Fun with DIY Dish

I have discovered that making pin cushions is great fun.  And DIY Dish has a great tutorial for making an owl pincushion, so of course I had to try it...So I now have two more wildlife friends sitting with me in my sewing room!

The instructions called for walnut litter but since I didn't know where to get any of that, I used long grain rice and pillow stuffing.  I didn't have any spray adhesive either, so I appliqued before sewing the owl bodies together.  Lots of fun!



This jacket was made on my new Janome that I call Marie.  It was fun and frustrating at the same time, but I really like the fabric.  It's so bright and reminds me of a fancy skirt that my mother made for herself when I was a kid.

A fun pincushion.  Be sure to check out all the really neat pincushions on Flickr that folks have made.  They are totally unbelievable.  Mine is functional only, made of scraps of the cloth that I used this summer.  But it was lots of fun to make, even if I DO keep forgetting to use it!

Everybody needs a wrist pincushion!  But do we really use them?  This is from a free pattern that I downloaded from the internet - I just forget where!  LOL!

My Sewing

Back this spring, I decided to spend my summer vacations sewing.  It's been quite a few years - I think that the last garment I made was for my daughter when she was in junior high.  My skills were pretty rusty, but I still managed to make a few items that I really liked.  I won't tell you how many I made that DIDN'T fit!  Ha!

Anyway, for two weeks this summer I ran my old machine and my new machine non-stop.  I think that I've made eight pairs of pants, three blouses, a jacket, two pincushions, a sewing machine cover, a sewing machine mat, a dog bed, and several book covers.  And I have managed to stash quite a bit of fabric and patterns too. 

This is the first blouse that I made this summer.  I don't have a dress maker's form, so it's kinda hard to display my garments, but I guess you can see them alright.

I don't know who invented princess seams - they are SUCH a pain to put in, but really dress up a blouse.  You can't see them in this picture, but they are really there.  I'd never done cuffs before either.  They turned out pretty decent even if the directions weren't very clear.  I sorta muddled my way through.

My VERY FIRST serged item!  I knew that DH was going to create a sewing room for me.  I wanted my fur babies to feel at home in there, so Karen at Bless My Stitches helped me pick out this really cute doggie flannel.  It turned out a LOT bigger than I had thought that it would, but that's ok because all 3 of my babies can fit on it at one time.  They were so funny the first time that I showed it to DH.  I put it on our ottoman and all 3 of them jumped up and laid down on it immediately!  "Mine, mine, mine," they said!



The Sewing Room is Finished!!

Ah!  What a wonderful feeling to walk into my new sewing room and have my machines all set up and ready to go!  I love it!  Yesterday I got to spend the day in there, playing with material and working on a purse for my daughter.  Such fun - even breaking a needle was big fun after I found out I had not totally ruined my new serger!  Here are some pictures...

Marie and Donnie all ready to sew!  Prerequisite cup of coffee is ready too!

The fur babies have already gotten comfortable in MY chair!

My Little Share of Heaven

Sewing!  Recently I have discovered that sewing can take you far away from all the troubles and ills of the world.  It has truly saved my sanity. 

Things that I love about sewing:

I love to hear the "snick, snick, snick" of the scissors as I am cutting out a new pattern.
I love to browse fabrics and patterns on the web.
I love to learn new techniques in sewing.
I love it when a garment actually FITS!

This summer, my beloved New Home sewing machine that we bought when my daughter was a baby finally bit the dust.  So I took myself to Murphy to look at NEW Janome machines!  Oh, what fun!  Bless My Stitches is now one of my favorite places to go on Saturdays.  Anyway...I came home with a new machine - the Marie Osmond Quilters Friend.  I've named her - you guessed it - Marie!  How original - NOT...

Here's a pic of Marie and then a pic of her cover




Marie's New Cover


My revived interest in sewing had begun to take over the entire house, so my husband decided, most likely to reclaim his sanity, to create a dedicated sewing space for me!  I've driven him crazy over the last couple of weeks by continually asking, "How much longer?  I can't wait, I can't wait!"  Here are pictures of the work in progress:


Mike is measuring!  Almost ready to start putting in the floor!!!



Checking out Mama's new space.  Whaddaya think?  Will she let us come in here?