Sewing

I’ve Been Busy Writing

One of my friends sent me an email asking where the heck I’ve been, since I haven’t been writing much here at FabGrandma. Well, I’ve been busy! In addtion to still tweaking my new site here behind the scenes, I have contributed to a couple of other places. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I have that review site to worry about too. I’ve written a few reviews over at FabGrandma…Reviews and at MomGadget. If you want to look around at what I’ve been up to, just click on the links below:

FabGrandma…Reviews

Wellgate for Women Braces

Manischewitz Foods Gluten Free Products

Give Wink Children’s Furniture

Nikon Coolpix S630 Camera

About.com Grandparenting

About.com Grandparenting Technology

I have two more articles planned for About.com, and some other things in the back of my head. As if I needed another project, today I was invited to join a group called We Write For 10, which means we get a topic each day to write about for 10 minutes. Gaaaa! I know I can do it, but I am still asking myself why on earth I agreed to that. Maybe it is my ADHD, or my Gemini personality???

And that’s not all. I am almost finished with the baby quilt–I hope to be able to show the completed project by next week. All I really have left to do is the hand sewing on the binding, but that stinking arthritis in my hands has been bothering me for the last couple of days. When that happens, some days it feels like I have two useless clubs at the end of my arms–can’t do any sewing like that! I can type, but can’t hold that little needle.

I got orders for two men’s aprons, and have one cut out, and looking for a piece of fabric to match the one I have already to be able to get the other one cut. That project is next in line after the baby quilt. And then, I will start the machine sewing on my own quilt. It’s all cut, ready to go, just looking for time, hahahaha.

Here is a funny from real life: Today, FabGrandpa and I were in Wal-Mart. I was looking at pots and pans because I wanted a deep sautee pan. He said, “You need to get a new metal spatula for me to use when I cook.” And I looked for one but did not find it. And it did not really dawn on me until later, when we were almost home, and I started laughing out loud. He asked “What’s so funny?” and I said, “It just occured to me that you never cook!”

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Hurray! I Got Some Sewing Done Today

Karen · 15 Comments

I have so many projects to get done that sometimes I don’t know where to begin. I made a rule for myself a couple of years ago that I have to finish one thing before I can start another, because I had gotten into the habit of not finishing things. I would make the quilt top, but not follow through with putting the layers together and quilting the project. Since I made that rule for myself, I have finished lots of things.

I DO still buy fabric, and cut things out before I finish the project at hand, but this just gives me something to pick up and sew. Today, I finished sewing the star pieces together for the Star of Bethlehem quilt I am making for Seth and Sarah.

If that looks familiar, it may be because I am making one very similar to it for Becca and Ken. There is only one fabric that is different in the two quilts. These are king size, and I am sending them out to a long arm quilter to be quilted. My sewing machine won’t handle that big of a job. Here is a photo of Becca’s quilt ready to go:

Yes, I was working on it in the maintenance shop. I had to clean of the work bench and tape some plastic on it to have a space big enough to work on. Sometimes I go to a quilt shop and use the tables in their back room. I have never been turned down for doing that, as long as they don’t have lessons going on at the time.

I had bought some yellow and purple fabric for the new baby’s quilt when a month or so ago:

But then this cute cute girlie girl fabric came in the mail last week:

So now our new little missy will be getting this purty fabric called “OH, Cherry, Oh” for her first quilt from her FabGrandma. I haven’t decided on a pattern yet, but I think I am going to let the fabric tell me what to do. I got what is called a “turnover”, which is a pack of 40 pre-cut triangles, and three 1 yard pieces. I love those pre-cuts–they make it so easy to get started doing something.

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It’s A Girl!

Karen · 7 Comments

Remember back in the dark ages when we old grandma’s were having our babies,and we had to actually wait until we woke up after the delivery to find out if we had a boy or a girl? Sigh…

We found out yesterday that our newest FabGrandchild is going to be a girl. We are all so excited and can hardly wait until May for her to get here. The proud parents, my son and his wife, are still debating names for her. I’m just calling her Baby Girl until she’s named.

I was so happy to know there is going to be another FabGranddaughter, that I drove 35 miles to Tuscaloosa yesterday to go shopping. OK, we also had to go get FabGrandpa some new pants, but seriously, I couldn’t wait another minute to look at girlie girl baby clothes.

Isn’t that just the most adorable outfit?

And ooooooooo

ahhhhhhhhh! cutie cute cute! You know Fabgrandma is going to be sewing for this girlie soon!

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FABrics I Love

Karen · 8 Comments

As you may have noticed, I love to sew. I mostly make quilts and crafts, but have been known to sew a little bit of clothing every now and then. One of the reasons I haven’t been sewing a lot since I started living the RV lifestyle, is that I am always in remote locations where there is not a decent fabric store within hundreds of miles.

The internet has come to my fabric rescue! Over the last year or so, I have found quite a few sewing, quilting, and fabric blogs, and I read them every day, and drool over all those fabulous fabrics the writers of them are using in their projects. One of my favorite fabric blogs, True Up, is hosting a MEME where they want you to show your 10 favorite fabrics of 2009.

Since I didn’t get into internet fabrics until last summer, I missed out on some that debuted earlier, so some of the ones I am listing here may be older than 2009, but I still love them.

My most favorite fabric I found this year (but probably came out earlier than that) is the Fairy Tip Toes collection by Tina Givens for Free Spirit Fabrics. When I saw it, I fell in love with it, and searched for three weeks before I found it online to buy. I haven’t cut it yet, don’t know that I ever will, but I HAVE it and that is what matters most to a fabric-aholic like me!

My next favorite is called Large Whimsy from Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics. I am making myself a quilt using the brown/green/turquoise colorway. I already have the pieces cut and ready to sew.

There are just so many beautiful FABrics out there these days, it makes me wish I had more storage room for it. I have only a wicker trunk to keep it in, though, so I have to be very selective on what I buy.

And I used two fabrics from the Meadowsweet Collection by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller to make a dress for my FabGranddaughter, Sarah, for Christmas:

Here are some things that are in my list to get in the coming year, that is, if something new doesn’t come along that I love more!

Echino Fall: for Kokka Fabrics

Far And Away by Heather Ross for Kokka Fabrics

Hushabye: by Tula Pink for Moda Fabrics

Goodnight Monkey: by Erin Michael for Moda Fabrics

MoMo Odyssea: for Moda Fabrics

Full Bloom: by Bari J. for Windham Fabrics

Brandon Mably: for Westminster Fabrics

Girly Girl: by Patricia Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics

And for reasons I don’t have to explain, I love these two cute fabrics:

Travel Trailer: Michael Miller Fabrics

Happy Campers: by American Jane for Moda Fabrics

I don’t know how many of these gorgeous FABrics I will actually get this year, but oh, isn’t it wonderful to dream about them?? Oh, and I see I have gone fabric crazy again, since they only asked for my favorite 10. Hello. My name is FabGrandma and I am a fabric-aholic.

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So The New Year Is Upon Us

Karen · 12 Comments

Now that 2010 is here, I am spending my day making a list of goals for myself. I don’t make resolutions. A “resoulution” is an “act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure..”, and what I am doing is by no means a determined course of action. I find that in my life, setting out on a course of action usually leads to something other than what I started out to do. So, if I set goals instead, no matter what course of action leads me to the desired result is ok.

Some of my goals are simple, direct things that accomplish a specific task:

I want to clean up my computer, and by that, I DO NOT mean dusting off the screen. I want to get rid of files no longer needed; bookmarks that lead to pages that make me wonder why I bookmarked them to start with; organize folders in some kind of order that make sense, and put the ones I use the most at the top of the list. If I accomplish that, it will make my days infinitely better and help me save time.

I want to get organized in my life. I do so many different things that I sometimes just get overwhelmed with the list. I want to make myself a schedule, so that I have an hour a day to write; an hour a day to sew, an hour a day to play, and an hour a day to exercise. (Not that putting the hour a day on my calendar will actually make me do those things…)

I want to get a tripod and learn to take better photos. If I had done that last year, this photo of the gorgeous blue moon rising over Payne Lake on New Years Eve would have been better than this:

Other goals may prove to be a little harder for me to do, but not starting to work in that direction will assure me that they won’t get done:

I want to move my blog to a hosted website with my own URL. I have some very specific and some other vague goals for myself for this blog, and have already started working towards them. I want it to be the most Fab blog, ever. (Now how is THAT for a goal???)

I want to get my Etsy store up to date, and get all the purty things I sew listed on there for sale. I want procrastination to be a thing of the past.

I have a goal to get all my gluten free recipes sorted out, typed up, and presented in some type of cookbook, whether it is an e-book or a printed one. There are other gluten free cookbooks out there, but I am a southern girl who cooks in a “southern” way. I want other gluten free cooks from the south to feel comfortable in the kitchen, making all those mahvelous southern comfort foods we grew up on, minus the gluten.

I want to make myself a quilt with these fabrics. I have already started it, by cutting all the pieces. All I have to do now is the sewing (HA! that’s easy to say!) I have a baby quilt to make, and a couple of other big sewing projects that I want to finish by spring, but of all my goals, this one will probably be the easiest for me to accomplish.

So, there it is, out there for public consumption, and public scrutiny. Making these goals public will put me at greater risk of completing them. What are YOUR goals for the year 2010?

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I’ve Been Sewing My Brains Out

Karen · 14 Comments

Since I’ve been buying so much fabric lately, I figured I better get busy sewing some of it up. After a trip to the Hobby Lobby in Tuscaloosa, the quilt shop that I found, some online fabric shopping, and then the trip to Joann last weekend I finally have enough fabric to complete several projects. (Did you think I was going to say I had enough fabric? A girl can NEVER have enough fabric.)

A dress for my granddaughter

and a blue dotty skirt, too.

and another ruffled skirt with horses. (She loves horses.)

A zippered bag for my daughter, Becca

and a tote bag to match.

Pink and green tote for Emily

with a matching zippered bag.

Becky gets yellow and black

and here is her zippered one, I love this one.

Patchwork in aqua, turquois, and purple for my friend Gaelyn.

and one for the little girl who lives down the lane. Ha ha ha, not really, but for Emily’s niece.

And of course she gets a matching zippered bag, too.

Brown, pink, green, stripey dots for my daughter-in-law, Sarah.

A Christmas apron for my mother

Another tote bag for my sister. I have one more little bag to make, and I will be done with gifts. Then I can sew for fun. Yay!

Check out all the other handmade goodness at Everything Etsy.

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I’m Turning Into A Bag Lady

Karen · 5 Comments

My fabric shopping trip last week included some heavy-weight interacing so I could make some tote bags for my daughters. That stuff is expensive! But, I got enough to make four bags. I have two of them finished already:

Greens, blues, and browns for Becca.

Pinks, greens, and beige for Emily.

The pattern I used makes three sizes. These are the medium sized ones. That large bag would hold a Volkswagen, I think.

And I have yellow and black sitting there waiting to be sewn, for Becky. I don’t have fabric yet for Sarah’s, but will have it next week. OOooo, I get to go fabric shopping again!

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Oh, Just ZIP It!

Karen · 2 Comments

I really really hate it when I can’t find something I want or need, and when it is something as simple as a zipper, then what in the heck is up with that?

While I found that lovely quilt shop in Tuscaloosa, they do not sell zippers because, well, quilts don’t need zippers. And I have a project in my little brain that requires a zipper to complete, and it was driving me crazy. So, I began looking for zippers.

The Wal-Mart in town does not have a fabric section. There is not another store that has fabric unless I go to Tuscaloosa again, to Hobby Lobby, but I did not want to drive all the way up there just for a zipper. So, I thought to myself, that I would go online to Joann Fabrics website and order some.

I typed in the url, and guess what? it wouldn’t load on my screen. I thought it was my crappy internetz service, because it was raining, pouring, outside, and it is satellite internetz. I felt like banging my head on the table.

The next morning, I got an email from Joann that said: “We apologize!-Thanksgiving Promotions Now Extended + Free Shipping. We’re aware it was a challenge to shop Joann.com this weekend….” So it wasn’t just me. That made me feel a little bit better. So, I went on over to the website to shop for zippers. And guess what? it is STILL a challenge to shop for zippers on their website. Just go look! I’ll wait. When you get to the page, scroll down to choose a color. Can YOU tell what the colors are on those zippers? You can’t actually see what the color is until you get to the cart to check out. THAT is where they have conveniently typed in the name of the colors.

So, OK, I got my zippers ordered and on the way. And THEN FabGrandpa decided to drive over to Calera, Alabama to the Jayco dealer to get a new gasket for the toilet. And guess what was right next door to the dealership? A different Wal-Mart. One that sells zippers!

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