Saturday, November 28, 2009

A Weekend Recap



Did you eat too much of this?


Spend some time with them?



Brave a few of these?



Spend too much of this?



and end up with these?



No matter how you spent your holiday I hope you took a minute to stitch a bit and give thanks for all the good things in life.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

A quick gift



As bloggers we all have a routine of blogs we follow and some that we check if not daily, almost so. Well Stop Staring and Start Sewing! is one of those for me. She posted a tutorial for an Apron in an Hour. Well in a flash of inspiration I decided to make one as a hostess gift.

Now Jona you lied to me. You told it would take an hour. I beg to differ, it took one hour and 13 minutes!!! Now faithful reader you know I am a giver, I am here to serve; so when there is misinformation I have to let you know. (You realize I am teasing, I hope. It did take an extra 13 minutes, but come one, how many gifts can you make in 1:13?)



I timed this little endeavor. Now I didn't include the time it took to preshrink it in the dryer, but from the time I sat down and made the first snip to tieing it onto the mannequin was 1:13. That is awesome if you ask me. What a great hostess gift. And for under $10, I bought enough fabric for 2 and it was $17 with tax. I used some Amy Butler fabric from her two Midwest Modern Line. All in all, a cute, quick project.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Inspiring spaces


First posted at Sew Many Ways

Does your sewing room need a pick me up? Are you looking to dedicate a space to your sewing room? Karen over at Sew Many Ways has done just that. And wow! It is beautiful and so coordinated. She has some great inexpensive ideas to get a great looking space.


First posted at Sew Many Ways

I love the letters up top. Now in my opinion she needs a whole bunch more stash, but who am I to say?

Monday, November 23, 2009

A spring trip to the zoo



Finally a finished project to share. The little bubble is made from Daniel by Primrose Lane. Not sure who the fabric is by, I bought it from It's Sew Heavenly when I was in Lafayette LA during the summer. The plate is shown here. I bought the plate from Bessie Mary in Dallas. I get around ya'll!

It is a size 6 months, so it should be perfect for a little man's first spring trip to the zoo.




First posted by Primrose Lane

I am not sure if this designer is still selling from her site, but your favorite heirloom shop should have it. I love the look of this pattern but a few heads up.



First, I am not sure I would make it from 100% cotton again. Those little tabs are stitched down, so that makes it a challenge to iron. And this fabric needs ironing. The second hint is the yoke lining piece does not fit, so check it against your finished yoke before you cut out lining piece. Why is it when you get a collar you are happy with the stinking lining doesn't fit? Now if the collar had been jack legged that lining would have been perfect. Unfortunately the lining piece had to have the bottom serged and stitched down along the bottom of the insert. Not enclosing the bottom of the insert like I would have liked. And no I am not going to show you.


 

But if you like piping this is the one for you! Lots of piping. (And I can tell the side of that yoke needs the iron still.)

Off to pack for our next trip to Louisiana.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

New tools for the toolbox


I have some new tools for my embroidery/smocking toolbox. Thread charts for both DMC and Anchor flosses. I had always wanted one and when I saw Michie' Mooney post about the DMC chart on her blog, I took the plunge. I purchased the DMC chart first. When it came, I liked it so much, used it right away and declared right then I had to have the Anchor as well.



I prefer the way the Anchor card is set up, but am delighted to have both. It looks like a rainbow. And as I said, I have already used them on a project I have to keep secret for now. But it was such a delight. It doesn't take much to make me happy. (Contrary to what my husband and children might say.)

They are a bit pricey I guess, but so worth it in my opinion. I purchased the DMC card directly from them, but the Anchor card I could only find from a vendor on ebay. I paid about $25 for the DMC card and about $35 for the Anchor one.


Again a bit pricey, but very worth it. I can not tell you the number of times I have dug through my floss boxes, pulling out a half dozen or so at a time, trying to match colors to fabric. Above is how I store my floss.


In Floss Away bags. I started using these bags about 26 years ago, when I took my first smocking class at the Heirloom Shop in Pensacola FL. At the time, one of the few ways I had seen to store floss was by winding it on those bobbins. This wasn't going to work. First I had three tiny children, this process had disaster written all over it. Plus I didn't want my floss to have those kinks in it. Floss Away used to have storage boxes as well. Well I filled those two buddies up in a hurry.



When I could no longer stuff another single floss bag into the boxes I had, I found these scrapbooking storage boxes at Oriental Trading. The boxes measure 11 1/8" x 5 1/4" x 12 1/2", and come with dividers. I am able to get three rows of floss bags into each box. I have four of them, each of them labeled with the kind of floss. I haven't done the box that has the DMC Broder Medici yet. And that shot is as close as you are getting to  the inside of my stash closet. I don't tell everything I know.
I hope you are stitching on something beautiful.

Friday, November 20, 2009

A surprise at my door.



Thank you faithful reader!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A quick chuckle


First posted at A Graceful Stitch

This made me laugh out loud.

Happy Birthday



Happy Birthday to our #2 daughter. I can't believe the years have passed so quickly. I keep telling the kids it takes 50 years to get to be 21 and 30 seconds to get to be 50. Well she is past the 21 mark, but has a long way to go to 50. Hope you have a wonderful day honey.



 First posted at Little Acorns

Had a short attach of blog surfing sickness this morning and found these at a precious blog, Little Acorns,  How cute are those? Now I wonder if my children would lock me up if I order some from here. This could put me over the top as far as my younger fashionistas are concerned. I think they are adorable. She has made them with images from her fabric line, Celebration. Too cute.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Give me a break!



First posted at I Love Bento

Thank heaven and all the saints that my kids are grown! I could not take the guilt induced by this bento craze. I have ranted about this before. I can't help myself, I love the look of it but FLUTED little sandwiches with happy faces?  And do you think those sweet little heart shaped cups would make it back home? Not a chance. And the teeny tiny pie? Harumph.


First posted at I Love Bento

Can we talk about the *&^% watercolored looking rice? I mean it is beautiful and all. Maybe that is why you never see Japanese mothers that are overweight. They use all of their calories making food pictures. And can we talk about COLD rice. Who does that? **IF** I could eat blue rice, I want it hot with salt and butter thank you. And not only does the blue sky look like a van Gogh painting, but then this slaving mother/wife reserved a tiny bit of rice to dye pink so the broccoli garden had flowers. GET A LIFE!
 

First posted at I Love Bento

Is this the passive aggressive mother's way of saying "I told you to keep your sick hiney home today!"? Serves them right, not only do they get cold rice, but cold beans too. Take that!

Rant of inadequacy over.

I am stitching, I will get back to it now.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

A colorful pick me up


posted by Kinder Kouture

Jeannine, over at Kinder Kouture has just the thing. I love this, it is so bright and colorful. As I commented to her, it reminds me of a new box of crayons. And no thread on the floor!!!! The same can not be said of the sewing room here. But I have some time until Miss Snooty Pants comes home for Christmas. 

*******************************************************************************************************



Thank you Jenny, for pointing out that Wee Bear can be found in Inspirations Issue #44. It is called Debut on page 46. I like my name better, but last time I checked Margie Bauer does not have me on the editorial staff at Country Bumpkin. Think of the treasure she is missing.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Enough said...


Monday, November 9, 2009

A wee bear


Well my SAGA chapter's annual auction was yesterday. It was a great time, we raised a lot of money, had some great food, laughed and caught up with old friends while meeting some new ones. One of the things our auction had to offer was this sweet receiving blanket made by one of our members. I just love it. The top photo shows three of the four corners at once. I wasn't clever enough to figure out how to take a photo of all four at one time. Maybe another day. Each of the four corners follow below.


Don't you wonder what this wee bear is thinking as he whiles away the afternoon watching the honeybees?



Oh and here he has followed the honeybee to the daisy patch. Careful wee bear, better not get too close!


He is a young wee bear and needed to rest again when he found this field of forget-me-knots.  Taking in all he sees.



"Where did all the honeybees go?" he ponders.

This precious cotton receiving blanket may not ever be used, it just makes my heart sing, and that is enough for me. The member that stitched it is so lovely and does such beautiful work. She didn't think it was all that much, but I just love it. The sweet simplicity of it just makes me sigh.

And speaking of the auction dear readers, those who graciously bought raffle tickets for the beautiful doll dress quilt, sadly you did not win. Neither did I. The mom of one of member's quilted the quilt and dog gone it, if she didn't win it as well! Not sure what voodoo spell she was casting as she stitched, but it worked. If you met her though you would be glad. She gets so tickled and was as pleased as punch when she took that quilt home.

Thank you to so many who bought raffle tickets. Our chapter will use the proceeds to bring in teachers and advance our Wee Care project. Bless you.

What you are stitching on?

Friday, November 6, 2009

So much fun



OMG had the best time this afternoon. A faithful reader directed someone to my blog who in turn contacted me. So in a reply I encouraged her to call and we would chat about her questions. Well let me tell you. We laughed and laughed, compared stories about our kids and talked about my favorite topic, making a christening gown!

I am all about trying to enable someone else to do my favorite things, spend their $$ and create a gown. It was so fun to hear the enthusiasm in her voice as she forged ahead to make a sweet gown for her first granddaughter. I can't wait to see how it turns out. It made me want to go play with lace in my sewing room.

You never know where a new sewing buddy will appear from.


Thursday, November 5, 2009

Have you been watching PR?



I am thinking that Heidi and Tim need to ramp up their game a bit this season. Perhaps next season will prove better after they have been on Lifetime a second season. This season has not been very exciting and I LOVE Project Runway.

This little number from Carol Hannah was my favorite from last week.  I HATED the winning design. Strong words I know, but yucko!!! 

We'll see what tonight's episiode brings. Better designs I hope.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Ahhhhh, good to be home




Ten days is too long to be away from my own bed. Lets see where have I been? Over 2000 miles in the car, yes you read that right. We made a huge loop from the midwest through the mountains of West Virginia to the coast of both North and South Carolina, a fly by in south Georgia to drive up through the deep south back home. My bed felt like heaven on earth last night. We saw a lot, rode a lot, walked a lot, ate wayyy too much, and of course I stitched a lot in the car. Four of those days my husband worked all day.



If I had a driver everywhere I went, oh the stitching I would get done. The above picture was taken in the car as we drove through the mountains of Virginia. It was a test between three different flowers. I thought the flower on the right, the color was too bright, the flower on the left was way to pale so I settled on the color of the flower in the center. I used one strand of each of the other flowers to get the center one.



It reminds me of  Baskin- Robbins Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream.

I didn't just stitch in the car, I did lift my head and look out as well. And we stopped. I was a really bad photographer this trip.



We stopped at the New River Gorge and then drove to the bottom of the gorge. My husband nearly croaked when he looked back and saw how high the bridge was that we had driven over.  He is not a friend of heights.



But what a wonderful taste of autumn this was. We drove through the mountains of West Virginia. Even stopped for a quaint train festival in Hinton, WV.  Then it is back in the car and to North Carolina we head. No pictures taken there. I stitched in the hotel while he worked.



Down the coast we go, we stopped at Lee's Inlet Kitchen in Murrel's Inlet, SC for dinner. OMG, the hush puppies. We then get to Charleston and do the whirlwind tour of Charleston in two days. Take it from me, two days is not enough.



We started our whirlwind on a carriage tour, then we walked through some of the cemeteries, and up and down King Street and the old City Market. I bought a sweetgrass basket for a souvenir. For dinner we went to Hank's for dinner. FABULOUS! I highly recommend their shrimp and grits.

 
 
Day two we saved our feet a tiny bit by taking a pedi-cab down to the Battery and then walking back up to our hotel.

 

We toured the Calhoun Mansion and the Nathaniel Russell house.



The day was winding down but we did squeeze in the Old Exchange and the Provost's Dungeon, then walked the waterfront before we crawled back to rest before dinner at the historic restaurant, McCrady's. Wowzer, talk about fabulous!! I have raved about the heirloom tomatoes and house made buratta ever since and the corn bread pudding. Wonderful.  Kudos, there was no "George Washington Ate Here" sign even though it is a part of their storied history. The hostess was wonderful enough to hail another pedi cab for us because my feet were revolting by this point and were not going to make the mile walk back to the hotel by the end of the second long day.



Next morning we attended Mass at St. Mary's, the oldest Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia. Beautiful. It made my heart sing to see all of those babies and children in smocking and heirloom sewing. On our way out of Charleston we stopped on John's Island to see the Angel Oak Tree.   Magnificent and humbling. And back in the car.

We traveled to south Georgia to see our oldest daughter. Too quick of a visit. Dinner was great, company even better. And yesterday we are in the car once again to trek home through 6 states to get home.



Of course being in the car I could work on my French Handsewn dress previewed here, here and here. I think I am going to dub this dress the "Car Dress" since so much of it has been stitched in the car.

 

It is almost finished.I have to gather and attach the ruffle  and sleeve lace, then do the embroidery. Then my first convention class project will be done.

I hope you enjoyed this little impromtu tour of the southeastern US. Hopefully I will be back with more stitching to share soon. Till then faithful reader.

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