The Sewing Mom

Both of my sisters just returned to their respective homes after spending several days in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the MountainFest Quilt Festival. They had so much fun and learned a lot of new techniques that I can’t wait for them to share with me.

They’ve slowly been sending me pictures of their adventures and the one thing I’ve really noticed throughout the pictures is that they have their sewing machines with them. I see their machines in their rental cabin, I see them in their classes and in their lectures. Of course, this is normal, when you attend sewing or quilting classes, usually you bring your own materials, including your sewing machine. Of course, when they weren’t attending classes or lectures, they were out shopping for fabric and patterns at the hundreds of vendors that were also at the festival.  I don’t think they took the machines with them when they shopped!

I haven’t been anywhere outside of the local area since we moved here in April.  I really wanted to attend the festival with my sisters, but the timing wasn’t right for me, maybe next year.

My husband may be going on a flight to New York for business soon and I was thinking it would be fun to tag along. I don’t think I’d want to take my sewing machine on an airplane, security would be a nightmare, but even without my machine I could have fun. Can you imagine going to the textile mart in New York? I can only imagine the thousands of bolts of fabulous fabric to choose from. Just think of all the fabric bags I could create!

Of course, I think while I was there I might also have to go visit the Statue of Liberty. It’s something I’ve always wanted to see, but never quite made it. A trip to New York would be awesome, there are so many amazing things to do. I would definitely take an empty suitcase to bring back all of the fabric I will buy while I’m there.

Tags: dialaflight.com, flights to New York, sewing machines

My sister has been being quite creative lately. She recently decided to sew a small, over the shoulder bag using a Harley Davidson bandanna! This is a pattern she has made several bags out of, but this was the first time she used a bandanna. The bag has a zipper front and a pocket on the back. This is a great bag to carry when you’re only wanting to have a few items with you. Perfect for teens and tweens too!

Tags: fabric, fabric bag, sewing

My birthday was last week, but, unfortunately, my husband was out of town on business, so we didn’t get to celebrate yet. We sort of have a family tradition that when it is our birthday, we get to choose where we’re going for our special dinner. I tend to choose my favorite seafood restaurant so I can order one of my favorite foods, Gulf oysters, deep fried with a serving of French fries and cole slaw.

Now, I won’t go just anywhere to get fried oysters. They have to be cooked just right and they have to be the right size, I can’t eat the great big ones. I like them when they’re medium to small in size. They can’t be undercooked either. They have to be just right, and hot! I also like to have them served cocktail sauce on the side.

Besides not liking the texture of undercooked oysters, I want to know that I’m safely eating oysters. According to BeOysterAware.com raw oysters can carry the bacteria Vibrio vulnificus which can be transmitted to humans if the oysters are eaten raw. This bacteria may not be harmful unless you are at-risk such as someone with diabetes.

So, now that I’m aware of the risks, I’m even less apt to eat a raw or undercooked oyster. I’m hoping we get to go celebrate my birthday with a wonderful fried oyster dinner, especially now that I’m craving oysters!

Tags: beoysteraware.com, oysters

I’m still recovering from the crazy, hectic couple of weeks I had finalizing plans with my Destination Imagination team and making sure they were ready for the regional tournament. The one thing I did myself as a surprise for them was to embroider t-shirts with their team names on the fronts and individual names on the back. The girls actually designed the shirts, but they thought a professional was doing the work. I opted to do it myself with shirts I bought at Joann’s and using my own embroidery sewing machine.I’ve posted pictures of the progress of those shirts throughout last week, but I never got around to posting the end result, so, here it is!

This one is the back of one of the shirts, before I took out the basting stitches (the rectangular around the name).

And finally, the completed shirt being modeled .

Tags: machine embroidery, sewing