10 sewing machines and a serger

A kitchen project for my husband

2012-02-16T12:23:00.001-08:00

One of the interesting outcomes of my broken leg was that my husband has taken over the kitchen! I am not complaining, at all. I don't mind cooking but for the most part it is just something that needs to be done. My husband really took to cooking and baking for real when I broke my leg almost 2 years ago. He makes amazing dishes

So, the kitchen has become his domain.

We have a set of wire mesh drawers in the kitchen and it was just bugging my husband that you could see right through them to the contents inside.

He picked out a home dec fabric that matches the colors of the floor tiles with some red to pick up the red accents in the kitchen.

I used the home dec fabric and interfaced it with a fusible heavy weight stabilizer, worked off a paper pattern I made from the drawer fronts. The biggest challenge was in how to attach them to the wire drawers in a way that did not look sloppy or home made. After a bit of thought I made a mock up with a size 0 hook from a package of hooks and eyes. It worked great.

I hand sewed on two hooks to the upper part of each drawer front liner and squeezed them closed with a pair of pliers.

Final outcome: my hubby was very, very happy so I call it a success!

Not the most exciting project to work on but well worth making the hubby happy!

Tonight I'm off to m y Babylock dealer for my first class on my Evolution. :)

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Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T18:29:00.001-08:00

Valentines day is always fun, I loved when my daughter was young and she had to make Valentines for her classmates. We used to decorate our home with hearts and have fun.

Now that she is on the cusp of turning 24 there is no more childlike fun. However, we do still celebrate. After all it is a day to celebrate love!

This year I made 2 little canvas Valentines. One for my hubby and one for my daughter. I put them on the dinner table.

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Location:Main St,Lisle,United States

Fabric Wall Art

2012-02-13T19:30:00.001-08:00

We are in the finishing phases of a redoing our master bath and I needed something for the walls. An idea jumped out at me from the cover of the February 2012 Making Magazine. It was so simple yet striking. Old embroidery hoops with fabric in them. Yup that's it, so simple yet so inviting and modern and chic.

It just so happened that I had some extra embroidery hoops and even if I didn't they only cost about $1.29 full price. I also happened to have the fabric that we picked out and purchased for use in the bathroom for basket liners that we ended up deciding not to use. My hubby and I both really liked the fabric so decided what a fun way to still use it and showcase parts of the print we really liked, plus such an inexpensive project.

The bathroom is painted white and gray with accents of black. I love it! The toilet sits in a little alcove and over it are hung some glass shelves with lotions and perfumes and hair necessities. The 2 walls on either side are just these big blank gray spaces that need filling. This project took care of one of the walls. Due to the placement it really is not very conducive to getting a good picture! I did my best but it really doesn't seem to do it justice. At least you will get the idea.

This last picture is of the corner on the other side of the bathroom. We found these little shelves at Home Depot that really add a nice touch staggers up the small wall space. I really want to make a tiny soft sculptured bird to add to the little birdhouse.

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Location:Maple Ave,Lisle,United States

Simplicity 0570 in maroon/cream wool double cloth

2012-02-12T19:09:00.001-08:00

I love finishing a project. I'm calling this my Evolution Serger Coat.

I wanted to make a new coat and I wanted to play with my new serger and I wanted to push my comfort zone in my sewing skills. I noticed when I moved my sewing rooms to my new sewing studio that some of my favorite fabrics have not been used because I am a little scared of cutting into them. Not sure why.... Except for ruining beautiful pieces of fabric.

Back on track... Simplicity 0570
This pattern has several different versions and states that it is made for fleece. I went with a wool double cloth.
Due to my fabric choice I eliminated all facings and interfacing. I made some slight design changes in the collar.

I really like 95% of this coat... The only part that I am a little iffy on is how I attached the collar. But I think it will grow on me.

The Evolution portion of this project is seen in the seams, the were all done with flat locking that finished the reversed side beautifully. I was really happy with how it turned out. I finished all the edges with a 3 thread serged overlock stitch, I also used this stitch for attaching the collar. On the collar edge I used one of the Evolutions specialty stitches, the wave stitch. My new serger is amazingly awesome! It is so easy to thread and to switch between stitches.

I made a muslin out of stash fabric that I kept for that purpose. I only pinned in the zippers. I made a couple of fitting adjustments at the waist. I tried the muslin on with a thick sweater and also with a suit jacket to make sure that the fit through the shoulders and the arms was comfortable. I wanted to make sure I could wear this with warm clothes on underneath. I picked the size by finished measurements, I like this fit but I think the sleeves are overly roomy. In the picture I just had on a t-shirt, when worn with more clothes the wrinkles on the arms from the extra fabric were filled out and not so noticeable.

I like the zipper details on the sleeves and the front opening, makes it fun and a little different.

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Location:Home

Traveling in Syracuse and a sneak peek

2012-02-08T18:32:00.001-08:00

I left home this morning for a work trip up to Syracuse, NY. Normally a trip to central New York at this time of the year is to be avoided due to frightful, nasty winter weather. This winter the weather is so strangely mild. I did not even have to pack my snow boots and parka!

I landed here to find that my afternoon appointment had canceled and needed to kill a couple hours. So to my trusty map app on my iPad and looked up fabric and quilt shops.

I found two promising stores: Feminine Touch Fabrics and Calico Gals. Both were on my way towards my next stop and my hotel. Lucky me.

The first stop, Feminine Touch Fabrics, a small independent fashion fabric store that was filled with an interesting array of fashion fabrics, trims, and an area of home dec fabric. It was not a big store but they had a very interesting assortment of fabrics at excellent prices. They lady working, Amber, was very nice!
I purchased a very summery printed 100% linen for 6$ a yard. Will make a great summer dress!

I would go back to this store. Even though there was not a large selection they had some very interesting items. A hit or miss that is worth stoping into. I just would not go after dark.... Did not seem like the best area to me.

The second shop I stopped at, Calico Girls, was a nice quilt shop. But not very memorable for a traveler. They had a nice but normal selection of quilt fabrics and a nice layout and selection of BabyLock and Bernina machines.
Of course I had to buy something! I have been wanting to make covers for my machines but have not been inspired by anything that I had in my stash.

They did have a nice selection of Moda precuts and I bought 2 charm packs of the Zanzibar skins. Those will be fun to work with! The lady at the checkout was quite nice and chatty, we found out that we both own Symphony's and spent a few minutes chatting about our favorite features. That was fun.

My latest project sitting at home on my work table has left me in love with my new Evolution serger! Here is a sneak peek...

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Location:East Syracuse,United States

Craftsy online classes

2012-02-01T06:50:00.001-08:00

Just a quick question...

Has anyone out there taken any of the Craftsy online classes?

If so do you recommend? Or have any other feedback?

Thanks!!

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A Home Dec Project: Mail Organizer

2012-01-30T15:49:00.001-08:00

It seems like I haven't gotten to any fashion sewing in a very long time! That will have to change :)

With my daughter moving back in and our little home being tight on space we really had the need for a mail organizer. I looked about at some at the office store and they were just all so blah and ugly.

I decided to make my own to hang on the wall just inside my sewing room from the front foyer. The space is perfect for it, the key rack is next to it and the dog leashes hang below.

I based my design loosely off a project in the book One Yard Wonders and from an article in the UK sewing/crafting magazine Making.

It measures 23 inches high by 13 inches wide and each of the 3 mail pockets measure 6 inches high and 13 inches wide. I added grommets to the top for hanging.

The base/backing is stabilized with a piece of peltex and heavy duty iron on interfacing. Each pocket is stabilized with heavy duty interfacing.

When i sewed the pockets on I pushed in the seam at the top opening by 1/2 inch to create a little pleat for rom for the mail.

Since this fabric is busy already with lots of neat details printed on it, I decided to leave the embellishments to a minimum and just did a gold leaf foil initial for each of the three pockets. This way we all know whose mails goes where!

Keeping my fingers crossed that this nifty addition keeps the mail from ending up all over the house :)

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Felted Tablet Cover and doggy toy

2012-01-28T20:11:00.001-08:00

My future son-in-law is an architect student and he uses this cool little Wacom tablet that he draws on directly into his laptop.

He has been carrying it around in a flimsy wrapper, not giving it much protection at all. As a thank you for all his help on my sewing room I made him a new cozy for his equipment.

I took an old felted wool sweater that started as a mans 2X, I cut the sleeves and the zipper neckline off. Cut out 1 piece as a rectangle and the 2nd piece included the shape of the armholes to make the included fold over flap. The flap was not completely symetrical but I decided that it gave the project character.

The lining was from fabric from my stash and is antique books which he happens to have a great fond for so it worked perfectly. I added an interior pocket to slide the cords into.

To dress the project up a bit while still keeping it manly I added a touch of embroidery around the upper edge.

The finished size of the project is 9x11.

With the leftover sleeves I made an octopus inspires dog toy for Holly. She loves to steal my scraps and usually just leaves them around the house but she really like the felted wool so I made her a dog toy for her to play with.

Another awesome thing about these 2 projects: they cost me NOTHING to make :) all stash projects! Woot, woot!

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Location:Home

Tabletop iron/press board

2012-01-26T12:55:00.001-08:00

The only piece of equipment that I have been missing for a long time is a portable small press board. Something that I can use to whip out my iron and use for small projects and just quick things that don't need the full ironing board.

I did a little google search to see what ideas where floating out on the web. I had an idea in mind but wanted to see if there was something better...

I had an old piece of 1/4 inch plywood that I have used at various times for crafts. It measures about 16 x 17 inches.

How did I put it all together?

I took my supplies
- 1/4 in plywood
- an old bath towel
- some of that silver coated ironing heat shield fabric
- fashion fabric, quilting fabric from my stash
- staple gun
- Aleene's fabric bond to anything glue

I laid the towel on my table folded in half and pulled it tight and staples it to the back of the board. Trimmed it
Next put the fashion fabric face down, the ironing fabric face down and the towel covered board over it and repeated the stapling while taking some extra time to make the corners nice and neat.

I then measured the opening on the back added 2 inches, hemmed it all around and then spread glue on the wood and under the hem area and smoothed the piece on.

A super easy project that has added a very needed piece of equipment to my cutting table. Best part of all... I didn't spend a penny!!! Everything was in my stash. :)

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Location:Home

Introducing my NEW Sewing Studio!!

2012-01-25T12:17:00.000-08:00

I am so very excited, thrilled and happy to share with you my new sewing studio!

Due to my daughter moving back into the house we decided to play room switcheroo. What we initially thought would be an easy transition turned into utter chaos for weeks, more like 2 months!

What we ended up doing was moving the den/office into my old sewing room thus freeing up that room for my daughter to move back into (it was her old childhood bedroom) that meant that my sewing room had to move downstairs to the laundry area. This area had prior been an ugly mostly unused doggy area. After TONS of work. Removing a wall, replacing the floor, new trim and new wall on one side plus 3 gallons of paint and weeks of work the area has been completely transformed to my new sewing studio. There are still a couple odds and ends that need done like hooking the dryer up through the crawl space instead of the window and I need to decide on lighting needs, i'm thinking track lights.... But they will get there!

My future son-in-law building me framed peg boards

the works in progress photo... oh... so much needed to be done!

In order to make this happen I had to temporarily pack up my sewing room into plastic bins and move it to our front room. Nothing like moving 11plus years of sewing and crafting stuff out of one room and into bins. WOW!! I realized I have a lot of stuff. I even found things I did not even know I owned! Craziness.

the HUGE hoard of sewing stuff in the front room

putting everything piled in the front room was a motivator to get the project done quickly!

The good that come out of it is that I really took the time to go through everything I have. And it took lots of time, whew.

For example:
I went through every pattern I owned and probably halved my pattern stash. In addition I cataloged every pattern on my iPad using this cool app called List Master.
I also took the time and refolded every single piece of fabric that I own. That took 2 full days. The quilting fabric is all nicely folded taking up an entire dresser. My fashion fabric I also added to my List Master app with information on fabric type and amount and color. So time consuming but worth it in the end.

I do not think that I need to purchase any fabric for a very long time!

The room was a challenge to plan and work with. There is no closet, 5 doors to contend with and the washer and dryer area. The good part about it is the floor space is almost double what I had in my original sewing room. I originally had thought about buying all new furntiure... but decided that would be wasteful and cost prohibitive. I actually re-purposed all the furntiture. Some was existing in the old sewing room, some I took from my daughter on her move. I only bought 1 new piece and that was a second Ikea desk for 39$. My biggest expenditure was in buying the binders for all of my patterns. that cost me about 120$ for the binders and the pages to slip the patterns into. It was worth it!I now have room to walk around, my butt is not hitting into anything and you can pass by the end of the cutting table without shuffling sideways! I have my sewing machine and my new serger out so they can just be used side by side and the space is no claustraphobic. It is totally my space. It is the one room in the house that i have total say over what gets hung on the walls and what I want out. my decor is an echo of me not just what looks good.

I am feeling so inspired, it's a great feeling. I am very lucky and want to thank my husband and my future son-in-law for all their hard work and help :)

The final result is:

the cutting table: 72 in long by 36 in wide covered by a giant cutting mat. At the end is a framed pegboard with all my rulers and fabric scissors and rotary cutters. Underneath is fabric and craft storage. the washer and drier to the right have a nice shelving unit with fabric bins on top to keep it neat.

This area has my bookshelves and supplies like buttons, zippers, patterns, etc. on the right wall is a peg board holding quilting templates and assorted ribbons and fun stuff.

my sewing tables. 2 simple and styrdy desks from Ikea that cost 39$ lots of sewing space and room for my favorite machines side by side. and the back door. I hung a small cork board up that holds buisness cards, my favorite peoples measurements, and photos.

this is my thread cabinet, It used to be one of those old small built in ironing boards. I removed th eold ironing board, painted inside and out and added shelves for my thread. Of course i had more than would fit.. so on top the quilting dresser is a thread rack holding my most used colors spools of thread.

My quilting dresser and fashion fabric dresser with a container with rolled fabrics between. this wall has my 'inspiration' board up on it. This is where I put things that inspire me :) I also have a collection of vintage ball jars filled with buttons and my favorite peoples in a frame.

I did manage to fit in a full length mirror. I need to try on all the cool cloths im gonna make and check them out! I also have my big ironing board hanging up on the back of one of the garage workroom doors.

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Location:Home

Serendipity Quilt Shop

2012-01-01T07:58:00.001-08:00

I found my new favorite quilt shop in Delaware! Serendipity Quilt Shop in Dagsboro.

I can't say enough good things about it! My favorite part... The ladies working there. So pleasant, so helpful, so nice and inviting! Great selection of fabrics and notions and patterns.

They had a very nice selection of Sea Shore and ocean fabrics that in the Midwest we don't usually get. As well as some lovely patterns. I left the store with a baggy full of goodies, including some supplies to try English Paper Piecing. Should be a nice project that I can work on while traveling for work.

Pictured below is me on the right and the owner of the shop, Mary.

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Location:Dagsboro, DE

Serendipity Quilts

2011-12-29T07:42:00.001-08:00

Cool quilt shop!

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Location:Dagsboro, DE

Christmas Quilt Shop

2011-12-28T18:46:00.001-08:00

So bummed! One of my favorite destination quilt shops is in Historic Lewes, Delaware. It is close to my Mom and Dad's home in Delaware, it's super cute, has nice people and I absolutely love all the variety of 'ocean' themed fabric. Living in the Midwest we really don't get that variety of sea shore themes. PLUS... No taxes....

Being here this week between Christmas and New Years I headed over to Mare's Bears Quilt Shop to pursue the goods and see if there was anything that had to come home with me to Chicagoland.

We pulled up and.... CLOSED. Not just for the day but for THE ENTIRE WEEK that I am here. Such a total bummer. I stared longingly through the window and turned away with a pouty lower lip.

I am determined! tomorrow we head to Dagsboro, DE to check out a brand new to me quilt shop plus several antique shops. keeping my fingers crossed to find another gem of a quilt shop with lots of ocean themed fabrics to play with.

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Location:Lewis, DE

Reusable shopping totes for Christmas gifts

2011-12-23T16:56:00.001-08:00

This year I made several reusable shopping totes for Christmas. I figured since 'green ' is the way to go and I had tons of the extra durable thick ripstop fabric leftover from old saddle bag projects. I would use it to make some gifts. This way not only do the recipients get the gifts inside they also get a super nice bag to go with it.

These were inspired by a project in the book One Yard Wonders. I did make some changes for durability and long term use, specifically in regards to the handles. I made 6 bags. Each is constructed like an old fashioned grocery bag. They are lined and I added labels inside.

Happy Holidays!
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Location:Driving across country

My brand new Babylock Evolution Serger

2011-12-20T09:45:00.001-08:00

To excited not to share!!!

My Christmas/ Birthday gift to myself was a new serger.

I am in need of it. My good old 18 year old MyLock 634D has just hit a wall. I never knew if she was going to run correctly or give me a giant headache. It was getting to the point where I was afraid to use her for fear that she would eat my fabric and make a mess. The timing goes wonky after only and hour or two of use, I can only use the three thread mode or rolled hem.

Well, no more worry for me!

I have been doing my homework and did several test drives. I figured my last serger lasted 18 years because I chose top of the line. Well, that was my plan again. I tested out the Huskylock s25 and looked at the top of the line Pfaff but in the end the Babylock won hands down. My old serger is traded in and I am ready to create!

I wish I could just set it up right now and play all day! But, I can't. I am in the middle of getting ready to leave for the holidays as well as in the middle of moving my sewing room to a larger space. So my beautiful new machine will safely sit in her box all protected by her styrofoam until January.

In the mean time I'm sure to be daydreaming of all the cool things she has to offer.

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Location:Home

My last project of 2011

2011-12-20T07:12:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics of a lap quilt and matching 18" doll quilt that I made for my friends daughter for Christmas. This lucky little girl is getting a slew of American Girl dolls and accessories for Christmas and I thought every little girl needs a special blanket to play on with a matching one for her favorite doll.

I really had no plan in place when I bought the fabric. I just purchased 8 fat quarters in fun fabrics and some yardage of matching colors. I ended up going with half square triangles with blues and greens as the solids. I played with different layouts and finally settled on this one. I used leftover squares to piece a strip down the back. A little extra fun.

It was a fun project to make!

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Location:Home

Fabric Bowls

2011-11-24T11:53:00.001-08:00

I needed a gift for a Christmas party with our friends. I decided to make something for it this year. The spending limit is $15. My thought was to search through my stash for some Christmas fabric and make a fabric bowl.

Only problem is that I have not bought any Christmas fabric in years! At least 8 years... I went on a Christmas fabric spree about 10 years ago and had plenty. Well now I am just down to a woefully few scraps and the one bigger piece was just plain old ugly and outdated. My plan just changed to using non Christmas fabric from my stash... I have plenty of that.

However, yesterday when I was at the quilt shop geting fabric for another Christmas gift this wonderful bolt of fabric was sitting on the cutting table and I just HAD to have a yard of it!

It is Christmassy without being over the top and I just loved the colors.

I got home and got to work and by the end of the night I had 2 new fabric bowls. One will be for the Christmas grab bag and one is for my mother-in-law. I think I will pair each with a bag of yummy wrapped chocolates for a lovely little gift.

The fabric is from the Snow Queen line from Northcott. I used timtex as a stiffener, some fusible web and aqua/teal batik from my stash and a bit if green batik from my stash as accompanying fabrics.

The 2 bowls use the same fabrics and same basic shape (round) but they are 2 different styles. The first one is more structured. Straight line darts and precise quilting the second one is more free form and random. Both were lots if fun!

The thread is YLI Machine Quilting 100% cotton 40/3 ply variegated called Danube Blues. I did use just under 500 yards of thread just for these 2 bowls!

I used the book Fun fast & easy Fabric Bowls by Linda Johansen as a guide for this project.

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Location:Home

Haberman Fabrics in Detroit Metro Area

2011-11-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

I finally made it to Haberman Fabrics over in the Detroit area. This store has been on my list for quite a few years. I have been to Detroit quite a few times but have never had the opportunity or time to make it to the store.

I had a quick work trip yesterday in Detroit and figured that if eveything went according to plan I would have 2 hours between the time my meeting ended and when I needed to be back to the airport. This gave me 30 mins each way for travel and a precious hour of shopping time.

Oh dear! A single hour of shopping time in what is touted to be Michigan's finest Fabric store... How would I ever make that work? Well, I decided that I would go in with a project in mind and spend time in only one section of the store. I have been wanting to make a new winter coat or two. I perused my patterns, picked out a couple jotted down the yardage requirements and then kept my fingers crossed that my work meeting would no run late!

I was not disappointed!! I got my hour to shop at Haberman's and it was a lovely hour. I could have spent the entire day in the store... but then I would have no more money in my checking account either.

I definitely recommend the store to any sewer or fabric lover that happens to travel through the area. I got to the store and was amazed by how it was set up. I easily found the wool section with in the Casual and Career section. They had an amazing selection of woolens. From menswear to fine wool crepe to heavy wool coatings and knits and everything in-between. The prices were also quite reasonable for the fine wools. The experience was very good. the store has tons of personality, the people working were helpful and nice, and did I mention the selection?

Honestly I was expecting more of the vibe of a Fishmans or Vogue Fabrics downtown in Chicago. tons of bolts and rolls just lain in the tables in a big boring store. Great fabrics but the stores have no personality. Habermans has personality! It is warm and inviting, fun to look at and set up very nicely.

I did end up using almost every second of my precious hour. The selection of wools were phenomenal and I had to really concentrate on what I wanted to keep from being distracted. I left with 2 fabric selections. the first is a deep red/wine colored Donna Karen wool with a herringbone pattern for a short coat/jacket. the second is a beautiful black and cream textured wool for a longer swing coat.

Now I wish I could magically stop real time so I can go play in sewing time :)

Habermans has a great website www.habermansfabrics.com and they even have a blog called The Sewing Dish.

Halloween Party

2011-11-01T19:44:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun! I failed at taking lots of good pictures... Must have had something to do with the 'Brain Wash' punch that I couldn't stop drinking.

Almost everyone that attended dressed up in the SteamPunk theme, The costumes were great!

- Steph

Location:Home

A bit of Halloween Egg fun

2011-10-28T22:05:00.001-07:00

I made these super fun hard boiled eggs for my deviled egg plate for the Halloween party tomorrow.

I would love to take all the credit for them.... But, my husband saw them in a magazine and I just copied them. Still super fun for Halloween.

Not hard to do. Just need to use some dark colored food coloring paste. Boil your eggs, knock the eggs with the back of a wooden spoon so they crack and crackle a bit them put them Ina bowl with the food colored water. Put the bowl in the fridge for a couple hours and then peel them. Wherever the cracks were the food color dyes the egg white and you get these spiderweb looking hard boiled peeled eggs! Just make sure to wear rubber gloves, it makes it harder to peel the eggs but much better than having violet fingers.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Home

Halloween Sneak Peak

2011-10-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

- Steph... From my iPad

Bummer!

2011-10-20T13:37:00.001-07:00

I had a quick one night trip up to Portland, Maine. I have been trying to stop into interesting fabric and/or quilt shops during my travels. (as time permits)

I finished up about an hour earlier than planned and had found a great looking quilt shop in Kennebunk, Maine. That would only take me a total of 20 mins out of my way plus browse time. I plugged the address into my trusty Garmin. And made the detour. Kennebunk Was a nice place to detour through! Too bad the weather was gray and wet.

I find this charming Inn and beside it is the quilt shop in an old refurbished barn. Ohhhh, I liked the looks of it. I park, grab my purse, check my time and walk to the entrance only to be greeted by one of those awful 'we will be back' clock looking signs with 2 pm on it. Maaaaaaan. I was bummed! I eagerly looked through the window and sighed. Too bad. No way I could wait 40 mins for them to come back.

So sad. I guess 'Mainely Quilts, quilt shop' will have to wait another day. If your ever in southern Maine make the stop, it looked intriguing.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Logan airport, Boston, MA

The doggie leather jacket

2011-10-19T14:09:00.001-07:00

So... I couldn't help myself and totally spoiled my grand-doggy, Holly.
I had the leather bin out doing some work for Halloween Costumes and had a perfect size piece to make a great leather jacket for Holly. All of my leather pieces are recycled from old garments. The soft leathers are cut from old leather coats and jackets and the thicker, heavier suede pieces are cut from old riding chaps.

I had the leather out to re-do the sides of my husbands leather vest and had this great piece of super supple leather sitting there right next to Holly's little winter coat and I just decided to whip one up. I lined it in a remnant piece of black parachute pant fabric that was in my scrap stash.

For Halloween I will attach the key to the coat via some carefully placed stitches to the lining. Then after just snip off the key and she is all set.

I promise to get pictures of her in it!

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Home

Halloween Quilt Shop Hop and Costume sewing

2011-10-14T12:55:00.001-07:00

I participated in my first 'Shop Hop'!

It was seven shops in the Chicago Western Suburbs.

Pieceful Hearts Fabric, Lisle, IL (my usual quilt shop)
The Quilt Basket, Downers Grove, IL
Quiltfabric.com, Willowbrook, IL
Thimbles, Lockport, IL
Roberts Sewing Center, Joliet, IL
Prairie Stitches, Oswego, IL
Prairie Shop Quilts, Batavia, IL

At each shop you had to get a stamp in your passport and find the gift basket and write down the location. If you wore a mask or costume you also got a coupon for future use as well as a free quilt pattern.

I spent 2 days shop hopping, meeting lots of great people, and ohhhhhhhhhh, all the fabric! I LOVE fabric.

I have been working on lots of Halloween stuff in the sewing room and promise pictures soon. To hold you over here is a picture of part of Holly's (the mini doxies) costume.

Part of the costumes also have leather. My new machine is wonderful, every time I get used to it some other awesome thing presents itself. Like the ability to sew through 2 layers of thick leather without blinking an eye.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Western suburbs of Chicago

Swimming with the fishes and Miami Beach

2011-09-30T23:17:00.001-07:00

So, what a crazy day for me! Woke up early, took a 2.5 mile walk on the Miami Beach boardwalk followed by a 30 min swim in the ocean with my kick board and a school of fishes to accompany me. It was so cool! There I was about 25 yards of the beach, flat water, me with my trusty kick board and goggles and a small school of fish. They were about 5 inches long, silver with yellow tails and they just decided I needed company and encouragement on my swim. I certainly was not complaining!

The day just progressed from there. A seemingly endless number of hours in sales meetings, followed by a lovely company reception outside in the hot and humid air. Next an impressive thunder storm, drinks, dinner more drinks and holy cow it turned into 1:30 am! Not possible! Too many people out... A cab back to the hotel which happened to have the lobby turned into a giant night club with me wanting to run after all the girls and pull down the non-existent dresses and skirts! Holy moly!!! things so darn tight and short they could not possibly be considers clothes.

I must be getting old! 2am and I left the 'nightclub' lobby and called it a night. Thinking WOW, Miami Beach Is very much like Las Vegas!

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Collins Ave,Miami Beach,United States

New dress and Halloween

2011-09-27T12:12:00.001-07:00

I have been working in my sewing rooms bit lately. I just have not posted because it has been Halloween stuff. Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and when possible we like to have a Halloween party with a costume contest. :) I know, we are like a couple of big kids!

So I have been working on a new dress using some interesting knit fabric. I must say that this dress tested my patience as well as my handiness with a seam ripper. There were 2 definite times where I was positive it was going to a wadder! I really wanted to just throw my hands up in frustration. However, I was not letting this adorable fabric go out the window nor was I going to let it get the better of me!

When you look closely at the fabric it resembles panty hose type knit with the colored loops added. It is also quite see though, so I added a lining of flesh colored swimsuit lining. It is actually a nice lining because it not only provides coverage it also acts like a very lite slimmer and feels good too.

Pattern is McCall's M6032 view A modified for no zipper or center back seam.

So after much perseverance and good thoughts the dress is done and it is super cute!!!! I am extremely happy with it.

I will be wearing it in Miami this Saturday night for a Cancer Charity Bash at the annual meeting of American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology.

The only downfall to the whole look is that I have to wear my lovely leg brace. Oh well. Because of the leg brace I also have to wear a pair of tights. The brace has Velcro on it and it shreds panty hose and makes a raw spot on my other leg. Seems to do Ok with thicker tights.

Dress with the shoes and an antique brooch at the bust line to fancy it up a bit.

Sleeve detail, I wanted to make it more interesting and piping was not really an option do to the busy knit so instead I finished the little cap sleeve and then applied it with a lapped seam finish.

The little loop Just below the center bust to gather the dress into the flowing front drapes. I left this as self fabric because the I can wear it plain or dress it up with a brooch.

The shoes. They are cute and fancy but with a low heel. Too bad I have to wear those darn tights!

- Steph... From my iPad

More beach wear

2011-08-25T06:43:00.001-07:00

Long time no post! In fact I finished 2 more beach coverups before we left for our vacation in Cancun, Mexico.

One was a fairly simple one for Melissa, it was a simple wrap that goes around the waist and ties. I simply took a wrap that we had folded it in half and placed it along the fold of the fabric and traced around with a dressmakers wax marker. I cut it out and served all around the edges. Done!

A great simple project, considering that the original one was bought several years ago for 35-40$.

The bad news is that my serger is still not working properly. It is fine for a rolled edge and a 3 thread seam finish but the 4 thread is not working and I have already broke the stitching finger off of the throat plate for the 4 thread option. I think it may be time to start researching new sergers and keep this one for rolled edges and seam finishes only.

The other beach wear project was a second coverup for me. I am pretty happy with this one and once again had so e fun with the embellishments. I sewed the ribbon along the neckline edge from hem to hem and then added a second ribbon on top of it from bustline to bustline and left these loose below a set of buttons to tie closed. I then also added several other decorative ribbons with metal beads for decoration as well as for added weight. Adding these embellishments kept the coverup from looking like bedroom wear and gave it some substance so it would not blow away in a breeze.

For this I started with an old early 1980's pattern for a kimono style evening jacket and I modified it quite a bit. Adding in large triangle godets into the side seams for a flowy look. I also did not use any facings, just a serged and then rolled hem with the ribbon along the front.

The pictures are not the best.... My camera was misbehaving, but you can get a good idea.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Newark Airport, NJ

The bathing suit/beach cover up!,

2011-07-13T19:46:00.001-07:00

Well, after a couple days of full on creativity and incorporating ideas and the coverup is done!

The requirements for my beach coverup was that it needed it cover me up from the sun and or cool breezes, I wanted it to look cool and unique and I wanted to not look like I threw on my husbands old shirt for a cover up.

I removed the collar and added a hood, I removed all the men's buttons and added one big button for a closure. I added some elastic to the back for some shaping. I also removed the cuffs and about 10 inches of sleeve and added a color blocked band. I decided to stick to just the 2 black and white prints for color/contrast.

The outside of the hood is the body from a very old white cotton shirt that I had but no longer wore due to a stain. I made the hood extra large and lined it in color blocked black and white prints and then added a button and button hole to hold it folded over. Sooooo cute!!!

I also added fussy cut appliqués from the martini black and white print along with some general print shapes and appliquéd them on with raw edges.

So, what do you think???

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Home

Re-fashion of my husbands shirt

2011-07-08T18:03:00.001-07:00

One of my husbands favorite dress shirts sustained a tear up the side. It has been sitting in my sewing room for a while now. I couldn't bear to just get rid of it.

I am in need of a couple bathing suit coverups/beach wear for an upcoming trip to Mexico. I decided to do a mini challenge for myself and transform the cotton dress shirt into a beach coverup for me.

I pulled a bunch of items from my stash and am going to see what happens! You know, just have fun with it. The shirt is huge on me. The back hem hits just above my knees and I will need to remove half the sleeves so I have plenty of shirt to work with.

I have some ideas... Now to get playing.

The shirt. It is 100% cotton shirting in a small blue on white check.

The scrap pile to play with. Various trims, a couple quilting cottons, some leftover scraps from previous projects and an old white cotton shirt with ruffles that either gets reused or goes to the donation bin.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Home

Joanns 4th of July sale

2011-07-04T08:09:00.001-07:00

Yesterday saw me making a quick detour to JoAnn Fabrics.
I just and to! They were having a great sale on Vogue patterns. 3.99$ a pattern, I just needed to stock up.

I got a total of 10 patterns.
4 for Melissa and related wedding patterns
2 for our 'SteamPunk' themed Halloween Party this year
4 for me... A couple dresses and a beach coverup

I did also find some fabric for a beach coverup. They had a great sale on the 'silkys'. 40% off plus I had an extra 10% off for the entire purchase.

I am not traveling this week and next week I have some time off so, keeping my fingers crossed I will get some time in the sewing room. My immediate plan is to straighten up my sewing room and to whip up whatever items I may need for our trip to Cancun in August. A beach coverup, a pair of linen beach pants and possibly a cotton long sleeve beach shirt. I just need relaxing resort clothes.

Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July!!

- Steph... From my iPad

Estate sale find of the weekend

2011-06-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

This Saturday my hubby, daughter and her bf headed out to hit a bunch of estate sales. We like going antique shopping but we thought it might be fun to try out some estate sales.

We did have fun! Sometimes it was a bit weird, walking into a home that literally looked like the people in it had disappeared in the middle of their day and some of them were people downsizing and moving. A couple seemed like a last ditch effort to get rid of stuff before having to pay someone to come haul it all away to the dump.

I did have a great sewing find :) my very first Antique Toy Sewing machine. It is only 6 or 7 inches high. I put a 1 cup measuring cup next to it in one of the photos below for scale.
It is an American Girl machine that was made in the 1920's and 1930's in Milwaukee, WI.

It is a bit dirty but the wheel turns quite nicely. I am looking forward to cleaning it up and displaying it in my sewing room.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:Home

McQueen Exhibit at the MET

2011-06-23T18:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of visiting the Alexander McQueen exhibit, Savage Beauty, at the MET in NYC.

Oh My!! I was drooling, it was amazing! Here is a link that gives a great overview of the exhibit.
http://blog.metmuseum.org/alexandermcqueen/about/

Seeing it in person was such a treat and the pleasure was doubled because I had my brother Willie with me to share in the fun. My creative juices were on overflow. McQueen was truly an amazing designer and artist, it is unfathomable to me that he committed suicide at the age of 40.

I had to purchase the exhibit book for my sewing room library, it is just packed full of great photo raps of his amazing works and is sure to inspire my creativity when I feel it lacking.

The evening was such a pleasant one :) the MET with my brother, dinner and drinks with him and his lovely girlfriend at a French bistro and than a nice walk by Gracie mansion and along the East river to see the lights of governors island, the triborough bridge and queens.

Now I am stuck in queens at the LaGuardia airport Marriott... Between the weather and the air traffic my flight was canceled and I am on the first flight out in the morning at 6am. Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds.

- Steph... From my iPad

Location:NY, NY

A new outfit

2011-05-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

I finished another shirt, this one made from a very lightweight slinky knit that has a printed pattern of purses all over it. It is fun and looks quite cute with the black knit pair of yoga pants I made.The pants still need to be hemmed but I figured I would wait until I had the denim capri's finished and hem them at the same time.


Simplicity 2690 view C, This is the 3rd or 4th variation of this pattern I have made.

up close of a twin needle stitching detail

Silhouettes by Peggy Sagers: Three Piece Yoga Pants #3400 These still need to be hemmed.

Denim capri pants cut out and ready to be assembled.

On another note: the mauve slinky shirt in the previous post worked great when worn with a suit. I tucked it into a pair of black dress slacks with a suit jacket and was super pleased with the result! Next time I will try and get a picture. I wore it in to a meeting in Danville, PA on Thursday.

Hopefully I will get the capri's done this weekend otherwise they will have to wait another week or so.

Slinky Shirt

2011-05-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well it has been one busy, busy week. The weather finally decided to brighten up and I have been spending lots of time out in the garden.

All of the annual flowers are potted, the hanging baskets are done, the herbs have been planted and the veggie garden is on it's way to bountiful summer season.

The backyard is looking great and is almost all cleaned up. Rick and I have been eating dinner out on the deck almost every evening that it is not raining and it has been so nice.

The front yard and the side yard are still giant disasters... but, one thing at a time!

In the mean time I have not had much time in the sewing room, 30 minutes here, 15 minutes there. Tonight I have the time but not the energy, physical therapy kicked my butt today.

Anyway.. I dig get time last week to finish my slinky top and managed to get a couple pics of it on me. They are not the best pictures! Just me holding the little Sony point and shoot camera and taking the picture into the mirror.

I have a couple projects lined up. Another knit top that is cut out and ready to be assembled, a light cotton top fabric and pattern to be cut out and a kitchen decor project that needs to be done.

My wonderful serger and a busy week

2011-05-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Last post I was cursing my darn serger. I was convinced that after having it for 15plus years that it was going to be dead.

NOPE! The repair man had it ready for me the very next day! They never even called with an estimate because when just trying to get it running to give me an estimate he had it fixed. After a grand total of $38 and the timing adjusted on the lower looper it was back home.

The repair guy just looked at me and said he loves my serger and that they sure don't make them like they used to! I have been taking my serger to the same guy for about 12 years now and he always comments on how nice it is.

The unfortunate part is that I have been so darn busy to do much more than set it back up and give it a test drive.

Tuesday night we went to a Rammstein concert. Not the typical music genre that I am into, Industrial Metal. However this was one show that I will never forget probably the best concert that I have ever been to and all in German.

Wednesday and Thursday I was in Ohio for work.

Friday I worked from home, rode my horse and got a new tattoo at a tattoo expo.

Saturday I rode my horse again and had a dinner party

Today, Sunday, went to my future son-in laws graduation 2 1/2 hours each way at the University of Illinois.

Hoping to steal a lunch hour or 2 tomorrow and get back in my sewing room and work on my shirts!

New projects and that @%$#** serger!

2011-05-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

I was able to get into my sewing room for a good block of time this week.

I had Thursday and Friday off from work and since my leg is 'on rest' from the barn I decided to spend half my time off in the sewing room and the other half outside getting the pots ready for spring planting.

I decided to pull a couple knits from my stash and sew up some new tops. I am in desperate need of some nice business casual wear that can double up with a good pair of jeans. Using knits lets me pack things better for work travel too.

cowl neck line, flutter sleeves with a gusset side.
I sewed clear elastic at the shoulders and in the sides for support of the seams. This slinky is pretty heavy .
It is very flattering on!

flutter sleeves

sleeve flutter folded back to see side gusset

I cut out both tops and got started on the first. I had to sew one and then the other because I needed to change the serger threads between the two. Well somewhere about part way with the first the serger started acting up. It happened about the time I tried to switch over to a rolled hem. That obviously was not working out, so I switched back to a regular stitch and after about re threading the upper looper about 20 times decided that enough was enough. Something is definitely hinky with the tension disc of the upper looper.

I hate running into issues when I am on such a good roll! That darn serger had me so frustrated that I wanted to kick it and cry at the same time! The darn thing is at the shop now... hopefully it is only a minor problem and that it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to get fixed. They are supposed to call with an estimate in a couple of days.

The first top is done except for the hem. I will wait for the serger to be returned before moving forward with the finish. I don't mind too much because the top is a nice weight slinky and it will be good for it to rest and hang out for a bit before I actually hem it.

The second top is a lighter weight slinky knit and I will just wait for the serger to come back to do that project as well.

In the meantime, I whipped up an e-reader cover for my e-reader. Or as I affectionately call it, My Book. It came with a bulky zipper cover that I find too big for my travel and have just been sliding the naked book into my purse. Probably not a good thing to do to it. So I used from stash fabric and made a cover. The outer fabric has a heavy weight interfacing and a layer of fusible batting. The lining did have interfacing at first but I re cut it without because I thought it made it a little too bulky.

I made a flap to close it with a simple piece of sew in Velcro. Super cute, somewhat easy to make and now my book is protected.

E-reader cover

nice snug fit with a bit of protection without being too bulky

I say somewhat easy to make because I decided to do a bag lining which required me to sew around the top and I found out that my new sewing machine has a big free arm. Certainly would not be able to sew a child's sleeve hem or cuff with it! Well, never to worry! I pulled the dust jacket off my trusty old Necchi and got the job done :)

no lights...

2011-04-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

I returned home from my crazy week of travel, Monday and Tuesday in Butler, PA then Wednesday evening and Thursday in Dayton, OH and then an all day meeting today in Chicago. I got home from my meeting a couple hours early and the first thing on my mind was ohhhh, I can have a couple hours just to myself in the sewing room. Some time to unwind and get my creative juices flowing, a little me time in the sewing room usually lifts my spirits.

Well, I went to flip the switch for the lights on and the switch was like a wet noodle. It did nothing, no satisfying click of the switch, no lights, nothing. I was so disappointed. After my crazy week I should not have been surprised but damn, I wanted to play.

I decided to clean house a bit and took care of all the vacuuming and straightening up instead. I now have my trusty little handy man book out so I can fix the light switch tomorrow. right... I mean so Rick can fix my light switch. Pretty funny when I think about it, If it was the light switch to any other room in the house I would not have cared at all. I can navigate in the dark! But the sewing room.... Noooooooo!!!

No sewing, No barn, busy week = cranky steph

No time for the sewing room...

2011-04-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

so, I brought the sewing room with me on the road to Butler, PA! Well, not literally. I did bring a pattern with me that I needed to cut out and mark up.

I packed the pattern, a small pair of scissors, a marker and an extra measuring tape in a gallon ziploc in my suitcase. After dinner I spent some time double checking my measurements, reading the pattern directions, cutting out my pattern pieces and jotting down any necessary and interesting notes.

The pattern is for a button down shirt with a variety of sleeve designs. I have been looking for a good basic button down shirt. I have a couple different patterns to play with. This one is the easiest of the designs. No back yoke, shaping is done mostly via shaped side seams and darts in the back. I have a similar store bought shirt of this design that I really like except for the fit over my hips. I am hoping to be able to take core of the fitting with this shirt. The neckline is the type of an open 'v' until where the buttons start. So it is a bit more feminine than a traditional button up.

When I get some time at home I will compare the measurements of the shirt I like to the pattern pieces and make any adjustments. I was debating on making a muslin. I have plenty of extra fabric that I think I will use an inexpensive piece of fabric from my stash as the muslin. Worst come to worst I can always use it as a gardening shirt!

This is a good way for me to bring some sewing fun with me on the road, gives me something to do in the hotel room, and keeps me more productive when I get back into my sewing room.

And a great big THANKS to my MOM for all her encouragement. I love you mom :)

sewing clothes

2011-04-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about why I have not really been sewing any clothes lately. Tons of accessories and such, but no clothes. I love sewing my own clothes, I love picking out patterns, playing with lines, changing details, etc...

I have a pile of patterns that I want to make, and fabric to go along with them. However, after thinking long and hard about it, I have decided that my lack of garment sewing has every thing to do with my current body image. I don't like it. I gained weight and lost shape while recovering from my broken leg.

I need to get over myself. It doesn't really matter what my body looks like because it's mine and I like me. And in all actuality I can make my own clothes to look better on me than what I can buy.

So, time for me to start getting excited over sewing up some new summer clothes!

Place mats for Mel are done

2011-04-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

I finished Melissa's new place mats today. They came out so very cute.

I used the Simplicity bias tape maker to make the binding, I think that is one of the best purchases I have made that is not an actual sewing machine. At the sewing expo I picked up this handy tool that is a special ruler thing that is called a binding tool. It allows you to easily figure out how the 2 ends meet. It works pretty well and took some of the headache out of finishing off the binding. Here is a YouTube video that shows how it works.

I also made a matching doggy place mat for Holly. This is just the penguin fabric fused between sheets of fusible vinyl and then cut the edges with a wave blade on the rotary cutter.

Cute place mats, great for everyday use.

The binding tool

The wave blade on my rotary cutter

Fabric fused in Vinyl: makes a great doggy place mat!

Now time to think about the next project :)

More Place mats

2011-04-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

Once again I am working on a set of place mats.

However, this time it is a MUCH easier project! Melissa moved into her new apartment this past weekend and asked if I would make some everyday place mats for her table. I asked her what they wanted and she replied 'penguins' and Dorian replied 'dinosaurs'. Big sigh...

penguins and dinos and zany black and white for binding.

So, I took dinosaurs and penguins, sandwiched them with some fusible batting that I bought by mistake some time ago. Fused them and using one of the cool new stitches on my machine, quilted away!

close up of each side, showing the 'wave' stitch

This was the first time I have played with the decorative stitching on this machine and I was very happy. I played a bit on these place mats, figuring out placing with the stitch. It was also a very good test of the balance because I used green in the bobbin and aqua blue in the needle and no show through of colors to the other side.

Now I just need to bind them, roll them up and stick them in their Easter basket.

The wallets, hanging in the sewing room. Only 4 left! I sure do love making great gifts :)

A good week in the sewing room

2011-04-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been a good week in my sewing room :) Other than Monday when I was traveling, I spent some time in there everyday! That doesn't happen too often.
I have tried to make it a priority to get in there everyday and do something productive.

Even if it is only for 15 5or 20 mins. Mostly I have been getting in there in hour blocks of time. I sure can get a lot done in an hour, as long as I am both motivated and well organized.

I continue to LOVE my new sewing machine. I have not received a call back from the dealer yet, although I also have not called them back. At this point I am feeling confident with the basics and have not yet run into any questions. Maybe once I get some more time to play with some of the advanced features then I will have questions and then call them back.

I did manage to break my first needle! and boy oh boy does that machine have some force to it. It snapped the needle into 3 pieces. It was totally user error that caused the snapped needle. It was late, I was tired, I was sewing though a very thick sandwich of fabric and stiff interfacing and instead of being patient... I pulled to much on the fabric and whamo, snapped needle.

It was very easy to replace the needle and I once again got to use the magical auto threader. Ha! I am so easily amused!

Current project in progress... the fabric wallets. As you can see I am making several of these and 1 is for me and the others are for gifts.

The snapped needle

The fabric sandwich that I broke the needle on... It was sewing through this just fine until user error... duh.

This weekend there is so much happening! Which translates into no time for the sewing room.

I am going away for the weekend with the 'girls' to the Midwest Horse Fair. Horses and girls and it is gonna be a great time!
The other thing going on is that Melissa is moving into her new apartment. I'm happy and excited for her and I sure am not too upset about missing the moving day. :D She is already giving me a 'list' of all the great things she wants me to whip up for her in the sewing room.

Fabric Addiction

2011-04-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

At the start of every year I make a vow to myself not to buy anymore fabric until I use up at least some of what I already have.

But no... I never last. I step into a fabric store and the fabric calls to me, it begs me to peruse all the wonderful sights, my eyes fill with stars of all the great things I can make. All the wonderful fabric begs to be touched, felt, rubbed between my fingers. ahhhh, I just love fabric.

Somehow, I don't ever make a dent in reducing my stash. At least I keep it rotating!

The closet is FULL of fabric

Those bins are full of fabric... from my mom's house. I just could not say no!


There is fabric, on rolls, in the corner...

Maybe someday I will use up all my fabric or maybe not! Either way, it makes me happy to have it :)

My 100th post! I LOVE my new machine

2011-04-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning insanely early and could not go back to sleep... I had showered, eaten breakfast, done my 45 mins of PT exercises and spent 45 mins in the sewing room all before 8am!

It was a darn productive morning! Too bad I don't have the energy to make that happen everyday :)

IN that 45 mins in the sewing room I was able to figure out how to wind the bobbin, thread the bobbin and the machine and sew with the coolest pivot feature. OK, actually my first day of sewing on the machine and I had several seriously cool to me things.

The Bobbin, you don't have to pull up the thread. You just pop it in, pull it through a slot where it cuts it at the end and done.
Threading the needle... OK, soooo cool. you thread it through the upper guides like normal, everything is very well marked, you get down by the needle and pull the thread across this little slot, pull down a lever on the side and the needle is threaded. no more licking the thread, squinting my eyes and getting close and personal with the machine. It was so cool and easy that I had to do it a couple times!
The pivot feature: there is a setting that allows you to sew and when you stop it lifts the foot automatically so you can pivot your fabric then you just press on the pedal and the foot automatically lowers and sews on. You don't have to reach through the machine and lift the presser foot at every corner. I was amazed at how much time this saved.
the last thing is also mighty nice. you push a button and it automatically cuts your threads so all you have to do is pull your fabric out from the machine. NO more pulling the threads out and snipping with snips or the side cutter.
Oh and it sews like a dream... can't wait to put in the zippers!

I think all of those cool features, plus the gazillions more that I have not yet even gotten to are just great time savers. They all add up to make your sewing more efficient plus they are just cool.

I am working on making a bunch of fabric wallets and one of the first steps is sewing the rectangle box for the zipper. You sew the 2 pieces of fabric right sides together, then carefully slit down the center of the rectangle with an exacto knife and into the corners and pull one side through and you have the zipper window. The pivot feature made this go so fast.

I had to just add one more picture of my new machine! I think it may be about time I make some fancy covers for my machines. My serger looks disheveled in it's old plastic cover...

The only down side that I have had so far is that the machine came with free lifetime lessons. When I bought the machine I was told to call on Monday and with whom to leave a message for to set up the appointments. It is now Wednesday evening and I have not heard anything back. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that things just got missed and call them back again tomorrow. If not I will just have to show up at the store and smile sweetly :)

BabyLock Symphony

2011-04-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

My new BabyLock Symphony set up on my main sewing desk. The included extension table is to the left.

I had several hours Sunday afternoon/evening to set up my new Baby Lock Symphony, give it a try and to go through my other expo loot. I am amazed at how much larger it is compared to my NewHome machine, easily 30% bigger.

Looking at the picture above makes me realize that I really could use a new sewing desk! I'll have to keep an eye out at garage sales and antique/re-sale shops. Maybe I can find a desk made from real wood and re-finish it for my sewing room. My 15+ year old pressed fiber desk is looking a bit shabby and it is starting to sag in the middle.

It was nice to have several hours uninterrupted to just play around in my sewing room. The rest of the family were busy on the couch watching movies and I was just not interested.

The new Symphony and the Old New Home. The New Home will be going to a new home!

The new machine was easy to set-up. The first thing I did was to go through all the included parts and make sure that everything was there and that I knew what everything was. With 17 included machine feet/attachments there were lots of little pieces. It also came with an extension table which is great, it means I don't have to order one separately. I must point out though that the bed of the machine is so much bigger than any machine I have ever used.

I then sat with the instruction manual and spent a good hour or more just navigating the touch screen and getting an idea of the layouts and where everything can be found. Of course I then pulled out some fabric from the scrap bin and played around a bit with some stitches. The machine was already threaded with pink thread so I left that for playing with.

Maybe this evening I will get some time and can play some more. Figure out the threading and bobbin. It is super fancy! You don't have to pull up the bobbin thread, it cuts your threads when your done so no having to pull threads out to the side cutter, unless you have an actual reason to!

The threading has an advanced automatic threader which they showed to me at the expo, it was like magic... I'll have to try it out and see if it really is.

Sew much fun!!

Tha place mats are done! and a new Toy :)

2011-04-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

The place mats and table runner are done! They turned out really. really nice... despite them not being my favorite project.

The table set.

Reversible to a solid wine colored batik backing. The 1inch diamond quilting pattern looks great from both sides.

We used them last night for a little dinner party with friends.

On Friday I attended the Sewing and Quilt Expo in Schaumburg, IL , a suburb of Chicago. I planned in spending the day this way I could take my time and have lots of breaks for my leg. I also wanted to take the opportunity to try out sewing machines. I have been researching a new machine and had some good ideas what I wanted and the Expo is a great place to try them all out.

I also took some time to watch the fashion show of the independent pattern makers at the Expo.

Of course, I left with a bunch of fabric and patterns and various other items... I'll share with you later.

But... the biggest thing I left with was a Brand Spanking New 'Advanced Sewing and Quilting' sewing machine. The Babylock Symphony.

I can't wait to unpack the box!

I am sooooo darn excited!! The dealer who I ended up buying it from is about 35 mins from me. I was hoping to go with one of the dealers closer to me but this dealer is top notch and hands down beat her competitors with not only price and personality but also in offering free lifetime lessons on the machine and excellent customer service and has a full sewing shop with fabric, notions, classes, etc. The 'other' dealer that is 5 mins from me is a sew and vac shop and while they have been fine for tuneups of my basic machines they always seemed to lack something.

Anyway... I hope to get my new machine unpacked and set-up. I can't wait to play!!! Monday, I call to set up some lessons.

Place mat Progress

2011-03-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

Progress has been slow... I have been a busy girl with all my PT exercises and doing some work and sometimes the knee is just a bit to achy for the sewing room.

I must admit that this is not my favorite project and will be happy when it is done! I'm not exactly sure why, I think maybe because it is a challenging project and with all the other 'challenges' in life right now I needed something easier??? Maybe.

I am very happy with how they are turning out. Although, I think they are slightly busy, lots of details to look at. But, maybe that's a good thing for during any awkward dinner conversations you have something good to gaze at! :)

They are a bit time consuming. Each place mat has 18 pieces for the pieced front and took roughly 30 mins each to just piece and at least another 10 to press all the seams correctly to lay flat. Never mind the seemingly endless hours it seemed to take figuring out the darned geometry of all the pieces. My first entire set of diamonds were all cut out too small! All six are together, now they need to be trimmed and sandwiched, then quilted and binded.

2 of the place mats, each of the six are slightly different. These have been pressed but not yet trimmed.

These are the table runner pieces laid out on my ironing board. In the runner I have incorporated some diamonds from the binding fabric and the wine hexagons face away from each other on each side.

I have all the pieces for the runner also laid out and ready to be sewn, now to just do it.

A new project: Placemats and Table runner

2011-03-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

My husband asked if I could make a new set of place mats for our dining room. It must have had something to with the fact that currently on the dining table is a set of 3 Halloween place mats that are probably about 15 years old!

I have plenty of beautiful tablecloths but for some reason I don't like using a tablecloth for everyday use. I prefer place mats but I only have a couple and somehow they have seemed to dwindle.

Last winter my husband bought me several yards of Robert Kaufman design in a wine print. This fabric along with some new quilting templates that I got for my birthday this year spawned into an idea. I was at first going to just do a simple set of place mats but then I thought that place mats are the perfect size to try out new techniques on. The templates that I bought were for hexagon, diamond and a crazy pattern. For this project I am using the hexagon and diamonds.

Designing the pattern on graph paper was fun and then I got to sewing up a test piece and OH. MY. GOODNESS. Piecing together hexagons and diamonds takes precision and patience! Well at the very least I can say that I tried something new.

playing with some ideas with the diamonds

The hexagons and the new EZ Hexagon template.

Test piece

I have several other accent fabrics to go with the wine prints. At least I have something to keep me busy!

Fabric wristlett Wallet: The last gift

2011-02-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

The last of Melissa's birthday gifts was a fabric wristlett wallet. When she opened this yesterday on her birthday I got one of the best compliments that a home sewer can get... wow! Where did you get this?? I love it!

I must confess that I made this fabric wallet in the middle of the night the day before her birthday. I could not sleep and instead of tossing and turning I headed to the sewing room. I had the pieces already cut out so I just spent a couple hours whipping it up! It came out so great and I am sure to make a couple more of these.

I was originally going to use the free pattern/tutorial from the winter 2010 SewNews magazine but when I got online the comments for the tutorial where filled with bad reviews. I checked my printed pattern against some measurements and when I found these were off I decided to scrap the project. I did a search and found a tutorial for this fabric wallet from Confessions of a Fabricaholic. I did make some minor changes like adding the swivel clip and wrist strap as well as adding more interfacing. Other than that I just followed the tutorial step by step.

I used the dachshund fabric as the main fabric and then used the leftover rainbow fabric from the tote bag for the inner pieces. It came out great and coordinates with the tote bag.

Then the lovely part of telling the recipient that you made it for them. :) That always makes my day. She knew that she was getting the tote bag but had no idea about the doxxie fabric wallet or the jewelry board.

It was a great way to celebrate her birthday, with lots of gifts made with love just for her, that plus the 6 hours her Dad and I spent in the kitchen plating ultimate cakeoff! We made a giant birthday cake for her. It was great fun and came out delicious!

The Tote Bag is done

2011-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

The tote bag is complete!

I finished Melissa's birthday gifts! Just in time, her birthday is today:) Can't believe my baby is turning 23... This post is all about the tote bag, I'll post on the last gift I made in the next post. Boy... she is really spoiled this year :)

The tote bag turned out really well, I made a couple of modifications from the original Amy Butler; Sweet Harmony pattern.

1. I added 2 magnetic closures at the top. I really like a bag that has some type of closure. These are pretty heavy duty magnets so unless the bag is over stuffed they are gonna stay closed!.

2 magnetic snap closures at top of main compartment

2. I added a clip on the inside to attach keys to. I put this on the side that has the open pockets. The keys can be clipped on and slid into the pocket for easy retrieval. Nothing worse than having to dig around in a big bag for keys.

Swivel clip added into lining, upper left hand of picture. This side has the 2 open pockets.

This side shows the big zippered pocket

3. I applied Scotchgard to the bag. I have never used scotchgard before. I only applied a single coat, I may add a second one... any one have any Scotch Guarding tips?

I also made a matching tissue holder or 'sneeze catcher' for the bag.

tote bag versus the handbag

My only con to this project was the quality of the purple zebra fabric. I bought the fabric at a good quilt shop and paid just under $10 a yard for it. I was expecting a higher quality than what I ended up working with. I may think twice before purchasing clothworks textiles again especially when paying a premium price.

Completed GIft but still not enough time!

2011-02-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

I have finished one of the planned 3 birthday gifts for Melissa. Yikes... her birthday is this coming weekend and of course I am running out of time.

Not only am I running out of time but also I am having surgery, again, tomorrow and my sewing machine has decided that it needs to go into the shop. now. I wont have the time to bring it to the shop until after my surgery so it will just have to wait a bit.

Murphy's law that my sewing machine decides to misbehave just when I would like it to be working perfectly. Oh well, I should not complain, I have my trusty standby machine that I can work on if feeling up to it.

So in order to make up for the fact that I may not have the other gifts done, I added to the first project. The project, that you had a sneak peak of, is a jewelry board. Melissa is in dire need of a jewelry box, which her boyfriend has decided to get for her. However, on further discussion with him regarding her needs of a jewelry box we discovered, while snooping a bit, that she has several costume jewelry necklaces. Any woman knows that these necklaces tend to be big, long, chunky and fun and that they also don't fit in a standard jewelry box. Hence my decision to make a jewelry board that she can hang her fun costume jewelry necklaces on.

I would love to claim the idea as my own but I can't. I read about a similar idea sometime while recuperating from my broken leg over the summer and it stuck in my brain.

I started with a $2.98 bulletin board and used Acrylic paints, craft paper, magazine advertisements, ink jet printed paper, various cup hooks and hooks from hardware store, Mod Podge and varnish and put it all together! The hardest thing about this project was all the dry time for the various coats of paint, nod podge and varnish.

** The last 2 photo's are sideways, not sure why they uploaded that way and I can't seem to fix it regardless of what I do! so sorry for you having to turn your head!**

Top half of the jewelry board, showing the three large hooks and the 4 smaller cup hooks.

Detail of the corner, I added a crystal rosette to each corner for some added 'bling'

The completed Jewelry board

with 4 new necklaces added to the gift :)

At least I have one great gift my girl! If I don't ge the tote bag done on time I wont worry too much.

Tote bag progress

2011-02-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yikes, 2 posts in one day!!

I was able to make enough progress on the Sweet Harmony tote bag to actually take a couple of shots. I did not bother doing a full step by step photo shoot because I did that with the Sweet Harmony Handbags I made last spring/summer.

Reminder: I did not pick out this fabric. However, I am very pleased with how it looks together. Quite hip and fun for a soon to be 23 year old!

Side 1, I love the rainbow piping detail! The lining will also be of the rainbow material.

Side 2

Side 1 with a view into the pocket, shows the cell phone pocket or what I rather call a gum pocket. Not really big enough for Mel's smart phone but perfect place for a pack or 2 of gum.

detail view

Unlined, unfinished inside showing all the heavy duty decor bond interfacing.

The only thing I am lamenting about is that I only cut out pieces for 1 bag. I really like it and want one for myself! I really love this Amy Butler pattern the only draw back is that it simply takes forever to cut out all the fabric, interfacing, fleece interlining. By the time you get to the sewing you are almost sick of working on the darn thing. This is certainly NOT an instant gratification project. Is is totally awesome when it is done and provides lots of gratification and pleasure afterwards but not during the construction!

A Sneak Peak

2011-02-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

I have been very hard at work on a Birthday present for my daughter. Well, actually on a 2 birthday presents for my daughter.

1 of them is a sewn project that she sort of knows about, she picked out the fabrics for an Amy Butler Sweet Harmony tote. The other project is a total surprise! It is a craft project rather than a sewing project and I even had to consult my dad on a how to for part of it. I am just very glad that I have my own space, with a door, to work on these gifts.

There is a 3rd sewing project that I will do for her but only if I happen to get the time to do it. Otherwise it will just have to wait for another time or just be a 'because I love you' gift. Some would call that 'spoilied'!!

I thought I would provide you with a couple sneak peaks of Project # 2. Just to wet your appetite for more.

Family Valentines craft night

2011-02-13T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening, after a wonderful dinner and dessert made by my wonderful hubby, we had a fun family craft night.

Rick 'antiquing' his glass.

Melissa came up with the idea of painting wine glasses for Valentines day. She picked up 2 inexpensive glasses for her and Dorian and I re-purposed 2 glasses from the china cabinet. I just happened to have a set of 2 left from a bigger set that is all broken now, so I used those for Rick and I to paint.

Gotta love Dorians face...

The paint was an enamel based paint for glass and wood that once painted can be either air cured for 21 days or cured in an oven heated to 325'. I opted for the air curing method, I just did not feel to comfortable putting wine glasses in my oven heated to 325', maybe it would have been fine but I don't know enough about it and did not want to ruin our project or be picking glass out of the bottom of the oven!

Dino's in love by Dorian

Polka dots and hearts by Steph

Grapes on the vine by Rick and squiggles and hearts by Melissa

It was a fun, inexpensive way to creatively spend the evening together with the family, After the wine glasses we hit the Wii for a while for a little 4-way racing in Maria Kart. Boy oh boy, I really am not so very good at some of those games! Very fun night :)

True loves kiss :)

A quick project; crate liner

2011-02-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

I needed to make a crate liner for Holly's crate. I did have just an extra remnant of fleece in the bottom of the crate but she kept balling it up.

Holly... the trouble maker!

Today I made a quick project of sewing up a new crate liner for her. In my stash of fabric that I had put on the side for donation I had some bright, juvenile print of a double face pre-quilted cotton. I cut 2 layers to fit, basted them together and the bound them with some yellow quilt binding from my stash.

Front of liner

Back of liner

In the crate

While I was putting this quick project together, little Holly decided to raid my scrap bin. She was running frantically back and forth from the sewing room with a mouth full of fabric scraps depositing them in the big girls beds. It was so funny!

Remnants from the scrap bin that Holly raided.

Who me???? This poor dog bed is filled with fabric remnants, bias binding, towels and who knows what else!

Valentines Day Cards

2011-02-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

I made it through surgery and have been taking it easy. (you can follow my post surgery process over at my other blog) http://theaspiringequestrian.blogspot.com/

I did have a project all lined up to work on as soon as I could get back into my sewing room. However I decided instead to work on some Valentines Day cards. I figured with the amount of pain killers that I am taking if I screwed up a card or 2 who cares! If I screwed up on my daughters birthday gift I will be mad at myself.

I also took the opportunity to play with my new camera while doing this project and took pictures of all the steps along the way. Which means you get a Valentines Day Card tutorial (of sorts!) This was a good project for me because I could do stuff in 15minute increments. What normally would have taken me a couple hours took me 4 days!

All of the materials used were from my giant stash of stuff in my sewing room.

I cut card stock into Postcard size pieces to fit into my small envelopes

I next used some of my stamps to make all over background designs on the cards

To add some extra visual interest I added some areas of embossing

embossing powder being applied

I then hold the cards over an iron set on highest setting with no steam, this melts the powder together giving the raised embossed effect.

The cards with the embossed details.

I then pulled out some trims from my giant box of trims to play with.

I used an old remnant piece of grey fabric with a sheen to it, ironed on some heavy duty interfacing on the back to make it stiff and then started by layering pieces of cut trims over it until I was happy with the layered effect.

Trims sewn on in rows.

I used a clear foot on my machine so I could see where I was sewing on some of the smaller pieces of trim.

With all the trims sewn on, I them flipped the piece over and applied some leftover pieces of heat 'n bond. I traced the heart shapes onto the paper backing and cutout 4 heart shapes.

I then peeled off the paper backing and with the iron set to a low heat with no steam I ironed the hearts onto the cards. I ironed them from the back. The dry heat kept the cards from curling.

The cards with the different hearts applied using Heat'n Bond

I then added various trims to the edges using Tacky glue applied with a toothpick as well as a couple extra paper cutouts.

When the glue was dried I trimmed off the edges, wrote my notes on the cards and stuffed them into the little envelopes which I decorated with small punch hearts.

All set and ready to mail! I even stamped the back with my monogram.

As you can see these cards are an adorable way to use up some trims as well as to say 'I love you' to some very special people! I only have 4 cards... It will be a surprise to see who gets them in the mail :)

A new project and Bias tape maker in use

2011-01-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten that when I was in the time crunch to get my last project done that i had taken pictures of my bias tape maker in progress. I love this little machine! (Simplicity Bias Tape Maker) I was literally able to get all the custom bias tape cut out, sewn in strips and pressed in just about 15 minutes. Since I was literally making the bias tape just an hour prior to leaving for the airport it was a huge time saver!

I am now onto a new project... A birthday gift for my daughter, It is the tote size Sweet Harmony bag form Amy Butler. I also plan on making some goodies to go inside it.
I have one month until her birthday, which normally would give me plenty of time to get things done. However, early tomorrow morning I am heading over to the hospital to another surgery done on my knee so who knows what condition I will be in over the next several weeks.

If any of you have made Amy Butler bags you know that there are a ton of pieces to cut out as well as a ton of iron on interfacing and fleece to apply before even getting to the sewing portion. My plan: have all the pieces cut out prior to surgery and then hopefully some time next week get into the sewing room to do all the applying of the iron on interfacing, etc... I have my ironing board all set up at a sitting height so everything will be ready for me to work on.

Project all cut out and ready for me to work on

Parting shot: This was my sewing room just a few weeks ago at the turn of the New Year!! What a disaster with literally no floor space to move and stuff piled everywhere and in bags, bins, cardboard boxes.

My first completed project of 2011!

2011-01-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

I had to work quite hard on this quilt to get it finished for my Dad's birthday! Sorry for not blogging on the progress of it but I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus I was way to busy to blog on it while I was trying to get the darn thing finished before surprising my dad.

The title of the quilt is Delaware: Sunlight through the trees.

I was inspired to make this quilt from spending time in the chaise lounge on my parents deck at the house in Delaware. It was while I was recovering from my freshly broken leg and was spending 90% of my time laying down. The design is my own.

My work on cleaning the sewing room continues... I may be giving e-bay a try!

Goodbye 2010... Hello 2011!

2011-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

I am so happy that 2011 is here! The past year was not the best for me. The broken leg and months of rehab and then super crazy work schedule, Melissa moving back home all contributed to my sewing room door staying closed.

Stuff just got piled up and my precious sewing room became more of a catchall room.

I decided not to do any New Years Resolutions this year, my sewing goals remain the same... Just sew!
A couple days before New Years I peeked my head in the room and wanted to just cry. It was such a mess. So I just spent the past couple of days going through everything. I ended up with 4 bags of garbage, 1 big bag for donation and a large pile of stuff to try selling on E-bay.

Flying geese for my nephew in 1998.

A quilt for my niece made in 1999.

While going through the tons of pictures, I came across a couple photos of Quilts that I made in years past. It was a nice reminder of the great things that come out of the sewing room and gave me renewed inspiration.

Nothing getting done.

2010-12-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

The sewing room is in disarray. I did not get to sew up one Christmas gift this year, I was pretty sad about this at first and then decided that it really was not worth beating myself up over.

What I did get done was to go through the 2 tons of scrapbooking items that Melissa and I had and found a home for quite a bit of it. Actually was able to pass about 64lbs worth of scrapbooking items on to one of my husbands cousins daughters. She is in high school and over Thanksgiving we just happened to find out about her wanting to do more scrapbooking but not having any stuff. Well I had stuff and tons of stuff to spare.

So off went to big boxes out to Washington state for all my stuff to be enjoyed by another :)

Somehow, this got me into the phase of let's go through and clean out the sewing room. Maybe if I find new homes for some things I will be able to move around a bit and not worry about having my mountainous piles of stuff fall over and bury me alive in my room. LOL!!

Quilting Progress

2010-10-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

I finally made some time for my sewing room this weekend. I needed it!! It was either get some 'me' time or go insane. I rather thought that the 'me' time was a better choice.

I am still working on the quilting part of my project and rather think that it may take me quite a few more sessions. I am having fun with it, not rushing and doing more detailed work than I have generally done before. I am finding this very rewarding on one level yet another part of me keeps thinking that I should be doing more and getting other stuff done. Must be this crazy American female mentality to be a super woman and do everything! I man surely I could be making awesome Christmas gifts for my entire family... guess they are just going to have to wait.

Work has been busy, busy, busy and I am doing my very best not to complain one bit about it. I am very grateful to be employed and not one of the 10.5% out of work.

That is all I have to update. I am off to San Diego for work this Wednesday and will be there for 8 days.

I miss my sewing room

2010-10-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

So many ideas, so many fabrics and so little time!

Much of my time lately has been taken up by my return to work and my rehabilitation efforts. Unfortunately my sewing room has sadly been unoccupied.

On the good news front, my leg is getting better. I have to have another surgery done on it over the winter but I was assured that it will be nothing compared to what I went through before.

I am back to travel for work and that has simple been exhausting for the first several weeks. I literally felt like all I could do was work, sleep and try to fit in my rehab exercises and a couple quick barn trips. Slowly but surely that too is getting better as my stamina increases.

I am continually amazed as to how much my entire life was affected by breaking a leg! ugh...

As life gets back to normal things will surely settle back into a routine and I will get my time back for the sewing room.

Fabric Bowls = a great gift!

2010-09-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

I whipped up these 2 fabric bowls this afternoon as a birthday gift for a friend of mine. Due to my broken leg we missed her birthday outing back in August. So tonight we are making up for it by having a small dinner party.

While my husband was busy in the kitchen all afternoon cooking... I was busy in the sewing room whipping up this set of bowls.

My first intention was to make one for me and one for her but I later decided that they looked so cute together that they needed to be given as a set! They are made from cotton quilting fabric from my stash and the 2 sides are fused to a layer of timtex for stiff support. The nice thing is that they are reversible and washable as well.

Quilt Sandwich

2010-09-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

I was able to get my quilt sandwich built and even had some time to start the quilting on my 'fractured' quilt this weekend.

I set my ironing board next to my cutting table, adjusted it to the same height and I had just enough space to spread out the quilt backing to make my sandwich. I was happy about this... otherwise the quilt top and back would have had to be put into the UFO pile until I can get down onto the floor. And we all know what happens once I put something in the UFO pile, it just sits there forever and ever.

I ironed the backing and the topper, layed the backing right side down, then placed the batting and then my quilt top. I smoothed everything best I could and then started pinning it all in place. I decided to use a low loft 80/20 cotton/polyester batting.

I use curved quilting safety pins for my quilt sandwiches. They are on of the best quilting notions that I have, they make the pinning so much easier.Once I had it all pinned, I had to redo one area due to a wrinkle in the backing, I hung it up to view while I cleaned up my work area. I pondered and studied the quilt while cutting my scraps up into 2 inch squares for my scrap bag, I needed to let the quilt talk to me to decide how I was going to quilt it.

Quilt sandwich

I consulted a book or 2, though about what I wanted to do, tested out a couple ideas in chalk. I finally decided to stitch in the ditch along the sashing and outlines of the blocks, stitch in the ditch on all the nine patch blocks, on the 'fractured' blocks I am doing a triangle repeat, and have not quite decided on what to do on the long strip pieced block. I am using a smoke mono filament thread and may switch to something else for the outer sashing.

The machine quilting takes a bit of time to do. About an hour per block, partly because of the detail, partly because I am a bit of a perfectionist and partly because I am trying to push myself outside of my normal quilting 'box'.

I will probably start on another sewing project while I am doing the quilting, just because it is brain intensive during the actual quilting and it gives me some breaks :)

The quilt top and backing are done!

2010-08-31T19:43:00.000-07:00

Now I just need to quilt it...

I have had plenty of time the last couple of days to work on my quilt. Sunday I put in a couple of longer sessions, I even rigged up a special Lycra sleeve to hold an ice pack on my knee while I sew. That gave me plenty of extra sewing time :)

Yesterday and today I have had some lengthy programs running on my laptop for work so that left me several large blocks of time and I guess I was just on that creative roll!

These pictures are not quite the best, I would have liked to have gotten up on a stool to get them at a better angle, but my leg, a cane and a camera trying to get up on a stool probably would have been a bad idea. LOL!

The quilt is a lap/couch cuddle quilt. For reference the bed it is lying on in the pictures is queen size. When finished it will measure approx 50"X56" and the colors match my front room perfectly. So I guess, I am keeping this one :)

I still need to figure out how I am going to sandwich and pin the quilt. It is to big for any tables and will need to be spread on the floor but I am not so mobile yet as to be getting down on the floor to pin a quilt sandwich for machine quilting. I am sure I'll think of something.

The full quilt top

7 'fractured' blocks


4 of these variation on nine patch blocks

1- 4 patch block

1 long strip pieced then cut apart with green strips inserted block

The backing... also pieced together. Currently about 5 inches larger then the top and will get trimmed before binding.

My dressform has died!

2010-08-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

As I was happily sewing away yesterday afternoon I heard this mysterious 'sproing!" noise. Uh-oh... What was that?

I looked over towards where the noise came from and my eyes fell upon my dressform, EVERLAST. Named after the 1980's one piece exercise jumper with the big bold letters EVERLAST across the chest that I had her covered in. Sure enough, she looked a little wonky, I peeled off the cover and along with it my strategically placed padded areas and she was broken.

Oh bummer... the springs finally gave out. I suppose that I can't complain. I got her for free from a friend about 10 years ago and she has been most helpful. I have been wanting to get a nice dress form for several years now but could not really justify the expense while EVERLAST was happily standing in the corner.

Now, I have to figure out what to replace her with! There are many options as well as many price ranges. I do know that I want to upgrade my model to something better, possibly something that is semi-custom. I would love a custom made dressform but the cost is prohibitive for me and I am not into wrapping myself up in duct tape to make my own. At least not without the guidance of either a professional or someone that has experience making them. I think it could be a massive waste of time, money and duct tape if I were to try it on my own.

The dead dress form... you can see how wonky the waist is and one of the springs in the bottom has also sprung... really is time for an upgrade.

Time to do some research. If anyone has any recommendations on dressforms I would love to hear it!

More quilt work and my fancy cane

2010-08-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

I have been getting more 'work' done in my sewing room. Playing with the quilt blocks and designing my own quilt has been a lot of fun and also quite refreshing. It has let my creative mojo start flowing again and I have had inspiration after inspiration running through my head.

I have decided to just give you a couple more sneak peaks at part of the quilt and save the rest as a surprise.

Since I have been home recuperating my constant companions have not left my side! They are going to be so sad when I start traveling again. Part of me wishes to win the lottery... I really like this staying home thing :) The other part of me can't wait to get back on a plane and get moving!

Blue

Chloe

The girls are happy about about the crutches being gone. Chloe was especially fearful of them, I think they fell over on top of her one too many times. I am now the proud owner of a fancy, schmancy, super stylish cane. Go me!!

Long time... no post

2010-08-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have been getting some things done in the sewing room, it's just that it has been moving at a snails pace!

a teaser photo, a portion of one of the blocks of new 'fractured' quilt I am working on.

Part of it is that I am just now getting to the point where I can stand at my cutting table without crutches so cutting out any new projects has had to be put on hold! Hopefully I will feel confident enough on my own 2 feet and with a rotary cutter soon! After all I did get in the car and drive today :) Yippee!!
The other thing keeping me out of the sewing room is the sheer amount of rehabilitation that I am doing. I must spend a solid 5 hours a day doing rehab exercises and stretches and electrical stimulation... etc... It can be a bit exhausting some days.

So, what I have been working on or maybe more like playing with is a quilt with the rest of my 2 1/2 inch bali strips. This only required a small amount of cutting with not much reaching that I could do on a stool.

The leftover strips from the Bali collection I had used in the bargello quilt earlier this year.

I say 'playing' because that is exactly what I am doing! I am sewing things together and then cutting them up in new ways and then cutting again and sewing again. trying out a bunch of different techniques and ideas that I have had in mind. I am going to call the finished project Fractured. I figure it is a good name after my broken leg as well as some of the design elements. I am not thinking of it as an art quilt, just more of a lets have fun and see what happens quilt. :)


New toys :) A new ruler and hand grip. I had a 3 x 24 inch ruler that somehow got snapped in half a long time ago, so I thought it was time to replace it. I got both items for 40% off!

Saving scraps...

2010-07-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

I love my fabric and used to save every last itsy bitsy teeny tiny scrap! Only problem was that I was only sporadically using my scraps and becoming overrun with crates and bags of scraps.

I don't have the biggest of sewing rooms and have every inch carefully packed with my treasures! So sometime early 2009 I decided to de-scrap my stash and devise a more productive way of saving scraps. I was sitting in my sewing room, seemingly staring into space, pondering what to do with my scraps.

My answer was hanging right in front of me! About 10+ years ago I attended a hands on Watercolor Quilt class at an expo. The small wall hanging was comprised of 2 inch squares of fabric. Not just quilting cottons but all types of fabrics.

The inspiration for my scrap saving system!

Since I sew anything from clothes, to handbags, to equine creations and quilts I have all types of fabric scraps. I decided that from that point on all my scraps would be cut down to 2" squares and anything that did not fit this bill gets thrown out. (Well 95% of the other scraps get thrown out... sometimes I just cannot part with some things!)

I sewed up a drawstring sack that hangs from a hook on my wall and now after every project or two I cut the scraps up into 2" squares and deposit them into the sack. Someday, when I have enough squares I plan on making one awesome queen size charm quilt for my bed. Until then I have a nice orderly way of saving my scraps and keeping my sewing room neater without bins full of wasted material scraps!

From a pile of scraps (above)

to a pile of squares (below)

The only rule I have is to keep the scraps on my cutting table until they are cut up, this way I am not tempted to tuck them away until later. Cause I know they would just then accumulate into one giant scrap heap!

Baby Bibs completed and a Wonderful gift!

2010-07-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

The baby bibs are completed, I did 2 separate sessions in the sewing room yesterday. Some time in the morning and then again before dinner. They turned out quite cute and I gave the first set of 4 tied with ribbon to a gift card to one of the mothers-to-be at her baby shower today. She loved the colors and the fact that they are reversible. :)

Baby Bibs: all done, edge stitched and snaps applied.

Bibs tied up with ribbon to the card.

I received a wonderful gift from my daughter and her boyfriend when they returned from their NYC trip.

She knows I love fashion and love sewing and can spend hours at the costume areas in any museum. There are 2 current co-exhibits at the MET in NYC (American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity) and The Brooklyn Museum (American High Style). This book, High Style, is the accompanying comprehensive publication to the collections. It is absolutely wonderful! Made a superb gift, the photos are amazing, the details are amazing, the history behind the fashion is great and some of those dresses are so beautiful that one could just weep! It truly is the next best thing to actually going and seeing the collections yourself.

If you are in the NYC area the 2 exhibits are only until mid august so catch one or both if you can! If you cant and are into High Style and couture fashion then I would highly recommend this book!

I have been dreaming of all the wonderful creations that I can create in my sewing room with inspiration from this book!

Baby Bibs galore

2010-07-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have been working on baby bibs in the sewing room. (Not for me!)

A good friend of mine is having her baby shower this Sunday, she is expecting her first and it's a boy. I wanted to make something to go along with the gift card I had Melissa pick up for me. Another friend of ours is going to pick me up Sunday to take me to the shower. It will be nice to get out and spend some time with the girls!

The other set of bibs is for another new baby on the way, my co-workers twin sister is pregnant with her first and I wanted to give them a little gift to welcome the new baby.

Piles of bibs...

finished ones on the left, unfinished on the right.

(almost finished, I still need to set the snaps)

I used 8 different fat quarters, on several of them I sewed rick-rack from my stash on the front.

The pattern was a free download I got off the internet. I altered the directions to use interfacing.

I used a woven fusible interfacing for one half of the bib and the other half I only interfaced the area of the snaps.

I did not fully interface both halves because I felt it would make the bibs too stiff.

Normally, this bib project would have been a quick one spending just a couple hours in the sewing room from start to finish. However... with crutches and using one leg and a limited time frame per sewing room visit... it has taken me a but longer to get them done. Oh well, :) at least I am back in the sewing room again!!

The knitting continues and this time I am making a striped scarf. I am having fun with it and it will end up in a lucky Christmas package.

An Artist in my house

2010-07-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Actually... there are more than just one! SO maybe I should say the

'featured' artist in the house.

My daughters boyfriend, Dorian, has been staying with us this summer. (Mostly to help me out while I am recovering but I suspect that it is just a good excuse for them to not be apart!)

He recently spent some time painting. Both of these were gifts that they wanted to give while going on vacation to NYC this week.

Dorian in deep concentration

My dining room turned into a temporary art studio.

Lighthouse painting, acrylics, a birthday present for Melissa's grandmother. (not the best picture, a little angled, but you get the idea!)

A thank you gift for Melissa's Uncle Willie, my brother, for letting them crash at his apartment in NYC for the week.

This is from a photo taken on Assateague Island, MD. In it is Melissa with her Uncle Willie and a wild pony.

It was very thoughtful of him to paint for my family. The nice thing is my family will truly appreciate them, after all there are quite a few artists that have come down the line!

Finished the second Amy Butler Handbag

2010-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

I finished the second Amy Butler purse today, this one is for me! I have found that I can last about and hour to an hour and half max in the sewing room before I need to get the leg up and put some ice on the knee. This was all the time I needed to get the purse finished. Although, I will have to wait a bit to use it since it is not quite conducive to crutches!

Sewing with my healing leg. I still am not aloud to place any weight on the leg but got the OK to use the sewing machine.

I did remember to bring my camera into the sewing room so I could document the last steps in finishing this project. (only took me 4 months to complete!!)

The lining over the outside of the bag.

An opening left in the lining bottom to turn the bag right side out. Needed to be almost the entire length of the bottom since this bag has so much structure.

Pulled the bag right side out through the opening in the lining.

edgestiched the opening closed. I thought about doing this by hand as I would have with a garment. But with so many layers (6) to go through this option was the best and seeing that it is the inside bottom of the purse it is not likely to be noticed by anyone!

Holes for the handle insertion were left unstitched. I pressed them under by a half inch then inserted the handles.

Close up of handles pinned in place.

Prior to stitching the handles in place and edgestitching along the entire top of the purse I use pliers to squish down any bulky areas. This really helps to make the sewing machine run smoother over these areas.

The final product!!

And of course I needed to make a tissue holder to match. Tissues are a staple in my purses... allergies!

So in a final review of this Amy Butler pattern and fabrics... I LOVE it. There is also a larger tote version that I plan on making for my daughter. It was fun to make this in Amy Butler's signature fabrics. The patterns and colors are bright and happy and of very good quality. I could also see myself making this purse in more traditional fabrics.

There are a lot of pieces, and the cutting and prep work is long and tedious. However, well worth the work! The final product is beautiful. I just need to decide on whether or not to spray it with scotch guard. Any thoughts on the scotch guarding?

I made it into the sewing room!

2010-07-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOM!

Saturday I ventured into my sewing room! I had an Amy Butler purse to finish for my mom's birthday gift and it was leaving with my daughter on a 7am flight to NYC on Sunday morning.

In retrospect, I may have over done it a bit on Saturday... Sunday was exhausting and no fun. With this in mind, when I ventured back into the sewing room this morning I gave myself a time limit and stuck to it. I set my ipod on a playlist of 15 songs and once it was done then so was I.

I think that was a much wiser move on my part.

Back to Saturday... I played on a few scraps to get the feel of sewing with my broken, now healing, leg. It took a few minutes to get the feel but then I was off and sewing. The hardest part is that my quadriceps muscle on my right leg is still not functioning very well. So I had to really concentrate on controlling the pedal. Probably good therapy as long as I keep it in limited doses!

One of the purses is done and from the phone call I get from my Mom yesterday, she LOVED it! Yay!

The finished purse

and a matching tissue holder to go in it.

some new antique buttons to add to my collection

2010-07-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

While I was in Delaware on vacation I had the opportunity to explore a couple antique shops... and as I am always on the look out for interesting old buttons...

Green/gray plastic flowers

Rhinestone and plastic, very classy!

Very pretty green, the color swirls in the plastic and they look like very yummy hard candies!

A pack of old Holly Hobby buttons! A real blast from the past and brought back lots of memories.

Knitting project #2 completed

2010-07-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

I am affectionately calling this my 'vacation' scarf.

I had plenty of time on the 2 day drive to and from Chicago to Lower 'Slower' Delaware to work on my knitting projects.

I have finished this second lavender scarf and even had time to start on another one! I am having fun playing around with the yarns that I have been given. Not having any yarn experience. I am continually surprised by the different characteristics.

My mom modeling the scarf in 90 degree weather!!

I am making the most of this opportunity to play with knitting, still have not made up my mind as to whether or not I will just play for now or if I will keep up with the knitting after I am healed and back to normal life... we shall just have to see what happens!

In the meantime, I think that I am mobile enough to try a venture into the sewing room and finish up with the Amy Butler handbags that have been patiently waiting to be finished. :)

Some Sewing Inspirations

2010-06-27T15:47:00.000-07:00

The healing of my broken leg is taking a tremendous amount of patience... Luckily for me, I have plenty of things to try and keep me busy. Magazines have been a part of my distraction.

As I peruse the latest fashion magazines I have been picking and choosing items that I like and that inspire me. I plan on having plenty of inspiration to move me once i get back into my sewing room!

Here are some of my favorites!

And finally a shot of the progress on my latest knitting project... just about half way done :)

Knitting project number 2

2010-06-25T14:13:00.000-07:00

I have started on my next project and have decided to go with another knitting project, as well as another scarf. Although this is more of a fashion accessory scarf vs my last project which was more utilitarian.

A friend of mine gave me a bag full of baby girl yarns in white, pink and lavender. I really don't have much use for baby girl yarns... so I have had to get a bit creative. I do know plenty of women both young and old and middle age as well!

In the book I have used to learn this process of knitting it had an example of a scarf that had an accent yarn knitted in the first 4 or 5 inches of both ends. So I decided to go with this technique with the lavender yarn to make it more grown up and playful.

I have only started on the first couple of inches but am pleased with the results so far!

The lavender baby yarn

The multi-colored eyelash fun yarn

The 2 knit together

Mel: loving her new winter scarf!!

My first knit project is complete!

2010-06-22T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have completed my scarf!! It took a while but I must admit that the first week post surgery is pretty much a blur in my memory! The amount of pain medication that I was taking really precluded me from taking part in anything other than laying in bed in my own little zombieland!

This week it has been hovering at 90' and here I am working on a full on winter scarf. It is made from a nice thick yarn and measures about 8 or 9 inches wide and about 80 inches long. It will be perfect for my daughter as she bundles up for Chicago winters.

All done! and I added corner tassels for some fun.

My daughter boyfriend has been staying with us as my 'Day companion' while I am layed up. I got him to play dress up with Melissa's new scarf! What a great sport!

Now I need to pick my next project... I have a bagful of yarn that a friend gave to me as well as a care package of crafts from my mom. I really am looking forward to getting back in the sewing room. I am sooooooo close to be finished with the Amy Butler purses I was working on before my accident.

I just need to spend some more time healing as well as make some modifications to the layout of my sewing room to make it a bit more friendly to my current situation.

A little bit of knitting

2010-06-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

For a full accounting of my knee surgery please checkout my other blog... The Aspiring Equestrian. There is a link to the right on my sidebar.

The surgery was a week ago today and was the most painful thing I have ever gone through. I have spent much of the past week flat on my back with my leg raised up to keep swelling down. So, other than contemplating all the sewing and crafting projects that I want to be doing... I have not been doing much of anything.

Yesterday, I was finally feeling up to doing a bit of knitting. I probably have about 30 inches of the scarf done. I am very happy with the project so far. It is easy, the colors are pleasing, the stitches are thick and even.

I am living vicariously through all my blog lists sewing rooms! Keep the inspiration coming :)

Trying my hand at something new

2010-06-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

My broken leg is going to require surgery. It is scheduled for Monday. Until I start recovering from the surgery I am stuck either in the bed or on the couch with my leg elevated and packed in ice to keep the swelling down.

I decided to teach myself to knit. It is something that I have always wanted to try but just have never had the time to do or the willingness to stop doing something else to learn. Well, what a perfect opportunity.

My husband took me the store in the trusty wheelchair and I picked out a good book with a dvd to go with it and then some yarn and needles and away I went!

Either it is easier than I think or pain killers give you an extra relaxed sense about things or maybe I was just happy to have something to do! But the first try was just casting on and practicing some knit and purl stitches. I was so excited after doing about 10 rows that I slid the whole thing off the needle to proudly examine my work and yup... as you can guess... I unraveled the whole thing! And cracked myself up in the process. Guess I forgot to turn the page and learn how to bind it off or cast off!

1st try, stitches so tight I could hardly move them!

On to a test piece for a project.

Look Ma!!! I'm knitting!

A completed 'test' patch

Now... onto a project, of course, the easiest project there is. A scarf. consisting of 20 knit stitches repeated until it is 84 inches long. Even a pain killer addled mind can hopefully handle this project!

All Quiet in the Sewing Room with a broken leg.

2010-05-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

All has been quiet in the sewing room for several weeks now. I had my daughters college graduation, my parents in for a long weekend, a long work trip to Dallas for a symposium, followed directly by a fun schooling horse show.

Just as things were calming down and I was just about caught up on the day to day stuff I broke my right leg.

It happened on Friday afternoon, I had a fall off one of the horses that I ride. The fall was not bad except for the fact that my right knee smashed into a wooden rail lying on the ground.

It is a right Tibia Plateau fracture. I don't have a full game plan from the orthopedist yet, but will be on no weight bearing on my right leg for 6-8 weeks.

No driving, no walking, no traveling, no sewing machine pedal, no horseback riding. No nothing!

Well at least no nothing yet. As soon as some of the acute pain starts to wear off and I am not on the painkillers 24/7 I will venture into the sewing room and attempt to sew with the left foot... could be interesting!

My purses are sooooo close to being done! I only have to sew the bottom lining in and then attach the lining to the outer body and add the handles. Guess they are going to be 'on the table' for a while.

bummer

Sweet Harmony: Exterior is finished!

2010-05-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of hours this afternoon to work on the handbags. (we had very bad thunder storms last night and this morning so too soggy to work in the garden)

I finished up the exterior of the handbags... now I just have the linings to do!

Attaching the sides to the front and back main panels.

Sewing the sides and bottom on took a little manhandling to get the stiffened and interfaced fabric all together.

Using a zipper foot to attach the bottom panel with the peltex

All together and inside out

Right side out :) front/back view

Side view