Tag : sewing

149 posts

Room refresh

It’s taken me a bit and is far from complete but I have finally starting the transformation of J’s room into a sewing room. The room is very small and we plan to keep the bed in there for now so that leaves less options for layout.

This was my first layout. It was ok but far from ideal.

This is how I currently have it arranged. It’s more functional but looks awkward. I still have issues with the desk space. The only place for a glass is behind the sewing machine. You may be able to see the empty coaster there.

Truth be told, besides the bed, there is still some stuff that J has yet to move. So I am working around that as well.

I have made use of the space though. These are a few journal covers I had rattling around my head. More to come on that as I continue working on them.

Also was making use of scraps I unearthed while rearranging. Years ago I wrote an article for Sew Somerset describing my process for these mini collages. Now the junk journal community calls them clusters. I can get behind the name change but the process is the same.

This bunch took me less than 30 minutes.

I’ve also started work on a paper bag book. I haven’t made one in probably 10 years. I kind of burned out on it. However there is a baby boom around work. I thought I’d try my hand at making a few instead of the typical gift of a cute little outfit that baby fits into for exactly 57 minutes.

As you might be able to guess…we are empty nesting again. We brought Mini-me back to college for Spring semester.

When we walked into her room we were shocked that her cactus had grown with no light for a month. No water wasn’t surprising…but no light?!

I snapped a photo out the window on the most boring part of our drive. There is about an hour of basically this view after you exit the interstate.

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Panda pillowcases

When I spotted some panda fabric at local quilting store I just had to grab it. Mini-me loves pandas. I thought I’d make her a cute accessory for her dorm room.

My neighbor has been making beautiful custom pillowcases for family and friends over the summer. I’ve been admiring her handiwork. I happened to be with her at this particular quilt shop and guided me on how much I needed to purchase for a set of pillowcases.

After giving me a brief verbal tutorial, she passed along the YouTube video tutorial she followed to create very professional results with French seams.

I tried to snap some photos along the way but honestly without the video, my photos may not make a whole lot of sense. Not being one to try to recreate the wheel…and really just wanting to get these made…I didn’t take enough photos to create a tutorial of any sort.

Sausage rolled fabrics that had me questioning my sanity.

I’m mainly sharing my images to of course show off the cute fabric, but also to show how crazy this process seems and how you may fear you are doing something wrong…but don’t worry…it all comes together in the end.

Again, this had me questioning my sanity…closing the seams with right sides out and raw edges exposed. All I have to say is, patience…follow the process…it will turn out right in the end.

I love this little detail. A small tab of contrasting fabric.

And here you have them…perfect French seam pillowcases…no exposed seams or raw edges. It’s a kind of magic especially when you think about the fact that I only sewed three lines of stitching, Crazy!

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T Tuesday: catching up again edition

Once again I’m playing catch up here on my blog. Spring definitely gets away from me. School gets more demanding as we near the end which leaves me too tired to do anything beyond feeding my family and preparing for the following day.

This spring we also have the added pressure of Mini-me graduating from high school! Stressing over whether or not there will be a graduation ceremony, a choir concert, grad parties, etc. And if there are…how comfortable do we feel about it. We finally got the answer to a couple of those question marks. There will be a concert but it will be single choirs to limit people and possible exposures. There will be graduation which will look similar to those in the past due to since our governor announced a step down in restrictions taking effect before graduation. This does make me nervous even though we are all vaccinated. Mini-me will not be having a graduation party.

Last week was an eventful one. Wednesday was my birthday…next year is a big one… I was spoiled by friends and coworkers with kind words and thoughtful gifts.  Thursday, Mini-me and I drove to Duluth to move J home from college for the summer. It was a quick up and back trip.

We had to take a quick detour into Canal Park before heading to campus…we love Duluth so much. I wish we could have spent more time there.

If you look closely there are two ships in this photo. The closer one is a “salty” meaning it traveled in from the Atlantic Ocean. The other one on the horizon is one of the Great Lakes fleet of ore boats.

I did manage to fix my journal. I plan to add some beads along the spine to cover the extra holes but decided that it would make the most sense to wait until the journal is complete.

Look at all the pretty papers! I can’t wait to start using it. I know my birthday cards and notes are going to have a place right away.

I have been sewing too..no surprise there. It is so satisfying to be making a major dent in my scraps. I have yet to decide if this will become a bed size quilt or a couple of throws.

I had to share the mug J bought for me. He said it was a combo b-day and mothers day gift. So sweet.

This summer appears to be getting more back to normal. Both kids have jobs…thank goodness! Mini-me will actually have two. J currently has two but his school job will end in June obviously and he will be able to put in more time at his internship. It’s so very exciting to see them both taking those next steps in life. Although I’m not even going to pretend to be completely ok with being “empty nesters” next fall.

 

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: worst quilt ever edition

You know what that means…I’m linking up with Elizabeth and the gang to share a bit about my week…or weeks as the case may be.

Worst quilt ever

I’ll just rip the bandage off quickly…this is the worst quilt I have ever made. At first glance it’s not terrible but if you keep looking you begin to see all the issues. And boy are there a lot of them.

The one thing that I do love is the no holds barred scrappiness of the quilt. No negative space or even plain solid to let your eye rest.  That was my intention. It’s the back that set the multitude of issues into play.

Oh it’s like a trainwreck…so many things went wrong. But I just wanted to finish this dang thing. I was like Dory from Finding Nemo…

Except it was just keep sewing, just keep sewing…

It’s not beautiful but it will still keep me warm and snuggly on the couch so it does have a bit of a redeeming quality.

I had to share the clever display case at school welcoming the kids back. So fun. There are signs all over the school letting the kids know how happy we are to have them back. I think they are really happy too! Today we welcomed back the second group of students as we are still in a hybrid learning model. So fun to see all those kids!  We did not get to go snowshoeing yet but I am still hopeful

My COVID vaccine that was scheduled for Saturday was delayed until next weekend due to weather affecting the supply chain. The weather has been absolutely insane everywhere it seems.

I leave you with my Bulldog mom mug. My bulldog is not coming home for Spring break. They only have two days off instead of a week. I’m not sure I’ll see him until he moves back home. *sniff*

I just realized I’m going to need a new mug next fall… That one will make me a cougar mom. Hmmm…that sounds a little funny. LOL

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: on my workspace edition

Two weeks in a row…can you believe it?!?! I really shouldn’t be that excited about that accomplishment.

I thought I’d jump in right away and show my crazy bad embroidery skill on my quilt label. Let me preface by saying this was completely freehand. I didn’t even draw with a pencil…just winged it…and frankly, it shows.

I decided to embroider directly on the backing piece so it was imperative that I did it before the putting the “quilt sandwich” together and quilting. Every time I get the backing, batting and quilt top out to square up on the floor and baste, my least helpful resident has to come be a pest. Needless to say I have not gotten it put together yet. Good thing I love that cat because he’s kind of a jerk sometimes.

My secondary workspace is beginning to be more cluttered, I need to work on that. You can see a small stack of fabrics that have been cut 2 x 3.5 inches. I’m still thinking that is too small to want to deal with. Time will tell. I have seen a couple really cute scrappy patterns using that size pieces. Maybe it’s just the cutting that is driving me crazy. So small…such a pain but I think it definitely could be worth the effort in the end.

Using my tea set pincushion as my drink reference for the day.

You may also notice another stack of cards…

I am still plugging away at my paper scraps as well. I did sort through and toss some junk though. I really thought I’d have made a bigger dent in it by now. I guess the takeaway there is I have a lot of stuff.

This week has us in a polar vortex. The week is packed with nose hair freezing, the air hurts my face, ice on the wall, tell me again why I live here kind of weather. The following week should be better. I’m looking forward to going snowshoeing in PE with the kids when they return to in-person learning. I’m probably more excited than they are. I love snowshoeing! So yeah…I guess I know why I live here…I love the seasons…all of them!

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: I’m still here edition

Hey there…glad you stopped by today. It has, once again, been quite some time since my last post. I had good intentions of posting more but the motivation to sit in front of another screen after doing it all day just wasn’t there.

I’m all about sitting  in front of my sewing machine though.

Now that all staff will be back in the building, my home office area can become a sewing station.

I pulled the quilt top I had previously completed out of the closet and have been working on revamping it a bit and creating a quilt back complete with a signature in a block. I’ll show my terrible embroidery skills when I get the quilting done.

This is what kicked me back into sewing mode…a big bag of scraps from a coworker. Her and her girls started a small business/side hustle sewing scrunchies then masks and now they have added aprons. She saves her off cuts and scraps  for me. So many fun bits of fabrics! I ironed every scrap and began cutting pieces for a scrappy quilt pattern I saw on Pinterest. The pieces are so small…I am having a bit of regret. I may just set that stack aside and use it for something else.

Speaking of Pinterest…this was really weird. I was scrolling through Pinterest on my phone during my lunch. For those not familiar with how Pinterest works, if you don’t specifically search for something the site picks things it thinks you’d be interested in based on previous things you’ve looked at and things people you follow have posted. So like I said I’m scrolling along in my “for you” pins and I see these…

Those are my own projects. Things I had blogged about and pinned forever ago. So weird seeing your own creations like that. “hey we think you’d like this…” ah yeah I would, I made it.

So what else is new…hmmm… J is back up at college for Spring semester. He is happy to be back even though he has different roommates and a different apartment(a nicer one in my opinion). Even though most of his classes and his tutoring job are online, he has one course with a lab component so he had to be there in person. Unlike Mini-me who got a lab kit to bring home.

She extracted DNA from blueberries right in our kitchen. It’s actually a really fun lab that I do with my 7th graders.

Speaking of Mini-me…she was invited to participate in a competitive scholarship by the University will be attending in the fall. She got 2nd place which is basically half of her tuition paid each year plus a one time stipend to be used for approved study abroad, supplies or research. We are so incredibly proud of her…she works so hard and now all of that hard work is playing off in a very big way! I could continue to gush about her recent accomplishments but I really don’t want to be that mom.

All staff went back to school today. This is my new look when working in person with kids…super fun. I am on the list to get my first COVID-19 vaccine. I had to pass up my first opportunity since I had just gotten my Tdap vaccine. Of course, getting the COVID vaccine will not make the mask and shield go away this year. I was actually surprised once I had it on my face and starting working, it didn’t bother me like I thought it would. My only real issue is the need to push up my glasses regularly….not easy.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: turtle shell edition

I can’t even begin to tell you how long it has been since I have even considered posting or even visiting other blogs. I have been “turtled up” so to speak in my shell. Sometimes I feel the need to do that. When things are out of my control or I feel I have nothing positive to share. At times like that I often turn to my art to walk me through. Other times, it’s all too much.

I finally felt the drive to create. Maybe because things are starting to look better. We still have a long way to go but I’m trying to see the silver lining. I think COVID is really starting to weigh me down. My emotions are raw. 

Regardless…I made art!  It felt amazing. I wish I could get that into my head when I’m feeling down. Art this good therapy. It’s just like exercise…I feel so much better after I do it…it’s just the getting out there and doing it that is the challenge.

So what else have I been up to? I made a few more masks for both my family and commissioned orders for kid sizes.

I’ve also been making pretty envelopes in hopes of sending out purchased items from my Etsy store inside. Of course I’d have to get a few more things listed for that to actually happen. Baby steps…

I had a health scare almost a month ago now which I believe sent me into my proverbial turtle shell. All is well on that front though. I went back for further tests and got the clean bill of health.

Mini-me has committed to her college of choice for next fall. We will be empty nesters with kids almost 3 hours away in different parts of the state. So crazy. The thought has given me very mixed emotions. Can you tell I’m extremely emotional right now? It’s not my usual state of being. I am usually quite stoic. I’m Norwegian…it’s the way we are made. But I feel as if I’ve been running on adrenaline and now I’m crashing.

As usual. I dressed up for Halloween at school.

What else made sense in a pandemic but to be a doctor?!

School continues in-person for me so far. I can’t imagine it will be much longer before we go to distance learning though…at least for a time. Exponentially more positive cases and self-quarantines every day. 

One of the things I do when I’m stressed is starting purging things. This weekend I tackled my clothes. I’ve lost 20 lbs and it was time to get rid of the old, the ugly, the ill-fitting, the “why did I ever buy this” and the vastly out of style. Amazingly, I still have a ton of clothes. Nothing super cute but we aren’t going anywhere now anyway. The time will come and I will buy myself something cute. I may do a bit of thrift shopping between now and then to fill in some gaps but the thought of going into stores to browse doesn’t thrill me. I’m shopping out of necessity only these days to stay safe.

In keeping with the rules…here is the obligatory beverage alongside a yummy open faced bagel with cream cheese and lox. 

Another day of school is in front of me followed by my at-home teaching day.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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