Friday, January 25, 2008

Winner!


Sorry this is late! But with out further adieu:


Research Randomizer Results

1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 38 -- Unsorted

Job Status:
Set #1:

5


So commenter #5 is SARAH! So Sarah, please email me your address and which pin cushion you want and it will be in the mail shortly! Thank you all who commented! I really do enjoy this little space I have here. And if you didn't win the remaining pin cushions will be listed on etsy soon. AND, I think my one year is coming up too. I need to double check that date.

Right. Off to work. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

100th post!

Jeff is helping me move some storage into my sewing area today, so yesterday I had to clean up everything. In the middle of moving items around, I rediscovered my 4 year quilt project.


So last night I sat down in front of the TV indian style watching missed episodes of project runway and top model. They really are the perfect TV entertainment to watch during sewing projects. I have 4 .5 blocks left to embroider and then the edge to finish off. I almost don't want to finish it because the whole project has lost its appeal to me. I am really glad my sewing skills improved from when I started this. I wish I had made some different design decisions. I wish I would have chosen different fabrics. I wish I would of had money 4 years ago to find the right materials. But you know what's fun about sewing with recycled denim? You get the most pleasing color variation across the spread. It really is beautiful in that respect.

And this is a day of celebration! Not only am I hoping to finish the hand sewing portion of my 4 Year Quilt, but it's my hundredth post today! So in true blogger fashion, I will be giving away one of the pin cushions below. I was just going to post my favorite, but I liked them all, so winner can chose which one she wants.


Winner will be chosen Wednesday evening. Thank you all for reading and commenting!

Friday, January 18, 2008

What can you do?

I've had bed sheets laid across my living room floor all week to cut up. My poor fabric marker just went kaput and this afternoon I went back upstairs to get my spare. Brand new, straight from the package I continued my pattern tracing. Jeff got home from work shortly there after and suggested since it was relatively mild outside to bring some furniture from the garage to the upstairs area. So I leave everything in its place on the living room floor. 4 grocery bag patterns already traced and ready to cut out.

We move everything upstairs after some huffing and puffing and then I realize, boy this garage needs to be rearranged. 2.5 hours later I enter the house again. Hmmm. Look at those dirty dishes. They better get cleaned up. Unload, load the dishwasher. Wash pots and pans by hand. Why look at the time! It's dinner time. Ah, its a special dinner tonight. I found snow crab half off and since it's just the two of us, why it's a splurge we enjoy. Steam, steam, steam. Crack, crack, munch. Full tummy. Oh geeze. It's 8:30. Better get back to cutting out the bags. Oh, did I mention I had measured out the matching 2'' strips to turn into bias tape as well.

Back on hands and knees on the living room floor. I stare blankly at my bed sheet. Where are my traces lines?! I don't think I'll ever make the mistake to purchase an air erase marker again. You know, sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself.

On a side note, do you realize this is my 99th post? It's almost seems crazy. I read all the time about people celebratory 100th posting and for some reason it hasn't occured to me that I would reach that milestone. I guess I'll have to play along with the standard give-a-way on the hundredth post. :) Keep a look out!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Kittens and Curtains

I had a pretty successful day today with my real job and decided to hit a thrift store on my way home. I remember seeing one in the center of my new town and decided to check it out. Only I was surprised with 3 thrift stores on the same block! Holy cow! Look what happens when you open your eyes! But check it out.

I got three yards of the navy polka dot fabric. I have a My Favorite Skirts pattern already to try out. I can see me going to church in this skirt paired with my cream cashmere cardigan set. Now thrift store, where is my cream cashmere cardigan set? I also got the very graphic tan, blue and orange print AND the set of curtains its sitting on. A lovely chocolate herringbone pattern with a long vertical solid brown stripe detail. They are so well made. These are going to be hung in my office. When I came home and dumped all my thrift store findings on the living room floor to show my husband I said, "And look at these curtains! What's great about these is that when I get tired of them I can turn it into a purse!" Which is not an uncommon statement from my mouth. I am always thinking about a fabric's 'second life'. Not missing a beat Jeff looks up at me and says, "Now what are you going to turn me into when you get tired of me!" Hmmm. Let me think about that one a bit. :p

And I made that homemade bread yesterday. I made the sponge in the morning and it had made lots of yeast babies by evening. I used this recipe and it turned out quite nice. Not much of it is left. Tonight for dinner we had grilled ham and swiss cheese sandwiches (on the homemade bread) and tomato soup. The bread had a tinge of an english muffin flavor to it. But the consistency and texture was fabulous.

And in the spirit of crossing items off my to-do list, Critter Kitty has a vet appointment for next month. All the boys in town are going to be disappointed. A few weekends ago I was cleaning and sorting. Unpacking a few remaining boxes and such. There were a few boxes remaining and she decided to claim this one as her own. I had left the mess for a few hours to run errands and when I came back I had just woken Miss Critter up from a luxurious brown cardboard box nap.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The only time I like to iron

Freshly laundered fabric. Smells great too! My local fabric shop was having a sale and I stocked up on some of my favorite prints. The fabric laying across the top is my most recent vintage flour sack purchase. Before I washed it I thought it had a mustard yellow background. It cleaned up nice. More pin cushions? Maybe.

I spent all weekend sewing up an overdue bag for my sister. She requested a nicer bag to take to campus (since she lives 30 minutes away) to hold all her gym stuff. Well I went through three different designs before I finally settled on one. The bad side of ugly is it turned out HUGE! I have no idea what I was thinking when I made the measurements. I mean... like... 'Ashley Olsen purse' big. She also mentioned she wanted a weekend bag. I think this fits the bill. But do you think I took a picture? Nope. It's all wrapped up in a box ready to mail tomorrow morning. I'll get one when she comes down for a visit.

My to do list for the week/ weekend:
  • Sew reusable grocery bags (eliminate stack of vintage bedsheets in the process)
  • Refold all the fabric I decided to take out, unfold, then throw on the floor.
  • Take dresser out of garage and put in sewing room for additional storage of fabric.
  • Vacuum all carpeted spaces and all furniture. I am borrowing a steam vac this week so EVERYTHING is getting a bath!
  • Bake homemade bread.
  • Call vet to make appointment for Critter. It's time to get her snippity, snipped, snipped.
That's about enough.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Etsy Update!

Photos have been taken, descriptions are written, and they are all currently listed in my Etsy Shop. All of these items were made as a result of a challenge I took in my local Bible Study group. All proceeds from the sale of these items (and there are more items to come!) will be donated back to our local group to be reinvested back into our community. Go check them out!






And many more.....

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Preview

I have been working diligently in the sewing room over my Xmas vacation. My Bible study group offered up one of those money challenges. You may have heard of them. They give you a certain amount of money and challenge you to make it grow. Then those "profits" are reinvested into local causes. I took the challenge. Here is a small preview of things to come.





These wristlets are my new favorite. They are a great size, interfaced for extra stability. I added a credit card slip pocket on the inside. I took it along with me to dinner last night and had a friend give me her honest opinion of it, and it somehow slipped out of view. I think in hopes I would forget about it. I used some stitching from my sewing machine and then freehand embroidered the two little yellow birds.

I am hoping to have everything loaded into my Etsy shop this weekend. I am very excited about this!

Back to the real job tomorrow. :(