Sewing Machine Recommendations?

This question is for all my sewing friends.....posted the question on Facebook as well, but I'm guessing I have a different audience here in blogworld.  

I'm in the market to replace my dying Singer (that was my grandmother's). I need a basic, reasonably priced machine - preferably not computerized. I'd like it to be sturdy with metal parts and gears inside (if possible) rather than made full of plastic. I don't need lots of fancy stitches and want one that is easy to operate/maintain that has a good track record and will last a long time.  Mom & I saw a demo of a Husqvarna Viking machine at JoAnn that seemed like a good option, but I'm trying to cover all my bases. 

Suggestions?

Project

No Ten on Ten today......didn't remember until well into the day that it was even the 10th and by then I just didn't want to take more pictures of my desk.  September 10 is on a Saturday, so maybe I'll be motivated that day.


But, I did want to show off a project that I finished up tonight.....cupcakes in a jar!




The inspiration for this project came from my sweet friend Kelly ..... she made these fun treats as hostess gifts for her church wedding shower several years ago.


Why was I making them you ask?  Well, a few months ago I was invited to join the donor council at the blood donor center where I routinely donate platelets.  It is our job to help promote our donor center and support the staff.  Tomorrow night, in lieu of our monthly meeting, we are providing dinner for the blood center staff and I signed up for dessert.  Thought it would be fun to do something creative and unique.  


Up next.....vacation photos from beautiful (and cool!) Canada.

Peeps Cupcakes

So, I'll probably never be a great food photographer....especially not in my kitchen at night with the funky lighting.  But, I wanted to share a fun treat I put together this evening.  I ran across a fun post last week that looked pretty easy.  We are having a potluck at work tomorrow for lunch, so I decided to experiment.  Made the cupcakes last night and then tonight's project was the decorating.  My icing probably wasn't quite thick enough because my grass is more like spaghetti, but it tastes good so who cares?!

(and thanks to my co-worker Stephanie who loaned me her fancy cake taker with cupcake trays.  it all fits so perfectly!!!)

More baby burp cloths....

for baby Currey, gender TBA

for baby boy Norris

Party debrief

The week before Thanksgiving, I bought a new toy - a Canon EOS Rebel T1i.  I had a Rebel film camera years ago and enjoyed taking photography courses in both high school and college.  I'm excited about picking up the hobby again.  And I love digital cameras for the ability to snap and snap and snap....and then delete, delete, delete!!

Here are selected photos of my decor .......

Last night was my annual Christmas party....the 10th annual to be precise.  I was thinking back over the years and though I was in my apartment for 7 years, I only had 5 parties there.  I've been in my house a little over 4 years, but due to the timing of my move, this was the 5th party in this house!  Kinda hard to believe.  

Because I'm a nerd, I've kept up with the stats from all the years -- I had 43 people in attendance last night, which tied for the second highest attendance year ever.  I've averaged 33 per year over the last 10 years and have had 140 different individuals in attendance. It is a lot of work, but last night I remembered why I do it -- I can facilitate community among friends and they look forward to the various goodies that I put on the table each year.

 Here is a peek at the table setting.....sans food.

  
Yummy sweets and treats

savory offerings, veggies and dips

and the aftermath.....

I managed to fix a huge plate of treats to take to the office and have leftovers of some of my favorites.....crab dip, sausage balls (they go so very well crumbled into a poached egg - as long as the yolk is still runny), forgotten cookies, puppy chow.  

Sunday afternoon

My mom is an excellent seamstress. She made all kinds of clothes for us when we were young, has made many a curtain, is now into making bibs and high chair pads for miss Emily and still makes herself clothes on occasion.

She taught both of her daughters to sew. #2 daughter seems to have really caught the bug and makes all kinds of fun things. #1 daughter (that's me) struggles to do anything more complex than straight seams. I can do the very basic steps, but I just don't enjoy it all that much. I have started making burp cloths for friends when they are expecting, but really don't have any desire to do much more.

A couple of weekends ago, Heather and Emily came in for a visit. We decided since they were coming without Phillip and could bring his pickup, and my parents were going to be here the very next week, that it was time for Emily's big girl bed to find a home with them. In the past few months she has climbed out of bed a few times, so this way, when they are ready for her to graduate from the crib, she can just put the bed together and be done. This trundle bed was my first out of the crib and was Heather's bed all through growing up. It moved to Dallas with me as my guest sleeping in my apartment and has lived in my office as secondary guest sleeping in my house.

When I first moved to Dallas, mom made me a valance that matched a t-shirt quilt I had made. I lived with that for a while and then decided to redecorate my guest room/office in my apartment. We got overly ambitious with our plans and I made a tab-top denim valance. All I can remember is my fingers about falling off while I tried to sew the buttons on those tabs through what seemed like 87 layers of fabric. It was cute (still is), but was very challenging for me.

When I moved into my house over three years ago, I didn't quite hang the curtain rod high enough and the top of the blinds had been showing through the tab gap. This, of course, was on my never-ending list of things to fix. Never got around to it. Now that my office is no longer a secondary guest room, I decided it was time for a new valance.

While Mom was here last week, we went to JoAnn and found some perfect fabric. Then spent probably 45 minutes trying to write out a "pattern" with measurements for me. Today, I took the plunge to cut, piece and sew the valance. Seems like it took way longer than it probably should have - maybe it didn't. But that 3.5 hours felt like forever. I had issues getting the fabric cut straight and even, but in the end, only lost 1" off the length. I call that a success!!

I can't easily find photos of the previous curtains, so you'll just have to enjoy the new ones!

Weekend

Who ever said the weekend was supposed to be restful?

So, last night I decided to go ahead and start painting that trellis from last weekend....it was as close to cool enough as it gets in August in Texas, so I set up shop in my garage. See those nifty things under my trellis? Folding, plastic sawhorses! So great. I've been *needing* sawhorses for a while - they just make solo projects so much easier. But, I didn't want to buy big heavy bulky ones. And I think my grandpa made my dad's eons ago - I sure didn't want to do that (or even know how!). So, when I saw these, I knew it would be exactly what I needed.

Another recent find is these Tornado hooks that screw straight into drywall without having to use anchors or find studs. Perfect for my garage. I got a hook for my push broom several weeks ago and it is perfect. So, when I bought my sawhorses, I went looking for hooks to hang them on the wall....voila! Perfect size. Measured the span that would be right (used painters tape to get them reasonably level) and hung them while I was waiting for paint to dry.

See how perfect they are hanging up?? This is why I have a garage. Plus, of course, to house my car.

The other project of last night was to illuminate my gazebo. I've flirted with the idea of hanging lights for a while. Even bought a ton of cuphooks last Christmas intending to hang lights out there (because that is how lights are hung on my parents' house). I abandonded that idea as too labor intensive. Finally, after seeing some cute dragonfly lights on my friend Cindy's patio hung with staples, I decided to just bite the bullet. So, I bought some basic round lights and stapled them up around the perimeter. Yes, I ended up with slightly more length than I needed, but I just pulled out the bulbs from the doubled over section and have them as spares (which is good because I did break one while hanging them!). Ever try to hang lights by yourself? Thank goodness for a long extension cord and electric staple gun!

I also decided to hang one row of cuphooks on the front and use that for seasonal fun lights....these little chinese lanterns jumped out at me and I couldn't resist. I'll probably see what fun lights I can find at Christmas time - and might even see if I can change out every other bulb in the regular string to be red or something.....we'll see.

And on to the fun of today. I unintentionally woke up early and just decided to get up. So, I was out the door about 8:30 to run some errands and find what I could find. Lowe's was the first order of business. I've been wanting a hammock to hang between the two posts in my yard for a while....found one (on sale 50% off!) and got it home, but it was too big. Boo. So that goes back to the store.

Then down to Target to get another string of lantern lights - one wasn't enough. En route to the estate sale that was the ultimate goal, I found a thrift store and scored several treasures. A set of white shelves that are very sturdy - the openings are about 15x15x6 and it is about 30" high. Could be great scrapbook paper storage, except that I have mine stored in other ways. Basically, I don't know how I'm gonna use it yet, but for $4.94, I couldn't pass it up. I also got a pair of ice cream sundae dishes for $1.91.

The estate sale was a bust, but as I was driving aimlessly pointed in the direction of home, I stumbled across many more garage sales. I don't usually stop just because of the hassle of in and out of the car and I'm usually on more of a mission. But today, that was my mission. I found a couple other treasures - a fun snowman to add to my collection for $2 and a ribbon plate for $1. Plus I bought a book for 50 cents.

Once home, I unpacked all my treasures, hung the second set of lights, tried to hang the hammock (which required a trip back out and all around town because I didn't have the right hardware), repackaged the hammock to return, painted part of the trellis and salvaged boxes with chalkboard paint, painted a spot on the bathroom ceiling that was damaged when I had a A/C vent installed earlier this summer, and unloaded the dishwasher.

Now, I am gonna go season my steak for dinner, then chill for a while.....probably pay some bills and maybe run a load of laundry. Maybe I can rest tomorrow afternoon!!

Sunday finds

After church today, while killing time before a wedding shower, I ducked into one of my favorite shops, Junkadoodle, that I, of course, discovered through my friend Kelly.....it isn't antiques, it isn't quite junk, it is just fun stuff that has been repurposed or reclaimed to serve whatever creative juices are drawn in. I've been thinking for quite a while that I needed to do *something* over my sofa in my living room. I already have a big mirror on the other end of the room by the dining table, plus the whole facing wall is windows. Artwork, shelves for knick-knacky stuff, .....nothing was striking me. Plus I kinda hate to be too stuck on a color palette.....

So, when I saw this reclaimed trellis, I knew instantly that it would be perfect. I need to decide if I am going to paint it -- I'm afraid it would just blend into the creamy walls right now (and I'm not up for painting my living room at this point).....so the dilemma over color begins to rage. Freshen up the white? I've got brown paint left from my office re-do last summer ...... I've sent photos to Kelly to get her take as she is often my decorating guru, but I'm gonna throw this out there for you as well...... any thoughts??

Then, while driving home, I swung down a street in my neighborhood to check out a "HUGE SALE" -- it wasn't all that. BUT, on the way down the street, I saw these interesting items out for the bulk trash pickup. I stopped, got out to examine, and folks, these are some prime boxes. Sturdy and in extremely good condition. Could be transformed into shelves, toy boxes, planters.....who knows?! And for free? You know I had to pick them up. So, while I've got you brainstorming......any ideas? I'm thinking possibly planter(s) on the front porch, but I'm not sold on that yet......

Well, I think I'm off to put away clean laundry and then relax for the remainder of my Sunday before that ugly "W" word comes back into play tomorrow.....

Emily's birthday

Spent the past weekend out in the country to celebrate Emily's first birthday.....can't even believe it has been a whole year already!  Enjoy a glimpse into our Saturday!

and for those interested......here is what I made for Emily's present.....a repurposed cardboard box.....and of course, it was full of toys and clothes! :-)

Decorated shelves

These shelves were much harder to fill than I thought they would be. I guess they are just smaller/narrower than in my head. And no, I never did actually measure them first! But I think it turned out well! Feeling a little like the bottom shelf could use something else, but I don't know what.

From a distance.....thinking that I probably don't need anything above either!


























Bottom shelf, up close

Top shelf, up close

Both shelves, up close

another project

so, I had to wait until the gift was given to show this.....it was another project that I worked on at the scrapbook retreat a couple of weeks ago.....

the embellishments say: "always", "now and forever", "seize the day", "just the two of us" ...... the a & k are for adrian and kelly -- and R is the new last name

it was my first mod podge experiment and I must confess, it was a success! so easy and so fun.....