Blue Monday #11-B

I am doing Blue Monday on my craft blog again (obviously), because the first picture is something I made. The fabric is a Christmas print with snowmen on a blue background. It is a different print than what I used on my tablerunner in the last Blue Monday. I simple serged the edges in matching thread to make a simple table runner. I originally made it for the dining table to add color. But I decided to use it on top of the linen press this time. It totally fits with the theme I have going there this year. More pics of my decorating will be coming soon.

This next picture is a Scandavian plate with lots of blue in the costumes. I don't remember where I got this one. I have had it for a number of years now. Probably 15 years or more.
This next one is part of my collection of tins. These have blue(obviously). I don't know why I am stating the obvious. Anyway, the top one is a sewing tin. See that fits for this blog too. It advertises O. N. T. Thread. To tell you the truth, I am not familiar with that brand.
The bottom one had cookies in it. Shortbread I think, but I am not sure. Someone else gave it to me when they were trying to get rid of it. I said I would take it since I collect tins. The one on the right at Hersey's kisses in it when I bought it. They these different candy tins available for a few years. I managed to get a different one each year. I don't really find these kind of tins anymore. I keep looking whenever I see tin type stuff in stores. I look to see if any are the old timey looking ones that have candy in them.

I was able to get to my mother's house yesterday and I got a picture of her knitting bowl. It is a different design than the one I have. In the chair you can see the two blue pillows she wove on a weaving loom.

This next picture is of the loom in my old room. My old bedroom growing up has become my mother's sewing room. This loom is in the area where my bed used to be located. The loom used to belong to my Godmother who was also my grandmother's sister. Which made her my great-aunt as well. She did lots of weaving over the years and I have a few things she made. You will be seeing a couple of them when I get my Christmas decorations up and pictures posted.

The next picture is a close up of what is currently on the loom. It is a shade of blue. Sort of a aqua blue. I am not sure what this is going to be. Placemats maybe. Perhaps I should learn how to weave while my mother can still teach me how to do it. She learned from my Godmother. Time to pass on the skill and keep the loom in the family. Thank you to Smiling Sally for hosting Blue Monday for us. Be sure to visit her here and check out other Blue Monday posts. Happy Blue Monday!!

New Toys for My Sewing Machine

I have been having a diffcult time seeing the markings on my sewing machine as I sew and I felt like I did not have enough light. I could not seem to aim the light I have attached to my sewing table to be effective for me. Today we stopped at Hancock's after church, something we do often. Anyway, I noticed a magnifier and a light I could attach to the machine.

The above picture shows the packaging from the light I bought. It is called a Mighty Bright Xtra Flex Super L.E.D. Craft Light. It was on sale which I did not realize until I was purchasing it. That was a pleasant surprise. I was able to attach the clamp to the carry handle of my sewing machine and use the flex arm to aim it right where I need it.
Then I also got the Magnistitch Sewing & Craft Magnifier, which was also on sale. Hooray!! I am beginning to get the aging eyes and have trouble seeing the small stuff comfortably. The picture shows how it should be attached to the sewing machine. I thought this should work pretty good. My husband was surprised I needed a magnifier. Probably forgot I am getting older too since he says I keep him young.
This picture shows the finished set up. A side note to my daughter, yes the lamp is purple. For those who don't know, purple is her favorite color. Or at least it was. I have done some sewing today with the new set up. I found it takes getting used to. But the light definitely helped and I could see better just where I need to sew with the magnifier. One thing though, it sure makes a 5/8" seam look big. I had to keep double checking to make I was not accidently making a bigger seam allowance.

I am hoping this will help to take away some of the frustration I had been having with not seeing as clearly as I would like while sewing. The magnifier will also help tremendously when I need to rip out a seam, which I do now and then. That is especially hard when sewing on dark fabric.

Since McCall's patterns were on sale at 99 cents each, I browsed through the pattern books and found one for myself and two to make things for my granddaughter. I got myself a blouse pattern. No fabric yet. The two for my granddaughter are kind of Bohemian style, or I can probably make it Bohemian style with the fabric choices. So if my daughter-in-love is reading this, I need updated chest and waist measurements for our granddaughter. Hint, hint. I want to make sure I make the correct size so she can wear it right away or grow into it later. I definitely don't want to make it too small.

Making Baby Hats

When I started making baby outfits I also include a hat to match the outfit. If there is not hat on the pattern, then I choose a hat from a different pattern. I decided to include hats not only because they are cute, but because we know so much more about the damage too much sun can do. So by including a hat, I am hoping the parents of the baby would remember to use hats more often on their precious babies when out in the sun.

Anyway, I discovered it was difficult to press those little 1/4" seams with my regular iron and not burn my fingers in the process. I remembered seeing ads, I think about a mini iron made for that kind of thing. When it was on sale at my local Hancocks Fabric store, my husband said to go ahead and buy it. Now I am finding it very useful for those little seams. The picture shows me using it on a baby hat which is on a pressing ham in a ham holder. The hat will go with a dress I am working on as a gift for a co-worker. The shower for that co-worker will be this Friday. When I finish the outfit I will post a picture of it. The picture in the side bar under fav product shows the full mini iron. It is by Clover and I got the set that includes a pouch and several different types of heads to attach to allow to iron just about any little thing. It also has a blade attachment that will allow you to cut vinyl by using the heat coming through the blade from the heat source. Click on the picture in the side bar to get to the Clover website for the mini iron and other great craft help products.