Love-Hate Relationships

Sewing is a funny thing. You look at a pattern, or a DIY project on Pinterest, or an item someone created on Etsy, and you think "Wow, I could totally make that, it looks so easy!". So you set forth in your quest to the fabric store to make your DIY dreams come true. 

Sew many projects, Sew little time. Get it??? I'm so punny.

Then, four hours later, after spending $50 at the store on a project that's supposed to save you money, and then cutting and sewing and seam ripping and re-sewing and cursing your sewing machine and everything else around you, you've decided you hate sewing and crafting and you vow never to do anything so ridiculous again.

 Then you finish your project and all of a sudden you're all "WOW, I LOVE SEWING!".

My new motto is it's not a good day's worth of sewing if you don't use at least two or three choice words or expletives.

Last week my fabulous friend Esther decided it was about time that some of the girls got together for a sewing night. We chose to create skirts out of a pattern that called itself  "The One Hour Skirt" - you can find it here.  While I had never made an article of clothing before, I felt reassured knowing I'd be in the presence of Esther and our other marvelous friend Carrie, who are both much craftier and artistic than I ever dream to be. I figured if my skirt ended up being disastrous, they could give me tips on how to use my seam ripper to at least salvage some of the pieces. 

Nevertheless, the one-hour skirt took about three. And it also took a night of me wearing it around the house, all pinned up, to figure out how I wanted to tweak it so it fit correctly. 

Just so you know -  the one hour skirt uses way too much fabric, in my opinion. I looked like a pregnant balloon. I ended up unstitching the two main skirt pieces and cutting off a good 12 inches of fabric to make it more fitted.

Then I got this bright idea the next day to make a matching clutch, since I had spare fabric.

 I found a pattern I liked called "A Simple Clutch". 

 It should have been called "A Challenging Clutch for Ambitious Novices".

It was back to the fabric store to get this stuff called interfacing that I had never used before. There are about 100 different kinds of interfacing, all with different numbers. Mine needed a  950F and a Peltex 71F, whatever that means. Maybe someday I'll learn what all of that means.

Or not.

I toted my items back home and began my simple clutch. After a few choice words, I finished up the clutch project I began at noon that day just in time to get ready to go to dinner that night - you bet your sweet hiney I wore my matching skirt and clutch! 

The ladies

 

         

I got fancy and made a contrasting interior with pocket. 

Oh and please excuse the wet spot on my slightly protruding belly. I had just eaten a massive pasta dinner to prepare for the half marathon, and got spaghetti sauce on my shirt. 

Story of my life. 

The following day was the Iron Girl Half Marathon. Another great love/hate relationship example. 

I've been training in general...not really for this particular half, but mostly just to get myself back in shape after the three months I took off this winter. This half marathon was a good way to make sure I was on the right track and give me a goal to work towards.

The weather had called for 70% chance of rain all week, up until the night before when it dropped to a 30% chance. We got there and the skies were fairly clear, so I was feeling confident. 

I had a few butterflies in my stomach at the starting line, but nothing like previous races. I just wanted to finish at a decent time and try to avoid falling over the side of the causeway into the Gulf of Mexico.

About 6 miles in, the winds began. Right before I hit the first bridge. Awesome.

As I was going up the Belleair Causeway into a brick wall of gale force wind gusts, I thought to myself 

"OMG I HATE RUNNING, WTF AM I DOING ON THIS BRIDGE AT 8AM ON A SUNDAY MORNING IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN WIND??"

Then the sideways rain kicked in around mile 10, right before the Sand Key Bridge. 

"OMG I REALLY HATE RUNNING NOW, I AM NEVER RACING AGAIN, BLAH BLAH BLAH".

 I really can't wait to see my race photos. I promise to share them. There are going to be some winners... with my disgust in the strong headwinds after going over two giant bridges, mixed with Skrillex on my playlist, I must look like a total beast.

 I couldn't see the finish line, which annoyed me because I always sprint to the finish at my races to shave off a good 15-30 seconds. It turns out the big inflatable finish line banner got blown down by the wind. Bummer.

 I still crossed the finish line in a respectable time - 1:51. Not a PR, but not my worst time, so I'll take it, especially seeing as I was in the top 5% finishers! 

As I crossed, I thought "OMG I LOVE RUNNING!! I FEEL AMAZING! I CANT WAIT TO RACE AGAIN! WOOOO!"

Seriously, am I bipolar or what? 

And then when my friend Christine crossed the finish line in her goal time of sub-2, I loved running even more! Congrats Christine, you rock and I knew you would conquer those bridges!

And how awesome are my race day shorts?? It's OK to be jealous.

Next up? Chicago Marathon training begins. I have no doubt that I will hate it, but love it at the same time.

Hold onto your britches, it's gonna be a long summer!