Nate

Posted on August 2, 2011 by SewTara| 1 Comment

If you have a kid you know time just seems to fly by once they’re a part of your life.

If you have 2 kids you know that time flies by even faster than it did before. I can’t imagine the blur it must be if you have more!

I have photos and photos of Wesley for the first 2 years of his life. Then Nate came along and it got busier and taking photos was tougher. I was lugging around so much stuff I didn’t want to carry around that one more thing so I could *maybe* take a picture. Luckily my phone makes it easier to capture life’s little moments. Like Nate in the hot van on one of the hottest days of the summer singing “Jingy Bells”

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Posted in kid fun

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Just in time.

Posted on August 1, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

So I signed up and said I’d do this.

So here I am getting my first bit of homework in with less than an hour left in August 1st. Self portrait, complete with messy hair, jammies, sunburnt face, sewing and Netflix in the background.

I sense things will go well.

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Posted in neat spaces, sewing

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Whew! 50 cozies, a broken machine, sick children and an e-course.

Posted on July 29, 2011 by SewTara| 1 Comment

Boy have I had a busy last few days! I worked all weekend to get my giant order for 50 cozies ready by Monday.

I missed it by a day thanks to a broken sewing machine late, late Saturday night. The bobbin casing lifted up and I ended up pulling it out with the bobbin. I’ve *never* taken it out and had no idea how it went back in. I did some Googling and finally thought I had it right and started to sew again. Everything was fine going straight but once I switched to zig zag I bent a needle. Totally bent, it was a little U. I really should have taken a picture. So I tried again, took it all apart and started over. Yeah, then I broke a needle. I tried to use my old-reserved-for-juice-pouch-sewing machine but it felt all wrong. So I packed my broken favourite up and had to wait until Monday morning to take it in for some love.

Monday the kids were going to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa so I had a chance to get it fixed and rush home to finish the sewing. I still had the buttons to sew on when the children were returned. I went out to the driveway to greet my lovely children only to discover Nate was sick in the car, his clothes and seat were a mess. I thought he was just car sick but he was burning up. So I spent the entire evening on the couch ‘guggling’ a sick 2 year old and holding a bowl.

Luckily he went to bed early because I realized I was 2 cozies short on one of the designs so I had to do some late night creating. Tuesday morning Nate was pretty listless so I had time to sew the buttons on in the backyard while trying to keep Wesley active and quiet. The package went out Tuesday afternoon, not too bad considering everything.

I crashed Tuesday night, I think the adrenaline of the cozy fest left and I went to bed early, didn’t create a thing that evening! Wednesday it was onto my contribution for Make Art a Part (of your life), which was due Wednesday. So away I worked as much as possible during the day and into the night, sewing and photographing.

Sadly Thursday morning I awoke to a crying 4 year old saying his tummy hurt. Now I would have thought a day with my 4 year old on the couch would be easy. Oh it was exhausting! “Mommy, Nate’s being loud! He’s in my way! I can’t see the show!” repeat. Poor Nate was going stir crazy, like me, and it was bliss when I got Nate off for his nap and Wesley was still sleeping on the couch. There was a wonderful 30 minute overlap where they were both sleeping . . . ahhhh.

So it was slow going but I managed to get my part of the e-course done . . . again a day late. It’s a really fun little sewing project that I show you how to hand sew or take it up a notch and machine stitch. It’s really open-ended leaving loads of ways to personalize it and make it your own. Go check out the info here, registration opens August 4th.

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Posted in online class stuff, sewing

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Protected: Make Art A Part Of Your Life

Posted on July 28, 2011 by SewTara| Enter your password to view comments.

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My Spoonflower fail

Posted on July 28, 2011 by SewTara| 6 Comments

First off hello to all the new people from Wild Olive! Take a look around. I felt the need to post my last post, not remembering it was giveaway day, usually I’m much more bright and cheery. So pardon the inspiring deep thoughts. On to some fun?

Note: These aren’t terrible pictures, honest, keep reading.

I love Spoonflower, the idea is so great and all the lovely creations are even greater. While clicking around the last time I was there I got to thinking, ‘hey I can probably do this!’. So I uploaded a square of my blog background design, the pink honeycombs. I thought it would be really neat to make something using that. See the lovely pink honeycomb print on the fabric? . . . . Yeah, me either.

Guess there’s still some things I have to learn about graphics. I did go back and played around with some of the settings and I think I’ve successfully darkened it. The test swatch will tell me. Hurry up snail mail!

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Posted in fun finds, sewing

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On second thought . . .

Posted on July 26, 2011 by SewTara| 24 Comments

I was driving alone in the car the other day, a rarity, and I realized maybe I’ve been to hard on myself. I’ve felt pretty unproductive since school let out. I had high expectations that I would be able to catch up on things, and get the To Dos to done and set some things into motion that are still only just ideas. July is almost over and I don’t feel that I’ve caught up, or gotten ahead.

Then driving I started to think how it was a year ago, almost exactly, when my shop went viral for a pillow I made mostly as a joke. I spent August recovering from that.

Then on labour day weekend things got insane again for my Caffienating cup cozy. I spent the fall and winter recovering from that.

And I realized all the things I’ve accomplished in the past year.

– I balanced being a mom, teacher and crafty blogger/shop owner
– I survived hundreds of sales in my shop & been on the front page of Etsy
– I’ve learned how to screen print (from building a screen to washing out ink with my self made ‘pressure washer’)
– my mad self taught sewing skills have grown a bunch
– I’ve started taking much better photos, thank you natural light
– I edit photos in the blink of an eye, thank you Picnik (take that winter in Canada with few hours a day of sunlight!)
– I’ve introduced myself to Photoshop and we’re getting to know each other
– I own a 1″ button machine and know how to use it
– I’ve made new friends at my local postal office, fabric stores, online and in person

So I think really, I’m not doing too bad after all.

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Posted in cozy, sewing

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Using scraps, adding products and making a display.

Posted on July 22, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

I made a pile of fabric scrap magnets. Some of the fun ones are gone already, but I thought I’d share the fun little display ideas we came up with. At the craft show on Friday all my little magnets were in a dish together and sticking to each other whenever anyone took a look at them. Luckily I was with a creative friend and she came up with a great idea. Then we both went home and made one! Hers is way better though . . . her kid is quietly contained in her belly so she has more time than I do.

Joanna’s idea was to take a cookie tin lid and Modge Podge some fabric on the inside for a nice backing. I’ll probably add some piping or something around the inside.

I whipped mine up really quickly and wasn’t sure how permanent it was, or if she got to making one, so it’s really easy to take this one apart. Which is good if you need something like this but only have 1 cookie tin and need it later . . . or something.

Using a smaller cookie tin lid I cut a circle of fabric and wrapped it around it and secured it in place with a circle of cardboard and an elastic for good measure.

It would stand up nicely on a little plate stand or one of those book display easels. They were a great addition to my cup cozies and bags and totes. Small, cute and inexpensive a lot of people picked one up as they paid and added it to their purchase.

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Posted in DIY, repurposing, scraps, tutorial-ish

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Yumminess!

Posted on July 19, 2011 by SewTara| 5 Comments

Want your own? Head over to My Girl Thursday for all the details on how to make your very own version of my amazing guacamole! Seriously, it’s amazing.

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My busy last few days.

Posted on July 18, 2011 by SewTara| 4 Comments

Whew, prescription what a crazy time. I spent most of last week staying up waaaay too late making things and getting organized for my table on Friday and Saturday. Friday morning was all busy with getting ready, cialis taking the kids to the sitter (which we were out of practice on) picking up my friend and getting up before the show. It was a hot hot day and we were thankful for being in the air conditioned library for the day.

I went home Friday night and like a mad crafty woman stayed up until 1:30am making some more things. Most notably this cutie.

Saturday was absolutely perfect. There was a lot of scary talk on Friday about how hot and humid it was going to be but it turned out to be beautiful. I decided to be brave and move out of tent sharing with Joanna and set up beside her. While my table was in the sun at times, view I was under the shade of the tree branches all day.

Between talking to other vendors, who were such great people, and chatting away with people who came to my table I was sewing coin purses on frames for both days. My poor fingers! In the 10 hours I spend sitting at my table for 2 days I got 4 finished. I also sold 2!

The 2 days were filled with such awesomeness – great weather, sales, my friend, compliments, pictures for SNAP, media attention from the local TV station, live music from local bands, some great food and mostly just awesome people stopping by to support local artists. I had a great time. Thanks to the organizers Broken Arts for all the fun.

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Posted in cozy, neat spaces, vintage

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In case you haven’t heard . . .

Posted on July 13, 2011 by SewTara| 7 Comments

I have a table at a craft show Friday and Saturday and I’ve had this apron lying around for a while. So the other night I decided to do something with it.

I raided my scraps and hand cut some letters. Then I used heat and bond and ironed them on.
I made sure to keep cute little red riding hood intact for the I.

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Posted in scraps