Spring Market

I’m finally finding time to post about Spring Market in Minneapolis. Since everyone else seems to have posted blogs already, and I have already posted these pictures on my Facebook I will just post a few, then leave you with a link to the complete album.

I bought so much fabric at Sample Spree! It was like Black Friday except shorter and more worthwhile. In a later post I will show all the ‘new’ fabric collections I got fat quarter sets of.

The award winning Michael Miller booth. We ordered some of the Antiquity collection which will be fun to play with when it comes in.

We saw a lot of beautiful architecture in downtown that will definitely serve as inspiration for quilts.

Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman. Three of these bolts have already arrived. The fourth bolt will arrive in July. It is a darling collection. I wish we could have had them all.

I have other things to post about so I will leave this post as it is for now. To see more pictures you can visit my Spring Market album on Facebook, click here.

 

Idea in the works

I’m thinking about renting a space at the antique store.  I’ve wanted to do this before, when I was making cards, but I figured it was to expensive. That is not the case though. I found out that for a decent sized corner display near the front of the store it only cost $30 a month.  I figure that if I start working on some “stock” after I get back from Minneapolis then I may open my “booth” in July or August.

Covered buttons will definitely be an item in my booth. I’m also thinking about some table settings (placemats, pot holders, napkins, etc.).

In other news, one of my friends from sewing circle at SewFlakes has asked me to make some aprons to sell in her new garden shop.  I have a few pieces of canvas like material that would be perfect, but I probably won’t get started making those until later next week.

There are other, more pressing things, I need to finish first. So tonight, at sewing circle I will be putting together some antique tile blocks from the SewFlakes QBS (Quilt Block Swappers) and I also need to finish the log cabin blocks for Sarah in the Quilting newBees.  I doubt that I will get to it tonight, but it wouldn’t hurt if I could get some more quilting done on my placemats.

I hope to post some more pictures in the near future.

P.S. Here is an awesome new blog geared towards Quilting Bees and picking the perfect blocks.  Its a great source of inspiration!

 

Opps!

Just in case you didn’t know, this is the incorrect way to thread a bobbin.

I will post more about the Bernina 830 later, but this is an example of what I learned to do and not to do during the dealer training I went to this week in Oklahoma City.

 

Luckiest Day Ever

I usually take time out on the weekends to update my blog since I have Fridays and Sundays off, but last weekend I was so sick I just couldn’t sit at the computer. But now my system is back to normal and I’m ready to post again! Today’s post is going to be about my extremely lucky day!

I try to spend a day with my Grandma every other month or so, of course I see her more often than that, but on this one day we actually go on a treasure hunting adventure. We visit the usual thrift store, any garage sales on the way, have lunch, and maybe run a few errands in there. Either way, it is always great fun and awesome quality time. (I’m such a Grandma’s-girl, being the oldest and all.)

Today we did everything that we normally do, but I hit the jackpot of treasure finding! At the thrift store I found a set of dishes from the 70’s. Some of the piece were marked 50% off while others ere not so I asked the cashier about them, and she gave them all to me at half price! You are probably thinking, “Woohoo, big deal, they are just dishes.” But they aren’t just any dishes! They are the Daisy Chain design from Pyrex and Correll. I have been collecting pieces one or two at a time since I found my first piece 2 years ago and fell in love with the little green daisy borders! So now I have most of the plates for the complete set. (6 plates, 5 bread plates, and 1 saucer for about $7!) This counts as the first “treasure find” of the day.

Then we went to the mall to eat lunch because its the only place that has Gyros, and I’m so on a Gyro kick lately. I really don’t like going to the mall, so we had lunch and left. We then visited The Cotton Patch where I found an aqua fabric I need for the Quilt Block Swappers group and that was it and of course a few other pieces ended up in the bag as well. (Fabric has a mind of its own, I can’t help it if it insists on coming home with me.)

The next treasure find isn’t really a big deal, but I found $10 on the ground at the gas station. I gave it to the clerk and he said since I found it I could keep it, so it paid for the gas. Awesome!

We ran a few other errands, but on the last stop of the day I hit the Jackpot of treasure hunting. We stopped at a new thrift store, not sure if we were going to find anything because it is small and a hole in the wall. However, that quickly changed when I spotted a sewing cabinet with a White sewing machine in it, marked at $3. The sewing machine is shot and not worth the cost or effort of repairing, but the table is steady. It just needs to be sanded and refinished or painted, though Erik might use it for a wood working stand instead – to mount his vice on.

So when you think about it, I either got a free bucks in gas or a set of dishes and a sewing table. Pretty awesome day no matter how you look at it.

I will try and post pictures on Sunday. Hopefully I will have my reversible smock top done by then as well.

 

Getting to Know You Mondays

Every Monday the host of the Flickr Quilting Bee that I’m in asks a question or two for us to answer – it is known as “Getting to Know you Mondays?” This Monday the questions deal with how we learned to sew.

“How are you learning to quilt? Did you take a class? Learn from a friend? Book? Blog?”

I started learning during my Home ec. class while being home schooled. I would go over to my step-grandma’s and make all sorts of things. Some of my favorite memories come from her sewing room. I love the smell of freshly ironed fabric, it always makes me think about those times. She use to have boxes, trunks, wardrobes, and drawers of fabrics, to many and to beautiful to recall. It was like entering a magical land of creativity. One of my favorite projects she taught us was a crazy quilt. I don’t think we actually ever finished the quilt, but I remember her pulling out this big (clean) trash can she kept next to her work area full of all sorts of scraps. She taught us how to match everything up, sew and trim the pieces, and then she would let us be for a while so we could just flow with it. These were the first times I started sewing.

Now I learn mostly from blogs. It started with Sonnet of the Moon. When I came across her blog last year, about this time, I thought it was wonderful. I spent the evening and part of the next day reading it from the very beginning, all the way through. Through her blog I came to know about some of my other, now favorite blogs, including:

Film in the Fridge
SewMamaSew
Handmade by Alissa
Craft Apple
Homemade by Jill
Pink Penguin
Sew Much Ado

There are more blogs that I read, but those are just a few for now.

I also learn a lot from working at SewFlakes. My boss, Chris, has been so helpful, and so have the other ladies. At SewFlakes the only classes I’ve taken have been a couple of “Ways and Means” technique classes. They are an awesome way to learn to do some of the basic stuff without spending the money to take a complete quilt class. So far I’ve taken binding, mitered corners, and cording. I’m really hoping that we can keep the classes going because I really need to learn to put in a zipper….properly.

 

What to do?

I just opened up my Etsy shop. There is one part of the goal for this year done, now just to sell something, which, of course, will take time.

I only have three things listed so it looks really boring! Besides, the smock top isn’t really something I can sell, per se. If someone actually orders it I will make another one just like it really quickly. (It will still be done well quality-wise, mind you.)

I’m hoping that after this Spring Break Sewing Camp (S.B. Camp) is over I will magically have some time! I definitely will try to refrain from volunteering anything else. I would really like to concentrate on getting some more items made for the shop through the end of March.

My problem right now, is not knowing what to make. There are so many cute things on Etsy. How do I compete with that! What can I make that people will actually want to buy – that they can’t already make themselves or buy some where else?

Its weird. I’m so excited about the possibilities, and yet so discouraged at the same time. Did any of you feel like this when you started your Etsy shop (or selling via another venue)? Do you still feel like this? Can you offer any words of advice for a beginner?

Thanks for reading,

Trina

 

Birthday Dress

The Big Huge Mondo Sale at SewFlakes this morning was an insane success! We had people lined-up down Main street waiting to get in as soon as we opened at 7:00am! When I arrived at 7:06 (36 minutes after the time I was suppose to be there…go figure!), via the back door, I had to maneuver my way to the register. Once I got to my “station” I didn’t move from it until 1:45pm! Yes, we were that busy!

All this makes me so glad that the employees were able to shop at the discounted rate for an hour after close of Friday. If we hadn’t been able to I might not have gotten the perfect fabric for my “Birthday Dress”.

Pure Silk

Most of my pictures are taken after dark, so the fabric isn’t as dull as it looks in the here. This silk piece was in the sale area already marked down 50%, but because of the sale it was an additional 50% off! The original price was $24.50 a yard, and bought 3 1/4 yards for $19.91! It is going to be perfect for a cute, fun, flirty, but not to “flaunty” birthday dress.

My only problem is not knowing what pattern to use! To help solve this I put all the pictures in an album on my Facebook where my friends can vote for their favorite. Each vote counts for 1 entry into a prize give-away made custom for the winner, and each person can vote up to three times by clicking the “like” button under their favorites!

More good news about this dress is that I came across as “sew-along” type group in the Sew, Mama, Sew Forum today. It is called “Pattern Challenge” and is being hosted by Sarah.

The idea is that that you make a goal, work towards that goal, and share its progress with the group as you go. If you want to learn more, you can click the badge below.

I’ve never sewn silk before, so this is sure to be an experience. Thankfully, I have until May to get it done!

Trina

P.S. If you want to become a friend on Facebook, please include a short note with your friend request letting me know where you found me. Thanks.

 

Trying Something New

I remain a bit skeptical about this, but the more I look into it the more I’m liking this website. Listia is sort of like Ebay, but it works on credits instead of money. Click the link above to learn more.

Pencil Holde/Trave Case

I just posted one of the pencil holders I made as an auction to test it out. Right now the bidding is at 0. You can bid on it after you sign up because you get 50 free credits and there isn’t a minimum bid. It really is getting something for nothing. (Well almost, you do have to pay to ship the item, but thats cheap!)

 

Gets worse before getting better

Okay, the cleaning and rearranging process is almost done. Man oh man, what a chore this has been. I almost don’t want to post this picture because it is such a mess, but I don’t think you can fully appreciate the finished project unless you see a before picture first. Well, actually this isn’t even a real before picture.  It is more of a half-way point picture.

In this case it really did get worse before getting better!

Holy cow! What a mess it was, and still is. (Never mind the ironing board cover, it has seen better days, and I haven’t been able to find a new one that fits correctly. …Its okay though because I hope to replace it with an ironing table within the next couple months.)

I’m still not finished, as you can tell by the next picture, but it is getting there. Slowly, but surely. I should be done picking it all up and organizing by the end of the weekend.

Almost done

I decided to put Taylor, my dress form, on top of the chair because it is the living room after all, and it is nice to have optional seating if we happen to have guest. FYI…the bag on the shelf below the sewing machine that is on top of the yellow thread box is full of scraps I will be giving away later.  I still have quite a bit more fashion fabric to go through and put on the bottom shelf. Not to mention that the second shelf with the quilting fabric needs to be refolded and organized! Still, its nearly there.  It is going to be beautiful and functional when everything is finished.

I can’t wait, until its done. I will give a pictoral tour when it is. For now I leave you with a picture of our Miniature Schnauzer, Gracie, getting a helping of vitamin C. (Seriously, she prefers vegetable scraps over doggy treats!)

One Healthy Puppy!

 

Never enough fabric…

We took down the Christmas tree this week and spent a couple hours picking up the 6 bazillion pine needles that ended up on the floor. Now I can start putting my sewing area back in order. I’m so excited about it because for Christmas, Erik’s parents, gave me a wall shelf that will help me get all my fabric organized.

Really, I don’t think I have enough fabric. It seems that when ever I want to start a new project there just isn’t enough an any one fabric to complete the item. So I keep buying fabric, and though it is never enough I am at least developing a nice little stash….finally.

Speaking of buying fabric, I found an Etsy shop with really cute Japanese prints, and everything in the shop is 30% off until January 24th. Be sure to take a look at Felicitysiu’s shop. The fabrics above are just a few examples of pieces I would like to get. Imagine some really cute baby clothes being made from (most of) them.

Also on the same note, as I clean up my supplies I have a bag set aside for fabric scraps. Sometime later this month I will be hosting a give away for these fabric scraps so keep an eye our for more details soon.

For now, this weekend is going to be consumed by practicing using Thangles so I can demo them at the Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show. I will be cleaning my area, and of course packing for a trip to OKC, needless to say the next week 1/2 is going to be pretty full, but I’m eagerly looking forward to it!