The Sewing Mom

I am so slow, but finally, I have pictures of our booth in Knoxville, TN last month. My sisters and I all had tote bags and purses to sell, and my mom had made beautiful pin cushions and dish towels. We had a number of other hand made items including fleece embroidered blankets, pillowcases, and my daughter’s beaded jewelry.

The booth is pretty basic, we used a few retail display items and our own tables overlayed with quilts. My niece and nephew had the booth right next to us and we shared a large canopy cover. It was nice because at night, we could put the sides on the canopy for added security.

I would consider our sale successful, although, I probably won’t do that event again. There was just too big of a variety of products being sold and I would prefer to be in a hand-made craft event where people appreciate the work more.

Tags: booth sale, expo, sewing, vendor

A few weeks ago, my sisters and I held our first booth sale to sell our fabric creations. I keep meaning to post photos of our booth, but I still haven’t uploaded them from the camera, I’m a bit slow.

The booth was a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time. We did manage to sell several bags and other items during the 3 days that we were there. This photo is of one bag I sold. It’s a zippered over-the-shoulder bag made from a cute frog print. This style of bag proved to be our most popular item.

I haven’t even turned on my sewing machine since returning from this event. I need to find some motivation and get going on some sewing projects. I’ll keep you posted and I hope to post more photos from our event, soon!

Tags: sewing

I’ve tried and tried to do Wordless Wednesday, I just can’t post without words! So, this is my version, Words on Wednesday.

I actually snatched this photograph from my sister Karen at Winding Threads. The photo shows the two of us in front The Cherry Pit quilt shop in Sevierville, Tennessee. This shop must have had thousands of of bolts of fabrics to choose from and a lot of fun block-of-the-month kits hanging all over the walls. I had so much fun visiting that I went back a second time during our 5 day stay in Pigeon Forge last month.

Tags: quilt shop, sewing, The Cherry Pit

This is one of my favorite tote bags. It’s a little hard to see in the photograph, but the main tote fabric and the pocket fabrics are mirror opposites. One is black with white flowers and the other is white with black flowers. I have machine embroidered the center pocket. The entire bag, including the handles, has been inner-lined with batting for added support and softness and has a total of 6 exterior pockets, 3 on each side. I am selling this bag for $30 plus shipping. Yes, I do ship anywhere.

Tags: fabric tote, machine embroidery, sewing, tote bag

I don’t think anyone would have to think to hard to imagine what my dream job would be! I decided to record my dream on video though and submit it in a contest at futureresume.com. If selected, I could win a day doing my dream job (which I sort of do anyway), a subscription to “future resume”, transportation to my job (I wonder where I might go?) and, my favorite, a $1,000 stipend. That money would certainly allow me to do something positive toward reaching my goal with sewing.

So, take a look and then let me know what’s your dream job?

Tags: dream job, futureresume.com, sewing

I went into my sewing room this morning for the first time in several weeks.  For 2 of those weeks, I was away from home and this past week, I’ve been attempting to get caught up on other household chores before going back to my sewing.

I need to organize my projects in an orderly fashion.  I think I will put them in order of which ones I want to work on first.

I’ve decided that I have one tote bag project to create and then I think I may step back from the bag sewing for a little while.  I have several other projects that I’m itching to work on.  One of those is my block of the month quilt.  I have completed 1 block of the 6 I currently have and am almost done with the second.  I have 2 more blocks to pick up at the quilt store, so I believe that gives me 6 that I need to do and then I will be caught up.

While I was on vacation I purchased the fabric and pattern to make a wall hanging.  It is quilted and has applique, but I think it’s a project I can do.  My aunt and mom helped me choose all of the fabrics at a quilt shop in Bull’s Gap, Tennessee.  We had fun doing that together!

I also have a Christmas quilt that involves machine embroidery.  That will be the first time I’ve ever done a project like that and I’m looking forward to it.  The quilt is a snowy white and the embroidery is all done in red.  I can’t wait to get started!

I have a couple of other small quilt project waiting as well.  Boy, for a non-quilter, I have an awful lot of quilt projects lined up waiting to be done!

What are you working on?

Tags: block of the month, fabric, machine embroidery, quilting, sewing

I am very excited, I stopped in at the Viking Sewing center today and found out that they’re having a great class coming up in August.  They have a guest instructor coming (I can’t recall her name) and it’s a full day class.  I signed up!

For $40 I get a full day of sewing, all supplies included.  I also get to use one of the stores high end embroidery machines to make my project.  Lunch is also included.  The project will be to create a small lap quilt that includes machine embroidery and the binding.  I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m a beginning quilter, so this class will be fun for me.  I just hope I can keep up!

Tags: machine embroidery, quilting, sewing

I have designed a small name badge for each of us to wear at our booth next week.  I created the design on my embroidery software and have transferred it to my sewing machine.  It really should be a very simple thing to create.

Instead, I spent 4 hours fighting with my embroidery/sewing machine.  The machine would tell me what size hoop to use, I would place that hoop on the machine and would tell me I was wrong.  I battled with it until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I am concerned that perhaps the embroidery arm of my machine has somehow gotten out of whack.  There is a sensor inside that tells it which hoop is attached and I’m not sure it’s reading it correctly.  This could be a costly repair.  I think I will be taking the entire machine to the store and ask them to look at it.

I really need my machine this week, so if it needs to be sent off for repair,  it will have to wait.  I can still sew on it, I just can’t embroider.

Tags: embroidery, embroidery machine, sewing

Well, I wish I could say that I did this work today, but as I said in my previous post, I wasn’t that productive today. These are bags I actually complete a couple of weeks ago. This is my favorite bag pattern to make and I tend to make them in between my larger projects. These three are made from very summery fabrics and all are great little totes, about 10 inches tall and 8 inches wide.

Tags: fabric purse, fabric tote, purse, sewing

I had so much fun making this bag. I wasn’t really sure about it when I first saw the fabric, but once I got it cut out and was putting it together, it seemed like it was meant to be. This bag is approximately 10″ h x 8″ w with a 40″ over the shoulder strap. The front has a zipper and the back is a pocket. This is a great travel bag for keeping your small items and identification for quick access. It’s also handy for carrying ipods, gameboys, cd players, etc.

This bag is $15 + shipping.

Tags: fabric, sewing, western