Lucky Charm Mini

I am still getting over my cold.  I'm at day 10 and I think I've used two whole boxes of tissues so far.  Things have been close to a standstill, progress-wise. I finally finished up my Lucky Charm mini quilt top last night. Lucky Charm is a pattern from Primrose Cottage Quilts.  I bought the kit from their Etsy shop.  Not sure why, but I have such a hard time sewing hourglass blocks.  This one finishes at 30" square, so I will be putting it onto the long arm for sure.
Something I'm wondering about--do you press seams open or to the side?  Why?  I generally press seams to one side unless the pattern really isn't working out well, in which case I will try with open seams.  I feel like it is much easier to match intersections when seams are pressed to one side.  A complaint I have about open seams is that they always seem to split (I always backstitch at beginning and end of seams, but open seams always come undone).  And if I press joining row seams open, they don't stay flat.  It's like they want to close up.  How do get around that and have them stay flat?

So, moving along.  We are getting a little closer on the sewing room.  The second closet door is installed and the cutout for my sewing machine is done.  My current bench is too short for the new counter, so I have a chair on order.  Fingers crossed it looks good.
We'd bought some "official color-matched" caulk for the countertop and it does not match.  It dried pretty yellow, so we are ripping it out and trying something different, I guess.  Can you notice the yellow line around the desk where it meets the wall?  So disappointing.
We still need to enlarge my long arm frame--the correct parts arrived Saturday.  Other than fixing the caulk situation, pretty much all that's left is to clean and figure out how to transport my cutting table down there. I think that's going to involve tearing it completely down into its components.

Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • wire the outlets
  • install one more light
  • install a drop ceiling in the big closet
  • install carpet in the big closet
  • install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets
  • clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them
  • finish the countertop
  • install shoe moulding along the cabinets
  • install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing
  • put on the doors for both one more closets
  • install pocket door
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors on order
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

My son started taking a beginning tennis class over the weekend.  I played tennis in high school and took a class in college for fun.  It's been a long time since I played, but I'm happy that he is having fun and that he is willing to hit the ball around with me.  It feels good to have my racquet in my hand again.  😊

Side note:  if you subscribe to my blog via email, you may have noticed that your email is now very short.  Just click on the post title to read the full post.

Stuffed Animals & Star Wars

I made some stuffed animals for my kids for Valentine's Day.  Both were challenging projects, but for different reasons.
I made my daughter this corgi.  The pattern is by Fluffmonger and is a free download.  I purchased the fabrics from Fluffmonger's Etsy store.  This is the mini size and it's around 6" tall.  I had a really hard time fitting the butt onto the back fabric, but with the help of about 6,000 pins I finally got it in there.  It was a challenge to sew due to its tiny size.

I made my son an axolotl.  The pattern is by Bee Zee Art on Etsy.  I used micro fleece to sew the pattern.  I had two reasons for this.  One, I hate sewing with minky.  Two, I already had the light pink micro fleece, so only had to buy a small bit of the darker pink.  Overall the pattern was pretty easy to sew.  The only part I didn't like is that you have to hand sew the head to the body.  I would have rather had an open body seam to close up after stuffing.  For some reason my sewing machine had a complete meltdown while sewing this.  I had tons of ripping due to massively long skipped stitches.  And then, when I was almost done, I accidentally ripped a small hole near the mouth seam and had to make a really wonky seam to cover it.  Heartbreak!  The eyes ended up a bit crooked too, but he likes it and I am relieved.

On the plus side, both kids liked their gifts and my sewing machine seems to have recovered from whatever was possessing it while sewing the axolotl.

I finished up the four Millennium Falcon mug rugs this week too.  The pattern is by Isabella's Whimsy on Etsy. I was amused while binding the first one because we were watching tv and Star Wars episode VII came on while I was binding one of the BB-8 backed pieces.  And then Han and Chewy came in.  😀

I've been trying to start sewing a kit I bought from Primrose Cottage Quilts on Etsy.  Life keeps intervening.  I finally got everything cut on Sunday, spent most of Monday resting with a nasty cold virus, then spent yesterday morning judging my teacher friend's elementary school science fair.  And yesterday afternoon resting again. Maybe in between resting periods today I can start sewing.
I've still been moving bits and pieces downstairs into the sewing room closet.  I've emptied most of the things out of the office, so it's looking quite spacious.  My replacement long arm frame pieces were shipped yesterday.  They show a delivery date of Monday, but I'm hoping they arrive before the weekend so that we can expand the frame to king size.  

My husband spent part of the weekend working on the desk in the sewing room.  He's been experimenting with different templates to cut an inset into the desk.  The plan is to have the bed of the machine sit level with the counter.  He's going to cut a hole in the countertop and then cut a plexiglass piece to fit tightly around the machine (template at left in picture below). I think we're going to try doing the cutting tonight. We are a bit nervous about this, because one slip of the router and it's game over on the counter top!  If all goes well, I should be able to finish moving in within the next week or two.
Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • wire the outlets
  • install one more light
  • install a drop ceiling in the big closet
  • install carpet in the big closet
  • install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets
  • clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them
  • finish the countertop
  • install shoe moulding along the cabinets
  • install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing
  • put on the doors for both one more closets
  • install doorknobs
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors on order
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

We've had so much rain lately, mixed with small amounts of snow and ice, and most days it's been really gloomy.  I'm really hoping that spring is truly on its way.  My daffodils are coming up, there were flocks of robins in the yard last week, and this week I had some red winged black birds on the feeder--they are summer birds for us.  However, I do still have the juncos, which are winter birds. I'm gonna ignore them and go with spring's imminent arrival.

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.

Funny Things #45

I took this picture way back in 2014 and found it when looking through photos the other day.  This sign is located near street parking across the street from a local restaurant.  I want one of these for my yard!

Why Ugly Photos Are Important

How do you like my new look?  I've been working hard at trying to make everything look nice and function well. It's still a work in progress, like all aspects of my life!  I think I have everything organized into the pull-down menus.  Most of the sidebar is still the same.  There are some additional, clickable labels there and my social media sites and Etsy shop photos are down at the bottom of the page now.  Feel free to use the contact form to send me feedback.  I think I have the no-reply issue solved on my end.  I use an iMac and I had to go to Safari, Preferences, Privacy and uncheck the "Prevent cross-site tracking" box in order to be able to comment.  Maybe this will help some of you too?  

Anyway, on to this week's topic.

This ugly photo ended up being very valuable to us.  
Why, you might ask?  Well, I tried to plug in a phone in my sewing room so that I didn't have to remember to bring a phone down from the main floor.  Yes, we still use a landline.  That way we always have a phone that works in case of emergencies.  (I keep a really ugly old pushbutton, corded phone in the closet for this purpose.)  But I digress.  Okay, so I plugged in the phone base and the phone did not come on.  I asked my husband if all the outlets were live and he said yes. We figured something was wrong with either the batteries in the phone or the phone itself. Fast forward 24 hours.  He wants to use the outlet for something and discovers multiple outlets aren't working.

The reason could be a broken wire somewhere, a dud outlet, or a missing/hidden outlet. He's running around with his volt meter thing and I am upstairs searching through photos on the computer.  I found the culprit when looking at the ugly picture.  The drywallers forgot to cut out one of the outlets; it was drywalled over. Luckily, since the photo showed the exact location of the missing outlet, it was a quick fix to get everything working.

The house we are in is the fifth we've either built or bought in progress.  I have always taken photos and/or videos of the open walls to mark plumbing and wiring locations.  I've taken photos of where the septic system is before it's buried in.  And we have ended up referring back to these photos and videos many times. I realize that most people aren't building their homes or doing all the work themselves, but even if you're doing a remodel, or having someone do work for you, take those photos when things are opened up.  It only takes a few minutes, and maybe you won't ever need the photos.  But if you do, you'll be so glad you took the time.

We made a bunch of progress on the sewing room over the weekend.  The majority of my stuff is moved into the closets.  (It being neat, tidy, and organized is task for another day.)  The shelves are installed in the cabinets and the knobs and pulls are on.  The wiring is complete. We moved the long arm into the room, though not quite in the fashion I anticipated.

I received the two-foot extension for the frame for Christmas.  I didn't do anything with it because we weren't ready for it yet.  The plan was to install it when we moved the long arm into the room since we were going to need to tear it apart anyway.  Well.....I opened the box Saturday morning and realized that the place we purchased it from had sent the wrong thing.  It was a table extension for a sit down long arm.  I was so disappointed.  Long story short, I sent back the wrong piece and they are sending the correct thing (I hope).  We decided to go ahead and move the long arm anyway.  I thought we'd have to tear the whole thing apart, but all we did was remove the machine from the frame and remove the bars.  We moved the rest of it into the room in one piece.  I was pretty shocked that it worked and that it even fit through the door!  Now it's all set up in its original 10-foot glory until the extension comes.  
Since the long arm is in its nice, clean, beautiful new home, I am now able to provide machine quilting services. You can see my pricing and policies up in the long arm quilting pull down menu.  If you are viewing on a mobile device, you can click the menu button in the lower right corner and then click the open menu button on the slider window, then click the long arm quilting tab.  I would LOVE to quilt for you!

Oh yeah, I also uploaded my borders presentation handout.  It's a free download and it's located in the free stuff menu under free patterns.  

I've done a bit of sewing, but this post is so long already that I will save it until next week.  

Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • wire the outlets
  • install one more light
  • install a drop ceiling in the big closet
  • install carpet in the big closet
  • install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets
  • clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them
  • finish the countertop
  • install shoe moulding along the cabinets
  • install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing
  • put on the doors for both one more closets
  • install doorknobs
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

New Domain Name

Hello to all my readers. Notice the blog has a new look. Most posts and pages can now be found in the pull-down menus along the top navigation bar.  I am working on the finishing touches and hope to have everything completed soon.

The biggest change is that my web address has changed.  Be sure to update your bookmarks to my new address:  www.storiesfromthesewingroom.com

Thanks for stopping by!


Blog Issues and Baby Steps

First off, I want to address some blogger issues.  Several people have left comments lately that I am not able to respond to at all.  The issue seems to be two-fold.  First, the commenters are no-reply commenters.  This means that I cannot send them an email response.  To fix this, you need to double-check your blogger profile to make sure your email is available.  You also need to make sure you aren't linked to Google+ since that service is being discontinued. I've read that Google reverts settings periodically, so it's something you need to check on a regular basis.  You could also leave your email in your comment if you want a response, especially if you're not using Google.

Secondly, my blog is not allowing me to respond to comments on the actual post comment section either. I am working on some things on my end, including a new page set up and possibly a new address and/or name change, and I'm hoping these upgrades will fix the situation.  If not, please know that I appreciate all comments and try my hardest to respond.  If you aren't getting a response from me, please use the contact form to email me directly.

Anyway, things are moving slowly along here, like usual.  Some things are better, some are the same.  On the plus side, we took the car to be looked at and they couldn't find anything wrong and couldn't replicate the problem. I surely hate when repair people say that! They did replace the battery.  That didn't really seem to do much.  As my husband drove the car to work after picking it up, it immediately started misfiring again.  Luckily it threw a code, so he was able to hook it to the computer and pull the code.  The actual problem was that the spark plugs needed to be replaced.  So $200 for the new battery and "service" and $30 for new spark plugs, and we are back in business.  Like I said before, the car is 10+ years old, so I feel good about the repairs.

I haven't gotten a ton of sewing done, but I did stitch around all four of the Millennium Falcon window grids.  Each one took about half an hour to stitch around.  The next few steps will go pretty quickly, then it will be on to quilting and binding.
I've also been working on a gift, so I do not wish to share that until after it is finished and received.  Hopefully it'll get done in time.  I'm stuck at a step (just cannot make it fit properly) and I'm determined to power through it and complete it this week.  

I do have my handouts for borders finished.  My presentation is Friday night.  The handouts will be available here on the blog next week Wednesday as a free download, so be sure to stop back and check them out.

My free time in the past week has mostly been spent on family, trying to figure out my blog issues, and working a tiny bit on the sewing room.  We are getting closer! The last few days I've moved the majority of my stash into the bigger closet in the room.  The only things left to move are the long arm, books, and most of the stuff I have upstairs, where I've been sewing for the last five years.  In case you're curious, that includes things I'm working on, all machines except the long arm, and my cutting table.  Oh, and my doll stuff, which I've been terrible about working on in the past year.  And more books and magazines.  And lots of batting pieces.
The good news is that everything fit into the closet.  I was worried about that.  Seeing it all in there tells me that I need to do a serious culling of stuff.  Some stuff I haven't touched in five or more years, so I think I can safely get rid of it or give it to someone who will use it.  I also need to be more serious about devoting time to sewing the doll clothes, since those bins are about half of all things I have stashed.  It will be fun to sit there and sort through all the boxes and bins.  I'm sure I'll find all sorts of treasures!  I already found a near-complete doll blanket that I was knitting for a pattern sample.  I'm not sure why I never finished it.

Last night we got the door and doorknob to the big closet on, the rest of the lights installed, and the smoke detector installed.  My husband hooked up the wifi booster thing over the weekend.  I am hoping my husband can wire at least enough of the outlets to move the long arm into the room this weekend.  Speaking of the long arm, the longer leaders I'll need when we add the two-foot extension should be arriving today, and I am making the final long arm payment on Friday!  Woo hoo!
Here you can see the smoke detector, wifi booster, and the decorative light.
Here's the updated to-do list:
  • wire the outlets
  • install one more light
  • install a drop ceiling in the big closet
  • install carpet in the big closet
  • install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets
  • clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them
  • finish the countertop
  • install shoe moulding along the cabinets
  • install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing
  • put on the doors for both one more closets
  • install doorknobs
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half my stuff in
I've had flocks of robins gathering in my yard and this morning I saw a group of around 20 turkeys strolling the neighborhood.  Could spring be arriving soon?  I hope so!  Here's to a productive week.