Tuesday, June 19, 2007

A New Chapter in my Life and Blacksheep Bags by Me




Oh gosh, I had not realized that it had been so long since I had posted. I thought it had only been a few days, a week, m-a-y-b-e since I had posted last. Where have I been? Mostly outside or at my sewing machine, at least when I was not doing that deep cleaning that we all so dread - one room at a time. I thought I would share with you what I had been making. I have some fun kid-related news, but I will save that for the 100th post.


My kids LOVE their bike racing uniforms. They feel transformed, faster, when they wear them. They have a lot of parts, so I decided to make them duffel bags. I looked around for pre-made ones, but they wanted ones to match their uniforms. So, it was Mom, Wonder Under, Computer Aided Fabric Transfers and my sewing machine to the rescue. I appliqued the different fabrics to match their racing jerseys. I even made my own pattern. The ones at the cloth stores did not have the right components. This one has four outside pockets, each designed to fit something specific like the sunglasses case, the gloves, the socks and the shoe covers. The ends sport large pockets that can hold two waterbottles and some powerbars. It was fun, but time consuming to design my own pattern. So far I have made two of them. I have two more in the works. One for Coach Paul who seems to always have time for my questions and one for Team Mentor, Bryce, or Brycycle, as he signs his emails. He is the nicest young man I know. He is about 20 years old and does all he can to help the kids improve. For example, this morning he took my kids on a 25 mile ride. I offered to take him to lunch, but he passed. I know that he will like his bag. I already have his request for pockets specifics. I also made a tote bag for my friend, Karen, who organizes most of our activities. Seeing her try to hold everything, I decided that she needed a bag, too. My kids wonder how many I will make. I do, too.
I have been out on my bike, too. I rode a borrowed one and loved it. Later I was thrilled when I has able to buy it for a very reasonable price. My goal is to make it out on my bike every day. I have not been able to do that, but I have gotten in some good rides. A week ago Ethan and I went for a 48 mile ride. I got out four times last week. :) My friend, Coach Paul, rode by and said, "Starting a new chapter in your life?" I said, "Yes, I hope so."

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