Saturday, January 30, 2010

Joy

Joy is a good way to describe conquering machine appliquing. I really though this was going to be harder. Just alot of steps. Removing the hoop and trimming constantly but I really like the final product. Think I need to pick up some plain tshirts for myself this week.

Mom do you recognize the green tree fabric? It is from your fabric stash.

Bookmark Applique

Another one of my Dakota Collectible designs. It is appliqued with a couple additional fabrics. I used some left over minky for the dog. To understand the steps for the machine applique you can check out this link. Much easier than me trying to explain.

Roads are clear today. Lots of down tree limbs due to the weight of the ice.

Iced In

We have had some nasty weather in the past 24 hours. Took me an hour to get home from work yesterday. It was slow going but made it home safely. Turned into some horrible ice last night. We lost power for about 6 hours. Luckily we were all in our beds and had power by morning. The neighbors have several limbs down. I am glad we don't have big trees in our yard.
Ice is coating everything.
Before we lost power I took advantage of a embroidery design sale at Dakota Collectibles. Turned some waffle weave fabric into a small hand towel. Love the piggie.
Not the best photo. Part of my bargain hunting at Dakota Collectibes. The plaid fabric is a pair of Mason's boxers. He didn't even roll his eyes at me when I showed him. I have been warned not to put his name on his boxers... "I am not a three year old".

Friday, January 29, 2010

Worth the Effort

It was well worth the effort making the blankets and bags for the twins. Aren't they adorable.

Sleeting rain, I am sure I will be leaving work early today.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Embroidered Buttons

I had some little scraps of the zebra fabic left over. Embroidered two "E"s and made them into buttons.

I also had some pink and black fur left over from a project last year.

So I have made Emily a pillow, pink on one side, black on the other to match her throw blanket. By the way, the blanket was a hit. Her Grandmother said she wore it around the house like a badge or honor the entire evening. Only problem is her little sister wants one.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hot Pink and Zebra Print


One of the ladies I work with converted her attic into a bedroom for her grand daughter. All done in hot pink and black. She found the zebra print last month on clearance. I talked her into the hot pink fur for the back. Of course I had to put her name on it. It is a generous 72 x 44 inch throw blanket. We have snow in the forecast later this week. Should keep a teenager warm on snow day from school.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Sunday Sewing


I am getting the hang of the embroidery machine. These are headed to my sister.

One of my favorite bags I use every week. I put my initals on it.

The twins got tiny little bags with their names on them that match their blankets.

And I even tried embroidering on the hanger covers. Not bad if I use the right stablizers.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Stimulating the Economy

Several years ago when my husband bought his truck we had planned on giving it to Mason when he started driving. Needless to say if you know Mason at all he isn't a truck kinda guy at all.

So today the truck is officially gone and a Dodge Charger is sitting in its place in the driveway. If you look closely you can see Mason sitting in it. Haven't been able to wipe the grin off his face since. It seems this week I am doing my best to stimulate the economy.

Twins

One of the guys David works with has twin girls 18 months old. Good opportunity to use the embroidery machine.

I made them two flannel blankets. Red on one side and puppy dogs on the other. I just couldn't do pink. I am guessing with twin girls they are already on pink overload. Lessons learned on this one make sure that you have time to finish before you start. You can stop and restart a design later but it isn't as easy as just completing it at one sitting.

Picked up my trust Brother sewing machine from the shop today. So I am officially back in business. No more excuses.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Nothing is Safe

Nothing is safe from the embroidery machine now.

Burp cloth I had made for the craft fairs. One of the girls that I work with got married in Jamacia last month. No hopes of a baby anytime soon. It was a good joke to give her. Not sure if her new husband will appreciate the humor.

Spelling counts. There is a neat feature to "check" your word before you start embroidering. I guess I really should use that. Although I still probably wouldn't have caught my error. I picked a j instead of an i. Wonder if Jessie will appreaciate the name change to Jessje. At least it isn't really noticeable.

I had some holiday mug covers still laying around. I still need to snip the threads but they look pretty good. Nothing is safe from me now.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Playing Catchup

I have a few photos I need to you up on on.

I found this great desk at the antique shop over the weekend. Perfect piece for this spot and we can still get air flow to the duct return under it. What we had there before was causing some issues.

The October Quilt being worked on. I thought I would get my Brother sewing machine back soon. They have a back log at the shop so it may take longer.

In the meantime I am using my old workhorse. Although with the delivery of my surprise yesterday I don't see too much sewing in the future.

David did bring home the Brother 780D yesterday. He still has no idea I saw him at lunchtime. I was at my eye appointment yesterday afternoon and he shows up. Helped me pick out my glasses (so unlike him). Never mentioned anything about the machine. He did complain about a musty water smell in his trunk. My first clue, but he still didn't say anything. When we got home he wanted help getting stuff out of his trunk. Not only did he get the 780D but bought every size frame that would work with it and a large pack of stabilizer.

So I played around a bit last night. I love, love, love the Disney designs. Friends, family and co-workers watch out.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Gold Star

My husband gets a gold star today. We met at lunch yesterday and took in my backup sewing machine to be repaired. I should have it back in a couple of days. I think it is just the timing that needs to be adjusted since it won't pick up any bobbin thread. I had an embroidery machine about 10 years ago but started paper crafting about the same time so I eventually sold my embroidery machine. But I have been drooling over the Brother Disney machines for quite some time. In particular we were both eyeing the Brother 780D yesterday. He kept asking me questions about it last night.

I was running an errand at lunch today and saw my husband pull into the parking lot of the sew/vac store today. If nothing else he gets a gold star for effort but I know the man too well, I will have a surprise waiting for me when I get home today.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Last Ditch Effort

The October quilt has been basting and even had some quilting done on it. I took a break from quilting and went to see a movie with the family yesterday afternoon. When I got back to the sewing machine it had a tension problem which has now turned into a completly nonfunctioning sewing machine. It won't pick up any bobbin thread. ARGH. And I was actually making progress until this happened.

So I dragged out my trusty old sewing machine that froze up on me about 18 months ago that I never took in for repair. In a last ditch effort to get it working gave it a complete oil bath. After a couple of hours and much force got it working again. Of course it was too late to work on the October quilt but at least I have one working machine in the house again.

On a side note Mason called the Lovely Bones movie "trippy". It was not the typical cookie cutter movie thats for sure. I actually thought it was a very sad movie.

Now to clean up all the oily mess on my table so I can start sewing again. And get the broken machine to the repair shop before I have problems again.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Embroidery


When I visited my Mom last summer I picked up a kit of six 16inch preprinted quilt blocks to embroider. I have slowly been working on them. Three completely done. I chose to use varrigated embroidery floss which added some much needed dimension to the embroidery. If I had to do it all over again I would do the outlining in a solid color. Weird thing I have always found hand stitching to be very relaxing.

The only sewing project on my list this weekend is the October quilt that never got finished.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cowgirls

I am actually quite impressed that it took me 13 days into the new year to buy any fabric.

A yard of the retro cowgirl print and a half yard of the red bandana print were whispering my name. I could hear them all the way across the store. I probably wouldn't have bought it except it was on clearance. Tax included just over $6 for both.

We are having a relative heat wave here, highs in the 50s. I might come out from under the heated blanket long enough to sew.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Unthawing


This is the cleanest my craft table has been in months. The only project I need to be working on is sitting next to the sewing machine. It was supposed to be finished mid-October, I have no excuses at this point.

David loves to keep the house cold, not cool... COLD, our first level was in the low 40's for several days. You would think after the pipe freezing several times this past week he would let us have soon heat. The pipe never did burst which just reinforced the artic temps at our house. Needless to say I have been spending way too much time under the heated blanket with this little one. We should have highs in the 50's by the weekend. I might get the feeling back in my fingers enough to sew by then.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Down Memory Lane

This should take my sister and mother down memory lane.

I was talking to the ladies in Payroll that work for me and the conversation turned to these mini cedar chests. Three of the four of us got them when we graduated and still have them today. I bet my sister still has hers also. The question is now what is stored inside of them. I will look through mine tonight.

Lane History: Lane began producing miniature cedar chests in 1925. Five years later, the firm's sales manager converted these miniatures into a great promotional idea: the company invited young women about to graduate from high school to pick up a free miniature chest at their local furniture store. By 1984 more than 15 million prospective Lane customers had received these promotional gifts.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Mug Mixes

If you remember I gave a group of people at work a coffee mug and mug cover for Christmas. I finished all the Valentine's Day covers and gave them to the 8 people that work for me. Hoping that if I give them to them now they can use them a few weeks.


Then I came across this idea last night. Mug Gift Mixes. You have got to check out the website. They have soups, cakes, brownies, teas, puddings, fudge and my favorite peach cobbler. I stole the photo but wouldn't that make a great afternoon pick me up at the office. Mmmmm....

The snow was a light dusting, kids got out of school but not enough to stay home from work. I bet a mug brownie would make me feel better.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

A Bit Crabby

I have been a bit crabby lately.


We bought Mason two Hermit Crabs. One immediately tried to esacpe up the side. I wish the pet store didn't paint their shells. Hopefully they will move to new shells and these can disappear soon. Ugly little guys that still don't have a name. I am voting for Earl and Randy, if you are a My Name is Earl fan you get the inside joke.

Very little crafting and sewing going on the past couple of weeks. Expecting a couple inches of snow tonight, which should help that out as long as we don't lose power.