Ten on Ten - December 2013

Well, I had big plans to take photos today.....or to post photos from the Christmas party last night.....or to at least post a tour of my Christmas decor.

But, since I'm on day 7 of a new job (really day 6 since we had an "ice day" last Friday), we have had some crazy icy weather the past few days and the annual Christmas party was at my house last night (first party in the house).......I'm completely wiped out, so you are just going to have to wait for a more extensive post later.....

New sewing machine

So, I asked you guys a few weeks ago if you had any recommendations for me for a new sewing machine.  I also put the question out on Facebook and got several responses there as well.


I ventured into a local machine/fabric shop 3 weeks ago and spent about an hour with Nancy who gave me lots of good information.  They primarily sell Pfaff and Babyloc machines, though have recently become a Viking dealer as well.  Her recommendation was a Pfaff.  German made. Solid metal construction.  A machine that will last.  Even though I went in asking about a basic mechanical machine, she showed me their base electronic line as well.  I walked out that day lured by the technology of the electronic machines, but just not sure I wanted to spend that much money.  That same afternoon, I headed to the Bernina store as those had also been highly recommended.  I didn't get the same good feeling being in the Bernina store, everything they carry is MUCH higher in price and they didn't even stock the machine I was most interested in.  Suffice it to say, I wasn't impressed.


So, after visiting JoAnn last weekend and perusing the electronic Viking machines, I headed back to The Fabric Affair, my local shop.  Talked some more, asked more questions. Still undecided.  Came home and spent some time on the phone with my folks and finally decided to stick to my original plan to get a basic, no major frills machine.  Even though I *think* I want to get into more projects, whether I do or not remains to be seen.  And this machine still does WAY more than my old one.  My old machine was a pioneer of the electronic machines, but has started to die and only will only sew straight stitches now.


Yesterday, after spending the morning playing in the park and visiting turtles/ducks at Northpark with Kelly, Adrian & David, I headed back the The Fabric Affair and pulled the trigger on my new machine.....the Pfaff hobby 1142.  At the store, Nancy unboxed my machine and taught me how to thread it and wind a bobbin.  Practiced a couple of stitches, then I was off and ready to go!


And today, I decided to break it in!  Sewed a couple of burp cloths for a girl at church. While I was out yesterday, I also picked up a few fat quarters of fabric to just play on.

So, here's to new projects!

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?

More baby burp cloths....

for baby Currey, gender TBA

for baby boy Norris

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!

Oh Baby!

This morning was our baby shower for my sweet sweet Kelly. It was so fun and easy to plan, decorate and execute! We went with a "vintage modern" style....polka dots, bright colors, and vintage toys/clothes were the thematic ingredients. Good food, friends and fun baby gifts. A great morning!













































































































































And, of course, another burp cloth project! Adrian is a rabid Steelers fan, so I thought it would be fun to include a special set of burp cloths just for him to use.

Burp Cloths

My friend Erin at work just had her second baby girl....she asked me to make her another set of burp cloths for miss Caroline.....so, here they are!

























I love these froggies!!




















Erin picked out this sock monkey fabric -- it is too fun! I bought extra so that I can make more of these in the future.

I must say a HUGE thank you to my friend Jaime for revolutionizing the way I cut out my fabric. She is a quilter and was working on piecing during our scrapbook retreat a few weekends ago. We talked about using the rotary cutter and mat for me to cut my fabric! I hadn't thought about that at all. I had been pinking the edges which probably wasn't doing as much good as I thought, plus it about killed my thumb - and I couldn't cut a straight line! So, this time around I used my rotary cutter and it was fantastic! So much better. So, thank you, thank you, thank you Jaime!!!