Baby blanket #1 done!

Thought you all might enjoy one of my midnight knitting projects posted. Our friends Lee and Sara just had a baby boy, and I made them this WVU baby blanket.

I cast on 90 stitches and knitted the purls and purled the knits to make a sort of wave striped blanket. It has great texture, and I even added a cool sew-on patch. I hope they have many years of using it to cheer on the 'eers!

P.S. WE ARE MARSHALL!

Golden brown fur....here I come!

Today at school, we were cleaning the classrooms for school in the fall, and I came across this awesome golden brown fur.

So, I thought to myself, what could I do with this fur? I have never sewn on fur before, and I know it is going to be a challenge. I asked a gentleman at the fabric store last week who was buying white fur if it was difficult to sew on. He said no, as long as you don't get the fur under the sewing plate and into the bobbin casing.

And, it hit me. I am going to, well let's just say try to, if there even is enough fabric, to make my hubby an ALF costume. We have always wanted him to be ALF and me to be Lucky one Halloween, but we could never find an adult male costume to buy that would fit him as ALF. And, we didn't think it would be as funny if I was ALF and he was Lucky. So, I am going to try to make that happen this year, God willing!

Wish me luck dear friends. I am going to need it on this project.

Sample book completed...check!

So, I had to complete this ginormous sample book. It contains more than 20 hand techniques, 10 seam finishes, 4 zippers and 5 types of pockets. Whew. Glad that bad boy is done. Man, did I learn a whole lot. Here is the cover.

Here is a cool seam finishing. Very easy, turned and stitched.

Of course the handstitches took FOREVER, but what took like an additional 30+ hours at home was working on laying it all out, organizing it and then making it look nice. So, I found some cool stamps of a bikini, purse and pants at Big Lots and used those to stamp the pages. But, I made sure to get some really nice paper. You know, my girlfriend Kelli is the one who really got me into nice paper. Thank you lady. I really like some good paper and appreciate people's cards who have picked cool paper cards with metallic printing, debossing, etc. That is another passion of mine, paper. I could go on and out about who I LOVE all the different patterned paper available to buy now, not to mention the translucents available.

Tonight I am off to work again at the incredible fabric store that has blessed me with a job. God is really shining down on me. I love life.

Ugly T-SHIRT TIME

Yeah, so I made this really ugly t-shirt in class. I mean, it's bad. We didn't have a pattern, just a learning exercise, but I mean come on now. Let's at least put some curve in this bad boy. I think this t-shirt was made for male/female and any size!

But, at least it is a hip, thick-styled v-neck. HA!!
I love learning new things, even if they are silly.

This past weekend, Bri and I celebrated our one year anniversary. I feel totally blessed to be with such a loving hubby. Hope everyone is having a great summer so far.

70s skirt pattern a success!

Well, it has been an extremely busy couple of weeks. Whew, glad to be back home and back to sewing! Last week in class, I finished this bad ass skirt.

Now, I know it looks old school, but I just can't help myself. I LOVE the 70s. Sometimes, I think for fashion purposes, I should have grown up in the 70s. I find these patterns in thrift stores from then, and just salivate over the styles. I will definitely have more 70s clothing posted in the future. So, you Wild Cats out there just wait!

School bells

So, I finished my apron. Take a gander.

I really like how it came out, and I actually learned quite a bit making it. I love batiks...Actually, I could live in them. They are beautifully created by talented artists. There will be more of those to come on here!

On a side note, just thought you all might find it interesting that we have a school bell to let us know when to start classes in the morning and when lunchtime is over. HAAA! I haven't heard one of those, well since high school. The first time the bell rang, I was like, what the heck is that? Then, I heard a friendly principal announcement....hot dogs will be sold today during lunchtime for a dollar to raise money for the student activities club. I mean, how awesome is that? First off, hot dogs, yummy in my tummy. Secondly, that there are school announcements. It made me smile, and I hope it does you, too.

In case you didn't know, Bri Guy and I have a hot dog machine. You know when you are craving one of those warm dogs from a gas station that have been perfectly cooked all the way through? Well, the Chapman's can provide that. It is a little hot dog machine that even has a bun warmer. We LOVE it!!

Sewing sequins one-by-one...

Today, I sewed sequins onto my apron (almost done) one-by-one on a string to my ruffles on the apron. I think it looks pretty cool along with the rough look of the unfinished edges.

Almost done with my apron. I start my skirt next with this cool owl material tomorrow. But, I'm also working on several other projects. I need to make a dress, too for a wedding that is coming up. Mmmm, so many projects, so little time. I am so happy to be in school again, but I am looking forward to summer break, so I may create my heart out...and get the things sorted and organized in my life.

So, let me tell you about filing cabinets. Before I got married, several years ago, I had a four tower legal size filing cabinet for just my own papers. Looking back, it is so humorous now. I saved water bills from three states ago and six apartments back! Yeah, I can be very anal with my filing. Anyway, like I said, I got rid of that years ago ( at least five), but once Bri Guy and I got married, he brought a two drawer letter size filing cabinet into the relationship. I thought, oh that is cute, he files stuff. Well, who filled that bad boy up? This guy or gal, shall I say. It is time to sort through that stuff and get rid of items I don't need. Going to get that done this summer along with a lot of other things. It seems I got out of the habit of filing items, and I just started throwing stuff in there. You can barely open the drawers anymore. Oh, I forgot to say that Bri cleaned that out for us a year ago, he he. Funny how things pile up...like fabric...back to the sewing table!