The Sewing Mom

Amazing! For 52 weeks, that’s a full year, Fun, Crafts and Recipes has been hosting my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. I love this meme for several reasons, but, besides the fact that it’s all about food, when it’s time for this meme, I know it’s time for the weekend to begin!

This has indeed been a stressful week, 3 softball games, a band competition, a visit to the vet for our puppy, and a parent meeting on sexual abstinence which led to a one on one conversation with my 12 year old daughter this morning on that very subject. That last event makes me want something strong in my coffee, but, no worries, I’ll just take cream this morning!

Anyway, back on topic, here are this weeks questions and my answers:

#1. Name something you use cream cheese in/on. Well, I do put it on bagels, but I can’t remember the last time I had a bagel. I also use it in tuna casserole, it gives it a nice tang and takes away the fishy taste.

#2. Do you use yogurt in any recipes? I can’t think of anything I use yogurt in except parfaits and smoothies. Seems like there should be a cake or something that uses yogurt. Maybe another participant will have that!

#3. Macaroni salad. What do you like/put in yours? My macaroni salad is similar to my potato salad. I use elbow noodles (of course), mayonnaise, mustard, celery salt and pepper. I like a little pickle relish in the mix too.

#4. Share a recipe that you use sour cream in. Now, I know I’ve got a cake recipe that uses sour cream and it’s delicious! Darned if I can find it though. If I do, I’ll be sure to post it.

Tags: Four Foods on Friday, meme, recipes

Do you, or did you, read to your young children? Do you know that my daughter is 12 and she still enjoys it when we read to her once in a while! It not only helped with her reading skills, but it really created a strong bond between us, something we share, a love of reading.

Check out this recent press release on Little Reader Home Basic, a flash card based learning program.

October 23, 2008 – BrillKids Inc. announces the launch of Little Reader HOME BASIC, a downloadable software tool for parents and educators who wish to teach children to read in an easy, fun and efficient way. Suitable for children aged four months and up, Little Reader enables users to easily create flash cards, using the computer as a powerful platform with which to educate very young children. Incorporating methods developed over several decades by experts in the early learning field in their product’s functionality and design, BrillKids’ Little Reader is able to take advantage of the right-brain learning capabilities of children during the critical early years.

Following the success of their online community, BrillKids provides an answer to the needs of parents worldwide for a more convenient program with which to teach their young ones. Even with the burgeoning children’s product market filled with available educational videos, laminated flash cards, and pre-made slideshow presentations, none come close to providing complete customizable solutions for parents who want to teach their children in a more personalized way. “Little Reader is a groundbreaking program from BrillKids,” said KL Wong, CEO of BrillKids Inc. “Not only is it our very first software product to be made commercially available, it is also the project closest to my heart, having created it specifically for parents like me who could not find convenient ways with which I could create and personalize my little daughter’s flash card lessons. To know that Little Reader can put smiles on children’s faces when they see their parents’ pictures on the screen while being taught their first words about family is simply amazing.”

Helping Parents Teach Their Children to Read
Many parents have already witnessed the benefits of using the Little Reader program during the span of its three-month beta testing period. “I have thoroughly enjoyed using Little Reader - I thought I knew a lot about teaching reading to people of all ages - and particularly since I was a follower of Glenn Doman methods 40ish years ago,” said Amanda, a parent from Brazil. “That said - I have found Little Reader totally inspiring - it is very addictive, and it encourages the user to not only make use of the material provided in the program - but to create their own.”

“My kids really love Little Reader,” adds Paola from California. “This software gives my children lessons they can relate to - their own body/family/toys/pets. And the fact that people from all over the world using any language - even dialects - can come together, share concerns and experiences, give one another support, and contribute to the whole is absolutely amazing. I can honestly say that I don’t know of any other software that is as versatile, meaningful and enjoyable as Little Reader.”

Making it Easy for the Busy Parent
BrillKids also offers hundreds of free additional learning library files which Little Reader users can simply download through their online community – a balm for parents who do not have the time to create their own content.

“In my very busy schedule as a working mother, I found Little Reader to be perfect teaching tool,” says Jane from South Carolina. “This program saves me so much time in preparing my teaching materials because it’s just so easy to use, turning ‘lesson time’ into ‘bonding time’ for my little Alyssa. The free additional library files are also fantastic – it’s so convenient to just download what I want, when I want them.”

Created by Parents for Parents
An overwhelming number of requests from parents worldwide spurred the creation of Little Reader, and BrillKids made it a point to take the development of this software closer to the hearts of those who inspired it to fruition through its customer-oriented forefront throughout the three-month beta testing period. The company took all suggestions and comments from an international pool of beta testers and integrated functions to satisfy what real parents need from an educational software program for young children.

Little Reader’s release brings the company closer to their aims of enhancing the quality of life for parents and parents-to-be, helping them give their child the gift of early literacy.

About BrillKids Inc
Founded in 2008, BrillKids Inc. is a privately held company and is part of the Kreative Land Group, which has its head office in Hong Kong. BrillKids Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets software solutions and services that make early childhood education as effortless and as fun-filled as possible. Information on BrillKids Inc. and its products and services is available at http://www.brillkids.com/little-reader/.

Tags: BrillKids, Little Reader

This tote bag is available for $40. I will provide a discount to anyone who has donated $10 or more to any of the legitimate Breast Cancer funds or, if you have or plan to walk in any of the Breast Cancer fund raising walks such as the 3 Day walk. If you qualify for the discount, the bag is $25.

I decided to design and craft another fun  quilted tote bag in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I love all of the ladies on this fabric! They appear again on the inside of the bag as pockets. The bag measures approx. 12″ wide at the bottom and is approx. 15″ high. There are 5 interior pockets and it has a magnetic snap closure. The bag has been machine quilted and is made of 100% cotton, quilt quality fabric. The tote bag as well as the handles have batting for added support and softness. This bag is machine washable.

Tags: breast cancer, sewing, tote, tote bag, Wordless Wednesday

If you’re here to drop EC, please click through to my guest blog’s site as well! 

I don’t normally do this, in fact, I’ve never done this, but I know that advertising prices have been quite high at EC lately and I always like those blogs who have paid EC to advertise on my site to get their “money’s” worth.  Unfortunately, today, I am not advertising very heavily and so won’t be getting many click throughs myself, which in turn means, the widget on my site probably won’t be getting many either.

Either way, thanks for stopping by!

Tags: EC, entrecard

Weekends are supposed to be a time for relaxing, spending time together, and just enjoying each others company, right?  So, why do I feel like our weekends are becoming all about chaos and trying to get things done on the fly?

We started yesterday morning with a softball game, then breakfast at a local diner, all before 10 a.m.  Once we got home, I got my stuff organized and I headed out one direction to run errands and my husband headed out the other.  My bright spot was getting to go the quilt shop to buy some fabric.  Unfortunately, with my recent job loss and the holidays looming around the corner, I didn’t have the heart to spend my money on fabric that I didn’t have a specific project for, so, I bought the one yard I needed to finish a tote bag and headed back out.

Next stop was the grocery store, a task I loath.  We were out of just about everything, so I knew this would be a cart filler of a shopping trip.  I also decided it’s time for some extreme value shopping and I left things on the shelf that I normally would’ve bought because they weren’t on sale or I didn’t have coupons.  I managed to get everything we needed (I forgot to get the sour cream), and, after all my coupons, I was very pleased to have purchased an entire shopping cart worth of groceries for only $156.  There were only 3lbs. of hamburger in that purchase, I tend to buy our meet at a different store, so I still need to go do that.

After coming home, I spent quite a bit of time trying to drop EC.  I was never able to get the inbox to load, so I had to drop through a variety of means, most of which took much more time.  I even tried going through Favorites on the EC toolbar, but that didn’t work out either.  Not sure what’s going on at EC, but I hope they’re able to get it resolved.

I managed to stitch two of my appliques on my 12 Days of Christmas blocks before I was just overcome with the feeling of being tired.  I received a book in the mail that I need to read and review, so I went back to attempting to drop EC’s while reading.  Eventually, my daughter wanted to play Wii, so that’s what we did.

I finally finished dropping my 300 EC’s, and that was the last straw, I went to bed.  I’m hoping today will be an improvement.  I realize I got a lot done yesterday, I just have so much more to do.  I have sold one tote bag and need to make another so that I can deliver both to their new owner.  First though, I have to cut all the strips of fabric.  So, that will be my first task of today, cutting.  Hopefully my daughter won’t mind if I don’t attend her 3 hour softball practice this afternoon so I can keep working.

So, for me, Sunday is a day of catch up, not so much a day of rest.  However, if I make headway, I do feel better about myself and isn’t that what Sunday should be about, sort of?

No tags.

Oh my, it’s not even 7:30 and I feel a huge panic attack coming on. I simply have way too much to attempt to get done today and it starts off first thing this morning with my daughter’s softball game. I’m not sure who’s responsible for scheduling games at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, but I’d like to give that individual a piece of my mind!

Besides softball, I have grocery shopping to do as well as going to Target for some much needed cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. Once I’m finally back home, I’d like to sit down at my sewing machine, I’m really enjoying working on my 12 Days of Christmas project, but, before I do, I’ve got letters that need to be typed on the computer and blog posts that need to be written, as well as comments that need responded to.

One letter I need desperately to write is to cancel our lawn fertilizing service, they’ve done a horrible job. We’ve had five lawn treatments since early spring, and truthfully, my husband and I feel our yard looks worse now, with more weeds, than it did before we started the program.

I know I’ve talked about it before, but I really do need to get my hands on the Dragon Naturally Speaking software, which uses your voice to type, would allow me to multi-task, and, at the least, allow me to get all this typing done at a much faster pace so I can get on with other things. I found out just how much faster the typing would be when I took Dragon’s typing speed test! The Dragon software was at least 3 times faster than what I was able to to with my fingers, and, it was accurate! The only change I would have to make when speaking is to actually speak the punctuation, such as “comma” or “period”. The software can even be used with Blue Tooth noise cancellation microphones which is great if I want to go sit outside and enjoy the nice weather we’ve been having here lately.

If you’ve never seen the Dragon Naturally Speaking software in action, you really should watch at least one, if not both, of these videos.

Tags: Dragon Naturally Speaking, voice

I am thankful I made it to Friday. It’s been a week that I don’t care to repeat, except for the fact that I poured myself back into my sewing and am finding some psychological healing in my sewing room. In celebration of it being Friday, I am so happy to be doing my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. If you would like to join in, head over and check it out at Fun, Crafts and Recipes.

This weeks questions and my answers:

#1. I passed Costco and saw gas at $2.84 and have had Costco on the brain since. Share a cupcake, muffin or cookie recipe. Not sure how Costco and muffins fit together since I don’t shop there, but I’ll play along! My muffin recipe consist of following the directions on the back of the box for Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix. Eat them while there fresh from the oven with some butter on them and a cup of hot coffee.

#2. Cupcakes, muffins and cookies require something to drink. What do you drink with them? Whoops, I gave that answer in the above question, but I like a cup of hot coffee with my muffins.

#3. Which do you prefer, mini muffins and cupcakes or full sized ones? I prefer full size, but wont’ turn down mini!

#4. What type of muffin or cupcake pan do you use? Silicone, disposable, etc. I use the old fashioned muffin tins and put the paper cups in them. I mainly use the paper cups to keep clean up easier.

Tags: Four Foods on Friday, meme, muffins

Last night I was doing an online survey. The qualifying questions related to the consumption of beer and alcohol while at restaurants or other public venues. Neither my husband or I drink very much, but he does like a beer a few nights a week and I do have the occasional glass of wine here and there. Well, we had gone out for dinner the other night and he had a beer with dinner, just one. So, the survey gave me a bonus 200 points for qualifying and continuing on with the 25 minute questionnaire and I agreed.

The survey then began to annoy me because it repeatedly was asking if I drank to feel good, party hard or get a good buzz! I have to tell you, I can’t remember the last time I EVER drank for any of those reasons, if I ever did, so it was annoying. One beer with dinner does not a party animal make!

Since moving to Dallas, I can honestly say I haven’t even been to a bar or club of any kind. We do go to restaurants, but they are family friendly and I don’t want to go somewhere I’ll be around a bunch of drunken slobs. That’s not my idea of fun.

Truthfully, the last party I think we went to was a corporate sponsored event for one of my husband’s previous employers. I remember it well because it took place downtown Chicago and it was super cold and super windy. We drove our big van down there and had to park quite a few blocks away because many of the downtown parking lots can’t accommodate larger vehicles. Then, we had to walk, in the cold gusty wind, to the party. My hair looked like it was doing a dance all its own by the time we got there.

The party was inside the corporate offices. I thought that was pretty boring. Apparently, so did most of the other people attending because the party came to a pretty early end. Too bad individuals who planned it didn’t have better corporate event ideas Chicago to plan a better, more worthwhile event.

The party had potential, it just need a better location, something more along the lines of Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar. This place isn’t your typical bar, it’s got great live entertainment taking place all night long. There is also audience participation and the wait staff gets involved too. Instead of the boring corporate party we attended, it could have been a high energy affair that everyone would have enjoyed.

The company my husband is currently with here in Dallas is doing some major cutbacks right now, so I highly doubt there will be any sort of holiday party. Maybe we’ll have to make our own plans and visit the Howl at the Moon Piano Bar in San Antonio or Houston instead.

Tags: Howl At The Moon, piano bar

I’ve had this fabric for several months and knew I wanted to make a tote bag, I just couldn’t decide which one to make. I became inspired Saturday morning, perhaps it was because I had just completed my last blood test for the year, and because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I wanted to make this one special.

The tote bag measures approximately 18″ x 19″ and has a magnetic snap closure at the top. The fabric is all 100% quilt quality, and most of the fabric is from the Breast Cancer collection. The exterior of the bag is machine pieced and quilted, all by me. There are 2 exterior pockets, one on each side of the bag, and 3 interior pockets.

The size of this tote bag makes it perfect for carrying just about anything, whether it’s sewing supplies, exercise gear, or diapers, it’s got plenty of room.

Tags: fabric tote, quilting, sewing, tote, tote bag, Wordless Wednesday

While I haven’t been sewing much lately, now that I’ve lost my job, I feel renewed and re-energized in the sewing department and am back to creating totes and other items. Over the weekend, I created a beautiful (at least I think so) tote bag that I’ll be sharing with you soon, and yesterday, I cut the fabric pieces to start sewing my 25 Days of Christmas project.

I sell my items directly from this website and from my Etsy shop and a big question is always if I will ship internationally. My answer is, absolutely yes! While it does take more effort on my part and the shipping cost is higher, if someone wants one of my tote bags or purses, I’m going to do what I can to get it to them. What I usually end up doing is getting the recipient’s mailing address, taking my package to the local post office and getting the exact shipping rate. I then provide that information to the buyer and they can make their final decision, which, so far, has always been YES!

Another method I could use would be to ship the item to mail forwarding located in California, who would in turn forward it on via USPS Priority, Express or FedEx with big discount. I will be checking into this to see if it could save on shipping costs for the buyer.

In the mean time, I’m anxious to get sewing and I’ll be posting my progress!

Tags: Fedex. sewing, mail forwarding, USPS