sewing — Page 2

Mabel On The Road

March 13, 2013 at 9:03 am by Claudia

I leave in just over 4 weeks to work on Twelfth Night in Hartford. Lots to do between now and then: prepping the garden, prepping the script (when I get it) and researching everything that needs to be researched, more items to be finished for the Etsy shop, perhaps finishing my bed quilt. There are other projects that I might not be able to work on here, but perhaps I could take them with me? Which brings me to my lightbulb moment:

featherweight

Miss Mabel, the ultimate in lightweight portable sewing machines, can go with me! After all, she is a Featherweight. I spoke to her about it and she seems excited. What girl doesn’t like to travel?

When I’m on the road working there are days that are packed and busy with no time for anything but work. But there are also days, depending on the rehearsal schedule, where I have big chunks of free time. I’d much rather be doing something productive than simply killing time or surfing endlessly on the web.

Featherweightmoda

I found these charm packs of Moda fabric in a box in my Craft Closet. I’d completely forgotten about their existence. I bought two of these packs when I was in San Diego 4 years ago, no doubt planning to do something with them while I was there. Since I made two quilt tops during that 6 month period, I was on a roll. Anyway, I obviously didn’t get to them, so I’m thinking I’ll take them with me.

designwall

I put some of them up on the mini design wall the other day. Hmmm. Any ideas?

sunmaggierabbit-670x446

I’m also taking this project with me.

I’m excited at the thought of traveling with my Mabel! Her lovely presence will instantly warm up any temporary housing. She’ll bring a touch of class to the most mundane of spaces.

Laptop. Camera with lenses. Books to read. Mabel. Check.

Wait a minute. I haven’t named my camera. Suggestions?

Gosh, I haven’t received my emails of this post – Feedburner seems to be acting up again.

Happy Wednesday.

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The Best Laid Plans

October 17, 2012 at 8:55 am by Claudia

Gosh, the comments and suggestions on yesterday’s post about my problem with paper were so helpful. And funny. Clearly, some of you suffer from the same problem. But some of you are very organized (I am in awe) and generously offered many helpful tips. I plan to implement some of them right away.

In fact, I had planned to being shredding yesterday afternoon. Don was in the city and I seem to get more done when he’s not here. But before you shred, I said to myself, you must replace Mabel’s Drip Pan Pad (a task that I have postponed for 3 weeks.) Featherweight’s have a drip pan with a felt pad that, according to Nova, collects grease and oil and is responsible for a lot of that musty smell. You can order the pads from Nova.

I opened up the Mabel’s bottom and discovered a nasty old drip pan pad, which promptly was put in a plastic bag and dumped in the trash. I took the drip pan outside and removed all the oil that had accumulated there.

There it is. The other stuff is dried glue. And now for the felt pad:

I glued it to the drip pan, put the pan back on Mabel’s bottom and the musty smell is gone.

Ta dah!

Proud of myself, I thought that I had better exit the studio and start shredding. As I cleaned up my little mess, my eyes lit on a favorite piece of barkcloth. (I ♥ barkcloth, and that means ‘love’ not ‘heart’ – don’t get me started.)

No, I said, look away. You must start shredding.

But it’s such a pretty piece of barkcloth – part of an old set of curtain panels. I’ve had it a long time.

I’ve been wanting to change up the skirt around the sewing machine table. Maybe a solid color eventually, but I wondered if I could cut around some of the holes in the barkcloth remnant and make a skirt?

No. Stop. I should shred.

Before I knew it, I found myself measuring and cutting and looking for my velcro stash and it was if I had been taken over by aliens and I plugged in Mabel and, well, here you go:

I wanted something a bit bolder in here. I love all my turquoise and pink but I needed a dash of bolder prettiness. If things start getting too matchy-matchy around here, I get uneasy. Hey, it’s only velcro…if I find something I like better, I can change it. And Mabel, trusty little wonder that she is, did all the stitching.

Now I’m thinking the chair needs to be recovered, but if you remember, I used that chair to fix something in the bedroom. And while I was standing on it, it fell over and I stepped through the woven back. It’s better if I don’t repeat the words that came out of my mouth. So maybe the chair simply needs to be replaced. I don’t know.

And suddenly it was late in the afternoon and I heard Scout pacing around downstairs and I realized that she needed to be fed and I needed some hot chocolate so that I could check in on the blog comments and ….

The shredding never got done.

Happy Wednesday.

Wednesday: a Potpourri

October 3, 2012 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Tons of rain yesterday.

You don’t want to see the massive amount of wet leaves in my yard.

I don’t want to see them.

Nova replaced my cord. Look: the foot pedal actually reaches the floor! Thanks, Nova! Mabel thanks you, too. I’d love to start sewing something but I’m too busy doing this:

My wrist is a wee bit sore. I just ordered some more yarn. More scarves coming.

This is the vintage fabric I found the day we bought Mabel. I love these vintagey flowery fabrics. There’s about 3 yards of it and the fabric has a substantial weight. Hmmm. What should I make?

Part of the mantel in the studio. I love these framed mottos. The graphics are fabulous. I found the one on the left and the one on the right was given to me by friend, Lori, owner of Vignettes in San Diego. The chair was meant for my dollhouse but the scale is off – it’s too big. Darn. The dog is part of a salt and pepper shaker set. Alas, I only have one. Do I need to say anything about the McCoy?

I moved my little piano up to the studio and I rather like it here. I’ve even caught Lambchop playing a tune or two. She’s quite good.

Thank you so much for sharing your own particular autumn with us. I loved reading everyone’s comments yesterday. And I really love threaded comments! Being able to respond to your comment on the comment page and sometimes get a dialogue going makes me happy. I’ve installed a plugin that lets you, the commenter, know if I’ve responded so I hope you’re enjoying that. If you ask a question, I’ll do my best to answer it right there.

A note or two on commenting: Many of you subscribe to MHC and sometimes you comment by responding on the actual post that has been emailed to you. That’s fine, though I don’t always receive those comments. If you can, I’d really love it if you could come here to leave your comment so that everyone can read it. And you can’t be entered in a giveaway by responding that way. You have to click on the post, come to the blog, and leave your comment here.

But here’s my main point:

When I see a new post from a favorite blogger in a reader, I always click over to the actual blog post. Yes, I know it’s an extra click. Here’s part of the reason I do that. If that blogger has ads on her blog – ads she is hoping to earn some income from – she needs me to visit her blog. She’ll get nothing from me reading every post in my reader. Since I’ve started running ads, I have realized how vitally important this is, not only for me, but for other bloggers. And I want to support my fellow bloggers.

I have ads on this blog that provide a small income for me that I really need in these precarious times. So, if you feel inclined, occasionally stop by my blog and other blogs and visit the actual post. I’m not talking about clicking on the ads. I would never tell you to do that. Just stop by for a visit. That’s all you have to do. It takes but a moment but it can make a big difference in that blogger’s quality of life.

I thank you and I am grateful for each and every one of you.

Happy Wednesday,

Mabel On The Road

The Best Laid Plans

Wednesday: a Potpourri

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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