A trip for trims...

I've been hanging out on Pattern Review a lot, since i'm wanting to get back into garment sewing. After the PR weekend, there were a few blog posts about the Austin weekend- and that made me spot a fabric shop I wanted to visit next time I went down there: TexStyles

Turns out it is only minutes from Kevin's parents house, so we were able to make a quick trip over there.

I'm actually on a "fabric fast" until the end of January (possibly to be extended) so I wasn't sure what I'd be doing in a fabric shop, but my Craftsy class "Stupdenous Stitching" has me needing a bunch of trims, and they fit the bill nicely.

I got three different velvet trims- two different blues and a brown, some metallic gold trim, two sequin trims (the pink and the blue), and a bright pink rick rack.

The men who own the shop had just finished a trip to LA and had bags and bags filled with trims and fabric, they were more than happy to let you dig through them, or offered to pour them out. Nothing was priced, so when I had my handful, I went over (a little worried I'd have to put stuff back) and asked: everything was under $1.75 per yard (most around $1.25, rick rack was 75 cents) and the prices were followed with a "does that sound good?" They say they don't mark prices on trim because the stock revolves too fast, so they are open for negotiation.

I'm almost glad I couldn't buy fabric, because it was too overwhelming. Everything is hung- by color. The store is BEAUTIFUL! I would have needed a lot of help to identify what the types of fabric were, and what would work for certain projects- but I have no doubt the owners would have helped me, they were just delightful! Super friendly and very chatty.

I will definetly be back on my next visit. (As for the trim- I'm in love. I think I was supposed to get more rounded trim for my stupendous stitching project, but these were all just so beautiful...)

Happy New Year!

We are back from our trip to Texas- with lots to write about. I'm not sure where to start, so I'm going to start with something I did BEFORE our trip, and that has nothing to do with Christmas.

When I got back from Texas I was greeted with quite a few packages on the doorstep. I got a few textbooks, but also a pretty red box marked "Julep". Ooh! My Julep Maven package got here fast.

Inside- 4 gorgeous nail polishes!

You see, just before I left I saw an ad on the internet for a $5 intro code to a nail polish a month subscription. So I bite (the code was maven5, if it still works- I also later saw some 99 cent codes! You'll have to google for those). This $5 even included shipping!

So the deal was, you took a quiz and it gave you your style profile. Mine told me I was "boho glam" but the website lets you look at all the profiles, and even though I did like the boho glam colors, I loved the "it girl" ones more (I am so NOT an 'it girl') so I switched.

In my box I had these 4 colors, a purply/pink (it changes with the light), a deep dark red glittery polish, a gunmetal silver, and a fast dry top code.

I'm wearing the pink, and it applies really nicely, though it needs two coats. It is very matte- so a top coat is needed for shine. I need to clean up around my fingers still, but that's my fault, not the polish's!


Rather than canceling right away (which you totally could do) I am staying on for one more month- I really liked next month's "it girl" colors. They will be $20 including shipping, and while the nail polish bottles are about half the normal size, I think it is worth it. The polish is way nicer than drug-store stuff. I also like that they let you see it before it ships, and you decide if you want your style box ('it girl') or a different one, or you can skip it entirely!

(There is a referral program, so if you try it- will you use my link? Click here for awesome polish)

Christmas is seriously almost done...

My sister asked me to knit her a coffee cup cozy, but I'm not sure I'll be able to.  I whipped one up on the sewing machine...a 30 minute to one hour project.

I used insul bright in the middle for insulation and thin cotton batting on either side to protect her hands.  It is reversible, and.the inside is quilted (I quilted one side to all.the batting and then added the other side and turned it) . I just used a cardboard cup cozy as a pattern.

I hope she likes it!

Thanks Kevin for modeling.

Final Christmas gift

And with this, Christmas presents are done.  Here is hoping we have good weather for the drive.

In other news, I am making a pencil skirt and the muslin looks like crap.  But I did do my first invisible zipper...just two misses before I got it right. (once I sewed through all the teeth and spent an hour unpicking threads. Then I sewed it to the outside of the skirt).

Are you done with your Christmas crafts?

Two more down...

Gifts, that is.

Kevin made the older nephews a baseball wall bracket thing (pictures after our trip! They are neat) for Christmas, and they were going to be tough to wrap. I made both of the boys a pillow case, and the brackets fit in them nicely. Added bonus- new pillowcase!


As you can see, both boys are very into baseball right now! (The blue pillowcase is bent a little- the C isn't distorted...)

I had a difficult time hooping the pillowcases. Getting the hoop exactly centered was really rough. Then my machine decided to be a pain in the butt- despite the tension being less than 1 (I normally use 2 for embroidery) and the hole in the bobbin tail being threaded, the bobbin thread was STILL pulling up.

In the end, I did most of the satin stitch for the red by "hand" (machine, but me doing it) and all of the satin stitch for the burnt orange. My machine does a really nice satin stitch- but I still haven't figured out how to make corners look nice.

It is MUCH easier to let the machine put down guidelines to cut on, then try to trace and cut letters myself. That is my favorite part of machine embroidery!

As for school, I have everything turned in but my final self evaluation paper. I am about half done with it, and taking a break to embroider the very last of the Christmas presents (oh, and then I need to knit for Courtney...)

Rylee is getting an appliqued Minky pillow. (Can you tell I like applique. It is so much cooler than regular embroidery.) And- today, my machine is behaving just fine. I used colored isacord in the bobbin rather than the seraline I usually use, just in case it pulled up, but then none of it did! Go figure... The applique is done, so now I need to make up the pillow- but I have to write that paper first! Pictures later this week.



Did I mention I started knitting a sock? I can't remember the last time I did that! I miss knitting- it's fun!

Stressed...

The statistics class has definetly been my hardest one yet. I'm still doing well in it, but I'm feeling overwhelmed. For reasons I don't understand the last week is also always the busiest. I'm kind of going crazy.

I'm also not sleeping well, which doesn't really help the stressed feeling.

Then, I have Christmas presents to finish up. Need to make R's gift, 2 pillowcases to wrap the Cs's gifts, and hopefully at least two more kitchen towels.

I'm looking forward to seeing family for Christmas, but wish we weren't going to Austin. I'm so worried about the weather for the drive (17 hours is a long drive- now imagine it with snow...), and upset that I won't get to spend ANY of my vacation from school sewing. If you've been keeping track of the fabric purchases, I clearly have some projects planned. Going home is so tiring- I need a vacation from vacation.

I do have to say, I'm super glad I went with the sewing machine with embroidery (I've been having some buyer's remorse and wondering if I should have gone for the top of the line Brother rather than the mid range Bernina). Here are some kitchen towels I've made. All designs are from PlanetApplique.com

Fabric Mart Order

I got my Fabric Mart order in (I actually started this post a week ago... but never got the picture uploaded). I have to say, I’m disappointed. More than I’ve been with any other online fabric order. Perhaps it is because I branched out to try new things… Before I’ve always stuck with quilting cotton and stretch knits. I am thinking about joining their swatch club. Maybe it would be a good idea just to learn what fabrics ARE. More than anything, I was surprised by that!

The good thing is Fabric Mart is really inexpensive. Not cheap- most people rave about the quality (and quality isn’t really what I have a problem with). So it was a good lesson, and while I might not buy from Fabric Mart again in the near future, I will likely sew with at least some of what I bought.
Here is the run down. I got 2 yards of everything, except the last thing.I paid $8 in shipping.
Stretch Poplin (Brown) $1.49/yard Stretch Poplin (Purple) $0.74/yard I didn’t really know what Poplin was, but a pattern recommended it for shorts. I got the purple (cheap) for a muslin and the brown (well, still cheap) for the actual shorts. This material is really thin. Not sure how these are going to look. I expect something a little heftier. I’m kind of disappointed.
Trendy Cotton Bold Paisley $2.25/yard In the picture this looked like a cute print. In real life it looks like a grandmother’s couch. YUCK. Muslin material for sure. It also has the hand of quilting cotton, not something I think of for clothes.
Flocked and checks cotton $2.63/yard I underestimated the “checks” of this fabric. It looked nearly solid in one of the photos, and was the fabric I was most excited about. In real life, it looks like gingham and feels like quilters cotton. Not sure if I’ll get a nice skirt out of this or not. Major bummer.
Polyester Charmeuse $1.88/yard So I guess I didn’t know what Charmeuse is, but I didn’t expect it to just look like lining… Maybe this will make a nice blouse, but I’m not sure. It sure is shiny!
Crinkle Chiffon $1.49/yd This is a sheer material, and I hope to use it to make a peasant blouse to wear over a tank top. This one is good.
Polyester Lining $1.49/yd (2 colors, so 4 yards total) Yep, this is poly lining. I’m happy with this.
Trendy Knit Animal Print $1.49/yd. This material is exactly what I wanted- 4-way stretch, nice hand. Problem is, I ordered the wrong thing. This is an ugly as sin multi-animal print. I meant to get solid black. Oops. BUT I am going to use this to make a muslin of a wrap dress I’ve wanted to use expensive fabric I got a few years ago, but have been scared to try. So really, it works out fine.
Quilting Cotton $1.49/yd I saw this and thought “I got orange? I thought I got pink…” But sure enough, I did get orange. This will be just fine for a quilt back. That’s why I got 3 yards. I’m quite happy here.

Sunday Sewing...

Got some towels embroidered and made Kevin a Kindle cover. I was testing this pattern to make as a Christmas Gift. It's a fun one!

Here is my Pattern Review. This used up 3 of the fat quarters I just bought. Yay for actually using stuff. Also, I love my walking foot. It makes me so happy.



Now, I really need to get to homework and laundry folding!

Connecting Threads!

My Cyber-Sunday order FINALLY arrived! (I'm spoiled by Amazon shipping. I guess 1 week really isn't that bad- remember the days of 6 to 8 weeks?)

I got 4 sets of 12 fat quarters each, 1 10" stack of 24 Christmas fabrics, and then 2 packs of thread for quilting.

I am in love! The fat quarters I got are fabulous. Kevin picked out which ones will be his Kindle cover, and I have some for my Mom's. (Need to get on that! Christmas approaches!)

I embroidered my Dad's Christmas gift today. I need to get going on the things for everyone else. Oh, and do my Stat. project...

Also- internet karma has circled back to me :) Recently, I sent off an envelope of selvages to a blogger making a selvage quilt, sent a book about serging to a woman on ravelry, and mailed off some of my unloved stash yarn to some people on ravelry. Well- I was posting on pattern review asking questions about the Bernina Invisible Zipper foot. A woman offered to mail me hers to "try out"! She said if I liked it I can pay half retail and keep it. Wow! That is really nice.

Plenty of TV...

Got lots of dvds in the mail (and animaniacs in the mail...) Cost well less than a month of cable :) and will rot our brains just the same (well, maybe not quite as well as TLC would)