The Sewing Mom

I have been feeling extremely under the weather with a sever sinus headache that, even with prescription medications, I’m having a terrible time getting rid of. With that in mind, you’ll understand why it took me over a week to create this bag, something that probably shouldn’t have taken longer than 2 days! It is finished though and I even have the second, smaller bag started. I’m very pleased with how this bag turned out. The high quality cotton fabric is from Moda. It is approximately 12″h x 15″w, is fully lined with 2 interior pockets, and a spring tension rod closure which keeps it “snapped” shut until you pull it open. I am selling this fabulous bag for $40. Today’s Thursday Thirteen is the steps I took to make this wonderful bag.

1. Cut the fabric for the outside, lining, pockets and handles.
2. Cut fusible fleece.
3. Iron fusible fleece to outside fabric. This provides added support to the bag.
4. Sew pocket fabric to pocket lining, press.
5. Place and sew pockets to lining fabric
6. Stitch side and bottom seams of bag fabric and then do the same with the lining fabric.
7. Sew lining to bag.
8. Turn top of bag to the outside and stitch in place.
9. Sew straps, then insert double layer of fleece for shoulder padding.
10. Sew trim to straps.
11. Sew straps to bag.
12. Sew trim around the folded edge of casing.
13. Insert spring tension metal frame.

Enjoy the bag! The hardest part of making this bag was inserting the metal frame. It took more than two hands to get the post inserted into the metal frames, so my husband helped with that step, along with a strong pair of pliers.

Tags: fabric bag, fabric purse, Thursday Thirteen

I had such a fantastic Mother’s Day. I spent the morning with my own Mom while we were both visiting my sister in Kentucky. We got to chat and have breakfast together before getting in the car for a 4 hour drive to the airport in Louisville. She then went on to her summer home in Indiana and I got on an airplane to come home to have dinner with my own daughter in Texas. I felt like I’d been able to have my cake and eat it too! You see, it’s not often I get to spend Mother’s Day with my mom because we live so far apart.

No sooner did Mother’s Day end when my daughter asked me, “what are we going to do for Dad for Father’s Day?”.  That’s right, Father’s Day is a few short weeks away.

I think I now have an answer for her. We can get him the nation’s BIGGEST HD television along with the BEST HD television service from Charter. I know what you’re thinking “how is she possibly going to be able to afford such an extravagant gift?” Well, I don’t have to buy it, I just have to have my daughter write a short essay on the subject of “Why  does your Dad deserve the nation’s biggest HDTV?” and submit it to the Father’s Day in HD contest at Charter. Anyone living in the Charter Communication serviceable area is eligible to enter. The Grand Prize includes:

HDTV and FREE Charter HD service and The Charter Bundle for life
Other prizes for runner-ups include:
Charter’s Biggest Bundle, FREE for a year
FREE Charter HD service for a year

You can bet we’re entering the contest. If your father is in the Charter area, you should enter and do it by June 8!

Click here for complete Sweepstakes Rules.

Tags: Charter, Father's Day Contest, sweepstakes

I can’t believe it, this is my daughter’s  last full week of school, then a 3 day weekend, a 4 day week and a couple of days the following week and she’ll be done. Okay, that was a very long way to say that my daughter has less than 3 weeks remaining of 6th grade! I can tell she’s getting excited and is looking forward to moving up to 7th grade at the middle school.

I’ve really been amazed at everything the school district has been doing to not only prepare 6th graders for going up to junior high, but also to get them thinking about high school and even college. Their main message is that the classes they take in 7th grade are the building blocks for what they can take in 8th grade which then become the basis for what they take their freshman year in high school, and so on and so on. Do you know how hard it is to get 12 year olds to think that far ahead?! I have to admit though, I admire my daughter and how she is taking all of this in.

She filled out her “6 year plan” last week and turned it in to the school counselor. I wish someone had gone over all of this with me when I was 12. Instead, I felt clueless when I went through school as to what my future held. I never felt in control of my future, I think that my daughter feels in total control. I’m so happy for her!

Tags: education, school

My sewing projects have taken a back seat lately for several reasons. The first is that I was away for almost a week and was unable to take any of my projects with me. The second reason is that I just haven’t felt well lately, the doctor’s office is telling me I appear to have a sinus infection which is causing my severe and constant headache and causing me to feel tired all the time. The most I’ve really felt like doing lately is surfing blogs and even that seems to have been going in slow motion as of late.

One thing that has caught my eye though as I’ve been reading other blogs is the number of bloggers who also have online shops to sell their handi-crafts. There are so many different types of crafts, but the most common seem to be jewelry and fabric bags, similiar to what I make. I recently noticed one online shop in particular that seemed to be self hosted, in other words, it was not set up via a hugely popular auction site, nor was it through a rather large hand crafted shopping site. It seemed that this particular blogger had found a way to set up a private, nice looking shop for her fabric bags (or was it jewelry) and cut out the middleman. I’m definitely interested in finding out how this works.

Obviously, whether you’re setting up a blog or any other kind of website, such as a shop, the first thing to get is web hosting. Linux web hosting for example, is compatible with PHP programming and can be very economical. Plus, Linux has a better level of security than hosting offered through Windows based hosting programs.

It’s really a lot to think about and I think I would personally feel more comfortable if I had someone with web knowledge to assist me in this area. The internet can be intimidating and I would want to create a shop that is well designed and one that customers would feel secure buying from. Whatever I do, I’ve got a lot to learn!

Tags: linux web hosting, web hosting

I’m thrilled, I got a call from the sewing store and my serger is back from repairs.  It’s been less than 3 weeks and I was told it could take 6, so I’m happy.  The repairman made some adjustments to the upper and lower looper swingarms (whatever the heck that means) and it supposedly works.  I can pick it up!

I think I’ll go up there tomorrow.  I’ll test it out before bringing it home to make sure it works.  Once I bring it home I can finish the pile of fleece blankets that have been waiting so patiently for me to work on.

Tags: serger machine

As much as I hate moving from state to state, it has afforded me the opportunity to see many things and places in this country I might not have seen had I lived in the same place all my life. We even make a point of trying to see things that many locals may take for granted. If we hear about something that peaks our interest, we try to go check it out.

For example, as I’ve mentioned on this blog before, there were so many things to do in Chicago that we really took great pleasure in heading downtown on the train or by car when we lived in the southeast suburbs. In the seven years we lived there we visited most of the museums, the aquarium (one of my favorites), Navy Pier, and of course, Sears Tower. We also spent several occasions shopping on the Magnificent Mile and even attended one Broadway Show while it was on tour in Chicago. It is truly a city with a wide variety of entertainment. I always looked forward to our trips downtown.

Things were no different when we lived in Connecticut. We were so close to New York that it was easy to find things to do in New York City, the hard part was traveling into the city, it’s so congested and filled with one way streets. The first time we went, my husband drove. He found his way down there with the help of a good map (this was pre-GPS) and even found his way into a good parking garage close to 5th Avenue and all the shopping. From then on, anytime we went to the city, we drove the exact same route and parked in the exact same garage. We didn’t want to take any chances on getting lost! Have you ever driven in New York City? It’s absolute bedlam and the streets are filled with crazy drivers, not just the taxi drivers either! It’s wild!

New York City is quite a bit more intimidating to me than Chicago, it’s just so much bigger and more crowded. We did have a blast though finding the Empire State Building and Time Square. These are places that you always see on T.V., so it was so awesome to get to see them in person. We even stood outside to the studio where David Letterman tapes his show. We shopped a lot and my favorite was F.A.O. Schwarz, probably because my daughter was so little and it was fun being in that huge toy store with her.

I think the only thing that I had really wanted to do while we were living out there was to do a couple of the sightseeing tours, particularly the tour to the Statue of Liberty. I never did see that statue and I really wanted to.

I never want to miss out on something like that again, so I’ve signed up for the Trusted Tours and Attractions newsletter to keep me informed and give me ideas of things to do. By the way, if you sign up for the newsletter by May 31, you’ll be entered to win a $150 iTunes gift card. Just think of all the music you could listen to on your next vacation!

Tags: Trusted Tours and Attractions

A few months ago, my daughter participated in a fund raising event at school for the American Heart Association.  She did a good job and was able to raise $150.

Last week, she came home with a few little prizes for her fund raising rewards.  To our surprise, she also received 2 free tickets to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor water park in Arlington, TX.  The tickets were good today only and, because the weather has been so funky, I told her we wouldn’t be able to confirm plans to go until we knew what the weather was going to do.

Well, today turned out to be the warmest day we’ve had so far this hear.  It was supposed to reach almost 90 degrees, so we decided to pack our beach towels, put on our swim suits and head out.  It’s about an hour drive, but since it was Sunday, the traffic was pretty light.  We didn’t get to the park until around noon, but that was fine, we still were able to have a fun time.

My daughter and I did about 6 or 7 of the water slides.  We prefer the ones that you ride a raft of some sort on, easier on the body in my opinion.  Our favorite though is the new Tornado.  The raft can hold 2-4 people (my husband wouldn’t go), and it drops down a chute that leads to a huge funnel like thing.  It’s fast and crazy, just the way we like it.  We liked it so much in fact, we rode it twice.

We had a lot of fun today, now we’re sitting here relaxing.  How was your weekend?

Tags: water parks

Our family has always been one that checks out historical information about the places we live. When we lived in Illinois, we made several trips to various places in the state to learn about the history of how the state came to be as well as learning about important people of Illinois. Now that we have moved to Texas, I am anxious to start traveling this huge state. I have always been interested in the history of the American West. I am thrilled to have found a museum dedicated to educating and inspiring all who, like me, enjoy seeing historical art.

Located in the city of Orange, Texas is a wonderful museum for viewing artifacts from over two centuries of western and Indian cultures native to Texas. The Stark Museum of Art has a wonderful website, www.starkmuseum.org, which gives information about how the museum began. The Stark Foundation, founded in 1961, was the vision of H.J. Lutcher Stark and his wife Nelda C. Stark. The foundation was founded as a way to encourage, promote and assist in education, the arts, and health and human services. Many children and adults have been inspired by the educational experiences garnered from the Stark Museum of Art. Interactive programs and tours are encouraged and enjoyed by families and school groups each year.

The museum has an exceptional collection of the art of the American West. Western Art that portrays cowboy life and Indian imagery is one section of art included in the vast museum. The Decorative Arts section of the museum includes rare Stueben Crystal collections and beautiful porcelain birds native to the west. Rare Books and Manuscripts are also on display.

I hope many of you are interested in the history of our country and enjoy visiting museums as much as I do. The Stark Museum of Art is on my list of places our family will be visiting.

Tags: art, education, Orange, philanthropics, Stark Museum of Art, Texas

I have not been feeling very well and that means little time doing my favorite thing, sewing! I am still waiting to hear what will become of my serger. It is still being repaired. Taking this long to get an answer does not make me think it is going to be an easy fix. I am not the most patient person when it comes to getting my projects finished. I have towels to work on. Some of the ladies at the classes and seminars I have attended rave about their serging machines. I cannot wait to rave about mine. I didn’t even get to use it before it broke down. I didn’t know much about sergers so I did a little research and found the following information.

Serger History

The roots of overlock and serger sewing machines reach back to 1881, a Connecticut knitting mill and J. Makens Merrow and his son Joseph. Merrow first patented a machine for crochet stitching. That machine and its stitch capabilities led to Merrow’s development of the overlock sewing machine.

Wow! 1881 and I just now decided I needed one.

No tags.

From the time my daughter was old enough to hold a crayon in her little hand, I’ve had her sending notes and cards to relatives. In this age of email and text messaging, the old fashioned type of snail mail can be easily forgotten, but I still think it’s touching to get a note or card in the mailbox, it’s so much more personal.

My daughter is now 12 and I have to tell you, she loves sending letters and cards through the mail almost as much as she loves receiving them in our mailbox. Whenever she receives a letter from a friend or relative, she will usually sit right down and write a note back. Since moving from Illinois, she’s been sending letters and small packages back and forth with her friends. Just before moving, she and a friend purchased a stuffed animal that they decided they would share. Each would have the animal for one month and then send it to the other. It’s been 12 months now and they’re still doing this. They include notes, candies, and little trinkets in the box with the stuffed animal and it’s fun to see what they think of when it’s their turn to mail it.

The one thing I’ve always instilled in my daughter is that not only is it nice to acknowledge people when they send you a note or letter, but it’s important to say “thank you” when they send a gift, no matter what the reason and no matter how big or small. I know that there are times when I’ve personally sent a gift and never heard anything from the recipient. It drives me nuts because I don’t know if they got it or maybe they got it and didn’t like it? I just can never understand why anyone wouldn’t say “thank you”.

I’ve always made it easy for my daughter too. She loves having personalized note cards and Thank you cards that reflect her own personality. She loves shopping in card shops and has found stationary online as well. We recently discovered these cards and found out that we can not only personalize the cards, but can have the return address printed right on the envelope.

My daughter just received a package in the mail yesterday from a friend of hers who moved to Pennsylvania. It was a belated birthday gift for her and a bag of dog biscuits for our puppy who will be having her own birthday next week. I thought that was so cute! Guess my daughter will be writing a note to her over the weekend.

Tags: thank you cards