love this sewing thing!

I have not yet taken that sewing class, but I couldn't help myself, I had to try the gathered clutch from Noodlehead. I also really wanted to give it to my brother's girlfriend for her birthday, so sewing class or not, I was determined to make that clutch. The main area of difficulty for me is sewing up to the top of the clutch where it meets with the zipper end pieces. It took a couple of redos to get it close to right. 

So, I did have to use the seam ripper multiple times, and I do have room for improvement, that's for sure! Hopefully the next one that I make will be much easier now that I know more about what I am doing.

it's kinda like crafting...

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!

tote-ally excited!

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!

oh, the possibilities...

After book club on Wednesday night, I had to run to JoAnn's to pick up a few things. What was intended to be just a quick errand turned into an hour and a half of aimless browsing. Which isn't such a bad thing since my aimless browsing lead me to Gutermann thread at 40% off (plus a 20% coupon on top of that - oh yeah)! I couldn't resist the temptation of all the gorgeous colors! Since I already own an assortment of pink threads, I decided to focus on growing my blues. There are just so many possibilities with all the colors that I can't wait to see them in action. And I'm sure it won't take long for me to find an excuse to use them all. In fact, my machine is buzzing away with one of the pretty teal threads as I speak...music to my ears!

graduation gifties

My mother-in-law, Joni, and I were talking and she asked if I knew anyone who did monogramming. I sheepishly said, "Um, I do." I was, of course, eager to have another project (read: an excuse to use my new toy), but nervous because this is the first person, besides my mom, for whom I would do some monogramming-yikes! She had the super-cute idea to monogram laundry bags (guess you know what I will be giving all high school grads from now on)! Excited to have another project, but with no guarantees of how this would turn out, I took her bags and went to embroidering. Here are the results:

I finished the last one on Monday night:

 What do you think? Does anyone else have any cute ideas?

art appreciation

I walked down to the first floor of my office building to make a deposit and noticed some new art hanging in the office. Two special edition prints have been created by Anderson Design Group to raise funds for the Nashville flood relief. Here is the link so you can check them out yourselves: Spirit of Nashville. I fell in love with the guitar one-which surprised me, because as you will see, I am most likely going to hang flowery things on my wall, not guitars. Since the proceeds were going to a good cause, I ordered it that day. For those of you who live in Nashville, you can avoid pesky shipping charges and just pick the print up yourself, like I did. I immediately went to Micheal's and much to my surprise, found a frame with the exact dimensions of the print-on sale of course! Here is my new art, proudly displayed in my living room to remind me of the time that I realized that I live in the most amazing city!

The artwork hanging didn't stop there. Since Brannon had everything out, we went ahead and hung some personal artwork that I have been dying to get on the walls. After two visits to Paint Along in Brentwood, my breakfast nook is bursting with color!

Ever since I moved into the downtown Pinnacle office, I have appreciated the artwork that is displayed everywhere in the office. This inspired me to put more emphasis on placing art in my own home. We still have two prints that need to be framed and one canvas to hang, but this is a pretty good start for now!

adventures in embroidery

I have recently realized that I love getting Better Homes & Gardens magazine and that I love to peruse craft blogs. However, I really did not have an avenue for allowing my inner craftiness out. So, I decided I wanted not just a sewing machine, but a sewing and embroidery machine. And my wonderful husband did not so much as bat an eyelash when I informed him that I wanted said machine. So one HSN video later, and I fell in love with the Singer SES 1000 (kinda sounds like a car)! With some moral support from my mom, I went straight to embroidering:

 So I started with burp cloths...

 

Then tried bibs...

Next was towels, totes and onesies after that...

Beach bags for my sis-n-laws.

This was a graduation present for Erica's sister.

Onesies for a few baby showers/late baby gifts (I'm a little behind on my gift giving)

 

 

So, after one botched bib and two botched onesies and some help from my friend Julie, I think I am getting the hang of this!