Sewing again!

I recently inherited a Singer Ultralock sewing machine (serger). My husband suggested I put it on Craigslist (GASP!). He added "Since you sew SO much (sarcastically)." I realized I haven't been sewing much the past three years because I've been working and raising a child! Well, now that she's more independent, I decided I can whip out the ole' Singer and put it to work!

Last night I got to work on a Christmas pressie for someone near and dear to me. They may or may not know this blog exists, so I will hold off on posting until after the gift has been given. It's a gift to me, too, because sewing is so therapeutic for me!

I also have TWO quilts in various stages that  I need to complete before Christmas too. EEK! All this, AND work AND run an Avon business (know anyone who wants to make some extra cash on the site? Comment me!). Oy vey! Oh yeah, and lots of Christmas goodies to be made, too!

Oh well, it's still the "Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

Miss M's Christmas Dress

I decided to make Miss M a Christmas dress similar to the one I made her for Thanksgiving. I didn't quite get it hemmed before we left for my mom & dad's, so Mom finished it up for me. She also added the "bling" to the front pocket. I think it makes it even cuter and will work great for Valentine's Day! Of course, it will be more of a blouse on her by then, she's growing so fast!

It's made of a red cordouroy with sparkles that my friend had in her "stash." I also made the shoes to match out of a pattern I found on Etsy. Of course they didn't stay on her feet, but it was fun making them anyway. It helped that I had low expecations of her keeping them on her feet!

You can kindda sortta see the shoes in this shot:


Her Grandma (my mom) made her this adorable Sunbonnet Kids quilt. She worked on it a long time. Each of the blocks had an embroidered Sunbonnet kid.

We made a Mai Tei Wrap!

Miss M is getting to be quite a handfull! She's a little over 20 pounds now. Due to this fact, I was needing to do something to save my back and neck! I wasn't sure what type of carrier would work well for her (we were given a Snugli and it didn't go well when she was itty bitty), so I didn't want to invest a bunch of money into something I didn't know if we'd like.

We had tried a Mai Tei on in a store one time and she did OK in it. I decided to research and see if I could find a pattern online. Low and behold, there are quite a few! I found some of the directions to be a little confusing for me, so I ended up using bits and pieces of two or three different patterns.

I will probably use my infomapping/instructional design skills to create my own pattern/directions someday! Not with the holidays looming, though!

Anyway, the same home ec major helped me sort it all out and guided me through the parts that were confusing me.

Here is the end result!




By the way: The fabric was basically free too! I had the black stretch denim on hand, and my friend had the black floral from the stash she inherited from her grandmother!

Thanksgiving Dress

I didn't even realize I'd bid on this pattern on eBay until I got a notice that I'd won! So, the week OF Thanksgiving I decided to make Miss M a Thanksgiving dress! On of my BFFs (also my MOH in my wedding) happened to have leftover fabric from the fabric we used to make my bridesmaids' skirts for my wedding! I LOVE the color and it's perfect for Fall.

One of the gals who helps us out and watches Miss M while we work has a degree in home ec and vast sewing experience. She cut out the fabric for me while Miss M slept, which made putting it together go even faster!

I didn't have the right color bias tape, so I improvised. I don't think it's very noticeable.

I was up pretty late the night before we left for hubby's Grandma's house on the cost (a 6+ hour drive) when I finished it. Miss M was sleeping, so I tiptoed into her room and took a couple dresses out of her closet to determine the length. As a result, I nearly left the dress on the kitchen table (a.k.a. my sewing table these days!)!!! Thankfully I noticed it at the very last minute!

Here are some pics!
In this first one, she's sitting in a rocking chair that her Great-Grandma Mary gave her. Mary was quite the crafter in her day. She used to sell these chairs with dolls she made. Due to its age and duration of its life in her garage, we needed to apply wood glue to all of the points where it comes together. She didn't stay in it long, just long enough to pose for this pic! I was so afraid it was going to collapse under her!

The Case of the Missing Foot Pedal, Part I

O.K., so you know I've been ransacking my home, looking for any one of three patterns: Yellow Brick Road, Rusty's block, or Crazy Eights. Having had no luck, I finally broke down and loaded up the little one and headed to our local quilt shop. This was back on August 8. That's where the store owner basically designed my whole quilt for me and sent me on my merry way.

All was well. Baby was sleeping...I started dragging out all of my quilting gear. I threw what little bit of fabric I needed to buy into the wash and got to ironing the stash that already had on hand and had previously pre-washed.

THEN it happened. My quilting aspirations crumbled to the floor like a glass shattering on my tile floor...a million itty bitty pieces....the power cord to my sewing machine was GONE GONE GONE! Like a flash back in a movie where someone's life flashes before their eyes, I was taken back to pre-baby days when I was making her some diapers and I messed something up and had to take my machine for repairs. I tried to recall sewing since getting my machine back.

Nope. I'm pretty sure I haven't sewn since then. I've been kindda busy! grrrrrr! Text my frustrations to all my sewing bffs...one of which offers up her machine to the cause! yayyy, Jen! The next glitch came when I got into a groove sewing and the bobbin ran out. Jen's machine purrs like a kitten, but I had to kind of fumble my way through winding the bobbin. Got it wound and put back in as best as I could figure.

Well, suffice it to say that I'm thankful for another one of my BFFs, Diane, who came to my rescue (see exhibit "A"& "B"). Her machine has a similar style bobbin, so she helped me get it all worked out. After much frustration and still not being able to get it right, we finally discovered we'd missed threading the machine through the tension knob! Eureka! Back in business! Yayyy!

I managed to get quite a bit of sewing started on my quilt. I'd say I'm about 25% done.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of : The Case of the Missing Foot Pedal!

Exhibit A: Exhibit B: