The Sewing Machine Broke!

So, until we can get it fixed, I am unable to do a lot of sewing unless I want to do it all by hand.


I am working on an embroidery sampler, though. In a month or so I will be teaching a friend and her 2 daughters how to do embroidery, so I am busy whipping up a sampler with a bunch of different stitches and techniques. I've found some really cool ones here. It's a really cool blog that has been very helpful in my embroidery endeavors.

From the Vaults

I found this hiding in the bottom of my fabric bin. It is completely handsewn, from about 3 or 4 years ago. There are only 6 of the blocks (4 blocks are shown here) so I think I'll dip into my scraps and see what I can find to finish it with. Very excited.

Mutants, Dentists, and Pilates/Yoga

I finished up a baby mutant sock monkey last night.

(it's supposed to be an ear on top, but since he's a mutant it could really be anything)

Shown with the keyboard for size reference.

I made a blue one for my son out of a pair of his old socks and he loves to hold it by the tail. And then he stuffs it into his mouth, which is how I know he likes the toys I make for him.

The mutant monkey has not, however, been in my son's grubby grasp. I will put him up for sale on Etsy for only $5 (plus $2 for shipping) if there is a request.

And I spent 3 hours at the dentist's office today, only to find out I need a root canal. So back I go on Thursday.

More Alphabet Magnet Goodness

I got more letters finished, and they all have magnets on them. As it turns out the magnet tape I got is nowhere near strong enough to hold them up from the inside, so the magnets are stuck to the outside. If I do any to sell I will need to get stronger magnets.

These are all the letters (and numbers) that I have finished so far. The blue letters (except for two 'e's, and the 'd') were done on the machine. (and are also upcycled from a woman's button-down shirt) There aren't very many of them because I discovered it was much more work than it was worth to try to manuever the tiny pieces of fabric on the machine. So now I use a quilting hoop and quilt many letters at a time, then just cut them out.

Alphabet magnets are so much fun. I need to hurry up and finish the whole alphabet.

Fabric Alphabet Magnets

The pictures for this project are kinda really crappy, sorry. I hope you can get an idea of how they look though.

I had made a few on the machine, but because they are so small it was practically impossible to machine sew all those tight curves and corners. So I put the fabric/batting sandwich into a quilting hoop and hand-sewed them. Now I just have to add the magnets (You may be able to see the holes I left for that) and sew them closed.

By the way, the pink fabric here is upcycled from a woman's button-down shirt and the batting in the middle is scraps from one of my mom's quilts.