Ironing

I bought a new iron and ironing board cover today. They are very pretty! Lots of conversation came up, but one in particular struck a "I must blog this" cord. This has to do with cleaning your iron. I'm pretty religious about it. I clean the iron plate almost every use. I admit that I don't use the "self clean" function on the iron because I can't figure out what it's really doing besides running steam through it. Things to keep in mind for your iron:
1. Never leave water sitting in the tank. It can create rust for those of you who are not frequent ironers. Rust on clothes is just not a good thing.
2. Using a cloth between your iron and your craft project is a great idea. Keeps the adhesives etc. from building up on your plate or getting into the holes. I just have a piece of muslin that I keep near by for that purpose. It's amazing the amount of dies that it picks up too.
3. Keep the cord wound when not in use. This keeps people from accidentally tripping over the cord and knocking your iron to the ground. It's also useful to keep the dog from eating the cord (lost 2 irons to this).

Isn't she pretty?! Look how fun that clothes line ironing board cover is!

4. On to the hot iron cleaner. Use a rag and follow the directions on the tube. I can actually tell the difference when I use the cleaner and when I don't. There is a lot less drag when I use the cleaner. On vacation I used the iron at the cottage and it was like pushing a brick over sand paper. Bonus effect - the cleaner smells really good.
5. You might want to have an ironing board cover for crafting and one for clothes. That adhesive is a mess! Especially if you do the ironed crayon thing.
All in all, treat your iron nice and it will treat you well.

The Time Has Come!

I'm ready for a SWAP. Are you? Email me if you want to play.

Here's what we are doing. Take your usual 8.5 x 11 110lb. white paper, cut it in quarters. Stamp an image on it (the same image on each quarter). Mail them to me and I'll divide them up and mail them back out to everyone. Currently we have 5 players. I'm a firm believer in everyone gets at least 2 of the same image so that makes it 10 images needed (until we get more players).

Stitch Lab, Future Crafters, and the Dress

Lots to post in this post....

In my madness I decided a sewing class the Saturday after VBS was a good idea. 9am - 12:30. Amazingly I was conscious (barely). I noticed that I was fading at about 11am and it seemed so was the rest of the room so I didn't feel bad.
I took the How to Read a Patten class at Stitch Lab Austin. I had been sewing the longest in the group of ladies, which put an interesting dynamic on things. I've been asked what I learned at the class. I learned that I am not the only one saying "WHAT?!?!?!?!" when they read a pattern. I learned that it's OK to be the size a million because the pattern makers are crazy and do not match the off the rack sizes at all. They don't even have industry standards for patterns within a brand. It's up to the designer. If I were a designer all my patterns would be a size 0 and everyone else would have to fit around me. All those skinny little things that can wear nothing but a shoe string would be something like -1000. Us normal girls would be around a 0. I did enjoy the company and some of the things taught. I enjoyed making the little top for a baby doll to practice some of the techniques. I learned that I am a project learner. Those were the times in the class that I was excited and happy.
Being a teacher there were some things that I probably would have done differently, but they weren't a must. I think the terminology could have been used more often and in conjunction with the technique. I'm such a visual learner that I need to see it, hear it, do it - repeatedly. Now that it's 2 weeks later I look at the vocabulary list and think, "I don't think we covered that word". It could be me though. I am also such a math person and the instructor was not. I would see the math and hope she would mention it, but she didn't. When making size adjustments she would demonstrate, but not know how she got from point a to point b. I think I would enjoy a class on how to get from point a to point b when making size adjustments. Maybe next time.
So, knowing that I need to repeatedly practice something to make it stick I went right out to the store for a pattern. I went looking trough the patterns book for Simplicity because I generally like their stuff and found this darling little patten. I knew that A would love a dress like this and I went through the steps I learned in the class for picking a pattern based on skill level. It was a match - I hoped! 4th of July was coming up so I bought some patriotic fabric being careful to make sure I didn't have to deal with direction or anything like that. I did my darnedest to follow all the steps I learned in the class while I made the dress. I was almost done when I realized that I didn't like the steps in the order they had them in, so I gave up on the pattern.

Sportin' our new dress at the UFO Festival on the 4th of July

Had to add this picture because it's just fun!

I did go back later on to learn how to make the little rose for the dress. I didn't like it on the dress so I added it to the bow instead.

The dress was a success. A LOVED it. I had less frustrations with the pattern than I've had in the past. So in all the class was worth the time. I didn't even really mind bringing my own machine to class except somewhere in transit I lost the card that tells me the stitches on my machine. Found one on-line to use and have it tucked in a cool little spot, but that's another post for another day.
The next day I took Z and A back down to Stitch Lab for an amazing day. We went to the book release party for Make Stuff Together. The volunteers at Stitch Lab were fantastic and so patient with the kids (and their parents). Everyone was making stuff and playing. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters. It was AWESOME!!!

Z hand stitching his Gratitude Banner.

A stitching her Gratitude Banner.

Stitching bean bags.

Stitching bean bags.

Tossing bean bags.

Tossing bean bags.

Sno cone!!!

Organic plum sno cone - YUM!

Sewing on the buttons.

A's prayer flag for the kids at Dell Children's.

I think I have found a place that Z, A, and I can craft at in comfort. If the group of people who attended the book signing are any indicator, we are going to LOVE hanging out with the families who have already discovered this little jewel Austin has in Stitch Lab.

Re-Purpose

A had this head band from several Easters ago. It was a pink satin headband with the long satin ribbons steaming down from the ends. She never tied them, but loved them hanging down across her shoulders. One of the ribbons became detached and she thought super mom could just sew it back on. Unfortunately I could not figure it out. So I set out to find a way to re-purpose the ribbons.


I watched this tutorial on rolled fabric flowers and thought - why the heck not?! Just a warning - it is as easy as it looks and I'm hooked on doing it. Yes those are the headbands original ribbons. I do think next time I'll use a quicker drying glue. It took all day to set.


Now those little flowers are cute, but they needed something. I put little white feathers under them and bling centers for a super cute headband. It was so easy and A loves it. I think I could have done it a bit more off centered. but I didn't want to go to far and annoy her ears - then she would never wear the thing. I did have to suggest that next Easter we look for another one with the ribbons hanging down.



Sorry for the bad cell phone pics, but I wanted to get these up before she messed with the feathers too bad.