Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Workbasket Wednesday!

This weeks tool of the week is "My Favorite Doololly". I love this little gadget!

If you are like me, when you turn over your project the back is littered with little thread "tails"! Either you left a long tail when you began your thread, or you only ran it under a few stitches when you ended it. The solution for a quick tidying up of the back of your piece is this little tool. You run the loop end(the part that looks like a needle threader) under several stitches, then you use the little hook to pull the thread tail through the loop. Pull the loop through the stitches and your tail is secure! Who ever came up with the idea for this little gem is a genius! I love this little thing and keep it on hand wherever I take my stitching.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Such a busy weekend!!

We had relatives visiting from out of town, and they were kind enough to watch the kids while Gary and I went out to dinner Friday night~alone! I cannot remember the last time we had a date like that! It was really nice.





Saturday morning Isabel and I had the girls leadership club. This is an awesome thing where girls come and do a craft, which I help my really talented friend Elda organize, and then some teenage girls do a little virtue talk. There is nothing like a teenage girl to get the attention of younger girls-it is a wonderful mentoring opportunity. Saturday's talk was about friendship, they talked about how to be a good friend and not gossip, etc. the teenage girls put the talk together themselves and then answer questions and give advice. It is really cool. We had the girls make a journal using Stampin Up supplies, they all came out SO cute! During this time all of the Mom's get together in a separate room and listen to an adult virtue talk, very inspirational and designed to speak to the spirituality of mothers. The whole thing is very cool!

Then it was off to Isabel's first soccer game of the season (which they lost 2-1), and later that night the Back-to-School Sock Hop! which was a blast! Sunday was of course-All Football All the Time!!(along with a mountain of laundry and plenty of stitching time thrown in!) Fun weekend-now I need a nap! haha!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Another little tease!


This is a little part of a chart that should be ready by the end of the week. It is the first in a series of samplers reflecting the seasons and done on this pretty misty blue linen. I can't wait to show you the whole thing!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Design teaser!

Here is just a small sample of what is currently in my hoop. This will be an upcoming Fall release. Thanks for lookin'!

Workbasket Wednesday!


Wednesday is hump day here in America. A day right in the middle, easily the dullest day in the work week. Not early enough in the week to feel ambitious, and not late enough in the week to start looking forward to the weekend. Its the hump you have to get over. So in celebration of hump day, I am starting a new weekly post called Work Basket Wednesday. Each Wednesday I will feature a different tool from my work basket, why I like it, how I use and and where I got it. I think every embroiderer has their tried and true tools that they just can't live without, and I thought I would share mine. Maybe you will see something you don't have, and need, or maybe you have something that does the job even better. Feel free to post any and all comments!

I have decided to start this off with the workbasket itself. This is the little sewing box that I use every day. It is a fabric covered box that I made myself, from one of those oval shaped paper mache boxes you can buy at the craft store. I covered it with a pretty green floral fabric that I like, and made a matching pin cushion. What I like about this box is that I can turn the lid upside down and it acts as sort of a handy little tray that I put all of my tools, threads and pincushion on. No more losing scissors or needles. I am a many-needled-embroiderer! Meaning that I like to have a needle threaded in each color I am working with, so this little tray-pincushion combination works great for me.

I have left my pincushion messy so you can see how I work-all of those needles are for a single project. When I am done for the day, everything on the tray goes inside the box and I pop the lid on and everything is safe and sound until the next stitching session!