Month: October 2012

  • Wedding photos

    Wedding photos

    Do you have wedding photos? The very first wedding I ever attended was my own, and I was 19. I didn’t know people paid huge sums of money to get lots of fancy pictures done by someone who actually knew what they were doing. We had a friend of a friend take snapshots and we…

  • Yikes! What am I going to wear?

    Yikes! What am I going to wear?

    Time for a report from wedding central. Bride: bridal gown is ready to go, but DD#1 has requested a few more minor modifications, if time allows Bridesmaids: two of the three bridesmaids dresses are complete and the last one just needs a zipper Groom: vest just needs buttons and buttonholes Groomsmen: three burgundy bow ties…

  • And the groom will wear…

    And the groom will wear…

    So, if the bride is wearing a patchwork of hand-me-downs that are 30 and 40 years old, and the bridesmaids are wearing curtains and tablecloths, what should the groom wear? A bridesmaid skirt, of course! Several months back I snagged a size 16 Tall, David’s Bridal, burgundy bridesmaid skirt at our favorite thrift store. I…

  • Bridesmaid dress #2

    Bridesmaid dress #2

    Bridesmaid dress #2 is on its way! One more to go. I will be adding straps to them, and I still need to run to the store to get zippers, but it feels good to have this much done in such a short time. (I guess it helps that I didn’t give them a choice…

  • Bridesmaids dresses: Plan D

    Bridesmaids dresses: Plan D

    Bridesmaids dresses. Does anyone like those things? They even made a movie about how awful they can be. We’ve been trying to find something somewhat flattering and still avoid paying $100 to $200 per dress for something most people wear once. Impossible! Plan A. Over the past six months, we’ve hunted all the usual and…

  • How to prepare for a week long workshop

    How to prepare for a week long workshop

    If you ever need to organize lots of fabric to take to a class, here’s one way you could do it based on what I’ve finally figured out after attending three five-day workshops. For a Nancy Crow workshop, for instance, she wants you to bring LOTS of fabric because you need a really wide range…

  • Nancy Crow workshop: sets and variables, days 3, 4, and 5

    Nancy Crow workshop: sets and variables, days 3, 4, and 5

    Now for the second part of last week’s Nancy Crow workshop. We finished up the first assignment on Wednesday morning. Mine wasn’t complete, but after lunchtime I folded it up anyway and got ready for the second assignment. This time she wanted us to concentrate on gradations in size and color. We were supposed to…

  • Nancy Crow workshop: sets and variables, days 1 and 2

    Nancy Crow workshop: sets and variables, days 1 and 2

    What? Another Nancy Crow workshop? Spend an entire week sitting in a barn in the middle of nowhere? I must be crazy! What am I doing in a workshop where I’m actually sewing seams? And I’m loving it, too. If someone is familiar with my quilts, inevitably they ask why I am taking these classes…

  • Shh! Don’t tell Janome

    Shh! Don’t tell Janome

    On Monday I told you about the new light I installed on my Janome. What I never noticed until then is what a big shadow is cast by the lever for the needle threader. See that big square shadow to the left of the needle? That big square was there the whole time, even before…

  • Product Review: EcoluxLighting LED strip

    Product Review: EcoluxLighting LED strip

    I love my Janome 6500, but why don’t they put better lights on sewing machines? Maybe it’s just that my eyes are getting older, but I do like lots of light, especially when doing free motion quilting. Here’s what the sewing machine bed looks like with just the machine’s light on. Not much is actually…