tap, tap, is this thing on? anyone there?

Hey friends!! Sorry I have been so MIA. Remember how I told you I had some exciting news? Well here it is: 

YES! He's home! We're all back together again!

I didn't really talk about it much here, even though I know a lot of you knew he was deployed.  I took a security class shortly after he left and then got paranoid about how much information I put online about him and his work.  I figured it was safer to err on the side of caution.  So it was a long 7 months and I am so glad he's back.  I'm starting to feel more normal again due mostly to the fact that I am getting some sleep now!

So I have been sewing.  Quite a bit actually. I'm going to try and get some more posts up here soon.

I've seriously slacked on sew & tell.  I'm not sure I have it in me to do it anymore.  I'm trying to reinvent it a little to make it fun for me again.  Maybe less often.  Maybe more constest driven? I don't know, I'm mulling it over.

How are you?  Anyone still there? Thanks for always being awesome and so supportive!  Blogging friends rock!!

{amylouwho} bits and pieces

I feel like I have so many things to blog about!  I have some more things I want to share about The Sewing Summit and I've been on a project prepping spree!  But I'm feeling a little all over the place trying to pull things together!

This is what I look like all over the place.  WIPs, cutting several new projects at a time and scraps!

My kids are all home sick today.  It started with babylouwho on Friday, sisterlouwho following yesterday afternoon, with brotherlouwho getting hit with it last night. Late.  And mrlouwho is working long hours training for an upcoming deployment.  Good times.  

I decided today would be a sweatpants and slippers sort of day. And instead of wallowing in self pity (well maybe I will a bit), I'm getting to work.  I lysoled every hard surface in my house down yesterday, so I don't feel too bad about neglecting my floors.  And laundry.  And dirty dishes.

Sometimes the dirty dishes are worth it though - Apple Cake @ The Smitten Kitchen

I'm going to close the giveaway for Sara's bag tonight and announce the winner tomorrow!  Sara will be guest posting for Sew &Tell on Friday - I hear she's finishing up a quilt top!  I love reading your comments about your WIPs.  It's so fun to know there are so many out there working away too.

I'm glad to know that you liked the interview too! I'm planning on doing more of these types of things. I have a super fun sew & tell extravaganza planned for November 11 - I'll post the challenge this week!  Keep on the lookout.

Scraps I used to throw away.  Now I hoard them for mini quilts.

So what else?  I have a lot of blogging issues on my mind.  Like, I feel sort of lame for being pretty absent most of this year.  I really loved the sew & tell community that we had built and with everything I had going on last year it got to be too much for me to be able to connect with everyone the way I wanted to.  And now I'm afraid I was being too nit-picky about things, and I got super inconsistent.  Then there's the whole URL change thing - that was a real downer.  And then there are all of the amazing women and amazing blogs I discovered through sewing summit and sometimes I wonder - what am I doing trying to blog? I'm a total amateur!! I don't really do tutorials, I seem to make the same things over and over, I'm not really interested in making money off my blog, so what am I doing here? Showing off?  I certainly hope it doesn't come across that way.  When I really think about it, it's the people that I've met and the community that we have that keeps me coming back.  I also love that there is a cycle of creating, sharing and inspiring that goes on in our online sewing/crafting community.

So I really do hope you like coming here.  I appreciate your time when I know how busy we all are.  Thanks for sharing your goodness and talents with me every week.  I'm recommitting to be a better blogger/friend.  I hope you'll come back again soon.

I'd love to hear why you blog and the things you love about it. Do tell!