What not to do with a serger...

This is for you, my darling daughter, because the best lessons come from what not to do...Sara and I had our mother/daughter sewathon on Sunday. We ate sinful cinnamon streusel muffins with our coffee and watched Psycho (Sara thinks Anthony Perkins is hot...correction...WAS hot) which my daughter had never seen before, Cinderella, because who doesn't love a good love story and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, because life is short and you have to slow down and smell the roses sometimes. Okay, that was the entertainment...or was it??? Sara made a wonderful cushion for Lola, as described in a previous post. Next up she chose a wonderful yoga pant. This was her first ride on a serger, and what a cadillac my new Evolve was to learn on. She was doing fabulous...sewing up those seams like the best of us. She tried them on and decided she wanted them to ride a little lower than the pattern, so we measured and graded it down so it would be just perfect when the wrapover waist band was applied. I helped her pin on the waistband and walked her through the process and let her go. I tried not to hover and make her nervous, so I went across the hall to my bedroom to try on a blouse I was altering. Something didn't sound quite right. "Is everything all right in there?" I cautiously ask. "No, I'm stuck" WHAT??? I return to the scene to find the front of her pants wadded tightly in the throat plate. I tried to gently remove the fabric...nope...not budging. I finally had to cut it out and use my trusty hemostat to tease out the wad of thread that had balled up under the plate. I was afraid that there would be problems...but I saddled her back up and the serger roared off again like nothing had happened. I gained a greater respect for Babylock that day. Sara's rationale was that she thought it was like going over a thick seam with a regular machine...you just get through it and on you go...doesn't quite work like that unfortunately. The funny thing was, we lost about an inch off the waistband with the trim job. Her low rise was a little lower than anticipated. She said Bryce complained that she never wears "girlfriend clothes" since they got married...she just wears sweats and comfy clothes (well...YEAH???) I couldn't wait for him to get a load of these sweats!!! No pictures please...I'm running a clean blog here!!! In happy news...my first Burda came in the mail...I'm so happy!

Music Monday and Lola, my Grandkitty

First off...here is a picture of Lola, my grandkitty. The kids adopted her from a rescue organization and she has come a long way since then. She was pimped out at an early age and had a batch of kittens before she was rescued and spayed. She was a real fraidy cat when the kids brought her home and she can still skitter into hiding when someone comes to visit, but she loves her parents. Sara made her a new pad to lay on (one of yesterday's sewing projects) I will discuss what we learned on sewing Sunday at a later date because today is Music Monday!!! Yay!!! I was reminded of that when I was reading Tearsa's blog earlier and saw her picture "under my umbrella"...you all know the rest of the song, don't you? If you don't, you really should pick up Rihanna's CD "Good girl gone Bad" because it is a great listen. I have been rocking it in the car, in my sewing studio and on my ipod on the treadmill for a while now and I adore her music. I love the tune "Shut up and Drive" (Remember the post "Shut up and Sew"...guess where I knocked off that idea!!!). Also "Please don't stop the Music" brings back the rhythm of Michael Jackson...not that I am a fan of all the trouble he has had over the years, but I do like his music. So there you have it...Music Monday! I will post more about what's been stitching in the studio and What Not to Do with a serger when I have more time. Until then...keep on rockin!

Let's Get Sewing...

Yesterday was a no sew day (and you know that is like a day without sunshine!). Seems like tasks come in waves. I have been helping my boss with computer stuff...I am her IT person (and that's a pretty scary thing...let me tell ya!) I think I have her squared away for the moment. Tom brought home his new playtoy...Lil Blue...Hayden's daddy gave Tom his old Toyota pickup since we help out with babysitting (Shoot, I feel like we should pay them for the pleasure)...anyway, a new fuel pump later, Lil' Blue is running...just another thing for Tom to tinker with. We all have our hobbies. Tom is working today, so tonight I plan to spend some quality in the studio. I picked out some Mary Engelbreit fabric from the stash for making aprons tomorrow with Sara and I have a couple of shirts to embroider for a customer. Everybody wants things right now...we are an impatient society, which reminds me...where is my April BWOF!!! :)

Flashback Friday

Homecoming 1976...I was 16, going on 17...well, you know the rest of the song...Doesn't my honey look happy? I searched everywhere for the dress because I didn't have time to make one (my honey lived in Chehalis and it was a last minute decision to come up for the event) I had to work that night, so I missed most of the game, but the dance was heavenly and we went out to dinner afterward in Everett with my BF Shelley and her husband John...yeah, that's right...husband...we look so young!

Dogs (and Cats) on Thursday

Jo and Fig try to pretend they don't like each other. I beg to differ. Jo always comes to get me when Figgy is at the sliding glass door asking to come in. More and more I am catching them sleeping together, as seen in this picture. I didn't quite catch the moment because they both jumped up when I got the camera. You can see by his expression Fig is not amused by my spy techniques. Let's keep private things private, he says! As for sewing, today was a good day. I finished Kim's jumper and it turned out really nice. I took a picture, but it didn't look too impressive in the picture, so I probably won't post it. Maybe I will get a picture of Kim in it. I spent a couple hours in the garden pulling thistles and weeds in preparation for the garden. I am going to put some water retention crystals in the beds (you know the ones we made "cool ties" with) to help keep the plants hydrated. My raspberries are running. There are several babies shooting up, but I'm not going to move them until Mother Nature settles down and quits freezing us at night. I made a couple loaves of sourdough french bread to go with the lasagne I made last night. So dinners in the bag, Baby!!! Now I can go trace off some BWOF patterns out of the March issue...Impatiently waiting for April (the first issue in my subscription I hope!)

Big Dump Truck o' Patterns

My morning started with this little guy coming for a visit. He decided he needed to work out on the treadmill. I tried to get some cute pictures, but it's hard to do when they are as quick as this little man! He went home after noon and so I took a trip to a little thrift store in town that is only open twice a week. They had a couple boxes of patterns that were FREE! I brought home 22 (and gave them a donation). I also picked up a dump truck for Hayden for a buck!!! He will love to play with it.
Some of the patterns were true vintage from the 60's and some were newer. I got a gorgeous Maggie London dress pattern...I love Maggie London.
I did manage to get some sewing done...I did 3 embroidery samples for a potential client and finished some edges on Kim's dress. After dinner at the Fire Station, I made a lasagne for tomorrow night. The first hummingbird of the season came knocking at the window this afternoon, so I whipped up some hummer food and hung the feeders. I love watching those birds. Maybe tomorrow I can snap a photo of them.

Booty Call

Made you look!!! It really should be called "Looty Haul". I finally received my order from Fabric Mart after >2 weeks. I was getting impatient since I ordered from Fabric.com after I placed the order with Fabric Mart and that came early last week. I even got so worried I emailed them to find out when it shipped, thinking my precious fabric had been hijacked! I was all prepared to talk smack about them, but when I opened the box and saw the generous cuts, I couldn't stay mad. I got in on some of the 3 yards for $5.00 stuff, not expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised. I had to jet over to Trendy Fabrics for some lining fabric and of course I couldn't waste the 99 cent first order shipping on just $8.00 worth of lining fabric, could I? Now I need to get cutting! First off the table will have to be a denim jumper for my friend Kim. She asked me to duplicate her favorite jumper that is about to die a while back and in my vintage pattern ebay frenzy I scored a pattern that is a dead ringer for her beloved dress. Her birthday is fast approaching, so I want to surprise her with the dress and the custom dog harness bag she requested before everything went south in my life. Next will have to be the green retro flower print, but I haven't decided what to do with it yet. My intentions were the Burda wrap top #116, but they gave me such a generous cut (I ordered 2 yards and it is more like 2 1/2) I am considering a dress. Also I need to prepare for Sewing Sunday with Sara. I picked out a simple yoga pant pattern and an apron pattern to make and plan to put together a little take home project for her to do at home. Maybe a little wristlet purse too...we'll have to see how it goes. Here is a picture of my looty haul:

I also want to say thank you to Brooke...I was reading your blog the other day and saw myself in your blog roll. I feel like I have arrived in blogville!