I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied. I made myself a pretty blouse and a nice pair of pants. Another blouse is almost complete. I found some great applique designs. The second vest is taking FOREVER. I want to get going on my daughter’s Christmas present. It is going to be beautiful. I can’t stand it. I want to start. But I can’t. I’m 3/4 finished on the vest. It would be so stupid to stop. It is so hard to finish one thing when another thing is calling so loudly. I like to finish things. It doesn’t make sense not to. Would you stop frying some chicken and cook a piece of fish instead? You can’t just leave the chicken sitting on the stove for a few days. That’s stupid. And that’s how I am. Don’t ask me to stop in the middle of something. It makes me hyperventilate. I can be so anal.
Archive for the ‘Sewing’ Category
Not in a Very Good Mood
October 24, 2014Hallowe’en Costumes
October 16, 2014Just when I thought that I would never have to make another Hallowe’en costume, along comes my grandson. He’s in college. He’s twenty. It’s not something I expected. But, he’s full of ideas. I wonder where he gets that from? He wants it for a party. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he doesn’t dress up first thing in the morning and wear it to class. He’s that kind of kid. One year he got a McDonald’s uniform and went to school as McZombie. He even had a name tag.
This year, it’s Scarecrow from Batman, the super scary one in the video games.
I found these pictures on-line. See what I mean?
He has already made the thing for his hand. My daughter says he did a great job. She borrowed my glass head to make the canvas face. I was asked to make the pants and hood. My machine can handle pleather and faux suede more easily than hers. I’m also better at improvising. She likes patterns with nice directions–a ‘in the box’ sort of person. Which is fine. She gets things done. She can keep the rest of us from running amuck. And she promised to take lots of pictures.
Sometimes Trying New Things can Really Suck
September 16, 2014I just wanted some new patterns. I had two lovely pieces of linen for blouses. The closest fabric store is about fifteen miles from here. I thought I would look on-line. I found BurdaStyle. I saw several blouses that I really liked. If I could, I would have ordered physical patterns. They were only $5.99. It was a simple pattern, but still had over twenty pages. I printed out the first half, flipped them, and printed out the rest in an effort to save paper. I laid them out on my cutting table and traced them on Do Sew. Then I had to add seams and hems before cutting. All this took days due to my arthritis. I was ready to scream. Putting it all together was no laughing matter either. It would have been all right if they were like their printed patterns with which I have no problem. But they weren’t. As a matter of fact, they were so poor that I pretty much it together on my own. This really upset me. I really like Burda patterns. I have several. Needless to say, I won’t be downloading any more patterns. It really saddens me because there were so many more available on-line then hard copy patterns.
Cat Phone Case
August 23, 2014What do you do when your son asks for a new phone case that looks like a cat? You make one, of course. Since I had already made one for myself, I ‘kind of’ knew what to do.
Here’s all the pieces from left to right.
- Pattern cut from Do Sew.
- Shiny red for the lining.
- Black batik for the outside.
- Iron-on fleece to keep the red still.
- Iron-on interfacing for the black.
- That stiff stuff to protect the phone.
- Little pieces of fabric for a tail, eyes and nose.
Here I have machine appliqued the pieces and added whiskers using a double stitch. I love my machine. The tiny bit of hand sewing I do anymore is embarrassing. Sorry Nanny. You were the best.
My son was very happy with it. He said something about feet. I told him, since he now knew how to hand embroider, he could make four little sets of pads on the underside all by himself. He said, “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” I could see the little wheels turning in his head.
These things are a real bitch to make so don’t even about asking me to make another one.
The Wedding Quilt
July 25, 2014Hand and Machine
July 21, 2014Saturday afternoon, I taught Sweetums jr how to embroidery.
Here is the result. I think he did very well. No blood.
Sunday afternoon, we tackled my old manual sewing machine. He needed to get used to it. Instead of pushing buttons, you have to turn dials and push and pull levers. He had bought a pattern and fabric for shorts. It was a ‘learn to sew’ pattern. He should have no problem.
I Have Finished the Mending
July 13, 2014Mending is such a pain. Some of that stuff has been waiting for close to a year. It is so boring. My creative side wanted to throw it all in the creek. I can’t help it. I get these urges. But the frugal side won out. I mean. That would be so wasteful. And it took forever. I would do everything but that for weeks. I would make up reasons in my head for making something. It was awful. Luckily, there is always knitting. But I won.
This is an extremely comfy oversized knit top. I liked it so much I embroidered hearts on it. How could I possibly get rid of it? But it got to be over-oversized. It was kind of ridiculous looking. See that seam next to the hearts? I did that. I took out four inches through the body. Now it is back to just oversized. I’m happy.
Where?
June 6, 2014If I could be anywhere, where would it be? I love my little house on the creek. I can look out at the creek whenever I’m working. I can check on the ducks and geese and count the turtles on the logs while thinking about what I want to do. It would be nice if it weren’t so hot in the summer or cold in the winter.
How about a summer home in Maine and a winter home in Florida? No, not Florida. It’s an OK place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. How about Georgia? Don’t know. I’ve never been there.
It would be somewhere along the coast. I need to see water. What about Savannah? It’s on a river, isn’t it? A river would be nice– better than a lake. And I wouldn’t want to be in town, but not too far out. I think about two acres would be enough with plenty of trees, especially on the road side. It would be nice to think of people driving by and wondering what’s down that lane. They would probably be underwhelmed by what they see. A one story house with a dog and some cats wandering around and Sweetums and me sitting on the patio. There would also be plenty of pleasant trails for walking with Gus.
When the weather started to get too warm, I would drive to Maine. This could be difficult with Sweetums, the cats and the dog in tow. I couldn’t leave them all behind for such a long time. They would have to come along. And therein lies the problem. Gus gets carsick. We’ve tried everything. Nothing works. And where am I going to put the litter pans? The cats are not going to be happy, especially the ones that prefer the huge outdoor sandbox. And then there is Sweetums. Sweetums does not like to go anywhere. Maybe I could just tie him to the luggage rack. And I can’t go anywhere without my knitting. I would have to bring an awful lot. Or I could stop at yarn shops along the way. Now, there’s a thought. I have to bring at least one sewing machine which means stopping for fabric, too. And I have to bring clothes, because, I am not a clothes shopper. I forgot about books. We can’t live without them. Now, how do I get all this into my mini minivan?
A solution: Rent a big ass RV. I’d have to rent a driver, too. Another mouth to feed. He’d better know how to cook. You weren’t expecting me to drive it, were you? I probably wouldn’t make ten feet without taking something down. I don’t want to think about it. Or I could rent a yacht. Maybe not. I would wind up throwing Sweetums and Gus overboard.
Somehow, we make it to Maine. Where is our house? It would be the same one story down the same little lane only this time it would sit along the rocky coast. I thought of Mount Desert Island, but I think I want to be a little further north.
This may sound lovely, but when would I get to see my son and daughter and grandson? I would have to keep my little house in LSD. It’s only two hours away. We always have a nice time at Christmas. Would I wait until January to go to Georgia? I don’t want to deal with any snow. I could send what’s-his-face down with the herd and drive my mini minivan when I felt like it.
You know, this sounds too much like work. I think I’ll just stay right here, in my little house Up A Creek In Slower Lower Delaware.
Strips, Strips, Strips
January 23, 2014I cut three yards of fabric into two and one half-inch strips and now I don’t know where the picture that I took has gone. Pictured here is about ten of those strips sewn end to end. When I saw this fabric, I knew it was THE ONE. I had been agonizing as to the color to use to border the squares. Black is the common choice, but I don’t like black and I have trouble with ‘common’ in general. I was thinking about a brown. It’s an unobtrusive color, but it is a color. I also thought about red. And what about a red/brown? Then I saw the green and brown–something that I never thought of. Sometimes, you just have to wonder through a few fabric stores before you know what you want.
I have finally gotten all the squares sewn together. And I think that the strips are just the right color. I need to sew a final outside border strip and I’ll be able to start quilting. (Insert Happy Dance here.) Do you have any idea how happy I will be when this baby is finished?
Completing Projects
November 21, 2013My need to complete things can get frustrating. I have been working steadily on the quilt, but I still have seven, out of twenty-five, squares to complete. Then I need to cut about three yards of stripes to go around each square. The end result should be a 102 inch square. I think(hope) I have enough batting. The batting I have is 96″. Should I piece or try to find 102″ wide batting? I did find 108″ backing fabric. Normally, I use leftovers that I don’t know what else to do with or I just don’t like the fabric any more. Ah, decisions, decisions. I’ll worry about that later.
Here’s the binding and backing. The binding I bought at Mares Bears in Lewes. The backing is from The Country Store in Intercourse. My daughter and I went up there on the seventh. She loves having Thursdays off.
I also bought some food fabric.
Raspberry, grapes, plums, garlic, carrots, apples, cauliflower and broccoli, and avocados. Oh, my. You can never have enough.













