Sometimes it feels like it has been much longer than four years and other times it seems like it was just yesterday that I started the store. What a trip! and it still is not over yet. Some of the designers who helped me open the store are still with us and it feels like I have known them forever. We have a little yahoo group to post to and share ideas and keep up to date with what is going on. Sometimes we share personal stuff, life’s triumphs and tragedies. Sometimes we just listen/read about what others are going through and cheer them on from the sidelines. But, we are there for each other whatever happens, even if all we can offer is prayers and positive thoughts.
To celebrate this event we are having a blog train. For those who don’t know what a blog train is, it is a list of blogs for readers to go through and pick up freebies on your travels from one blog to the next. Our freebies that we are offering are commercial use birthday items. Here is the list of blogs to visit to download commercial use birthday themed items.
1. Panda Bear Designs – http://www.pandabeardesigns.blogspot.com/
2. Sherrys Scraps – http://sherrysscraps.blogspot.com/
3. Throwing Some Scraps Around – http://www.jodisscrapping.blogspot.com
4. Karen’s Scraps and Graphics – http://karensscrapsandgraphics.blogspot.com.au/
5. Cecilia Swatton – http://www.ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com
6. Gail Cook – http://gails-space2.blogspot.com
7. DCCreations – http://dccreationsdesigns.blogspot.com/
8. The Brown Owl – http://brownowlscrapping.blogspot.com/
9. Kathy’s Scraps – http://kathysscraps.blogspot.com
10. ScrappyCats – http://scrappycats.com/blog/ You are HERE
11. Osten Wilkins Designs – http://digiscrapstation.com/blog/
12. Cynthia Powell – http://cynthiapowell.blogspot.com13. PsiPsi Designs – http://www.copycatandco.blogspot.com
The last link on the download page has been fixed so it now goes to the right zip.
So I was wrong and it was not fixed, BUT IT IS NOW as of 5:00 Tuesday
Here is what I am sharing with yo. I have three things that I made for this blog train, so be sure to get all three.
admin Store Stuff
Why is it when I have a project that should be straight forward and easy to do, it will consume my time voraciously for days on end?
But, I finally finished this project! The All About ME class I teach at the end of the month is doing a casserole carrier in May. Of course, I need to make one ahead of time so people can decide if they want to take the class or not. It did not help that the class was supposed to be taught using a hat pattern or a slipper pattern. Neither of these would really go over very well. So I decided we could make coasters with a little fabric box to hold them and the embroidery we did would be on the box. Well, after stitching out the embroidery work twice, I realized that there was no way that this would work with the design given for the class. So, finally I decided to do a casserole carrier.
Making a casserole carrier should be easy. It is two lengths of fabric that are sewn together like a plus sign. Right? Wrong. You have to figure out how to do this and that and no binding as we have done binding in just about everything we have made for the past year. I feel like I made three of these from all the ripping out and restitching I have done this past week. I scheduled ONE day to make this once I got it all figured out and ended up spending three days on it. But it is done! and I think it really looks nice.
admin quilting, sewing and crafts stuff
This past month I have been working on stitched postcards and was able to come up with some very cute ones. To be sure they could be mailed I too them to the Post Office and they were mailed back to me, going through the machinery, etc. I told the clerk at the Post Office I needed to test them so instead of putting the cards in the local mail collection box, he put them in the box that sent them to Waco. They came through with flying colors!
Here is the fish one that I really love. To make those bubbles, I put a piece of tulle over the area, free motioned/stitched those little circles and then cut the excess tulle away. The pattern for this fish comes from EQ (Electric Quilt) a software program that helps me design quilts.
The grey kitty cat was a graphic that was simple enough for me to duplicate by just tracing over the different shapes of his body.The white cat is a paper piecing I reconstructed from a photo someone posted on the internet of their postcard.
admin Cats, sewing and crafts stuff
Recently I have become a little irritated at the packaging of products I use. A good case in point was the shampoo and conditioner that I just finished. Here I am in the shower with no glasses and poor lighting and I am trying to figure out which is shampoo and which is the conditioner. Both are in same bottle shapes and look alike labels. I have put a tad on my hands and then try to suds it to determine if it is shampoo. UGH
Then there are those products that the manufacturers don’t want you using. You know, those packages that are just impossible to open without doing major surgery. They are wrapped in this plastic stuff that is molded to the shape of the product and it has a lip all around it. Even if you cut the plastic on one end, you still have to cut the plastic off around the other three ends. AND it takes a real sharp pair of scissors or knife.
What about those products that keep changing their packaging? At the grocery store the other day, an elderly lady was standing in the cereal aisle trying to get the right cereal. She would pick up one box and then say, “No that’s not it.” Then she would pick up another box and look at it and repeat herself. It finally got so bad that she just stood there and did not move for about 3 minutes. Her husband was driving the cart and was no help, he just stood there waiting. I really felt bad for her and I really needed around her but she was blocking the whole aisle.
Some products are truly awesome and are in large packaging and you know what you are getting, at least you think you know. Then you open the box and find there are only 10 cookies that you paid $8.00 for. Now, I am not saying that some cookies are worth that much, but I have yet to find any.
admin Rant
Hubby and I are not doing anything special for Easter this year. But I wanted to post a pic I came across today while looking at Easter pics.
admin Uncategorized
Found this floating around the web and just had to post it here. It explains a lot of stuff to those who are around quilter’s all the time.
admin Uncategorized
It happens about every other year that I need to purchase a new tube of toothpaste. One of those huge tubes will last for quite a long time. A dentist once took his time to explain to me how I should be brushing my teeth – little bitty brush and just a dab of toothpaste. That way you get everything and the toothpaste is not cushioning your teeth from the effects of the brush. So it takes about two years for me to use up a tube of toothpaste.
So, last week I shop the toothpaste aisle at Wally World and find there are about ten kinds of toothpaste for each brand. Lets see, do I want whitening? do I want tartar control? how about some of the super foaming stuff that will work its way into the cracks and crevices? Oh, my look there are different flavors as well! It can be a bit overwhelming. Why can’t they just put out a tube that says, “This, one is for you Nancy.”
So I opt for the citrus flavor cause it is cheaper than the others. Gotta watch those pennies, ya know. I saved about fifteen cents (why can’t I find the cent symbol anywhere?)
The first morning I used it I discovered why it was cheaper that all the rest. They had to get rid of it before everybody found out it is not the color you want to see in the morning before you are fully awake. Actually, it is not the color you wanna put on your toothbrush even when you are fully awake! Then when you get it into your mouth (closing your eyes helps) you wanna spit it right back out again. The idea of a sweet toothpaste just kinda sours the mind on toothpaste if you know what I mean.
So, I gotta put up with this for at least a year – by then I won’t feel bad throwing away a half used tube of toothpaste. Though, perhaps I might be able to pawn it off on one of the daughters. Though if I want them to continue to talk to me and not put me out of their lives, I had better come clean with why I don’t want it.
Here is a photo of it, I want everyone to know and beware. Amazon is selling them in a six pack. They have found out and are trying to get rid of them as fast as they can before the word gets out.
admin Life
It has been at least a month since I purchased the felting tool for my sewing machine, maybe even longer. Finally, I decided to just have a “me” day and not worry about what projects needed work. The one thing that I really wanted to do was start an Art/Sewing Journal. It was to be something that I could add to when the mood struck and when the time permitted. So, my first page in this journal was to be a felting project, as I had just seen something on the Quilting Arts show that I wanted to try. You can see the project at: http://www.quiltingdaily.com/media/p/29241.aspx
So I figured it all out and got the machine set up for felting using the tools I had purchased and made two trial pieces. Wow, it is cool! So then I made a bigger piece for the journal that is in my mind to start and well, I just could not let it sit somewhere inside a book. A different project that had been in my mind came to the surface and away we go. I had wanted to try making a cover for spiral bound items using a ruffle to cover the spiral. That part turned out Ok, but then there was the problem of this cover just not staying on since it has to be loose for opening and shutting the notebook. So then I added ties to the top and bottom front and back and tied the cover on through the holes in the cover. (I tried tying it to the spiral rings, but then it interfered with opening and closing the notebook.)
I still have some other ideas to try –on little books, I think I can just sew the cover on along the edge through the cardboard cover since they are so thin. But, make some other ways of keeping the cover on and making it removable can be thought up.
Here it is, my first felting project.
After felting the piece of wool, which is red in color, I added machine stitching and then some embroidery work. Because ribbons and pieces of fabric are added it is hard to machine quilt using free motion as the foot gets caught in those layers. Here is the back of the journal cover – you can see that I stitched with gold thread – the front is too but it does not show up very well.
admin sewing and crafts stuff
Ok so I saw these on Pinterst and just had to try making some. Everything that was needed to make them was here. After making about ten of them, I realized that I could not stop. After making a purchase yesterday at Hobby Lobby of felt in ten different colors, I decided to just go with the flow and have fun with them.
They are pin cushions made using the bottle cap off those liter bottles of soda -in my case of Zero Coke (gotta give credit where credit is due). Every little stitch is done by hand, no glue, no sewing machine work. The object for me is to explore how cute these things can be.
So, yes I am on Pinterest. Soon I might even take the time to put my link in the sidebar, but if you don’t want to wait, my Pinterest Boards may be seen at:
http://pinterest.com/nlwilkins/
admin sewing and crafts stuff
Here is the latest quilt project I have worked on. It was done for a paper piecing quilt class I am teaching. My inspiration was the cross stitching samplers we used to make that would have a quote and lots of home stuff pics around the border. I was limited in that it had to appeal to students who had never paper pieced before and thus could not have a lot of little tiny pieces. In the future, I might just make one for me that is not limited in any way and I could put little pieces in there and more difficult pieces in there.
admin quilting
