Pillow-T for Little-C

My sister asked me to sew her son's favorite T-shirt (that he's sadly outgrown) into a pillow. She could do it herself, but I have her sewing machine… 

So I YouTubed how-to videos and this was the best one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqHfhXgqAl4 

I couldn't follow this girl's directions exactly, however, seeing as the T-shirt was already so small, so I left the sides, sewed the bottom and the sleeve seem.

In my hunt for an old stuffed animal, I found an old downy pillow in the attic and used that for stuffing. 

I then reversed it to right side out, and began the process of stuffing through my one open sleeve. 

It is best to find an unused corner of the yard 

I then hand-stitched the sleeve up, although I should have used the "invisible stitch," from inside out. 

Next I ran to ShopKo and purchased a fur-roller to get excess feathers off the wee pillow. 

My main mistakes, or "learning experiences"as I like to call them :D , were as follows:

1. Downy feathers poke through cotton. Luckily these were really really soft downy feathers, so it shouldn't be aggressive when little-C is cuddling with it. Plus the downy will make it extra squishy. 

2. Next, I should have sewed both sleeves the same, and hand stitched a small center section on the bottom, but little-C is only 4, so he won't care :)

 :)

Button Experiment #1

For some reason I couldn't find a video for a four-hole button sewing lesson. However, I did find one for a shaft button, which I just happened to have in my pack-rat sewing case.

I have a thing for buttons, ever since watching 'The War of the Buttons' as a kid, a 1994 Irish film.

Buttons also appear on many of my as-of-yet imagined creations:

Cuffs on my dream coat.
Cleets!

And I recently purchased leg warmers that satisfied my button passion:

As always, good tunes are a must for any
creative endeavor

The next button endeavor shall be my poor grey coat,

whose buttons have been threatening self-expulsion for some time.

SnowDay Sewing Experiment 2

A thousand miles starts with a single . . . stitch.

Another snow day has given me the opportunity to learn some new basic skills. Today's skills: Mending by hand.

Experiment one: Cinderella's Slipper

Firstly, gather the materials you need, including pin cushion, thread, needle, scissors . . . 

and feather-filled slipper.

First, pin together the tear

                                          Next, stitch. I couldn't find a video that showed this basic stitch. (Why are there no basic videos out there?) At this point, I would ask your mother.

Always have some light entertainment on in the background
(Johnny Depp on David Letterman)

No more feathers flying around my feet in the morning as I'm cooking breakfast

Experiment two: Teddy Bear

My mother and I decided to go on a blizzard adventure to pick up sewing supplies. 

 Witness my sewing bling!…

I stitched my bear (meet bear) using the invisible stitch. 
This is when you stitch from the inside-out.

Vualah!

"be heard"

Delusions of Sewing

I have delusions that someday I will be able to sew all of the specific creations I have floating around my brain. Unfortunately, I don't even know the basics of sewing ...

I was recently shopping in a thrift store with a friend from work. I tried to fit into two dresses that were too small but the colors were fantastic on me.

Enough is enough, I thought. 

Today presented itself as a snow-day. Snow-days are perfect for embarking upon one's dreams. 

First things first, after a few mis-shots I found this site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvNRbqWggWg&feature=endscreen&NR=1 Monkey See is the hot tomatah. 

Next I would recommend setting up a comfy chair (in my case a chair and a stool draped with a comforter and a pillow), and your favorite movie. 

Threading the bobbin turned out to be the most challenging bit. 

I also had issues trying to get the bottom casing off.

 . . . Apparently, though, it slides to the left. 

:D

                                                

                                                     

Unintentional gypsy

I have moved three times within the last year:

Once in August. I moved in with my then current roomy (our roomy-abilities could not have been better) into a 3 bedroom with a man who like to smoke pot... a lot.
The pains I had taken to warn him of my asthma beforehand went unrequited. So I moved in October.
This time with a woman whom I had been roommates with twice before. So I knew what to expect, right? Not so much. Her bipolar condition became much much worse, and I became the imagined source of her depressive mood swings. I have friends and family who suffer from this, and other similar disorders, it's rough. Really rough. But professionals told me to get out, and past a point it was beyond my emotional capacity to remain.
So now I am living back with my parents who live 1 hour away from work. Day 1. We received the sudden news that my uncle passed away.
I think that God DOES work in mysterious ways, though, and I can be a help to my parents. Plus, despite the commute, it is kind of nice to be out of the city.

I have "borrowed couches" to breath, physically and emotionally, so often, though, that I'm thinking of buying a small suitcase with wheels on it.

How 'bout this one?

Graduation

It's been seven months since the last post. School had enveloped my very state of being, and I made a conscious effort to drop everything and run for the finish line. 

I've just done the walk on stage and shook hands with the president of my college. When I walked back to my seat, sat down, I greedily opened the black engraved booklet to inspect the blessed fruits of my long hard years of study and infinite debt. Instead I found myself reading a note that said if I do not fulfill all remaining requirements, I would not receive my degree, and if I do, I get it in a couple of months.

Well, I finished my finals, paid the $175 library loan (and that was after the kind lady reduced it), and now I'm getting used to the idea that I now have time to do things...

Things: 

-Blogging

-Photography

-Writing

-Reading

-Researching

-Cooking

-Yoga? 

-Drawing

-Sewing

This is outside current job and job searching. 

Kamieo

I'm entering a contest. So yeah, I'm only following three photography sites. But only three because they're the most AMAZING! And one of them is having a promotion and me posting here is part of me saying 'you rock!' to them, and also maybe getting some free stuff. We'll see. Anyway, it's worth the vote of confidence.
Here's the link:

http://kamieofox.com/blog/8k-fan-giveaway/

Blogspot out.