Actually Sewing

All I can say is, "Woo-Hoo!  I've actually made something!"  It really is worth celebrating considering I haven't made anything worth posting about until this last month since my last baby was born.  But, my creativity is returning slowly but surely.  I decided to make some gifts.  I have a friend who has been dropping subtle (and not so subtle) hints about wanting some of my coasters for quite a while.  I finally made her some!  I think the colors remind me of the ocean.

You'll have to excuse the quality of the pictures on this post....I'm not really good about photographing my work.

I made a set of 8 in blues and greens.

This same friend is having a birthday party for two of her children this weekend, so I made her son (turning 2) some tie t-shirts...

These shirts are *adorable* and so easy to make!

...and her daughter (turning 5) a bag to use when she goes to the library. (A little birdie told me she wanted one and liked a ballet theme, too.)  The lining of the bag is blue denim.  I guess it could be reversible, except for the two hand stitches anchoring the lining and outside fabric together at the base of the bag.  Those would stand out if the bag was denim side out.  But the embroidery was done before the bag was sewn, so there is no "wrong" side.  I guess if she still has the bag when she prefers to not have the pink, she can reverse it and snip the anchoring stitches.

I added a couple books so that she knew what the bag was for!  Although, she could also use this bag when she goes to her ballet class for whatever it is little girls take to ballet.  I really wouldn't know! :)

And since Marie mentioned that she wouldn't mind seeing some of what I do for work, too, here are some pictures of things I have embroidered for Showers of Blessing.

Coordinating blanket and burp cloth for Amelia Ann.  I like this fabric so much that I went back to buy some to make Hannah a blanket.  I haven't let myself make anything for her yet since it is so far away still, but I didn't want to see all this fabric go.

Isn't that a great name?  It's not for my Andrew, though!

Speaking of work, I'm taking on a new business venture selling jewelry!  I love, love, love jewelry and have been to a few jewelry parties with the company Premier Designs.  I have hosted a couple parties with them, too.  I have decided to join up and now I will be the jeweler who comes to do the party in someone else's home!  My first training meeting is May 10, and I will officially begin June 8.  I am super excited about it!

Getting Back Into Crafting

Andrew is officially one month old! The time has seemed to go really fast, although I wouldn't have told you that the first two weeks or so. But now Andrew has gotten the hang of sleeping at night, which makes all the difference in the world.

Now that I am getting more than one hour of sleep at a time, I have gotten back to my sewing machine and knitting needles. I even pulled out a crochet hook! I cannot put everything I have made up here because some of it will be given to people who read this blog for Christmas gifts! But I can put up the rest.

You know that before Andrew was born, I knitted up several hats and some booties for him. I made them all based on the sizes of my first two boys since the doctor kept telling me that Andrew based on the ultrasound scans I had, Andrew was also going to be around 9 pounds. Well, he wasn't. He was 7 lb., 10 oz. and he had a slightly smaller than average head. So none of the things that I made fit him except for one pair of booties. (The other pair I actually intended to fit a 3-6 month size, so we are all good there.) So I had to knit him another hat. I actually used a preemie pattern for this hat! I decided that rather than leave the end in stockinette stitch and let it roll like the pattern suggested, I would crochet a border on it. I did four rows of single crochet and I really like the way it turned out!

I also did some embroidery. I had stitched out two burp cloths for Andrew the day I went into labor and didn't have time to add fabric to the back, so I did that.

I also made two other burp cloths for a family friend who just had her second baby. We are in a Bible Study together and she had her baby four days after me. Our study had scheduled a baby shower for us together that ended up being a week after Andrew was born and only three days after her baby was born, and she actually came! But because they didn't decide on a name until after the baby was born, I wasn't able to give her anything other than the promise that I would make her something when I was able. Now I can finally give it to her three weeks later!

The rest of my projects will have to wait until after Christmas to go up on the blog! What kind of Christmas crafting are you all doing?

Embroidery

This is the embroidery work that I did this weekend. I really like the orange flower but it's tedious work. I hope I don't get overwhelmed at the idea of doing a lot more of it. I should really probably try to find some embroidery tutorials online or buy a book because I'm sort of flying by the seat of my pants here. Can any of you recommend a good embroidery resource?

Embroidery - The Lost Art

When Marie and I were at the antique shop last Monday we looked at a lot of old handkerchiefs and other linens with lovely embroidery on them. I really like that style of embroidery and it's very sad that hardly anyone does it anymore.

When my grandma died four years ago she left a lot of fabric and other crafty materials behind. I was lucky enough to receive these totally retro iron-on transfers. Aren't they so stinking cute!!! These are all from the 1960's.

So anyway I am going to start embroidering that pillowcase I bought the other day and here is the start.

Embroidered Wash Cloths

So I am trying to branch out again. I have been looking for plain white baby wash cloths to use for Showers of Blessing. I don't really like the super thin, flimsy ones that most companies make, and I am not willing to pay for the thicker ones at the regular stores because if I want to re-sell, I would have to price them too high for anyone to want to pay for it! Plus, all the nice ones in the store are packaged in colorful sets with prints or other embroidery on them. Recently, one of my wholesalers started to carry some washcloths, so I decided to try them out. They are terry on one side and flannel on the other. I think it is kind of weird to have flannel on the washcloth, but it is soft. The edges are simply serged, so it doesn't look as "finished" as some of my other products. What do you think?

Cute!

Isn't he cute? And fat? ha ha... Really, I am just showing off his new onsie that we got in the mail yesterday from Johanna's talented fingers at www.showers-of-blessing.net

Great, huh? Not a great picture, I know... it was taken early this morning after his bath and I was in a hurry....

Thank you Johanna... we love it. Even my husband was very impressed, and ask Jo, he doesn't get excited about anything! :-)

Further Updates

I got another page finished!! I updated my burp cloth page. I sell more burp cloths and blankets than anything and the cloths I had pictured before weren't really my favorites. They were my original designs before I figured out a few things and aquired some new designs. I like these ones better! Anyway, if you want to see it, here it is.

A Few Updates

Many of you know that I have been "updating" my web site for a very long time now. I finally got something done that could actually be published to my site! I added the page showing that I sell "All-in-One Bodysuites," a.k.a. Onesies. I never knew how much work this takes! There are so many steps, and I still don't really know how to use the publishing software, so I am always asking Jerry questions! But I got this page done with only one burst of tears! Check it out - Showers of Blessing.

I Think I'm Going to Cry!

I broke my embroidery machine. I really am going to cry. I was embroidering a catering company name on a group of chef coats and I got up from the machine to get one I had just finished so I could trim it while the next one embroidered. Well, this jacket was big enough that part of it was on the floor, somehow intertwined with my foot, and as I walked it pulled the coat - hoop and all - right out of the machine. It pulled the embroidery arm so that it is completely wrong and the needle broke and embedded the portion remaining in my machine into the hoop. I pried the needle out of the hoop, changed the needle, re-positioned the arm, and tried to re-hoop the coat and finish, but alas, it is too far off from the settings to work. The needle just breaks right away. I am going to have to drive to the dealer, an hour away, to have it serviced, shell out over $100 to do it, and call the customer (fortunately my dad) to tell them that I cannot deliver the coats tomorrow after all. I also had some starter jackets and a coaches shirt to embroider tonight. Money lost...and more that has to be spent. How depressing is this?

Not Much to Say

So my life has just been characterized by pain recently. I ruptured an ovarian cyst Monday. This has happened to me 4 times before, but the last time was 13 years ago, so I kind of forgot what it felt like. So, needless to say, there were some times on Monday that I was freaking out thinking of all the aweful things that could have been causing such severe abdominal pain! I almost called my doctor, but already had an appointment scheduled with my OB on Tuesday, so I didn't. It worked out well because my OB knew right away what was going on. Anyway, during all of that, I noticed that my throat hurt a bit, but with all the other pain, I didn't think about it much. By Wednesday, my other pain was gone and suddenly I realized that my throat really hurt. I got out the flashlight and took a look...so I was back at the doctor yesterday with a throat infection. Along with that, my washing machine broke. I called yesterday to make an appointment to get the Maytag man out here - he is apparently busier than the ads would have us think because he cannot get out any sooner than next Tuesday! What are we supposed to wear until then??? When it rains, it pours!

I have actually been a little bit crafty through it all. I made some towels for one of my cousins who is getting married this weekend. The waiters are going to drape these over their arms when they serve the wine.

I also finished the third hat for my friend's children. If you remember, I posted about the other two here. This one gave me fits! I used this wool blend yarn that isn't the same gage throughout so my hat kept taking on strange shapes! Of course I wasn't using a pattern, and I had never worked with this kind of yarn before, so it was a bunch of trial and error. I bought the yarn because the little girl wanted pink and orange for her hat, and it is really so pretty with a beautiful pink - not too hot pink - and a deep orange. It also had green and I thought the colors blended beautifully. That should teach me that picking a yarn for the color is not always the best idea!

I also made some gifts for a friend who just had a baby. I finally figured out how I want to package my security blankies when I made this one. I also really like the camo print on the burp cloth - very "boy."