jump up and down

new

First, a new technique learned - the rolled hem on the serger.  And it wasn't nearly as daunting as I thought it would be - I just followed the directions in the manual and voila, it worked!  These are the tablecloths for that big wedding order that I'm doing and the rolled hem was so so helpful here. 

Each one of these is 80" square and it took me less than 10 minutes to get around - a bit over an hours for all of them.  Can you imagine if I'd had to actually iron the hem and then stitch in in place?  It would have taken hours and hours!  I'm officially recommending this serger  and saving my pennies for my own.  This one is a Janome of some sort - my Mom bought it late last summer, so the exact model might still be available.  E-mail me if you want the details.

 And second, my friend Mel and I just got our new fabrics in - a little more Amy Butler from her Lotus collection.  I haven't talked about it much here because I try not to make the blog one big advertisement for my etsy shops (yes shops - I have three - how did that happen?  Etsy is a little addictive I guess.), but Mel and I do this little fabric shop together - little meaning we only get new fabrics every few months.  We met at church and then discovered that we were both sewing handmade items to sell so we decided to start buying fabric together too.  Anyway, we just got a new set of fabrics in - I have this fat quarter set of everything we got listed right now and I'll get everything else listed in the next few days, but there is yardage available of all of the individual fabrics - convo or e-mail me if you're interested. 

our weekend

I tried to figure my camera out a bit this weekend - I think I am officially off of automatic mode now, though still with lots to learn.  Here is a bit of what I captured.
 
Eating Ice Cream.
 
 An obliging butterfly who let me take over 100 pictures before it flew off.

My niece, perfecting the art of being two.  (Yes, that is a gift bow next to her - it was part of the decor for the cardboard house the cousins built.)

Hope you had a great weekend too!

my new pincushion

This is another one of those projects that's been in the back of my mind for a while.  I have about four pincushions to hold all of my pins and I've been wanting to consolidate into one ginormo pincushion, but I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to make it. 

On Sunday I picked up a Quilting magazine that I thrifted a while back and there was a quilt on the front cover with this circular pattern and I thought I'd try to turn it into a pincushion.

I'm loving the colors here - this was made all from  fabrics I had on hand. I didn't realize I had so many teals and reds.

I think the endeavor was fairly successful and I'll probably make a slightly smaller, but still fairly large version (this one is 6.5" in diameter) for my next shop update.

And we're off for the holiday weekend tomorrow morning - I'm taking my camera and computer so I might pop in for a post.  If not, I hope you all have a great weekend!

deals and steals

Although I love thrift shopping and I do often look through the clothing and often find great deals, I usually do not have the patience to thrift shop for specific clothing items.  If you are lucky enough to find what you are looking for in the right size and style, it may not be in good condition. I think of thrifting as a great way to stumble upon great deals on things that you weren't necessarily looking for.  This also makes it sounds like a great way to accumulate clutter - and it is if you're not careful.  Anyway, when one of us needs a specific clothing item, although I should be making a better habit of turning to my sewing machine, I usually hit the store.  And my favorite way to shop of late, with high gas prices and two little guys who are definitely not the best shopping companions, is online.

Here is what arrived on the doorstep today:


A load of much needed pants for the boys and a few extras from The Children's Place.  I got this all for $44.99.  Not bad for 4 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, a sweater, a shirt, a hat, and rain boots.  I added up the regular price for these items this morning and it came to $119, so I made a 62% savings. 

How did I do that?  With the exception of the hat, everything I bought was already on clearance.  A good time to hit the clearance sales is right at the season change - everything comes out in the store about two months before you actually need it, so it's usually going on clearance right when you do and it's a good time to shop clearance before it becomes too picked over.  And shopping clearance online is a lot easier than digging through those overcrowded, picked over clearance racks in a store.
 
I also used my favorite new trick - using Google to find a coupon code.  Just search "coupon code (enter your  favorite store here)".  There are several coupon code websites and I've used this method to find discounts for my last few online purchases and had success in finding at least a 10% savings every time. So, in addition to the savings I was already getting by shopping clearance, I got an extra 15% off my entire order. I found my particular code here.   It looks like there is another one there that doesn't expire until June 4. 

My only complaint about this particular order is that it took two weeks to get here - it was a week before I even got the e-mail confirming my order had been sent.  I could have paid a little more than the $5 flat rate shipping to have it processed faster, but as you might already be able to tell, I'm cheap thrifty like that. 

And the boots are already well loved.

covered

I didn't mean to be gone for so many days.  It has finally warmed up here and we've been enjoying the outdoors a little bit more in the past few days and my computer went a little haywire.  Ryan has it all fixed up nicely now and hopefully we can get it to last us a little while longer.  It's about as old as Peter, but still doing a fine job at what I need it for as long as we can keep it from freaking out.

I have been working on a few things in the past week or so.  One thing that I whipped out was this checkbook cover.  I've been wanting to make one for a long time now and I finally just did it.  I think I will give this one away, but I will definitely be making a few more, a couple for me and some for my next shop update.  I used linen and some of my scraps to add some piecing to the front.   I'll be tweaking this a bit more - possibly adding a closure and maybe some more detail to the front.  Hopefully, it won't be too long before there are a few in the shop.

I can 't be sure though, because I've also been working on a fairly large order of pennant banners and table overlays for a wedding.  The bride and I just finalized the last piece of fabric and hopefully it will make it's way to me soon.  This has been my first experience doing such a large custom order.  It's been in the works for about a month now and I'm looking forward to having it finished and on it's way to making lovely decor for the wedding.  Coincidentally, the couple is getting married on our wedding anniversary (August 9th for those of you who are interested)! 

And I guess with Memorial Day coming up and Peter's last day of pre-school at the end of this week, I'd better get going on my summer plans.  I have great ideas about getting organized so that we have somewhere to go or something specific to do (crafty things mostly - probably using lots of ideas from the "kids stuff" links over there on the right) everyday.  I'm looking forward to a great summer!

my creative maternal legacy

I had intended for this to be a Mother's Day post, but I am not too late, so I thought I would do it anyway.  The women in these old, and not so technically great, but oh so dear to me photos are the women who have given me a creative legacy.

circa 1978 - me in my Mom's arms, my cousin Jennifer underneath my Grandma, Great Grandma, and Aunt Gail.

These are the women who taught me to love working with my hands.  These are the women that I have seen creating, often out of necessity, but always with love.  They have taught me through actual lessons and simply through example. 

My mother, DeAnn, is the best seamstress I know, and I'm not exaggerating when I say this.  She has made countless dresses for me (including my wedding dress which fit like a glove), countless other pieces of clothing for me and my brothers and cousins and herself.  Now she is honing her talents as a quilter and creating some impressive art.  She is the friend that every non-sewer wants to have.  She always has clothing from friends that needs mending or altering.  She is incredibly generous with her gift.  She is always willing to go on a fabric hunt for me (she lives in a bigger city with more fabric choices).  I love that she shares her love through her craft.

I give credit to my Grandma, Carol, for giving me most of my actual sewing lessons.  I would just get into my head that I wanted to make something and she was always there to guide me through it.  She is working hard now to leave a legacy with her grandchildren by making each of them a large quilt for their bed.  You can see mine here.  I love the image in my mind that I have of my grandmother crocheting doilies in the evening.   I love that I finally learned to crochet from her about a year and a half ago.  She would never brag about it, but she is one talented lady.

circa 1989 - Grandma, Great Grandma, Mom and Me (please excuse the fact that I am not looking at the camera - I was 12 and awkward, what can I say?)

And my Great Grandmother, Anita, seemed to always have a quilt on her frames.  The last quilt she hand quilted was one for me.  I knew her mostly in her last years when she had become stricken with Alzeimers, but I know from her vague memories and the stories from my own grandmother that she was an innovative and creative woman - the wife of a sheep herder and farmer, she started her married life traveling with groups of sheep herders, cooking their meals.  She had eight babies and she sewed and quilted and crocheted and baked for them.  When I think of what I know from stories of her life, I am certain that she lived a creative life.

I am thankful for the creative legacy that I have through these amazing women.  Happy Mother's Day!

serging away

I loved reading everyone's Mother's Day posts.  My favorite part about Mother's Day this year was the homemade cards from Peter - there were a couple from various places.  He did this one at speech therapy and I think he drew everything but the heart. 

I finished my skirt this weekend. I love this serger - everything went together so quickly!  I love it!  This is a 3 piece bias skirt from New Look 6177.  I think the pattern must be out of print. I know it's at least 4 years old because the first skirt I made from it was for a wedding just after Peter was born.  The fabric is one that I bought from JoAnn just last week - a nice swirly blue.
My apologies for the wall shot - I really had intended to get a shot of me with it on, but that would have required a little more forethought than I put into it today.  And besides, it was snowing today -flurries.  I am being optimistic though - the forecast is for 80s by Friday.  I did don the skirt for the sit-down pose below.  It has a nice flow and I think it will get a lot of use this summer.  I love to wear skirts with t-shirts during the hot months.  My legs have been hammered with varicose veins from my children so I don't look good in shorts, but skirts are usually long enough and cover a little better and are cooler than shorts.

And last time I showed my serged shorts, there was a request to see the

seams.  So, here are my serged seams on the skirt.  You can see the side seam right down the middle of the shot, the seams of the pieces that meet at the side seam and you can see how I serged the edge of the bottom and just turned it up to hem with a straight stitch on my regular machine - super easy, super fast, super simple.  My only piece of advice is to be careful when you are serging as it is a major pain to unpick and especially if you cut away your seam allowance.  Everything turned out OK with this skirt, but I did have to do a little unpicking and the zipper wasn't hidden like it was supposed to be.  I take full blame for this because I was  too distracted while sewing.

p.s.

Did you see that Sarah is having a vintage tablecloth giveway?

Did you see Sandi's great new fabric line?  I love it!   And now I've got to get busy finishing up the sewing I'm doing for her.

I've put several items in the shop on sale to make room for a shop update that will happen sometime next week. 

birthday baby boy

Little Ned turned two today!  Our little guy is definitely a toddler now - running (often away from me), talking (in his own special language sometimes), and generally displaying his abundant energy at all times!  He's taking this growing up seriously.  In just the past week he has given up his daytime binky (with a little encouragement from us and surprisingly, cutting off the binky has made the blankie less important.  This is good because the blankie is made from a thin knit that's not wearing too well.  I made it to swaddle him in as a newborn on hot summer days and now it usually gets left on the floor and no longer has to go everywhere with him (which means a whole lot less getting dragged in the mud, getting peed on, etc. and a whole lot less laundry for me - hooray!).

I think I'm a developing a fairly laid back style to birthdays - we took it easy today  (just like we did on Peter's birthday)- a little trip to the playground, a stop to get the best bread in town (I wish I could say I was making it, but alas I am a failure when it comes to yeast doughs), some cupcakes and ice cream, a few presents, and a lot of laughs and fun!   Some may call it laziness - I call it stress management and helping everyone (including me) enjoy the birthday.

I am so grateful for our little baby boy - he came to us at a stressful time in our lives and I worried so much before he came about how we would handle it all.  But he arrived and true to the saying was definitely a "bundle of joy".  Every time I sat to nurse him or watched him sleep, the stress just melted away.   And I am learning to love the sass that he has developed in the last year or so - just enough to give his character that special something without making him unbearably defiant!   I can't wait to watch this little guy grow up!

this and that

Peter hasn't had pre-school this week, so we've been a little more laid back.  On Saturday I picked up a loaf of Texas Toast out of the day old basket at the grocery and yesterday it got turned into French toast with a twist.  And the twist?  Almond Extract!  I've already confessed my love for almond extract.  Just add a little bit to your egg mixture and voila - French toast with a twist and super yummy (and mine would have been more yummy had it not cooled down while I was taking pictures of it!).

Some other yummy recipes we have tried lately are Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Cookies and Couscous Salad, both via Mary Beth.  And she just shared this Cherry Lime Jam - we'll have to try that it because Ryan loves anything cherry!

I've been playing a little more with my camera - I love the color of the sky in this one.  Now I just need to figure out how to get those branches to show a little better.  Mostly I am happy that the buds are finally popping their heads out!   Can anyone recommend a photography blog?  So far all I've found are ones that show fabulous pictures or that talk about how to use Photoshop.  I'd love to find one that talked about using a camera and how to make a great photo in the first place.

My baby turns two tomorrow (well, it's actually today now) - I'd better get to bed so I'm ready for all that celebrating!

and I'm in love...

In love with the serger that is.  I made these shorts for Peter in no time flat this weekend.  I just zoomed through seam after seam.  This one threaded up fairly easily and  about five minutes into sewing, I was convinced that sometime in the near future, I must  get a serger of my own.  I've got a skirt for myself in the works now.  If that whips up as easily I think there will be little I can do (OK - except for taking a look at my bank account balance) from marching myself down to my local sewing shop and bringing one home.

A little more about the shorts - I used Heather Ross' VW Van fabric which I have been in love with since the moment I saw it, but had yet to make something out of it.  The polka dot is from that same collection.  I used Simplicity 5869 - published in 1982.  They turned out a little big, but not so big that they're going to fall off, so I think I'll leave them - little boys grow fast.  And besides that, Peter doesn't even like them, yet that is.  Yesterday he didn't want to put them on and couldn't get them off fast enough.  But, I think he'll grown to love them, right?  Someone convince me please.  I think I'll make a pair for Ned - that may help Peter to warm up to them. 

All in all - the serger was a great experience.  I was surprised about how many of you commented that you owned one and had never used it.  My advice would be, get it out, figure it out (I still have a lot of figuring out to do - my next challenge is the rolled hem), and you'll love it!