Sewing Chair Questions...

What are you all sitting on while you sew? I have a very ugly office chair that I have had for years. My husbands family owned and operated a magnificent fine dining restaurant in Cassadaga, New York, many years ago. When they closed the restaurant the chair from the office was about to be rolled out to the dumpster. I grabbed it because I knew it had good bones and it was fabulously comfortable. It just looked horrible and, well, smelled a bit like garlic. Time fixed the garlic smell and I fixed the ugly blue tweedy fabric by recovering it with a fine tan canvas. Then to finish the chair off, I tied a big bow around the back of it to match the sewing room decor at that time (I KNOW! But honest, it really did look good when I did it!) and have happily used it for about the last 8 years. The photo below is the front view. Yes, it gets worse. Funny how we don't notice sometimes how awful some elements of our decor actually look.... I do remember the day the seat cushion got the apple juice stain on it, though. My granddaughter and I were having such fun - she sits on my lap and pushes the buttons, lifts the presser foot, and chooses the stitches, etc., while we sew. I was surprised that the canvas stained like that... Anyway, what did I do to hide the juice stain that looked mighty suspicious? I covered it with a towel. Really, I did. In the interest of full disclosure I took the towel off the chair for the photograph so you could see how really terrible this chair actually looks!

So, the reason for the post? Really, what are YOU sitting on while you sew? Does it need a face lift like mine did? Currently I am making a quilted cover for the seat cushion. I am stipple quilting it right now and will finish it off in the same way I do the Quilted Toddler Bibs and Quilted Toddler Jackets. I will show you the process in the next post. I can't believe how easy it is to do... although it isn't done quite yet... but we shall see...

Good Grandma Advice

Currently I have two wonderful Granddaughters and we are expecting our very first Grandson. Jordan and Andrea are expecting a baby boy the first week of October and I couldn't be more excited. I will be going up north very soon for a visit and I will be taking some sewn items up there with me when I go. (One item has me over the top excited and I simply can not wait to show you all! It is just so cute... but that is another post). Now, back to the reason for this post. None of the items I have made for him have been personalized. I can hear you all gasping. I know! Me? The queen of personalization and machine embroidery NOT doing this for her own, and first, Grandson??!! We even know his name - or so we think we do. They have told us that they intend to name him Jackson. Now I am sure you are wondering why I have not embroidered his name on anything.... well, here is why. See that darling little peanut to the right? For nearly nine months, while she was being cultivated in my daughter's belly her name was Olivia. I created and embroidered many things with "Olivia" on them. Oh, how excited we were when we got the call that "Olivia" was actually on the way... Funny thing is, though, that Olivia never arrived... Lucy did! Her parents decided to name her Lucy after she was born. Can you imagine?? What nerve! Will I make that mistake again? Nope.

I have to admit, though doing so is difficult for me, that the name Lucy is sooooo perfect for her. I can't envision her with any other name. She's a Lucy through and through, so her parents were right.....!

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So for now I will just make cute lil generic boy projects and leave the personalization until the baby's name is legally filed with the state of New York. Not such a bad thing, just a fabulous lesson we embroidering Grandmas should remember. Oh, and in that photo below are Madelyn, who is hugging her little sister, Lucy.

Clothesline Purse and more Team Edward

My goodness am I enjoying this little detour I have been on! I promise this will be the last post (well, for a little while anyway!) regarding clothesline projects! As I wrote about in a previous post, I discovered these wonderful projects and patterns by pattern designer, Aunties Two. The Bali Bag pattern really motivated me and as I have said before, one thing led to another, and then I found the book, "It's a Wrap" by Susan Breier. Above you see what I made for myself using the technique from "It's a Wrap" and honestly, I really love this bag. Its sturdy and I can very easily find exactly what I need in it without any effort. It sits so nice in a shopping cart, and looks darn good while it is sitting there! The bottom line is it was a very fun bag to make and I used up a ton of scraps doing so. Really, seriously, it is made from three quarter inch strips of fabric just wrapped around a cotton clothesline and then zig-zagged together. Now I am thinking gift bowls for Christmas filled with bagged yummies… baby shower baskets full of baby necessities…. Quilt guild give-away baskets… secret pal gift baskets… you get the idea.

Oh, and in case you didn't believe me when I said I was an official member of Team Edward, below is proof. That is me and my very dear girlfriend, Jennifer, on opening night of the wonderful movie, Eclipse. We had a ball! If you haven't read the Twilight series, let me make a suggestion.... do so! It is such fun! I couldn't put the books down. Seriously.

Hope everyone had a marvelous 4th of July. I know I did. It was my husband's 50th birthday. Yes, he is my little firecracker. Every year he thinks the entire nation is celebrating his birth with fireworks, parties and cookouts. It takes a lot of pressure off me, so I let him continue with that thought... it works out so well for both of us!