It's a date!

Every once in a while the hubby and I get a chance to enjoy the company of one another without having the kids around.  We are trying to make this more of a habit, since we know that spending "alone" time together is so important to the quality of our marriage relationship.  So, yesterday, my MIL offered to watch the kids for us so we could have a date!

Now, when I say the word "date," I am sure most of you are thinking of something like dinner and a movie.  Or maybe even going to a park and having a picnic.  Either way, I wonder how many of you are thinking about this..

Yes!  This is our date.  If you guessed Barnes and Noble bookstore, you are right!  Now, don't think that I am being sarcastic in tone, because I am not.  As much as I enjoy being playful, I must say I truly enjoyed myself.  When the hubby and I first started dating, we used to go to Barnes and Noble to have coffee, hang out, talk, and browse books.  It is how we fell in love in the first place!  So, to stay in love, we went back to where we fell in love, and I must say that I LOVED it!

We had the best time together!  He had his stack of business books, and I had my stack of sewing books/magazines.  We browsed through the items we selected, and chatted along the way.  It was very refreshing.

The first sewing magazine I looked at was Vogue Patterns.  I had seen this magazine before, but never actually purchased one before.  It has some interesting articles in it, but the pictures were the most fun because they were from different (yep, you guessed it) Vogue patterns.  

Out of all the patterns, two of my favorites were:

 Vogue 8644.  This version pictured looks matronly, but the one in the magazine was done with piping at the seams on the front, in a neutral beige fabric with brown accents.  The jacket was gorgeous as well!

My second favorite was this:

This is Vogue 1183, a classic Kay Unger design that is marked "easy."  I love the silhouette of this style, and just how classically beautiful it is.  My lesson from this magazine is just how much fabric choice makes a difference in the final product of your garment!

The next magazine I looked at was one of my favorites.  It is called Stitch magazine, and it is fabulous!  Every time I have looked at this magazine it has not disappointed.  It has a hodge podge of sewing projects, and they are stuff I would actually sew!  

After reading magazines, I stumbled upon three sewing books, two of which I had never heard of before, and one that I had:

Since I know it is hard to read the titles of each of these, I will address them one by one.  The top book is Design Your Own Tees by Jennifer Cooke.  This book is a how-to design your own T-shirts using stitches, silk screening, embroidery, and other techniques.  There were some really cool designs in here, and you could really get creative with dressing up your T-shirt.

The book to the left lower hand side is called Absolutely A-line by Wendi Gratz.  This book uses one pattern  to create 26 dresses for little girls!  What!  Amazing!  When I first read that on the cover I thought "I'm sure a lot of those dresses are going to look the same." Wrong!  I was pleasantly surprised to find that each dress (and a couple of top/tunics) were different and unique.  My lesson here was that you can take one basic pattern and come up with limitless possibilities!  In fact, that may be a challenge for me down the road !

The last book on the lower right hand side is the one I had seen online, it is called Stitch by Stitch Learning to Sew, One Project at a Time by Deborah Moebes.  I cannot say enough good things about this book!  I was blown away by the great photo demonstrations of techniques used in the book.  I was definitely thinking this would be a great book for a beginner, or just to have to review things like sleeve insertion.  It also includes a bonus CD with extra patterns, etc.  I definitely love books that walk you step by step through a process!  Also, there were cute projects in here too!

Overall, we spent about two hours in Barnes and Nobles, just drinking in the atmosphere, and enjoying the peaceful sounds of quiet chatter around us.  I did not plan to buy any sewing materials, only browse.  In fact, we were getting ready to leave when I spotted this beauty in the bargin bin section:

It is Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullins.  I had borrowed it from the library before and was pleased with the information in it.  It is specifically for sewing knits, which I love to sew.  It has a plethora of patterns included with the book, and you can make different variations of the designs to your heart's content!  I held my breath as I looked at the price, and could not believe it was only $6.98!  I'm sure my hubby knew by the look on my face that I was not leaving the store without it!  He said he didn't mind investing in my dreams (which is sewing, I have no plans to be a fashion designer or anything).

So it was a wonderful day with my wonderful man!  

Stay sew-filled!