Home Project

I'm excited to report that the floor project has begun. Out with the impractical white carpeting and in with the wood. I've been told it's going to be a three week project. I'm trying to take it day by day, because the prospect of three weeks of pounding, sawing and air compressors compressing stresses me out. The worst part of it is feeling confined to parts of the house that aren't being worked on at the moment. I guess I could just take the kids out somewhere, but it's 29 degrees outside, so I think we'll rough it in the house. I'm not complaining. I'm very happy that this is happening and that I'm not the one doing the work. NOT complaining!!!


Our hangout spot. The kids like jumping from chair to chair.

Round Cushion Tutorial

Here's a tutorial for a round cushion that is trimmed with piping. Even if you may not be planning to make the cushion, I'd recommend taking a look at the tut for tips on working with piping. The fabric is all Bot Camp by Michael Miller.

Pillowcase Tutorial

Here's a pillowcase tutorial to go with the bed skirt. This tutorial is a little different than other pillowcase tuts out there because it includes instructions on how to make an inner flap to hold the pillow in place. I love the instant gratification of a quick sewing project like this! I hope you make one of these and that you come back and tell me about it. :)

When I was making this set, I was imagining that I was an interior designer of children's rooms working for a rich celebrity client. Is that silly? The funny thing about having a craft blog is that I always feel like there ought to be a story to go along with everything I post. But the fact is, this is just a pillowcase. Sorry folks...there is no monumental story save for my imaginary celebrity clientele. Carry on....

Bed Skirt Tutorial

I made a bed skirt last summer using bot camp fabric from Michael Miller. I must say, it's fun looking at pictures I took way-back-when when the sun was actually shining. Sigh, I miss those days.



When I look at this picture I also get excited at the thought that those white carpets that came with the house will soon be gone. Wood floors, baby, here we come!!! Woo hoo!!!! Nothing like embarking on a huge home reno project right before the holidays. Can't be helped.

The PDF tutorial for the bed skirt is here.

More Christmas Sewing

I'm happy to report that the store-bought Thanksgiving meal was a huge success. I'm totally going to do it again next year. Our Thanksgivings involve family members coming to visit for a few days and involve lots of meal planning, grocery trips, and time in the kitchen, so I appreciated the one big meal being catered. La la la...spoiled, spoiled. Everything tasted yummy. The turkey was moist, the gravy was lump free, the stuffing was tremendous (as was my stuffed belly).

The only bummer was that little baby came down with the flu and our relatives decided to head home a day and a half early...which left me some time to sneak off and do some more Christmas sewing.


I bought a pound of thread for the machine. It makes more sense for me to do it this way. The bobbins in my machine are so huge that when I wind them, there's hardly any thread left on the conventional-sized spools.

I'm getting the hang of the new zipper foot.


I'm making good progress on the Christmas sewing.

Plans for today:
Locate a nearby tree farm and see if we can scare up a decent tree.
Drink lots of coffee with eggnog.
Find the motrin and see what that does for my bum leg.

On the Wall/On my Mind

We bought a piece of artwork for our hallway as a tribute to this onslaught of rain we've been having lately. Unbelievable. Probably time to up my vitamin D supplements...the wintertime blues are creeping in already.

We have relatives coming for Thanksgiving in a couple of days. For someone like me, who actually likes to cook, I did the unthinkable: I ordered the deluxe turkey dinner package (serves 8 - 10) from the grocery store. It comes with all the side dishes except for salad and sweet potato casserole, so I can focus on keeping the house clean, beds made, and preparing those two dishes. That I can handle and still keep a smile on my face (and in my heart).



Happy Thanksgiving, my friends! :)

Small Batches

I'm sewing in small batches. Groups of three seem to be my sweet spot. Any more than that and I get overwhelmed by all the stuff surrounding me. I'm wondering if I need to find a way to raise my cutting table a bit higher. My back is sore from all the leaning over.

Not much to say today. I'm just chugging away.

ah, hemp

My order of hemp fabric came in. Lovely nubbiness. Nubby loveliness. This is going to line my bags.

Strapping

Another Christmas present.

It's been decided. I'm going to work out all my kinks on Christmas gifts.
Come January I'm going to set up shop.
I think this was meant to be.
I get so giddy that I sometimes lose sleep over it.

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

Mysterious

Alrighty then. The stockings are done. I think I'm going to stuff them, sew them shut and string them on something shiny. That will be a project for another day. Because, frankly, I'm a little bored of them and am champing at the bit to work on some leather.

I'm in the process of making Christmas presents for friends and family. I so love working in a new medium and with my new machine. I've made some things I'm pretty happy with, but I'm in a quandry. It's hard to have a craft blog but have stuff that I can't blog about. I think the only way around that for me is to just take macro shots of things I've made without revealing too much about what they are or who they're for.

First up, this thinggy for a certain someone:

Secondly, this other thinggy for someone else:
Wow, things are so mysterious around here. (rolling my eyes)