The Sewing Mom

My daughter has had several huge projects this year, particularly in the last 3 months. This last project went along with the novel they were reading in her 7th grade reading class, “The Westing Game” and the assignment was to pick a character from the novel and create something that represented that character. My daughter chose to make a fabric doll.

Now, you all know I sew, however, I haven’t really talked about the talents of my daughter. She is very independent at 13, and has always been very creative. She also has never really liked for me to show her how to do something, she’s always liked figuring things out on her own. This project was a big change for both of us and I think we both enjoyed it from start to finish. I enjoyed the fact that she actually allowed me to demonstrate techniques and then she would go forth and conquer.

The doll is made from a flesh colored knit fabric which my daughter chose. I showed her how to pin the pattern to the fabric, mark the notches and cut. She did all of that, including cutting out the interfacing, which I was happy about because I’ve never enjoyed cutting out patterns! I do believe this was the hardest part of the entire project.

My daughter has sewn on my machine before, a little, so I only had to show her a few things like doing a locking stitch and back stitch. She completed 100% of the stitching while I sat in the background on my computer. I did pin a few pieces together for her, but she did everything else. She even did all of the hand embroidery on the face and did a very good job I might add.

Once the doll was completed, my daughter then used a turtle print fabric and made the shirt. She even did a 1/4″ binding around all of the edges, something I’d never done. I added a piece of velcro to the inside of the shirt and it was finished.

So, for this week, my daughter tackled her most recent school project and did a fantastic job!  Come back tomorrow for a picture of the finished project!

With the economy hitting our household the way it has, taking a vacation anywhere anytime soon seems to be about as realistic as me traveling to the moon. I am going to a quilt show in a few weeks, but I paid for my hotel months ago and I used air miles to get a free airline ticket, so it has stayed within the budget. There are so many places I would love to go, if only I could afford to go.

Then again, I just discovered that are are a ton of free things to do in Kissimmee, Florida and, Kissimmee is even having a sweepstakes that is free to enter and has fantastic prizes. In fact, Kissimmee is giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) weeklong vacations for four (4). Drawings will be held on or around 4/1/09, 5/1/09 and 6/1/09.

Besides the sweepstakes, there are all kinds of other free things to be had in Kissimmee, from free nights at area hotels to free food at area restaurants. My favorite is the free makeover being offered by Belk at The Loop. I’d love to do that! After a makeover I would love to take a bottle of wine and sit and relax out by the water. Of course, I might need a total day of relaxation after spending an entire day at Disney World!

Of course, I’ve all ready entered the Freedom to Enjoy Kissimmee Sweepstakes, but if you’d also like to enter, click on the link above.

I haven’t sewn in over a month, but I wanted to get started on something new, even though I have limited time to get any sewing done. So, I decided I would work on this project in stages, and so far, it’s working. On Thursday I cut out the fabric for the front and back of this new purse and I got them sewn together. I decided that because I am going more slowly on this project than I normally do that I would take photos of my process. Here is what I accomplished on Thursday.

It’s that magic time of week, Friday, and that brings me to my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. If you’d like to participate, click the link and have fun!

This weeks questions and my answers:

Here are this week’s four questions.

#1. What’s your favorite cereal? I do believe I would have to say it would be Cap’n Crunch. Truth is, it’s so expensive (not to mention it’s not the healthiest cereal), I don’t get to eat it very often.

#2. What do you use to flip food on the stove? I use a spatula.

#3. What’s your favorite type of donut? I love the Bavarian Creme filled at Krispy Kreme, especially if it’s right out of the oven with fresh cream! YUM!

#4. Share a rice recipe. Chicken and rice

mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup with 1/2 c water and a dash of paprika and pepper in a casserole dish. Add 1 c of uncooked rice. Brown boneless chicken breast and place on top of rice mixture. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until chicken is done.

I worked a short shift today and thought I’d get a few things done around the house after wards. Well, I can’t say I’ve been overly productive, but I can say I’ve had a very nice and entertaining afternoon!

I started by cutting out some fabric and doing some sewing for the first time in over a month. More on that project later…

After sewing, I decided to play Wii for about an hour before my daughter got home from school. Once she’s home I know she wants to play, so I get off and let her play while I work on my computer. This afternoon, while she was playing her video game, I discovered a game on my own. The music of MagNext Virtual drew me in and the fun of the community kept me there. The game allows a player to chat or challenge friends to a game.

Now, I’m not big into construction or racing, the games seem to be more geared toward males, but I did find it to be fun, nonetheless. While playing the game, you can earn points, or Magz, that can be used to purchase game actions, or parts and gear for your car. Everyone seems to be pretty friendly. As I was rolling my personal sphere around the area, several other players invited me to a challenge. Here’s a screenshot of the game area, I am the blue sphere and the black/red sphere had just invited me to a challenge.  I think the cars are very high tech and I love their look.

If you enjoy video games and playing with others, this is just the thing for you. You can check it out as a guest for free. Give it a try and you can even invite your friends to join, then you’ll be hooked!