SEWjo Saturday: Paid In Full

Being a little out of practice with garment sewing, this one took a little longer than I had thought, but I got it done and now Hubby is "Paid In Full" for our little road trip a few weeks ago.

It's a little "loud" for my taste, but Hubby LOVES it!  He wasn't home last night when I finished it, so I made him try it on first thing this morning to see if it fit. Like a glove! 

It is a small thing to check off my list of stuff to do, but it's a finish nonetheless. One down... Three to go. Lol. Once I told him I could make button-down shirts, he started putting in requests. I've got fabric for three more shirts waiting in the wings. They're great in-between projects, so I'm sure he won't have to wait too long for the next one :-)

Hope everyone is having a super Saturday!!

Meet "Rosie"

 Wow... it's been a while since I've posted!  I'm so sorry!!!!  Things have just been total chaos here at Chez Rosie.  Work, editing photos, work, hubby starting a 3rd job, oh... did I mention work?  Lol.

Anyways....  I've been in the market for a new machine for a few weeks/months now.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Janome 525s, but she's just a bit too small to do the projects I have planned.  I have been doing A LOT of research on machines, and thought I had finally settled on one.  My first choice.. a Janome 6500P.  There is a killer deal on them on Amazon and with having glowing 5-star reviews everywhere I looked, I thought.. This is IT!  Well, that was until this past week.

I did something I NEVER do... check out our local Craig's List.  I typed in "Janome" to see what popped up and I was surprised to find a Janome 6500P for $600 (with loads of extras).  I messaged the gal selling it and she quickly responded that it had sold an hour after she listed it.. she just never took the ad down :(  Total bummer!  I went back to the one on Amazon and was ready to pull the trigger.  On Thursday I was ready to order it, but then decided to check Craig's List one last time.  This time, only searching "sewing machines."  It was then I fell in LOVE! A Viking Husqavarna Eden Rose 250C... practically brand new!  I immediately contacted the gal selling it, crossing my fingers it was still available.  She called me back within 20 minutes, and after chatting with her for a few... I was SOLD!  Now it was just to convince Hubby :-)

It didn't take too much to convince him, and he even agreed to go out there with me.  Hubby and I got up at 8 am this morning to drive about an hour and forty-five minutes to go pick her up.  Not only was she a great deal, but she's PINK and has a ROSE "tattoo" on her :D

We stopped on our way home at a Viking dealer store and picked up the Sew-Steady Table (the only place that actually had them in stock and didn't need to be ordered).  I also got the interchanable dual-feed foot and the 1/4" attachment, as well as a closed-toe FMQ foot!!  Hubby REALLY spoiled me today :D  I really wanted the regular 1/4" edging foot (I believe it's called) but none of the stores had them.  I dragged Hubby down to the JoAnn's by our house so I could get the 1/4" attachment foot and I went ahead and had her order the edging foot for me.  Oh, and to sweeten the deal even more, at the first store... the lady offered me FREE user classes at the end of August.  Even though I didn't buy the machine from them, because I had spent so much money (he he he... let's just say my credit card is hurting right now)... she let me sign up for free!

All-in-all, it was a LONG but awesome day!  The lady I bought her from was SOOOOOO nice and helpful!  She showed me how to use her, gave me some really helpful hints considering this is my first Viking, and was eager to show me [I]her[/I] sewing room... let me just say I'm SOOOO jealous!!!

I've got her all set-up and ready to go!  I'm starting the piecing on the Lattice Quilt for my aunt, and can't wait to give her a good workout :-)

Hope everyone has had a spectacular Saturday!

Linking up with SEWjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life and Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

Also linking back to Sew Fresh Quilts' Let's Bee Social

SEWjo Saturday - Craft Room

Well, this weekend hasn't been as full of sewing as I had hoped.  I spent my entire Friday night and Saturday cleaning and re-organizing my "Craft Cave."  I went to Wally World and picked up some 2.5 gallon zipper bags, along with a plastic 3-drawer storage chest to house my newly acquired quilting treasures.  Here was my room before....

The picture is from a couple of months ago,  but has relatively remained unchanged since.  I had three machines with no homes, piles of fabric on the floor, and no room to move.  Since my room is home to two of my "major" crafts... sewing/quilting & scrapbooking, there is a LOT of stuff in a small space.

I worked all night last night and finally got my stuff organized and manageable. 

 

Wow!  How awesome is the panoramic mode on the iPhone!!  Lol  Here it is, all neat and tidy.  It's going to be so nice not to have to be tripping on everything all the time and to be able to do something without moving 10 things first.

Here's a quick tour...

 

The sign on the door to my "Craft Cave."  The Batman symbol is an inside joke between me and Hubby.  I always tell him I'm going to "the cave" and one day he asked me if that made me Batman.  Since then, he calls me that all the time, especially when I'm in a crafty mood.

 View from walking in the door

 My sewing station.  It's an old cubicle counter resting on top of two filing cabinets.  Multi-colored storage tower on right is full of scrapbooking paper scraps.

 My TV, wide-format printer and cart full of scrapbooking stuff in the dormer, and my computer desk

 My desk and my main working area.  White JetMax cubes are full of scrapbooking stuff and home to my two die cutting machines, but my embroidery machine and serger are now housed in the upper left hand shelf of the unit

Work station, ironing board, bookshelf (full of scrapbooks, books, and magazines), and my two overly-stuff closets.  Left one is scrapbooking mobile storage and my overflow sewing stuff, right one is FULL of scrapbooking stuff

 

 

My simple work station.  4' table with a cutting mat on top, white storage chest houses my notions, scissors, templates, rulers, extra thread, an the bottom drawer is full of my sewing machine supplies (power cords, foot petals, embroidery unit, embroidery hoops, etc.).  Two small containers in the middle are full of thread with my June Mystery Quilt kit resting on top.  The two tubs on the right - top one is my "project kits" ready to go, and the bottom one has what little "stash" fabric I have.

Sewing closet contains all my mobile scrapbooking stuff, along with a tub of pre-packaged batting, tub of yarn, tub containing finished projects, an a small tub of fabric scraps.  The two hanging ZipLoc bags contain all my muslin for backings as well as all my batting scraps.

Linking up with SEWjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life and Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

SEWjo Saturday - Let The Fun Begin!

Well, here goes nothing!  Top is finished, backing is pieced, batting is ironed.... Time to get this party started and get to basting this bad boy!!

I took a lot of advise from the awesome gals on the Missouri Star Forums when it came to basting. 

It managed to fit nicely on my kitchen table with both the leaves in it. I used some muslin clamps I had from my photography backdrop rig to secure the backing, and I was on my way!  I did do some spray basting and then added some safety pins for some added security. 

Once it was all basted, it was impossible for me to stop there. Especially when it took about a third of the time that I thought it would!

Next it was off to my trusty old Janome 525s for some quilting. Let me just say, the walking foot I ordered for my machine was the BEST investment I've ever made!!  It was a bit of a challenge to get it put on my machine as it didn't come with any directions, but I figured it out :-)

I did simple "echo" stitching on the sides of the main seams and I was a nervous wreck to get started!!  Once I got the mechanics of getting the quilt thru the small throat on my machine, it wasn't so bad!

My stitching wasn't the straightest, but not too bad. I now know what to do for next time and learned a lot thru this whole process. 

Now it's off to get the binding made and put on, and then I'll officially have my first real quilt done!!  I'm so excited!!!

Stay tuned for some finished pics to come :-). Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday!!


Linking up with SEWjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life and Show Off Saturday at SewCanShe

SEWjo Saturday - Dr. Seuss Baby Quilt

Phew.  I'm so excited it's finally the weekend again.  Not that my 4-day work week was that terrible, I just couldn't wait for the weekend to get here.

I finally settled on a design base for the Dr. Seuss quilt.  I started sewing the 9-patch blocks together using the layout I created on my iPad in the Quiltology app.

Next came the scary part.... cutting them into quarter blocks.  I don't know why this was so scary for me, but it was.  Maybe it's because I only had just enough fabric to do the squares, leaving no room for error.  Who knows.  I was honestly shaking during the cutting of the first block.

Now I've got the layout going on my floor in my sewing room.  Unfortunately I don't have a design wall (yet... no room for one in my current sewing room), so I have to do all my placements on the floor.   Not exactly ideal, but it has to do for now.

Hopefully going to get started on sewing the blocks together tonight/tomorrow and get this quilt top done and ready for some quilting and binding.

Happy Saturday everyone!


Linking up with SEWjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life

SEWjo Saturday - Cleveland Browns Rag Quilt

Wow!  I can't believe it's Saturday already!! Where did this week go?  I was so completely swamped and stressed out at work all week, this weekend is muchly needed!

After finishing my placemats the other day, I started working on a blanket for "Baby Rockstar".... If he/she ever happens. I literally zipped thru this blanket and can't wait to see how it turns out after a good washing at the laundromat. 

The pattern is pretty simple, but I think it works for the fabric. Cut all the squares at 6" and the batting (Warm & Natural) at 5". Sandwiched them all together and I was ready to go. 

Quickly sewed the rows together with a 1/2" seam and I was good to go!  Now comes the fun part of snipping the seams. Hopefully it doesn't take too long as I'd LOVE to get this to the laundromat some time this weekend. 

Check one more project off the massive "To Do" list once this is all washed. Next up... My Dr. Seuss baby quilt. Really hoping to make a dent in it over this glorious 3-day weekend!

Have a great Satuday everyone!!

Linking up with SEWjo Saturday at My Go-Go Life

SEWjo Saturday

Here we go for my first SEWjo Saturday from over at My Go-Go Life.


I'm still plugging away at the Survivor Quilt for my MIL.

Not much has changed since my post on Wednesday other than I started sewing the rows together.  Slowly but surely, it's coming together and I hope I can start snipping seams in the next few days or so. 

I headed off to JoAnn's again today, armed with coupons again (of course) and managed to escape with a minimal purchase. I just picked up some more flannel for doing some receiving blankets, the binding, backing, and batting for the quilt I'm going to use that jelly roll I bought the other day, as well as some fusible fleece to use on making some new place mats for my kitchen.  I was good :-)  I did decide to return that iron I bought last weekend.  There were just too many negative reviews for me to keep it.  Maybe it'll go on sale again and I'll grab it, but for now I think I'm going to stick to my "old faithful" Black & Decker. 


On a side note, today has been BEAUTIFUL outside!  So beautiful in fact that Hubby was desperate to grill out. 

Burgers and Italian sausage on the grill!!  YUM!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Saturday!