I seriously should get like a Bad Blogger award or something. I really have the best intentions to keep up with evertying here, especially with as much crafting as I really do, because I do a ton…

Note to self- work on this.

I’ve been working a ton on the blanket. I think I’ve gotten 57 of the squares finished now. Which also reminds me- they were supposed to be hexagons. I scrapped that idea (with the advise of some co-workers) and we rigged up a border to make them square instead. Mostly due to time constraints- but also because I like the square shape better.

The only thing I really have left to do is decide exactly how big I want it- 8 rows of 8, or 10 rows of 10. I really wanted to make it big enough for her to grow into and not just to use as an infant. Tomorrow, I hope to have the remainder of the blocks completed so that I can lay them out and decide if I am stopping there, or making two more rows. Then there is the tucking in the tails, connecting them all, and adding the border. There is a light at the end of the tunnel at last. I really have enjoyed making this for her, especially for a “first thing I’ve ever crocheted” project. i am ready to start on something new though. I saw a scarf over @ mybestfriendcallsmemartha that I really am just itching to make. I heart it so. You can see it here.

Anyone else have any other new project ideas for crochet? Be easy- this is the first thing I’ve ever made…

Ah- it’s been a minute. Sorry about that….

A lot has been up. First of all- I went and saw Dave Matthews Band in Memphis on Saturday! It. was. AMAZING.

I have been wanting to see Dave for years now and well, it just never worked out. Even better than just Dave, Tim Reynolds was there playing with him. Any Dave fans will understand how completely awesome that was, and can probably even understand how I had to hold back a tear or two during the concert. Yeah, it was THAT awesome. Yeah, I’m THAT big of a nerd.

You can see an awesome clip here of Dave covering “SlegeHammer” - and “Burning Down the House“-oh yeah!! Ah- it was a wicked concert. Did I mention that I got to go for FREE?

I signed up to volunteer for The Bama Green Project through Reverb. You should really take a second to watch that last link (and push play) to see what it’s all about- it’s really awesome. You volunteer before and during the opening set, and then you get to watch Dave. We volunteered a little more(packing up and loading them on the big trucks (by the tour busses) *squeals*) and they even let us up front to watch Dave and Tim. We were thisclose. I met some awesome people there helping too, and even one guy who had been to 132 Dave concerts. Crazy no doubt, but awesome.

Anyway, it was awesome, for a seriously great program, and even though it was like 103 outside and I swear I thought at one point I was going to pass out.. I would do it again- any day.

CRAFTING WISE-

I’ve been working on the crocheted blanket. I found out today that she’s doing the nursery in pink and green and brown now instead of pink of brown alone. Either way, I know her, and she’ll love it. I may see if I can find some green in there….

*Update- Yay for last minute yarn shopping…I found some green to match!

*Update again- After making 5 blocks in green…I decided that I don’t love it so much. Pink & brown it shall remain… I even made a chart in paint to make sure….and Yeah…no green. Don’t you think?

It’s funny- those little circles. I’ll make some beginning to end, then I’ll make bunches of centers, then more beginning to end, then work on the middles. All of the ones above are done, but still I think I’ve got a little more than half left. I’ve really got to get on this- Sept 6th is the shower.

I’ve got a few new embroidery designs that I created stitched out, but we’ll have to get to those next time. I will show you these that I did tonight though. I’m NOT a “tribal flame” kind of girl at all- it’s just not my forte. However, a friend of mine requested tribal or flames, and I digitized this for her. Even for me not being the typical tribal art lover, I think these are pretty cute.

I like em’.

Nite all!

Everything else looks pretty much like it did before, which you can see here. I got rid of the tank fabric shelf and minimized to my new cabinet. All of the excess fabric went into totes, that are stored in the closet. I got a new sewing machine table that my serger is on, which makes 4 that all match. One was my grandmothers, one was my husbands great-grandmothers, one was from freecycle , and this newest one, was from my husbands Mother. I’m not exactly sure where she got it, but it has a heavy sewing machine in it that looks like this:

It needs some TLC, and a new belt- but it has a knee pedal, which I think is pretty neat-o.

These are also new- which as you can see, are above the serger. I saw these on Purl, and had intended to make them for above my sewing table before I came up with the pincushion pegboard idea. I had purchased 8 embroidery hoops at a thrift shop for $1.50 (what a steal) and had been waiting on a place to use them. After I moved my big fabric shelf out of there, my walls had an open spot. So…viola!

I also updated my shop with a few things- I particularly love these!

If you haven’t noticed, I love sock monkeys!!

I’ve been pretty busy- I started on pay it forward goodies from last year- No, I didnt forget. I still have a couple of months left…hehee. I also have worked on a Christmas present, have started my gift list, and have planned several other things. Maybe this year, I’ll get on top of it.

Happy Weekend Everyone-

I saw the most awesome fabric tonight over at the fat quarter shop...

Have you seen this? Pumpkins gone wild by Sandy Gervais and the Merry & Bright- It is completely fabulous. I love her designs- they are so fun! Oh how I look forward to the holiday season- Halloween first of course.

It’s almost Christmas present making time…..Have any of you started?

Sewing room updates soon- Thanks for checking back!

Stephanie

I’ve decided today is the day that I am going to re-organize my life. From the way I do everything, from grocery shop, to my sewing space….everything is getting organized.  At least that is the plan….

So I decided to get rid of the BIG fabric shelf, and downsize to a new one- which I’ve been drooling over since my sister gave it to my mom. Tonight, it’s mine.  The old one, is going to be painted black and moved into my living room. I don’t know why I didn’t do this a long time ago…

So this is what i’m starting with this weekend….

EWW huh? It didn’t look nearly that rough before i started to unpack everything and start over. I’ll show you the after when I get there….wish me luck!

Saturday, I went fishing with my Dad. We had a great time -even though he totally out fished me… I felt fine  while we were in the boat, but as soon as we got out…I realized that I had gotten a little lot more sun than my fair skin could handle. The results are not pretty. In fact, I am so blistered, I can’t even lift my arms to the sides or over my head in any direction without feeling like they are about to fall off.  Pretty much infront of me, laptop style is the only comfortable position. Lucky for me, I have you. I didn’t want to post a picture of the burn/zillions of blisters…well, because it’s not pretty. So just imagine me like this:

Yup, that should do it. Okay, okay, I’ll quilt being a wiener….after all it is my fault. Ugh I’m not a summer time/hot weather lover at all. In fact…that was really my first time all year I was out in that nasty hot Arkansas weather on purpose for a long period of time.

So- because I’m not able to make things at the moment…I thought I’d just play catch up on things I hadn’t posted about.

Embroidery Class- was amazing! This was my first real, teaching job. The ladies were great, 5 to be exact, which I think is a pretty great turn out being that the store didn’t get many more machines than that to begin with. There were also 4-5 drop ins that came in to watch the demo/class.  Only one of the girls had even tried to use the machine before class (Hi LUCY!). We covered  hoops, stabilizers, lace work, fabric,  placement….all of the basics including how to use the machine, editing, resizing & etc. I had prepared them all folders with like 60 something pages of notes and tips that I found helpful as I taught myself to  embroider. They were most grateful. By the time the (3hour) class was over the girls were doing a great job! We made a lace awareness ribbon in class- half doing pink for breast cancer, and half doing yellow, in honor of our troops. It was really neat. You should have HEARD all the machines stitching at the same time.

It. was. neat.

Everyone stayed after class, which was totally optional,  and made coasters. They were a big hit. I loaded the pattern onto their machines before they left so that they can make sets for gifts etc. I am going to have it available for free download in the “downloads” section before too long. If you need it before then, send me an email and let me know and I’ll email it to you.

What else…

OH YEAH!

I used my serger! I am such a serger chicken. As a matter of fact, I have had it for like 3 years and this is the first time I have really used it…. Yeah I know.

This particular one (above) was made to be donated to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. I am a member of the local Extension Homemaker’s Club I learned through there that the Hospital is in need of hats, blankets, bags and etc.  Abby came over and we made a Winnie the Pooh one too. There are lots of these blankets in our future.

I have a ton of embroidery pictures but I’m going to go to bed and save those for next time.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! We had a wonderful weekend. The morning of the fourth, Abby came over and she made everyone Red, White, & Blue necklaces and/or bracelets.

I thought she did a great job. We also painted her toenails to look like little flags -stripes and all. The rest of the afternoon was filled with food,  family and then the traditional fireworks later that evening. I love watching the kiddos get excited about sparklers  and smoke bombs.  It seems like not too long ago when I was their age going to Vons and buying fireworks with Daddy.

Time sure flies…

So much has happened in the past week or so- and I’ve been so swamped that I haven’t even made time to post about it.  Shame on me. The crochet habit hobby has taken off in full swing. I decided to dive right in and start a blanket for a very pregnant, very best friend of mine. I do pretty well as long as I’ m not trying to watch a movie or anything else at the same time. If I try to do anything else, other than listen to music, I end up with more chains and loops and whatnot than I need.  Oh well..I’ll get there.

The pattern called for four primary colors (shown here) but I opted for  two colors (pink and chocolate brown )for a more modern/match the nursery theme. I really am excited about how I imagine this will look- ha! I’m just gonna cross my fingers and avoid any TV while I’m working on it. Good thing Grey’s isn’t on right now…

That’s really all that I’ve been working on, crochet wise, other than a few dish cloths here and there….

Here…

There…(in action even..)

Oh- check her out!

Isn’t she just great? I hope i have a child who likes to learn new crafts like her one day…

There’s also been a ton of embroidery going on around here. I’ll have to give you the skinny on how my first class went. You should have heard all of the machines embroidering at the same time… It was neat-o!! I was also asked about doing demonstrations/classes this fall at some of our state schools- which I’m so excited about.

More about all that later. Right now, sleep is mandatory.

Did I ever tell you how I ever started sewing?

Todd and I were birthday shopping for me …and I just could NOT think of anything “good” to buy with the Birthday money that my Mom & Dad gave me. We were walking down the aisle and I started gazing at the sewing machines. I recalled my neighbor Dusty-(who turned into best friend) making her own curtains in her kitchen on a hand-me-down workhorse of a sewing machine. As I stood there, I decided…I wanted to be like that. I wanted to make my own curtains, and just to make in general. Even though I hadn’t touched a sewing machine since 9th grade Home Ec class, I knew that sewing machine was what I wanted.

As soon I got home that night, I called Dusty and she brought over her machine. It was like talking to an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while on both ends- the machine and Dusty. She made dresses for her daughter while I started dabbling in quilting- eventually, I talked her into quilting. I guess you could say that we’ve influenced each other the past three years. For as long as we were neighbors, hardly a day went by that we didn’t tote our sewing machines and fabric to each others house and sew all night as our Husbands did whatever Husbands do.

I didn’t realize before her that you could be so close to someone in such a short period of time, but we did and I love her to death. We both ended up moving in opposite directions but still only live an hour apart. We try to schedule “sew days” about once a month to catch up and …well…sew of course.

Saturday morning Dusty came over and we had a sew day. We never get as much done as we plan because we have to catch up with each other, but I did get half of the Joel Dewberry quilt cut and pieced together.

I also finished three more dish cloths (although one I gave away before I got a picture..) They are far from perfect but not too shabby for my first real week of “crochet school.”

Yay progress!!

You know what was even better than that??

This little guy, my newest nephew. Oh the fun we’re going to have…

My nephew was born today- and he is perfect.
Pictures coming soon!