Smelling the roses

Near my work there is a rose garden.  Not only are they beautiful to look at, the smells are delicious as you walk through. And just trust me, this place does not often smell good.

Often on my way into work I take a detour and walk through. Sometimes I even have time to take a seat and enjoy my coffee. 

I have been told, though I cannot vouch for the historic accuracy, that this space was built by the Russians. As the story goes during the Russian occupation in the 1980s, a Russian General needed a space to think. So his soldiers made this garden.

And now decades later, it is a pleasant area for me to sit and think. 

A new direction

I have not been blogging a lot lately because I have been a bit distracted and busy.  I have just recently deployed to Afganhistan for several months.  So, instead of blogging, I used my free time getting ready or simply soaking up time with my family. 

I do have some projects waiting to be blogged but I thought I would also post little notes about my life here.  So, Without Directions will go in a new direction for a few months. 

The pictures are from when my family dropped me off and said goodbye.  I made the outfits with seahorses because my unit patch has a seahorse on it.  I was attempting to create some family unity as I left.  

I sure do miss them all but I am excited to be a part of some good work here.

I will keep you all posted on how it is going.

Knight Hoodie: a must sew

One day I was brousing my favorite sewing blogs and I saw this:

And immediately said, "I must make it!"

It is the knight hoodie by Charming Doodle.  And this pattern is awesome.  It is so easy to follow and so fun to sew.

I made one for my son and posted it on my personal facebook account to show my friends and family.  (I actually rarely show any of my sewing on my personal FB account, my sharing is pretty exclusive to Without Directions or Sew Cool for the Tween Scene.) And quickly there after my cousin requested to have a couple for her boys.

They thought they were ninja knights!

The pattern is so much fun so I made her boys some right away and shipped them off.

The only adjustment I made on this pattern was on hoodies #2 and #3 I added a lining.  I found that just turning over the hem was a pain but using a lining made it simple and made the inside really nice.

For the lining I cut off the mohawk piece.

Oh, and I did not use buttons as embellishments.  JoAnn's has prong backed studs that you can attach to fabric that I thought were perfect.  I used pewter colored ones with my son's grey material and bronze ones for the cousin's black hoodies.

The pattern comes in sizes 2T to 10.  And, according the the Charming Doodle web page, there are tween and adult sizes in the works.  Maybe my husband and I will need matching ones some day.

If you are interested in hearing more from us, there are a couple ways for you to keep in touch!