Wow! It's been quite a while since I have written a post here. I mean I have 6 sewing machines now. (where does the time go?) LOL!

But, seriously. I have created another sewing blog. You are welcome to come visit there. I can't promise that I have been posting more regularly there. I always plan to and eventually I will get into the rhythm of posting regularly there and maybe even resume posting here. But, check out the new blog and come back to visit here.

www.robynsewsthisandthat.com

And Thank you for stopping by to read both blogs.

Has It Been That Long?

Wow! It has been quite some time since I have posted to this blog. Crazy. I have another blog that I planned on posting to regularly. Oh well.

I have been busy. Now I need to make more of these. (The Advent Garland, not the child) I have started one set. Now I have 5 grandchildren.

I have been sewing, A lot. I am teaching classes. I love sharing what I learn and I love to learn new techniques. I am currently taking a class in Victorian Corset making. I am really excited to learn fitting techniques. I know that I will be able to apply these new skills to all my sewing.

I made this shirt as a sample for the store and I am sending it off to one of my grandsons.

I made this christening dress for a customer at the store. She wanted her wedding dress to go to her grandchildren. 

I made some diaper covers for my aunt's great grand baby.A second or third cousin to me, I guess.

I made some 'beef cake' aprons for my daughters for Christmas.

I made some fabric business cards for myself. I really enjoyed these but, they are a lot of work for handing out randomly. I am on the look out for more cute sewing themed fabrics to make some more.

  I made a t-shirt for myself.

And a shirt (or two) for my hubby.

I made an umbrella. No kidding. It was so much fun and so cute! But, the laminated cotton stuck and broke the umbrella the second time that I used it. I was so upset.

I made a dress for myself. It's a Hummingbird from Cake Patterns. I really like this dress. It is very comfy. I tried to use the timer on my camera to take a picture of it. That is my 'is-this-timer-working' face. I finally purchased a remote for the shutter on my camera. I am still trying to master that too.

I designed a grocery tote from a plastic grocery bag. I added a pocket to the outside and another to the inside. I can use this tote when I go to the farmer's market and can carry my cash and car keys in the bag.

One of the classes I taught a couple of summers ago was this cute travel tissue holder.

  And I also taught a class on this travel game made out of felt. The kids who were in this class were all swim team kids and I thought that this would be a fun thing to make so they could take it to the swim meets with them.

 Fold it up and snap it shut.

So I have been busy. Just absent from the blog scene. And my computer crashed. That was a whole other story. I am still trying to retrieve my photos from that business.

At any rate, I am back and will get caught up really soon. I promise.

More Things from Winter 2012

I am finally feeling a bit of accomplishment as I am checking unfinished projects off my list.

Little by little.

First I remade my curtains in the living room into Roman Shades. This was always my intent for this fabric but, I needed to get to a point when I could actually work on them. So I whipped up these simple lined curtain to hang from clip rings.

I made my new set of curtains using rings instead of the using the tubing.

Using the tubing requires more machine sewing and I think that I like the results better. The new blinds turned out okay. Next time I will use the tubing.

The other project that I had been working on is learning to weave with The American Peg Loom. I purchased it from Dee Dee and Bill Greer of the Rivanna River Farm, LLC.
They have some of the most beautiful alpacas.

I love this loom. It is so easy to use and I have some great ideas for new projects.

Here is a picture of the yarn strands wrapped onto the pegs.

When the pegs are full simply lift the peg and slide the weft threads down onto the warp threads. Working on this loom is fast and easy. And it's portable.


Oh yeah, I also completed a sweater that I have been working on for hubby for about 5 (maybe 6) years. I finally realized that I was afraid that it wasn't going to turn out as nice as I had hoped. Once I got over that idea and accepted that it was going to be what it was going to be, I finished it. And it isn't as nice as I hoped but, you know what? I learned a lot working on it and next time it will be better. And maybe a button sweater. No really, hubby really has to tug to get this one over his head. Oh well.....

My next project to work on is a knitted tank top for myself and a quilted wall hanging/lap quilt for Bree that will incorporate all the beautiful fabrics collected from her birth place. Then I have knitted socks for myself and a bag from a pattern that I purchased from Sew Liberated and other clothes for the grand kids and toys for the grand kids and......well the list goes on and on.

Christmas Creations

I found a pattern for this Advent Garland in the December/November 2011 issue of Creative Machine Embroidery.
I made it for my oldest grand daughter. It was fun and fairly easy. The challenge was in trying to find age appropriate items to fill each stocking. The magazine had little candy canes in each. Not exactly what I would want a toddler to have. I found tiny ornaments and some hair clips and ties, that type of stuff. Next year they can fill it with what ever they want. And next year I will need to make 2 more for the other grand kids. I think that I will make some in the stocking shape and some in mitten shapes.

Now I am finally sewing my roman shades for the living room windows.

My Latest Creations

I have not been keeping up with my postings as I had promised. I have been quite busy. Unfortunately not in my sewing room. Or as much I as would like to be any way. I finally finished the grocery bag and groceries for Bree and I tell you it was hard to set a stopping point. These foods are so cute and so much fun to make. There are many more fruits, vegetables and cakes and cupcakes to add. Which I will continue to do. I just had to say this is enough for now and send them on. So here they are.






Also, I have finally found the pattern that I have been wanting for so long and I have begun purchasing fabrics to use. The pattern comes in sizes Infant - 5 Years Old. That makes it a great buy for the money but, it also means that I have to spend time doing my least favorite thing....tracing patterns. Here is the pattern and some of the fabrics I have been collecting.





I have also begun playing with the idea of making reusable sandwich bags. Here are my first attempts and some fabrics that I hope to use for these and lunch bags.




Spring is slowly trying to move into the area. I love the sky at the change of the seasons. These pictures are taken at my church (and place of employment) of the Star Magnolia Tree which is one of the first blooming trees. Beautiful. This was taken about a month ago so we have a lot more blooming now.



Hope you enjoy this post.

Winter Leaving

Even though our winter has been mild compared to other parts of the country and compared to last year, it has been very cold here this winter. A cold winter means a COLD sewing room for me. I just can't tolerate it long enough to feel productive. But, now the temperatures are getting milder and I have been venturing back into my space to get some projects going. Yippee!!!!



I am making fabric food for Bree. (these are tomatoes) I missed her birthday and ended up sending a store bought gift. Ugh! But, I will have these finished soon and they will be on their way. I started out making them out of cotton that I have here already and then found some washable felt so I have a mixture of both.

I also made some t-shirts embroidered with "Have You Hugged Your Lunch Lady Today" for my aunt and her co-workers at one of the middle schools here. I forgot to take a picture of them but, she will take a picture of them wearing them and I will post it later.

Winter Time and 2011

It's amazing to think of all the events of 2010. It was a fantastic year. And 2011 will be equally exciting.

Our Christmas was so much fun with all the girls together again. And we all enjoyed having J'Lyn here for her first Christmas. Oh yeah, and Nick and Tladi were there too. It snowed late on Christmas day. It was rather exciting as I think I learned later that it was 1969 the last time that it had snowed on Christmas day in Charlottesville, VA.












For 2011, I resolve to spend more time in my sewing room and to really get my Mary Kay business into a truly working business. Along with that I will become better at keeping up my blog.......