I had to stop at Jo-Ann's yesterday to pick up some batting and found that all of the Christmas items were on sale.... 70% off, in fact.  Although I didn't pick up any true Christmas items, the goodies below were included in the Christmas sale.  Don't know why they were included, but I got the cute ceramic sign for about $2 and the tin of sherbet colored buttons for $2 too.  Finding these treats made it worth the trouble of heading out into the crazy crowds!

 

 

 

The Stitch sign is now happily hanging in my sewing room!

I stopped in one of our thrift shops the other day and found this little steal for only $3.00.  I love old sewing machine attachments and goodies.  This box was taped shut.... (unfortunately, with a scotch-type tape) ..... and I ended up removing a little bit of the box hide to get the tape off and open the box. 

 

 

This is what I found inside the box.  Lots of attachments and they are all in good shape.  The box did not include the foot that the attachments attach to..... make sense?  I may already have that foot in some of my other sewing machine implements.... I'll have to take a look. 

 

 

Also in the box..... I saved the best for last....... were these screwdrivers and awl.  These will be loved and used often.  What a great buy for $3.00!

 

 

I hope you find some unexpected treasures today!

In between posts of actual sewing projects, I thought I would show you one of the collections that I have.  "They" say that any more than two is a collection which means that I have more collections than you can count!

 

This is my collection of darning eggs.  Even though many are not egg shaped, that seems to be the standard description for these darning tools.  Many of the things that I collect are small and inexpensive, as I'm short on both space and money. (Aren't we all?!)  Most darning eggs can be found for $5 to $15.  Naturally, there are exceptions and some darning eggs may cost much more.   

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a good variety of eggs.  The ones that look like maracas are the most common and usually the cheapest.  Most households would have both a dark and a light colored egg to contrast the fabric that they were working on.  It just makes it easier to see the threads or yarns that you are repairing if you are using a contrasting egg color.  The green glass one and the maple one next to it are foot shaped.  The maple foot egg has the most beautiful wood pattern on it..... it might even be birds eye maple.  The green glass one was hand blown.  The hand painted, mushroom shaped egg has a spring around it that is used to hold the sock or fabric taut, just like an embroidery hoop. 

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing these eggs.  You can readily find them  and they are easy on the budget.  Happy collecting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Day after Christmas! 

I just wanted to show you the sewing/quilting goodies that I received for Christmas.  Mostly fabric, a few notions, and an Hawaiian applique pattern.  Kathy suggested that the trivet at the top could be used as an iron rest.  The oak quilt pattern is really pretty.

As I write this, we are getting our first significant snow of the season.  Within the past hour, we have gone from no snow on the ground to a winter wonderland!  I'm hoping that we won't get too much so that my back can hold up under the shoveling.  It's a perfect day to stay inside and let the sewing machine hum.  Hope your after Christmas day is also cozy, comfortable, and peaceful!    

I just wanted to show you some of the labels that I use on the inside of my sewing projects.  There have been some wonderful tutorials on making labels and I think this is certainly one of the easiest.  I use a standard label template found in any writing program.  Avery labels even has a software  program out there and tons of free templates on their web site.  In any case, just choose the size you want.  There are much smaller ones and much larger ones, depending on your usage.  Check out your writing program to see what sizes are available in your particular program.  This template has 30 labels to a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11".

 

I like to use one of these templates because it's really easy to design your labels, change fonts, add pictures, etc. It's easier than using a blank page (no template) and cutting and pasting your design several times.  If you've tried this method, you know what I mean.  Setting the borders can be a real challenge.  These templates take care of all that for you.

 

 

 

 

Not a great picture, but here's a sheet of labels.  If you click on it, you can see it a bit better.  I print mine on fusible fabric sheets.  I like to use the fusible sheets because they are nice and firm and I can iron them exactly where I want them before I finish the edges with a satin stitch, zigzag stitch, buttonhole, or whatever.  No slipping around while working on them.  I don't turn the edges under, I just leave them raw and then stitch them down.  By using the fusible fabric sheets, I have very little fraying of the labels.  If you wanted to turn your edges down, you'd have to use a template that gives you enough space (extra fabric) to turn under or make your writing and pictures smaller. 

 

Play around and print your labels on a regular sheet of paper until you get the desired label, then use the fusible fabric or any fabric sheet for your finished product. 

Have fun!

Like I need another quilting project...... 

Well, here's another one that I joined anyway!  The Giant Granny Panties Quilt Along!  (Click on the photo for details.)

It will be an easy sew along, very suitable for any level of quilting experience.  Use your stash or buy a very reasonably priced kit.  Come on.....join me!

Here's something a little different for me.  My sister, Patti, asked me to make a stuffed elephant for her to give to a friend after the birth of her baby in early June.  The baby's room has an elephant theme, using gray and yellow.

 Here's the elephant.  He's made entirely out of fleece.  The yellow on his chest/tummy is a heart.  I had to sew it on the fabric before it was sewn together so it's a bit low. 

And here's his tail.  It's not like a normal, thin elephant tail, but I needed to write "You are my sunshine" on it and that meant it had to be a bit wide.  It still looks OK in person. 

I pray that the delivery goes well, the baby is healthy and strong.....and that the elephant will bring joy to both Mom and Baby!

It's been ages since I've done any craft posting.  Sorry about that.  Life has just been getting in the way and my time for creating has been slim to none. 

So today, I have a little show and tell.  I was lucky enough to win a give-a-way in October during a blog hop that featured the"Ghastlie" fabric line by Alexander Henry. 

Here's a picture of my prize when it arrived.....all dressed up and ready to be opened!

Here is my wonderful gift.  An apron made from Ghastlie fabric, sent to me from Katherine.  I had entered on her blog and was the lucky winner.  This picture does not do it justice.  It's just beautifully made....her construction is perfect......and she really made the Ghastlie fabric stand out.  I told her it was too pretty to use for messy cooking, but would be perfect to wear while handing out candy to the little gremlins in the neighborhood.  Thank you soooooooo much, Katherine!

  

Now, here's the bad part.  I'm in love with this fabric collection.  All of the projects that were highlighted in the Ghastlie blog hop were so creative.  I just had to have some of this fabric too!  I don't have specific plans, so for now, I'm just fondling the fabric and thinking of all of the great things that I could make using this quirky fabric. 

Thank you again, Katherine!

Click on this link to see an amazing line up of Ghastlie creations!

I took a little time out this week to complete (I'm using the word complete loosely) the Project Runway challenge.  The contestants worked in teams of 5 (we were on our own) and were to design three fabrics and five outfits, one outfit from each designer on the team.  We only had to make one outfit, but were encouraged to sketch the other outfits.  I was lucky to accomplish the little that I did.

Here's my fabric.  Apparently, the contestants were only able to use grey scale, as their printer must not have had color capabilities.  I stuck with the grey scale although many of the mini designers used color in their fabrics.  It was also to depict a city theme in some way.  I chose a clip art of a city scape, reduced it several times, then cut and pasted it multiple times until I filled up the letter sized fabric sheet.  It was then just printed through my ink jet. 

Here's the completed outfit.  Simple, simple, simple, but I think that it still addresses the challenge fairly well.  You could easily make a coordinating line with slacks, a jacket, longer skirt, different tops, etc., using the same city fabric and turquoise accent color. 

It's all about the accessories!  As usual, I left the Project Runway challenge until the last minute and only had a couple of hours last night to work on it.  You'll have to use your imagination a bit on this one.

The challenge was "It's all About Nina."  Nina Garcia, fashion director of marie claire magazine, that is.  We were to design an outfit that Nina would be able to wear during the day at work, and transform into an outfit that she could wear to an evening trade event, with only a change of accessories.  We were given some guidelines....styles she disliked...styles she liked....colors, etc.  Basically, she likes classic styles with a little pop factor, no loud fabrics or prints, but not too boring.

I didn't have time to accessorize this outfit, but I think it answers the challenge fairly well and I can actually visualize Nina wearing this outfit.  The fabric is a day into night fabric and is a nice color for Nina's skin tones.  Simply changing jewelry, shoes, and maybe even the hair style, could make this work friendly, then evening friendly. 

My "pop" factor is using the selvedge edge on the top and the pants.  I liked the way the selvedge looked and wanted to add it to the outfit.  I made a band to go around the waist-hip area of the top and simply left the bottom edge of the pants unhemmed, using the selvedge edge for the finish.

This outfit had my first sleeves and my first pants.  The pants were fairly easy, but I did have some fitting problems with the sleeves.  They pull a little bit instead of hanging loose and free.

So use your imagination.....think of Nina wearing some beautiful earrings, a necklace, bangle bracelets, wedge shoes.......then upgrade all of those to fancier evening accessories, probably all in gold, and dressy shoes.  I think it could work!
(Edited to say that this fabric is hunter green, not black.  I'm getting some comments about the black fabric and thought I should clear that up.)

Project Runway reveal time.......  This weeks' challenge was to make an outfit for a model wearing stilts.  A really goofy challenge, in my opinion, as it seems like the challenge was simply to make a longer outfit than normal.  The runway on the TV show was outdoors, so I've taken Cara's finished shot outdoors too, while hoping that no neighbors came out to see me playing with dolls!  

These are the fabrics that I chose.  I was happy to be back to a normal fabric, instead of pet supplies, but still found lots of difficulties making this outfit.  More later.

Here is Cara in her "stilts."  I used plastic straws for her stilts and simply taped them to her legs.  She wasn't in these very long, so I don't think it was too rough on her.  I only started this challenge last night, so there wasn't much time to make the outfit or much time for her to have these things strapped to her legs.

Here's my finished project.  I wanted to make a palazo pant with an over skirt, but too many things, including time restraints, kept me from making what I had designed in my mind.  I had to simplify just about everything to get the outfit finished in time.  I had also planned on sleeves...but again....didn't have the time to make those.  An easier halter was made instead.  I used chains to trim the waist and to tie her halter top in the back.

Here's a great shot of the back of her melted skirt!  Yeah, really.  Those stripes are Cara's stilts showing through the melted hole.  I used my mini quilting iron which is just the perfect size for these tiny seams.  I had tested the temperature and had no problem until I let the iron sit for awhile, then touched the fabric.  Instant melting!  Apparently, it got considerably hotter while not being used.  It was too late to start over, so I had to leave it.  I also had problems sewing the fabric.  Nothing has gone smoothly yet, but the finished project.....from a distance......is somewhat acceptable.  And, as usual, more lessons have been learned the hard way!

It's time for this week's Project Runway reveal.  Click on the pictures for better details.  First, a few notes on the process. 

To start, here's a picture of the back of the bag.  I forgot to post both sides last week and since I used part of the back, I wanted you to see where all of the parts came from.

Next up is a photo of the Velcro that I found at Jo-Ann's that works just great.  I do believe that it's the exact type of Velcro that Mattel uses, as it looks and behaves just like the Velcro that I removed from the Barbie swimsuit last week. It says on the package that it's not recommended for fabric, just crafts, but if you sew it down (it's sticky backed), it seems to work wonderfully.  The nap on both parts of the Velcro is very short and close to the correct scale for tiny model's clothes.

Here's Cara in her pet shop supply outfit.  Everything was made out of the cat food bag, with no additional supplies used.  Working with plastic was a real pain and another learning experience!  I was going to start over, once I learned some tricks, but decided to leave it as is.  You can only sew the plastic one time as it pokes holes in the plastic which will tear if you work with it too much.  When I sewed the skirt and turned it right side out, it made horrible krinks and wrinkles.  I tried to use a hair dryer to heat the wrinkles out, but it was a really fine line between smoothing out the wrinkles and melting the skirt.  Again....I left it as is. 

Full view.

And lastly, here's a back shot of her boots.  I told you that her feet were wider and flatter than regular Barbie feet so it's hard to find shoes to fit.  These work as long as she stands up against a wall!

On to next week's challenge!

Here's my big Project Project Runway reveal.  Let me tell you, this isn't what I had in mind!  (You can click on her photo for a closer look at her outfit.)

I used every bit of Cara's swimsuit.  The top was cut apart and the bra cups were inverted to make pockets on her top.  I split open the bottoms and removed the crotch area, then added the gathered skirt. 

I had problems just because everything is so small.  You cannot sew these tiny clothes the same way you would sew normal sized garments.  After I had removed the crotch area from the swimsuit bottom, I tried to sew my gathered skirt to the bottom.  My sewing foot was too big to even get to the area.  I can't even explain everything that went wrong, but the skirt seams started out on the sides with pockets, but when I couldn't sew it to the swimsuit bottom, I had to split all of the seams on the bottom, move the skirt around, remove the pockets......blah, blah.  You had to be there to understand this.  What I did learn is that everything has to be done in long seams.....for instance, there is no way you could sew a set in sleeve the normal way...you'd have to sew it to the shoulder, then sew a long seam up the sleeve and down the torso.  Still can't explain this, but you clothing sewists will understand this. 

I won't know what the next challenge is until tomorrow, but I know that my brain will have to adjust to tiny construction techniques and not normal sewing methods.  None the less, it was fun to play around with this challenge.  Here's a link to check out the other contestants' entries.  Many are really cute and clever!

Cara, my sweet model has no shoes yet!  Her feet are not made as small and curved as the regular Barbie doll feet, they are wider and more flat.  I'm on the lookout for wider shoes.  Next picture session, I'll just cut off the photo and not show her feet!

 

Meet my new Project Runway model, Cara.  More about her later.

I recently found out about a challenge that mimics the Project Runway TV show except that the models are a bit smaller than the television show models.  The challenges are similar each week, using our miniature models.  I'm not sure if I'll have the time for this or not, but I signed up anyway and promptly hired my model.

As you can see, Cara was a swimsuit model and being the end of the season, she was looking for work.  Her contract price was affordable, even for me, so we have agreed to take on this challenge together, whenever time allows.

The challenge this week was to make a garment out of what the contestants were wearing....for this challenge, it was their bed clothes, and a single top sheet from their beds.  For our copy challenge, we are to make something from whatever our model was wearing, or we could use a piece of fabric resembling PJ fabric.  In addition to this outfit or PJ fabric, we may use a 10 x 10 piece of white cotton/cotton blend to duplicate a mini bed sheet.  The completed projects are posted next Friday when we also receive our next challenge requirements.

I had never seen Project Runway because I don't have cable TV.  However, I'm able to watch it online and watched the first episode last Friday and I'll be able to keep up do date by watching the program the day after it airs.  Should not create a problem. 

If you'd like to play along, check out the Project Runway Challenge and sign up.  You can find out more of the specific details for the challenges.  It will be fun to see what the other "contestants" create each week!

I finished the keyboard cover that I talked about a while back.  It's not the fabric that I showed you in that original post.  I found these cute musical cats a few weeks later and knew that I had to move on to Plan B. 

 

Nothing too fancy here, but the cover does have an opening for the music stand to come through.  I figured there would be many times where I'd want to cover the keyboard but wouldn't want to remove the music holder.
 

Cool Cats!

I haven't had a lot of time for sewing lately, due to summer yard work.  Not that my yard is anything special, it just takes me a few days a week for general maintenance.  So anyway, sewing is only done in spurts, when time and energy allows.

I finished this purse a few weeks ago and mailed it off to Patti for a retirement gift.  This is the pattern that I used.  Lazy Girl patterns are very user friendly, and I highly recommend them.  They are fairly simple, if you take your time and read each step before proceeding.

Here's the front of the finished purse.  Patti had talked about getting an RV and doing a little traveling after retirement, so when I spotted this fabric, I thought it would be perfect.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  The front is divided into two large pocket sections.

This is the backside, which really shows off the cute RV's!

Inside shot, showing the pockets.  The same pocket arrangement is on the other side too.

And finally, a close up of the recessed zipper.  I had no idea how to do this, but again, if you follow the pattern and take your time, it's pretty simple to get a good finished result. 



Patti has received this now, so I can finally show some pictures.  I have some fabric cut out to make one for myself using different summer fabrics.  As usual....it will be added to my "to do" list for the time being.

Just a miscellaneous day today, with lots of odds and ends.

I was doing a little under-the-bed cleaning and found a box of fabrics that I had totally forgotten about. My guess is that they are from the 80's and perhaps the 90's. This first shot is of some Christmas laminated fabric yardages. I thought this was a fairly new concept in the past few years, and here it is, in my old stash, laminated fabric! The fabric seems to still be in pristine condition and I'm kind of excited to find a project for this laminated fabric and see how it sews. It sure pays to clean out those under the bed boxes!




Next up, found in the same under the bed box, are these embroidered, homespun fat quarters. Again, totally forgotten about! They are also looking like new and will make cute additions to projects.






Here's a close up of one of the cows;

And here's a close up of one of the ants. I love the ants!

Well, yesterday was a vintage day. After finding the long lost and forgotten fabric, I got out my vintage 1974 yogurt maker. I wasn't sure if it would still work, but after 10 hours, I had some great homemade yogurt. I had kind of forgotten about this little appliance when a FB friend passed on a recipe to make yogurt in a crock pot. This sparked my interest to dig out the old yogurt maker and give it a go.

I even found the little instruction folder to give me the specific instructions.

I also made three sets of kitchen curtains yesterday. (I had a very productive day, thanks to God!) I looked for "ready made" curtains, but they were just so expensive. Most were sold by the individual panel and I needed six panels. Regular kitchen curtains, which were cheaper, were simply too short for my windows. I didn't want the valance and shorter curtains, just a regular pair to hang in each window. I had been fabric shopping and also found that yardage was quite expensive, knowing that it would take about 7 yards to make them. I finally found some discount fabric at Walmart for $1.50 per yard! It was a nice, textured white blend, that was perfect for curtain use. The bolt only had 6 yards, so I had to sew the curtains differently than planned. Instead of an enclosed rod casing at the tops, I just hemmed all four sides and used cafe rod hooks to hold the curtains. I'm actually glad that I made them this way, as it makes opening and closing them very smooth and easy.

Next up is the fabric that I bought to make a quilt to donate to the Mennonite Hunger Relief auction in September. I found this fabric on sale, designed a pattern, and now I'm ready to begin. I'm only making a wall hanging, probably around 42" x 42", and it will have to be hand quilted. That's the part that I'm not crazy about, but I know that I can do it! Each of these yards of fabric comes from a different fabric line, but I thought they went together beautifully. I'm excited to see if it all turns out as I see it in my mind.

And lastly, here is a link for another charitable cause. It's "Just One Star", a project sponsored by Moda. All you have to do is make a star block which will be put into a quilt, then given to a wounded veteran. The goal is to receive 1800 star blocks and make 100 quilts. Deadline is May 1st to make your blocks. Go here for a pdf download with all of the details, the instructions for the block(s), and the address to send your block(s). I hope you will join me in making at least one block for a deserving vet!

Here's the first batch of blocks using the Jo-Ann fabrics. I've always loved the Log Cabin block and thought they would work out pretty well for the overall pattern that is growing in my mind. Initially, I was going to use paper foundations, then decided that it would be much quicker to just chain sew them with strips. Since these strips were going to be cut at 1", I figured it would be just as precise to cut and sew these the quickest way. After sewing, these logs are 1/2" wide. The center block is a true purple, not the blue purple that my monitor shows.



This block shows the scale of the blocks. They are 4" finished.



And the backside. If you press as you go, your seams will be nice and neat. I pressed toward each piece that I attached, to get them to all face away from the center.

And here's the finished stack of blocks. There are 27 of them and making them took the entire afternoon....about 6 hours. Had I gone with the paper foundations, I would still be working on them. Now I have tons more to make of different color combinations. They are a bit tedious to make, but I still like a good ol' Log Cabin block and the setting possibilities are endless!

I wanted to show you what I did with my sad looking couch over the week end. This couch is probably about 13 or 14 years old and it's the only cushioned seating in my house. Therefore, it gets used and used and used........ It was (is) a good quality couch and just needed some TLC.

It had lost some of it's oomph and the cushions were showing signs of being squashed and were unable to rebound. I read somewhere that you could add quilt batting to stuff in the low spots but I thought that would take a whole lot of trouble, a whole lot of batting, and that it would possibly be pretty lumpy.

I went to Joanne's and sorted through all of the foam and batting products and came upon 2" NU-Foam. It's compressed polyester and as I squished the different foams and battings, it seemed the most firm and substantial. OH, and it was much less costly than some of the other foams. My original plan was to add an entire layer of the NU-Foam to the whole top of the cushions and then decided to just add a strip of Nu-Foam to the front of the cushions where most of the wear was showing. I cut a 5" high strip by the length of the cushion fronts.

It was a little bit of a struggle to get the foam strips shoved down to the front of the cushions and then smooth it out evenly. I'll bet the whole process was about 15 minutes for both cushions.





Here's the after shot. It's pretty dramatic for a little expense and a little elbow grease. I don't know how long it will last, but it will be easy enough to do the whole procedure over when it droops again.

Meanwhile, my couch has a new lease on life and I can hold off on buying a new one. I like that!