Setting a goal

Posted on April 28, 2018 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Every year in November I participate in Make It Indie in Cobourg. It’s a fantastic show, great vendors, huge turn out, wonderful crowd, I absolutely love it. I’ve decided this year I’m going to pick up this display shelf I saw at Michael’s and fill it with oodles of my scrappy wallets! It’s no secret that I love Michelle Patterns and I especially love making my scrappy wallets from one of her now retired patterns.

I went ahead and ordered a pile of zippers for the occasion. I’ve been getting them for a few years now from Zipit Zippers on Etsy. It’s the best value and quality I’ve found. Being in Canada it’s tricky to find selection and reasonable shipping rates (why is it all so hard for us!?). They’re YKK and she has a great variety of colours.

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I improvised a bit and made a shirt.

Posted on September 10, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I made a shirt again! I used the Tara Tee pattern from this Etsy shop. I’ve made tees with it before, and even made a sleeve a bit longer on one. This time I wanted a long sleeve version so I just sort of extended what I had going on for sleeves. They fit pretty snug down near the bottom but I actually like it that way.
But I am making a note to self to change the angle to one less drastic for the next long sleeved try.

Pardon the silly expression it’s hard taking posed photos and posing and such.

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Cream Cheese Pancakes

Posted on August 29, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

Well I’ve been on a mission to go hard core Keto lately and eating very low carb.  These pancakes are cream cheese based and really delicious.

It makes 4 pancakes which you can eat all at once or split into two servings.  They can also be poured really thinly to make crepes or put in the waffle maker to make fluffy waffles.

2 oz cream cheese

2 large eggs

1/2 scoop whey protein

1 tsp artificial sweetener

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix ingredients in a blender or with an immersion mizer.  Blend until smooth, wait a few seconds to let the bubbles settle.  Pour 1/4 of the batter into a pan, cook as you would traditional pancakes, cook about 1-2 minutes per side until golden.

Garnish with a few berries, whipped cream or sugar free syrup if you’re watching carbs.

While this particular recipe isn’t from The Keto Diet App I have made a lot from her book Quick Keto and her free online recipes.

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Coin purse blitz!

Posted on April 11, 2017 by SewTara| 1 Comment


Been making a lot of these too.


I ordered a bunch of frames in bulk and I worked to tweak a pattern I have used in the past with different shaped frames.  I did a few test runs and have come up with a pattern that works really well.

I’ve been posting them on my Instagram as I go along. I’m up to about a dozen now. I plan on adding them to my shop and seeing how it goes, competition on Etsy is tough for coin purses, pouches and purse like items.

I tend to sell this sort of items well in person, which is where I like to take them. Make people smile with the fabric choices and I get to talk to people about what I create.

Funny side note, my new favourite pj’s can be seen in the background of many of those Instagram shots.

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Making spree!!

Posted on April 8, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I’ve gone a bit crazy recently making these scrappy pouches.

I broke out some of my really fun fabrics and pieced together some fun pouches.  I have so much fabric and so many scraps I made all of these with what I have on hand.  The denim is left over from other projects or repurposed from old jeans.

The red one is from a pattern I picked up on Etsy from Imazzpatterns.

I did some tweaking and made some changes to come up with the multicoloured design.  I played around with the length and the size of the scrappy pieces.

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Day 9 of recovery

Posted on April 6, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

So this has been me for a while, 9 days to be exact.

I had the hardware removed out of my ankle on March 28th. It wasn’t quite as advertised. The surgeon told me I could walk out of the surgery and it hasn’t been quite that easy. I did take 2 steps that day but mostly used my crutches. I ditched them in the morning and I’d been hobbling about since.

It was foot up for 48-72 hours so that was fun. Lots of portable crafting.

I was supposed to go back to work Monday, but then because the pain was bad I thought Tuesday. But THEN because of the nature of my classroom I’m going to extend it yet again and go back Monday. I think I’ll be ok then, except I’ll have to wear slippers because putting a shoe on moves and squishes the bandages and only my slippers seem to be ok.

Next Wednesday they’ll take out the staples and unwrap it so I should be good for footwear Thursday and hey, it’s a short week with the long weekend coming. In the meantime I’m getting loads of things finished and created!

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Tried a new craft, glassblowing.

Posted on April 5, 2017 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Instead of flowers this Valentine’s Day my man got us a glassblowing class where we made flowers!

It was really neat. The process is so mind blowing. I get sewing, you just put two things together and add more things. Even out of a need – clothing, blankets or whatever. Knitting and crochet hurts my brain but again I get how it came to be. Glassblowing boggles my mind. The oven is over 2000 degrees, things have to be heated up just so. The glass has to cool down slowly over hours and hours so it doesn’t explode or crack. It’s just zany. I have no idea how this was invented, pursued and successful. You can *die* doing it, or get seriously injured.

So we went to Playing With Fire for this wonderful adventure. Here’s their Facebook page.

Those are the little small crushed pieces of glass we dipped out hot ball of lava class into to colour our flowers. The outside colour is put on first, then the outer. I put green for the outside and purple for the inside.

The rod can get really hot so they hold your hands back a bit. I don’t know why you just get these arm sleeve things, it’s your fingers that would get toasty if you got close enough. Then we had to take them to another oven, where you wear special UV blocking glasses because if you look at it it’s like looking at the sun! You add more glass there and then bring it over to a bench where the lovely ladies turned it and we had to pull on the glass, it was kinda like taffy, and a bit unnerving.

My boyfriend was better at it, less fearful and stronger. I was hesitant to get right in there which makes sense as you’re brain is telling you there’s danger! While it’s still really red and hot it does ‘cool’ quite quickly and gets harder to pull.

I love how his looked like a starfish while he was making it.

Then we had to do the stem making part. We pulled the flower head straight from the bottom and it created the stem. It seemed so fragile. I twisted my stem into a curly bit while Adam left his straight.

It was also very strange to work on a project and not really know what it was going to look like when you are finished. It’s still glowing red hot while you’re working so the colours don’t show. If by chance something does break during the making or in the kiln cooling down then they just toss it back into the oven and melt the glass down to reuse as a molten lump.

They were about to make a vase as we were leaving and invited us to stay and watch if we wanted. It was so cool. It all takes two people, again making it unbelievable this craft exists, and not only do you move around a big long stick with molten glass on it you also blow into that stick! It was really neat to see.

Once they’re shaping it, spinning it on the bench where I pulled my flower shape, they rub the outside with old pages of the newspaper, which sizzle, blacken and spark while they do it.

Again, it’s wacky but beaitiful.

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I went to Sweden!

Posted on January 25, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

And never shared it it seems.  Well I did on Instagram and such but not all in one place.  My boyfriend was speaking at a conference so he was flown there, had a hotel for a week and some fun activities.

I tagged along as a +1. I just had to buy my ticket and ask for a few days off, which at the time seemed like no big deal.  However when I got back and was faced with some credit card bills and a pay cheque missing some days it was sort of a big deal, but hey, worth it!

It was far colder than I expected (says the Canadian).  Apparently it was unseasonally cold.  My boyfriend was there 2 years ago at the same time of year and it was much more fall like vs the sharp cold we were experiencing.

Yeah, there’s pictures of me with mailboxes, I love noticing the little differences while traveling.  We were very close to Denmark so spent a day in Copenhagen, just a quick train ride from Malmo, Sweden.

Of course I had to do some creative shopping, found a fabric store in Denmark.  Not understanding the exchange rates fully, or having access to data to check on it, probably didn’t help with the previously mentioned credit card bill!

This was a catalogue for a hobby store we found in the mall in Hylie.  It’s an amazing looking mall made with this great curvy shaped glass in all sorts of brilliant colours.

I picked up some fun fabrics there and in Copenhagen too.

Other things I settled for taking pictures of because I knew I couldn’t afford everything I wanted.  Well I didn’t think I could but wasn’t 100% clear on how the currencies exchanged with the Canadian dollar. Figured it was best to be modest with my spending.  Kinda sorta.

We had a fancy dinner with the mayor of the town in the town hall, which was built in 1500 something.  It’s so crazy coming from such a young country to be around things that old.  Gravestones older than my entire country.  So neat.  We found a neat little shop full of handmade goods.  Again I resisted buying it all up and just took some pictures instead.

There were a lot of really wonderful design elements all over.  We found neat dishes and house ware items in various stores.  As well as the souvenir shops being full of things with Scandinavian design featured.

I brought back some goofy stuff from a store that seemed to be sort of like it IKEA was a dollar store kind of thing.  Mostly it was candy to try with my kids once I got home.

The day we landed the first place we stopped was a convenience store in the train station.  I saw Flow magazine AND their Mindfulness Workbook I really wanted to pick up but couldn’t find at home in Canada.  I grabbed them up and paid right away.  Then when I had access to wifi I tried to figure out what they cost me.  I’m still not sure because the numbers keep saying it was about $90 and I feel sick to my stomach if that is the case so I just sort of choose to not really accept that and remain blissfully unaware of what I spent.

It was a quick 5 day trip but was a great experience and other than breaking the bank and missing my kids I have no regrets! I added 2 countries to my travel list and had a blast. My fingers are crossed he speaks in other cool places this year!

 

 

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Oh wow, hi!

Posted on January 22, 2017 by SewTara| Leave a comment

I got a really sweet email this morning. A lovely lady named Sara read my blog for the first time and was really struck by my post about my Mom. She wanted to reach out and send me happy thoughts and sunshine from Mexico, it was very lovely.

I see my Mom every other day sort of thing.  We play cards, hang out, I help her with her laundry and such.  She’s still at the hospital waiting for a place in an assisted living sort of thing.  It’ll be nice when she has her placement as it’s nearer to my house and practically on the same street at my school.  I’ll be able to go have lunch with her and easily have quick visits.

Everyday I am thankful that we have more time together and grateful for the recovery she has made.  We nearly lost her.  She still can’t speak but you’d be surprised how irrelevant that can seem, at most times! Of course there’s still some frustration for her, and me when I feel lost and can’t help, but we have each other and that’s good enough for me.

I’ve been so busy lately and dealing with such big issues (ankle break, my Mom, return to work, trying to divorce settle) that it’s been hard to even create let alone write about it here. I find it’s easy to just do quick things on my Instagram or Facebook Page instead. I think a lot of creative people are migrating this way.

Oh and smaller than the big issues I had a really crummy start to 2017 and was battling many ever changing plagues.  It finally settling into pink eye last week, which left me at home contageous for a few days.  Not fun.

Now it’s report card time so I’m busy with actual work work when we’re not renovating that is!

Currently we’re in the process of renovating the basement to make a bedroom for me and my wonderful man. However, that’s also where my craft space is so it’s a bit out of order right now.  We had the kids help since we’re shuffling bedrooms and adding people to the house we thought it would be better to involve them.

We started letting them go nuts smashing the wall (which would have been easier to just cut into large pieces but demolition is funner) and I figured safety glasses should have been a thing.  This was my son’s idea for makeshift ‘safety glasses’.

My sewing machine is under there.  And my supplies are all over the place covered in various tarps and sheets.  Dry walling is messy!

In fun news, remember when I joined roller derby?! I was all wobbily and Bambi-esque and such? Scared, unable to really skate and working so hard!? Well now I’m Captain of my team!!! Well it’s a role for two so we’re Co-Captains but still! It’s so amazing. It makes me use many exclamation marks.

This is from last year’s team photo shoot, it was my first time on skates since my break and without gear! It was a little weird, we so seldom skate without being fully geared up and I was a touch hesitant but all was good. Luckily, I broke my ankle at temporary practice facility we were using last year so I think that really helps with my mental state too while I’m back at it.  I might be traumatized passing The Spot.

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Oooh another pretty pattern and it’s on sale!

Posted on December 30, 2016 by SewTara| Leave a comment

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It’s no secret I love Michelle’s Patterns and she’s got a fun new one out and it’s on sale for the weekend! It’s the Peony Pen Pouch and I love the details, especially on the bottom.
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Since I’m off work for another week and a bit I’m going to actual make this thing!
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