Sorry it has been so long, but Brannon and I have been BUSY (but who isn't these days)!! Under Brannon's direction, our families have been rebuilding two of the three grandparents' homes that flooded. We do this in our free time, so there isn't much time for sewing and embroidering, but if you think about it, rebuilding a house is pretty crafty. You have to piece trim work together, make it aesthetically pleasing and cover up your mistakes (I'm getting good at that last one-wood filler and drywall mud are my friends!). I can't wait to show you the final masterpiece, but here is a sneak peak of one of the homes:
It is starting to look like a home. However, we have a long way to go at the other home-it is still studs and little else, but hopefully we will have all our many family members back in their homes soon.
That, in a nutshell, is what has been keeping me busy recently. I do have a project I want to tackle soon, so I did spend just a few minutes at my sewing machine tonight to see if I can figure out how to do the gathering stitch that is required for my project...and we have success!
For those of you who find that sewing a gathering stitch is a super-simple process...try not to laugh at my excitement. For me it is the small accomplishments that make my new sewing machine so much fun!
Until next time...whenever that is!
If you haven't noticed yet, I have only been featuring embroidery projects. This is because I have been too terrified to try to use the sewing machine. As soon as I can, I will be signing up for a Sewing 101 class at JoAnn's. However, last weekend, I did finally overcome my fear, attached the sewing arm and started sewing. With some instructions from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts, I started my first project, a tote. This, ladies and gents, is my homemade tote:
Feeling pretty good about my first project and armed with a selection of remnant fabrics that I have been hoarding, I decided to reduce the dimensions of this tote down to 75% and make a purse for myself and my mom (because even if it turns out looking pitiful, my mother still has to tell me it is wonderful...because she is my mother).
I also decided to get a little crazy and I lined these totes:
And yes, I had to go one step further and not just make the totes, but monogram everything. Did you really expect anything else based on the preceding blogs?!?!?
I went on a shopping adventure with my mom this weekend which led to a trip to JoAnn's where more remnant fabric hoarding could occur. I also purchased fusible interface and zippers for my next project, the gathered clutch by noodlehead. Check it out: gathered clutch tutorial. I have been dying to make this, but don't expect to see it anytime soon, I should probably get around to taking that sewing class first!
