challenging myself....

have you read the book/seen the movie "julie & julia" yet??

the basic story is that julie {the young lady} decides to get noticed in the blogging world {i'm sure at least half of us can relate!} and takes on the feat of cooking every recipe in the first cookbook created by julia childs.  there is laughter and tears, frustrations, delicacies galore intertwined with some terrible cooking blunders!  i watched this movie last year with my mom and sister and absolutely loved it.  it's a fun "feel good" movie!

so i've been thinking the past few days {while i've been reading my new sewing book} that maybe i should take up such a challenge to myself - be inspired by julie!! hopefully you aren't tired of me talking about my awesome new sewing hobby, yet..... because it's about to become a really fun, really interesting, really blogged experiment.  may i introduce you to the book that will be co-starring in this fabulous event....

bend-the-rules sewing {amy karol} is a fresh sewing guide for novices {hi, my name is april....} that can also teach even the best of seamstresses a few fun tricks!  i've been reading from cover to cover before picking up a needle {read: threading the sewing machine} so i can be sure i am up on the lingo and basics.  there are so many great tips and advice bits that i feel empowered to create almost anything..... but let's begin slow.

each of the 30 designs included in the book come complete with easy to understand, hand drawn pictures as well as step-by-step instructions in layman's terms - LOVE.  with only one or two pages of directions {it's big print} for each project, you don't feel intimidated or fatigued once beginning.  amy says that these are "start on saturday, finish on sunday" kind of projects - right up my alley, let me tell ya!  in addition to that awesomeness {can it seriously get any better?}, each fun design only takes about a half yard of fabric.... practically scraps!  so you can use alot of different fabrics for this like store-bought yardage, vintage napkins, muslin, you name it!!  i just purchased this fun bundle from etsy to get started.  i plan on mixing alot of fun prints and patterns with some more plain jane low-key solids.  business up front, party in the back!  wait, did i just refer to my beautiful sewing designs like i would a mullet?!  sorry.... *wink*

alright, keep an eye out for future posts as i go through this book pattern by pattern.  with working full-time {plus} and keeping up with laundry-dinner-dishes-diapers-qualitytimewithmyfamily, i can't guarantee this will go quickly.  hopefully a project a week.... i'm all about the saturday to sunday timeline!  join me in the fun!!