The Sewing Mom

At the request of one of my readers, I am looking for patterns for patchwork Teddy bears. If you know of a pattern or website that has one, kindly let me know.

During my search this morning though, I did find a great free pattern for a Fleece Quillow. A quillow is a fleece (or other fabric) blanket that folds up into itself to make a pillow. It’s really a cute idea and the pattern came with serger instructions as well. This is terrific because I have a huge stack of fleece in my sewing room right now and I just bought a serger, so guess what I’m going to be doing?!

If you’re interested, click here for the pattern.

I’m not quite ready to buy a new car, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the kind of car I would like to have when I am ready. I’m always looking at what’s new and I’m seriously thinking I’d like to have a hybrid SUV.

Our last car buying experience did not turn out to be a pleasant one. Don’t get me wrong, we really like our car, it’s a convertible. It was the entire transaction itself and how it was handled that didn’t make us feel comfortable. We went through a broker and it just felt sleazy. We did end up with the car we wanted, but the paperwork was all screwed up and it took a lot of effort on my part to get it all straightened out.

To eliminate the hassle we felt during our car buying process, the next time I might consider using CARCHEX, a Car Buying Concierge service. I can tell the concierge exactly what I’m looking for and CARCHEX will negotiate everything from the car price to any trade in value and even financing terms for a purchase or a lease. This is a free service for consumers, so why wouldn’t I want to use it?!

I think by having the service do all the legwork, it might not be such a headache to purchase our next vehicle. I know there are people that enjoy and even thrive on the thrill of the negotiating process at the dealer; I am not one of those people! Besides, I’d rather go spend my time buying a new electronic, computerized, embroidery sewing machine.

I had a very enjoyable morning, I met a new friend.

I’ve been chatting back and forth with a fellow blogger Ellen. Ellen has several blogs including 2 of my favorites, All In A Day and Ellen Sew Crafty as well as her Etsy shop. Ellen, like me, sews beautiful handmade bags in addition to other items. She also knits, something I’ve never been able to accomplish with any success.

We met IRL today as she was working in my neck of the woods. I had so much fun chatting with her about blogging and our love of sewing that I was shocked to see that almost two hours had passed! It really was like meeting an old friend after having not see them for a long period of time. I am truly hoping we get to do this on a more regular basis.

We had walked outside, as Ellen needed to return to work, and the high Dallas winds caught us both before I remembered that I had brought my camera. Thus, we are both sporting a very wind blown look, of course, my hair is actually heading the wrong direction and I had no mirror to tell me so!

Now that our 2007 taxes are done, it’s time to start planning for the future. Tax planning includes things from everyday budgeting to investing. Before you do any investing, be sure to review your investment strategies.

As an added incentive to review your strategies, you can Win $1000 with FinGad, a new site where you can review strategies with fellow investors. The winner will be the person who has the largest return on their virtual investment by picking the best stocks. You may click here to read the official contest rules and conditions.

What are you waiting for?

I was tagged by The New York Renovator for the Entrecard link exchange list. I have discovered so many blogs that I would never have found without EC, that I felt this was a great list to be a part of.

~* start copying here *~

Join the Worldwide Link Love!

Benefits of Worldwide Link Love!

1. Make new friends around the world.
2. Feel the Link Love.
3. Gain new readers and subscribers.

Rules:
1. Copy from ~* start copying here *~ to ~* end copying here *~ and paste it on your blog.
2. At the end of the list, put your name and the country you’re in, it doesn’t matter what’s your nationality just put the country where you are publishing your blog. Don’t forget to put links at your name.

3. If you have many blogs, you can link all of them, just make sure you post the same on each blog.
4. Tag eight or more of your blog friends.
5. Tip for Blog*spot users: make sure you copy and paste the code in “Compose” mode. If you use Wordpress, use the “Visual” mode.
6. Wanna join, and you can’t find your name on the list? Just leave a comment here

Worldwide Link Love! Participants

1. Julia (Philippines)
2. Blog Tambayan (Philippines)
3. Mind Relaxing Ideas (Philippines)
4. BROOD Online Portal (Philippines)

5. The Blog Reviewer (Philippines)
6. The Good and The Bad News Around Us (Philippines)
7. Pagod Ka Na Bang Maging si Juan? (Philippines)
8. Ordinary People, Ordinary Day (Philippines)

9. Catherine (Malaysia)
10. Make Money Online (Philippines)
11. New York Renovator (New York, United States)
12. New York Traveler.net (New York, United States)

13. The Sewing Mom (Texas, United States)
14. Back 2 the Land (Washington, United States)
15. Eleanor Blog (Scotland)
16. Freaky Frugalite (New York, United States)

17. Robin’s Woods (Washington, United States)
18. Daisy the Curly Cat (Florida, United States)
19. The Pond (Indiana, United States)
20. All in a Day (Texas, United States)
21. Speaker G(Indiana, United States)
22. Valerie Joy (Phillipines)
~* end copying here *~

Keep the list going!

I choose to tag The Pond, All in a Day and Speaker G

edited to also tag: Val at Valerie Joy

I created this tote bag last week, before I had to take my sewing break to clean my house and do yard work! I kept meaning to show it here, but kept forgetting. This is by far, my favorite tote bag. I love the fabric colors. It’s an oversized bag with lots of interior pockets and 2 exterior pockets. This would be great for toting projects around or for someone who enjoys a large purse.

I’ve been working hard along with my sisters to get our own business going, selling our handcrafted and hand sewn merchandise. It’s definitely not easy.

My husband is asking me if we have a plan. Well, yes, as a matter of fact we do. Is that plan in writing? No, but it’s something we discuss all the time. Having never done this sort of thing before, I’m always asking questions and looking to those who have done it for advice. I’m definitely open to suggestion!

If I were setting up an online business, I would be able to use the self-guided online SEO check list to make help me plan and make sure I have everything done that needs to be done. Instead, I’m having to figure it out on my own. Am I going to make mistakes? No doubt. In the end though, I just hope to be successful and sell what we make. We all enjoy sewing so much that we just want to sell it so we can make more!

I apologize for not having any updates on my sewing projects this week.  I have been staying busy, but not with sewing.  I’ve spent the last 5 days working on the house.

It’s spring and we all know what that means, yard work!  I spent two days mowing and trimming bushes.  I also managed to get some weeds pulled, although, it’s been so windy, I haven’t been able to spray any weed killer yet.  As soon as the wind stops blowing, I’ll take care of that!

I spent today painting the family room.  I’ve had it prepped for months, but I was frustrated because I couldn’t find the paint to match.  I didn’t want to change the color because the same paint is all in the main hallway (including the ceilings), famil room, and home office/hall area.  It would have been a huge undertaking to repaint all of it.  The walls in the family room were covered with huge nail holes and hammer marks from the previous owners.  I had spackled and repaired all of the holes, I just needed the paint!

Finally, yesterday, I had my husband cut a 2 inch square of dry wall out of the wall.  We took it to Home Depot and they did a color match on it.  I bought a gallon of paint and headed home.  Today, I applied it to the walls.  I am so happy it’s finally done!  Not only are the nail holes gone, but it looks so much cleaner and I feel so much better!

My next task is the plumber.  He’s coming on Tuesday to fix the mixer valve in my daughter’s bathtub/shower and to hook up our ice maker.  I also have a box to unpack that has been sitting in the dining room for almost a year.  Then I’ll be able to sew some more!  That is, unless I have to clean house again first!  Hopefully not, it doesn’t look too bad right now.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

We lived in Connecticut for 2 years, and during that time, we traveled by car to so many of the surrounding areas. After living in Texas where you can drive for days and still be in the same state, living in New England made us feel like we could be someplace new in a matter of hours!

One spring break, we decided to check out things to do in Boston and learned it only took a couple of hours to drive to the city itself. We opted to go during spring break and tagged along with my husband during one of his business trips. My daughter was only about 2 then, so while I didn’t do one of the many sightseeing tours that are offered, I would recommend the tours. There really is so much to see and do there, plus, who can resist taking any of the harbor cruises?!

While we were there, I took my daughter to the Museum of Science. It was fantastic, with so many hands on exhibits, especially for children. While we didn’t have time to visit, I would have loved to go to the New England Aquarium, I’ve heard it’s beautiful. In addition to all of the sites, there are some great places to eat. We ate at a small tavern that was so full of history. Previous guests included John Hancock and Paul Revere! It was amazing to sit in the same place as those I’ve read about only in history books. Let’s not forget that Boston also is part of the Freedom Trail!

Boston is a somewhat congested city and can be a bit daunting to get around. If you’re planning a trip there, I recommend signing up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and if you sign up now, you’ll be entered to win a handheld GPS system. Just sign up by April 30, 2008. Trusted Tours and Attractions is a great way to receive discounted tickets on sightseeing tours and they offer this service in over 23 U.S. cities.