin
• Salt
• Olive oil

Method

1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut open the pumpkin and use a strong metal spoon to scoop out the insides. Separate the seeds from the stringy core. Rinse the seeds.
2 In a small saucepan, add the seeds to water, about 2 cups of water to every half cup of seeds. Add a half tablespoon of salt for every cup of water (more if you like your seeds saltier). Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.
3 Spread about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan, all in one layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 10-20 minutes. When browned to your satisfaction, remove from the oven and let the pan cool on a rack. Let the seeds cool all the way down before eating. Either crack to remove the inner seed (a lot of work and in my opinion, unnecessary) or eat whole.

Almost there!

I have high hopes of starting my first job of the new workroom on Monday! I may not have my lighting in place, my overhead iron mounted, or my pegboard holding my tools yet, but---by golly--- I'm going to have to go without it for the moment! Friday is my deadline to be completely set up. I could blame it on the electrician, but it's really my issue with making permanent personal decisions! :)

Sweet Tyson and Mark, (my resident carpenters they've become) went to work the other day on my worktable. What took them and hour and a half would have taken me two days! If anyone else needs a worktable in the Charlotte/Fort Mill area, you won't find a better deal!

So, here it is after they finished with their part. It has an awesome storage shelf underneath so I can finally get to all my stuff without unloading half the world. It's amazing how many little things you need to stock and have on hand (and be able to get to them quickly and efficiently).

The next day, my generous friend Sherri came over and helped me put my "Cadillac Table Cover" on. Boy did we work up a sweat stretching it to size (well---Sherri did! I just stapled it as she tugged!)! Thanks again Sherri! I'll think of you when I spill my first cup of coffee on it! What a beauty! :)

Out with the old---in with the new!  

No No No!! I meant to say "Out of the old---Into the new!"

What a mess!!! Somethings are better left behind! My old workroom space is one of them! What started out as part-time work while on maternity leave from USAirways in 1996, slowly crept further into our "playroom" until at last my children were banished-- for safety reasons. I am forever grateful to my long-time friend, Patricia Jones who, at the time was an Interior Designer at my church. If it wasn't for her encouragement, I never would have (eventually) quit my full-time job to pursue my passion of sewing.

So starts a new chapter in my life! Goodbye to this cramped mess!

Once I am out of the boxes and my worktable is (re)constructed---I will post pictures of my new digs!!

New project!

          So---I was in Marshall's when I saw this really cute piece of art. It was one of I those inspirational-ish gallery-wrapped canvases that just had words on it. I thought I took a picture of it to show you, but I can't find it anywhere, so I am glad I at least had one in my head since I decided to make my own version! Since we are moving into a new home, I thought it would be a good time to lay down some rules. Here is the beginning stage:

 

The first line says "Berger Family Rules". though it is 

really light. After I got all these words laid out, I decided that I wanted the background black instead of white. After some meticulous planning and painting, here is the final product:

Ready to hang in our new home!!

My new old lamp

Okay- so those who know me personally know that I get some traits honestly from my mother---one of them being that I have a hard time spending money on something that I can make (better :) myself. I was recently in a thrift shop with my for-mentioned mother and noticed that it was "Lamp Day" - All lamps $1! Well- you can't buy a light bulb for a dollar these days, so of course I had to check them out. Most of them were quite hideous and in ill-repair EXCEPT my little beauty (with some creative imagery)! Here is a before shot---

 

I loved the oval shade and the base had good bones, so I took my new old lamp home. After staring at it for a few days I had my vision together. The lampshade had gotten a little scrunched up between all the other dollar lampshades and had visible dent marks that you could see when it was turned on. For this reason, I decided to cover it with burlap. A little wood stain, some silk fabric and grosgrain ribbon and VOILA! A new old lamp!

WELCOME! To you and to me!

I'm so glad we're both here for the first time! Since I am moving into a new house and a beautiful new studio space, I thought it would be a great time to start blogging (since I don't have any packing or planning or anything else to do! :) Heehee! I have dreamed for years of a workroom space with vertical walls with no obstructions like dormers and alcoves---and dreams DO come true! Kinda scary, but I'm inviting you along on my journey to a life in a new state, new home, and new workroom! Hopefully- this will encourage me to do and share what I was born to do---CREATE! I believe I was made by The Ultimate Creator, so this should be a fun road trip! Plus-- The trips God has taken me on NEVER end at the destination I imagined---it's always much more beautiful than I could dream. And since nothing I am or do is my very own---it just makes sense to share. :)WELCOME! I'm glad we're here!