Snow Day

They said it was going to be historic. They said it was going to be epic. They said it was going to be snowmageddon. I woke yesterday morning, looked out my window to see pavement on my driveway and cried, "wolf!" Yep, then I went outside to shovel. Haha...I couldn't get into my garage to get the shovel without going over a drift that was thigh deep. And that was just the beginning. Oh, we got snow, finally! I happen to live in an area that gets threatened with bad weather all the time, but the storm front always splits and goes North and South of me. That's not cool for someone like me who looooves inclement weather. I love this snow. I think we're going snowshoeing tonight. Hope so.

I couldn't get out the front door. There was too much snow in the way and this stuff was heavy to shovel, but it sure is beautiful outside.

Oh yes, it was definitely a snow day. Practically the whole city was shut down, which was fine with me because look what I got to do...

It's a sewing machine cover with fabric from Sew Mama Sew. They always have such lovely goodness there and I can usually find what I want on sale, you know, being the thrifty person that I am. The cover wasn't all that difficult to make following these directions, but it was my first time with free motion quilting. Yeah, I was scared, I made a few mistakes, my technique was rough, I broke a needle and I had to oil the machine before I was finished, but I did it. And it fits, and it looks great if you don't look too closely to see where I started quilting again after oiling the machine, but without adjusting my settings. Oops. The thread is a little bit loose in one area. I should also mention that I ran out of thread and had to switch to a different color - because it was a snow day, after all, and I was pretty sure my fabric store wasn't open for me to bop in and grab another spool.

Here's a sewing hint for you if you are working with two pieces of fabric, one of which is a straight piece (Piece 1) that needs to go around a corner or a curve to attach to the second piece (Piece 2), like the picture above. Always start with Piece 2 on the bottom so that as you are sewing, the edge of Piece 2 is your guide and you can ease Piece 1 into the curves and move any excess fabric out of the way and behind the needle. It's much easier this way as you can see what it is you are moving rather than trying to see underneath Piece 2 to make sure you don't have bunches of fabric going all wonky from Piece 1. If it's a corner, stop at the corner with your needle still in the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn your fabric (Piece 2) 90 degrees and move all the excess fabric from Piece 1 to the back. Lower the presser foot and continue sewing. Does that still sound complicated? I suspect that if you follow along as you are sewing, it will make more sense.

Look who stopped in for a visit a couple days ago...

It's a Cooper's Hawk in the tree next to my garage. I often see these hunting in the neighborhood and as much as I would like to stop them from killing, I know it's nature's way and I let it go. The time that really bothered me was when both hunter and prey slammed into the side of my house during the chase and tumbled down onto the driveway about 15 feet away from me. The prey was stunned and the hunter took full advantage of it. I think he looked at me and dared me to stop him. I didn't even try.

Handmade Holidays

I'm pretty happy with what I've made this year for the holidays. When I look at the stack of handmade gifts it's pretty impressive, at least, it is to me. Here are the last of the projects I completed. The journal covers were hinted at in the post of my grandson where he is sitting in the window sewing. The littles each embroidered their handprints and I quilted them into the covers. My intent is that the journals will be used by the kids and their dad together, and then sent back and forth in the mail. I'm thinking that Dad will complete a page, send it to the child who then completes a page and sends it back to Daddy, etc., but it doesn't have to be writing. (Thanks Shannon) It can be pictures, collages, painting, found objects, really, anything they want. I made individual journals so Daddy can write personalized information to each child and they can feel more connected to each other.

It would be awesome if the journaling were about the everyday happenings in their lives while apart. See, I have a journal from 1865 that was written by one of my relatives and I love reading about what he was doing on a particular day and then trying to figure out where he went in town. He wrote about the everyday, whether he was working in the sugar shack, or went to a party, or how much he paid for a pair of pants, or the weather. He wrote about making fur mittens and selling them to make a little extra money. Simple, daily life that I find so fascinating and I'm hoping these journals turn into the same thing, that someday, someone will read these and get an idea of what life was like for these people who will be half a world apart for a time. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Hey, I made my first bound booklets for the inside. Have you ever looked at the bindings in books and tried to figure out how the heck they did that? No? Well, I did and I just knew it was some complicated process that would either frustrate me or make me buy fancy, expensive binding equipment. Nope, crazy easy and I found many, many posts online about how to do this. You need a needle, and some thread, and although the online posts tell you to punch holes using an awl, I didn't have one so I used a hammer and nail. Doesn't sound very difficult or expensive does it? I'm just tickled by the results.

Pockets were necessary on the inside to hold the signatures in place. (I learned that's what the bound pages are called) I only put a few pages (5 folded) inside because I didn't want it to seem overwhelming that a whole journal needed to be filled. This way, when one of the signatures gets full, I can take it out and replace it with another of the same size. When the journal is really complete (when Daddy is home for good), I'll bind all the signatures together to make a book for each child.  I think it's a brilliant idea and I can hardly wait to give these to my son.

The last project I finished was these cute little hats that were made up in less than an hour...aand I learned to make a blind hem using my presser foot. The process seemed complicated while reading about it, but when I actually sat down and did it step by step, well, it was sort of like magic because even though I couldn't puzzle out how it was working, it was working. Cool! So many new techniques this year, I wonder what next year will hold for me?

Happy holidays to you and I hope you're ready because it's here, ready or not.

P.S. I'm thrilled that the days will now start getting longer. So thrilled...

I love it....

when the people in my life (females in particular) share my passion for handcrafts. Jewleigh is a much better and more daring knitter than I am. I love that she jumps right in with new projects and figures them out as she goes. I also love that I can go to her when I'm stumped, and believe me, she's fixed a fair number of mistakes for me. Thanks Jewleigh. She finished a hand-knit purse a year ago, but because she doesn't (didn't) sew, she needed my help with the lining. I gave her a quick lesson on the machine and how to hold the material and thread to begin, Jewleigh sat down, got her hands in position, paused, and then pulled her hands back and laughed. "I'm scared," she said. But then she just went for it. Not only did she make the lining, but she added a pocket, and not just a simple pocket. Nooo, not Jewleigh, she pulls out all of her necessities like her phone and pens and keys, measures them and makes dividers in the pocket to hold everything. Told you she was daring, and she's creative too.




Tah dah! A beautiful handmade purse.


The next day? Yeah, she was visiting with a friend of her mother's and the woman gave her a sewing machine that wasn't being used. Does Jewleigh say thank you, go home and put the machine in the closet because she doesn't really know how to use it? Nope, not Jewleigh. No, she goes to the fabric store for instructions on how to thread it and put the bobbin in and then she buys more material. She's so like that! Suppose I should brush up on my sewing skills so she doesn't blow right by me?

Love you Jewels...