Yo-yo's

Just a short post for now. Life sure gets in the way of my hobbies sometimes! LOL

I purchased the yo-yo makers made by Clover because I have been unsuccessful making them the old fashioned way. I have been wanting to try these things. I finally got around to doing a couple. I am not so sure that they are any better then the ones I made without them. Albeit they are more uniform, but to me the stitches are just too big for the way I want them. Here's a comparison of both types:



I used the same sized circle for these. The one on the left is with the maker and the right is without. They are a little hard to see. I think that for embellisments I will use the makers. As for the quilt I dream of making, I am going to keep practicing.

This should be very productive day as my hubby has to work tonight, and it is dreary, so no plans to leave the house.

Happy Sewing,

A ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.....

Having all my fabric up on my old/new shelves in my sewing room closet makes such a difference in being more productive. I apparently purchased this beautiful fabric specifically for backing of my quilts. I loved the soft hand and soft print. No wonder I purchased over 10 yards of it.

Good thinking on my part! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I can get this quilt done for my daughter's room.

 

(The background fabric says P.S. I love you! I plan to put seed beeds or tiny buttons for the eyes.)

 

Happy Sewing,

Yucky day, yucky fabric

Well Fay has not really done anything here but make it gray and dreary. Hardly any rain so far. Slight wind finally.

So I have been re-ironing the muslin backing I purchased to back my butterfly quilt. I am really not liking the hand of this stuff. I cannot use it. My daughter has a textile...hmmm, aversion or something. I am going to need some nice quilt store stuff. I will have to wait as funds will have to be saved. One day she will have it.

Sew onward to someother WIP or UFO or new project.

Happy Sewing!

Sunny

My Big Board Pics

First up is the picture of me just getting started. I used 1/2 inch plywood (the nice sanded type) and added a layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. I then wrapped that with 100% cotton batting (Warm and White), 2 layers. I am thinking now that I might want more padding. The plywood was more expensive then the regular type because I was not paying attention when I picked it up. Regular, cheap plywood is fine. Also, the foil may not be necessary, but I wasn't sure. My plywood was supposed to measure 30" x 60" but was a little more in both length and width. Which was strange since I watched the woman measure accurately. She may not have cut as accurately though (she was new at Home Depot).

 

I then wrapped bleached muslin (the cheap kind-no photo) and the silver ironing board fabric. If I recall correctly, I used 2 yards of each fabric because of the widths they came in. I stapled around the edges like crazy. I think I get carried away with the staples on any project like this! I was undecided about what fabric I wanted to use, thus I purchased the silver stuff and the  muslin. I then decided to put both on so that when the silver stuff needs to go, I still have something over the batting. I also chose Warm and White batting and bleached muslin because I tend to burn the seeds in the natural types and stain my fabric.

 

I decided for now to just screw it to my old ironing board. I added some handles for easy moving by myself. The handles, screws and ironing board base were all re-purposed stuff I had on hand. The wood, foil, fabrics and batting were all new. The handles I cut off  a free bag. I really despise those particular bags as they do not feel like real fabric. They tear way too easily.

 

Another view of the back, leaning against my fabric closet: (You should be able to click on the pictures for the larger version to see any details that may be of interest. *wink*) I think I am going to add one more larger handle to the opposite side for ease in standing this thing up. I open the legs while it is like leaning because I cannot do it the normal way the old ironing board works. However, I cannot seem to stand it up on my own very well. Another handle should fix that though. It is not really that heavy. The old metal stand I am using is the heaviest part, lol!

 

Here it is set up as I will normally keep it in my tiny sewing room. Please excuse the mess and the nasty carpet. This is the only room with the original carpet still in it. I have yet to shampoo in here during my deep house cleaning the past week or so.

I love how at the top height it snugs up perfectly against my extra cutting table by the window. This allows me to keep my irons and ironing supplies off the board.

 

Here is the board in use. Of course, this is not a large piece of fabric. I wanted the set up out here to be visible.

When I want to iron my large pieces of fabric and quilt tops, it will be set up here in the formal dining room. This room is still mostly empty as my large dining table is in the small breakfast nook right now. I like it this way at this point because this empty floor space is where I cut and pin patterns that are oversized like home dec, and where I layer and baste my quilts. It use to be my sewing room, thus the fancy design wall you see in the background. My new sewing room, oldest son's old room, is unfortunately just too small for a design wall.

 

I must say again that I am loving this board. I realized that I do still need a regular ironing board. I wanted to be able to remove the big board and still use my ironing board, but for now I purchased a small table top one for only $7.88 (guess where at that price, lol, the 88 cents is a giveaway). That will work fine for now. Eventually I want a really nice ironing board for garment construction and regular clothes ironing. I also no longer care for ones with T style legs. I'd much rather have the type with 4 legs as they are more stable to me. I have had this ironing board for, most likely, going on 17 years.

 

I also did not do cleats or anything on the bottom of the board to hold it on my old ironing board. This way, I can take it off, and it fits perfectly on my main cutting table  in my sewing room. Here's a picture of that cutting table without the board on top as I forgot to photograph it while it was on there before screwing it down. Duh. Anyway, this table is old and broken so I do not fold it up and move it around anymore. I like that I can store stuff under it unlike the newer one from JoAnn's. One day when I make curtains and other stuff for my sewing room, I will make a skirt to hide this stuff and protect it from sunlight.

 

Well, that's my DIY board. As I said I love it. I am re-ironing the backing for my daughter's butterfly quilt now. One of the reasons I finally made this board was that backing. It was a nightmare ironing and was still very wrinkled using my old ironing board. The backing is 90 inch wide bleached muslin.

Next post, I will be posting some photos of a few finished projects that I have been working on. Until then....

Happy Sewing,

Giveaway!

I am so sorry most of my posts have been giveaways lately. I cannot seem to pass them up. They are wonderful for discovering new blogs and inspiration. Go check out Calamity Jane's Cottage for this adorable bag giveaway! Just too whimsical.

ETA: Also, go to Lurline's Place for her 100th post celebration. She is giving away a beautiful bag.

Check out the blog of Designer Heather Mulder Peterson. She is giving away a pattern. If you comment, mention that that Sunny sent you there, and we will both get a copy! How cool is that! I am always finding these giveaways from anotehr blogger and sometimes mentioned who I got the information from. This is sweet.

AND....browse Debi's blog. 200 posts!

Happy Sewing,

My cruddy day...long boring post...gotta get it out!

Ok, today was the first day of school. It was just a crazy, horrible day. The kiddos and I were running just a few minutes behind, so we missed the school bus. Ok, no prob,  grab the keys, lets go. Oh no, I left my engagement diamond solitaire with my anniversary diamond surround wedding band on the nightstand in my little boy's room (I took it off to lotion him up after his shower this morning because he has really dry skin and eczema). I tell young man to grab it for me so we can go. I am outside when the other mommas (and dads) are coming back from the bus stop. Of course we chat for a bit. Then, lo and behold, the bus comes back by the front of my house and stops for me. I literally throw the younguns on and am saved that traffic nightmare. Whew!

I continue to chat with my neighbors. My sewing friend decides to come inside to check out my closet I have been stuffing and for some chatty time. All of a sudden I realize I do not have my wedding rings on! Oh no, little man did not give them to me. He sure enough went back in the house to get them. My friend remembers me telling him to go back in and get it. She also remembers he did not give it to me.

I start to panic. It has been at least 20 to 30 minutes since this has happened. I jump in the car, drive to the school and get there just as classes are starting. I rush to his class, he doesn't have it. He gave it to me! No honey you didn't. Where is it? I don't know. I gave it to you. No baby, what did you do after you went inside to get mommy's rings? He cannot remember. I had already checked EVERYWHERE I had been that morning to be sure he had retrieved them as I had instructed. My heart is racing and I am getting upset. He keeps changing his story because he is getting upset, plus he just doesn't remember exactly (he is only 6 and entering 1st grade). I checked all his pockets and backpack. Nothing.

Ok, I run to my daughter's class. Ask her if she knows. She knows nothing about the rings at all. Okay. I am in tears. He must have dropped it on the school bus. Not good. The bus was already off to make the other rounds for the other schools and older kids. I run to the office and ask them what could be done to catch the bus driver. Nothing really, call this number. Yeah, right! It's the first day of school all over here. Getting nowhere!

Run back home, tear the house apart. Go outside and look all over the ground and even the street where the bus stopped. Nada. Then I cry, scream, cry, call husband, cry more. I called my buddy to come back over so at least we can sit and talk sewing. Maybe that will make me feel better. She is coming up the driveway along the grass on my pavers I installed.....AND THANK GOD! she is scanning the ground too and finds it in my grass! Oh my blue heavens. Thank the Lord! What a relief. Of course more crying...tears of joy!

Thought that was the worst start ever of a day, but it only got worse. Little man got sick and the school called around noon. I had to pick him up. He threw up at P.E. Oh no. When I get there, I finally figure out that he fell in P.E., scrapped his knees and then started to bleed ever so minutely. Well, he throws up when he sees himself bleed! No matter how small. I don't know why. No one else in my family has ever done that. Well we went home and decided to get my errands finished.

I take back purchases to stores from our school prep shopping spree. That itself was a nightmare. I really hate returning things, but it had to be done. Then I wanted to do some grocery shopping and get some more stuff to prepare for the storm Fay. However, lines were so long, that I had to leave without my purchases to rush home as my daughter would be arriving home on the school bus. I had to be home. Well, the buses were 30-45 minutes behind. Goodness. My friend, my angel, said she would wait for my little girl so I could go back and get my groceries.  Awesome.

Go grocery shopping. Stop at several stores for bottled water (hurricane prep) and cannot find any. Happens all the time when there is a storm a coming! Oh well, I will figure something out. I run back home and my dear friend is just leaving to take my daughter to her house because I was taking so long.  So sorry.

I get a call from the school system automated thing that school is canceled for tomorrow. Terrific. And here I was really looking forward to school starting today so I could get so much done and play in my sewing room and relax and ... (you get the picture). Well today was most certainly not what I had expected.

So tomorrow, I am sleeping in, then doing nothing but watch cartoons with the kids. I hopefully will get my post done with my pictures of my DIY "Big Board" up. I have been using it and absolutely love it. I don't know why I waited so many years to make one. Ironing my large yardage (and even smaller ones) have been super quick and pain free now! Hallelujah!

Until then....

Happy Sewing,

Sunny (too burnt out to do anything fancy in this rant of a post...good night all)

Another giveaway...an adorable purse!

Check out Wendy's blog, The Corvidarium, and enter to win the cute little purse.

Hopefully later today I will actually get to do a real post with pictures of my big board. I have to say I LOVE THIS BOARD!

Until then...

Happy Sewing,