Broken Middle Finger… Wha??

I have had a sore knuckle on my middle finger for about a week now.  Um… did you hear that… a sore knuckle on my middle finger.  My middle finger on my right hand.  I am right handed.  I cut fabric with my right hand!  I hand stitch with my right hand!  I use my middle finger with both of those activities!  Typing this post is taking forever!

Anyway, the doc thinks it might have a small fracture, or some sort of tendonitis from overuse (see above), or that I hyper extended it when I fell down the stairs for the 4th… no 5th time is less than 1 year.  Seriously!  Good thing I finished most of my test sewing because I gotta wear this ugly splint on my finger for AT LEAST one WHOLE week.

No sewing for one WHOLE week AT LEAST.  First the cheese and now this.  I might have to be treated for serious depression soon.

Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe.  It will make me slow down.

I did have to PROMISE my son that his fireman hat would be the FIRST project I finished when I got this stupid healing splint off my finger because he nearly went into meltdown mode when I told him I couldn’t sew for awhile… tears and everything.  I told him I felt the same way, buddy!

I have lots of sewing I want to be doing… really!  I will hopefully share some pics of some finished products while I’m out with the finger thing.  Hopefully.  Like I said… this post is taking forever to finish.  On my immediate list…

Promised Fireman hat

Complete test sewing

Blankets for Haiti

Round purse that I have been trying to make a pattern for like 16 years… or 6 months… whatever… it’s going to be awesome

3 Easter dresses

3 Easter purses

1 Easter basket that I bought the fabric for 6 months ago trying to get ahead of the game and it’s getting closer and closer to Easter with no basket in sight

Valentines for the boy’s class

ETC, ETC, ETC

Okay… go post cool stuff on your blogs so at least I have cool stuff to look at.

Ta for now!

Blankets for Haiti

So, I have been trying to figure out how to help those in Haiti… I feel it in the pit of my soul.  My hands want to work.

I found this lady and she is collecting blankets to send with a group who will be traveling to the Dominican Republic and while they are there they are going to cross over into Haiti to work at an orphanage and pass out blankets.  I love this for so many reasons…

a. I can make something for someone who may never get anything else made just for them ever

b. I can help in a tangible way those who are suffering

c. It’s not about me

e. They aren’t going TO Haiti to tax them with needing food and a place to stay when they don’t have that for themselves

f. I can try to get others to help

g. She has created a cute button to put on my blog (well, not just my blog, but on any blog who wants)

So, after I finish some dead lines, I am totally whipping up some blankets.  Anyone have any tuts they know of they can send me??  Want to join me?  Go visit her and tell her I sent ya and you want to help.  If you are local to me I would be happy to collect blankets, fabric for blankets, money for fabric for blankets from you and make sure they get sent to her or get made and then sent to her.  Anything you can do, would be fantastic.  I think they need them by March 10th or so, so I gotta get crackin!

Ta for now.

ROYGBIV and this and that

My SIL got a new sewing machine for her birthday… woot woot!  Now we have all sorts of fun sewing time together.  Her stash of fabric is already starting to look a lot like mine and she just got started.  Something tells me I’ll be raiding her stash soon.  Anywho… so I decided she needed a fun pin cushion because… well, what real seamstress doesn’t, right?  So, I asked the hubby if I should go with muted colors (kind of her style) or go with ROYGBIV and make it bright and fun.

He said, “what’s ROYGBIV?”

I said, “seriously?  Aren’t you an artist and stuff?”

He said, “yeah, but I don’t know what ROYGBIV is.”

I said, “wow!  Okay, ummm…. I don’t know what to do with that.”

I went with ROYGBIV and she loved it.  A fun color wheel to just have around while sewing.  I got the pattern from the Seams to Me book… Love that book!

I realized when making this, that I don’t sew with red all that often… had to go buy some just to get a scrap of it.  What’s up with that?  I thought I loved red, but apparently not.  Umm… by the way, this was not as easy as I had thought it was going to be, but totally worth it.  I just takes some patience.  See, it’s fun making stuff for people because usually they aren’t seamstresses and so they don’t know when you went wrong or didn’t do an outstanding job, but now that she’s a seamstress, the pressure is on.  Sooo, that’s fun.

I also made her some pot holders to go with the napkins and place mats I made for her because I noticed she really needed some… yikes!

Again, not the easiest pattern for me, but again, totally worth it.  I got the pattern here.  Hers look awesome.  Mine look… functional (I’m totally hiding the crooked one behind the one that’s decent to throw you all off and make you think I have mad sewing skills, but don’t be fooled).  The thing is, is that I just stink at binding… I mean, I’ll do whatever I can to get around it.  Hand sewing binding, like on a quilt… totally into it and love it… this kind of binding makes me want to throw my machine out the window.  And she’s been good to me… the machine, that is, so I prolly shouldn’t throw her anywhere much less out the window.

Oh, so we have like 18 feet of snow on the ground here… okay, so it’s only like 8 inches, but it might as well be 18 feet the way we all bundle up and hunker down in these parts when the white stuff falls.  So, I’m totally feeling cabin fever, but at least I’m getting lots of sewing done.  The only thing is, most of it I can’t show you and the rest of it isn’t interesting (i.e. sewing buttons on shirts, fixing pillows, and all that other sewing we put off because it isn’t fun, but it still needs to get done) so, again, that’s fun.

By the way, have I mentioned how much I hate cold weather?  Well, apparently my kids take after me, so there are no fun in the snow pictures… they cried when I tried to get them to go out in it.  Mother of the year right here, folks!

Ta for now!

Sad day… when all the cheese was gone!

Okay, ya’ll, we’re friends, right?

Right.  Okay, so I’m going to share something with you.  Today, I am SO sad… I mean, I get perspective and all… I’ve experienced a lot of sadness and I know this isn’t number one or two or even ten on the list, but it’s up there ya’ll.  My doctor told me today that I have a dairy allergy.  Do you know what that means?  It means no cheese… did you hear that??  It was the sound of my heart breaking and my stomach protesting.  I mean, seriously… this is a MAJOR problem for me.  I looked at the dinner menu for the week and EVERYTHING had cheese in it or some sort of dairy.  Milk… fine… gone, no problem.  Ice cream?  No problem… gone.  Yogurt?  Don’t like the stuff anyway.  But CHEESE??  SOUR CREAM??  Staples for me.  I don’t know if I even know how to cook without it.  I need help ya’ll.  Any receipts would be fantastic… prayers too.  Prayers I can do it and not turn into a walking attitude.  Oh, and did I mention I’m a picky eater??  No onions, whole tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, cooked fruit, or squash.  Nice, right?  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Maybe the inflammation in my body will get better now and my shoulders won’t hurt as much so I can sew more and hold my babies more and work out more… I guess it might be worth it.

So, I have lots of sewing to share, but I must mourn my cheese… and sour cream today.  It’s a sad day.  But I will leave you with one picture…  This is the fabric I am going to be using for my next pattern testing… topic secret sewing action going on here, folks!

Ta for now!

Tu-Tu Tutorial

I know you all have probably seen these all around blog land.  Not a hard to find tutorial, but just in case you come here looking for inspiration and this just happens to be just the thing and you didn’t even know it until you saw this (you can thank me later), I thought I’d put together a little tut-tut tute… hee hee.

This is so super easy!  So easy, in fact, that I didn’t even take pictures during the process **gasp**

BUT, you can do it.  Seriously… too easy not too.

Okay, on with it you say.

Supplies: 2ish rolls of tulle (you can totally use the stuff off the bolt it will just be a tad more tedious to cut since the rolls are just the width you need, kay?  I think 3ish yards would work?)

1″ elastic or larger… smaller might not work as well

Scissors

Sewing machine for just a minute, but you could prolly hand sew too!

Okay, cut your elastic to fit the sweet waist you are making this for.  I cut mine 1/2 inch smaller than the waist and then overlap them by one inch.  Make sure it fits the waist comfortably and then sew that baby down.  I like to sew a box with an X inside it for extra durability.

Next: cut your tulle.  If you are using the rolls just cut the length to be double the length you want your tutu to be.  For example, on mine, I wanted it to be 12 inches long, so I cut 24 inch strips.  If you are using tulle off the bolt you want your width to be about 6 inches.

Next take your elastic band and slip it on to your thigh (or the arm of a chair or something else like that)

Fold your tulle in half and tie a double not onto the elastic band… you want your knots to be on the bottom of the elastic… like so…

See that?  Knots below elastic.  Then just keep on knotting those suckers on.  You might want to sit down in front of your favorite movie with some yummy hot coco or the like.

Make it nice and full and voila… Tutu!

If none of this makes sense without some more pics… just let me know and I’d be happy to get some together for ya.

If your daughter or dear one is so totally freaked out by this tutu once you have made it and you really wish you could have a picture of her in it, but alas you can’t because she won’t come anywhere near it without letting out a complete ear piercing scream and cries uncontrollably any time you try again… join the crowd.  Nice, huh?

Maybe I will donate it to Craft Hope

They are only excepting donations through Wednesday and then they will stop to regroup, but you can definitely still shop there.  I think (and hope) they will reopen donations eventually.  Me thinks this became bigger than they thought… which is a good thing.  I’m going to go humbly be thankful for all I have now.

Ta for now.

Blog Re-Do Giveaway…

I couldn’t resist telling you all about this giveaway!

I would LOVE to win a blog re-do!  Who wouldn’t, right?  Anyway, enter to win here.  Tell ‘em I sent you!

You must check out their portfolio… very nice work.

My New Girlfriend

I love the whole vintage with new… don’t you?

I love the look and nostalgia that an old sewing machine brings.  Where did it live?  Who sewed on it at one time?  What did they sew?  How loved was this machine?  What times did this machine help someone get through?  The Great Depression?  World Wars?  Just some plain old hard times?

My in-laws know this about me.  I am grateful for that.

Love!

I am looking forward to our next house where this will fit in my studio with my new machine.  For now, it gets to be a loved piece of furniture in my entry way.

Hex Open Frame Bag and Some Eye Candy

So, I am my mom’s bag maker.  We all gotta be something, right.

She requested a new bag that opens easily and closes tightly because my little one always seems to find it and pull everything out of it… do your kids do that too?  She also wanted a cell phone pocket, a pocket for her glasses and a zipper pocket.  She wanted it not too deep and yet wide so she can fit it all in.  So, you know… at least she doesn’t ask for much… yesh!

This bag seemed to fit the bill.  I played and fittled with the pattern for some time and then ended up making it almost exactly as she tells you too.  Just some different pockets… that’s it.  Oh, and I used duck cloth for my stabilizer instead of whatever she called for.  I love that stuff for bags.  Oh, and I didn’t put feet on the bottom… see, exactly the same… like I said.  She really does an excellent job on all her tutorials.  The only tricky part with this bag was the zipper pocket.  The tut on that was spot on, but she didn’t tell you how much room to leave above the zipper when cutting the hole and I didn’t leave enough, so it was some TIGHT sewing.  I’ll do better next time.  This was my first zipper pocket.  Zippers scare me no longer… haHA!

One happy mama!

Oh, so, remember me mentioning the wonderful blog reader that sent me a wonderful gift?

Eye candy, right?  Thanks, Andi… I LOVE them!!

Ta for now!

More Handmade Holiday

I am looking at all the stuff I made for the holidays and I’m a little impressed I got it all done.  I’m just sayin.

I haven’t taken pictures of all of it yet.

That will come.

Along with all the yummy stuff I received… including an amazing vintage sewing machine!

So much to share… if I could only take the darn pictures and then post them.

Here are a couple of necklaces I made… I didn’t photo them all.  There were about 6 in all.  This was fun and totally outside of the box for me.

I made a little reversible dress for my little one.  I used this tutorial.  Totally easy and awesome.  I can’t wait to make more of these.  I can’t seem to get her to stand still for a photo, so this one is blurry… sorry bout that.  Gotta train her better!

The other side is this fabric.  The one with the tadpoles in the jar.  So soft… I couldn’t resist.  I wasn’t going to turn it around and try my luck for another shot… I know my limits.

I made her a tutu too (ha… that sounds funny), but I think I’ll take a picture without her in it or it might not happen… she is totally freaking out a tad bit scared of it right now.  I know, how sad!  Tell me she will grow out of it… scared of the gironkey and the tutu.  What am I supposed to do??

Oh, and here is a picture of the lovely bag my friend, Diana, made.  Love the fabric choices!  She did an amazing job.

I know, I know… you’ve seen this pattern a lot here, but that’s because it’s so fun!  Try it!  Pattern here.

Okay, me thinks that’s enough for today… love and hugs!

Ruffled Skirts

HELLLLOO!!  I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.  Mine was fab, but it isn’t over yet.  When it is all said and done we will have had 6 Christmases… yesh!  Gotta change that next year!

Anywho!  I am here to show you some fun skirts I done did up for my two lovely nieces.  I followed this pattern and changed the measurements up a bit for the smaller one.  They were well loved by the recipients which is always nice and makes me want to press on especially since the purple one almost ended up out the window a time or two.

I felt like this was a fairly easy pattern to follow especially if you have already done a skirt or two.  Probably not fun for a beginner, but not impossible for a motivated beginner.  The only think I didn’t like is that she didn’t cover “finishing the seams” at all.  I don’t like to leave seams unfinished in clothing for fear of them coming loose during the multiple washing they will go through.  So, I did an overlock stitch on all the seams as I went along.  The purple one almost went out the window, but it was totally my fault.  Measure twice and cut once… gotta remember that next time… especially headache ensuing when you don’t figure it out until the whole top tier is done.  My seam ripper and I spent a LOT of time together.  I would have loved a little guidance on sizing, but it was free and so I’m not complaining AT ALL.  It is well photographed and nicely put together.  I think the full pattern with sizing is available in some magazine somewhere… just not sure exactly where.  Please let us all know if you know… let’s share some love.

Well, I’ll share more later… gotta go feed the natives.  Oooh, and I can’t wait to show you what an oh so lovely and generous reader of mine sent me in the mail… it might include the awesome jars I showed you before… ahhh!

Ta for now!