Quilting the "Winning Hand"

★★★ This past week I've been stitching away at my king size quilt. I am not even half-way done at this point-the point where I've left off. If you remember, I had to sew on these annoying little triangles before I could sew the lattice to the block. Here are the finished blocks with all of their yellow triangles. I wanted to lay out all the blocks so I could see my most crappy sewing and then hide it (by rearranging square layout) as best that I could.

Well after 100 triangles or so, it was time for the lattice strips. At this point, I'm beginning to see how it will come together nicely.

And this last photo is where I've left off. Argh! I have two more columns to sew together before I can begin my border. I'm starting to love it, love it, love it. It looks fancier than I intended.

I watched Sewing With Nancy today and I had an idea to pintuck my first border. To do this, I'll need a piece of border fabric twice as long as the original length. I haven't decided for sure. It's taken me 15 years to get around to this and I might just want to get it done--no more fussing! I have to buy a border fabric and I'm not sure what color to choose. I have a small pallet to choose from: yellow, white, green, and brown. I'm tired of green, but a light shade of brown might look nice. Our carpeting has brown flecks in it. :) I'll have to finish the step I am on before I can make decisions. Any suggestions?

That's all for now.
Until next week...★★★

★★★ I'm still learning! In my most recent sewing class, we learned how to use a 3-way cording foot to make a coaster: "Mug Rugs". They were a lot of fun to make, although it did take time. I began making a video on my Olympus but 2 seconds in to the video, the camera ran out of memory. I do plan on trying it again on the Sony video camera. Here's a photo-shot of my foot in action. Basically, you keep seaming in a square, but always seaming the entire 4 inches. We used Aqua Magic for our stabilizer; it washes away with water. It's SO COOL!

After you've completed your square, there will be loops to cut. You can see some of my loops forming in the photo above. I combed my cut loops so I could measure and trim for a more tidy look. I didn't read how short to trim it, but I thought an inch looked good. :) Here it is finished.

Moving on: The most recent project I completed is this cute organizer for my planner. (Using a planner is an old system that worked well in my past, and I've started using one again.) I wanted to apply what I learned with the cording foot to this project.

The cording is the bottom trim (sewed with a decorative stitch) and and I added another decorative stitch just to see how it looked. :) I like seeing what my machine can do!

I added a gold cord between the two fabrics, but it's hard to see. I used a regular zigzag stitch to keep that in place. I have been watching Sewing With Nancy on Twin Cities Public Television 3 days a week. This week I learned how to use my zigzag stitch as an appliqué stitch too. I attached the elastic pencil holder using that method.

I need pockets - lots of 'em! This one is for my cards.

And of course I have to have a pocket for all of my craft coupons and other notes I might need to take. And that's it! It was nice to not follow a pattern so I could use my mind to come up with design ideas. I like practicing my decorative stitches.

And yet another project: I made some place mats over the weekend too. These aren't quilted or batted. They would work well for bed night stands, especially since I made only two. :P My corners are perfect. I used a tool that is designed to give me perfect corners every time. It's called Sewing Revolution Double Mitre Ruler. Made in the USA. I learned about this ruler in my sewing class too! Thank God for my sewing class!

I think my next project will be a bunny doll. I've already started cutting out the pattern pieces for it. I saw some 5 3/4" lace trim last night at Joanne's Crafts that I might be able to incorporate into the petticoat or something. Joanne's has a crazy sale going on with items being 50% off. I should pick up that lace pronto. OH! (Changing the subject here) I saw cute tiny sequins/lills pins while I was picking out my appliqué pins. I've never used them for sequins, but I bought them so I could try it. I like the detail work. I'm going to have to get a new book now! :P

All right, I've written a "blog" day in my planner each week to help me stay on top of it. So, now I can say "Until next week..." as my closing. So...

Toodles, until next week! ★★★

Cute Salmon Kitty

Good Morning!

This morning I have sewing club in Champlain, MN. Our instruction is to bring 4 yards of 3 different color decorative yarns and our sewing machine. We're making coasters and I have absolutely no idea what the heck we're doing. It interests me somewhat, but it's not an overwhelming interest.

What does interest me is my latest project. My sweet Salmon Kitty! She is too cute.

Kitty front-view

Kitty rear-view

Kitty features... I decided on a light nose because my kitty Fiona has a light nose, although it's pink not white! :) The features are cut from synthetic woolen felt. I decided to glue the features on instead of a fancy hand stitch. Of course, the whiskers and eyelashes are embroidery thread, not felt.

This kitty was easy to whip up. The directions are just as easy as making chocolate milk! :) I used Simplicity 2613 for the pattern. I'm also going to make the elephant.

I'm going to scoot off. Sewing With Nancy plays on TPT (channel 17 if you're in the Twin Cities) at 7 am and I've kept in habit watching it on Mon, Wed and Fridays, as those are the only days she is on air. :)

Blessings!

A Holiday Table Runner and Poly-Pumpkins

I have had an itch for a couple days to sit down and write again. When I arrived here, I was reminded that it's been 9 days again (Thanks Laura!!). I can't believe how time flies. One of my new hobbies lately is to sit at the computer for at least an hour at a pop and research sewing machines. (That's where the time goes!) I was starting to lose hope in the Kenmore I sent in to have fixed. I thought for sure I screwed it up bad because I have a tendency to be really hard on things. Nothin' delicate about me! I dig in full force! Well anyways, I got a call two days ago that my Kenmore was back in MN and I picked it up. The only thing wrong with it was the bobbin tension and timing. I thought for sure I messed up the gears somehow. HAHA! (That's why I've been reasearching new machines. Well that, and I want a new one "just because".) I started to sew up a table runner in beautiful blues last night and it runs like a dream again. I will mention though, that I messed with the bobbin before I started my project. I'm PICKY ABOUT MY TENSION! It may be my weakness as a seamstress. Hah.

I'll move on. I learned how to sew this table runner in my serger class.

The desk it is displayed on is my old sewing desk. It's around 70 years old and I love it!

This next photo is a result of a day's worth of work! I went through all of the fabric my new friend at work gave to me. I measured it and separated it into their piles. When I was finished folding and organizing, I counted the yardage: 70+ yards! Woohoo! What a blessing. The table runner that I'm working on is from that stash. She has excellent taste in fabrics! (A photo of the table runner will be posted as soon as I finish it.)

I don't know if any of you remember that I made some cupcakes out of polymer clay a long while back. I just couldn't stop making them after I got started. HAH! They are too cute. I wear them for earrings and people just love them. So do children, little girls especially!

So, my husband was impressed with these cute little miniatures and encouraged me (repeatedly for days!) to make pumpkins for the season. I finally set my stuff up and made them and they turned out adorable! I even made little vines for them. Cute, cute, cute! They will be used as earrings, pendants and charms. They were a lot of fun to put together. My last step is to polish and varnish them, then put on the findings. :)

My mom and I have planned to go to a craft show in Blaine, MN today. Oh, a handful of women from work are also going to meet us there. It will be so fun! Apparently, this is the only show of it's kind for crafters to make as much money as they do in the state. I'm not going to spend money though - I'm going for ideas and to compare my craftmanship! Shhh...:)

A 9 Day Update

Doh! The last time I wrote was 9 days ago! I've said this before. I always have intentions of writing each week, but that isn't realistic for me at times.

As some of you already know, I have had some big ideas and some really big ideas as of late. I'm getting my cute little ducks lined up in a row because I like things to operate smoothly when it comes to implementing my ideas.

First off, I met a friend at work who is a quilter, Evie. It's torture for me to not completely blab about sewing while I'm on the clock! She's been quilting for around 20 years and had accumulated a little stash of fabrics that she has tried to get rid of - she's cleanin' house! Well, I gladly took that extra stash off her hands. :) I thought a basket of fresh veggies from our garden would be a nice "thank you". I stitched this dish towel up on the Kenmore 19233 and it rode "shotgun" on our journey to Evie's. :D She liked the basket of vegetables! She'd mentioned taking a photo of them, and I told her that I did!

So with some of the fabric stash, I worked on sewing up a cosmetic bag. I started with a pattern from Sew Pretty Homestyle and decided that I didn't care for the construction of the bag. I adjusted the pattern for cleaner construction. This is what I have come up with.

The day before my birthday, my "WizardGir1" labels arrived in the mail! I will now start adding labels to my finished items. :) I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out. You can definitely tell that the last letter is a number one and not the letter "L".

For my birthday, Evie gave me this beautiful Croton plant! I'd mentioned to her that my Croton wasn't doing so well and it's a bummer because the foliage is so gorgeous with color variegation.

My husband, Ed, bought me a Nikon for my birthday! I love the grape color. This is such a great gift for me because I always say "where's my camera!" when we are out and about and I see something snapshot worthy. This little baby fits right in my pocket! Woohoo! (I took the photo of the Croton plant with it.)

We had a frost a couple nights ago, so I figured that I should get out to the garden and harvest all that I could of our vegetables. These are quite the carrots! They didn't do this well last year. Never overwater your carrots - that causes those ugly cracks!

When I was harvesting the week before, I came across this little guy. It's going to be a Swallowtail butterfly, but I'm not sure which one. I have an easy laminated guide I use to determine caterpillar varieties. :) I'm not only a shutter-bug, I'm a "bug-bug" too! What a pretty caterpillar.

Well, there's a little introduction to my big ideas, and what I've been up to since I've last posted an entry. I still have some more duckies to line up before I can unveil anything further than this. Things take time. :) Until my next post...

Still Curving Around

Hi everyone. Have you ever been so curious to know what's inside our tomato shaped pin cushions? One day recently, I was using a new cushion and as I was slipping my pin in I heard a squeak! That did it. Time to take it apart and reveal the truth.

(Of course I took it apart delicately; I am keeping the pattern!)

SAWDUST!!! Eeek! That's terrible. I'm sticking my pins in wood? It's not even cedar so it's going to rot. You know they didn't treat it because I didn't spend the money for treated shavings! Yeah, my pins will rust. For SHAME! *Gasp* One day I will stuff a cushion with emery sand.

It seems pretty easy to make a pin cushion. It's just a rectangle fabric cut with a cute "star" on top. The top and bottom were gathered as if making a yo-yo.

Moving on from the terrible tomato. I'm still working on my curves and bettering my mitten pattern and construction.

Although fleece is a dream to work with, I'm learning alot about it. First, I use a walking foot on my Kenmore. It's so much easier for the curves (besides the fact that I need to move my hands to raise the presser foot - I'm GETTING A KNEE LIFT machine!). There are different piles of fleece. I thought that I wanted a very thick pair of mittens, but my pattern didn't work well with thick fleece, hence the Jersey knit lining (see photo above and then 2 below! lol :}. To say the truth, I am having a hard time working with such thick fleece. I might have been better off with a thinner fleece and then using it for the liner also. My goal is industrial construction standard. I can do this; I have had classes! I looked at my ready-to-wear (RTW for short, for those of you who might not know the abbreviation - specifically my mom. :})...at any rate, back to - my RTW mittens are double lined with a thin pile fleece. My thick Polartec has got to go. At least go to another project. Yes. A hat and scarf! :)

I eliminated half of the cuff band to make a smoother transition on the serger. It's still a trial and my machine is working hard. Although it's performing beautiful results, I am the one who is working too hard to get the result. There is an easier way. I want to be able to embellish the band and this stuff is just too thick. They will make warm and snuggly mittens though. I love the buttery soft pile! The serger finished the edge quite nicely in the end.

In the next photo, I matched up seams. WOW! I did that! Out of 6 or 7 pairs, this is the only seam that's matched up. Sigh. I have three layers together. and even when I pin it, the Jersey knit layer shifts. There's another reason to use fleece for lining!

I've cut out three more pairs of mittens to sew up, but I don't think I am going to do that today. I might work on a hat or scarf instead.

My Sweetheart is working in Wisconsin again and he'll be home tonight. I wasn't ready for him to leave so soon. I miss him. I made him peanut butter cookies for his return. Nothing says love like FOOD! LOL

Well, I'm going to get this online. I woke up late (because I was up until midnight! and should start my day.)

PS. Here's a photo of my coaster that I worked on. I'd forgotten to post this and couldn't remember what I said I was going to post, but my ma let me know (thanks for reading my blog mom!). I need to practice home-dec construction. The bias edge need serious help!

And to my Auntie Shirley - I added you to my list so you will get this when I update the blog. :)

Stitching on the Curve

Greetings!

Well, I can't remember what I said I was going to take a photo of to post, and I can't find it written in my blogs either, but I know there was SOMETHING. Maybe it will hit.

I've been working on stitching on a curve. I want to have a smooth transition around all curves that I sew. And, you might remember that I wanted to make some mittens out of the orange fleece that I had left over from making doggy boots. I finally got around to them two nights ago. They were so incredibly easy to whip up, I plan on making a ton. The pattern calls for wool too, so I thought I'd try that fabric with the pattern too.

Here are some other cute items I sewed up to practice the curves.

I'm also trying to "putz" around in the sewing room so my creative juices get flowing, but when there are times that I am too tired to think, I pull out the quilt I began 12 or so years ago. LOL Here's one of the squares.

The quilting I've done has been so boring. I thought the other day "No wonder why women get together to quilt, IT'S BORING so they need to chat and sew!" Hahaha... Well, I've planned one day to sew with my mom, and that's tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I'll be working on my quilt. A gal from work also mentioned that she quilts and wouldn't mind getting together to have a sew day. So, I think I have plenty of opportunity to get the quilt done sometime this year. LOL Well, that's my goal.

I have a sewing class to go to this morning at the new shop I found for sewing supplies. My ma is also going with me to that class. It's nice to be around other gals who sew too. I hope to make some good sewing friends. :) I suppose I should get read for class.

I have something on order that I will either come on Saturday or Monday. When that item gets here, I'll post again with photos!

Until then... happy stitching!

Stitch Practice & My First BURDA Issue

It's been days and days since I've show up here, but I'll never give up the blogging! I need to take the time to work on projects and then share what I've been doing. With that being said, even though I've been working on projects, they are mostly to get stitching practice in. I made a coaster (and I forgot to take a photo of it!), some needle cases and I've just started a teddy bear that I patterned out yesterday.

I had to show this photo of the disaster sewing room. This is after I rearranged and added a table for my serger. I love sewing by the window now! It's so nice to look out the window on my little "thinking breaks". The kitty sits by the screen and watches the birds. I suppose those days are soon to be over before the snow falls. :)

I practiced some embroidery stitching on my Kenmore. Although, I like the idea of the stitching, I think the stitching might turn out better on a more stable piece of fabric.

Here are the finished needle cases. I decided to attach bows to them because I was having a hard time getting my pearl snaps on. I purchased a snap setter from Hancock's Fabrics yesterday after work. I used my 40% off coupon, which was AWESOME! Even though I consider it a "notion" they may have other ideas. Anyways, I'll have snaps on everything now. :) LOVE IT!

My very first issue EVER of Burda Style magazine arrived yesterday. I thoroughly eyeballed it and have several projects picked out to sew over time. It will be slightly challenging, I think, since it's a new way of instruction layout. Here's a run down...

★ This cap is adorable. I love hats. I have purchased two other hat patterns to make also. :)

★ A velvet bag with leather straps. Too cute for words. This is totally something I would drag around with me. :)

★ I like these trousers. I have another vintage pattern that is similar, but these are allow for more flow at the ankles. I might try this one before the vintage pattern. I was born in the wrong era!

★ Yup, the skirt too. I have experience with buttonhole making now, so this isn't so intimidating.  I have the can-do attitude. I can sew anything I want, no matter the level!!

★ This top is hard to see in my photo, but when I work on it, I will take a better photo. I really like the Bermuda shorts too. The tip on the page suggests to wear these type of shorts turned up a tad to add the appearance of longer legs. I thought that was cool. 

That's not all of the patterns I love from the issue, but I just wanted to share a few this morning. I'm pretty sore from weight lifting yesterday, so it was nice to take some "sitting time" at the computer. I'm getting something done and at the same time, RESTING! :)

I made note to take photos of the coaster and teddy to post. They are just basic patters to get my stitching practice in. I'm trying to open a creative avenue in the sewing field. There are soooo many possibilities. I want to make a physical log now.

Okay, I'm off to the sewing room! My Sweetie is out of town working for a few days, so that means I get to slough off of the house work and sew, sew, sew! :D

★ Happy Stitching!

Oh my gosh! I forgot to mention that I ordered a new sewing table. It's called Gidget. :) I ordered from allbrands.com. That's where I got my Consew iron also - all the way from Louisiana! Woohoo!

Green Skirt Modeled

G'mornin'. I decided to wear this today after all. Here it is! I guess I like it alot better on me than on the dress form. :) It's cute. It fits nice. It matches the earrings and necklace that my mother-in-law made for me. Plus, you can't see my accident; it's in the back. LOL.

Okay, this skirt is done. I know that it looks like every other photo that I've posted, but hopefully a little different since I ironed it now. LOL I had some issues getting this thing finished.

First, of all I cut the skirt fabric when I was trimming the seam allowance. Not only did I cut the fabric once, but TWICE. Sigh. I wasn't that devastated because it's broadcloth, but still... I used some woven interfacing to mend my cuts and I'm really hoping that no one will notice. I'll have to ask my Ma when I see her. What a bummer. Oh! But there is always the trim idea to fall back on, right!?

So after I get the cuts fixed, I poked my finger when I sewed the facing down to the zipper and got a little blood spot on the back of the skirt. Off to the sink I went to scrub it with soap! Eeesh! It came out like a charm, luckily. LOL

I'm sick of looking at this skirt! I think that's not such a good thing. Shouldn't I want to look at it continuously? I think I'm not into the fabric. But it's a nice basic garment for the 90° days.

Taking a photo of it one last time on the dress form is closure for me. :D Here it is.

I need a breather from sewing. I need to gather my items and organize my sewing room. I need to organize my thoughts. I am, however, going to make another notebook cover for my sewing room 5 subject notebook. That will be nice. :) Maybe I'll put some lace or ruffles on it. Whatever it is, it's gotta be something totally girly. Right!?

I heard back from the staff at Burda Style magazine. I will receive my first issue for the month of October. I'm really looking forward to it. I subscribed in time for the holiday issue! I wonder what the Christmas dresses will look like!

On a different note: I ordered my own "WizardGir1" labels for clothing and crafts today too. They are woven cotton made in Europe. How cool is that!? (Unless they shrink, then I'll be bummed. lol) I'm still searching for a different style that is a reasonable price, but I think I'm going to like what I ordered.

I labeled and described some sewing feet that I use on my {feet} tab, if anyone is interested in learning a tad more, if not anything new. :) When I'm finished here, I am going to add another link to Creative Sewing Solutions in the {feet} tab also. They have videos of the feet in action. *DROOL* I love my feetsies! :)

All right, I'm off to collect my thoughts. Cheers to all!

Not Quite the Green Skirt Junkie Lately

Greetings. Well, my steam for the a-line skirt has been interrupted, I guess. I've had headaches in my eyes for a couple weeks, they've worsened over the weekend, and I learned today that I need new glasses. They'll be here in 10 days! Such cute frames! I'll have to post a photo of them. :) At any rate, this is as far as I got on my green summer skirt.

I sort of feel like I should be sewing up something for fall, not summer. But patterns for summer seem to be easier to me for some reason. I was planning on getting these basic patterns down and then using a heavier fabric for all of the seasons. Can it be done? Anyways... about the green skirt.

It fits great in the waist. I love it! I love it when I sit too. Looking at the skirt on the dress form looks terrible in the hips. This is definitely a skirt that I wear a longer shirt with. I have the fit at the waist down. Sandra Betzina says that a gal should have 2" of ease at the hips and when I measured the 16 grade and 18 grade - the 18 calculated better. I don't know though - maybe I need to finish it, wash it and wear it. Then I will know for sure.

Now about the trim. I was also planning on adding a trim, but I'm not into that idea any more. This next photo is what I was thinking about. It's from 1966. I was honoured to receive a box of sewing supplies when my step-grandmother passed away a couple years back. I just think it would be cool to use this trim, but maybe not for this skirt. I should mention here that my whole point of making this skirt is to go with some earrings that my mother-in-law made for me. They are native beading with porcupine needles (I'll post a photo of them too) so I was shooting for a Native American look.

I'd like to use some of the cute stitches on my Kenmore, (flowers and vines are part of Ojibwa and Cherokee art work) since that's a big part of the reason why I chose this machine, but broadcloth needs to be interfaced before embroidering. Right now, do I feel like interfacing a large portion of the skirt? No. What about a cute patch pocket? This might be more realistic. Maybe something like a cargo style pocket? Sigh. Maybe I just need time away from it. Maybe the next step is just to hem it and wear it. I can always come back to it later. Boring? Maybe, but it's an empty canvas. Oh no! What if all I make is canvases? Argh! Baaaah, that's impossible. I'm a crazy woman. I can come up with something to add character.

Gasp - what about those weird little rosettes? Ooo... see, now my juices are flowing.

Seriously though - I might just hem it up and start my dress with princess seams. (Eeek!)

Oh oh oh.... two more things. I was at Barnes and Noble today looking at sewing magazines and found one called "Sew Hip". It's popular in the UK. I have been thinking about getting a subscription to this magazine also. I just want to study the heck out of sewing. Okay, and  I looked at Singers sewing book and was pretty impressed. It has gorgeous photos that made me drool. I might order it one day. It's only $6.50 on half.com right now for a used copy. I could totally live with that!

Sorry I'm all over the place tonight. I better wrap this up. Tomorrow is a new day - I solemnly swear that I, Tawnya Boe, will sew for at least 30 minutes. Heh. Life is good.