Little Boy Blue

This pattern is seriously so fast to make. This one took me just over an hour yesterday while I was manning the study hall at co-op. I love this organic yarn. It is so soft and the colors are really nice. I think I will use a wooden button on this one. Just need some baby bottoms to put in them-heehee!

Brother LB6800 Embroidery and Monogram It

I spent quite a bit of time with my new Monogram It program and my Brother LB6800PRW last night. I wanted a simple yet inexpensive way to monogram things for friends and family and possibly an occasional item for Etsy. This program definitely meets the inexpensive mark for me. So many of the programs are hundreds of dollars-(more than my machine cost for some of them) and I wasn't ready to invest that much. The list price for Monogram It is around $99 but I bought it at Amazing Designs and  found an online coupon code that saved me 15%. In the end I paid $85 or so. The program is easy to load and makes sense when you look at the tool bars. It is easy to get a monogram on the screen and pick the appropriate hoop size. You can have the design display in inches or mm. I chose inches because that is what I am used to. Last night I came up with a design and saved it as a .PES file. Plugged in the USB cable that came with the machine to both the Brother and my computer. Sent the file to the removable disc (drive F:) and Nothin! I did this several times and all I could see was memory being used in the Brother, but no design. I hunted around for online help-Nada! This morning however, I found this site available and realized my design was too large for the machine to see. Reworked the monogram this morning to make sure it would fit and Voila!

So if you have a Brother or Monogram It and have struggled at all with using either one-I feel your pain! I will try to post information or tips along the way as I use both of these products. It is so helpful to be able to find answers to your questions online and there just isn't much out there for this combo of products. Can't wait to actually put this on the sweatshirt now.

A new old rocker for me

I have a weak spot for cute rocking chairs. We have a fairly modern rocking chair in our living room and I enjoy it, but not anywhere near as much as I will this old cutie. We went to a place called Yesternook in Louisville to pick up an antique buffet that looked like one my husband's nanny owned and stumbled upon this little beauty. The cushion is very fat and it has buttons on the back. It looks as if someone tried to redo the wood, but did a horrible job. We plan to strip it down and stain or paint it as well as recover it. I happened to find some soft wide wale corduroy fabric in a nice neutral tan today. I think it will work perfectly and give something old a modern flair! The buffet needs work too, but it is a great functional piece for the up and coming dining room wall.

Newborn Organic Cotton Diaper Cover

I don't have any babies to give this to right now, but it was so fun and quick to crochet up. I got the pattern from Ravelry and it only took a couple of hours to do. The original design is plain but I am working on a ruffle to attach to this one. Might put it on my Etsy and see what happens since I don't have a planned person to gift this to. Can't decide which button. What do you think? White or Green?

Fall Fun and Family Photo

This past weekend we were able to meet up with the 2 older kids in Louisville. We went to Sunny Acres and    fed the horses, did the corn maze and ate a few cookies.Our youngest entertained us with a little guitar while we waited on the college kids to get there. After that we popped over to the mall and finally had the boy's hair cut after 3 months of growth. Alli and I went in William & Sonoma and oooed and ahhhed over everything. Then it was off to the Spaghetti Factory-one of the places we like to go to and eat. There was nothing over the top spectacular about anything we did-but it was so good to all be together. We miss having our kids at home!

Brother Embroidery and a Dresden Pillow

I really haven't had much of a chance to play with my Brother machine that both sews and embroiders. I am trying to get a few last minute projects for Christmas finished up. This was my first attempt at making dresdens. I did most of it back in May at my mom's before going to the quilt retreat. I used a Moda jellyroll that I bought for my daughter. These were made using the leftover strips from that project. It is intended for our little niece for Christmas. The Brother I bought has 5 alphabets pre-programmed and a set of script letters that are part of the "patterns". I used a sulky light pink thread and then used the quilting zigzag to do the outlining. I like the results. Can't wait to have an organized craft room so I can spend more time playing.

Newest project-Scentsy Mini Tester Bags

I had a Scentsy consultant, actually 3, contact me through Etsy about developing a mini tester bag set for them. I have to admit that I have never even seen a Scentsy product(I lead a rather sheltered existence), but was excited to make these bags for the consultants. I am sure any little thing to help you stay organized in a business is refreshing. I know how I feel when I have stamps of all sorts scattered about and bags ironed and not ironed in looming stacks. Being organized just helps me get the job done quicker. So in a nutshell-Glad to help you ladies!

Is it too early for gingerbread?

I love gingerbread, hot and moist from the oven with homemade whip cream, but I really don't care to eat gingerbread cookies that are hard and crispy. Thankfully this cute little guy isn't edible! I have still been experimenting with paints and stencils instead of stamps and inks. It is quite fun. I would like to have a Cricut machine, but have read some reviews that make me think again. Any readers that have one and are willing to share their experience would be welcome. Making these bags makes me look forward to Christmas.

Thanksgiving comes early

Was able to go and visit my son and daughter last weekend and it was so nice to cook a big meal for them and all of my daughter's roommates. I baked a ham, made sweet potato casserole, shoe peg corn, macaroni and tomatoes, fried apples and rolls. We ate till we were stuffed and they still had a bunch of leftovers. They don't get much home cooking while they are in college, so this was a treat for them and for me!

The Cart Before the Horse

It is an old saying, but in my case it is very true. We ended up buying all of our paint for the addition to the house about 2 weeks ago. We had already used Sherwin Williams for the outside so we had to continue with that. We went to their once a year 40% off sale and decided to buy all the paint for the house inside and out. We are doing a neutral gray for all 4 of the upstairs rooms called Knitting Needles-so appropriate. In one of the rooms/bathroom I am going to use Anjou Pear as an additional color. My son loves pears and this will be the room he stays in when he comes home. I found some gorgeous material at Hancock Fabrics while shopping with a friend the other day that will work perfectly with my colors. It was on the remnant table and was only $5 a yard. I got 7 yards of the gold stripe with raised velvet leaves and 2 1/2 yards of the charcoal gray. I love them both and will be so excited when we finally get to the decorating part of building. Gives me something to look forward to-making a house into our home!

New barn-Almost Complete

This has been a big project for our family-mainly my hubby and son (until he left for college). It is our new 2 story workshop (it is not a barn I have been told). The side with the tall door is open all the way to the ceiling, but the rest of the building has a second story loft. We have framed out an apartment inside, but nothing has been done on it yet. We are still finishing trim and paint on the back, but the outside is pretty finished. Unfortunately, it is quite full already. Many car projects in there. We still have to tear down the old tobacco barn, but that won't happen until the rest of the house is done next summer. Looking forward to having the framers arrive to add the 2nd and 3rd stories to our basement. It will be a stressful year, but I can't wait for the additional space-including my OWN sewing/craft room.

Long Time No See

Well the summer has certainly flown by and I spent the majority of it in Hilton Head. Once I returned we moved our 2 oldest to UK in Lexington. We have also signed off on the construction for the rest of our house. The barn is basically done on the outside and the inside is unfortunately full. My house is a wreck due to moving things around in preparation for construction and also housing items we have purchased for the upstairs (double ovens, paint, 6 burner gas cooktop, etc.). So many things to share. I hope to post some pictures of the barn soon. I also plan to keep a picture record of the house in progress. I did finish a quilt top using Lucy's Crab Shack over the summer and will post pics of it soon. I am woefully behind on my Craftsy Block of the Month squares. Need to do July-Oct (wow).I have also been doing quite a few muslin bags for my Etsy.  All this to say, I will soon be back in the swing of things I hope. Hope you all have a great day!