When I Retire I Want To Live In Beaver Dam, Wisconsin!

O.M.G.  I love Sewing Weekend!!

I tried to figure out when I first attended Sewing Weekend at Nancy's Notions in Beaver Dam, WI.  I have souvenir pins going back to 1996 but I might have gone a year or two before that.  I don't know when they started giving the pins, but I have a big pile... this year's pin was an adorable little red 'beetle' car that looks kind of like a VW. See it in the little announcement for 2017?

This year I agonized over what emphasis to take, quilting or sewing or embroidery or warehouse shows or a mix... what to do, what to do? 

I scheduled myself for some sewing, some quilting, and of course, Nancy's class.  Hers had some of everything.  It was a great time. 

Sewing:  This was probably Sandra Betzina's last trip to Wisconsin as she says she is retiring next year.  She says she's 75 -- but boy she still can give a class to make your head swim.  Lucky for me I have most of her books so I can hit the index and look up anything that I need.  I ordered her Power Sewing Tool Kit books 1 and 2, because they were mentioned in the seminar, and they were on sale, and looked like a good value.

I will use this book as a backup resource for all the notes I took.

Nancy showed some of her new McCall's patterns.  One of the jackets was in a reversible knit fabric that she said she got at Joann's.  That was a surprise.  (She said you have to support everyone... she's too nice!)  It was a stripe with a dot, and I really liked it, so I went on line and ordered some.  It was a three yard minimum, but I'm sure I can use it.

Reversible knit fabric

The display for Nancy's class, here we are waiting for the star to appear!

Quilting -- I got to meet Mary Fons!!  She is adorable, perky, funny, and she did a great presentation on contrast in quilting.  Boy just when you think you know everything along comes Mary to teach you new tricks.  If you get the chance to see her somewhere do not hesitate... she wrote a wonderful PowerPoint (as you'd expect, because she's first a writer, see her blog Paper Girl.) and one of the slides said "Kill the mango" or something.  It was about three colors she was using to illustrate that contrast is relative, but it broke us up laughing.  Well, we laughed all morning between revelations.

Later in the warehouse Mary was sitting in a booth sewing.  We stopped to chat and while we were talking about the Klutz Glove from Fons & Porter, a nice lady came up with a big bandage on her finger.  She started talking about how the glove would have saved her finger because she lost a huge chunk of it.  Eeeuww!

I started turning green, as did Mary, and I was literally backing away from the conversation... My friend Suzi, who's a nurse, was deep in discussion on the whole thing. Much to my chagrin.  I said to Mary "I have a book signed by your mom and Liz, it would be so great if you signed one for me too". 

She graciously agreed and we successfully ended the gory descriptions of the injury.  Thank the Lord!!   And now I have a matched set of autographs, one from Marianne Fons and Liz Porter, and one from Mary Fons.  It's a dynasty...

Embroidery - Nancy was showing a new set of tee shirt embroidery patterns that she and Eileen Roche wrote called Simple to Chic T-shirt Remakes.  They were gorgeous.  I would have picked up the DVD but I haven't done the first one they did together and I've had it for two years.  I want to get back to that though.  I really dislike crew neck tees on me.  I always prefer vee neck shirts or a semi-wide scoop neck for myself.  This embroidery software does it perfectly and makes it easy.

I shopped a bit, but not as much as in years past.  I'm happy with all my purchases and cannot wait for the next nice long weekend so I can unpack and start working on some projects!

Quilt-embroider-sew on!

Bits and Scraps of This and That

Sometimes I'm at a loss for something to write and sometimes I get on a roll.  Every once in a while I start typing with an idea in my head, and it takes a left turn at my fingers making the keyboard go in a totally different direction.

I wonder about my brain!  Whether it's even tethered to the earth...

Oh well.

Last week I finished up a quilt for the preschool at our church.  It was one of those kiddie hand print block things and was probably the only thing besides mending that I actually sewed on during the month of May.  It was so nice to see it completed.  I posted it to Facebook and got some 'likes'.  The lady who does the actual quilting is so talented and we make a good team.  Good job, Suzi!

I have so many projects in my head.  This week has been mad crazy busy at work, and of course I have lots of financial things that must be done, so no slacking off!  But I'd so much rather be off work and sewing.  Maybe this weekend, since it's a long one, I'll be able to go into the sewing room.

But the weather finally got nice here, so even though last Sunday was a free day, I was loathe to go into the basement when the sun was shining so delightfully!  Besides, I needed to rest up from our last day of Sunday School.  The kids were so excited to recite their memory pieces, they were literally vibrating as they stood.  It was adorable.   My little opening message was using Legos to tell them how they're building a foundation for their faith by learning the commandments and prayers.  I do so love them all.

But now I'm excited that my book that was backordered from Nancy's Notions is being shipped, so I want to get back to sewing again.

First, I got all those nice patterns from Samina at the Sew Everything blog.  I am looking forward to making that Sandra Betzina green blouse.  I have the perfect fabric in mind...

Then I bought that lovely stash of stuff from Sewing Weekend.  And I also won a book from Randi at the Barrister's Block blog.  And here is where I would post photos of all that stuff if my camera was working.  Imagine cool stuff.

This week I did sew up a little skirt for Miss A.  She was in the sewing room with me while I was finishing up the quilt.  She spotted this pink plaid half yard of fabric that I bought to make some doll skirts.  I should have predicted she would love it, it was three shades of bright pink. 

Not the right fabric but the one she has is this color.

Miss A:  that's good dress fabric.

Me:  it's too small a piece for a dress.
Miss A:  well, is it enough for a skirt?
Me:  Probably, if it's a small skirt.
Miss A:  I wear a small.
Me:  I can see that.  Do you want a skirt from this fabric?
Miss A:  Yes, please.  And can you do it now?  You're not doing anything right now anyway.
Me:  to myself -- you mean not doing anything with YOU right now...

So she went home wearing a new skirt over the top of her leggings.  No picture though, she ran too fast.

Tonight when I get home, my book "It's All About Embellishment" by Gail Yellen should be there.  Time to read and dream about more projects.  And wish for more time.

Sew on!

Birthday Presents

I went to Nancy's Notions Sewing Weekend a couple of weeks ago.  It's been held the same weekend as my birthday for several years now.  I feel that this fact allows me to buy myself something nice that weekend, something beyond the usual fabric, patterns and notions.

This year I took some classes from Gail Yellen of Gail Patrice Designs.  One was called Cosmetic Sergery.  It sounded interesting, and since I have a serger that I like, I thought I'd see what she had to say.

I was impressed with everything she knows about how stitches form and other technical stuff.  I mainly use my machine to sew seams and finish raw edges so I was prepared to be wowed and I was very pleased.

After seeing the ruffles she made with a few simple adjustments, I was SO ready to go home and do that!  Miss A loves ruffles... and she likes skirts with ruffles most of all.  After watching Gail do a ruffle in mere seconds, I knew what I was buying!  New feet!

Now seriously, when I told people that, they laughed...

I picked up the clear foot, just because I could and at 33% off, why not?

I also got the cording foot.  Gail made this really cool button cording using this foot and skinny elastic with decorative thread.  I'm in!

I got an elastic foot too, as long as they were on sale.  Gail showed how to add elastic to a waistband with the serger, then you just turn it under and topstitch.  True no-roll elastic!

And of course the ruffling foot.   I'm trying to type 'ruffler' but BlogSpot wants to spell check me.

So maybe if I get some time to sew, the grands will have some fancy summer skirts and dresses soon!  And when your birthday comes around, feel free to give yourself a gift you'll enjoy, whether people understand it or not!

Happy birthday to me. 

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...

Sewing Weekend Starts Tomorrow!

Not a very big secret around my part of the world... you see, I live in Wisconsin and it's home to the sewing capital of the world, Beaver Dam, home to Nancy's Notions retail store and catalog business.

We were discussing this one time in our sewing guild after-meeting lunch, how long have we been going up there?  I don't know but I have commemorative pins that go back as far as 1997.  I'm sure I went a couple of years before they started giving out pins too.

It's the best show I've ever attended in Wisconsin or many other states.  It's well organized, the people are helpful beyond imagining, there's too much to do and too little time to do it in, and I haven't missed one since I started going.  I'd have to be hospitalized to miss it.

I haven't decided what kind of things I'm looking for this year except that they have a really good price on rotary cutter replacement blades.  I'm always looking for bargain fabrics for the church's quilt group, and of course I'll have to check out the doll shoes and accessories for Miss A and Miss K.

I'm ready for a long weekend immersed in the sewing world!

Sew on...

Three Days To Go!

It's almost here!!  That's right, Sewing Weekend starts this Thursday!  Can you tell I'm excited!!??

My favorite time of the year is nearly upon us.  Well, upon me anyway, I don't know about you.  I've signed up for some awesome classes at Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam.  Of course I'm going to Nancy's class, and then my second favorite teacher Mary Mulari.  It doesn't matter how many times I see these ladies, they always have something new to say.

I also signed up with three people whose names I know but I've not seen them before... Deborah Jones' Letter Perfect Monograms & Lettering (I assume for machine embroiderers), Gail Patrice Yellin's It's All About Embellishment, and Pamela Leggett's Knits and Fits.

My suitcase is in the hall ready for packing and my tickets are in a safe place.

Here's what I've been working on while I'm waiting for Thursday:

This is a scarf, well actually a cowl, that I'm knitting from some of the hand-dyed yarn I picked up a the Loopy Ewe website.  It's teal and green with pale blue and some brown tossed in.  It probably will go with my gray winter coat but I bought it specifically for the brown color.  Once I've knitted the required length, it gets seemed together in a big loop, then folded in half and draped around neck and shoulders.  I have brown and teal in my wardrobe a lot so it should go with a few different outfits and match my turquoise bracelets.

Just for fun, I'm making a striped doll sweater for 'Audrey Anne', our American-Girl-From-Target.  I usually knit front and back at the same time to make them even and symmetrical, but with two colors sometimes this results in a tangled mess.  I'm trying to remember to turn back and forth at the end of each row instead of around and around.  Old habits die hard, I'm afraid...

Never being one to be happy with just one project in the works, I recently purchased this book with the idea of maybe making each block once to see if I'd enjoy making the whole quilt.  So far all I've done is pour over the book for a couple of days and think about fabric.

Maybe I'll see some I'd like to use while I'm at Sewing Weekend!

Sew on...