Rush to the finish line

Getting ready for Christmas always seems to involve rushing around. It doesn't seem to matter how early I start and how on top of things I think I am, I seem to still find myself rushing around trying to get ready in the last moments. I think I am probably not alone in this. I'm guessing that many of us are this way.
This year for Christmas, we are going to my parents house. We booked our flight in July, and so I started shopping for presents then. I was really on top of it. By the end of August I had about half of my presents purchased and shipped to my parents.
Then on Labor Day weekend, I was checking my e-mail and noticed one from JoAnn's. Now most of the time I don't read junk e-mail, but for some reason, this time I did. I noticed that they had Christmas fabrics on sale, and for some reason I decided to follow the link to their website. While I was there I saw a blue fabric with snow flakes on it. Seeing that fabric put an image in my mind of a dress for Cinderella, and a little vest and bow-tie for Guy Smiley. So I just had to go out and get the fabric to make them.
Just a little background for those of you who don't know.... When I was in college I majored in Family and Consumer Science Education. One subject that is covered a lot in that major is sewing. I never really sewed before college, in fact I was terrified of a sewing machine. Then I had to take the class, and so I started sewing.
Just before the semester when I was supposed to take my second sewing class, my husband and I decided that it would by wise to invest in a sewing machine, so that I could work at home. I didn't know much about sewing machines at this point. All I knew was the ones we used at school were Bernina's and my mom's machine that she had for years and loved, as far as I know, was a Singer. So I looked for a Singer that was what we felt like an affordable price.
The machine I ended up with was a great machine for someone who is only doing basic sewing, or someone who is learning, but to do a lot of sewing, it wasn't the best thing we could have bought. This machine has a strait stitch and a zig zag. It only has a basic foot, and so you are quite limited on what you can do on it. So I haven't done that much sewing since I left college, where I had access to more advanced sewing machines. That and I hadn't even set up my machine since we had moved here.
So after I bought and laundered the fabric, my husband helped me rearrange the furniture so that we could get my machine set up. But still my machine stayed in it's box, because I just couldn't figure out when I would find the time that I could sew with two kids about. One of them being old enough to maybe catch on to what I was doing.
Then at the end of October I had one of my sister-in-law's come for a visit. She was working on sewing a quilt. She had done most of it at my father-in-law's house, but was stitching the binding by hand, while she was visiting us. I don't know if it was seeing her sew, or just realizing how much time I had while she was here, but I decided to do something about my sewing. So I got my machine out of the box, and decided to make some pillow covers, that I had been intending to make. I figured I would do this first, so that I wouldn't be as rusty when I was sewing my kids clothes. Well that plan worked for maybe 3 days. Then I realized, that I could do the sewing, but when would I cut out the fabric? So I stopped, and decided to just buy some clothes for my kids.
I stayed in this stage until about right before Thanksgiving. I decided that if I was going to buy some clothes for my kids I better get to the store to do it. I went shopping and came home disgusted by all of the holiday commercialism in the stores, as well as not having found anything that would work. I decided then and there that I would make them clothes and I wouldn't put it off any longer. The next day as soon as I got up, and my kids were still sleeping I got one of my peices of fabric laid out. Then any moment I got throughout that day I worked on getting it ready to cut. By the end of that I had my blue fabric cut, and so the next few days I worked on getting it sewn together as best I could. I then did a similar day with my white fabric.
Well somewhere along the line, I learned that the fabric I had gotten for my son's pants was too light weight for winter. So that put me on hold there.
Then I realized that the reason I had not been able to find anything for him in stores is because I was looking for something in a 9-12 month size, which by the way doesn't exist. Once I learned or remembered that baby sizes went 6-9 months then 12 months, I decided that I would try to buy a shirt and pants for Guy and then make the vest and bow-tie. So I found an outfit on Sears website, and bought it. When it arrived it was way too big. So now I am back to making a shirt for him, as well as the vest and bow-tie. And I only have a week. I am almost done with Cinderella's dress. I am doing everything except for button's and buttonholes. Those I will do on my mother's machine, most likely after Christmas. So now I am in a mad rush to the finish to see what I can get done for Guy, before the big day arrives. I'll post pictures of my creations after Christmas and tell you how it went.