What? No Sewing?

I normally take my main sewing machine to have it cleaned, checked, serviced - about once a year.  The last time I took it was August of last year, so it's been more than a year.  Based on things that are going on the next couple of weeks, it looked like now was as good a time as any to get it to the shop.

So here is my empty sewing desk.  You can admire the lovely purple paint job (I have a friend who paints furniture), but it's really a scary sight for me!

If I have time, I may get some items cut and prepped, and if I really get the urge, I can pull out my backup machine, and of course, I still have my serger (although I'm looking at new ones, I think I've beat this one almost to death).

Mimi hasn't been up to see this yet - you know one of her favorite places to be is behind the machine - especially when I'm trying to use it!

I guess I'll survive - you might see me on Twitter a little bit more than usual!

Happy (no) sewing!

Susan

Unfinished Projects

You may recall (or maybe not!) that back in June I went to the quilt show here in Columbus, and came home all motivated to make a quilt.  So I started one.

I found a set of twelve fat quarters in my stash (imagine that!) and decided that they would make a pretty quilt.

I got 12 blocks made, drew out a plan for the rest of the layout, bought a couple more fabrics to be able to finish up, then got busy making items for my summer craft shows.

I think it's time to finish this one up!

So that's my plan for today - along with some boring laundry....

Happy Sewing!

Susan

Testing....

It's been a strange few weeks...last week I didn't sew at all - we had a garage sale on Saturday and I spent the entire week before sorting stuff to get rid of.

Oh, and I drove to Cincinnati to IKEA one afternoon to get new tables for my sewing room.  The old folding ones were starting to get seriously warped.  Do you know how hard it is to cut straight on a warped surface?

There are a couple of things that I've been testing - the first is a smaller size case for essential oils.  It will be about the size of the medium box pouch, but with built in pockets for the oil bottles.  I'd show a picture of my first attempt - it's really cute, but my pockets were a little small for even the small size of the bottles.  I'm not sure what I measured when I tried that one.

And the second item is kind of a re-make.  When I first started making cell phone cases, all the phones were small.  Not so much any more - so I had all these smaller cases, that are good for some of the small cameras, etc., but really I hadn't sold very many this year.  And I could reclaim my swivel hooks from them rather than buying more right now!

So I spent a couple of hours taking them apart.  Then I attempted to make a new case from the outside fabric of the cases - similar to my small zipper wallet, but instead of the outside zipper section, it will be an ID window.  And I think I'll use a split key ring rather than the swivel hook.

Stay tuned for these items to be available soon!

Happy Sewing!

Susan