Another Project...Or Two

This one is neither stitching nor sewing, but sort of applies to both.
I have been sewing a little lately and needed a table for things like tracing out patterns since I'm learning to adjust them and such.

Now this table has been around the house for literally years.

We have used if for everything imaginable and actually have another one in use somewhere else.
It is really very sturdy and seemed like it would work well.   Ignore the stain on my ironing board cover please, it will not come out with washing and I am not ready to make a new one yet.
So it has two problems. The laminate is peeling, and it is too dark. I had to throw a white sheet on it when I used it because the table is brown, the pattern pieces were tan, and the paper I was tracing onto was white. I couldn't see the lines well at all and the white sheet underneath everything fixed that.
Determined to have a better solution for next time I bought some white contact paper to cover the table, first taping down all the icky laminate pieces. A word of advice, contact paper doesn't stick to this hardboard, or mdf or whatever it is called. The first piece went on really well I should have known this would mean trouble!

The first long piece:

Obviously the paper isn't as wide as the table. No problem right? Just overlap them and there you go.
Um, no. The second piece fought, argued, wrinkled, stuck to itself and me and just wouldn't smooth out. Pull it up and try again, same result, only this time it pulled at the piece I had it overlapping and got it all stretched and lumpy and wrinkled. Forgot to take a pic of that, sorry. Then I spent some time re-smoothing the first piece. After that I decided to to it in sections.

Small, manageable sections.
Which seems to have worked.
It isn't very pretty, but it was effective.
Here are a couple of pics with some sewing accessories to give you an idea of scale.

So over all, I'm not too disappointed. I did what I set out to do. I've just noticed you can see where I tossed the waded up paper in one of these pics. Oh well. I did put it properly in the trash shortly after.
I've already used it to take pics for my last blog post so it was well worth the time since I will get a lot of use out of it.







Project # 2:
Bias Tape. I've made it for quilts and bought it in stores for sewing projects, but I've never made it for sewing other than quilting. I've had this handy 1/2" bias tape maker for a year or two. I'd only ever used the 1" kind for quilt binding, but it worked so why wouldn't the 1/2" one? I was so confident it would that I decided to try this continuous bias binding. Before I've always made the strips and sewn them together so this looks good to me. I'd tried it once years ago from  seeing instructions on you tube or somewhere, but without the instructions in front of me I messed it up and forgot about it.



This time I opened up Colette's sewing handbook and followed those directions.

There is that stain again. I should have taken more pictures, but anyway it worked like a charm.
Until I went to use the bias tape maker.

I was really not pleased with the result. The fabric was great or I have doubts it would have worked at all. I think I might rather just press this myself, the old fashioned way, as this was pretty annoying and stressful. Perhaps I need another brand of bias maker, will have to research that. Meanwhile, the continuous bias was definitely a success. I may give the tool another chance with a different fabric, though this one was very nice. I must say, I now know why store bought bias binding is so starched. I think it would make it much easier, though really, I never recall having any trouble or needing that before.


I know I'm wandering a little from my usual stitching posts, but this is what I've been doing, as well as a little stitching. I hope you enjoy all of it just the same.

Oh, and there is quite a lot of that Contact Paper left. I'm think the shelves in the bathroom closet, but who knows where it will end up?


Happy Stitching Everyone!

Projects, Projects, and then more. . .

You get the idea.

Last week I started the black and white Mini Cheshire Cat I was RAK'd some time back. It only got one day though, so no pic. Life just got so busy.
It should look like this one of these days.

I've also added a tiny bit of stitching to QS Mystic Garden.

 

A bit of a dark pic but it was not bright out.

And here is a pic of the tablecloth that I forgot to post time before last. Only just begun.

I'd forgotten how it is to do a stamped pattern and I'm not sure if I am enjoying it or not, but so far so good. Have you ever done one of these? I used to do the pillow cases and table runners when I was a teen, and I have a pillowcase set unopened in plastic that I got on sale a while ago. That would probably be a bit more instant gratification than the table cloth.

Speaking of instant gratification, my husband and I went and picked me up a sewing machine on Sat. after mine broke down on Friday. Now we shouldn't have spent the money as we really didn't have it to spare, but in the interest of using what I've got I worked on my Taffy Blouse. I'll do a post on that soon. The sewing machine had to be inexpensive and had to be a Janome (New Home) if at all possible. I'm hooked on their quality. I found a pretty basic one I wanted, with great reviews from pretty much everyone, then realized it was still more than I could spend. So I resigned myself to looking at the ad for my local Hancock Fabrics and choosing something that was on sale in my price range. Lo and Behold, the very machine I was wanting. With sale and discount it was nearly one third off and that is what we bought. The Janome 8050 does not of course compare to the machine I had, that was, lets face it, well over a thousand dollars more expensive even years ago. But it is a nice little machine and so far I'm really happy with it. I will do a thorough review of it for those interested after I have played-er-sewn with it for a few weeks more. For now I'll just say it sews beautifully, and makes a nice buttonhole.

So I decided to whip up a quick hot mat with some paneled fabric I had, since we need some of these for placing warm things on the glass shelves of our refrigerator.  I did only the one today as an experiment and it is reversible with some poly batting.

Here are some pics of it.

 I added a loop for hanging at the last minute. I need regular sized hot pads for picking up hot things and coasters as well so maybe I'll try those soon.

Wow, this is getting so long. I still have to show you the table and my sad attempt with one of those bias maker things. I even took pics, but I think that I will save that for another day since I've let this one get a bit pic heavy and long. I did warn you I had a lot of projects going on! Can't seem to settle to one thing for long but it does relax me to be working on something so I'm making time when I can. A stressful couple of weeks and did I mention that on top of it all my dryer is acting up? Yep, definitely need the de-stressing time.

Happy Stitching to you all.

Karen

A Quick Update

Hopefully with another to come either later today or this week.

As many of you know my husband was in a car wreck in my car on Friday March 22. I am so grateful that he is alive and recovering. I thought I'd show you a pic of the car at the tow truck yard that I took last Monday when I went to release it to the insurance company. The sun was wrong and I couldn't see how the pics were coming out. This one shows some of the front damage and you can just get a peek of the air bags that deployed through the windshield.

The Jesus decal was put on just 3 days before the accident and though you can't tell from this pic, in another it is remarkably untouched. DH jokes he will put another on as soon as we have a car. We are waiting to find out today if it will be repaired or totaled. I pray they can repair it as it is paid for and I doubt I'd get anything in as good repair as this one. My poor sub-compact.

I'm not going to post the other pics, but thought I should say something and not just ignore the incident.
I normally try to only post projects and hopefully positive things and I count this one as a positive thing in that my husband wasn't killed or crippled etc.

Believe it or not, there have been other things going on. Dealing with still being unemployed, sewing the Taffy Blouse and having my faithful sewing machine (A gift from my mother 26-28 years ago.) begin to die right in the middle of it. My Memory Craft 6000 has always been there and I posted on Facebook that I was grieving for it, which is true. There has even been a little stitching!
I plan to get some pics on here and show you all of that very soon. I want to return to my regular stitching and sewing posts and not have any other drama to report!
Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who has been kind and offered prayers and words of support this week.

I hope you are all having Happy Stitching and enjoyed your Easter.

Stitching, Sewing, Resume-ing?

I had my last severance check last week, but have applied for a few jobs I'd really like this week, and so life goes on. One I'd love to have has called for two phone interviews and said they'd like to do a third this week. Alas it is Thursday and I haven't heard from them.

And so, in between putting in apps and submitting resume's (oh, and that lovely crack that appeared in the living room ceiling and had to be taken care of pronto) what other fun stuff have I been doing?
I found my camera. It was right in front of me! LOL. So typical.

I did finish my kitchen piece, as I told you in my last post. Hopefully this will be the first of either 3 or 4. Or who knows, maybe 5? I couldn't seem to get a good picture but this one will give you the idea.

 I had originally planned to make a hanging of them, with a pretty quilted border, but then got the idea I'd like to frame them. Unfortunately I didn't leave more than an inch and a half at the top because I thought I'd be making that hanging, so probably not enough space to frame prettily. Still, thrilled to bits to have finished the first one.

Now my embarrassing little bit of progress on the HAED Bulletin Board SAL.

The picture says it all I'm afraid.
My stitchy bug isn't gone, but wanders for days at a time only to return briefly.

I also stitched on my tablecloth a bit but completely forgot to take pics of that.

As to sewing, well, my sewing room isn't heated, so when it is warm enough I go in there to play-er-sew.
I absolutely have to show you a pic of my back vent. This is the same skirt I made before, only altered a bit at the waist. I love the fabric, which doesn't show true color in this pic your about to see. It is one of those really fine quilting cottons that are so difficult to find anymore, and that I can't normally afford. There were only a few yards of it on the sale table at, I believe, 80% off. I bought what there was and was able to squeak out this skirt. Here is the pic of the vent. I'm pleased with how well that came out, as my last one looked a little off.

The waist came out a little too large. I think I over compensated. The colors are much more rich and wonderful than what is showing here. This is Simplicity 2154, a great retro pattern, but the skirt is more of an A-line than the pencil skirt it looks like on the pattern cover photo, so be warned. The waistband is hand stitched and I hem-stitched the hem by hand as well. Who says I'm not stitching?

And lastly, a little glimpse of my next two sewing projects when the weather warms up again. Well, of the fabric anyway.

Not really true to color again. It is hard to get a good photo without the natural light. It gives you an idea though. The print is a lovely soft rayon and I am thinking of making the blouse from Colette's
Sewing Handbook with it. BTW, the book is less if you buy it from somewhere like B&N or Amazon. There are 5 patterns included in it.

Naturally that led me to think I should try the skirt from the book, with the pretty little scallops, out of the yummy linen/poly/rayon blend. They go together perfectly! And while that was unplanned they would also make a darling Easter outfit. I haven't had a new outfit or dress for Easter in years. But only if it warms up enough to get in there and work on it.

And that is about all for now.

Happy stitching my friends.

Short and Sweet

With more to come soon.

I've misplaced my camera and have to find it before I can do a proper update.

I've been stitching a little, but nothing outstanding. I finished my first kitchen piece!, and started my table cloth and taken a few stitches on one of the little kits from the stash I got earlier this year. I've put in a few stitches on the HAED Bulletin Board SAL, but nothing like what I had planned. Sewing and important life stuff has thrown me off my stitching for most of the month.

I've made 2 skirts and a shell top to go with them. There is a whole story behind that simple little shell. I've sewn endless blind hem stitches between the two skirts, (one on the bias, yuck) and as much on the shell since I hand hemmed it and then went back and blind hemmed all of the facings down.

Photo's of all soon with any luck.

And my big splurge this year (okay, it is me and it was 40 percent off plus my discount card), was this Ottlite with magnifier.

Fortunately I don't actually need the magnifier yet, but these things are supposed to last for years and I'm looking ahead to the future. I am not 100% satisfied with it. Apparently there is no way this model is able to hold itself up if you have both the magnifier and lamp leaned over a bit. It very slowly nods down and you have to prop it. For lamp only I can lean the magnifier back the other way and it acts as a balance and the lamp stays perfectly in place. Other than that it is perfect in every way. I decided not to return it (as I thought about doing shortly after I opened the box) after reading multiple reviews that it always does this on every one of this particular model and reading how satisfied others were with it even with this flaw. There is no way, I've read, to tighten it enough to make work properly without stripping it. Having worked with it for over two weeks now I can tell you that I'm happy I kept it and have already gotten used to the lamps one peculiarity.

I'm reading a ton of stuff lately and beginning to wonder if I don't want to possibly make all five garments from the Collette Sewing Handbook. It would be a sort of adventure. Especially since I'd have to alter the bottom halves of anything I made due to being one size larger from the waist down than I am on top. The book is wonderfully clear by the way. Basic pattern altering is described but if you need more there is always Sewing with Nancy's Pattern Fitting with Confidence, which would cover just about anything else you would need. Love both those books.

I've be reading a lot of fiction, or rather re-reading, from The Da Vinci Code (did this guy ever check his facts?)  to Jurassic Park. Also re-reading Elizabeth George's inspirational books. I have 4 or 5 of those and love them. At the moment I am reading her Putting on a Gentle and Quiet Spirit for the first time. Also reading a different sort of sewing book, mostly about knits, called Improv Sewing. Not sure about this one, mostly about knits and a lot of the projects can be found on the internet for free. I haven't given it a thorough read yet though, so I'm withholding judgement on it until I have.

Ok, enough for a short and sweet. I will get back to you with pics soon.

Happy Stitching everyone!
Karen

One Year Old! Warning, longish post.

Today is the first anniversary of my blog. I can hardly believe it has been a year already. There have been so many changes and so much has happened, and yet it has all flown by so quickly.

Just lately I've been putting off doing a blog post, mostly because I am embarrassed. Not because I'm not stitching or doing projects so much as because I've been very scattered about everything I am doing. My mojo comes and goes seemingly without a pattern.

This past week has been a big one! After not leaving the house for about 6 weeks we had our old truck running. For a few days. Now it has to go back to have the clutch worked on again on Thursday and we will be without transportation again. But meanwhile, Teresa and Molly sent me a surprise last week. I actually didn't get it until early Monday morning, the second HAED RAK glitch in a row. Here is the chart she sent me.

QS Butterfly Two. Isn't it the prettiest thing? I love the colors and now have to decide between it, and QS Blue Butterfly. I swear sometimes Teresa (Or is it Molly?) can read my mind. She actually sent it to me on the day we realized the truck wasn't right and would need more work. I was so down and just knowing I had a surprise coming peaked my interest. I couldn't wait for things to get straightened out so I could see what she had sent me. Thanks so much Teresa.

Also last week I was turned loose in the kits section and told to pick some out. Like, 200 dollars worth. I easily managed to stay way below that number (like way less than half) but here is a pic of what I did get. They were on a great sale.

Of course the daylight bulb is glaring on everything, so I'll describe. There are 2 beginner kits that come with pretty much everything including the hoop! I like the saying on both of these and have already opened one of them so expect to see some of it stitched up here soon. The third cross stitch kit is one I've seen a bunch of times and always meant to get Sleep till your hungry, eat till your sleepy. Love that pup in this one! Next is the Rooster Needlepoint kit. Partly painted canvas, but all of the borders are charted. Then, the one you can't see, which isn't a kit but one of those pre-stamped embroidery tablecloths.  I managed to find a pic.

And yes, I've peeked into it and found I have the colors of floss it calls for, so it will probably be a wip on here before long. I've always wanted one of the tables they show in this pic, so maybe by the time I've finished embroidering this I will have gotten one. Did anyone ever do those pillow slips they sell. I did those when I was younger and they were so much fun.

So other than gathering stash Karen, have you done any actual stitching. Well, yes, but not a lot really. There have been distractions. I made the one seam skirt. No pic, I tested it on some old brown corduroy never expecting to be able to actually wear it, but now I have this wonderfully warm maxi skirt that I've worn 3 times since I made it! I worked on my kitchen piece for the HAEDless SAL.
Progress:

Then the 2012 BB SAL from HAED. Progress:

A little Needlepoint that put me out of stitching for 4 or 5 days because once again I just had to try to go back to using a frame and messed my shoulder and neck up, again. You'd think I'd learn!

That is about all. I'm sure I've left stuff out but will get to it next time as this has gotten long.

Happy stitching my friends, and happy stashing!

New Start(s) and a Little Finish

After last weeks sorting of the books I started a little God Bless from one of them and finished it this morning. Here is a pic. I really enjoyed this quick little stitch. I've no idea what I will make it up into yet but something will come to me.

And in keeping with the sorting, and continuing on, I began on the cross stitch magazines. Not the knitting, crochet, or God help us, the quilting ones. Here is a quick snap I took of some of them. Not all by any means.

These range from the early 80's until 2009. Can't believe it has been that long since I bought a cross stitch magazine, but there you are.

In organizing some other things I came across these two needlepoint kits. I knew they were there but I'd sort of forgotten so I pulled them.

The cushion is wool and the hanging is floss and ribbon and such. I've begun the wool piece, let the DH choose which to start first. It is called Orchid Collage by Dimensions and is probably discontinued given how long ago I bought it.

The hanging, or picture if you prefer, is Cherry Blossom Beauty, The Gold Collection, Dimensions. It is even older (12 to 15 years) and I will have to work it very soon as the painting on the 18 ct. canvas appears to be fading fast.

There are no other kits, my stash is woefully small. There is one kit, that DH bought and never worked, cross stitch, with wolves. It is on black aida. Maybe I will pull that out one of these days. I had to frog a bit of it for him and he just sort of gave it up as he was just a beginner at the time.

And of course there is Frederick, that I got for my anniversary present last year to be worked on. I do enjoy a nice kit from time to time.

Still putting in stitches on the Mystic Garden here and there as I am doing the BB SAL on the HAED BB this week. I also need to work on my kitchen piece that I showed you before, but may wait for the HAEDless SAL for that. Or not. It has been a long time since I found myself enjoying these simpler pieces and I want to go with that.

Happy stitching this week my friends.