Category: Crafts

Our Lutheran church has many outreach ministries. Some of those ministries regularly visit a local nursing home throughout the year.

Many of the visits involve our church’s youth… they visit, play games, and even have piano recitals hosted at the location.  It’s a nice change for the residents and a great way to get the youth involved with interacting with the elderly.

I’ve attended most of the events since my daughter is on one of the children’s choirs and she also takes private piano lessons from the directory of contemporary music.

This February, all our churches children’s choir will be Valentine caroling’  at a local nursing home.  I know the residents will love that, they certainly light up when they see the children. The following week the adult choirs will be Valentine caroling at the same nursing home.

In honor of these events, the church had a ‘Valentine tree’ set up in our Narthax, naturally I was thrilled when I heard about this since  my daughter and I had fun with gathering gifts for our angel from the angel tree at Christmas.

With the ‘Valentine tree’ church members can choose a Valentine off the tree and purchase something special for a nursing home resident. Our church makes it easy for those who want to participate since they give helpful suggestions of what you can purchase for the residents.

My daughter and I will definitely include some purchased items within ‘Connie’s’  valentine bag and I’ll be sure to create and personalize a few of the items also. We’ve never met Connie, but it won’t stop us from doing something nice for her. The kindness of strangers can mean a lot to some people. I’m hoping we add a bright spark to her day.

You know where I’m going with this right? I’ll be taking advantage of my Brother SE-400 embroidery sewing machine, it’ll arrive in plenty of time for me to get comfortable with embroidering on a machine and turning some of my newly learned skills into some personalized items for Connie. I should be prepared for the unexpected. I purchased stabilizer, embroidery thread, additional embroidery needles and I’ll be getting fabric this weekend.

I’m pleased that Connie will be the first recipient of  a personalized item made with my new embroidery machine… of course I’ll post pictures. What’s even better is that my daughter can give her the items herself after the ‘Valentine caroling’ is complete. Over the weekend, she’s making Mrs. Connie (as she calls her) a nice Valentine’s card.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that I’ve been sewing for over 36 years…

My all time favorite sewing machine happens to be the one that my mother gave to me when I was about nine or ten years old.  It’s an all metal 1960s Singer sewing  machine. She taught me to machine sew when I was eight years old. Before that time I was hand sewing. I started when I was five or six years old. After learning to use the machine, I started using it more than she did. And made a lot of doll clothing (even though I didn’t play with dolls.) When I was in my teens, I started designing my own clothes. Which I loved since no one else had what I was wearing.

Yes… that machine and I have done a lot of creative sewing over the years, some of the items I’ve made have been in boutiques and local fashion shows too… and while I have a few other ‘modern machine’ they don’t impress me as much as the Singer. I’m more impressed with the all metal machines… not so much the plastic sewing machines of today…

But here I am looking for another sewing machine, more specifically an embroidery machine. After months of coming up with all sorts of excuses on why I wasn’t purchasing a machine, I finally placed an order for the Brother Computerized Sewing and Embroidery Machine, SE-400. It’s plastic, I’m not too fond of that but I’m impressed with its features and this machine is available at a reasonable price. For the most part, the reviews are great also. I also like that if I purchase the software, I’ll be able to come up with my own embroidery designs. The embroidery software package I’m currently researching is Embrilliance Essentials, it’s Mac compatible and seems to do what I want. I won’t purchase it…. yet but by the end of next month, I should have purchased an embroidery software package. It’ seems to be the season for purchasing crafting items for myself…

My first computerized sewing machine

This will be my first computerized sewing machine, threading the machine is simple as touching a button. Also, computer updates and downloading additional software are available via the USB port. I like that. I wasn’t interested in looking for a straight sewing machine, I have those but I needed something that would embroider. I’ve read some great reviews on this machine so I’m willing to check it out for myself.  Of course my nine year old daughter is excited about this machine also, since I’m letting her sew too. She’s been hand sewing since she was about six and started machine sewing last year. To complete my sewing machines I’ll eventually purchase a Serger sewing machine, but that’s a looonggg term want.  The one I’ll buy is over $2,000.  I could purchase it now, but I won’t since I haven’t budgeted for that. I’ll be setting aside funds for that and should purchase it towards the end of this year.

Repair for my embroidery sewing machine

Although I’m not anticipating any issues with the machine, if do have problems (After the warranty runs out) there are a few amazing sewing machine repair shops in our area.

Purchasing a few goodies for our new embroidery machine

This weekend my daughter and I will pick up a few items for the machine… mainly fabric and perhaps some stabilizer. We’ll take advantage of the 50% coupon which is available this week at AcMoore, and use it when we visit JoAnn Fabrics. We’re able to use two since my daughter purchases something also. 😉

A few packages arrived today.

One for my daughter (she was excited) and the Malabrigo baby merino lace weight yarn.

 

The yarn was colorfully packaged, and included was lovely postcard type picture featuring more of their gorgeous yarn…

 

but the outer layers of both yarns was a bit dusty. Which is surprising, who wouldn’t want this colorful yarn?

 

I brushed it off and it seems fine. And while I’d love to rewind the yarn today, I simply don’t have the time. My daughter and I are playing with what arrived in her package.  The skeins are tiny compared to my worsted Malabrigo yarn, but that’s to be expected. It’s lace weight yarn. Which is a big difference from worsted weight yarn. The yarn companies turn around time was fast,  I placed my order on 12/30/12 and received it today, 01/02/13. Since I didn’t need a rush order, I chose the slowest route and still received it fairly quickly.

Perhaps later this week, I’ll do a comparison between those two yarns? I’m currently working on a knitted hat using the malabrigo singly ply  (worsted weight yarn) and I should be finished within the next few days. I’ll wait until I have crocheted/knitted a nice amount of hats, before they are distributed. I’m definitely loving every minute of the time I have to play with fiber, many times I only have a few moments, but I still enjoy them nonetheless.

Lovin’ Every Minute Of It! Why, I haven’t heard that song by Loverboy in years…

Late this afternoon, while my daughter and I watched Monsters vs. Aliens, I rewound most of the yarn I purchased during Knit Picks Cyber Monday sale. It took me long enough, right?

The process lasted almost the entire movie, which was fairly quick based on the amount of yarn I had. To speed things up, I used the Boye electric yarn ball winder that I’d purchased a few months before…

And while I’ve seen my share of complaints about this product (most seemed tied to people who used the winder with a swift– I wind mine directly from the yarn ball) thus far mine has been doing a good job. Thanks to a 50% off coupon from Michaels, I snagged mine for half the normal price. Which ended up costing me a little over $40. And in my book it’s already paid for itself with the amount of yarn I’ve rewound.

Here in the USA you can use the major craft stores (JoAnn Fabrics, ACMoore, and Michaels) coupons interchangeably. Because of this, I never pay retail price at any of those stores. I always use the 50% off coupons.

But back to the ball winder, the only complaint that I have about the Boye electric yarn ball winder is that it won’t wind large skeins of yarn. It’s not the winders fault, it’s not meant to wind jumbo skeins of yarn. If I wanted that I could have purchased a jumbo winder. But since I don’t have too many large skeins of yarn (outside of my small stash of acrylic yarn) I didn’t think the jumbo winder was worth the purchase. I’ve been able to wind 210 yards of worsted weight wool without too much of an issue. Naturally I can wind more yards of lighter weight…

I’m imagining some people might be wondering why do I even need a ball winder? Yarn companies usually sell yarn pre-wound so why do they need to be rewound, again? The reason is simple, it eliminated the unexpected surprises one might encounter when working with store wound yarn, such as tangles or more knots than normal in store wound yarn. Also, I love a center pull yarn (beginning yarn strand that starts a fiber artists adventure) and that’s not always easily found with store wound yarn.

 

Rewinding the yarn eliminates those unexpected surprises,  and it also means I get a perfect center pull cake of yarn every single time. 😉

It looks like she has a serious yarn addiction, right? I may or may not be able to relate to this…

I was howling with laughter when I saw her sweater.  I guess she needs more yarn now — since she attached all her works in progress onto that sweater. 😉

I may or may not be able to relate to this…

I take that back, I would never do that, slap all my WIPs (works in progress) together and call it a finished object. If I had a yarn craving, I’d just purchase the yarn, and add another WIP to my to do list… and I wouldn’t feel guilty. 😉

Earlier today, my daughter and I made cold process soap. It’s the first time she’s played an active role in the soapmaking process, and I had a blast talking about the process. We only made three pounds of soap. I decided to keep this batch small while I experimented with a new recipe.

 

The lye mixture was measured and carefully added to the distilled water. Here in the USA,  In order to purchase Lye, you have to sign a disclaimer that states you won’t be using the caustic substance in an illegal manner. Nothing illegal going on here, I’m just making soap. Did you know that there’s a food grad lye available? It’s used in a variety of foods…including some pretzels.

 

Since I couldn’t find my rubber apron, I settled for an big/bulky sweatshirt. I donned my ventilator and goggles, and I started making soap! It’s important to remember that you always add lye to your water.  You don’t want a possible explosion.

 

Well, it looks like I have a fur helper, Hi Bentley! He seemed displeased that he couldn’t be around while I was working with the raw soap.

 

 

I’ll be making another batch next weekend. That batch will be my exfoliating bar soaps, and so I’ll be adding a mix of salt crystals and some herbs from the garden.

A neighbor dropped by when the soapmaking was completed and commented on how nice my dessert smelled. Perhaps he followed his nose to the lovely smells that were coming from our home? He asked what I was making, I laughed and told him I had just got finished making a small batch soap. He could hardly contain his excitement.

I imagine he was hoping I’d gift him with a few bars of homemade soap? His family has raved about how moisturizing the large batch of homemade soap I gifted them with before was. They didn’t want to use the traditional store bought soap after that. I’d made about 30 pounds and gave them a few pounds. I did promise him a few bars so they can try out my new blend. It’s always nice to have eager testers when I’m working on a new recipe. 😉  I’m thinking I might give a few bars away on Celebrate Life too. I use my soap a few days after making it, but when giving to others I always wait 4-6 weeks.

Next on my ‘to do’ list, is soap molds. Next weekend, I’ll be making several non-stick wooden soap molds.

 

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, my daughter and I are spending a lazy day at the house making crafts, reading, and I just got finished making sunflower seed butter aka Sunbutter! We won’t be having the traditional Thanksgiving meal… My daughter wants Indian food, and a few Kenyan side dishes. I prepared most of the meal yesterday,  which means there’s not so much to do today.

Earlier this morning, part of my lazy adventure had me on Ravelry. Doing the usual, checking a few patterns, and reading a few yarn reviews. While there I stumbled upon a Random act of Kindness post by a user named, Knitwench.

My mom’s 80th birthday would have been Nov. 24, and I always try to do Random Acts of Kindness to celebrate her memory. I wanted to offer my Stained Glass Shawlette as a gift this Thanksgiving weekend from Thursday morning to Sunday night. Code is KAY . And if you feel like doing a RAK in her memory, thank you!

How awesome is that? Since I love basic as well as complicated knitting stitches, I downloaded the pattern. I already know who I’ll be knitting this for, and now I have another excuse to pick up some more lovely yarn.

Most of the patterns I use are paid patterns, since I do appreciate the time the fiber artists put into their creations I’ll go out of my way to support them whenever I can. It’s a shame she doesn’t have other paid patterns, since I’d definitely be purchasing one of them.

I’m virtually poking knitting pals Q, D’nali, and Sarah so they can take advantage of this Random act of Kindness.