Books quilts and sewing

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28 Nov 2010

Let the Quilting begin

I couldn’t help myself, I went back to the fabric store to get some patterns and quilting material. The Butterick patterns were on sale for .99 which from what I read is a great price and next week the McCall patterns are on sale for 1.99 and there are a few that I definitely wanted to try.

I should back up a little and say that I intend on starting on one of the Butterick patterns next weekend, something I didn’t mention in my earlier posts is that I also picked up a lot of Muslin to try out the patterns on. When I was asking which supplies that I would need, I already had it in my mind that patterns would be a great idea. I’ve read a lot of review on pn which I used as a guide, I also thought that by buying the Muslin I would be able to practice before I ruin perfectly good cloth. I ended up with the following patterns:

B5259, B5277, B5349, B5431, B5461, B5538, B5746, B6601, and B5307… From Simplicity: 5189, and 2288. Any thoughts on which one to start with? I’m leaning towards the 5307 see & sew.

In another turn of events, our daughter is living in Japan at the moment and is bringing back some material from a fabric store near Misawa. I am uber excited to see what she brings me!!

Any way, back to today’s shopping excursion. I saw a Christmas pattern for a quilt that looked fantastic and ended up buying 11 yards of fabric for a quilt that I’m going to start tomorrow. I think this will get me familiar enough with my sewing machine that I won’t be completely inept when I start on the dress. I plan on using the Muslin and then if the fit looks good to go with my wife to find out what material she wants.

Here’s the fabric I picked up, it’s all flannel because I like the feel of the quilt when finished. I’ll post up the pattern tomorrow that I chose.

Another sale at the fabric store

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27 Nov 2010

Sewing and quilting supplies

We started off doing the normal shopping for clothes that was a must have for our black Friday excursion. We were up at 2am and at the stores by 3:30am and to our surprise, there was no one in line at the store… It had been a balmy 80 degrees in the Dallas area until Thanksgiving and I was wrapped up and ready to do 10 hours of shopping.

I have to say at this point I was so excited about the sale at our local fabric store that I was having a difficult time enjoying the sales for the clothes I needed to buy. The fabric store didn’t open until 6am, so we went to all of the other sales beforehand. I was so worried that there wouldn’t be anything left when we arrived though. I knew I needed everything and kept picturing a single spool of white thread being the only thing left!! I knew it was ridiculous of me.

When we arrived the parking lot was full, but much to my surprise, it wasn’t as busy or as barren as I had feared. I bought 18 spools of 500 yards of thread made by coats and clark. I knew I needed a stash of basic colors and it was buy one get one free… I’m trying to convince myself that $32 isn’t a horrific price. I also picked up some spring-loaded scissors that a friends suggested and another pair for good measure, some quilting needles, buttons, tape measure, simplicity patterns that my wife and I wanted to try,

Sewing supplies

and other items pictured…

Let me know if there’s any essential supplies that I missed, please!!! Until next time, have fun with your needle and thread!

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged beginner, crafts, sewing | Leave a comment

25 Nov 2010

1 Comment

Sewing supplies

Well I am going shopping tomorrow for sewing supplies. Considering that I only have the sewing machine and no material, notions, or scissors, I have a lot that I need to purchase. Any suggestion?? That’s it until the weekend folks.

Posted in Daily and tagged Sew, sewing, shopping

24 Nov 2010

Sewing for the first time!!! This is some weird stuff…

The first stitch I’ve made

Okay… I’m not trying to make a big deal of this, but needed to have a record of my learning curve (read steep) on learning how to sew. I’ve done two quilts before, stitched by hand almost 10 years ago and now have set my sights on learning how to sew outfits on a sewing machine. I have to say I’m not a beginning sewer, I’m completely new to it.

I started two weeks ago reading about it in an article online which translated to reading some blogs. They really piqued my interest and before I knew it I was buying a sewing machine. I spent the last two weeks in preparation reading and thinking about what I wanted to do.

Tonight I learned to thread a bobbin and thread the needle on the machine!! At this point I should mention that the sewing machine I bought is a 6180 from singer. I wanted to start out with something that could do a little bit of everything and if my interest holds in a year purchase something else.

I was so excited to find some material lying around to put my first stitches in and then called it a night. I’ll post a picture of it, but for me it might as well have been the greatest thing ever sewn.

Good day and enjoy the needle and thread!!

Posted in Daily and tagged 6180 Brilliance, beginner, Fabric, learning, project, quilt, Quilting, Quilts, sewing, Sewing machine, singer | Leave a comment

06 Feb 2010

I have nothing else to sell… Maybe a resolution is in order

Watching fun with Dick and Jane, no, not the original… watching them sell their VERY last possession to try to make bills. What a depressing scene for a movie. I was immediately depressed about the thing, at least the REST of the movie is a comedy!! Relaxing today and thinking about some post-New Years Eve resolutions… What’s yours?

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04 Feb 2010

Your Moleskine and You

I couldn’t imagine my life now without my Moleskine as it’s become part of my everyday life capturing my joys, sorrows, doodles, thoughts, pictures, and critical information finder. One of my favorite sites to visit is http://www.moleskineus.com/moleskine-stories.html where there are ideas and exhibits of the Moleskines that have gone before.

So small it fits neatly into my pocket, backpack, or laptop bag my Moleskine travels everywhere with me detailing my life and coloring my world. I’ve seen so many uses for this little wonder and yet I know there are so many untapped ideas just waiting to be explored. I love new ideas and suggestions, so pony up and send me your scans of the many wonderful things that you’ve done with you Moleskine.

Posted in Daily and tagged beginner, blogging, Moleskine | Leave a comment

04 Feb 2010

Beatin’ down day

This post is for a good person from work… I felt completely beat down today, management was up my crack for no reason at all. I went to a person’s office who shall remain nameless, but saw that she had the same look of beat down that I was sporting. They say that misery loves company and I have to admit when I left the office of this friend I did feel a lot better! I’ll get to the issue at hand, but first wanted to give a shout out to M who I can’t really call a friend, or an acquaintance, or a coworker since we work in completely different areas and don’t really spend any time talking or socializing normally. I will say that she is the shit though and this post is for you!

Had a coworker who imho doesn’t think for themselves and was laying off working an issue on me. I sent a couple of what I considered vanilla e-mails (so okay, maybe my vitriol wasn’t all that veiled) that stated that maybe some troubleshooting would be in order instead of his normal “I don’t know, what am I supposed to do?” and didn’t think about it until the next day. When I came in the following day I discussed the issue with management (lets call him MNG 1), later in the morning I talked to management again (lets call him MNG2) and instead of the reaction I thought I would get I was told that I should have just helped instead of sending this idiot an email.

Fast forward three hours when MNG1 talks to MNG2 and tells MNG2 that this coworker should try to figure things out for himself instead of bugging me, to which MNG2 got really pissed not at the moron who never likes to work, but at me for talking to MNG1. Instead of pulling me asside and telling me not to talk to MNG2 about these type of issue, I get insulted and shunned for mentioning my discord in the first place… when will I ever learn that even managers can act juvenile?

When I arrived at my friend’s office M, it was she who turned my whole day around… Thanks again M you are the best and gorgeous to boot!

Posted in Daily and tagged Friend, learning, manage, work | Leave a comment

01 Feb 2010

First post and Kayleen is wondering

Wishing I was watching Dune tonight, but had fun at the store and picked up some necessitites… Starbucks, creamer, and itunes card. Kay is wondering why I’m starting this blog and I told her that I’m tired of not creating. I watch too much television, work too much, and don’t stop to enjoy the life I’m living.

If only the romance in my relationship could be shown and yet there are times I feel so lonely. Damn I get needy!! Luckily I’m easy to please, or at least I think so…