Stash Update

Oh my goodness... I am truly horrible at keeping track of my stash.  I need to make this a priority!

On the half-square triangles, I took fabric from my stash and cut off chunks from 22 or 23 pieces.  I cut a four and a half inch strip from each, width of fabric.  That totals about 100 inches, or 2.75 yards.   Then I used about the same amount of white for the other half of the HSTs, plus about a half yard for the corners.

I wanted all the same white background because the blocks are so scrappy.  I can't remember if this is one of my 2014 acquisitions or not.  I think I purchased six yards, because you always need whites.

So six yards out of the stash this week!  Who KNOWS how many are left???

The church quilt group needed backings and solids, so I went into the blue bin and the brown bin and took out eight cuts that were two yards or more and put them in the supply closet.  Sorry, no picture!

Feeling rather virtuous for having moved at least 20 yards OUT of the stash...  I know, don't let it fool you like it fooled me.

I was thinking about getting some more background stuff for the church group, and I visited one of my favorite places, Connecting Threads.  And there was my MARCH 28 order, staring me in the face!  In March of this year I purchased 8 yards of pink stars and 16 yards of two different blue dots.

Yikes!  I forgot I had those!  Wonder where I put them???  Did I intend to donate them?  WAAA!

At the very best I'm down in the count by a couple of yards, at the very worst I've come out even.

That's what I get for being proud of myself!

Sew on...

Putting the NO in Technology -- Argh!!

This is supposed to be my post-sewing weekend post, showing all the cool things I purchased there and telling everyone how enjoyable it was.

The best laid plans of mice and women, people!!

Here's the thing:  my printer will NOT under any circumstance read the disk from my camera today.  Technology when it works is great, and when it doesn't it is horrible.

Trying to work around it... the first day there I went to classes with Pamela Leggett of Pamela's Patterns, and Gail Yellen of Gail Patrice Designs.  I've heard of them previously, since they are well known among members of the American Sewing Guild.  So Pam discussed designer details using both your sewing machine and your serger. 

<Insert here a picture of Pam's tee-shirt pattern and the pattern to customize purchased tee shirts!>

See how well that worked?  Ha!  Hopefully I'll get the photos at some point.

I learned a few tricks... such as using a narrow serged seam for the first step of a French seam, or using a narrow rolled edge for seam reinforcements in sheer garments.  Cool.

From Gail Yellen I learned that I am NOT using my serger to its full potential.  For example my Baby Lock serger has a ruffler foot that I don't have, and I think that I can use this in sewing form Miss A and even for myself.  I'm happy to report that I have one now, along with a clear foot, a cording foot and an elastic foot.  They were 33% off the list price so I treated myself for my birthday.

<Imagine a picture of serger feet>

Friday I went to see one of my favorite sewing people, Mary Mulari.  I'm a Mary Groupie -- I try to see her whenever she's in the area.  When I was a chapter president of our local ASG Mary was one of the first outside speakers we brought in, and she did a great job for our chapter.  You can never go wrong with Mary.  So I  knew some of the material she was presenting (and I enjoyed that) but she did have some new tricks and tips and I enjoyed those too.  She has very cool bag and accessory patterns, and I was reminded of how many of her designer jackets from sweatshirts I would love to make.

<See the picture of her latest travel book and CD??>

I picked up some great bargains in the warehouse... lots of Madiera thread, sewing machine needles, some Bare Knits fabric from a Canadian manufacturer called Siltex.  That stuff is wonderful, with dyed to match ribbing and top and bottom weight cotton/poly... I picked up a few yards of that this year.

We went to two different evening programs at Beaver Dam high school.  Mary and Nancy Zieman did a hilarious second round of Kick It Up A Stitch -- a little sewing, a little cooking, a lot of laughing.  They took the shirt off the back of Steve from Baby Lock and cut off the sleeve and made a bag out of it, then they cut off the logo to make a tag (and gave him back the shirt, hole and all).  Ask your friends who were there if they tasted the kale smoothy...  I heard it was kind of chunky!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to see Nancy's class, had lunch with friends and ended up at church -- the fellowship hall of Peace Lutheran in Beaver Dam hosts classes because it's big.  Deborah Jones taught me lots about doing lettering and monograms on a home embroidery machine.   I will not do monograms for myself in the normal way.  My last initial is S, my first is S and my middle is A.  DH's initial is A.  So if we do a couples monogram that would be little A - large S - little S and if I did my own it would be little S - large S - little A.  Noooo.... probably not.

I also got 20 fat quarters for $19.95 - a bargain whether you actually need them or not.  Picked up some pink plastic clogs for Miss A's doll, and a few other miscellaneous items that filled up four shopping bags.  Yes, I am helping the economy when I can.

Hopefully I can fix my printer soon.  You'll enjoy the photos!

Sew on...

Stash Enhancement

I never used to enjoy shopping on line, but over the past couple of years I've not found shopping malls very satisfying, and I really don't have a lot of spare time to travel all over looking for things I need.  Or want.

Since about 2009 I've tried many mail order and on line sources for various products.  I do love Amazon for books and other 'hard goods', I've gotten used books for as little as $4 including shipping.  Hey, they read just as nicely as new books, right?  If shipping is free I consider it a bonus because I haven't used $4 a gallon gas to make a purchase, even though my car gets pretty decent mileage and I can sometimes stop on my way to somewhere else.

Yes, I do know the library is free, but there's that time thing.  Plus returning on time... that's a whole 'nother story!

The drawback is you don't always know what you're getting so you have to do your homework. 

Fabric shopping on line can be hard if you don't know enough about weights and fiber content, etc.  Then there's the tactile nature of sewing, fabric shopping is as much about feeling as it is about seeing.

Because in my area most of the fabric stores are quilt shops, which I do love but they don't carry much garment fabric, or they're chains which don't always carry the quality of fabric I want, I started checking out on line fabric stores.  Now if you're an American Sewing Guild member, you get a leg up on this!  Many on line vendors have been at various ASG conferences so you know the quality of their goods.  Many of them offer deals through the ASG web site, so you can try them out and help the Guild at the same time.

I have a couple of favorites... I love Vogue Fabrics in Chicago and will even sometimes take a road trip there.  I've gotten nice things at good prices from fabric.com too.  There are some others but those are my go-to defaults.

I was looking for some leopard print fabric that would be appropriate for a jumper or dress for Miss A.  I only found swimsuit fabric and fleece locally.  But fabric.com had some poly/cotton and some sweater knit so I ordered some.

Of course I also found a few nice pieces for doll skirts and dresses to go with the sweaters I've been knitting.

Here's what came yesterday:

Leopard and some camo, all knits.  The back one is a sweater knit, perhaps for Miss E or my daughter.

Cats and pink plaid are a nice weight of flannel, and the blue and yellow are cottons.

This one is mine, a nice weight of doubleknit for a spring top and there's enough for either a skirt or a cardigan too.

Such a fun time when I come home and there's a package for me!  It's like Christmas... with the added bonus that DH is becoming fast friends with the UPS man. LOL!

Now I need to get some of this prewashed and pick out some patterns.

Oh, did I say I won a pattern package from another blog, Sew Everything (link in my blog faves at right).  I'm pretty excited about that, I haven't statistically been lucky at winning things and it was such a pleasure.  Of course the odds were in my favor, not like the lottery.

New fabric, new patterns, now all I need is some vacation time.

Sew on...

Nancy's Sewing Weekend Goodies

This weekend was a national holiday in Wisconsin... well not an ACTUAL national holiday, but it was Sewing Weekend at Nancy's Notions in Beaver Dam.  It's always around my birthday sometime, and this year it started ON my birthday.  I usually tell people how happy I am that someone as big as Nancy throws me a party --  <wink wink>

DISCLAIMER: I have NOT been paid to talk about any of these products, nor do I work for any of these companies. The opinions expressed here are my own!

I don't know how long I've been going up there.  This was the 28th year it was held, and I can find souvenir pins that go back to 1996 or 97, but I think there were a few years when there were no pins or I didn't get one.

In past years I've reviewed the Nancy's Notions catalog and crossed out things I had and circled things I wanted.  They would have sale items and clearance, days for 'remnant bargains' (more on that), and you'd get 10% off your total order at the end.  In recent years the merchandise offered has been more select, and the prices of the individual items have been marked down.

There still is clearance, but this year it wasn't anything in which I had a lot of interest, although I did find the book Word Play, that shows you how to build letters using fabric.

I am excited have this book as I want to try to use this method to put some names on some of the quilts I make and give away.

I also bought some of Nancy Zieman's booklets from her TV show, another of her templates for making purses or totes, and some Clover notions.

Speaking of Clover Notions, they have a booth at Sewing Weekend because Nancy has her name on some of their products.  They usually have a very nice sales rep or spokesperson giving away 'goodie bags' with some literature and a notion in them to all who visit their booth.  They do regular demonstrations of their new products and talk about what's on their tables.

Olfa was also there, displaying their cutting tools and mats.  Did you know you can buy a 2.5 inch square ruler, and a mat as small as 6x8 inches?  How about adding one of those to your Tablet Keeper??  Of course I couldn't resist a ruler that cute, so I bought one of each.  The mat came in so handy today when I was working on finishing up Twisted Bargello, the wall hanging from H##L. 

Oh dear, I don't know why that is rotated!!

Other vendors in the warehouse were the folks from Amazing Designs embroidery specialists, and of course Baby Lock, with all their super sewing machines and sergers.  I have a BL serger with the pneumatic threading, and I have to tell you it was among the best things I ever did for my sewing.  It threads the loopers with the push of a lever.  No more being afraid to change threads, or dreading the broken thread! 

What else did I get?  Oh, let me not forget the zippers!!  6 inch separating zippers in several colors for doll jackets, and some really wild 18-24 inch separating zippers for jackets and tops for the grands.

About those remnants...  Nancy's Notions has better remnant sales than anyone I know.  I was bound and determined not to buy fabric this year.  I have a ton of fabric.  I have so much I forget what I have.  But those NN remnants always get me.  They take cuts of fabric, sometimes several yards, sometimes bits and pieces, fold them attractively, put them into plastic bags with a label that gives fabric name, yardage, fiber content and regular price.  Then they start the markdowns.  The first day most things are half price, the second day they're lower and what's left at the end of Friday is drastically reduced for Saturday.  I've never seen such nice stuff in the remnant pile, and honestly if there's anything left on Saturday afternoon it's nearly free.

This year, I had to walk by those remnant boxes to get to the registers to check out, and I did succumb.  I picked up a lovely piece of black & white houndstooth check, nearly two yards of blouse weight fabric, for the scandalous price of $7.

But my premier treasure is a long handled, lighted magnet, for picking up the pins that fall under my sewing table too far in for me to reach without getting on my hands and knees.  That alone was worth the drive up!

There were lots of ladies shopping, so if you don't get there next year, there will be more for us!

Check it out at www.nancysnotions.com.

Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam

Every year I save some vacation days for the weekend that Nancy Zieman holds her Sewing Weekend seminars in Beaver Dam, WI.  In my opinion it's three of the best days of the whole year.

Sewing Weekend has been going on for a while.  This year was the 28th year.  It is a big deal now, but if you have attended any of Nancy's seminars anywhere you've probably heard about how it started in the basement of a church with about 250 people.  And that was more than were expected to come, so it was a hit from the get-go!

DISCLAIMER: I have NOT been paid to talk about any of these products, nor do I work for any of these companies. The opinions expressed here are my own!

This year I didn't check the numbers before I left, but thousands attend, and they come from all over the country!  There's a map where you can stick a pin in your home town.  Of course I live close (OK 87 miles give or take.)  There wasn't room enough in the map for pins from everyone from the southeast corner of Wisconsin.

Many ladies came with or were delivered there by their husbands.  It's nice to have someone who supports your passion and is willing to carry your purchases!  And there are activities for the guys in the area... golf, fishing, sporting goods department at Sears, etc.

You sign up on line on Nancy's web site to attend lectures with national sewing experts, attend 'sit and sew' classes where you make a project on a high-end sewing machine provided by Baby Lock.  The lectures and classes are reasonably priced.  There are evening entertainments on one or two nights.  There are vendors who demonstrate their products and show you what's new.  And there are free lectures/demos in the warehouse if you have a bit of time.

For lunches on Sewing Weekend days, you can enjoy the buffet at Ponderosa Steakhouse or grab a quick sandwich or salad at a wonderful snack stand in the warehouse.  The same ladies have been there for the last 5-6 years or so.  I always want to ask the name of their business but never remember to do that until after the fact!

The best part of the weekend for me is going to the lectures.  This year you could have seen and heard Alex Anderson, Louise Cutting, and of course Nancy Zieman, among others.  In the past I have gone to lectures from Sandra Betzina, Patti Palmer, Marty Michel, Eleanor Burns and Eileen Roche, just to name a few. 

It's the one time of the year that I get to ride on a yellow school bus!

Here's the drill:

You arrive at the Nancy's Notions warehouse at least a half hour before your seminar starts.  The times are staggered so everyone doesn't arrive all at once.  You park your car, either on the parking lot if you're early enough, or on the grass next door or across the street.  Beaver Dam policemen and other volunteers are there to assist you in finding a good spot.  You do a quick or leisurely meander through the building depending on the timing of your arrival.  At the bus loading station, where shipments usually arrive, there are yellow buses and plenty of drivers and aides to help you on the bus.

Bus drivers take a route through town to the various places that have been rented for classes.  Since Beaver Dam doesn't have a convention center, the places where you may be dropped off include the high school and middle school auditoriums, the Family Living Center, or a couple of the area churches.

At any location, you will enjoy a lecture or demonstration of some sewing or quilting techniques, trunk shows, how-to-do this or that, or mysteries revealed/quick and easy methods from a nationally known expert in the field.

When it's over you jump back on the bus, to be delivered either to a lunch location or the warehouse for shopping.  If you get tired of hauling your basket around, you can check your package and sit down for a bit of refreshment or a short, free lecture in the warehouse.  You can take a nap (a favorite husband activity) in a nice comfy chair in the NN employee break room if you want to, but I personally try not to miss anything!

There are usually contests for sewist young and old.  This year there were lots of lovely challenge quilts hanging in the halls.  Nancy and her staff support the sewing education of 4H and other young people in Central Wisconsin. 

You can sign up to win door prizes too.  I always wish I had remembered to put address labels in my purse when I'm writing out the 23 numbers and letters of just my street address!

Nancy said at her lecture this year that the radio station reminded everyone that it was sewing weekend, and basically to look both ways when crossing the street.  It must be a big deal if it makes the local radio station!!

If you haven't been to Beaver Dam, a sleepy little town of about 15,000 normally, when it gets invaded for sewing week, what are you waiting for?  Mark your calendars for next year, and come to beautiful Wisconsin!  We'll leave the light on for you.

Shopping at the Goodwill

I know, so far this blog hasn't been about sewing nearly at all.  But today I cleaned out my spare room, and went through my stash of magazines that were put away to look at 'when I have time'.  I did a lot of daydreaming and planning while I was doing that, does that count?

I found about a dozen different quilted vest variations that got me thinking about some sewing I need to do.  With the winter coming on (although there is a decided lack of snow on the ground) I will not feel sorry to go down to the sewing studio and miss any daylight... because there won't be any daylight to speak of!

So what does this have to do with Goodwill shopping??  Well, let me tell you, the Goodwill is one of my favorite shopping malls.  It's cool to go there now because the whole world seems to be into reusing and repurposing, but I always tell people that I've been shopping there since before it was cool! 

When I was in junior high and high school, I didn't have money or access to regular fabric stores.  My mom didn't sew (who would have time with eight kids??) so she never went to a fabric store until she went there with me in later years.  I had baby-sitting money, and there was a Goodwill store near the grocery store Mom shopped.  While she was food shopping I would go to the Goodwill and look for the largest garments I could find in colors and fabrics I liked.  We would launder them and I would 'unsew' them, pressing the resulting yardage. 

The challenge then would be to make the pattern pieces of a garment for myself fit onto this fabric.  I got quite creative in this process.  One favorite outfit began life as a blue and white herringbone wool blend dirndl skirt and ended up as an a-line skirt and vest, lined with navy poly from the local variety store.  I had a gold wool skirt made from another big, long skirt, and to wear with it I found a forest green sweater with some stains near the cuff of one sleeve.  Since the sleeves were pretty long, I cut the ribbing off, cut off the stained section, and sewed the ribbing back on, using a zig-zag stitch.

Yesterday, the 'grands' and I went to the big Goodwill store near us.  We started in books, and each of them picked up at least a half-dozen books if not more.  At 89 cents each, we can do that.  Yes, the library is free, but only if you return the books on time!  Besides, it's nice owning real books, but that's a post for another day.

We perused the assortment of dishes and glasses.  This store's employees group like things together for the most part, and the clothing is sorted according to size.  I like that in a thrift store.  :-)  We could have had 13 Pepsi glasses, or 3 Coke tumblers, but we passed.  E found a nice water bottle.  A wanted a purse. 

We cruised past jeans in dozens and dozens of colors and styles.  We have to shop for those while A is elsewhere... she has no patience!  Well, she's small.

I was looking for green wool sweaters to felt.  I have the coolest pattern for a Christmas tree table decoration.  You start with a piece of wire stuck into a board or a piece of Styrofoam.   Onto this "pin" you place circles of red and green colored felted wool cut from old sweaters, starting with the largest circle on the bottom, getting gradually smaller.  You top it with a gold star button or bead or even a felt star you sew yourself.  Totally cool!

Anyway, someone else must have seen that pattern too, because all the green or red sweaters that were there were polyester blends.  Better luck next time.