Exciting things going on in the Sewing Studio

I just can't talk about them! Sorry to be such a punk, but I'm not sure if a certain someone reads my blog regularly, but they might and that would spoil the surprise! But suffice it to say, this is a total family sewing project that we're going to work on together, and ain't that fun??? In other sewing news that I can talk about, my boss brought me a Coldwater Creek wrap top that she dearly loves and wondered if I could knock it off. Well, of course, silly rabbit! I have the pattern all made...I'm just waiting on the serger return to do the heavy lifting. I have several T-shirts cut out to whip up as well and the studio is actually tidy for the moment...three days off...let's see if we can mess it up!!!

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Lions!

My friend Caitlin volunteers at Camp UKANDU for children battling cancer. She asked me to make lion costumes for her dogs Palisade and Varakai for a skit she was doing. Caitlin is an amazing dog trainer and a great person. Here she is taming the "lions". This was a fun project and I think they look pretty cute, don't you?

There's a new baby in the house...

Yeah, that's right...I kicked my Brother out and brought home a new Baby...Babylock, that is. I have the best husband in the world. He lives by the motto "Happy wife, happy life" and indulges me. Not that I am one of these women that is a shopaholic or buys expensive things (except sewing machines). Most of the time I am very frugal, well okay, to be honest I am downright cheap. But sewing is my passion and it pays to have a nice machine. And it helps that my philosophy towards him is "Honey if the bills are paid and we have food to eat, if you want it...buy it!" So with that being said, on to the details about the new Baby! We returned to the store with the Brother and samples of why I was unhappy and I was greeted by the same tech who had teased me the day before. I showed him my samples and his comment was, "This is unacceptable" He looked at the machine and asked if I was interested in trading it in on a new one. Thank you very much...that's what I wanted to do in the first place!!! He steered me towards another embroidery combo machine, but since I have the EMP6, I didn't really need that. Next he showed me the Babylock Espire, which is a quilting type machine...I wasn't totally convinced and didn't want to be hasty. That's how I ended up with the Brother. I looked at a Pfaff and it was a nice machine, but I did not like it as much as the Babylock. I sat down and sewed a few seams with the Babylock and was hooked. I got a fair trade for the Brother and they threw in the Gold Standard warranty package, which sells for $349.00, so we brought her home. When I unpacked her, I discovered I got the Eleanor Burns 3oth Anniversary model, that came with a huge extension table and other goodies. Guess I better get out those quilt UFO's and finish them up. I am sew happy and relieved that I didn't have to sell the Brother to someone outright. Hopefully they can refurbish it and it will be loved by someone else. Here is the project that was the final straw. It was one of Tom's Fathers Day presents. It's a well known fact that firemen love to play with fire! Embroidery was done on the EMP6.

I Hate my Brother...

Sewing machine, of course!!! If you follow me, you already knew that my Brother ULT 2003D died last week. This is not a new thing for this machine. I took it in with hopes of trading it off, but they were not interested. The good news is the repair was still under warranty from the last death, so they would fix it at no charge. Yesterday I picked it up and after finishing my chores for the evening sat down to try it out. The test stitching they did looked fine, but was done on a stiff fabric. I sampled with a cotton. Straight stitching fine...Zig-zag drew up the fabric terribly. Put on the embroidery arm and attempted a simple embroidery...WTH??? It looks like there is little to no bobbin tension. I am sew annoyed! So back it goes...I just want to get it sewing correctly so I can sell it. But then again, my dilemma is...I have had so much trouble with it...can I really pass it on to someone else in good conscience or is it destined to be a boat anchor?

R & R

Three glorious days off together and a great place to go!!! We are heading out in the morning when Tom gets home from work to LaPine. Unfortunately the boat won't be ready for this trip, but Papa Jim is available to go fishing so we'll go in his boat and hopefully catch mad Kokanee! (note to self...pack the brown sugar!!!) The Brother is still in the shop and I think I will take my Evolve in for service when I go to pick it up...might as well consolidate my trips into the big city and be green about it! I cut out a couple of Jalie knit tops yesterday...I am morphing them from the Sweetheart top...Pics to follow when they are done. I am very backed up on pictures and pattern reviews...it's more fun to sew than take pictures!!! Toodles! See you Kittens on Friday!

The Beat goes On...

Doesn't that conjure up a song in your head that you can't get rid of..."Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain....Ladi-Dadi-Dee...Ladi-Dadi-Da" Okay, sorry about the Sonny and Cher flashback. What I really meant to say is that despite taking the machine into the dealer, I am still cranking out garments in the sweat shop. I finished the skirt and top from New Look 6813. Is it my imagination or does the New Look sizing run big? This is the second New Look that I have had to cut significantly smaller than my usual size according to the measurements. I used a beautiful tropical cotton print for the skirt (double remnant score) and a poly knit that was 50% off. Yesterday we had some errands to run and bless my husband's patient soul...he took me to JoAnns. I knew that thread and clearance fabric was 50% off. The poly knits that I considered a great deal at 50% off was marked 60% off, so I snagged some more of that to make some more T-shirts. Speaking of T-shirts, I bow to the T-shirt Queen! Look at all the great T-shirts that Christy made...28!!! I would consider 14 awesome! But I digress...the skirt came out fabulous and I think the top will work...the neckline is a little wider than I prefer, but I know better for next time as I think with a little tweaking this could be a TNT-T. I also redid the hems in a couple of Jalie sweetheart tops I made way back...for some odd reason I tried using Wooly thread when doing coverstitching in the beginning and I ended up with a raised hemline. This would be great if that's the design element you are looking for, but I really wanted flat...so lesson learned. I have so many great ideas for new projects...can't wait for time in the studio. When I go pick my Brother up I think I will take the Evolve for a service. I've had it a little over a year and it is covered under the Gold standard. It's a great machine and I use her all the time, so I need to be good to her...Alas, she will be sorely missed while away...guess I need to start looking for a back up serger...