Where have I been....?

Well, I have been busy the last couple of weeks. I've been working, visiting friends in other cities, sewing (not everyday but almost), reading, and gardening. I have been trying to sew 15-30 minutes every day that I'm at home. Amazingly, I have been able to do this. It has made the cutting out of all the little pieces for the placemats take a long time. Also, I always have multiples projects going at the same time. Don't want to get bored. As for the reading, I received the new "Making Trousers for Men & Women" by David Page Coffin. It is a GOOD read. Really, it makes me want to make a nice pair of pants. Maybe I will.

The garden has finally started producing a lot. There has been tomatoes (8 to 10 varieties), beans (3 varieties), broccoli, corn, cantaloupe, hot banana peppers (other varieties aren't ready to pick yet), tomatillos, and squash (yellow and zucchini). Seeing this list makes it sound like I have a huge garden but I don't. Today, we cleared out the lettuce bed, and the cantaloupe beds. All three beds have been replants with lettuce, broccoli, kohlrabi, and spinach. I have another bed that currently has broccoli, kohlrabi, and chard which is almost ready to clear and replant.

No sewing done today because I canned tomatoes and hot banana peppers. I also ran a little boy to his math class.

School starts next week so I should have a little more time to sew.

Happy Sewing!

Better News

The news about the local dealer isn't as bad as I originally thought. They will continue to offer service for the machines that they have sold for about a year. So tomorrow, I will be taking my Lisa and the serger in for service. Honestly, I don't know how to sew without the serger but we'll see how it goes. As for the "Behemoth", she will go in when the other two are picked up. At least, I will have a nice fabric store to look at fabric. VBG - another excuse to purchase more fabric. I'm glad my DH doesn't care.

Happy Sewing!

Where did the week go?

I can't believe it's been a whole since I wrote anything. I've been busy sewing or cutting out quilt pieces or place mats pieces. I'm really not much for cutting out a lot of little pieces all at once. So everyday, I worked a little bit. The place mat pieces are almost finished. I just have to cut out the backs, a few more small bits, and the binding. On Saturday, I was bored with all the little bits and looked around for a quick and easy project and I found it. I made the "Stuff-It-Bag" out of a navy/beige linen blend fabric from the stash. I know that I purchased that with a top or something along those lines but it didn't happen. Here's a picture of the pattern: I was very intrigued by the instructions for making this bag. I really just wanted to see how it would turn out. I don't usually like large bags but I do like this one. Here's the results:

This is one big bag. It would have been bigger but I cut the width of the fabric from 54" to 45". I also used one fabric verses using two. Now that I have seen how it goes together, I can see how using two separate fabrics to make the bag would make it a little more interesting. Since I followed the directions, this bag does not have any pockets. It is a reversible bag, too.

Today, I received bad news. The local machine dealer lost her contract with the machine company. I no longer have access to anyone to repair my machines. There are only company stores within 100 miles of me and they do not have repair services. Everything is sent away. The worst part is my favorite machine bent a needle while I was making the above bag and is now making a knocking noise. My serger is squeaking (I'm going to attempt to oil again). The "Behemoth" needs to have some stitches adjusted because they're not stitching properly. I could have taken the "Behemoth" and the serger in last week to be worked on but no I decided to wait till Monday. I'm really unhappy with the sewing machine company right now. Tomorrow, I will call and find out what I need to do about all of my machines.

Oh, I did forget to mention that I purchased a lot of fabric last week. All indoor/outdoor home dec type stuff. I purchased 9 yards of an outdoor fabric to make a curtain for one side of my deck, a beautiful panel to make a couple of pillows for outdoors, 12 yards of denim, and 5 yards of batiste. I'm going to have some sewing fun (I think). I'm guessing the outdoor fabric doesn't need to be washed before cutting. However, the denim and batiste will need to be washed. I still need to get just a little more outdoor fabric. I know, I bought way too much fabric but it was fun.

Happy Sewing!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...

I have two projects going now. Project #1 is the the fall place mats. The fabric washed and ironed. Hopefully, tonight I will get to spend a little bit of time cutting out the pieces. I just need to locate the embroidery designs that I want to use as the quilting. Project #2 is a quilt for my son and we are working on it together. This will be a I Spy quilt if I have enough fabric to create it. Last night, we started tracing the templates on the various fabrics. The fabric that is being used is from all the projects that I have made him over the years. There will be one T-shirt in the mix. The templates that we are using are 12 1/2" square, 6 1/2" square, 4 1/2" square, 3 1/2" square, and a 2 1/2" square. Hopefully, we will have enough to make at least a twin size quilt. If not, I will embroidery some additional squares with items that he likes.

Happy Sewing!

I love getting mail....

Today was a good day for receiving mail. When I came home from the post office, I found several packages for me and the store. Of course, the packages for me are a little more interesting. Here's what I found:

Sewing machine attachments are one of my weaknesses. I want them all. No, I don't have all the attachments available for my machine(s) but I do have several. This book is by Charlene Phillips. I hope it has some good information in it. I'll do a review on Pattern Review after I read through it.


I do sew Home Decor items from time to time and thought this might be an interesting book. I haven't looked at it yet and I'm hoping that it's not actually project based but technique based. Most techniques can move to projects other than home decor. I'll do a review on this book once I finish reading it.

I also received the order from Connecting Threads. So, this week I hope to work on my new place mats. The final package was a little box of buttons for the store.

Happy Sewing!