Tag: crafting

quilts, sewing

My notes from the Sewing Expo

 

I’d heard about the Sewing and Stitchery Expo before, but this was the first year I went to check it out (thanks, Kelly!). This is a very long post that I’m writing mostly for me, so that I can remember all the cool stuff I saw! The Sewing Expo is huge, two buildings at the fairgrounds with fashion shows, classes, demos, and a floor full of booths selling fabric, patterns, tools, books, sewing machines and more. If I don’t get this stuff down, it’ll end up in the pile of Things I’ve Forgotten. You can read it if you’re into …

sewing

Useful, but possibly Ugly

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Sometimes, when people find out I sew, they gift me with the remnants of their abandoned fabric stash, or perhaps one they have inherited. This can be a fun way to get new-to-me fabric – for free! Sometimes, I get some wonderful stuff this way, like the most of the fabric I used for the candy bags for Christmas last year. Other times, I get fabric that, shall we say, doesn’t thrill me quite as much: I’ve carried these fabrics around for more than a decade. I’m pretty sure I’ve never liked them. Especially that yellow apple print. Shudder. But …

Caitlyn, Seasons, sewing

One last gift post

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I know everyone has moved on to new projects (new year, new goals, new determination!), but I’m still wrapping up/catching up. I’ve got one last gift post and then I can move on to the Things I Didn’t Do Because I Was Making Caramels post(s). By that time that’s done, perhaps I’ll have a post for Something New Made in January. Maybe. Anyway,now that we’ve had our last holiday gift exchange, I can share this: Because you can’t give caramels to kids who don’t have teeth yet. I’d love to say that I came up with the idea for this …

in the kitchen, Seasons, sewing

Making the Tradition Mine

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I sort of fell off the Internet there for the second part of December. Wanna know why? After last year’s first attempt was deemed a success by my candy-making grandfather, and with his candy-making tools in hand (omg! marble slab ftw!), I picked up the family Christmas candy tradition. I’ve always thought that someone should carry on Grandpa’s candy making; if it’s me, I get to claim the extras. I guess there’s an ulterior motive for everything. Grandpa made caramels for years. I remember there were a few years when I was a teenager (I think) when he made all …

Caitlyn, homeschooling, Seasons

A Little Autumn Craftness

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The school district sent me an email yesterday (Wednesday) reminding me that there will be no school last Friday. I realize that sentence makes no sense, but neither did their email. But it did remind me that Caitlyn and I spent some project time together last Friday, at her request, with somewhat mixed results. Our first project was a kind of leaf printing. I’d done a search for crafts with fall leaves and found this. Note for next time: it could be significant if there are no photos with the instructions. Without pictures, my imagination provides the expected result, which, …

Art, Caitlyn, family

Priorities and Time

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I don’t really think of myself as an ambitious person. Wanting to be president or working to find a cure for cancer or becoming a box office smash, those are ambitions. I just have a wish list. Admittedly, it’s a very long wish list. And I suppose not everything on the list is actually a wish. I never find myself saying, “Gee, I wish I could clean the bathroom right now.” But I do often wish I kept house better. I’m a huge list maker. I have to-do lists on paper, on the computer, in my head. And I’m a …