Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sewing Project 10

Project 10 is a zippered pencil bag.  I learned today that putting zippers in bags are easier said than done.  Overall it was an easy project; it just took a couple of tries to get the zipper in correctly.  I also broke my seam ripper on the last project, so ripping out is pretty difficult without a seam ripper.  If you are interested in sewing I would suggest a good, all metal seam ripper.  I learned the hard way.  Like usual.
I know that you are looking at this upside down???

For some reason when I try to turn it around it goes back to this???
Emma sure is happy with her new bag.

Sewing Project 9

A bib for Kindall
The purpose of this project was to make a quilted bib using different fabrics and piecing them together.  I used the fabric from one of Emma old baby shirts for the front and an old sheet for the back.  The cute baby shirt of Emma’s had different ruffles of fabric, and I thought it would make a cute bib, so I took apart the shirt and pieced the different fabrics together.   To me the bib look a little plain when I finished, so my 16 year-old told me to add a big K in the middle.  I found a cute font on a free font website and printed the K in the size that I wanted so that I could make a template to cute the fabric and hearts with.  The bib is going to my only niece.  I think that it turned out pretty good.  Hopefully my niece and sister-in-law like it.

I just love these differnt fabrics together.

Tomorrow I should be able to reveal Emma’s “Fancy 100 Day Shirt”.

Sneak Peek!


Monday, January 30, 2012

Gumbo and Disco

Saturday Night one of our neighbors had all the neighbors over for gumbo.  I know that this is going to sound crazy, but all of our neighbors are extremely good cooks.  Not only that, but we are all in the same age bracket and so are some of our kids (if they are not the same age they still all play pretty good together).  The gumbo was to die for!!!  After dinning on gumbo they turned up the music.  They have just gotten new blue ray with Pandora Radio, and a great surround sound system, so we danced the night away.  The sad thing was the station that we were listening to was the “Tone Loc Station.”  Yep we are old!   If that was not enough, our 16 year-old daughter had a boy come over for the first time.  I do not know what would be scarier to a 17 year-old boy, a dad showing up at the door with a gun or both parents dancing with other neighbors to 1980’s and 1990s’ music.  Oh yeh, we were also singing.  I am not sure if he will ever come back, but we sure had a good time.  I am so thankful for fun and great neighbors (that can cook).

Friday, January 27, 2012

Procrastination

Today I need to clean the house and I am in total procrastination mode.  I usually clean on Wednesday’s, but it was raining and when you live in the country with dogs and children, it is worthless to clean your house when it is raining.  My house currently looks like a construction site.  I have fabrics and sewing tools everywhere.  There are water cups (I think that my husband is afraid of the dishwasher), and breakfast dishes in the sink.  My floors look like barn animals live in the house (dirt, mud and grass everywhere).  Laundry is all over the laundry room, and all I want to do is the super important stuff like Pinterest, Facebook, Email, Blog, and I am thinking about painting my toenails.  Do you ever have one of those days when you know that you need to be doing something, but just procrastinate so much that you can’t get anything done?  I know that I need to do it because it is the weekend and neighbors tend to stop by on the weekend, and I really do not want anyone to see the shape that my house is in.  I mean, come on, I am a stay home mom.  I am pretty positive that they will be thinking “what the heck does she do all day?”  I know that it is probably totally in my mind, but really, I should be able to clean my house once a week.  Well I guess I need to crank up Miranda Lambert on Pandora Radio and get to cleaning.

I bet she never procastinated


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Sewing Project 7

 You are probably wondering what happened to project 6.  If you are, I had to skip the project because I am waiting for the really cute fabric to come in that I ordered.  The fabric is Damsel In Distress.  Can you guess what I am going to make with it?
Michael Miller Novelty Dear Damsel Ivory
I can't wait for this fabric to get here and get started on my project.

Project 7 is a pot holder.  Have you seen one of these lately??

I just love this hen fabric!
It has been a long time since I have used a pot holder or bought one.  I usually just use hand to elbow oven mitts (I have a tendency to burn myself) and a trivet, and still I can manage to burn myself.  Did you know that those orange things in the oven and the Ioven racks get really hot?  The objective of this sewing lesson was to learn how to use padding while sewing and quilting, and it is a good thing that I am going to have more projects with these objectives, because I need practice.  Lots and lots of practice!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sewing Project 5

Project 5 is a supplies-roll-up. 
Supplies-Roll-Up

I just finished and have filled it with some of my sewing goodies. 
Now I will know where everything is!

This was not a very difficult project, but was delayed because of “Emma’s Fancy 100th Day Shirt”.  I wanted to post some pictures of her shirt, but she wants it to be a total surprise and will not let me post pictures until after February 1st, the 100th day of school.  I am not sure who we are hiding it from?  Think “Fancy Nancy” with a 100th day shirt and you probably are pretty close to what it looks like.
My new supplies-roll-up is one of my better sewing projects.  I can now sew in a pretty straight line. 

WooHoo!  Just look at that straight line!
I just figured out today that my sewing machine has a ¼” marker to help you sew in a straight line.  What can I say?  It only took me a week to find it.  I am a very observant person.  I mean really, if I can sew then anyone can sew!
I have found myself addicted to fabric website.  I found The Fat Quarter Shop website and cannot wait to sew a quilt.  It is my last project.  I have found that fabric is cheaper when ordered online.  The websites have great sales, and you do not even have to leave your house.  I have ordered several super cute fabrics for my upcoming projects.  I can’t wait for them to come in and get started!


Quilting Fabric at the Fat Quarter Shop

Monday, January 23, 2012

Project 4


It took me a little longer to complete project 4 because I had the iron issues, the panic attack at Wal-Mart over the iron (I still have nothing to say), and the weekend to help slow things down.  The name of this project we bunting and appliquéing.  I really want to learn to appliqué so that I can make cute t-shirts.  I am really proud how the project turned out.  I am still not prefect and need a lot of more practice, but I think that the bunting circles look so cute in Emma’s room. 
Bunting Project

I also started the shirt that I am making for Emma’s 100th day of school!  I can’t wait to finish.  Here is a sneak peek!  Can you guess what she chose to do 100 of on the shirt?

Emma's 100th day shirt

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Irons

I never thought in my life I would be interested and talking about irons.  I have never been particularly good at ironing.  I thought that I was pretty good until a boyfriend at college told me that I was horrible at ironing.  I mean really, should others complain when you are helping them out???  Talk about bad manners.  After that comment I was a little self conscience about ironing things.  In fact I usually sneak my stuff in my Brad’s dry cleaning pile to get it ironed.  I use my iron about one time every other month (that actually might be stretching it).  I know, sad.  I am a horrible mom and wife.
Now having said that, when sewing, you use your iron a lot!  Thursday night I went to iron some fabric for a project and guess what?  My iron would not work.  It had been working off and on, but I thought it was just old.   My parent bought it for me when I left for college about 20 years ago.  It is also not a very nice or expensive iron, but when you don’t really iron it is awesome.  Yesterday I checked out irons online to see what I should expect to spend, and which irons got good reviews.  I also checked if the irons are carried at the closest Wal-Mart.  I was excited to see that they are carried at there, and the internet showed that they are in stock.  I drove to the Wal-Mart, which is about 30min. away, and guess what???  The irons are not there.  Not only were they not there, but they have at least 12 irons on display and only 4 irons in stock!  I thought really!!!  They would not even sell me a display model.  After some tears (I know, I don’t know why there are teas over an iron, but there were) I drove myself home, and Brad had to go shopping to get an iron.  By the way, my new iron is awesome, and my husband rocks!


My new awesome iron and my old iron.  Is is my imagination or have irons come a long way in 20 years?

That is not the end of the story.  Here is the real kicker.  I flushed out the iron over the laundry room sink, using the plug by the sink (iron working) before using the iron.  I then plugged the iron into the wall ironing board plug, and the iron is now not working???  I thought WHAT??? Well, it turns out that my old iron works perfectly fine and my new iron works just fine also when using any other plug that the ironing board plug, but since I hardly ever use that plug I did not realize that it has a short.  This explains why my old iron would work sometime and not others.  Something like this also happened with my washer and dryer, so this was not the first time.  I wanted to get this posted this last night, but I needed a glass or two of wine…

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Sewing Project 2 and 3

Yesterday I made napkins.  I was really excited about the napkins because we currently do not have napkins.  I even bought really cute fabric that would coordinate with my colors and style.  I also thought that napkins would be easy.  Wow, I was wrong!  I did not have a rotary cutter and was still struggling with cutting and sewing on straight lines.  Apparently cutting on straight lines is important when making napkins.  I now have a rotary cutter.  There also was an error in calculating the amount of fabric that I needed. (Did I mention that I tought Kindergarten?  Well, I can do "Kindergarten" math.)  So, for the single layer napkins, I just make them smaller, and the double layer napkins I only made one.  Both napkins were hard, but the double layer napkins with the rick rack were unbelievable hard.  I literally worked on that one all day yesterday, and it is still not done correct. 

My Napkins
I think that there might have been some pinning errors on that one also.  I learned that I still have a lot to learn.  I think that I am going to practice some more before completing more of the double layer napkins.  I made a market bag, project three, yesterday.  To save money, I used an old sheet.  It is not the cutest bag, but I am getting better at straight line and piecing things together.
My Market Bag
Today I am working on bunting and appliquéing.   I am excited about this because I am making a shirt for Emma and would like to appliqué her name on it.  We will see.
The Class Bunting Project
 





Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sewing Project 1


After some trials and errors I finally figured out how to load the bobbin and the top thread.  What I did not realize at the beginning was that my manual is for two different style of sewing machines.  Mine is the last one that they talk about when giving directions.  I even read the manual last night like a “Big-ol Nerd”.  It actually worked out being good because mine pretty much does everything by itself.  So, after learning how to do it the HARD way I got to learn how to do it the EASY way!  I usually make everything that should be easy harder, so today was pretty much the norm. 
One of my favorite parts of my sewing machine is that it has “Speed Control”.  I bet my mom wished that she had that on her machine when she was trying to teach me to sew.  All I had to do was put the machine on slow and even if I put "the pedal to the medal”, I was still going “Myrtle Turtle” slow.Here is the finished product and the class product:

My Project
Class Project
Not bad for the first time.
I did learn that I need practice on cutting fabric in a straight line, and sewing in a straight line, and I think that I am going to get a lot of practice on the next project. 
Class Project
 Napkins:
I am really excited about this project because I currently do not have napkins,  I know I should be embarrassed.  I am going to be making 16 napkins, so it might take a while to finish them.  Wish me luck!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Sewing

Alright, I have never learned how to sew.  Well that might not be exactly true.  My mother, June Cleaver herself, tried to teach me to sew when I was a teenager.  Unfortunately, she gave up on me and I did not learn how to sew.  The problem was that I have, and if you have ridden with me in the car you know this to be true, a pedal to the metal problem.  I think that I am a race car driver and have probably help pay for some great renovations at different police department.  When learning how to sew I thought that faster was better and my mom probably had all that she could take and gave up.  Now that I am a stay home mom, I think that I need to learn how to sew.  Don’t all stay home moms know how to sew??  I have also been introduced to Pinterest.  I really don’t think that I need to add anymore to that statement.  So, I bought myself a sewing machine. I researched and researched sewing machines, and found the brother CS600i
                          
to be good for the money and learning sewing machine.  I ordered it at Target and got to use $90 worth of gift certificates that I had been saving.  Yeh!  It came in the mail today!

Well, I also need to learn how to sew.  So, I searched for sewing classes in my area, and was not able to find any (I live out in the country).  I did find several on line that seemed really expensive and only had two to three projects.  Then I found HomeEC on Pinterest

It had lots of great review and you complete 27 projects for around the same price or cheaper than the other ones.  So I am now enrolled in HomeEc and will begin my sewing education class tomorrow.  Just a little side note, I went to Catholic School and they did not offer Home Economics, so I did not learn in high school like normal people.  Apparently good Catholic girls were not expected to cook, clean, or sew.  My first project is to make a reusable gift bag.  I let my Emma, my daughter, pick out the fabric.  I will take a picture of my version of a reusable gift bag look like tomorrow.  Here is what the reusable gift bag is supposed to look like.  
Mine will probably look different.  Now looking at the picture, I realize that I was supposed to buy coordinating fabric for the strip on the top.  I did not do that.  Oh, well.


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Extreme Couponing

Yesterday I tried extreme couponing.  One of my neighbors is really good at it, and she told me to check out The Grocery Game website.  This is a whole new world that I have never known existed.  This website makes it really easy to learn how to do it, where to go, and what to buy.  The hard part to me at the moment is learning how to buy what has a coupon and is on sale and not necessarily what I need.  For example, yesterday I bought toilet paper, paper towels, batteries, tide, downy, and toothpaste.  These are all items that I did not need, but got because they were on sale and I also could add a coupon.  I got extra granola bars and can goods because they were on sale, and I could add a coupon.  All these things either do not go bad, or have a long shelf life, so the fact that I got more than I might need at the moment will be fine; eventually I will need them and will not have to buy them when they are not on sale, or do not have a coupon.   I do not have to buy off brands or things that I will never need or use, in fact all the items that I bought yesterday were the same name brands that I always buy.  Some of the items even worked out to being free, or over 50% off.  It is kind of crazy, and I left the store saving over $100.

If you are interested you should check out The Grocery Game website.  It shows you how to use the website, and you can sign up for a free period of time.  Pretty much what you do is save the coupon part of the Sunday News, and go to the website to pick the stores that you use.  Then the website lists all the promotions and sales for those stores.  Next to the stores the website tells you where to find the coupons in the pull outs that you saved from the Sunday paper (you do not have to even cut them until you are ready to go to the store).  Some of the coupons that she lists will be from previous coupon pages, so you need to find a place and store your pull outs and just get them when needed.  The website even tracts your coupons so you can know how much you are saving, and what coupons you have used.  Pretty cool!  If you already do extreme couponing (with this website or another website), or are going to try it, please let me know.  I would love to learn new techniques, and how much you are saving.

http://www.thegrocerygame.com/

Friday, January 13, 2012

Stay Home Moms

Growing up I always wanted to be a stay home mom.  In Kindergarten on Career Day I dressed as a stay home mom and told my teacher that I wanted to be a stay home mom, so I could drive carpool.  (Wow, I was cute!)  I even went to college to get my MRS, but instead I got my teaching certificate.  Since graduation, I have been a pre-school teacher, flight attendant, pre-k teacher, 4th grade teacher, 3rd grade teacher, and a kindergarten teacher.  (I do really love teaching.)  I have also gotten married and been married for 9 years, and have a 7 year-old daughter.  Wow, I have accomplished quite a bit.  I now get to live out my dream of being a stay home mom.

My idea of a stay home mom is June Cleaver.  I would be dressed nice all day, the house would be clean, and I would have a big home cooked meal on the table when Brad (my husband) got home from work.  Everything would be organized and its place.  In this dream I am the perfect wife, and everything would be so easy.  Wow, was I wrong!  Instead, I spend my days in pajamas (to help with the laundry load, and because why get dressed if I am not leaving the house), and I definitely do not put makeup on unless I am leaving the house.  I did not realize that cleaning the house and keeping it clean is impossible (well I did have a house cleaner while I was working).  The one thing that I have done is cook a nice dinner most nights (I really love to cook), but it is not easy and I am definitely not the perfect wife.  Was there ever a time when stay home moms were like June Cleaver, or was it just all TV?