Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Ahhhh Soko-LEEK, It Is Found!

Last year, Andy and I vacationed in Europe.  On the first day, we arrived in Paris, Andy left his wallet on the bus from the airport to our rented apartment.  It was quite a disaster, but we managed to call the bus company, spoke to the lost and found department with our tour-book-mini-dictionary-translated French and the response was ...."Ahhhh Soko-LEEK, it is found!  It is found!"  Someone had returned the wallet, money, credit cards and all....and we were able to have a great vacation.

So now, we have a new saying floating around our house...."Ahhh Soko-LEEK, it is found! It is found!".  

Last week while in Victoria, I lost my seam ripper.  I mean it's no wallet, but still, I found myself unable to make anything successfully because of it.  I didn't end up finding it, so I just went out and bought another.  Although a small deal, I could hear myself saying "It is found!" in my head while buying it in the store...:)


You'd think that I could sew without this thing (well technically I can), but the real issue is that I can't take apart anything...that means I can't correct my mistakes (which I make all the time).  For example, when I am meaning to make a camera pouch for my sister, miscalculate, can't shove all the folded layers under my machine, and end up with this...


...I can't fix it.  What good is this for? Well I guess I can use it as a potholder....a very strangely shaped potholder though....


But, with a new seam ripper in hand, a couple of re-tries, I managed to make this:


You can use it to hold things....like:


But more practically, this:


It's really meant to be a camera case for my sister's birthday.  No, I'm not that cheap, we also chipped in for a new camera to go inside.  Hope she likes it!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Birthdays Galore

This was the weekend of birthdays.  We couldn't make it up to Plano for a special little girl's 2nd birthday, so I sent her one of these:


She wore it for her party and looked fabulous!  Wish I could've been there to see it in person!

We also celebrated the 1st birthday of another special little boy.  I got to bust out my new lens and test it out. I'm in love!  The lens is great for portrait shots, although I must say, not the easiest to use for little children who are always moving around since it has no zoom.  But it's great for indoor shooting.  I've got to give my friend Wendi a special thanks for introducing me to it...I've still got so much to learn about photography....

Thursday, May 20, 2010

New Toy

I'm hanging out in Victoria this week, got my sewing machine and my HBO and I'm good to go.  The hotel has spruced up a little, adding DVD players to each room...next time I can bring some DVDs to watch during those odd hours when nothing good is on tv. 

Since I'm in Victoria, I don't have any pictures of my sewing to post.  But I do have a picture of this:

 

The latest addition to my camera equipment.  It's my belated Christmas/Anniversary present.  I'm hoping it will help me get cooler shots of my products.  Too bad I'm in Victoria and this is sitting on my porch at home.  Good thing I have neighbors I can trust to pick up my mail for me...

Monday, May 17, 2010

Something Not Baby-Related

I know that sometimes some of you might get tired of looking at baby bibs, booties, blankets etc.  So, here's a little project I made the other day.  I found this great fabric by Anna Maria Horner on the clearance shelf at my local quilt shop.  Only $4.99/yd, which for quilting fabrics, is a steal!  So, I made this for a whopping total of $7:


I'm proud of my skirt...can't you tell? Haha.  I also love that it's got pockets....


I might take in the waist a little so that I can wear it higher or lower for different looks.  I liked this fabric and skirt so much that I went back to the shop and picked up some more in a different color...I think I'm going to make it a less poofy version of the original.



Thursday, May 13, 2010

Eating Greens

I made a few blankets last week...and my brain shut down momentarily, so I forgot to take pictures of them before sending them off.  So instead, I'll write about my garden.

It's day 4 of my salad-for-lunch-diet.  Knowing of my inherent dislike of salad, you might ask why I am doing this to myself.  Well, back in October last year, I threw some carrot, beet, and lettuce seeds down in my garden and now I've go this:


My lettuce is now at least 4 feet tall (bet you didn't know lettuce could grow that tall), the beets are probably 2 lb a pop, and the carrots are splitting open because they are so fat.  So, my mission to eat salad is not so much to lose weight or be healthy, but to consume my awesome garden before the bugs, nasty caterpillars, and heat beat me to it...

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Sing with me...

To the right, to the right....

Just posted up a link to my etsy shop on the blog.  Easy access to some shopping :) Look this way =>

Monday, May 10, 2010

Meet Sidney

Hope all the mothers out there had a great Mother's Day!  We went up to Plano to celebrate the weekend with my mother-in-law.  Had a great time hanging out....played with Beau the bulldog....played a few rounds of competitive Six Cubes....

I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce my machine - Sidney the Singer.  I've been having some issues with her lately and have been debating whether to get her fixed or just upgrade to a new one.  It's gonna cost at least half my machine's worth to tune it up and fix it.  I bought it about 4.5 years ago when I first started sewing.  It's done a pretty good job, but it's just not the greatest machine out there...but being the frugal person that I am, I figure as long as it does the job, it's good enough.  It still works well when I am doing a straight stitch, but when I use a zig zag stitch, it tends to jam a little.  

Well, my mother-in-law generously gave me her machine this weekend while we were visited.  The funny thing is that although her machine is about 20 years older than mine....it's pretty much the same exact machine.  Hilarious.

Here's Sidney:


Here's Retro Sidney - circa 1987:



Side by side comparison:



I guess some things don't change much over time....But I'm really happy because I think my mother-in-law has bought me some time on making some capital expenditures...

On another note, posted a couple of new items in my shop.  Check it out here.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Sold!

Yesterday I made my first etsy sale! Admittedly, it was to a friend, but still it's a first sale.  Now, I'm just waiting for the first stranger to make a purchase....then I'll have made it...:)

I've been on a sewing spree, working hard as I've got a bunch of blankets to do in the next month.  I've finished 3 this week already!  Unfortunately those haven't received the ok to be revealed, but I've got a picture of a cute blanket with a matching dress I haven't posted yet.  I must've spaced out when I was taking pictures because I forgot to take a picture of the entire blanket...you'll just have to use your imagination.


Monday, May 3, 2010

Grand Opening!

I am pleased to announce.....cue drum roll.....the opening of my etsy shop! For those of you who don't know what etsy is, it's an online marketplace where I can sell handmade goods.  So, you can check out my shop to buy goodies such as these:





Of course, you can still contact me for custom orders, but I thought I'd give this outlet a try.  I'll be adding more items shortly so happy shopping!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

My Tooth Fund

Yesterday I went to a new dentist.  3 hours and a deep-below-the-gum-line-scraping later.....I came out with a treatment plan that's gonna set me back about $2 g's.....ouch.

I'm gonna have to sell ALOT of these to fund that cost....