Tuesday December 30th

Well it sure has been extremely busy around here lately. Hardly anytime to do much of anything these days. Birthday and anniversary came and went. I got the awesome Rowena Steam Engine . Yes I told my dear husband what I would like. He told me to make him a list of ever thing I wanted ..lol.I had fun writing down everything from mega expensive to way cheap. You just never know. He might win a sweepstakes or something and be able to get me the really big ticket items one day. Then he will have his list to refer too...lol.. Any way I got the steam engine which is something I've wanted for a very very long time now. It is a dream of an iron. I bet not a lot of women my age would request an iron. But if you all are familiar with the steam engine it is so much more than just an iron. Also he gave me a wonderful gift certificate to Creative Sewing Center . Here is the link to those of you that may be in South Carolina that read my blog.http://www.creative-sewing-machine-center.com/ It is an awesome place they have a little bit of everything for all your sewing/ embroidering/ quilting / heirloom and smocking/ craft needs. Any my most favorite of all is all the sewing machines and fabrics and patterns that they carry. And classes for everything. It is my most favorite store in the whole wide world. If ever in this area it is an absolute must that you go check Mrs. Peggy and all of her super smart/ friendly & talented staff out. I promise you will not go away disappointed.
My husband got me a new sewing machine while at Creative Sewing Centers annual Christmas open house. It was a great fun filled exciting day. I won a great prize while there . A one minute shopping spree to fill a bag with whatever I wanted and could fit in it in 1 minutes time. They added up my things I got $1600.00 worth of stuff stuffed in that bag. Wow talk about thing s adding up quickly. What a wonderful prize that was. I have never in my life won anything before so that was a really big treat. I felt kinda guilty about it afterwards though. I felt bad to take that much stuff. I know She has a business to run and the economy isn't that great these days. I am very thankful and appreciative of those items I won. Well that sewing machine was my Christmas and birthday and anniversary and everything else gift rolled all into one for a very long time to come. he surprised me with it. I had no idea he was gonna get me a machine much less the one he got me. It was on my dream list of items. I have had so many women tell me that day and since that I am a very lucky woman for having a husband that supports my interests and hobbies like he does. He told me I deserve to have it because of all I do here to take care of the house and kids and dog and yard and garden and everything else. That he knows I will definitely get my use and someone Else's share out of it. That he knows it will not collect dust..Lol...boy is he right. My machines and things never just collect dust. I wear the poor things out. I definitely get my use and moneys worth out of them for sure. I have been very busy online doing a bunch of research and tutorials to figure out everything I need to know to be able to use my new machine effectively and to be able to do all the functions that it can perform. Boy that has been time consuming all the reading of manuals and online tutorials I have been doing. I have only done a few designs on it so far. I am funny I know. But I want it all to turn out perfect . So I am going slowly with it. I have been very busy trying to get him to rebuild one of the kids used computers just for my sewing room. As you all may or may not know he is a computer geek by trade. Lucky me. I need a computer expert to help me with this . I was trying to do it on my own. I am not a computer geek that is for sure. Lol.. My talents definitely lie elsewhere than with computers. It has been slow go though as he doesn't have a lot of spare time at home to mess with it. Slowly but surely he will get it all done for me and then I will be able to get up and running and doing everything I want to be able to master on it. getting ready for Christmas was very time consuming this year. I had tons of baking to do. I started my shopping much later than usual this year. That seemed to take me forever and getting it all wrapped was a nightmare. I was still up wrapping all day and half the night on Christmas eve.
Savannah's Nana gave her the American girl Doll Julie for her Christmas present. And Santa brought her the Ivy American girl doll here. Ivy and Julie are best buddies. If you all have girls and follow the American Girl Dolls you know the dolls are from different periods in time and wear period clothing and have a best buddy. they have a series of books for each doll about her life and adventures . She got the vanity with stool, bathtub and table and chairs with tea set for her dolls from Santa . Along with 2 boxes of gorgeous custom made dolly clothing courtesy of dear old mom...AKA me...Oh she has been thrilled with all those dolly clothes . My son of course as always got the boyish, computery video gameish things and the items he collects from Santa and Nana and mom and dad.
I am so glad Christmas is officially over with here. I have finally got all the decorations taken down and packed up and back in the attic. it seems the older I get the less I enjoy decorating for all these holidays. It seems to be such a chore. and So time consuming. Now hopefully I can get back on track with my sewing and crafting hobbies. I also have to get back to training in the gym. As I have been kinda slack lately. There just is not enough hours in the day to get it all done. I think I might just have way too many interest and hobbies. We have a big race in the spring coming up and I need to train very hard for it. Since I hurt my leg last winter . it has been very hard for me to get back to running great distances with any speed. every time I try I re injure my leg. Which isn't good at all. So I have got a lot of work to do in the gym. I did run a little over 7 miles on Sunday. Which was awesome for me I haven't been able to go that far in a while now. Now to get a little more distance in and then get my speed slowly built back up. i gotta do it all slowly and do it one step at a time so as not to re injure that leg. I do not want my running to end ... I only want it to improve. You know it is so hard to fathom sometimes that i can run like that. I never thought I would ever be able to run 1 mile much less more than 7 . At 200 pounds I was doing good to put one foot in front of the next at 5 foot 1 1/2 inches. Boy have I come a l very long way these past few years. I can't help but be proud of me when I look back . it was a long road from 200 lbs to 110. But I got there and did it all on my own. But it sure was hard work. And it is a battle ever day to keep it off and try to keep in shape. Truly is a lifestyle change. Things were mush easier when I could just bake and cook and eat anything I wanted anytime. Can't do that now. I am gonna try and be more faithful with my blogging this coming year. Keep everyone more up to date on us. Hopefully I will be able to live up to that. I hope all of you have a wonderful and blessed New year as we go into 2009.
Tammy

Wednesday November 12, 2008

Well the year seems to be really flying by. I can't believe it is almost time for me to have yet another birthday. And my 20th wedding anniversary is also fast approaching. It is cold here now. Winter feels like it has arrived. Most of the leaves are already fallen off the trees. My daughter got her cast off last Friday morning. Boy is she glad to be rid of it. My husband has jury duty this week. I have not had a lot of chances to sew much lately. I did get some patterns trimmed out Sunday and Monday evenings. This morning I finished a doll camisole I had started last week. I had checked a few doll clothing books out of the library recently. I have been reading and looking at them quiet a bit .
Tammy

and some more pics

Hope you all enjoy all the pics . And yes all of the doll clothes were made by me. And she loves all of the clothes. The girls have such a wonderful time playing with the dolls and changing their outfits. I made Rochell's doll Kit the sleeping bag and since I made Savannah's doll a sleeping bag too. The lavender sleeping bag was a gift she received on her birthday from one of her little girl friends. I will have to take a picture of it soon. I am working on other doll clothes too they are for Christmas .

more pics

birthday party pics

one of the dolls haveing a sleep over...

doll clothes for 18 inch American Girl Dolls

Tuesday November 4, 2008

Well it is now official I have a 9 year old daughter as of Sunday November 2. She had just a couple little girls over and another couple that are great friends of ours. We had hotdogs, hamburgers birthday cake and ice cream on Saturday evening to celbrate her birthday. She received the just like u doll from the American girls doll collection. She loves her dearly. One of her little freinds spent the night and brought her american girl doll over with her. I took pictures of the dolls sleepover. lol...too cute. I have been very very busy lately sewing doll clothes for their dolls and for a cutsomer. I will try and post some pics of the doll clothes i have been makeing. Today was election day. So our schools were closed as they are used for polling places. I had a hour and a half wait this mornign to vote. I babysat all day for our friends 2 kids in addition to my 2. Busy day here for sure.

Tuesday October 21

Been a while since I posted last. I have been very busy here. Savannah broke her right pinkie finger a little over a week ago. She is in a cast up to her mid forearm. I have been sewing custom made 18 inch American girl Doll clothes for a customer. She plans to give them as Christmas gift to her granddaughter. i am also working on a few for Savannah for Christmas as well. And today I got more work into do. It has turned cool here . Winter has finally arrived. Luckily it warmed up very nice this afternoon. So the kids could all get out to play after school. I am sad to see summer come to an end. I just hate this cool weather. I much prefer the heat. Well my little princess will be turning 9 in 12 days. It seems so hard to believe that I have a child of that age in addition to my 15 yr old. Wow where has the time gone. Seems like only yesterday I was coming home form the hospital with them. She is planning a very small little sleepover here with 2 of her best friends . We will also cook out and have cake and ice cream. I can't wait to see her pretty little face when she opens our gift to her this year. Any way. Just wanted to pop in and say a quick hi to everyone and let you know We are all still alive here. Just buys as ever. Cheer leading will soon be starting up and we will be very busy with practices and games weekly.

And more pics

Thursday Oct 9. 2008

Ok for my second post of the day. I wanted to add some pics of recent thin gs I had made Savannah and hadn't had a chance to post yet. She is so cute I think . One is a blouse made out of vintahe polyester. My mom gave it to me from her stash. It is made by a vintage pattern I wore shirts made from when I was a child. The other one is really cute outfit. Made with paisley appliques on the pants.

Friday Oct. 10,2008

Hi all. Well another busy week will soon come to an end. Savannah has early release day today. So we will get to spend some nice quality time together. Girl time.. I finished a really cute peasant dress for her last night. It is a Halloween themed one. She wore it to school today. It looks so cute and bright and colorful on her. We got a few pics. They aren't the best pics. She wasn't a very cooperative little model this morning. She was so tired. I will try and post the pics. We are looking forward to a nice slow weekend here. As we area ll exhausted. john is teaching at one of the local college campuses 2 nights a week now and also as of yesterday he has 2 online classes as week he is teaching this semester. In addition to his regular day job. Savannah's parent teacher conference for this semester was last night. It went very well. She has the highest scores for her standardized MAP tests in her class. She has made straight 100's on all her work all year long so far. The teacher is very impressed with her. She is the best reader and math child in the entire class. YEEAAAAA....THAT'S MY GIRL...Sorry had to take a bragging moment there. Well her birthday is fast approaching. She has put in a order for an American girl doll . She now wants Ruthie,( Kit's Friend) or Kit or the Samantha doll. Or any clothing or accessories to go with the 18 inch dolls. OK guys these are good Christmas present and Birthday present ideas. As we have planned to get her a different doll. We will be getting her the Just Like You doll. Which is an American Girl Doll that is made to your specifications to match your child's skin, hair, eye colors. I gotta get busy makeing doll clothes as I plan to give her some for Christmas. I am way behind in my sewing these days.

Sunday Oct. 5, 2008

Well I've had one very busy week. We went the the mountains of North Carolina last Sunday to pick apples. Well I ended up with about 2 1/2 bushels of assorted apples. SO I have been so busy this past week canning apples around the clock. We have apple butter, apple sauce, apple jelly , apple pie filling, cooked apples

Saturday

Well I could not sleep. So I spent a few hours last night going through a huge plastic Rubbermaid bin full of old vintage patterns I have collected over the years. I have decided I really do love those old styles. I noticed every single dress and blouse almost ll used long 22 inch zipper sin the backs for closure. Wish I knew how to convert the backs with button closures instead of the long expensive zippers. Unsure how to do that. Unless I used buttons down the entire back length of the dress. Boy would that be a ton of buttons ans it would distract from the dress looks. Oh well just a thought. I found a neat blog today while reading and searching this morning. It has a great tutorial on it for pin cousins too. Here is the link to the blog. Go check it out. Wonderful to see so many crafty women on line with blogs. Nice to know I'm not the only young woman in the world that loves to sew. http://paperstringcloth.blogspot.com/2007/07/pincushion-tutorial.html
I need to start a link maybe on my blog that links back to others blogs with tutorials. I'm sure some of you crafty momas out there would enjoy it and learn from these lady's like I do. Tammy

SUNDAY

Today and yesterday makes for a very busy weekend. we have been rearrange and swapping my daughters larger bedroom with my sewing / work out room. My sewing room was way too small. Her bedroom was much larger than what she needed . Esp since she has long ago outgrown all those little toys that were taking up space everywhere. She also outgrew her table and chairs she had for dolly's tea party. So I had the bright idea for a while now of swapping the rooms out. I cleaned and got things ready all day yesterday then today we moved everything into the new rooms and into place. I have it all done except for swapping the closets out. I will post pics soon of the newer more improved sewing room. The only draw backs to the bigger room are. Less natural lighting and I hate the color of the walls in there. It was painted her favorite. Bright peptobismal looking pink. I will miss my nice soothing salmon colored walls. Eventually I hope to be able to get my sewing room repainted. But that's quiet a ways off. I'm not ready to do that quiet yet. I have not had a chance to sew all weekend. Hope to get some sewing done this week and finish the outfit I am currently working on.
Tammy

Wednesday

I started working on a shirt yesterday that I had cut out Monday. We had bad storms last night. it is still raining today. I have hopes of finishing the shirt today. It is a super cute print. It is made with one of the newer patterns I bought recently. It reminds me of the stuff we wore in the 70's growing up. I was busy canning yesterday. i put up 1 quart of okra in the freezer and 1 quart jar of string beans and 4 pint jars of string beans from my garden. I also have the dehydrator loaded down with tomatoes, peers, figs and a few grapes and apples. The dehydrated tomatoes will go in soups and stews this winter. The dehydrated fruit; my daughter and I love to snack on it. The kids get out of school early today. So I may not get too much accomplished around here.
Tammy

Friday

I finally finished the patchwork twirl skirt that goes with the multicolored bug Capri set. No pics yet. Will post when I take them. I have ween trimming a few new fall patterns out. Today I went to Hancock's fabric Store. I bought 10 of the Butterick patterns they had on sale for .99 cents a piece. #1 see and sew pattern and a few pieces of fabric. Yes I too suffer from pattern and fabric addiction like most seamstresses do. The paste few days I have been surfing the web on boutique sites trying to get some inspiration for a few new outfits. Still not sure what my next project will be. But I can promise you it will be soon. And as always I will post what I am making and some pics of the completed project.
Tammy

Tuesday

Today has been a busy day as always. Lots of laundry and cleaning and gardening to do. I have been working on making some applique designs to hopefully use on some upcoming sewing projects.They are turning out pretty good for the most part. just extremely time consuming. I also trimmed a pattern out today for a little dress for my daughter. I haven't had a chance to sew the past couple days. Yesterday was a holiday and the whole family was here . So needles to say no sewing was done. Tammy

Sunday

Well here is a new pic of the project i was working on. Multi colored bug print. I am still working on a patchwork twirl skirt to go with it though. that is still a work in progress. But as always I will post the finished pic once it is completed. My daughter loved wearing this Capri set Friday. I finished it late Thursday night. The bright colors looked so good on her. Tammy

close up of front of dress details

Here is a close up of the dress front and a pic of one of the yo yo's I am makeing for the capri set I am currently working on and hopeing to finish tonight.

Thursday

I finally finished the pink dress I was working on. I will post the pics of the completed dress. My daughter just had to wear it to school today. it turned out so cute. She said it was cool to wear. I got several compliments on it this afternoon. I am currently working on a new multicolored bug Capri set. It is coming along great. I hope to be able to stay up and finish it tonight if all goes as planned. I am making yo yo's for embellishment on the pant cuffs and for the shirt. Well maybe depends on how they look when finished and if I like what they look like on the outfit. I just never know how my items will end up.

SUNDAY

Well I have been so busy as of late. Too much to do . I worked on 18 inch doll clothes Thursday night and all day long Friday. My friends little girl was having a birthday.She had received a American Girls Doll. So I had the bright idea I would make her a few outfits for her new doll.

Tuesday

We had to go register my youngest for school today. I also had to babysit a Friends 2 children today. So needless to say I got no sewing done. But I did get my house cleaned and my daughters room cleaned up. My daughter had a little Friend over to play this afternoon and luckily her room isn't trashed again. Thank goodness. I have been reading and tracing patterns out to use from a book called Sew The Contemporary Wardrobe for 18 inch dolls. It is by Joan Hinds. I actually finished tracing them and cutting all of them out this afternoon/ evening. It has full size patterns and instructions for 35 clothing and accessory items for 18 inch dolls. i hope to make my daughter some more doll clothes for Christmas again this year. Last year I made her a small box of dolly clothes. I worked on them in secret while she was at school each day. She loved them. And wants more. So I have a lot a work head of me. I also had to give my daughter a manicure and pedicure for back to school. Ands I trimmed her hair for her as well. She is such a big girl at 8. And wants to look like a million bucks on her first day back Thursday.
Tammy

Monday

Today was so busy. Lot's of errands to run and had to go get my allergy shot as well.We went to Hobby lobby today. They are currently running the McCall's line of sewing patterns on sale for 99 cents a piece. Limit 10. So we went to get 10. I got some cute patterns. Only one is for me it is a bag pattern. All the others are for my daughter. The only time i buys commercial patterns are when they run them on sale. That is like getting 10 for a Little less than I can buy 1 normally. Great deal. I didn't get to do any sewing today. But I did get 2 of the patterns trimmed out so far. Hopefully tomorrow I will get some more sewing done on my new project that i posted the pics of last night. Tammy

sunday part 2

I forgot to add this other pic I took of this project.

Sunday

It has been a cloudy overcast day here for the most part. I went to the gym today and ran 4.10 miles. And did weights in additon to my other normal exercise and stretch routine. We went to the pool briefly the water was much too cold to swim in. After last nights rain. After we got back it started raing and we had a thunder storm. I finally got a chance to go up to my sewing room and get started on aonther project. I cut it out a couple weeks back. But was busy doing other things . This was first chance I had got to sit down and actually work on it...It is a simplicity pattern. A dress I am makeing view A. It is simplicity pattern number 2909. I think it is so cute. I am makeing it slightly different though. I just love the fabric I chose. It is very colorful , and a nice soft thin cotton fabric. It should be so nice and cool for my daughter to wear to school. As it can stay warm here until November. She will be needing nice cool things for school for a while yet. I have so far made and attached the pockets to the front. I decided to do a decorative zig zag stitch around the outside of the pockets in the yellow to compliment the rick rack. I have got a small ruffle added to the insert piece that goes in to the front and I have got the insert pinned into place ont he front. I need to sew the insert into place next. I will try to post more pics as I get to work on the dress. Tammy