Business or Pleasure

Some nights I sit down at my sewing machine for hours on end. Once the evening gets late, I have to pull myself hubs has to pull me away from it so I can get up bright and early for my real job. Some days I think, “If I could only sew full time as my job!”

But, I’ll admit, sometimes I get bored with my sewing projects. I don’t particularly like making the same thing over and over again, and if it’s a large project, like a quilt, I will get tired of piecing lots and lots and lots of little pieces together. And I don’t particularly enjoy the photographing and listing part of Etsy. Some nights I’d rather go geocaching with hubs, work on a house project (if I’m feeling particularly industrious), or (most often) just binge watch Netflix. At these times, I’m thankful to have a job that I get to leave and not have to worry about again until the next morning. I like to sew, but it’s nice not having to sew. Somehow that takes the fun out of it.

All that to say, there are a couple sewing projects in the works, but I’m enjoying doing other things for now:

• Last night I baked my first pumpkin from our CSA and made pumpkin puree, which will shortly be made into pumpkin bread. A third of the puree ended up all over my kitchen floor when I was trying to bag it, but thankfully my dog has a gift for cleaning.
• I’ve gotten some good use out of my Netflix discs. As fast as I can get them, I’ve watched The Lone Ranger, The Great Gatsby, and The Book Thief (two literary adaptations – I’m not a bookworm in the slightest…), with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty on the way. And of course I’ve got my movie snacks. All great movies, by the way: The Lone Ranger greatly exceeded my mediocre expectations, The Great Gatsby was incredibly well done, and The Book Thief was beautiful if you’ve read the book (if not, it could seem disjointed).

• I’ve started running again (to make up for all the pizza, ice cream and soda :-D). I’ve dabbled at running in the past but never kept it up; the last time I ran was a 5K in May. So I’m starting over again with the Couch to 5K (C25K) app. I’ve finished the program once before and could run 30 minutes straight without feeling like I was going to die. Great app for beginners and/or out of shape folk like me.
• I started reading again. One of my loves as far back as I can remember, though it’s been a while since I delved into a good book. But I started I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, same author of The Book Thief. It’s…interesting so far.
• Spending time with friends – always worth putting sewing on hold. Gracious friends have fed me and kept me company while hubs is out of town. And I’m looking forward to spending this weekend catching up with my old college roommate, who recently moved just over the bridge in Maryland.

I do have a couple sewing projects in the works – some fall and Christmas (already?!) items that I’m really excited about. I’ll get around to finishing them at some point.

What have you been up to lately? If you could make your favorite hobby your job, would you still like it?

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Anticipation

We’re past the unofficial start of fall, and just weeks away from the official start. I am ready for pumpkin spice, chili, bonfires and boots. To welcome the change of weather I’m adding a few seasonal items to the shop this month. The first is a girl’s skirt featuring a lovely fabric in persimmon pink with an off-white forest silhouette from Moda’s Autumn Woods collection by Kate & Birdie Paper Co.

The skirt has a 2″ enclosed elastic waistband with an attached sash, and will fit a young girl, sizes 4 to 6.

Up close you can see the cute details of the forest life. This sweet little skirt will transition well from summer to fall – just add tights or leggings. Though the days are growing shorter and darker, this delightful skirt will keep your fall cheery and bright .

Treasure Hunting

A friend recently turned hubs on to geocaching, and we spent our Labor Day morning on the hunt. Check out the link for more information, but basically it’s a real life treasure hunt. Think National Treasure, minus Nick Cage, bad guys with guns, and the history lesson. But still, it’s super fun. It’s a rush when you find the cache. I’d heard of it a long time ago and thought it sounded cool, but I thought you needed a lot of equipment to do it. Turns out, all we use is an app on our phones that shows us all the caches around the city.

They are hidden all over the place and they come in all shapes and sizes. Our first try was a small cache down a hiking trail. You never know what you’ll find along the way – we found this terrifying animal den at the trailhead.

Thankfully nothing came out of it, and, through brambles and spiderwebs, we made it to the cache. If you go looking for a cache in the woods, though, be better dressed for it than I was – flip flops and shorts aren’t the best idea. The app will only get you so close and then you’ve got to find it yourself.

Next was an extra small cache in the middle of a parking lot.

There’s no gold in the end, just a log to sign showing you found it. Some of the boxes have little knickknacks that you can trade out with something of your own, but the hunt in and of itself is the fun. We enjoyed it, and I think we’ll be doing it often. There’s a few we tried but weren’t able to find, so I think I’ll want to go back and try them again. It’s an entertaining, free activity and, as fairly new residents of Salisbury, it’s helped us discover places we’ve never been before. There are bound to be some geocaches near you, you should give it a try.

What did you do for Labor Day? Have you tried geocaching before?

Just For You

This week I received two requests for custom orders. A friend asked me to make her two capes for her pre-K classroom, and an Etsy customer requested a size 5 toddler outfit in different fabric. My first go with custom orders was so fulfilling for my creative side: the customers had a specific vision in mind, and I got to make that a reality.

For the outfit order, she gave me a general color scheme and I found fabric options, then sent her pictures. Once she picked her fabric and elastic, I whipped up a skirt and bow headband set. The fabric she picked is so fun; it turned out to be such a cute set.

I really enjoyed making the capes because, seriously, who doesn’t want their own cape? They are double layered in poly-satin, one red with yellow underside and star appliqué, and the other vice versa. I was so excited to deliver them that I forgot to take pictures. Oh well. I enjoyed that this was a new project and it let me practice working with slippery fabric and appliqué. It was slow-going because I wanted to make sure everything went together well and looked good, but it was nice to do something a little different and stretch my skills.

Hubs keeps mentioning he wants a cape now, and I kind of do too. And with Halloween around the corner I’ve actually got an excuse to make some! Though, you have to keep in mind the invaluable warning from The Incredibles:

I don’t think I’ll be running into any missiles, jet turbines, or vortexes, so I should be good.

Don’t forget – back to school sale ends Sunday. Send your little one back in style. Check out what’s available at the Shop link in the top menu. Coupon applies to custom orders too!

Rainbow again

The last rainbow quilt I made got such wonderful feedback, I decided to make another.

This one is a bit different with a green and white polka dot binding, and backed with an aqua and white geometric print flannel. The days are growing shorter and I can already tell the fall is creeping in, so this flannel will be nice and cozy in the cools days to come.

In the shop now.

VBS Week

It’s been silent on the blog front recently because last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. I took the week off work and enjoyed helping teach our 3rd and 4th graders.

The theme this year was Space Probe. Here’s hubs, our Star Commander for the week, talking with the kids. Since I love sewing, it’s always fun to see the costumes, and I got to help make a few. Here’s another of our fellow astronauts.

I loved our space suits! It’s amazing what you can do with some painter’s coveralls, duct tape, spray paint, and a motorcycle helmet.

I still feel like I’m recovering from last week. It was lots of fun, but the change of pace from my normal days threw me out of whack. I had planned to get lots of sewing done last week, but none of that happened. Although, I do have another rainbow quilt and girl’s skirt coming down the pipeline soon, so keep an eye on the store for those.

All photos courtesy Nancy Anderson, our wonderful VBS photographer!

Back to School Sale

Can’t you just smell the new erasers and fresh crayons? Visit the shop to get your little ones ready to go back to school in style, or a happy for yourself – you made it through summer!

Just enter BACK2SCHOOL20 at checkout for 20% off your purchase for the entire month of August ($10 minimum purchase). I’d love to make something for you!

My Magic

I enjoy showing you my sewing projects, but here’s a look behind the scenes at the magic machine that makes it all possible – my wonderful, invaluable sewing machine: Janome HD3000.

Photo credit: SewVacDirect

I first learned to sew on my mom’s 30+ year old Singer. It was a good little machine, but time had taken its toll. When looking for a replacement, I made the mistake of buying a cheapo less than $100 machine from Target, which lasted less than a year before going kaput. For my next buy I knew I needed to do a lot of research before investing my money. While researching online, it was difficult to find reviews for machines that someone had had for a while. The reviews were all right out of the box. I wanted to know how machines stood up to frequent use over the years. So, for any of you looking for a new machine, here is my review of my Janome HD3000, going 3 years strong.

• I wanted a heavy duty machine because I work with a range of material weights and don’t want to have to worry about breaking the machine. I have never had trouble with different materials, no skipped stitches. (Note: using a sharp needle of the right size is also a must to prevent skipped stitches and broken needles.)
• As a lover of all things minimalist and efficient, this machine is organized beautifully. The top compartment hides the thread and bobbin winder, and has a place for needles and presser feet that come with the machine. There’s a bottom compartment that holds everything else.
• I love the diagram in top compartment is a quick reference for the type of stitch, foot needed, and stitch length/width setting. It’s nice to have it handy and not have to think about it, or pull out my manual every time.
• It has 18 stitches, though, honestly, I don’t use most of them. The stretch stitches come in handy for working with knits. I love the overedge stitch (#18) – it gives raw edges a finished look.
• The drop feed option is great to have available for doing free motion quilting.
• It has a free arm option that’s handy for working with smaller areas.
• It does have an automatic needle threader, though I don’t use it. I tried it a few times, and it worked most of the time, but it seems more of a hassle than it’s worth.
• I like the top load bobbin on this machine; I prefer it to a side load – from my experience it just causes less problems.
• I’ve never had any tension problems.It makes beautiful stitches.
• It did take me a little while to get the hang of the automatic buttonhole, but once I fixed my user errors, it works great.

I honestly have not had any complaints with this machine at all. If it were to get destroyed by some natural catastrophe today, I’d replace it with the exact same machine. If you’re looking for a new machine, I highly recommend you check out this one. It is an excellent buy, and it doesn’t require selling your first born.

Whether you’re looking for a new machine, or already have one, one tip I’d like to leave for you: clean out your lint! Make sure to clean every nook and cranny you can get to after every project, or more often for large projects, like quilts. I’ve talked with friends that have been sewing for years and say they still see experienced seamstresses overlook cleaning. Lint build-up can cause all kinds of problems with the inside of your machine. It’s not fun, especially when I’m in a groove and want to just keep sewing, but it’s worth it as cleaning will keep my machine in tip-top shape for years to come.

Now I am interested in getting a serger, so if you have one you love, please feel free to leave your recommendations!

New Items

I stayed quite busy and made it through last week on my own. I did manage to get some sewing finished too. I had some new fabrics to work with, and whipped up these little cuties. I was feeling these tranquil, cool colors – makes me long to get out to the beach soon.

All the outfits are great baby shower or birthday gifts. Check ’em out in the shop.