Weekend in Review

I tell you what, It seems like life goes from Monday to Monday. The older I get the faster the weeks pass.

This weekend our church joined the two other independent Baptist churches in Croatia and went to Rijeka, a coastal city, to pass out tracts and witness. There was a good group and one saved so far. 

Okay so I'm not in the photo and there's a really good reason for that, I wasn't there. 

4 weeks ago I had bunion surgery on my right foot and I'm still not walking normally, actually I'm still in a special boot; not a pretty sight. I've been down for 4 weeks and I have to tell you, I don't think I can make it much longer. I'm a "doer" and it's hard to "do" when you can't walk. I did figure something out, out of necessity. I'm a ambidextrous sewer! I had no idea I could sew with my left foot but lookie-lookie! So I finally figured that at least I could sew, so sew I did. 

So I was talking to my daughter the other day, (she's married and lives in Oklahoma, 5700 miles away) anyhow, she said, "Mom, I can't believe you put a photo of your foot online, (this very photo) that's so 'old woman'." 

I was like what? 46 isn't old!

I started a sew-a-long with Pat Sloan, Winter Fun Sew Along and I've got my first two blocks finished. I love fat blocks, there work up really fast and are super easy.

I've also started my own Christmas mini-quilt using Diane Bohn's My First Alphabet paper piece patterns. I'm really surprised just how easy the patterns are to follow. I'm not where close to being finished but I might as well share what I've got done, (makes me feel productive to see something). There are so many possibilities with these letters, can't wait to get some of my UFO's finished and then get creative!

So before I finish, I think I need to be a little transparent, before you guys start to think that I'm an awesome quilter or something. I started to finish one of my UFOs and was getting along pretty okay until I realized that I'm an idiot. See if you can see what I did wrong, and now it's not my free-hand quilting.

So apparently this little baby quilt wasn't even close to being ready for quilting, would have been nice if my "samwich" had had two pieces of bread. 

To Do Tuesday

I know, you guys were thinking that I dropped off the edge of the Earth again but I didn't, I'm just running late today getting my To Do Tuesday post done. 

To tell you the truth I actually have to get something done from last weeks list. I mean well but life gets in the way and my To Do list gets buried under my everyday chaos. 

Anyhow, today is more of a finished To Do Tuesday. I've had this quilt on my to Do Tuesday list since December 2014. Yes, you read that right, 2014! Hannah and I started it the Christmas before she went home and it got stuck in my UFO (unfinished object) pile till last week. I know it's not Christmas but now it's all done and ready for the next yuletide season. 

I'm most excited that I learned a new technique. Aunt Marti over at 52 Quilts has a great tutorial on how to do this flanged biding. I love the way it looks and it wasn't hard to do. I will say it takes a little longer but I think the finished product is very nice. (and yes I see the thread hanging from the quilt, I missed that one!)

Oh btw, if you have a problem getting those mitered corners, check out this amazing tutorial for dummies. Uh yea, I meant dummies. She doesn't call it that but let's be honest.

So, that's it for my To Do Tuesday. I do have things to do this week but it's all grunt work and nothing interesting. 

16 Sew-able Valentine Tutorials

Okay, so with Valentines Day just around the corner, I guess you could say I'm in a lovely mood. So, since I love to sew and I love love I found some tutorials that include both. Enjoy and make sure to leave a comment and thank the creators for the tutes.

1. Adorable Secret Pocket Pillow from See Kate Sew.

2. Wonderfully cute heart quilted table setting from Moda bake Shop. (Love this site!)

3. What a cute gift for the reader in your life. Sweet heart bookmarks from Simple Serendipities.

4. Who doesn't need red heart hot pads for the kitchen? Look at this tute from Made by Me & Shared with You.

5. Okay I super-love rainbows and that's probably why I chose this one. Who says Valentines can't be rainbow? Check it out at Momtastic DIY.

6. I love this Heart Strings pillow from Allisa Jacobs, so cute and easy.

7. I want one of these A-dorable Valentine aprons from One More Moore.

8. If my Nan was almost 18 instead of 18 I'd be making one of these for sure! Check it out at Make It & Love It!

9. There's a great tute over at June Johnson for these adorable Hugs and Kisses pillow covers.

10. I super-love this anatomical heart pillow; love the whimsy! You can find a tutorial over at Hearts and Sharts.

11. Look how cute this Hex and Heart coasters are from Cosmo Cricket.

12. This is such a great idea. The Renegade Seamstress has beast idea for a sweater Valentine Upcycle.

13. Here's another adorable kids clothing project I found over at Polkadots on Parade.

14. I really need to make one of these cute Valentine Buntings from Life in Liberty Canyon.

15. DIY Dreamer has these sweet little heart bookmarks and a tutorial for them to boot!

16. Last but not least, check out this adorable Lego man love applique at TrashN2Tees.

Okay, now get sewing and make sure to share your projects!!

Rolled Hem Tutorial

About two years ago my favorite sewing machine mysteriously died. I reluctantly stuck it in a case and put it out in the garage. Well two days ago my wonderful amazing awesome husband fix my machine!! Yes you heard right, after two years we had a real life resurrection. Johnny took my machine apart and replaced a few blown components and WALLAH! it works!!

So with my fav. machine working again I've been sewing like a mad glad woman. I'm working on a new clown costume for Hannah and I happened to see the roll foot and realized I didn't have a clue how to use it and more than likely if i didn't know how to use it maybe you didn't either.

Here we go!

Okay so the rolled hem foot is pretty simple regardless how it looks. Go ahead and change the foot on the machine and we're ready

I read somewhere that it's a good idea to put the needle down in the folded fabric but then I realized that if your sewing, say a skirt then when you make a full circle and make it back to the starting point then you have a problem with a hem that has already been stitched wrong. 

I manually turned the fabric under for the hem  and now you need to pull the fabric up into the little cone shaped area and as the feed dogs pull the fabric the cone will automatically shape the hem and keep it lined up as it sews. 

The foot actually does it all, all you have to do is look cute and give it gas!

It is really super easy to use the roll hem foot and actually once the fabric is in place it's very easy to feed it and the machine does the rest. 

Look at that! Super easy and it looks non-homemade! :0)

Hope this is helpful, I know it's changed my life!!

BTW, I'm linking up with Sew Can Do's Craftastic Monday. 

Reposted from August 2013

Sneak Peek!

Here's a little sneak peek at what Hannah and I have in the works! What'cha think it is?

Some tips for sewing with sheer fabrics

We moved into a new house a few months ago and I was all excited to start putting curtains up and setting up house till I realized that the big kitchen window is almost a whopping 3 meters high.

This is what the dining room looked like when the landlord lived here. 
Btw, check out the paint choices,  green, brown, tan and blue, to each his own!

What? Who makes a window so big? Anyhow, I started shopping for curtains for that window only to discover that they don't sell 3 meter long curtains here. So off to Ikea we went. I found some white sheer fabric for 2 bucks a yard and purchased enough to cover that monstrous window. We headed home and then I realized that I have always failed when cutting such large pieces of sheer fabric. The stuff is the hardest stuff to work with and it such large dimensions it was sure to be a booger!

I searched the net and read all the tips I could find about working with sheer fabrics and off I went. Amazingly, I actually figured out how to work with the fabric and not lose my testimony through the experience. So here are some tips that worked for me.

Tip #1 Take a twin fitted sheet and cover your work space, ie. my kitchen table. I used a twin sized fleece sheet and the fuzziness :0) really helped the sheer fabric not to slip and slide all over town. What's cool is that my kitchen table happens to be the size of a twin bed. Go figure!

Tip #2 Use chairs to support and cold your lengths of fabric. This was the fabric doesn't have to be on the floor and it's not constantly pulling while you're cutting. 

Also you can put a towel over the chair back to keep the fabric from sliding down. This makes it much easier to keep the fabric stationary when cutting. 

I didn't actually take photos to go with my other tips so you'll just have to use your imagination. 

Tip #3 Use a yard stick of even a strait edge of any kind to lightly mark your cutting edge. Line up the folder edge of your fabric with the edge of the table to make sure your fabric is strait when marking. 

Tip #4 Double check! Make sure you're checking your measurements as you go 'cause cutting one wrong could throw off your whole project if you only have just enough yards to get the job done. 

Tip #5 Pin! Pin! Pin! I know you experienced gals can sew a sows ear into a silk purse without even pinning anything but for the rest of us normal gals, PIN! Sheer fabric slips everywhere and it's almost impossible to keep it still without pinning. 

Tip #6 Press! After pinning I pressed all my seams. Not only did it give me a crisp edge but it also allowed me to take another look-see at my measurements. 

Tip #7 Make sure you have a new sharp needle in your machine. Some folks say to use a needle made for this sort of fabric but my normal needle did fine. 

Tip #8 Take your time. Remember slew and steady wins the race 'cause no one wants to get ol' seam ripper out, now do we. Take your time. 

So there ya go. These are the few hints that actually helped me not to throw the whole bunch in the trash. I hate all the lines of the window and the brown color but I think the sheers do well to diffuse it a bit. Still a work in progress but it's coming along. 

Oh btw, notice how empty the wall above the red buffet is, well... I used a Pinterest hint about using hot glue and safety pins to attach decorative plates to the wall and so I jumped on board. Figured that at least I could say I used one of the tuts I found on Pinterest. *wink* Anyhow, we're having dinner at that table with a young family in our church when we hear a terrible crash. We turn around to see that one of the plates had fallen and shattered all in the dish of fajita chicken. Are you kidding me? So I reverted to serving beef fajitas. Luckily they weren't in the vicinity when the next plate fell and shattered. So, thanks a lot Pinterest, you ruined my fajitas! I'm gonna try duct tape next time!

Anyhoo, happy sewing!!!

7 Free, modest Clothing Tutorials

I've been collecting some great modest tuts lately for the day when I get a burst of motivation and energy. These are really versatile tuts 'cause the length and sleeves can be added to to make them as modest as you'd like. Oh yea and best of all, they're FREE!

This is a great tutorial over at Merrick's Art. She's very thorough and look how cute it turns out. Love it!

Again, Merrick's Art has another awesome tut. Love this little Mod Shift Dress. 

There's a great T-shirt dress tutorial over at iCandy. This could be so versatile especially if I had one in black, khaki and navy!

I adore this super-easy top pattern over at It's Always Autumn. The possibilities are endless. I love that it's super easy to make the sleeves longer. 

Is this not the most adorable blouse! It's a man's dress shirt, no really! Adorable!

Guess what, the tutorial is free over at It's Always Autumn. 

Love this cute pleated skirt tutorial. The Socialite Skirt over at Elle Apparel is so cute. She's got a great tut for it so take a peek.

Love this maxi dress tutorial that I found over at Second Story Sewing. She used a sheet, so smart and cheap. 

I'm totally gonna make some of these as soon as that burst of energy comes along. I'm sure you're totally self-motivated and you're gonna be knocking these out in no time. 

Anyhoo, enjoy!!