Dogs, Paws, and Tufts of Grass

Today I'm spending the day chained to Sidney my sewing machine.  I've been shirking my duties....I must sheepishly admit that I've spent the past couple weeks caught up in the Twilight books....  Now that those are done, it's time to focus on some sewing!

I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics for this dog-themed set.  I just love how everything in the blanket is dog-related...right down to the green grass printed fabric.  It was so cute I just couldn't resist...it just makes my day when I find some awesome fabrics!

Alrighty, enough dilly-dallying - back to the sewing machine!

Sistah Sistah

Well, my sister left yesterday and now my house is eerily quiet again.  No one to read with me on the couch....no one to go shopping with....no one to work in my sweatshop with....

While she was here, she did learn to sew and did quite a fine job I must admit.  I brought her to Joann's and she picked out some fabric to make herself a skirt.  You can check out this cool tutorial if you are interested in making your own. Here she is showing off her fancy skirt:

For some reason I was having trouble getting my camera to focus...apologies for the slightly blurry pic.  So, my month of fun is over, it's back to me and Sidney, my good old sewing machine.   But, one more picture before I go of my awesome, sweet, and caring sister:

(if you're super observant, you'll notice that I am actually wearing a skirt I made with the same pattern...)

jslik Sewing Academy

While my sister is here, we've been doing some fun activities.  One of which has been sewing.  I've enrolled her in the jslik Sewing Academy and I've got her started on a few projects to keep her busy while I'm trying to get some orders done.

Here is my one-room school house...which used to be my breakfast room...it's where the magic happens.  Normally, I do not sew on my beautiful dining table, but in the summer months, my studio/study runs warmer than the rest of the house and it's just miserable to sew in there.  So I move all my sewing stuff onto my dining table...hoping that no one decides to drop by for a surprise visit.

Here's Julie's first real project (it's technically her second since I made her learn the basics making a bean bag out of some rather ugly scrap fabric, but it's not worthy of posting).  She made this as a gift for her friend.

My sister proudly showing off her bag.

Here we are goofing around with the camera after I survived a 2.5 hour appointment to get my temporary crown put in....hence the slightly anesthesia induced crooked smile.

Next up: I'm going to let my sister have a try at making herself a cool skirt!

Sticky

Today I plopped my iron down on the wrong side of some double sided fusible interfacing....for those of you who don't know, fusible interfacing is non-stick on one side and has glue on one side, so that when you iron it onto your fabric, it sticks to the fabric.  The point is to apply the glue side to the back of your fabric....NOT to the iron...  Well, now the glue is stuck to my iron and I spent the last half hour scrubbing down my iron.    Not the best way to start the sewing day.

As I mentioned in my last post, I took a trip home to Jersey last week.  I usually always take a day to trek into the city to see some friends and wander around the old haunts, however this trip was a bit short and too busy so I didn't get a chance to go into the city.  So, to remind myself of my favorite places, I'll post this set I finished up awhile ago:

Now I'm going to take a cue from my sticky iron, take a break, and go grocery shopping...got my mother-in-law's chicken enchiladas on the menu for tonight!

 

Where's jslik?

Yes I'm still alive and kicking.  Apologies for the long hiatus, but the past couple of weeks have just been a whirlwind!  First of all, my sister flew into town and I've enrolled her in the Jslik Sewing Academy....but more about that in another post.  I've also been working hard to make a dent in the queue of orders I've got going (not that I'm complaining).

In between all that, I took a break and flew back home for a tour of the Northeast.   A good college friend of mine got married over the weekend in Connecticut.  So we flew to my parents in Jersey, swiped a car, and headed up the coast.  I got to play a few roles the wedding weekend....

My friend Pauly let me play hairdresser...

Then for the wedding, I got to play dj since my friend asked me to "dj" his wedding.  Back in college, I threw lots of dance parties at my apartment...earning me the nickname - dj jLin....so for one night, dj jLin lived again!  It was a blast.  Here's my good friend and his beautiful bride, busting it out on their first dance.

She means business!

Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with old college friends (I guess now that we've been out 6 years, we can call ourselves "old friends").   I got to spend a few extra days with my family as well.  My neighbors in Jersey celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and we were able to attend that party as well.  As the story goes, they got married on a hot hot day at city hall and went to the equivalent of Applebee's afterward.  They never got to have a big party so they decided if the marriage lasted, they'd throw a party someday.  

So, 50 years later, here they are having their "first dance".  

The Lin clan came out in full force to celebrate

Me and my husband

I had a fantastic vacation as always and miss living in the Northeast more than ever.  Now it's back to the TX heat and humidity....gonna get my sew on this coming week!

Slow Monday

Today I think I'm running as slow as my internet....which is painfully slow...It only took me 5 tries to load these pics...

Last week, I only managed to squeeze one post in since we spent most the week in Victoria and then picked up a visitor on the way up.  My sister flew into town and will be hanging out here for the next month and we'll be doing lots of fun stuff here in Houston.  We've already gone blueberry picking....and I'm gearing up to give her some sewing lessons :-)

In my last post, I got to show off my blanket in action.  I meant to post some actual pictures of the blanket, but forgot to bring them with me to Victoria (oh the inconvenience of having a desktop).  So, here they are:

Another customer saw the fabrics, loved them, and ordered a bib and burp cloth set:

A jslik Bundle of Joy

I'm happy to report that I had a great time on Friday night's girls night out AND my pants stayed together :-) Whew!  I've been wearing my re-vamped jeans a bit lately and have been loving them.  (Although I learned the hard way that they are not appropriate for going out to dinner if I'm planning on chowing down....let's just say I was glad I had a long shirt on b/c I had to loosen a button)

Yesterday a friend and customer of mine posted a couple of pictures on my jslik designs facebook fan page and they just made my day.  Thought I'd share with you if you haven't seen them.  This baby recently graced the world with his presence and is now enjoying his blankie!

Precious beyond words! It's funny because I had planned to post his blanket in this post and I just so happened to get these pics.  Perfect timing!  Unfortunately, I'm in Victoria this week and forgot to bring some actual pictures of the blanket so I can't show you the rest of it.