Only 10 days left!

Uhm... I'm beginning to think that my presents will be late yet again. Always seems to happen the year I decide to make gifts. I've got 2 skirts for the younger girls and both nephews' pjs waiting for elastic and hemming. I am still looking for the matching shirts for the skirts- I'll buy them tomorrow, hopefully. I have 1 purse cut and I keep flip-flopping on the fabric for the second. Now I'm thinking of doing pjs for the middle niece after all. Urgh... Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive day.

More?

So I pulled out the fabric for the bags for my older nieces. I think I'll be able to make them out of my stash. I'm planning a trip to the store tomorrow so I needed to be sure. Unfortunately I'll have to buy fabric for the little ones. My stash is so huge but not coordinated. Live and learn. I'm going to double check on the fabric for the nephews that way I can make this my last trip.

Of course I was checking out the projects at SewForum and someone posted their version of this pattern: moon shaped santa

I love it. Urgh... add another project, I just have to have it.

Well, not off to the best start

I didn't actually get any sewing done yesterday. Oh well. I did try to finish cutting out the skirts for the nieces only to realize I don't have enough coordinating fabric for all three skirts. So off to the fabric store I'll need to go. Hopefully I'll get to go on Friday, its just easier to go without the little one but with dh leaving on Saturday I'm not sure what would be the best- sew in peace or shop in peace. Uhm?

Oh- I just realized Project Runway is on tonight. Fun, fun.

Christmas Sewing!

Today is the day, I WILL start my Christmas sewing. I have an ever growing list of projects lined up for Christmas. I just realized today that I'll be gone for a few days next week, so that means I can't sew on those days, urgh.

Well, my plan is to cut, cut, cut then sew, sew, sew. Hopefully that will make things go faster. We'll see. Here's my list and plan:

1. the skirts for the little nieces- they're all getting the spiral skirt from youcanmakethis.com with matching embroidered tops. I'll do the tops while I'm working on the nephew's gifts.

2. The nephew's gifts- pajamas. I know so boring but they're boys.

3. Bags for the older nieces. The two older ones are getting the hobo bag from Indygo Junction and the younger one will get a messenger style bag.

4. Cloth grocery bags for brothers and sils without kids.

5. Ornament for Fiber Arts Exchange.

So those are the definite projects- I want them all finished by the 15th. Now if I have time before then I'm also thinking of adding some projects for my brothers and sils but we'll see. After the 15th, I'll start working on the projects closer to home:

1. Embroidered ornaments for fil & girlfriend and for sil.
2. Christmas outfit for crumb-catcher.
3. Pajamas for crumb-catcher and dh (if the ones I made 2 years ago don't fit) plus shirts to match (just embroidered tees).

I think thats all, again we'll see. The list doesn't look so daunting on the screen. Oh- I have to finish my coat this week so I can take it on my trip. I guess I'd better get to it.

No excuses

Now I remember why I never kept a diary, I forget. Don't get me wrong, I'm composing posts all day long- I just don't get them on the computer. Oh well.

Things have been busy around here. We hosted Thanksgiving here and all went well. My fil said the food was good but "different"- uh? Oh well, dh did the cooking so what do I care. I, of course, crafted for the event. I rushed out to Walmart the day before looking for some simple paper tablecloths. No luck, oh they had Christmas ones but no Thanksgiving. In fact I had to dig through Christmas stuff just to find some napkins for Thanksgiving- they were hidden with all the Christmas ones. Urgh... So I ended up buying 3 yards each of some $1 a yard fabric they had at Walmart. I cut them in half, serged and did a rolled edge on the cut edges. I think the turned out pretty good.

I also ended up using the runner that I was making for my brother and sil for Christmas- the embroidery on one end was crooked, and if anyone would notice- it would be my sil. The embroidery turned out so pretty, I'll use the runner.



What else? Oh my non-existent crumb-catcher got a turkey shirt. It was adorable.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

What a great 2 days!

So I decided to start this blog because I've been doing more thinking/talking about sewing than actual sewing. Wouldn't you know it, my DH came home on Wednesday and said "I'll take care of the non-existent crumb catcher so you can craft."- uh, wait don't bother saying it twice I'm outta here!

I got myself all cozy in my sewing room and made some serious headway on my coat and even got the Sandra Betzina top 90% done. Yipee.

This is the top- I finished the hems last night with the coverstitch feature on my serger but the pic doesn't show that. It was an easy top to put together. (Vogue 2980)

More importantly I worked on my coat- New Look 6736. I cut it out about a month ago and then decided to line it (pattern is unlined). I'm not sure what possessed me to try it but hey, I was feeling adventurous. I used the Threads article on bagging as a jumping off point.

Of course, being the one to want to complicate matters I also decided to quilt the lining with flannel- uh? Anyway, slowly the coat seems to be coming together. I have the lining and the outer coat done and attached. I'm going to put a pocket in the lining before continuing. Hopefully all goes well. Wish me luck.

the lining-














the outer coat-

joined up-


I'll do a separate post for the embroidery stuff I also got to work on.

Here I go!

How exciting. I'm finally going to get this set up. Give me a little time to figure it all out. My intention is to write mostly about my sewing and embroidery adventures. We'll see if I don't throw in a bunch of other stuff too. Stay tuned.