Meet My New Friend!

I'd like to introduce a new friend of mine....Suzie...Suzie Singer....my new sewing machine! Travis got it for me for my birthday back in April. I was totally surprised. I had been wanting to get a new machine, not to replace my old one, but just to have a variety of stitches. See, my other machine, Kathy Kenmore, was my Mom's first sewing machine and she passed it on to me. I love it, it's great and I'll never part with it, but it definitely lacks in the extra stitching variety. And now I'm doing more that it would be beneficial to have more stitching to choose from. So here she is, Suzie Singer. Travis actually went to Joann's and spoke with a little old lady that showed him all the models and persuaded him from a machine offering 35 different stitches to this sweet momma machine that offers 90 something different stitches. She was one good saleswoman. It was so sweet that he took the time to really figure out what would best fit me and that he knew enough about me and what I can and like to do that he was able to tell this lady and she helped him choose the best machine for me. I can quilt my quilts with this big momma! How about that! Isn't she beautiful. I think this is going to be a beautiful friendship.

This is a shot with her extension table on it....it was much larger than I had expected from looking on the box before I opened it. I still can't believe I have a machine I'm going to be able to do quilting with...so happy!

Now, I couldn't make this post without introducing you to my old trusted friend, Kathy Kenmore. She was my Mom's first sewing machine that my Dad bought for her. All metal...heavy...one solid machine...she can sew through anything. I rarely have problems from her...and when I do, I find out pretty quickly that I'm actually the problem not her.

I just had to get a shot of this...these are the peddles to my machines. The one on the left is obviously the one that belongs to my old trusty Kathy Kenmore and the other on the right belongs to my new friend Suzie Singer. I took this just to show you how different they are. Kathy's peddle is completely metal and Suzie's is all plastic....amazing. Oh and the electric tape you see on the left does belong to Kathy's peddle and there is a story behind it. When Avrie was about 3 years old, I was on the phone with a friend and he was suppose to be in bed, but I found out quickly that he wasn't when I heard a loud pop and saw a spark come out from under the table where I was sewing....he cut the cord while the machine was plugged in and on. Talk about freaking out! By the grace of God, he was holding onto the scissors just right to not get killed...the scissors didn't survive though...they were damaged and deemed unrepairable. So as you can see, I will forever have a reminder of that frightful moment.

This here is Kelly...Kelly Kenmore...a relative of Kathy's. She was a gift from Grandma to the kids. Surprisingly she sews great. The kids love it and are eager to learn how to sew.

Yes, I admit it, it is strange to name your sewing machines...it's probably even more strange that I talk to them :o)

2 Gifts - Under $10

Avrie had a birthday party to go to last weekend. It was a double birthday party at that...a brother and sister share the same birthday (1 year apart exactly!) so they both celebrated their birthday's with a Star Wars theme...they both are big fans. Avrie was obviously a guest of the young boy, but he wanted to give them both a gift since he's friends with both of them. He is such a sweet boy. Anyway, for the gifts, he decided he wanted me to make them each a shirt with their favorite Star Wars hero silhouette on them.

First, I had to buy the t-shirts...I went to Target and got them both, gender appropriate, white t-shirts for $4.00 each! Great price! Then, we had to find pictures of these heroes (Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi) online to trace a silhouette. Here are the ones he chose...this is after I copied and pasted them to Word and then made them the desired size, printed them, and cut them out. He also used these to decorate the cards he made for them.

Here is the boy's shirt with Anakin Skywalker...Avrie chose red fabric because it is his friends favorite color. For both shirts, I just traced the above figures onto the fabric, cut them out (again), and then stuck the fabric figures to pieces of steam-a-seam and cut them out one last time :o) Then it was easy cheesie from there. I placed them where I wanted them on the shirts and ironed...presto!...they are permanently adhered to the shirts.

Here is the girl's shirt with her favorite hero, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Her favorite color is sky blue so Avrie picked this fabric out for hers...if you look closely, you can see that the fabric is even girly...it has little flowers all over it.

There you have it....two gifts under $10.00! The only thing I had to spend money on was the t-shirts...totaling $8.00 for both and the rest of the supplies I had on hand (small piece of fabric and a sheet of steam-a-seam). I enjoyed making them and Avrie enjoyed giving them. It was sweet to see him be so aware of others and their interests, enough to make them a personalized gift. It was fun to help him make his ideas come to life.

Transformed Thrift T-Shirts

I got the idea to do these while browsing the blogs I follow. The blog that inspired these is Max and Ellie. Here is their link: http://maxandellie.blogspot.com/ The girl's t-shirt design came from them and Avrie's t-shirt design was his own idea. I made templates of the designs with paper and then cut each separate section of the design out, next I cut each section out of the fabric, then I placed the fabric design on my steam-a-seam paper and cut around them....finally, I placed them on the t-shirt (they stick with the steam-a-seam) and once I had them where I wanted them, I ironed them to the shirts. I could have just left them that way, but I decided to stitch around them...using zig-zag on the cupcake (very difficult...need some more practice) and regular stitch on the other two designs.

There is one more thing I need to tell you. These were t-shirts purchased at a thrift store sidewalk sale for .25 cents each....now they are transformed. This would be a good idea to use to cover up stains too...the possibilities are endless.

Emma wanted a "pupcake"...

Here's a close up...

Elise chose the tree with a bird...

And here is Avrie's creation. He wanted snake eyes...so we searched the web and I traced one off my screen and this is what he wanted.

Hankie Quilt Progress

My supplies are as follows:

Old Hankies - at least 58 of them

13 yards of bone colored fabric for the front

13 yards of taupe colored fabric for the back

13 yards of Warm & Natural Cotton Batting

20 yards of Wonder-Under to adhere hankies to squares for extra security during sewing

2 - spools of cream thread (1000 yards)

Handy Dandy Rag Quilt Scissors to snip the edges around each square after assembling

Here are some up close pictures of a few of the first eight squares I have finished. And then a couple more of them lined up to get an idea of what they will look like. I will need a total of 56 squares for the quilt itself, and then two extras to apply to decorative pillows. So, that means 8 squares down and 48 squares to go! Everything is fairly easy, but some things are quite time consuming...such as the large amounts of cutting, cutting the Wonder-Under for each hankies and ironing it on and applying it to the squares of fabric, and the stitching around the fancy edges of some of the hankies...extra care must be taken. I'm so glad I decided to use an adhesive to secure the hankies to each square. I believe sewing them onto the squares would have been much more difficult. I think the hankies would move without it.

I think it is going to be beautiful when it is all finished. Especially when the taupe colored fabric on the back is outlining each square. Can't wait...I'll keep y'all posted on the progress!

My Most Recent Creations...

Here are my most recent creations...

I finally finished the girl's piano bags I had cut out long before their birthdays in November. Their grandma ended up sending piano bags to them for their presents though...so I was in no big hurry to get them done. Now they just have an extra bag to tote their books and things around in. I thought it was going to be difficult to sew, but it ended up being rather easy. The hardest part is cutting everything out....it just takes so much time. Sewing them took no time at all. They love them!

Here is what I call a "sword sheath" or you could call it a "verse purse". I have always desired to take the advice to write Scripture that I want to memorize on index cards and keep them with me throughout the day to refer to and memorize...well...that suggestion is great and all, but not real practical for me considering I don't usually have any way of keeping them on me because I wear stretchy pants so often...I like to be comfortable :o) So, in an attempt to fight against the sin that so entangles me daily, I have thought of a more practical way for me to "keep His Word with me"..... and since The Word is referred to in the Bible as a "sword" that is where I came up with calling it a "sword sheath". I just wear it like a necklace throughout the day. I just used old jeans I cut up, ribbon, and added a little bling to dress it up a bit. I also thought, if you didn't want to go through the trouble of making something like this, you could buy one of those things you can wear around your neck that has a clip hanging from it and just attach the index card(s) to it and then you could just turn it around and look at it easily. Where do you get these little "things" I'm referring to? I don't know...good question. I am on a quest though and will share if I find what I'm talking about.

This here is an owl adhered to a long-sleeve onesie. I got the idea from another site...but the owl was on sewn coasters. I just bought some fusible web (Steam-a-Seam...you can get it cheapest at Joann's or from Hobby Lobby) and used it according to the directions. I cut out my owl first, without hemming any edges, and followed the directions of the webbing. It makes a permanent bond so the fabric doesn't fray. I love it! I can't wait to make other things using this idea. You can use this fusible web on fabric, paper, and more... I can't wait to make birds, elephants, flowers...oh my just so many options... Good craft idea for kids too! Mine will sure enjoy this.

That's it! I will share more as I create....

Gifts Made with Love

I just thought I would share the gifts I made for friends and family this past Christmas. Hope you enjoy and become inspired to create something yourself...

Here are two painted stain glass pictures I made for two of my nephews. I used 11 x 14 picture frames, glued the glass in with E6000 (the greatest glue ever), found the logos online, printed them and traced them onto tracing paper...next I taped the tracing paper under the glass and following the image I began outlining the image with liquid leading...I let that dry overnight and then with the stain glass paint finished it. I really like how they turned out. They were my first attempt at using stain glass paint. My mother does large windows and such...she was my inspiration for these gifts. I'm so grateful for her talent that she willingly shares with me.

These next two photos are of the bath salts my dear friend, Jessica, and I made together. Some are Lavender, Lavender Vanilla, or Orange Vanilla. We put them in these practical containers purchased from Hobby Lobby (Jessica's great "sale" find). I printed labels on card stock and decorated them with ribbon and vintage jewelry. A simple soothing smelly good gift.

Next are the tin can lanterns. These are great! They don't look pretty unlit, but when the lights are out and they are lit...they are beautiful! I wish I had a fireplace mantel to line different sized ones on top of and light at night. I did mostly circles as the pattern...only a couple did I do stars, but you could do us about anything. I started by printing out the different sizes of shapes and cutting them out as templates to use. I positioned them where I wanted them on the cans and made dots outlining the shapes using a sharpie marker (don't do a solid line). Then I filled them with water, froze them, and once frozen I was able to use a hammer and nail to punch the holes. You can make the holes as large as you like...then once your done hammering you can melt the ice cube in them dry and presto, you have a tin can lantern.

I came up with the idea of making rubber band guns for the boys and their dads. I was inspired by Travis and Avrie setting up army men and using rubber bands to have a battle. So, I searched for ideas of how to make one. I used a dowel rod, clothes pin and glue. Of course I painted them and put their names on each one, but that wouldn't be necessary. I just tend to go over the top. I purchased each person a different color of army men. Then I had the idea to make a bag to hold the items all together. With my abundant supply of fabric I had plenty to work with. I bought a camouflage t-shirt from a thrift store for 25 cents and used it on the green bags....then not having any camouflage print to go with the red and blue bags, I decided to go over the top once more and create my own using white and light blue fabric and sharpie markers. I'm sick I know. So, when all was finished, each person had a bag with their name on it, a rubber band gun, a supply of army men and a bag of size 30 rubber bands.

For my 14 year old nephew, I made a message board out of an 11 x 14 frame without the glass...I covered a piece of foam board, tacked it in and covered the back with brown paper bag paper to hide the mess. I bought some tiny clothes pins for him to use to attach his pictures and keepsake things. Then for giggles, I put some old pictures from him growing up and his mom with she was a teenager :o) This was an easy to make gift and it was fun to pick out the fabric and ribbon.

This here is a little girls skirt that I turned into a purse. I lined the inside with a lighter green fabric and used corduroy pants I cut up for the handles. I really liked it when I made it...still do, but then I made the next three used little girls jean skirts. These though I didn't sew up the bottom, but made the inside and attached only from the top...that way the skirt look was still there. Then I used the same fabric and made the straps and appliqued each girl's first initial on the front to match. I really like the jean skirt ones!

Well, that's it for Christmas gifts. I've got a plethora of ideas for gifts this next Christmas. I am in the process of getting started....gathering materials and deciding what to do for who! I love making the gifts that we give. I'm so thankful to the Father for providing the means to do so and for giving me the ability to be creative. The options and ideas are endless.

Along with getting started on Christmas gifts, I am also going to begin to make me a new quilt for my bed. The first one I made (took me five years) is falling apart slowly. We have had it on our bed for almost four and a half years, but my desire it to pass it onto one of my children some day and it won't do much good in pieces....so let the challenge begin!

For this next one, I had the idea of making a rag quilt, but I also wanted to use my old fancy hankies somehow....so I am going to attach a hankie to each square and go about it the same way as a regular rag quilt. I chose a light cream color top fabric for each hankie to be attached to and a taupe for the backing. I chose neutral colors to not take away from the beauty of the different hankies. I can't wait to get started. I will post pictures of my progress.