Testing...

I haven't posted lately because of this new Blogger interface,, I liked the old one.. not sure about the new one... I almost had to use the video's on Youtube  to learn how to get to my reading list of blogs.. hummmff,, oh well, I guess change is good in some things.. but I don't have to like it....lol....oh well, guess I better get to sewing so I can post something... :-)

Still sewing,,

Just got side tracked by School starting back. I keep trying to remember to take pix of what I have made,, and every time I either don't have a camera, or I don't have my model, my Dd...



But, I do have another pic for you. This is a pic I took at our local JoAnn's,, the material pictured is their fat quarters,,,this is in a "shelf" by the checkout station,,, there is about maybe 50 in here,,, the store is moving and they are trying to see inventory..if you think this is bad,, you should see the rest of the store behind me,, half of the store was already cleaned out,, can't wait for Aug 31st for the new store to open.....

Getting things done..

Wow, it feels so good to sew again,, I have sewn more in the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 2 months,, almost the last 2 years,, oh well maybe not THAT long,, but it feels great,, I have got the sewing bug again,,, and  I LOVE IT.....pix will be posted soon........:-)

A new contest...

I have been reading about this, and decided to join,, I really needed a fabric stash contest,, but pattern stash is good enough.. Well I guess it is almost fabric stash,, I am getting rid of fabric to... lol...

Enlightenment,,,

I got a serious wake up call this weekend,,, that I need to seriously downsize and organize,,,, I have 3 emb machines, my D1 that I use regularly,, well if you can call it regularly,, my Bernina 600 and 330...

I have a friend that I thought might be interested in one,, so asked her,,, OH YES,,, she said,, so I decide on the 600,, now this was my 1st emb machine,, it is a work horse, if I have my D1 in the shop for any reason, I use it,, which is odd, cause its only a 4x4 sewing area, and my 330 is 5x7,, ( my D1 is 6x10 sewing area)BUT,, its dependable,, I can put almost any thread in it and it will sew,, and sew good,,, its quiet, and sturdy,, the 330 well.......now, thats not saying I am giving her a lemon, it is a good machine,, its just I have the 600 to compare it to, and well, if the 330 had the bigger sewing area,,, and bigger bobbins,, it would be great,, but she has never had an emb machine, so I think she will actually do fine,,,

Anyway,, I start looking for everything for the 600,, Buzz box, check; usb cable check; instruction book check; installation  cd, installation cd,,,, oh crap... no installation cd,, OH NO,,, it has been soooo long,, um years? since I last used the 600 that I forgot what we did with it,, and  actually, I told my Dh,, that if the installation cd is actually floppies??? then to get it loaded on my laptop we had to have gone to the OESD site and downloaded the drivers.. laptops don't have  places for disks... sooo,,,for hours I tore apart.(it seemed like) every part of the house I could think of that the "cd" might be,, finally,, no go...

So, I went with plan B,, I would give her my 330... so here I went again,, looking for everything that went to it,,, cables, Cd's instruction book,,, instruction book,,,,, eeeeeeehhhhh,, NNOOOOOO,,, not again,, ok by this time,, I am seriously,, stressed,, and I don't stress out too much, but I am thinking,,, I am sooooo tired of this,,, why why why,,, I have wwwwaaayyy to much stuff,,,,,,,, when I put the "stuff" for each machine up, I really thought I had put everything with it,, well I looked in a bag that went with the 330,, and found the book,,, huge sigh of relief,,,

But now,, my sewing room,,,, WHY is it so bad,, cause I procrastinate.......

I have so much stuff that I put off doing,, or I see something new that looks interesting and get it.. that I just don't have room for everything that I have,,, and I don't do anything with  anything,, it just keeps stacking up....

So,, to the point,, finally huh,, I am going to try to do something in my sewing room everyday, something,, I am putting things up on Sewitsforsale, that I have been wanting to get rid of for a while,,,  I am cleaning off my cutting table so I can cut out fabric,, and I am going to start making little pieces of lace (free standing lace) out of my old Sulky spools of rayon thread that I have had for years, that I didn't know what to do with before,,, so I can get it used up, and my emb designs,, oh my designs,, man I am so glad that they are stored on my computer,,

You know something I have realized lately though,, and no its not that I am a hoarder,,, ha ha,, but that  I like to buy stuff,, well at least sewing related, but stuff,, now it really is generally something that I can use,, but not really something that I NEED,, books, designs, material, patterns, well books and designs,, IF they are on sale,, yes I may buy them,, cause they are easy to store,,  but material,, uh no,,, I am on a fabric fast for a while,, and patterns,, well they are seasonal,,,  and they don't take up too much space,,

So,,,,,,, let me see what I can get done this week,, ha ha,, I just thought,, pictures and blogging is included in this getting something done,, see I have 2 tops, to put on here that have been done for  a while,,, so, I guess I had better get started.......

Disaster struck..

Oh Sun May 22, an F5 tornado hit the town of Joplin Mo,, pop 50,000... it cut a 3/4 mile wide, 6 mile long path,, taking out a major hospital,,, St Johns, and all the surrounding businesses, drs offices,, and other buildings that make up the St Johns area..., one of the Wal-Marts.. Joann's, Pizza Hut, CiCi's pizza,, Home Depot, 3 Schools.. including the High School... and lots more....all together 7000 building were destroyed,, 122 confirmed dead,,, and approx, 1500 missing..

This link is a good before and after post.. but it doesn't even begin to give an idea of what it is like,,,,


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390530/Joplin-MO-tornado-Before-photos-complete-devastation.html

Marathon sewing,,

Pictures, pictures, who has the pictures,, not me, not yet anyway,, I am still here, still going. Actually I am very busy making jackets for a wedding,, I have to have a total of 9 made by May 7th,,, I already have 3 done and am working on 2 more,, so I figured if I get an average of 2 done a day I will be pretty good,, you might be pulling you'r hair out thinking 6 in 3 days,, is she crazy,, well yes maybe.. The jackets are pretty basic Bolero style,, 3 pieces per jacket,, so not too much hair pulling going on here,,, not too much anyway,, will post pix later.. gotta get back to sewing........

Something new for me,,,

I am still working on lace,, but had to get some more needles,, I get tired of having to go to Joann's for them,, so I decided to order some,, I got 10 in the package, for about the same I would pay for 5., now just to see how they work,, stay tuned.

Which to do first,

I have gotten back to the sewing room,, several times in fact,, problem is I need to narrow down what I want to do.. I got started on the pouch/purse things,, I even got another one made, will post pix soon,, but I also started sewing clothes again,,, uuhhhhh,, don't faint,,, it has been a while,,

See I figured out something,, ok this is going to sound totally crazy, I love to sew and embroider, but I do my best when I am helping someone, and they are telling what to do,, like what designs or patterns, material, thread colors,, in other words,, I am not making the "decision",, starting to sound familiar,, 

Which brings up another scenario,, my husband,, now this is a good thing believe it or not,,, you know how most women say thier husbands have no style,, well fortunately mine does, and in my case,, very fortunately,, cause I have had to go to him several times to ask his opinion on, colors, (eeks) fabric,, (shock),, I mean he is like a woman,, uh let me be clear,, lol,, in the terms of taste,, he is very should I say gifted,, he just has good tastes,, and ideas.

I said all that to say this,, I was in my sewing/bedroom,, ha ha,, the other day, looking through material to see what i wanted to do with what,, and I thought,, everynow and then i make something, (for our daughter Holly) that he just doesn't like, for one reason or other,, problem is I do it fairly often,,(ok let me insert this here, you know the saying "what were you thinking" when you bought that,, i mean, even with clothing,, maybe more so, with clothing, just because its on the rack doesn't mean it should be purchased, I mean has anyone seen the emails, "poeple of Wal-Mart",, ) problem is, I probably get a lot of materail that you could say that about,,) now most ladies I know would just say, its just my husband,, if i want to make it I will,, well just like clothes that we buy, we want  them to be liked by our family,, we just feel good, or better when someone says,, oh that looks nice, or I like that,,,, well, DH does when he likes it,, but he also says something when he doesn't,, which lately  has been faily often,, soooooo,, I decided to ask him on material,, ok don't thow things at me yet,, cause here is the scenario,(should I be numbering these yet, hhmmm) I am looking at material, trying to look at it from his prospective,, ok this is what he says,, "looks too busy,, too small print,, too old looking, oh yeah,, that will work",, and I think I need to separate this material, because I have pieces in there that I want to make,, but I need to find out what would work best for her first,, so what do I do,, ha ha,, this  was my great idea,, I have never actually done this before,, not on material for clothes anyway,   I asked him to help me pick out material that  he likes for her,,, we go through about 20 pieces of material in about 5 min,, i pick them up, and say what do you think,, he looks at them and says,, yes or no,,, or great, or ^&%$ no,,, lol...

So I start pairing material with patterns after that,, it was SOOOO easy,, I paired up about 5 things after that,,, why didn't I do this sooner,, I could have saved myself so much frustration,, I have about 20 more pieces for hime to look at in the closet, but at least I have a direcion now,,,

So that is  part of the reason i havent't posted, I am busy trying to figure out what to make first,, well thats not completely true,, I am sewing a jacket,, that just why I havent posted on embroidery,, I am trying to figure out what to make next, I want to to a font on something,, I just haven't decided what yet..

And you might say, well you asked DH about the material,, ask him about the embroidery project,, huh, no way,, I want "something" to be me,, even if it does look like crap mess up at least its my crap mess up.

Where did she go,,,

She is still here,, just hiding,,
That's about what if feels like, it feels like I dropped off the face of the earth as far as sewing goes.. my sewing mojo took a trip and it didn't come back,,, :(..

Well hopefully it is back, I have been cleaning out my sewing room "again" not like it really needed it,, but,, you know you find something to do when you don't know what to do, so cleaning it was,,

I have found another part of my problem when it comes to sewing,, or maybe I just didn't want to admit it,, either way,, it is a problem,, making desicions, and being too technical about them,,

You see, my DS, is a VERY technical person,, not in the way of work,, but in thinking about things,, he over thinks in other words,, WAY over thinks,, well, he gets it from me,, for me when I start  thinking about  a pattern, I am probably like a lot of sewers, I find the pattern, material, ect, but for  me I  think,, I have 2 yds more fabric than this pattern needs,, so instead of just using the material, and having some left over, I think, what else could I make with this material that would use more of it,, and I start looking, and find a pattern, but am either not ready to do all the alterations that I know it is going to take,, or I am scared to try it, simply because of how much material there is, and how much trouble it would be to get it on my table,, get it straightened out,, and such.. so, I decide not to do anything,,, does this sound familiar to anyone....

Re-uphostering chairs

This is what I have been working on for about a week,,,

We have had our kitchen set for about 15 yrs.. I think it was time  for a make over,, they have been bad for a while,, I just didn't know if I could redo them,, well this summer I finally decided to, I mean after all, I couldn't do much worse,, lol...

Ahhh, now this is better,, and it only took me a week,, I have never seen so many staples in my life,, at least until I put them back together,, "raised eyebrows",, I think I put back in  twice as many staples, I wanted to make sure these puppies werent coming apart,,, ha ha.. and yes  the seat is a different color,, the chairs are so old, Joann's didn't have the "exact color", which didnt bother me anyway plus, the back didn't need anything done to it, and we were trying to save money in the first place by  me doning it myself,, the chairs are functional and the look tons better, and no one is complaining,, I have even had some compliments form dear hubby, so all is good,,, :-)

Well I wanted to post "something"!!!

No I am not dead,, I feel like it sometimes,,ha ha, the sewing bug just flew out the window.. it seems to do that a lot to me,, I almost envy these ladies that can post all the time, that have so much so say, me, I don't sew everyday, or embroidery for that matter,, shucks, if it weren't for my sewing room being part of my bedroom,, there would probably be days I didn't even come in here at all.

Tonight I am looking for a disk,, I have a set of designs from here , clasic embroidery, I have several of the purse sets, but the one I am trying to work on now is the quilted handbag 4x4, when I tried to load the designs to my D1 floppy, the software said some of the designs were currupt,, so I got the hair brained idea that maybe it could be the software is having trouble reading the designs,,so on to looking for the stuff for my Deco 600,, it has a Buzz box,  so I find the Buzz box, plug it in,, and forgot the software hasn't been installed on my laptop,, so i am in the process of trying to find the disk for that,, well back to looking,,,:-)

Not a lot going on yet.

I guess I am in a sewing slump,, I haven't done anything in about two weeks,, In March 6th my Grand Mother passed away, she and I were the only ones in the family that sewed,, she didn't do much,, and least not any more,, and our styles were different,, but she had some awesome linens,, had embroidered pillow cases, that she crocheted edgings on,, I have gotten just a bit of her stuff so far,, there is supposedly a "bunch" at my Mothers house,, ,, so will have to post pix when I get them,,, Will hopefully get something done this week, Spring is here and need to start using up some of this stash so I can buy new,, plus need to get to doing some embroidery,, too much to do,, too little time,,,

Trying to get going again.

I am trying to make a skirt for Holly here I started it a week ago, well since then I have been babying her,, she had all 4 wisdom teeth pulled Thurs,,  so from Friday on it has been hit and miss for me to be in the sewing room,, but I am determined to get it done,, besides,, poor girl needs some clothes,,, lol...

Time for a change.

Changing fabric that is,  fall/winter is going out, spring/summer is in, well most of the fall fabric is out,, some that could be used for either season stayed, the lighter weight, or sheer stuff stayed.

These are the bins of spring fabric..

Some of the winter is on the left, spring is on the right, I roll up the fabric and put it in the bins as I get he spring out and roll it on card board for fabric.

Now to start planning to use it,,,

Argg, I need to organize my designs,,

I love embroidery,, but my designs are in such a mess, yes it is all my fault,, no one else here to blame,,

Here is how i got here,, we got the internet in 03, I already had the Deco 600,, so I was really excited about getting free designs,, I collected ANY that were available, cause I thought, there are so many free designs on the net i wont ever have a need to buy any..
Well over the years I have learned two things,, not all digitizers are the same,, and I don't need EVERY design that is free,,

So over the years I have cleaned my files out several time, but I have also added to them several more times, and I am not organized enough to put the designs in the place they need to be when i get them,, if fact some times, someone will have a good enough sale, (especially if I have been wanting several sets and get them all at once) that I will get several sets,,

I have over 650 files of sewing and embroidery related items on my computer,, and each file can have oh say between, 5 and 500( ha ha, thats laughable,, but probably accurate) designs or pieces of information, (directions and or instructions) in each one,, now I am NOT the worlds best organizer,, ha ha ha,, that is a laugh,, I used to get so many sets of designs at a time,, some in emails, some direct downloads,,

Here is where my problems come from,, first off my procrastinating ways are to blame for a lot of it,,,for the emails,, I started another folder in my Email Box labeled,, Designs,, If I got several sets, I would simply put them in there,, to be saved in my Net folder later,, if they were downloads, I would go ahead and put them in my Net folder and just save both for later,, part of the problem with saving them in the emails is I don't always remember to download them, or I don't alway remember IF I downloaded them ,which sometimes causes me to download them again,, ( this can be done ONLY if they are emails,) in this case, I have probably downloaded them already have maybe changed the name(long explanation, boring and hard to understand, maybe later,,thank goodness you say, you are right,, whew), and forgot where I put them,,so this leads to multiple copies of said designs,, which leads me to where I am today,, In a mess,

I have been working off and on, on cleaning up my folders since Dec,, my Fonts folder I think is the worst,,(almost 300 files in there alone) eih eih eih,,,

Now for what I have been leading up to,, I sometimes get to where I want to something, nothint in particular,, just something,, so, I desided to try coasters,, I go looking for them, uh which folder are they in, uh how many folders might they be in,, which one do I want to try,, which one need material and which ones don't, which one require materials I don't have,, ,, and so on , and so on,,

I would like to get them organized in a way that I could just go in there,, with an idea of what i want to do,, find it,, and go......

But instead and until then I have this mess,, argg....

We have snow.

We had our first decent snow Sat,, we woke up to about 3 to 4 inches of the white stuff Sun morning,, these are pix from the front porch,,

School is supposed to start on the 5th,, but I doubt we will have School much this week at all, the back roads are bad enough that they can prevent us from having classes, cause the buses cant get around,, and the weather is too cold to melt much,, and we are supposed to get some more snow Wed.

So I guess I will get to sew some more,,, yeahhh,,,

A pic of one of our fur babies,, Tinker,, she is a Yorkie,, weighs about 5lbs,, this was her outside

yesterday on our porch,,, she is so cute......

New things

2010, are you one to set New Years resolutions,, not me,, those went out the door years ago,, being more active, losing weight, sewing more, and whatever else happens to be on the list,,well it just doesn't work for me..

I have been wanting to try some new things though,, one is I have been wanting to make a nice jacket for the longest time,, using materials like stay tape and hair canvas in the collar.. I have been reading Tany's blog a lot lately,,WONDERFUL seamstress, if anything can get me motivated its looking at her creations,, everything she makes looks professional..

Unfortunately my local Joann's doesn't carry either the tape or the canvas, so I will have to order it, oh well, there are a lot of things I have been ordering lately, so I will just add that to the list..

I am hopping to get patterns of a TNT skirt, button front top, and jacket done up, for Holly and myself soon, I have found that for tops for her, princess seam shirts and jackets are about the only option, I HAVE to have seams to manipulate to fit her,, the darts don't always work, unless there is enough of them, or I have to add them.. That way even if she isn't here ( I get home from work before she gets home from School) I can start on them anyway,, there is something so nice about knowing that you can just lay a pattern down on material and cut it out, and know that it is going to fit,, so for me right now, fitting those three style of patterns is at the top of my to do list...

Browsing

I am in a blah mood,, I have had my SM back for a week now,, and just cant get into doing anything, at the same time, I haven't embroidered for a month,, I wanted to make something on it this weekend but can't make up my mind what,,

So what is the next best thing,, browsing,, I was thinking purses,, and lets face it,, what lady can say no to a new purse,, but,, I always wait for a sale to get them,,but the places I like getting purse design from aren't having any sales,, so,,, browsing i went,, here is what i found, here lots of tutorials,,, enjoy,,,:-)

Comment away,,,,

I got this from Dawns blog

It sounds like fun and . So comment away. .

The following is copied from her blog:

Here's how it generally how it works:
The first five people to leave a comment on this post will get something from me.But in return, you have to do the same thing on your blog and make something for five other people.The details are as follows, and if you want to play, copy the following onto your blog and leave me a post:

BUT since I don't have 5 followers yet,, I am going to do it this way,, the first 5 people that leave comments,,this will apply to..:), you do not have to have a blog...

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.

2. What I create will be just for you, with love.

3. It’ll be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something strange.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.

7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.
Okay get busy and leave me some comments so I can get busy making you something.