Tools of the trade

For today’s Blog post I thought I would share with you some of my favorite tools.  I love to sew and create and I love to have great tools to do that.  I have been sewing since I was 10 and I was very fortunate to have a mother with a great love of sewing.  She was also an extremely talented seamstress.  Therefore, she new that having great tools was imporatant.  I knew from a very young age that Mom’s sewing scissors were never to be used on anything but fabric.  I received this pair of Gingher straight sewing scissors when I was a teenager and I have them ever since.  I purchased the pinking shears as an adult and also the rotary cutter.  I do not have a favorite as they all serve different purposes. I think that have the right tools and good quality tools is so very important and worth the investment.  The clips are the newest purchase, I got those last week at Hobby Lobby using a 40% off coupon.  I really love them and I think that they are a great addition to my toolbox. Save your pennies and use those coupons, these items often go on sale! *Disclaimer – I am not being paid by Gingher, I just love their products!

 

Receiving Blanket

Something else that I love to make and I normally have one or two going whether I need them for gifts or not are receiving blankets.  I like to have a couple completed and put away for gifts.  I used these when my daughter was a baby and they are my go to shower gift.  It is a simple yard of flannel that I turn under twice by hand and simply stitch down(that stitching is removed later) and then I crochet around the edge with DMC Yarn.  Here is a sneak peek, I am working on the tutorial….Stay tuned!

 

 

Enjoy your day!

Pillowcase

I guess I am on a pillow kick.  Yesterday it was a pillow for your phone, today it is a case for your pillow.  I am working on Easter gifts and I love to make and give pillowcases.  I picked these cute fabrics up at Joann’s and I love how they turned out.  I bought the end of the bolt of the top piece and I wanted to make 8 pillowcases as I like to give them as sets so I made the top piece smaller than I normally would so that I had enough to do all eight.  I did not buy enough of the purple to do all eight as it was quite expensive.  I decided I would look around at different stores for more fabric that was similar.  This one I am working on a tutorial also.  Happy Tuesday!

 

 

A place for your phone

So today from the little tiny sewing cave that I call my secret room (more on that later) I bring you the cell phone pillow!

So I decided to make some of these fun cell phone pillows and I thought I would give them to some of my friends.

I found this wonderful fabric at Hobby Lobby and I thought it would be great for some of my church friends.  Just  fun thing to set on your desk.  Many of my friends work at churches or private schools, so this fabric is perfect.

And then I had this cherry fabric in my stash so I used that. I filled them with beans in the back and polyfil for the front roll.  Maybe I will make some more and do a tutorial. That is all for now.

I guess tea is a good place to start!

I say that tea is always a good idea.  So here is some tea while I put a blog plan together.  Please pour yourself some and come back often and stay awhile.

 

It’s me!

So you probably thought I feel off the face of the earth! I guess in a way I did.  I guess I fell off the face fo the blogging world.  But I am back and it is still me or an older hopefully wiser me.  Many things in my life have changed and many things have stayed the same.  What has stayed the same is my home and family and for that I truly thankful.  What has changed so much is technology and that I am excited about.  Something you may not know about me is how much I love technology.  I love to craft and I love to sew and take pictures and knit and crochet but I also love technology.  I am currently using my daughter’s ipad, my husband’s apply wireless keyboard, I check the time on my Apple Watch and I use a wonderful Samsung Camera (if Apple had one I would have that too, I am an Apple person) to take my pictures. I am blessed to have so much techology at my fingertips.

Anyway, as I make a comeback into the blogging world I will share what I work on, what I love and all things in between.  Although my blog is called “My Sew Called Life” it is not only about sewing as you will soon see.  I will also be throwing in more technology as I go.  I hope you stick around and I hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

Therapy

Here is my latest WIP (Work In Progress). This is the Simple City Shrug. I purchased the pattern from knitpicks.com.  I did not want to purchase an expensive yarn and I was not sure I was going to  like it to so I am using Caron’s Simply Soft and I have to tell you that I am in love with it so far.  For an inexpensive yarn it is fantastic and I am enjoying the pattern.  It is a great beginner pattern and Iam excited to finish it and try something harder.  I am also posting some pictures of my new favorite scarf pattern.  I made several of these for Christmas gifts. This was a Lion Brand Pattern that turned out very different from the picture because I did not use the yarn that was suggested, but I loved the results.

Have a great Sunday!

Welcome Back!

So here I am again.  I guess I can not stay away.  I love reading other people’s blogs and having one of my own.  I guess that is why I am back.  I had a tough year last year and did not feel like I could give anything to the blogging community.  I am very happy to put 2010 behind me and welcome a new year.  I am excited about 2011!  It too is going to be a challenging year but these are challenging times for many. 

Although I have been away from blogging I have not been away from creating.  I am doing a lot of knitting and crocheting right now.  I find it very therapeutic.  I joke that it is cheaper than therapy! But it is actually not a joke, it is real.  Anyway, thanks for following and being patient with me as I make my way back into the blogging community.  My blog will focus on my creations as well as my ramblings.  I hope that you enjoy.

Finished!

Another Saturday has pretty much come and gone! ( I actually took the pictures above at the end of last Saturday but have not had time to post them)

Good news, I got a job, I start on Tuesday!  It will be good to be employed again, until I figure out how to be independently wealthy.

So I finished up a couple of things I was working on:

So I make baby hats because I really enjoy knitting in the round, and I don’t (yet) have a passion for making socks.  But I don’t really have anything I can do with all these hats.  So, I decided that I would donate them to the local county hospital, maybe some of the babies there that don’t have much would enjoy them.  I am going to look into that in the next week or two.

Here is the progress on my second purse from the Happy Hooker book:

I need to sew the lining for the inside and figure out some embellishments for the outside.

I have only recently picked up my crochet hook and knitting needles once again and had forgotten how much I love them.  I seem to go back and forth with them and my sewing machines (yes, I own more than one!).  Anyway, lately I feel the urge to push my knitting and crocheting abilities beyond the afghans and hats. I would like to try some more complicated patterns.  So I am on the hunt.  But in the meantime my husband’s family and I decided that if any adult gifts were to be exchanged they must be handmade.  I got some work to do!!

Saturday!!

Being unemployed (which stinks!) my Saturday looks very similar to all the other days! Not today!  Today I am surrounded by some of my favorite things~

1 ~  my daughter(not pictured, her choice)

2 ~ Tea (in one of my favorite tea cups, I own enough different tea cups to serve 30, that is a story for another time!)

3 ~ Popcorn(in one of my old favorite bowls, thirft store find)

4 ~ a knitting and crocheting project (yes, I often work on more than one project at a time!)

5 ~ and a stack of movies

Happy Saturday!