A little advancement....

I finally got a little bit of a system going with the paper piecing and the second set didn't take as long to do as the first set:

The second color for the ornaments is black with gold metallic.  I ran out of papers or I would have completed another set.  I don't own a light box so I was unable to trace anymore of the papers to make the pieced block. I will trace the remaining pieces tomorrow.  I need 15 but will most likely do 18 so that I have a couple extra for mistakes.

Since I finished the above blocks early in the evening and still wanted to work on sewing items, I decided to start tracing this jacket:

I'm working on View 1.  Here's the fabric that I want to make this up in:

I plan on using a satin for the lining.  I looked high and low for a flannel backed satin but couldn't find it.  I really wanted a little bit warmer coat but it should be ok til really cold weather hits.  This will be my first coat.  I may change the way it is put together and have a real lining instead of the underlining the instructions have you do.  Usually, I like to follow the directions the first time I make something and then make changes, it I make it again. If I can figure out how to handle the facing, I may do the lining.

Now, I  have three active projects going in the sewing room. That doesn't include the knitting projects.  So much to do, so little time.  Do you ever feel that way?

Happy Sewing!

Christmas Mantel Scarf is Started...

Oh, I think I should have started this much earlier.  Hopefully, I will be able to get in sewing time daily.  Here's a picture of the mantel scarf pattern from Martindale:

Super cute, don't you think?  See the piecing in the ornament?  Well, that is paper piecing and this is the first time I have attempted paper piecing.  I kinda followed the information in this paper piecing video from Kimberbell.  I thought it was much more difficult than I was expecting.  Here are the results of about 2 hours of work:

Oh yeah, 3 wee little pieced blocks which is enough for 1 ornament.  I put the bobbin in there so you get the idea of the size.  Now, I will say that there was plenty of interruptions mostly involving lighting.  We accidentally bumped the chandelier and blew the circuit.  When I turned the circuit back on, we decided that there was an issue with the chandelier.  Unfortunately, that was the only light in the room.  So, I was running around looking for lighting and ended up with two lamps that we could live.  When DH returned home he brought in additional lighting.  After the sewing session and further examination of the chandelier (a couple of scary light shows), it was determined that one of the candles had almost melted and we were lucky a fire hadn't started.  Fortunately, I find a new chandelier for replacement.

Here are the fabrics for the mantel scarf:

 The red flannel came from my store and the metallics and batiks came from ChristmasJul on Etsy.  Beautiful fabric and excellent service.  Be sure to check out this store if you're looking for Christmas fabrics.

Hope to get the piecing done this week.  Wish me luck.

Happy Sewing!

A new year for sewing!

It's a new year and I'm ready to sew. I've decided that I want new Christmas decor. I think the only way I can accomplish this is to attempt to make a plan and start early in the year. So, I will be starting with tablecloths. Here's the fabrics that I have chosen:



These fabrics are from my shop and they are wonderful. I think this very traditional look will look nice in my red dining room. I need to measure my table and check the drop before cutting the fabric. I think the gold plaid will have a traditional sewn hem and the red plaid will have a serged edge. I need to look for some decorative serger thread. Any suggestions?

Here's my goal for the year: tablecloths (2), placemats (4), napkins (4), tree skirt, and holiday pillows. I do think this is a doable list as long as I don't put anything off till the last minute. The fabric collection that the tablecloth fabric is from has lots of very traditional fabrics and I may use some of those. However, I want the treeskirt to have a scrappy look with lots of embellishments. More decorative threads.

Happy Sewing!

Time Flies....

Whew! Time has been flying by lately. School has finally started (ok, it was a week ago but who's counting). The garden is slowing down. I did get a little bit of canning done but I ended up with late blight on the tomatoes. After looking at some of the hot banana peppers yesterday, I think those plants may have it or something similar also.

I picked up my sewing machine and serger about a week ago also. I did miss both of these items tremendously. The serger had nothing serious wrong with it that a good cleaning and oil didn't fix. However, I did knock the timing off on the sewing machine. Not sure how I did it but I do know when it happened and recognized that something was wrong immediately. At least it could be fixed.

On the costume front, I have finally gathered all of the materials (I think) necessary to make the Riddler costume:

The black faux suede (in the middle) will become the moccasins. The purple fabric on the left will become the mask, the belt, and if I'm lucky, gloves. The green fabric on the right is for the pants and top. The paint is for all the questions marks that on the top and pants. I know, I need to get busy. I haven't figured out how I'm going to enlarge the question mark for the shirt yet. Any suggestions for a quick inexpensive way to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated.

Now for a peek at my "new" toy:

The cute little carrying case which contains some of the items below:

Yep, I found a Featherweight 221K. I really wanted one when I was quilting a lot and going to classes but was never able to locate one. This one kind of landed in my lap and came with lots of goodies. Along with the machine and the original carrying case, I received a zigzagger with all of the extra disks, a sock darner (that didn't look like it had ever been used), a buttonholer with extra attachments, three books, many extra bobbins, an extra bobbin case, the original attachments, and a couple of additional attachments. Being the fiend that I am about machine attachments, I have already added a couple of additional attachments: a blind hemmer, a picot / hemmer attachments, and a blind stitch braider. As the attachments for these machines can be rather expensive, I will not be adding anything else to the mix. I have been playing with this machine and it runs very well. I have played with all of the attachments and most of them work very well. The only item I was a little bit disappointed in was the buttonholer and that is only because the some of the extra disks are duplicates. The buttonholes look beautiful. The future will see me taking a few more quilting/sewing classes, if I can find them.

Now, the most exciting thing that has happen was I won a $35.00 give certificate to Marie-Madeline Studio (http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com). Go check them out. They have a cute shop with fabric and their own brand of patterns. I decided to try out their patterns. It was just too hard to pick a fabric.

Well, that's it for now. I need to finish up my existing sewing projects (wallet, and placemats) and then, get going on the Halloween costume. This may very well be the last costume that I make for my son. At 11, this may be the last year that is interested in dressing up and getting candy. He has always enjoyed going around the block, showing off his costume(s) to the neighbors, and coming home to hand out candy.

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!

Looking towards the Holidays....

I always think that I'm going to find time to sew a lot of cute items for the fall and Christmas holidays but I rarely get anything made. I found this project at Embroidery Library:

Isn't this a cute napkin for Christmas? It doesn't have to have the machine embroidery on it. Hand embroidery could be done also. I know that there are lots of creative people out there who could whip these up very quickly. I'm going to attempt to make these for Christmas. I don't know if I'll take the time to put machine embroider on them or not. I need to start looking for the fabric. Here's the link to the project: http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/elprojects/SimpleProduct_ELP.aspx?CS_ProductID=PR1522&CS_Catalog=Elprojects .

Here's is the project that I'm ordering from Connecting Threads: I need to replace some of my place mats. The kit comes with the pattern and 6 yards of fabric. This maybe a good opportunity to embroider some leaves.

Happy Sewing!