Some days

EToday the University of Memphis beat the University of Mississippi Rebels in football for the first time in a VERY long time. Our fair city hosted many new friends and the whole town was finally rooting for the tigers together without hardwood being involved. 

My oldest daughter, ran the Lebonhuer Pumpkin Run 5k and came in 3rd in the age group (even though she accident it aged herself up during registration!) and then went to finish swim practice! (For those with kids, this is a great race to go to and play while your family member(s) runs. They have a bounce house, face painting, snacks and music while the race is going on AND it supports our awesome Children's hospital.)

While Annie was at swim practice the little girls and I went to the park and played. We met some kind boys who helped the girls on the spinner, they both conquered the GIANT spider web, Dill pushed Georgia on the swings and both of them expressed clearly how tired they were getting from such an active day! 

Then we went home, made some baby gifts for our impending cousin, finished up a pair of pants for Georgia, got nails done, napped, played and did this...

For all my "togetherness" as a mom, I'm constantly pushed to up my game, stay on my toes and be reminded that I am human! Dilly has seen all of the Tiger blue around the city, she watched the game and saw kids with blue face paint, and then stumbled upon in our swim meet pouch that we keep in Annie's swim bag. Complete with sharpies. And guess who became an "awesome blue tiger"? Yup. And I have to admit, I was VERY impressed with the speed in which she did it! 

All in all, fall break has been a wonderful week. I've sewed, baked, cooked, organized, cleaned, played and snuggled with my family. It's my love language and I loved getting to "speak" it to my children. I hope we made some memories they'll cherish. 

Crafting??

HI have a large space for my craft area. Larger than most in fact. Why is it that it looks like such a mess?!?

For some reason it constantly looks like someone has dumped tons of extra stuff everywhere!!! 

One of my biggest goals for this summer is getting this area cleaned up, getting back on top of my business and repair sewing and maybe even making time for some fun sewing...

I'll keep you posted. (Better than I have been.)

Hope your summer has been going well!!!

-Rachel

A giant mess

There's a HUGE mess in my old dining room. And I'm so grateful for it. This giant mess exists because I have a new sewing machine, a new cutting mat and SEVERAL new and open orders to do. 

You know I spend a lot of time worrying about money, my children and how I'm going to get it all done, and sometimes things have a way of telling me what should happen. 

My good friend, Shelley, is the director of the preschool where my children attend. She invited me to come do a fundraiser for the school and take orders for embroidery and monogramming at the school. BEST IDEA EVER!! It helps spread the word about my little business, gives me new opportunities to stretch my sewing legs and an easy way to increase my income. All good things!

So now, here I sit, surrounded by a huge mess. And my babies are happy. And my daughter's foot is healing. And my son is home from basketball practice and is mostly helpful. 

Life is alright. 

Pinterest Made me do it: Fabric Bracelet

I have so much scrap fabric, this was a great destash project!

Below you will see, my supplies and my ipad. The screen shows that I had already gone to the pin link. This was on my "sewing 101" board on my Pinterest page.

The pin is for fabric bracelets made by braiding. I saw a friend wearing a bunch of them a week ago and I really wanted one of my own. This was a great opportunity to try it! The pin leads to a tutorial for 12 different versions, one includes using a button or bead to anchor it with, which is why the buttons are out. But I didn't end up using that pattern. I picked out some fabric I like and went from there.

Step 1 was pretty simple, lay out and measure your fabric into the strips needed. I only needed 2 strips for the pattern I picked, so away I went!

 Step 2, for which I apologize that I do not have a picture, was to braid the two strands together. But, I think my project turned out quite nicely. (So well in fact, that my daughter stole my bracelet to wear to school!)

Sorry for the terrible picture, but I promise I will get better and the bracelet was quite lovely and soft! I assure you it is a super cute bracelet and the pin was a lot of fun to make!

Happy pinning!

Checklist Thursday: The Everything Sewing Box

For Hanukkah, I got my daughter a complete sewing kit. Most people would probably just go to JoAnn's or Hancock Fabrics, find a ready-made kit and be on their way....but not me!

Sew, here it is, my checklist for the perfect Sewing Box...(for an 11 year old)

1. A box. My mother and grandmother had those really cool, old school wicker baskets...that no one makes anymore. I bought a curvy padded sewing basket from JoAnn Fabric and Gifts. Here's a link to a similar basket.

2. Scissors. And not just any scissors. At a minimum, there will be 3 different kinds.
Fabric scissors or dressmaker shears: These are good for cutting large amounts of fabric, stabilizer for applique and other fabric needs. They will quickly become dull however, if you allow them to be used for other things. Typically the blade is longer  (4-5" or more) and the handles are angled so that the blades stay flat on the table or cutting surface.

Embroidery scissors: These are very small and very sharp. They are best used for cutting small threads or little pieces of fabric in an applique. It is important that these scissors are strong and that they are kept sharp.

Rotary cutter: This is a circular blade on a wheel with a handle. It is designed so that you can cut a consistent, straight line without stopping. Again, the blade needs to be kept sharp and the rotary cutter should be stored safely away from small children, as it is easier than the other two scissor types, to cut yourself.

3. Needles. There are three kinds of needles that should be stored in a sewing box to call it a basic sewing box.

Machine needles: There are lots of brands and lots of sizes of machine needles out there. It is important that if your machine only uses a particular brand of sewing machine needle that you get that brand. Otherwise, I prefer the singer brand sewing machine needles. In terms of what size needle to get, that depends on your fabric/project. The project determines the needle size. this means that with lighter weight fabrics you will use a finer needle gauge and with heavier fabrics, you will use a larger needle gauge.

Hand sewing needles: These also come in different sizes, different guages and different lengths, they are all intended for different projects, fabrics and threads.

Head needles or straight pins, whatever name you want to use, either way, these are the straight needs that you use to pin your fabric as you work. It is a tedious and annoying part of any project, but oh, so necessary. 

4. Thread; comes in as many colors and thicknesses as you can imagine!

5. Cutting board, any style will do. But make sure you include one. These are very useful when using a rotary cutter. Most are self-healing, which means you can use them over and over again without them loosing their shape. It's handy to have so that the rotary cutter does not cut the table or some other surface.

If I think of other things, I will be sure to come back and add them.

If you think I left something out, feel free to add it to the comments!

Happy Sewing

Not quite finished

This is a shot of my quilt a few days before it was finished. It's been so much fun making it and I can not wait to get to the next project.

Dilly baby!

It has taken me waaaay to long to post but, baby Dilly has arrived!

On June 2nd at 12:37am we welcomed Lillian Daphne Kannady as baby number 4! She is such a beauty, brown hair and blue eyes.

Aaand, mommy's finally gotten back to crafting! I made 2 burp cloths for a a friend, a changing pad for Dilly, a placemat (with 5 more to come), and I'm in the process of finishing a quilt!

I also went over to a new sewing store here called "sewMemphis". The shop is super cute and they're going to hang one of my sew-nifty prep boards in their store and help sell them!

Geoff and Jonas had a great time with baseball and got to have a win for the last game. Annie recently had a swim meet and dropped time in two of her events. Lissy is cruising and celebrated her first birthday on June 18!!!

What a busy time these past 3 weeks have been for us all!