Here comes Fall!

We were off to a late start this summer, as I posted before.  This was the last summer before my kids join the ranks with all of the other school-aged children.  I felt a rush to do the usual summer trips I heard other parents planning.  The Summer Bucket Lists I've seen are pretty intriguing, and include anything from simple stuff like "Take the kids for ice cream" to "Go on a great vacation to somewhere warm, sunny and somewhat educational,".  Watching the other moms rush around to cross stuff off of their lists made my head spin a little, I admit.  I wanted to enjoy just one more summer of relaxation before the kids realize the pressure they might fall under during the school year.  One more summer to just be kids and not worry about schedules and time lines.  We skipped the commercial theme park passes this year, and they were not missed. 

Here's what was crossed off of the standard Summer To-Do List:
Play at the beach
Go Camping
Make s'mores at a campfire (not the cheater microwave kind)
Play with cousins
Plant a garden
Play in the water
Build forts
Paint-paint-paint
Spend time with Grandparents
Attend an MLB game
See Pixar's new blockbuster
Have ice cream/frozen yogurt
Ride bikes/power-wheels/go-karts
Play with more cousins
Get new stuff for school

I'm sure I left something out, and I am positive that I will take full advantage of our 2013 Summer Vacation, once the reality of being locked in to a school schedule sets in. 

The coming of Fall is exciting for everyone in our home.  For one thing, my in-laws have an apple orchard that we can raid for things like healthy snacks or delicious pies.  Our fruit trees are a bit young still, and we lost our peach tree during a frost last year, so we are fortunate we have someone to share homegrown fruit with us.  Aside from the delicious pies, it is the part of the year that I feel I get a second wind and start regaining some momentum.  I start wrapping up projects that missed the New Year/Spring Cleaning lists.  I dream up new ways to decorate for the up coming holidays.  The pumpkin spice lattes start appearing, giving me the official nudge to start having my hair colored a shade or two darker.  The kids and I start talking about costumes for Halloween, and I start sketching new patterns.  With Christmas around the corner I start making some serious progress to my collection of stocking stuffers and gifts.  The leaves start turning to beautiful shades of golden yellows and bright oranges that make even my husband smile. 

I am particularly excited and nervous about this Fall.  With both of my children attending school, I will have two new opportunities this year.  The most important of those two is taking on the role of Unofficial Teacher's Aide, filling a role that all parents should.  With overcrowded schools and strict teaching guidelines, Teachers are under a tremendous amount of pressure.  I've heard stories about parents being bombarded with homework - that's right.  THE PARENTS are saying THEY have homework.  I asked around to see what this was all about, and found that parents were simply being asked to reiterate the day's instruction.  I am aware that all of us are a bit short on time.  We work hard every day, so coming home to more work isn't exactly what most parents have in mind.  Am I looking forward to sight-words and sounding out words?  Honestly?  Not so much.  Am I excited that my kids will be learning new things that will help them become better readers, opening the door to a whole new world of discovery and learning?  YOU BET.  If I moan and groan about the homework, wouldn't that give my kids a full license to whine about it, too?  If homework is seen as "unnecessary work" or "busy work", or even to quote another parent I spoke with, "a waste of time", doesn't that set my child up for an entire school career of dread and possible failure?  I can groan every time I see a math worksheet come into this house, or I can smile, encourage, and assist my kids with their "work", and hope that they have a positive experience with their school work.  After all, they will be attending school for the next 17+ years, why not have some fun with it?

Speaking of fun, my second opportunity will be to work uninterrupted for blocks at a time on all of these sewing projects I have stacking up around here.  I am very thankful for all of the special orders I have received.  From stitching buttons on to sewing custom men's shirts, from quilts to quilted totes, from skirts to Gnomes, I am enjoying the steady stream of projects that have been heading my way.  Thank you to those of you who have placed your custom orders, and thank you to those of you who browse the Etsy Store! 


 

Tip Tuesday: Week #6

This may seem like a simple tip, but keep your manuals for your sewing machines near your sewing machines.  And I don't mean just the manual that came with your machine, I mean the one you make for your machine, too.

Each machine has its own quirks and requirements for maintenance and operations.  I spent an afternoon playing with my ruffle foot to see what setting did what.  I labeled the strips of fabric with the settings before running them through the machine, and then adjusted the foot to those settings.  I saved all the ruffles stapled to card stock for easy future reference.  It's also a good idea to compile a sampler of different decorative stitches.  It's nice to have a quick reference instead of having to try out different sizes before finding the one I want.  I like to make note of tension settings on my serger.  I have the standard setting labeled on my machine (Thanks, Jim), but I also keep a list of what settings I use for different fabrics.  And Blind Hems?!?  Who Loves blind hems?  Not this gal.  BUT, I have a sample of fabric folded for a blind hem, because no matter how often I look at the manual, it just doesn't sink in.  That little scrap makes blind hems a breeze.  Most of these little scraps and things fit into sheet protectors, that can fit into a binder.  Mine are all shoved in Ziploc bag that came with my machine.  I'm not even going to post a picture for you to laugh at.  Someday they'll make it to a binder.

I want to get the most out of my machines, so knowing their features inside and out is imperative.  No matter what machine I have, or how much it cost, I want to know exactly what it can and can't do.  It's the best way for me to get my money's worth from the machine I have, and construct a thorough list of features I would like for my new machine, should I need to purchase one at some point in the distant future. 

Did you get your coupon for my Etsy store off of the Back-to-School post?  There's a 15% off coupon floating around in there you won't want to miss.  The coupon is good through the end of September, so you'll want to hang on to it.  With the kid starting school in just a few days, I'll be back at the sewing machine, wrapping up iPad and Kindle covers, quilts and cozies.  Stay Tuned!!
 

Back To School

Both of my kids are off to school in less than two weeks.  While it's a more traditional start date, it is very late compared to the other schools in our area.  For my son, this will be his second year away from me, and for my daughter, it is her first year of preschool.  I'm wondering how it will go.  I hear about moms crying on the first day of school, and wandering around feeling lost for that first hour or so, wondering what to do without their kids.  I admit, the first day of preschool for my son, I was pretty shook up.  He lined up with his class, and I called out to him, "Have a good day!" and refrained from saying, "I love you!!" (I still remember the horror this phrase can send through a young student's body).  He barely glanced over his shoulder at me, and went off into class, leaving me clutching his little sister as if she was a life-preserver I found on the Titanic.   She stood there crying because she wanted to go to school, too.  I think this year might be a bit easier.

How about a little something to help you with back-to-school?  I will have new items in the store including new purses and iPad covers.  Enter this coupon code for 15% off of your purchase:  BACKTOSCHOOL2012

Keep checking back for new items!!

Tip Tuesday: Week #5

Ever step on a pin sticking up in the carpet?  Lose a needle somewhere?  It happened to me on a regular basis.  When we moved into the home we live in now, we had the opportunity to put in new flooring of our choice.  While my husband likes carpet in bedrooms, I am a huge fan of having linoleum or hardwood flooring in every room.  I have terrible allergies, so I take any chance to avoid harboring pollen and dust mites.  Honestly, having two children, I would prefer flooring that could be pressure-washed, possibly even flooring with a slope down to a drain for the ease of cleaning up spilled milk and muddy footprints.  I explained to my husband that carpets were a Lego's worst enemy, and that Play-Doh would become our nemesis.  If you've ever taken carpet up, you've seen the dirt that has sifted through the carpet, settling between the carpet and the mat.  It didn't take long to convince my husband that carpet wasn't the way to go.  After careful review of installation costs and the actual lifetime of the flooring, we came to an agreement:  Linoleum for the bathroom, laundry room, and my craft room, with hardwood for the rest of the house.  We went with Bamboo for the majority of the house, and we love it.  It has worked out very nicely, as I do not feel carpet ever really comes clean, and I can definitely see when these floors are clean or dirty. My favorite benefit of our flooring, is that my pins and needles are easily found. 

The Tip?  Regardless of what flooring you may have in your workspace, get yourself a magnet to locate rogue pins and needles.  I have a magnetic pin cushion I "borrowed" from my mom in addition to those cute little pin cushions I love so much.  During the actual sewing phase of my project, I don't have time for putting the pins back into a cushion, so this magnet helps me speed things along.  These magnetic pin cushions are available at most sewing or office supply stores.  Keep an eye out for a wand version.  I found one at a children's toy store, and it's handy for finding pins and needles. 

On a side note, do you see the squares hiding under the shade?  Those are post-its.  I have a lot of things on my to-do list, and each one of those items is scheduled on my calendar, but is also written down on a post-it.  The post-its are organized and re-organized on my window to help me prioritize which project is in the fast lane, and which project can wait a day or two.  Try it out, you might like it. 

I'm halfway through my Ten Week Tip Tuesday bit, and I'm thinking it's time to get some more likes on the Facebook page.  Who's up for a give-away?!?  Leave a comment below!!

More fabric?!?

I've had an unusual week around here.  Most of our summer days are filled with playing in the yard, building forts, and making a mess with play-doh.  We spent a lot of time on the road during the previous school year, as my son was attending a school about 25 miles from our home.  I've been avoiding trips anywhere to give my kids a break from freeways and car rides.  We're wrapping up our summer fun and preparing for school.  I've made my rounds to get school supplies, purchasing backpacks and lunch bags, pencils and erasers, jeans and shoes.  I'm compiling a list of healthy lunch ideas my children will actually eat.  Patterns and fabrics for school clothes are taking over my sewing table.  So what makes this week so weird?

This week, I've hauled my kids to town every day to pick up packages.  Every day.  It started with picking up two orders of fabric at the post office Monday.  Not so unusual for a woman in the business of sewing, really.  Monday night brought notification that I would be receiving a second Big Brown Truck shipment Wednesday, in addition to the shipment I was expecting for Tuesday.  Wow, packages on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday?  Wow.  My head began to spin when I received a notice for another delivery on Thursday!  Add in a third parcel due this week at the post office, and Good Golly!!  That's SIX boxes in one week!!  I'm doing my best to get them checked in, pre-washed and put away, but my goodness!  That's a lot of fabric!  I am surprised that everything is coming in one week, as I was told most of what I ordered had could have a September delivery date. 

Here I am, trying to wind down Summer, and Fall is already taking over.  I had planned for the fabric to be received the week before the children started school, so I would have time to wrap up Summer before I jumped into my new Fall sewing schedule.  If my calendar could make faces, I'm pretty sure it would be smirking at me right now.  I'm not sure where the summer has gone, or how my fabric showed up so fast.  Here I am, staring at the closet I use for my business, shaking my head in disbelief that I will actually be able to hit the ground running and get some great new products listed for this Fall.  It feels good to see my plan coming together, fabric and notions tucked neatly away, waiting for the Ginghers and rotary cutters to work their magic.  The next couple weeks are filled with special orders, but I'm hoping to sneak in some items for the store.  I am debating posting a picture of what I have received, but I think it might be more fun to have some completed items posted to the Etsy store!

Tip Tuesday: Week #4

I am always looking for  different ways to save myself time when it comes to sewing.  I find the actual machine stitching is the fastest part - especially if you have a machine that runs smoothly.  Most of my time-saving tricks happen during the preparations portion of a project.  Cutting out a pattern takes so much time, and ironing pieces that have been sewn is a necessary evil.  I have found a way to cut down on the time it takes to pin things.  I've heard of women using glue sticks to baste projects, and that's a great idea.  I have mixed feelings about this, because I'm not sure how some of the fabrics I use would react to this.  There is a product on the market that I adore - and should probably buy in bulk:

Wonder Tape. 

Almost as cool as Wonder Woman, but a lot more versatile. 

The beauty of this tape is that I don't get it all over everything like I would glue (in stick form or otherwise), AND it washes out.  This double-sided tape is great for "basting" seams, or placing pockets, Velcro, and (drum roll, please....)  ZIPPERS.  I would dread putting in zippers before I found Wonder Tape.  It seemed like I was always fighting with pins during that initial basting of the zipper, and I always ended up getting stuck by a pin or five. 

What else to I love about Wonder Tape?  I can use it to stick spaghetti straps to my bra, or stick a creeping shirt to a camisole to keep it from shifting all day.  If I need a quick hem on a pair of pants and don't have time, I can Wonder Tape it.  It's a pretty handy product that made my top-ten list for the notions sales at JoAnn Fabrics. 

Hope you have enjoyed this quick tip!  I'm expecting The Big Brown Truck today, and I can't wait to get those boxes!

Relax. It's only housework.

It's Thursday already, and I have taken the advice of a good friend to help me get through today.  I will be channeling my inner Peg Bundy, and relaxing a bit.  I never really watched Married with Children, but I'm familiar with this red-headed housewife.  It stood out to me that her home was always picked up - well, except for a laundry basket once in a while.  Sure, Peg spends all of Al's money, and so what if she doesn't know where a grocery store is?  She's always rockin' that red hair, and despite my difference of opinion when it comes to fashion, she DOES know how to coordinate her wardrobe.  And marrying a man who sells shoes?  GENIUS.  I wonder if she gets the inside on ne fashions....  Where was I going with this? 

I enjoy starting the weekend off with a clean house.  I've blogged about this before.  This week, I'm willing to let it go.  I've got two projects due this week, AND I'm gearing up for the special orders I have scheduled for next week.  Is anyone going to notice the floors?   Forget the stack of school clothes fabric I have piled on my glider - hey, school starts "late" here, I've got time.  Ignore the fact that I haven't dead-headed my rose garden all week.  And what about those five loads of laundry that need folding?  Isn't it enough that the laundry is clean?  Hmmm.  Today I'll settle for clean dishes and more time for sewing. 

A friend of ours is celebrating her 50th birthday this weekend.  My mother-in-law and I were scratching our heads about what to get for The Birthday Girl.  I had thought about gift certificates for dining out, or maybe...  yeah.  That's really all I had.  My MIL had a much better idea.  She asked if I would make something for The Birthday Girl.  Why hadn't I thought of that?!?!  The housework will have to wait while I work on this little bit of something special: 

The fabric is Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.  I found the pattern for this on Riley Blake's Cutting Corners College http://networkedblogs.com/AGzaB.  What a great twist on a traditional nine block!