Miss Loreen's Schoolhouse

Weekend of Sewing! Yippee!!

I'm excited that I have another weekend of sewing.  In a few weeks, I'll be working on Saturdays so I'm enjoying it while I can.  Seems like by the end of the work day, most times I'm just too pooped out to start a project so a few weekends of sewing is quite a treat!

Let's see.  I'm working on some free standing lace ornaments done on my embroidery sewing machine.  While I say I'm working on them, actually the sewing machine is working on them.  I just have to change the bobbins!!  Each ornament takes about 1 1/2 bobbins.  Imagine that!  The thread in the bobbin has to be the same as the thread on top which is 40 weight rayon or polyester.  In this case I bought two big spools of white polyester when I was in Houston.  I think they are about 5500 yards so I don't have to change the thread on top.  Unfortunately, I only have three empty bobbins so I have to stop and wind bobbins every so often.  What a trudgery, huh?  hahaha  (that's my way of saying LOL)

I have posted a picture of the first set of lace ornaments.  They are done on wash away stabilizer but I haven't washed it away yet.  I'm going to wait until I have a bunch finished and soak them all at the same time.  The lace ornaments are from Anita Goodesign (www.anita-goodesign.com) and are called "Holiday Lace".  Funny, the picture on the front of the package has the ornaments in colors that really aren't all that appealing.  Check out my picture to see them in white.  Much nicer.  Oops, gotta go change a bobbin.............

Happy sewing,
loreen

Caspian Update

Finally! I've uploaded a couple of new pictures of Caspian.  One is Caspian all tuckered out.  He fell asleep while he and his mother were strolling around the neighborhood.  The other picture I took.  Can you tell Caspian wanted to get going and not stop for posing? 

Housework day here.  What a drag but the place did look better after I was done!  The kids' bathroom has a new coat of paint.  It looks great!  Had to get it done before my son comes home for Thanskgiving.  He can't be around any harsh fumes or chemicals.  When he goes back to school, I'm going to paint his bedroom so it will be all done and smell nice before he comes home for Christmas. 

Now onto important things like sewing!

Happy sewing,
loreen

Fabrics, Designers & Patterns

I've added a new page to my blog to provide you with information about some of the latest fabric collections, the designers and any patterns that look like fun.  You can get to this page by clicking at the top where it says "Newest Fabrics & Designs".  On the left side of my blog, click on where it says "What's New in Fabrics, Designers & Patterns. 

I chose Quilting Treasures' two collections from artist J. Wecker Frisch.  I met Janet in Houston and she was delightful to talk with.  Here's a sample from her newest collection.  Read all about it on my new Fabrics page.

 

Happy sewing!!
loreen

Getting Ready for the Holidays

So how are you coming along with your holiday sewing & gifts?  I'm doing ok....better than last year so I guess that's an improvement!  I'm trying to keep things much simplier than previous years to keep the stress level a bit lower and my own expectations more realistic.  I've been working on my son's quilt top and that is coming along fine.  I have two apron panels left to make for chef daughter and no idea what to make for my other daughter.  I'm sure something will come to me soon!

Today I need to work on some samples for teaching.  The classes won't start until January but I'd really like to be a few months ahead of schedule.  One project is a once a month class so my goal is to have January, February and March classes done by the end of December.  I can do that!!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  My son will be flying home for a few days.  I'm looking forward to his visit.  Of course, we'll have a big Thanksgiving dinner. One year we decided to take a little holiday for the Thanksgiving weekend.  I thought it was a great idea since I wouldn't have to cook.  For many years all of my kids were working in the restaurant business in one form or another and they had to work Thanksgiving day so we would have our dinner once everyone was home.  This particular time everyone had that time off so a little holiday seemed like a good idea.  Off we went to the east coast of Florida, staying right on the Atlantic.  We had a great time but had to head back home on Saturday as everyone was working on Sunday, except me.  Imagine my surprise when all of my kids expected I would make our usual big Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday for when they finished work that day!! Wow!  Silly of me to think I'd have a cook free holiday!  From that time forward, my kids refuse to go anywhere for Thanksgiving as they don't want to miss my "famous" stuffing.

And I thought no one was paying attention to family traditions!

Happy sewing,
loreen

Progress at Last!

Check out my two new project albums.  I have one for the pillow cases I have just finished as gifts for Christmas for my family.  These pillow case were easy AND quick to do!  The hardest part was picking out fabrics from my stash.  I'm trying very hard this year to whiddle down the "stash".  I think of it as recycling!  I know, I know, I haven't made anything with these fabrics before but I've had some of them for so long that I've handled, ironed, folded and organized these fabrics so many times that it does feel like I'm recycling them.   I'm sure there are more than a few of you who know exactly what I'm talking about!  I have added little captions to each of the pictures to give you a little infomation.

When my oldest daughter got past her teen years and started taking an interest in my thimble collection, she decided she wanted to collect thimbles as well.  Problem was that she thought she could just pick through mine!  Wouldn't that be an easy way to collect thimbles...........cheaper too!!  Wherever we went, we would look for thimbles for her collection and somehow, I seemed to be the only person at the cash register at checkout time.  Then, because I'm a big tea drinker, I started collecting a few teapots here and there and low and behold, so did my daughter.  Imagine that!  The point to this story is that I've decided that since she is a pastry chef, I am going to make an apron for her of every panel apron that I find.  An apron collection of her very own!  Too bad I didn't think of this during my recent trips to St. Louis, Nashville and Houston but better late than never!  Check out my new photo album called "Aprons" to see the first one I completed the other day.  I lined it with a fabric from the same fabric collection as the apron panel and using the same lining fabric added some ruffles to the bottom and top and embroidered her name on with my new fancy, dancy sewing/embroidery machine.  I digitized her name in my digitizing software in no time at all and used a blendable thread.  Cute, isn't it!!

I hope you look forward to whatever new additions I make to the Apron album as I go in seach of new apron panels.  I have found another panel and hope to work on it next weekend.  I'm pleased that I got as much done this past weekend as I did.  I feel a great sense of accomplishment.  What a nice way to start out my week......did some sewing and made Christmas presents at the same time, mostly from fabric I already had.  Can't beat that combination!!

My friend Will brought me back some thimbles from jolly old England to add to my collection!  What a guy!!

Happy sewing,
loreen

More on Houston Quilt Festival/Market

I've posted a few more pictures from Houston along with those that were in some of my blogs.  Just go to the photo libraries and click on "Houston".  Hopefully, I will have a chance this week to fill in some captions to give you a better idea of what you are looking at.  I know some of you have been to the Houston Quilt Market/Festival and will be familiar with the pictures but alot of us (me until this year) have never been.  We are not allowed to post any pictures of quilts and displays so it's the best I could do for you.

Follow this link http://www.quilts.com/fqf09/enVivo/vidcasts.html to see the quilts that were on display from all over the world.  This video is on the actual Houston Quilt Market/Festival website so you will see some beautiful quilts that were being judged at Festival.  Be sure to watch both videos.

This link http://www.quilts.com/fqf09/enVivo/vidcasts.html will take you to a section where you can see still pictures of the goings on on the floor of Festival.  Lots of people, that's for sure!  The site promises that they will be adding more pictures and videos for you to see.  I hope you enjoy seeing these quilts as much as I did.  It took a long time to walk through these displays and it was great to see everything up so close I could see all the detailed stitching and embellishments.  It was spectacular!

Keep sewing,
loreen