The Mother Lode!

What a day, what a day, what a day!

Our tiny Jo-Ann store is moving from its current location, to the store space literally right next to it.  Like, one door down in the shopping center.  But the square footage is more than doubling.  Yay!  But THAT's not what made my day...

Instead of moving all the inventory next door, they're just treating it as if the store is completely closing.  That means LIQUIDATION!  I wandered in there today expecting to get a yard or two of whatever was on sale; I walked out with both arms full!  Ev-er-y-thing in the store was 75% off - that means even clearance items were 75% off on top of the clearance price.

Check out this reciept:

 Woot!  I like to show my husband the "total savings" part.  I think that softens the blow.  He may disagree...

That's about 18 yards of fabric!

 That big roll is auto headliner fabric.  2.5 yards (that's all they had left) for $3.45/yard.  Hello!
All the cotton prints there ranged from $1.50-$2.50/yard.  Amazing!  And I got 5 yards of something akin to Heat & Bond, for like .60/yd.  ALSO, those colorful 3 bolts are knits.  I'm going to give it a go.  Wish me luck...

Now my stash is refreshed (I was getting pretty tired of the same old stuff, trying to use it up!), I've got stabilizer & interfacing coming out of my ears, and I'm a happy lady!

Sewing Habits: Good & Bad

Today's topic at Mommy's Naptime is:

***Bad sewing habits. Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?***

Hmm.  I think I've improved a lot in this area, but there are still some things I do that I shouldn't.

1. When I'm changing thread, I leave it attached to the spool and pull it out from the top.  Did you know that you're not supposed to do this???? I didn't!  Until a month or two ago, when I got my machine serviced.  The guy told me that you're supposed to cut the thread and pull it through the bottom.  Continually pulling thread out through the top messes up the tension & timing.  Who knew?   I did it the right way for about a week, then slid back into my old ways.  

2. I also tend to disregard instructions when it comes to...well, everything.  Heh heh.  I can't tell you how many times I had to rip seams out or do something completely over when I was making my Petrillo Bag simply because I didn't fully read the instructions.  I even got the wrong kind of snaps.   Argh!  My disdain for reading instructions has also been the cause of iron-on transfers permanently on my ironing board to this day.  Also, once I purchased some no-sew Heat & Bond, and didn't believe that I shouldn't sew through it.  I believe now!  

3. I definitely don't change my needle as often as I should.  That's my frugality coming through.  It seems a waste to go through so many needles when I could make them last a little longer.  But using a fresh, sharp needle really does make a difference.  

4. Even though I made myself a cute machine cover, I hardly ever cover my machine.  Apparently that extra 4 seconds it takes is too much of a hassle for me.

But I do have some good habits, too!  Really!

1. I oil & clean my machine about every other time I sit down to sew - which is like, every day.  Gold star for me!  I entertain myself while doing it by saying "oil can" out of the corner of my mouth. 

2. I don't sew over pins (anymore).  I got tired of breaking all those needles.  See Bad Habit #3.  

3. I do keep spare rotary blades around so that I can replace them as soon as they get dull.  I also have forbidden my family to use my fabric scissors for anything but fabric, and never do it myself.      

4. I have finally learned to take the time to pre-wash & dry fabric that I'm using for garments.  Finally.   

What about you?  What are your bad sewing habits?  And do you get any gold stars for doing things right?     

Petrillo Bag

Holy Cow.  Has it really been a MONTH since I've been here last?  What happened to my new year's resolution?  Oh well.  :)

Well, over at Sew Sweetness today, Sara has released yet another awesome bag pattern.  And I got to be one of her testers!  Hop over there and check out all the bags - this is a really good pattern.  Very detailed.  If you take your time and go step by step, it will turn out the way it's supposed to!

I didn't take too many (any?) pics of the process, but here are a few shots of my finished product.

Here's the bottom - I kinda love it. :)

There are two pockets on the inside - one basic zip pocket, and one padded pocket for a tablet or e-reader - which would be so perfect IF I HAD ONE!  Alas.  I've been using it to tote my knitting and a book or two.  I can stuff a lot into it and it maintains its shape really nicely.

Two new products I was introduced to while making this bag:

1. Auto Headliner fabric - It's basically 1/8" foam with fabric on one side.  It helps the bag stand up nice and tall, and keeps it from being saggy and sad.  I used it as a substitute for a much more expensive fabric stabilizer.  With a coupon, I got a yard (54" wide, mind you) for about $10.  Sweeeeeeeet.  Thanks to Cindy of Raspberry Sunshine for that amazing bit of genius!

2. Pellon SF-101 Shape Flex interfacing - How is it possible that I've never used this before?  I love it.  It shall henceforth be my go-to interfacing.  SO nice to work with, and it didn't melt under my iron. 

So...whaddya think?  :) 

My yearly "Good Mommy" award

The question of the week over at Mommy's Naptime is, "What is the most meaningful thing you have ever made?" 

...And all of the sudden I feel like the most shallow person on the face of the earth!!!

I've sewn some nice things for people as gifts and everything, but I just couldn't think of any one thing that had a lot of extra special meaning behind it.

When I think about it, the most rewarding part of being able to sew is when I can sew things for my kids.  I'll make things for them here and there throughout the year, but the one thing I always sew for them, every year, is their Halloween costumes.  It's just something I love doing, for a million reasons.  For one thing, most other kids do NOT get homemade costumes and this is something I can do for them...until it's not cool anymore!  (But by the time it's uncool, they'd better not be still trying to run around and get candy anyway!)  For now, they love it.  Also, we're not limited by what's in the stores, as to what they can dress up as. (Did that make sense?)  For instance, this year they both wanted to be characters from Mario world.  Try to find that at Walmart!  Their costumes are something we can plan and work on together, and they're always so excited to see how it's going to turn out. 

I don't have fresh baked cookies waiting for them after school very often, and they don't sit and let me read the Little House books to them at night, we have never taken them to Disney World, and that's just scratching the SURFACE of all the "good mom" things I always thought I'd do but never have.  But darn it, I make their costumes for them, every year! 

2009...Kindergarten and Preschool

2010...1st Grade and Preschool.  Nolan is a bat, can you see the wings?

2011...2nd Grade and Kindergarten.  Same dress, different apron!  I was short on time last year...

2012...3rd Grade and 1st Grade.  Toad & Toadette, their favorite characters to be in Mario Karts.  They got a lot of comments while out trick or treating! 

Sew Thinky Thursday

There are a few blogs I read regularly - like, every time they post, I'm reading. Sew Sweetness is one of them. Sara is an inspiration!  Today she put out the word for a new link party at Mommy's Nap Time called Sew Thinky Thursday.  Each Thursday, there will be a sewing/quilting question to write about.  I LIKE this and I'll tell you why!  I do the link parties. I do.  Not as much as I used to, but I do them.  But I get a little tired of having to "compete" with my photos to get noticed.  It's tiring and time consuming, and I don't always (er...ever?) have awesome photos to post of my projects.  So THIS...is something I can do without "feeling the pressure."  

The question of the week is...
When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

I grew up with a mom who sewed all the time.  She made a lot of our clothes as little kids, she made our family of 4 some matching Christmas outfits one year (picture red plaid in the 80's!), she made one of my prom dresses, which was awesome btw...she could whip anything up at pretty much a moment's notice.  She actually had a craft business for many years, where she would work all year sewing things, and go to about a million craft shows each fall and make a boatload selling her things.  

So you would THINK that obviously, that's how I learned to sew!  Wrong!  I mean, I think I owe big thanks to my mom for giving me the following: my "sewing gene," and my first two sewing machines.  Those things alone are huge.  Huge!  And some help over the phone here and there.  But as far as how I learned...I pretty much taught myself.  

My first project was a valance for my bedroom in college.  I made it out of red ticking on the Green Kenmore, my first machine.  I loved the smell of that machine.  I had very little clue what to do with it, but I knew how to sew a straight line!   So on & off, when I had something I wanted to sew, I'd do it ONLY if I only had to sew straight lines.  No clothing, no complicated-looking things.  Basically, pillowcases and straight-line curtains.  TRY to contain your excitement!  

Fast-forward about a decade after college, into married life.  Still occasionally sewing curtains and pillowcases.  Woo-woo.  I wanted to sew more interesting things, but was afraid to.  Then one day I realized that if I messed something up...who cares?  What's to be afraid of?  So I started to branch out.

This was one of the first things I made:

That's my girl in her preschool graduation dress.  4-5 years ago?

I was so proud of this dress.  It did not look pretty on the inside, and there were some problems with the outside, come to think of it, but I was so proud because 1. I actually did ruffles, and 2.SHE loved it!  And it went on from there...

Possibly my favorite picture EVER

OK I have to stop myself!  It's fun to go through all my picasa pictures and see all these things, some of them from a long time ago it seems!  These are actually just a few things that I've really liked from the past several years.  

This year I am branching out a little more.  In addition to learning to quilt, I have also decided that I'm going to "up" the level of my sewing - I want it to be a lot more finished-looking, and I want to use nicer fabrics in projects to come.  SO looking forward to that!   

WIP Wednesday: Do-Re-Mi

Cold, yucky day + newly cleaned sewing room (and I use the word "room" loosely) = great day for sewing!

I was asked to help with costumes for a local high school production of the Sound of Music this year.  I LOVE that musical.  For obvious reasons, I mean, what's not to love?  Especially the Captain.  Rrroooowww.    But I also love it because I was in it in high school.  That musical was a big turning point in my life, when I went from shy and mousy and afraid of my own shadow, to the outgoing good-time gal I am today!  A teacher encouraged me to try out, and while I didn't get the part I wanted (Leisl...16 going on 17...), I did get to be one of the children (Lousia, the blonde one who can make it up the tree with a whole jar of spiders, anyone?)  What FUN that was!  I met all sorts of people and just had the best time. 

So anyway, I am super excited to be making costumes for other kids to put this on.  I'll be working on the "curtain playclothes" and some nun habits.  Today I decided to do the younger 3 girls' play dresses.  Behold:

Not too exciting, but that's why it's called "WIP" and not "DONE" ;)

In one short afternoon, I realized what a control freak I can be!  The person in charge of ALL the costumes took the liberty of cutting all the pattern pieces for me.  At first I thought, what luxury!  But then I laid out the pieces and there wasn't a straight line to be found.  I spent an hour just "fixing" them to get them ready for sewing.  After that it was pretty smooth sailing...I was very thankful for my ruffling foot - it turns a 30 minute job into a 5-minute one.  LOVE IT!

I made some more progress on my Downton Abbey Knitalong...

Check out that thumb gusset!  Are you impressed?  :)  You shouldn't be; it's not hard.  It just looks cool.  And may I say, I LOVE this yarn.  It's Knitpicks Felici, which is part merino wool and part nylon.  It is so soft and smooth and I love the stripes - definitely my new favorite yarn right now!  I got this blue/brown colorway, and also one that has more pastels - pink/yellow/aqua.  I wonder what I will knit with that...?

No progress at ALL on my scrappy tripalong quilt, but I hope to get some work done on that this weekend.  I did finish the clutch I was working on last week; more on that soon!

WIP Wednesday

(WIP = work in progress)

Good morning everyone!  I have SO many irons in the fire right now...but it doesn't feel overwhelming yet, so that's a good thing!

1. I've been slowly working on a "Scrappy Trip Around the World" quilt.  PRAY TELL, what is that, you ask?  Well...it all started with Instagram.  (Are you confused yet?  I'm sure my mom can follow along; our minds work the same way. Right mom? :)  Long story short, there's a big huge unofficial "quiltalong" going on the blog/flickr/instagram world.  Here's where it started, and I thought I'd try it!

I will make 20 blocks; I have 7 done so far.  That seems humongous to me, but there are many who are making 36, 42, and even more blocks. 

This is going to be a(nother) cozy "tv blanket" for our family.  The blocks come together pretty quickly, actually, and I've learned new things here and there.  I have a quilter friend "in real life" and she gave me the tip to sew the strips together NOT all in a row, but on every other side.  I'm sure that makes no sense.  But some of mine were coming out like parallelograms instead of squares, and apparently I was sewing them together wrong!  I'm definitely trying this on the next few squares!

Want to keep up with my progress?  (Oh, who wouldn't want to do that???  You've got nothing better to do, right?)  I'm RACHELHAV on Instagram.  :)

2. Downton Abbey Mystery Knitalong
OK, more proof that I spend a leeeeetle maybe too much time online.  On Ravelry (I'm applecake33, don't ask me why), Jimmy Beans Wool is hosting a Downton Abbey knitalong.  It's supposed to be a mystery KAL, but with the first clue they told us what we were making.  So...not such a mystery.  But they only give us one clue per week, on Sundays, and the idea is that we all knit while watching DA.  I personally have to have eyes on the screen at all times during that show, so unless the pattern is to just knit all the way around, I'm pretty much sipping wine and intently watching and not really knitting.  But here is what I have so far, I'm loving it! (Oh - the project is "Dowager Countess Dinner Gauntlets" - basically fingerless mitts of some kind.)  Instead of the (gorgeous) suggested yarn, I'm using Knitpicks Felici - the same weight & fiber content, but more "Rachel-budget-friendly." 

I really hope that's right.  It doesn't seem right...

3. I just started this yesterday, and stopped when it came time to sew in the lining.  I'm making the Fabiola Clutch from I Think Sew - if it all goes well, I will put some in my shop (which is "on vacation" at the moment). 

So that's pretty much it, not that it's not MORE than enough for now!

What are you working on?  I'd love to hear!

The Legend of the Ruffled Christmas Tree Skirt

Hey everybody. I should probably tell you, there is no "legend."  But there is a story!


Who all was with me last year when I could TAKE no more and went on a (blogging) hiatus?  Anyone? Buehler...Buehler?

Well there's something I didn't show you that I really, really wanted to post about.  But I didn't, because I felt like, I shouldn't be doing things just "for the blog."  I wanted to start doing things for my family - just for my family - again.  And I have been.  And it's been really fun!

Anyway, now that I've been sufficiently de-toxed from the feeling of servitude to my blog (more accurately, let's be honest, now that ALL MY READERS HAVE ABANDONED ME FOR GOOD, except Uncle Bob - thanks Uncle Bob!  Love ya!  And Wendy and Molly too, so that makes 3 - and after this past weekend, a few more family members...), I may as well just spill it.

Last Christmas, I decided I wanted to really do something special for my family.  On our budget, though.  Which is usually, like, super-slim.  Unlike me, ever since I canceled my gym membership.  But as I was saying, I spent a whopping $0.00 on this.  I went through my fabric stash and scraps, and used what I could find.  I even dismantled a tote bag, cut it into strips and ruffled it.  No joke! Not too shabby, right?  (Although, if "time is money," then I probably could have paid off the house with how much time I spent doing this thing!)

I spent a week - every free moment I had, for a solid week - making our family a Christmas tree skirt.  You could say I was kicking it old school, because I didn't have my ruffling foot back then...(it reminds me of the days before we had ELECTRICITY.  Seriously, how did I ever tolerate ruffling everything by hand???)  

Anyway, the tree skirt!  I followed no tutorial, no pattern...I just did it.  I rarely "just do it."  I should do that more often because I love our tree skirt and I cannot wait to get it out again this year!

Immediately after finishing the skirt, in Scarlett O'Hara style, I vowed to never do a ruffle again.  It was a very dramatic moment.

Months later, I bought a ruffling foot for my sewing machine, and my whole quality of life improved. ;)

Fast-forward to today!

I want this one.

 I'm selling my "Tree Skirt 2.0" on Etsy - a few months ago, I worked on the design & construction to make it prettier, higher quality, and less time consuming to create.  Each one still takes a good bit of time, but nothing like the original one. 

I want this one, too.

There are SO MANY different color combos!  Every time I finish a new one, I think, "awww...I want this one!" 

And this one!

Lots of custom orders rolling in this weekend, the most blessed of all shopping weekends. Can you guess what I'll be doing tomorrow and Monday? 

Love that fruit!  I want this one too!

*****
Linking up this week!
www.sumossweetstuff.com
http://www.canoeridgecreations.com/

My Foray into Quilting

Hey, I made a quilt top - my first one!

When people ask me about my sewing, I always tell them that I sew, but I do not quilt.  Quilting has always seemed like it would be so tedious and involved - like, too much time spent on too-small details.  Like scrapbooking (to me!).  But lately, I've been having a change of heart!

It all happened like this:  I was messing around, wasting time on Pinterest one day.  (So MANY of my stories start out this way, really.)  I was checking out Sara Lawson's boards and just couldn't stop looking at her quilt links.  Such gorgeous-ness!  Such awesome colors!  The designs!  I was totally hooked.  Well, it snowballed from there.  I spent about a week just looking at quilting blogs, flickr groups, Pinterest boards...and I knew what one of my 2013 new years resolutions was going to be: to learn to quilt. 

I'd finish up my UFO's, and then I'd learn to quilt.  

That's what I'd do.

Yep.

Oh, screw the UFO's, I couldn't wait that long!

I wasn't feeling quite ready to dive into a queen-size Moda Bake Shop advanced level quilt or anything (tempting though it may be), but I remembered that I'd won this pattern from a sewalong a while ago.  So I dug it out of my pattern stash, and decided that it looked fairly easy...and it was!

It really helped that I already know how to sew.  And that I already had a bunch of fabric!  The only thing I actually had to go out and buy was the batting.  I know everyone out there seems to like Warm n Natural, but not knowing how this was going to turn out and all, I went with a slightly less expensive one...something like 80/20 something?  (You can always count on me for accuracy and specifics, right!)  Oh and I got basting spray because there is no way I'm messing with all those pins. 

These owl appliques...they look really cute.  They weren't my favorite thing to do, though.  I thought the applique part was a little bit tedious, especially the smaller pieces.

Did I make it hard on myself?  I sewed around the edges, and had to "pivot" every time I wanted to go around a corner.  I'm assuming there's an easier way...?

But I did enjoy the "sketch" technique; it was nice to not have to be too precise, and I love the way it looks! It'll be neat when I wash the quilt and the edges fray.  I think that will look really cool.
 

After the quilting is done, I'll sew button eyes onto the owls.  So cute!

The pieced blocks were really easy; they were just large strips of fabric sewn together.  That I can do.

Oh and check out the mitered corners!  :) 

So the top is done.  I was shocked at how not long it took to do.  Just two evenings.  Now it's ready to get quilted, and I'm not sure what to do!

Those of you who quilt:  How should I do this?  

I could do all vertical lines.  That seems like it would be easy. 

Or I could dive into the deep end and try the free-motion thing.  That does not seem easy.  But it's totally in my nature to get in over my head like that. 

Or I could do something else.  What, I don't know! 

Suggestions?

I think this will be a Christmas gift for my daughter, since the dog has since commandeered the last blanket I made for her.  :)

Linking to Freshly Pieced

Please Don't Drink and Sew

This is a public service announcement.

Friends, don't do what I did.  I'm not even sure what I did, actually.  I don't remember consuming alcohol at 9 am Saturday morning.  But from the looks of things, I must have been drinking.  Heavily.

Here are the pajama pants I made for Abby this weekend.  I didn't have quite enough fabric to make them as long as they needed to be, so in all my clever-ness, I thought I'd sew a little, um, let's call it "contrasting" fabric on to elongate the legs.

I was even feeling a little confident.  I thought, "hey!  I could do a tutorial on this!"  Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?  I think when I learned to sew, one of the first things I learned was, you sew the fabric with RIGHT sides together.

I mean, come on!  And it didn't even hit me that I'd done it wrong until I opened it up and saw the backside of the fabric, just laughing at me. 

So at this point, the tutorial is out the window.  I'm just trying to salvage these pj's.  I had Abby try them on, and they were just barely long enough, but I knew that after one washing, they'd be too short.  My girl gets about an inch taller each week - that doesn't help!

So I thought, OK, I'll make cute little ruffles and sew them onto the legs.  That should be cute.  Well, you know when you KNOW something, but you can't, like, access it from your brain?  Like someone's name?  Or a bit of Seinfeld trivia?  I mean, I KNEW that I knew how to sew a ruffle on, but I just...couldn't...quite...remember how.  I did one leg.  And then I remembered how, and did it the RIGHT way on the second leg.  Let's compare!

So after marveling for a while over the "Tale of Two Pant Legs," I set my frankenstein-y creation aside.  I needed time to think about what the heck I was going to do to salvage them.

Later that night, Abby came leaping downstairs, all aglow, in her new pj pants.  She'd found them, put them on, and was LOVING THEM!!! 

picture taken on my phone - don't judge!

She said the ruffles made them "extra swishy."  :)

You just never know!

P.S. I wasn't drinking, even though all evidence points to the contrary.  I don't usually start hitting the bottle till around 10 am, and these pants were made at least an hour before that.