Iphone makes blogging easier.

While I did not love blogging from my iPhone, I do turn out a lot more pictures thanks to the phone!!

Anyway, during my in bed blogging post, I promised a link to the little mug rug tutorial I was using, and it was from Sew Mama Sew. It's a pretty nice little tutorial, and my little mug rug is coming along nicely. Mug rugs are great practice pieces, and are a much more manageable size.

Also, I have to tell you that I bought some fusible fleece batting. Sometimes, I do worry about my intelligence level, or at least common sense. I wish I would have taken photos of the disaster. I didn't read directions.

I placed my hot hot iron down flat onto the fabric with the fleece showing around the edges and it was smoking and smelly, and got stuck to my iron. So, in my frustration, I just flipped the piece over, then, and stuck my iron straight to the fusible fleece batting. It scorched it. Quickly!

I failed to read the whole - always place a damp cloth over your piece - part of the directions..........
Like I said, I wonder at times. How is it I learned to knit safely?

My two year old loves Goodnight Moon. Our book is falling apart. At night, we tell EVERYTHING goodnight, including the cow jumping over the moon. When I found Goodnight Moon fabric, I couldn't resist it. I had to buy it - although I'm afraid to cut it. It's too cute.




Also, thought I would share a few little views of my little sewing area. It's very humble, but it's my spot.





Totally random, but I bought these children's books in Beijing 10 years ago. I like them. Wish I could read them to my son.



A little kitty love:

Sewing

I have been working hard with my sewing machine.

I am learning a lot from many great online tutorials and helpful blogs, but still have much to learn. Things I have learned that people don't always tell you...

1. Don't watch the needle. Watch your material and where you are guiding it. You'd be surprised how long this took me to learn! My stitches are much much straighter now.
2. Change your sewing machine needle - frequently.
3. Using your iron that same amount of time you use your machine, or even more, makes the project look so much better. Press, press, press. (Well, I think people do say that a lot, but it just gets ignored because you don't really want to use your iron. But you better learn to love it.)

Oddly enough, I am really taken with zippers, and I want to be able to do those well. So, I ordered a bunch of zippers.



Great etsy shop for zippers

I am getting to the point where I feel like I know my machine well enough to venture out and take a class. I really want to get to a place where I can have my Etsy shop full of items. :D

Other things I've done is a few ornaments. I love felt. Here's my sweet little owl.



In the midst of learning to sew well, I was thinking about how helpful tutorials are. I am feeling inspired to do a few tutorials on here with knitting...... maybe soon!

Deck demolition

My life is really full with school, work, and having a family.... to the point I sometimes feel overwhelmed!! So, sometimes I wonder why I'm trying to blog - it's just something extra.... But I keep on trying to blog, so it must mean *something* to me.

Anyway, our house restoration has been very slow go lately. It takes this thing called money.... haha! We did, however, tear down our back deck. We will eventually rebuild it, but not this year. It has been rotten and dangerous to walk on since we moved in 4 or 5 years ago. It has gotten continually worse, and we were worried that a heavy snow would bring it all the way down this year. Whoever put this thing up.... they put green indoor-outdoor carpeting on it. So it just held in that nasty rain and weather, allowing it to sit against the wood.

Ta-da!!! It looks weird with that door kind of in mid-air. I wish I had a before picture - I guess I didn't ever feel like photographing it before. Probably because it was so hideous~!

Also, I've always had a sewing machine, and I really can't sew a straight line. Thanks to many tutorials and great blogs - I've started really practicing. I put in my first zipper the other night (crooked, but.... hey...) into a little zipper pouch I made for my two year old's markers. I was proud that it actually turned out halfway decent.