Last night I finished this second wristlet. This is the one I revised the pattern for. It has a pocket inside. I made it several inches larger. This one looks better than the first, but I don't think I will make these for my up coming craft shows. They are very labor intensive. I could never make enough in time and they would have to cost too much for any one to be interested in them.

I had to do a little re-altering of the alteration to the black dress when the lady came to try it on. That done I cut out bags for the craft shows. I have some one coming this afternoon to pick up sewing. I also have a towel to embroidery, a bag to repair for the church, and more bags to cut out for the craft shows.

Sew Long for Now!

Since my last post I have cleaned my sewing room, put elastic in a skirt for Captain Kitty, altered the black dress, made an apron, and am half way through my revised wristlet.

This is the apron I made. It has three pockets in the front. It was all very easy to make except the ties. The seaming on the ties is very intensive and I may have to find another way to do them. You fold under and press 3/8 inch seam on the two long sides and one of the short sides of two ties. Then you fold under the raw edge of that and make the hem 1/4 inch. This takes a lot of time and burnt fingers. I think that I will either cut out four of those pieces and make a tube or I will do a rolled edge on it.




In honor of today being the first day of Autumn the children and I painted wooden pumpkins, leaves, and acorns.



















This is my favorite time of year!

Sew Long for Now!

A while back I purchased some new bed pillows. I didn't realize when I did that they were bigger than normal size. Captain Chaos has been having a difficult time keeping his pillow cases on. Yesterday I finally got around to making him some bigger pillow cases.


I have had this cool lizard material in my stash for over a year. These pillow cases were real easy to make. I think I had around two yards of this material. I just folded it over and cut it in half. Then I took half the material and seamed up the open side and one end of it. Last I folded over a hem on the remaining open end. Tada! I did this to both pieces and in less than 15 minutes I had two pillow cases.

I also cut out a khaki skirt for myself Monday afternoon. Last night I finished it. The last thing I did in the sewing room last night was to rip the seams out of the black dress I am altering for a woman. I hope today I will get to finish the alteration on the black dress, but the children having singing school and I have a Bernina Club meeting. I will try.

Sew Long for Now!

Scissor Fobs

Step 1: You need some type of string, wire, thread etc. to use. I chose the nylon beading thread. You need to measure the length of the scissors with the thread and then pull out double that amount and cut it off. The thread needs to be twice as long as the length of the scissors.

Step 2: I liked the idea of a cap on the fob to put over the end of my scissors. You don't have to do this. This is a knitting needle cap, used to put on the end of a knitting needle. They come in different sizes and you can usually find them with the knitting needles in the stores. I threaded my nylon through a needle and then punched the needle through the rubber of the cap. You pull the single strand through the cap having half the nylon on each side of the hole you punched.

Step 3: You then get to have fun. Pick out beads! I like to lay mine out in order so I can see how I want to put them on.

Step 4: Because I used nylon thread I did not need to use a beading needle. I just start putting the beads on. It is important to put both end of the thread through the beads.

Step 5: When you get almost all the beads on the nylon you need to put a clip. Because I made this one for a small pair of scissors I used a lobster claw. You need to put any type of clip you want that will attach to the handle of your scissors.











Step 6: After you put the rest of the beads on you need to some how secure the thread. Because I used nylon with mine, I used a crimp bead. The first time I put the crimp bead on the beads I had chose on the end all had holes too big and it did not secure them. I had to go back and change the last beads on my fob and put a smaller bead on the end so the crimp bead would hold it all in place.




This shows the crimp bead on the end.












Step 8: Clip scissor fob on to the scissors! It is really easy and fun.


Sew Long for Now!

I am Teal Green

You know I had to do this one, because Green is my favorite color! You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you.Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible.While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks.Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Last night I pulled out some material and began to think about what I need to make for the craft shows. I always make a seven inch wide "trip" bag that sells really well. I will probably make some of those, but I am sort of burn out making them. I have had Simplicity 5184 pattern for a couple of years meaning to try it. It's an accesory pattern for wristlets. Last night I cut the pattern out and began sewing view G. Tonight I finished it. I am not sure if I am happy with it. It was easy to put together. I think I would like to make it a couple of inches bigger. I think I would also like to make a pocket inside. Some type of place you could put your ID. I think I will tweek the pattern and try again.

I also got a little crazy with the beading and made a necklace, earrings, and bracelet that I wore to church today. I have had these beading supplies for some time and I have to be careful because I could really spend a lot of time doing beading. I must sew, I must sew!

Sew Long for Now!

The jeans are finished. They turned out really nice. I hope they are what she wanted.

I have three doll dresses I have to get made for charity. I have a box of hats I need to embroidery for my nephew. I have a dress to alter and a baby outfit to embroidery. I think that is all the outside sewing I have for now. I bought myself some khaki material last month for a new skirt. I also have 2 craft shows coming up this fall and I need to get cracking sewing items for those.










At our sewing guild meeting Thursday we made these scissor fobs. We had a great time! (Right Linda?) The lady who showed us how to do this had brought samples and they were so pretty that I just had to make another out of green beads!










This is the one I made Friday. I have several more pair of scissors that just might need one of these! I could get addicted to beading. I really don't need another hobby though.

Sew Long for Now!

It has rained for three days. I usually don't mind rain, but the natives are getting restless here. Captain Chaos goes out every break in the rain he can find. He has been learning to jump his bike off his older brother's ramp. He saw this spider web beside the basketball hoop and begged to take a picture of it. He thought it was great with all the water dropletts on it. Tonight was their first night back to Awana and they were happy to being going again. Tomorrow singing school starts back up. They can hardly wait.

In my sewing room I have been working on a pair of jeans for a girl. She has never owned a pair because she is chubby. They brought me a pattern that is fit for a very slender girl. I am making the jeans, but I worry. I worry she thinks that they will make her look like the picture on the front of the pattern. Sigh...I was an obese child. My Momma tells me I ballooned out at five years old. I have never been anything else my whole life. I have blocked out a lot of my past memories because of how people treated me. I have tried everything to get rid of the weight. I am so thankful that I have a God who loves me for who I am inside. He blessed me with a husband that loves me no matter what. He gave us three beautiful children. He has sent many friends in my life who look beyond my outward appearance. I pray this girl will find this type of life.

Sew Long for Now!

My machine is embroidering out a design as I type this. A lady called this afternoon and wanted me to digitize a design by tomorrow. They paid me extra to rush it. It has actually gone better than I expected because of the lessons I have been working on at the Quarterly Software Society that Bernina is offering. I have learned a lot from these lessons.


This is a dresser scarf that my grandmother embroidered sometime before 1962. It has been loved and used often. The threads are not holding up to the use and detergents that were used on it back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I decided to hand embroidery my interpretation of her work on a tea towel.







This is my tea towel after I completed it this weekend. I am debating whether I want to crochet the edging on it since I plan to use this towel.











Here is a close up of one of the roses. I just drew the outline with pencil. I tried to make them similar to the ones on the orignial. I embroidered the shading in a similar format as she had done. This is not an identical copy, but I enjoyed the way it turned out.

Sew Long for Now!

I have been settling back in a bit better this week. School work is getting done and I am getting some sewing done in the evenings. Housework is...well, we still have to figure out how to get that one in.

I cut out a pair of jeans I am making for a girl. I also finished Captain Kitty's skirt and shirt.

This was a $2.50 t-shirt from A.C. Moore. I appliqued the flower on there and then added lace to the sleeves and bottom per her request. I decided the ribbed neck did not go with this girly trim so I slit it in two places and sewed it down to the inside making it look like the interfacing. It is a cute outfit in real life, the picture doesn't do it justice. The whole outfit cost $2.50. The material for the skirt and the lace were given to me for free. I was thinking about some pieces I have in my closet that I don't like for various reasons and am pondering "remaking" them to something I might wear. If not I am going to donate them to charity. I am feeling like parring down and starting to nest for winter.

Sew Long for Now!

One of the reasons I didn't get much sewing done is that we went away Monday. It was the General's first day off since June and we decided we needed to get out of town. We headed to my folks thinking we would go to the lake and spend the day.


This a view across one of my folks pasture fields. It rained the whole way up the road and when we arrived it had started raining there. So, the lake was out. I have lived in Virginia my whole life and there are several places I have never gotten to visit. One of those is Luray Caverns. I ask the General if we could go there instead. He liked the idea and even my folks decided to come along.





The caverns where breath taking in their beauty. This is the awesome reflection in the pool. The water looked like glass and the reflection was so perfect we thought it was stalgtites.

With my love of fabric, this formation touched my heart. This is called the bathtowel of Luray. It looks like a piece of linen material drapped from the ceiling. It is amazing. The only hard part was the last part of the path goes up very steep. My parents and I had a slight bit of difficulty at the end. My stamina just isn't back up to what it was pre-surgery.

Sew Long for Now!

I didn't get much sewing done over the weekend. I took the cuffs off and moved them up 2 inches on a lady's sweater for her. I also worked on an embroidery on a dress for a lady.

This dress jacket had long sleeves and she wanted them shortened. Then she wanted some embroidery to be added to the jacket and dress. I really liked the dress as it was. I did add some embroidery and some crystals in the embroidery. You can not see the crystals in this picture.

I tried to take a picture close up to show the crystals, but you still can't see them as well. They sparkled very prettily in the light.

I also worked on Captain Kitty's skirt. I only have the hem to finish and the top to embellish.

Sew Long For Now!

I want to thank Emily whose mother has the blog I Just Have to Say for designing and helping get my new "look" up! Check out her mother's banner which she also did!

Sew Long for Now!

I will warn you, I make HOT salsa!

Salsa

2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp chili powder
8 cups tomatoes peeled and chopped
1/2 cup habenero peppers chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/6 cup salt
1 Tbsp black pepper
9 oz. tomato paste
2 cups onions chopped

Combine all ingredients together in a large kettle. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Fill clean hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space.

Sew Long for Now!