The Sewing Mom

A few months ago, I became a member of SocialSpark.com as another way to monetize my site. Of course, SocialSpark is more than a way to earn money, it’s a social community where I’ve made a number of friends, found bloggers with similar crafting interests and been introduced to new advertisers.

SocialSpark has had some very interesting opportunities, some of which I’ve posted on this blog. This is my personal blog and I want all of my posts, even those that I’m paid for, to reflect my interests. I’d love to see more crafting companies like Joann’s or Michael’s sponsor blogs like mine. Trust me, I spend enough at their stores, I sponsor them! Other companies I’d love to have sponsor me would include Viking sewing machines. I’ve spoken about them often on this blog and the sewing/embroidery machine I drool over on a regular basis is made by them.

Of course, I do other things besides sewing and would enjoy being sponsored by food product companies and, in particular, I can’t live without my Green Mountain Coffee. I’ve been a coffee club member with them for about 7 years and would feel honored to have them sponsor this blog.

Besides eating, I maintain our home and use cleaning products, do laundry, pool maintenance, and yard work. Let’s see, I believe Lysol is my most frequently used cleaning product, Tide and Downey are my laundry products of choice and we use a ton of Sears lawn products to keep our yard and shrubs under control as well as patio furnishings. Any and all of these companies would be welcomed as sponsors on this blog. Leslie’s Pool Supplies is a large supplier of all of our pool chemicals and equipment, they would also be welcomed here.

I could go on and on listing companies that I feel would be a great fit for sponsorships on this blog. I can’t forget about my family and shopping for them. We do a lot of business at Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s, all of which would be awesome sponsors.

So, if any of these companies are reading this blog, pay attention. Please consider advertising through SocialSpark.com, whether you go with a written post to create buzz or a review of a product, or a day to day sponsorship, I would be thrilled to have you sponsor my blog!

Tags: Green Mountain Coffee, Home Depot, Joanns, Lowes, Michaels, Sears, SocialSpark, Target, Viking

I purchased my current embroidery sewing machine about 18 months ago. Soon afterwards, I was afforded the opportunity to be a panel member to “test-drive” the newest embroidery sewing machine that Viking was making. When I was done, I said that that particular machine did everything except make your coffee. I have been drooling over that machine ever since.

That particular machine is the Viking Designer SE. It is currently on sale for $6700, way more than I can spend on a sewing machine, but, I do hope to own it someday!

I was at the Viking store yesterday to purchase some supplies for the class I am taking tomorrow. I sat down, with drool dripping from the corner of my mouth, and played with that SE machine. It really is amazing. It can connect directly to your computer, or, you can download information onto a memory stick and plug it directly into the USB port. This machine is very intuitive and has an on board computer screen. Many designs can be created directly on the machine itself, without having to go to the computer. That’s a huge time saver when it comes to embroidery design.So, on the way home from the Viking store, I began strategizing on how to convince my husband that I really should have that machine. After all, a few years ago, he got to own his dream car, the Porsche. Why can’t I have the same opportunity to own my dream machine?

After talking with him last night and watching his eyes roll to the back of his head several times, I realized that I won’t be getting my dream machine any time soon, but some day, I WILL own that machine! In the mean time, I will keep working on him. In fact, since he wasn’t here to celebrate my birthday, maybe I’ll get him to take me to dinner and we can talk about it some more.

I’d like him to take me to my favorite seafood restaurant where of course, I’ll be ordering fried Gulf oysters, the only way I’ll eat oysters. I do actually love oysters, but eating them raw is not only gross (in my opinion), but can be dangerous. Serious illness can occur in individuals who are at high-risk, including people with liver disease or diabetes. So fried oysters only for me, please.

Speaking of oysters and my dream machine. In my exhausted state last night, I began thinking how cool it would be if oysters didn’t just create beautiful pearls. What if, almost like a magic genie, an oyster could give whatever your hear desires? Now that would be pretty awesome. Of course, it would take a pretty big oyster to give me that Designer SE machine!

Tags: beoysteraware.com, oysters, Viking

Whenever I visit a quilt shop or fabric store, I find myself curious about what sewing machines other sewers and crafters prefer to use. My very first machine was a Singer. I received it as a high school graduation gift, many years ago. I have used it to create many wonderful things and a couple of years ago realized that I might want something newer. I wound up purchasing a Viking and I really enjoy it. It is a Platinum 955E and does Embroidery also. I’m not sure it’s the best for quilting, but since I don’t do much of that, it is fine. I love the embroidery feature and hope to use it more once I’ve taken a couple of classes.

So, what brand of machine do you use? Vote in this poll and leave me a comment to let me know more specifics about your machine and what you mainly use it for.

	Which brand of sewing machine do you prefer?
	Viking/Huskavarna
	Pfaff
	Janome
	Singer
	Brother
	Other
surveys

Tags: janome, pfaff, sewing machines, surveys, Viking

I have to say, I had a productive sewing day yesterday, even though I never even turned on my sewing machine.

I made a trip to Joann’s yesterday to stock up on thread and a few other items.  I had been thinking that I wanted to create a black and white bag and I was so surprised to find to find 2 bolts of black and white fabric on the 70% off rack!  I bought both.  I am going to use some black fabric I all ready have to put with it.  I’ve got it ready to be cut and am deciding if I want to do some machine embroidery on the pocket or if I will leave it plain.  I will definitely be taking progress pictures.

I also signed up to take a machine embroidery class for free at the Viking store AND, an embroidery software class.  The lady was so nice when I explained that I had taken the first embroidery class, but on a different machine than the one I now own.  I also haven’t done any machine embroidery in almost a year and have lost some confidence!  She signed me right up and I can’t wait.  I am also looking forward to the software class because I never got to take that class and was trying to learn it on my own.  I did figure out enough to get it to work, but I also know that there is more that I could do if I was shown how to use it.

Before I do those classes though, I will be attending a Jelly Bag class at the quilt shop this Tuesday.  I finished purchasing my supplies for that yesterday as well.  I’m proud of myself for getting out there and getting signed up for these classes, they will only help to improve what I all ready enjoy doing.

Tags: embroidery, sewing, Viking