Meet Juno

A couple months ago, Andy and I got to talking about our upcoming birthdays and he asked me what I wanted for a present.  Since I started making clothing, I've been wanting to get a serger to add to my family of sewing machines.  For those of you who don't know what a serger is, it basically finishes off seams to prevent fabric from unraveling during wearing and washing.  So, if you look on the inside of your shirt, you'll see the seams are bound in a zig-zag like stitch.  That's the work of the serger.  Other great uses for sergers are for sewing a rolled hem and for sewing with stretchy knit fabrics.

Being a good and frugal wife, I've been monitoring craigslist for a reasonably priced serger in good condition. Lo and behold, this past Sunday I saw a promising posting, we went to check it out, and got me an early birthday present!

Introducing Juno - the serger:

Good thing the guy (yes it was a man) that sold it to me threaded it already because I think it'll take me awhile to figure out how to thread this thing.  

The best part - I only paid $75 bucks for this baby!  It retails at about $199, so I think I got a pretty good deal.  I told Andy he got off easy this year - I'm well under our "alotted" birthday gift maximum and he didn't even have to do any shopping....I did all the work for him!  Can't wait to put this baby to good use!

Back in the Sewing "Room"

It felt so good to spend some time sewing this week.  All my creativity has been bottled up inside without my sewing machine outlet.  Originally I had planned to sew for most the week, but surprisingly my schedule was filled up by some wonderful friends.  Turns out a friend from the church I grew up in Jersey and his wife are going to be spending a year in Houston, which coincides with our plans.  Having moved so many times, I've learned a thing or two about getting myself situated.  The biggest thing is that it's important to reach out and find at least one good friend.  I've got some friends in the Houston area, but they live up north at least 40 minutes away.  So, I've been praying that God would bring some quality friends into my life as it is harder to find and develop friendships when you don't work.  And wouldn't you know it, I've got two childhood friends living within a 15 mile radius and one of them has a wife who isn't working.  Perfect!  I feel so blessed.

Anyway, I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped, but there's always next week.  My first project was one I've had sitting in Singapore for at least half a year.  I finished off my couch pillow collection!

I first made these two in Singapore.  I don't think I ever got around to posting on them.  I bought a couple of white throw pillows from Ikea and had my sister bring over some fabric I ordered in the states.  These are from Amy Butler's Lotus collection.

This pic makes me miss our apartment in Singapore...

Invisible zippers

I bought more pillows and then had my mom bring over some more fabric when she visited Singapore but the project just sat on the shelf for months until I moved back to Houston.  Here they are:

The one in the middle is made from Free Spirit's Pop Garden collection
and the rest are Amy Butler's Lotus collection.

Looks like I flip-flopped the top two in between pics. Haha.

Here they are in action (or should I say inaction - corny I know):

You can see the building blocks under our couch.  Our couch sort of broke in our last move and that bottom beam is not quite connected on the right side.  I put the blocks up to help support the couch so it won't break when we sit down.  I keep meaning to find someone to fix it, but so far, it's been almost 2 years and I still haven't gotten around to it.

This chair has been everywhere, it's one of the first pieces of furniture Andy got after graduating.

Now my living room is complete! Unfortunately the two pillows I made first are flatter from frequent use so I've instructed Andy to only use the new ones until they balance out.  I'm such a perfectionist :-)

I've already got a queue of projects lined up.  Next up - cushion covers for my sister-in-law's new patio set. She got married earlier this year and moved back to the Austin area and bought a beautiful wood patio set. Unfortunately the set has white cushions, which is not so great for the outdoors.  We did a little shopping and found some nice blue fabric to make covers out of.  Better get started, because for now, they're stuck sitting on plastic covered cushions to keep them clean.

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.