Alicia's Blog

Since I haven’t posted in forever (again!).  Sorry!  I have been busy, though.  That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!  Unfortunately, it took a bout of the flu or some such thing to get me to be able to sit down and catch up on computer stuff.  Ugh.  Hopefully it’ll be gone soon.

What have I been doing? Where to start, where to start?  We have a new club that started in May at Dublin Sewing Center.  It’s an advanced serger club for those who have the more advanced machines.  This quilt is what we are currently working on and then we’ll move on to a technique jacket in November.  There’s still room in the class if you’d like to join us!

Advanced Serger Club Quilt

You can also see this quilt on an episode of Martha’s Sewing Room sometime this fall.  We taped a few episodes last week and this quilt was a part of one of the Sewing Inspirations segments.

I’ve also done a couple of other club sessions over the past couple of months.  The regular Serger Club completed an iron bootie and portable ironing pad shown here:

Iron Bootie

Portable Ironing Pad

The weird looking green thing at the base of the ironing pad is a bag that it folds up into for carrying.  The next time we meet (in August), we’re going to work on different types of blanket-stitched edgings.  Should be fun!

Blankets

Sewing Techniques Club also met this past month and we worked on hot dog pillowcases.  Everyone seemed to enjoy this one.  I’d add a picture, but I figure you all know what a pillowcase looks like!  The next time we meet, we’re going to work on a notion’s caddy that fits under your sewing machine and a button-tufted pincushion.  Easy-peasy!

I’ve also been working on a couple of projects for Martha Pullen Company’s new BabyLock licensing this fall.  Hope to have those done within the next couple of days here so that I can get them sent out.  Then, we’ll move on to some Heirloom 2 licensing projects also for a new licensing this fall.  This morning, I sent off a couple of sets of instructions and projects for Martha Pullen’s Gift-of-the-Month program later this year.

Oh!  And I have two classes coming up at DSC this fall!  My Mom was gracious enough to sew up the samples for these two classes for me – thanks Mom!

Friday, July 10th, we’ll be making this Flip-Flop Bath Mat

Flip-Flop Bath Mat

And Saturday, September 11th, we’ll be making this Scalloped Madeira Nightgown.

Scalloped Madeira Nightgown

See?  I’m only a slacker when it comes to blogging! Perhaps one of these days I’ll have time to sew something for myself!  Not holding my breath…

Back again soon!

30 lashes with a wet noodle, I suppose.  The holidays backed right in to my busiest time of the year and I haven’t taken the time to update anyone.  Sorry!

What is it that has kept me so busy?  Ohhh… too much.  We scheduled the February through May classes at DSC.  I only scheduled two classes this time around in addition to the clubs and shop classes since I am not in town for very many days during that time frame.  The two additional classes are a crazy patch pillow on March 13th (picture shown in a September post) and serger book covers on May 8th (picture shown in an August post).

Upcoming club projects:

During Serger Club in April, we will be doing zippers (Yep, you read that right!  Zippers on a serger!). We will be creating the zippered bag with a handle shown below.

Zippered Bag

In Heirloom Club at the end of March, we will be creating a Bridge Cloth or Table Topper with Lace Shaping and Hemstitching.  This would also be beautiful with a few embroidery designs dotted here and there.

Bridge Cloth

And, for Sewing Techniques Club in April, we will be creating a set of table linens that includes a reversible placemat and napkin and a table runner.  The main technique covered in this class will be using a point turner to create perfect corners (or so we hope!).

Table Linens

If you can’t make it to one (or more!) of these classes at DSC, I will also be teaching a couple of the serger classes at the Martha Pullen Extravaganza in Langhorne, PA later this month and a few of the Daily Sit & Sew classes at Martha’s Sewing Market in Arlington, TX in May.

Hope to see you soon!

Well… I suppose it’s official.  The holidays have arrived.

On Friday night, I finished the last class project that I need to show or teach before the end of the year.  That project?  A jewelry roll highlighting three different zipper applications for Sewing Techniques Club in February (to be shown during the December 16th session).  So, today I started on some Christmas gifts.  I obviously can’t post pictures since many of the recipients frequent this blog, but suffice it to say that I made good use of Martha Pullen Company’s latest retro cds – Kitchen Stitchin’ and Christmas Stitchin’.  Maybe I’ll be able to avoid the last minute rush this year?!?  Nah… probably not.

Believe it or not though, the thing that made it official was the fact that I started a new book.  I’m an avid reader and last night I opened up my first holiday book of the year.  A roaring fire, a cheesy holiday paperback and an afghan crocheted by my grandma.   Heaven!  Add in a cat curled up by my feet and a dog curled up on her bed near the fire and it doesn’t get much better than that!

Ahhhhh.....

This morning, I will peruse the Sunday paper ads to see how early I need to get up on Black Friday – a ritual which will then be repeated on Thursday since not all of the ads come out today.  My favorite part of early morning Black Friday is actually waiting in line for the doors to open – the friendliness and spirit is amazing (for the most part).  Of course, there are those that lose any sense of holiday spirit as soon as the doors open, but those are truly in the minority.  It’s fun!  You should try it sometime!

Has your Holiday Season started yet?

October was a hectic month and I’m so glad that it’s over!  However, that means that we’re now in November… NOVEMBER!?!?!  Crikey.  It’s time to start thinking about holiday sewing again.  Well ok…  it’s past time… and once again, I’m behind.
I did manage to get a couple of things done this past week, though.  The bed jacket will be the Serger Club project in late January and the butterfly wall hanging will be the Heirloom Club project in late January.

Sweatshirt Bed Jacket

Shadow Work Butterfly Wall Hanging

Oh!  I just realized that I never posted a picture of the December Sewing Techniques Club project.  It’s an apron made from an old pair of blue jeans.  I swiped the idea from someone who brought one to a licensing program, changed it a bit so that it could be sewn on any basic sewing machine, replaced her embroidery design with a simple applique and voila! new Club project.

Denim Apron with Simple Applique

Well… I’ve got to go run a few errands and pack for the Martha Pullen Extravaganza this week in Pasadena, CA.  Perhaps I’ll see some of you there!

Starting in October, we are adding a new club at DSC – the Sewing Techniques Club!  In this club, we will explore various sewing techniques that can be accomplished with any basic sewing machine.  It will follow the same format as the Serger Club in that you will be able to finish the project within the 3-hour class period most times.  This change allows the existing Sewing & Embroidery Club to focus more on embroidery techniques – YAY!

The Sewing Techniques Club will meet on Wednesday, October 28th and then on either the third or fourth Wednesday of subsequent even-numbered months (same months as Serger Club).  Our first project will be the fleece scarf pictured below.  Here, you will learn how to use the decorative stitches on your machine to seam pieces of fleece together without a bulky seam allowance.  As a bonus, this project also includes a dab of strip piecing – easier than actual quilting, though, since we can fudge our corners until they match! 

Fleece Scarf

If you are interested in joining, contact the Dublin Sewing Center and sign up (there is a link to their website on my calendar page).  If you sign up and pay for the first year, the October class is FREE!

Well… ok… not really.  I did, however, finish the last of my class samples that I was trying to get done.  I also finished up the new travel purse that I cut out a couple of weekends ago.  Yay!

Here are the last two class samples:

Class highlights several sewing machine feet.

Class highlights several serger feet.

The purse was made from a Hot Patterns pattern that I downloaded free from Fabric.com.  It will be available there until the 12th of November – just look under Notions & Patterns.  It’s an ok pattern, but like most patterns from Hot Patterns, a certain level of knowledge is assumed and, therefore, left out of the pattern instructions.  It’s not generally too much of an issue, but it does get annoying when you’re whipping right along and suddenly have to stop and figure out what’s missing.  Anywhooo….. here’s the purse:

Travel Purse

I plan to use it this Wednesday on my trip to Huntsville and we’ll see how it does then.  It appears that it will hold everything I need it to – iPod, book, water bottle, etc.  It also has a good sized zippered pocket, plus a smaller flat pocket and a cell phone pocket inside so that will help keep things a bit organized.  The bottom of the bag is also much more flat than it looks in the picture.

What’s next?  I have no idea.  The dinette cushions from the Airstream are calling my name, but I don’t want to start anything that big since I’m leaving in a couple of days.  Besides, between paying the bills and packing, I may not have any time to do anything anyhow.

I took the first couple of days off this week to run errands and catch up on household stuff (ugh!), but was able to get back to business on Wednesday.  I finished up two of the knit camisole and tap pant sets.  One of them is all mine!  The other is a sample for a class this fall at DSC – the pink one, of course.  I am so not a pink person – mine is light green.

Knit Camisole and Tap Pant

I also started on a table runner project that highlights some of the most popular serger feet.  It’s in bits and pieces right now and still needs more bits and pieces before I’ll be able to put it together.  I have a few other life things that are going to get in the way again today, but will hopefully have time to work on it some.  I really want to get these remaining three class projects done so that I can start working on some of my own projects!

I managed to get quite a bit done this weekend despite teaching a class on Saturday.  On Sunday, Chris didn’t need my help with his to-do list and Nathan went next door to swim, so I hid out in my sewing room.  The result?  I finished the book covers shown below!  The olive green/turquoise set is for me and the burgundy set is a sample for a class that I will teach sometime this fall at DSC.  Get your serger warmed up and ready!

Serger Book Covers

I also cut out a knit camisole and tap pant to use as a sample for another class this fall at DSC and will most likely finish that one this afternoon.  And… I managed to come up with designs for three additional projects (on paper, that is!).  One of these projects will focus on some of the most popular sewing machine feet and the other two will focus on the most popular serger feet, both overlock and cover stitch.  I hope to start one of those either today or tomorrow – we’ll see!

Last week, I finished the pillow shown below that highlights corded tucks.  This will be the Heirloom Club project at DSC in November.

Pillow with Corded Tucks

That’s all for now – I’m off to sew!

Ok… so I finally caved in and started a blog.  We’ll see how it goes…