For the Love of Coffee

So um yeah. This was my 14th birthday I think. I'm in the groovy oval glasses, braces and purple shirt. Brothers and sisters and Dad in the back and Mom taking the photo. I really love this photo and the avocado tablecloth and the yellow fondue pot (that was my favorite birthday dinner, that's how I know this photo was was MY birthday) and the oh-so-lovely wallpaper and I would kill to have those dishes now! And love my little sister all excited for some reason. If we took this same photo today, oh I hate to think of it! We're all a little, um, more rotund, some of us are prettier, some of us have a nice thick middle, no braces, everyone has their teeth and Dad, God love him, is no longer shiny-cheeked.

So I'm really not trying to get birthday gifts here (but feel free to send cash!) but since my blog IS my birthday, October Eight, I thought I would remind you that yesterday (ha ha, too late) was indeed my birthday.



I actually had a good day yesterday, even though I had to work all day and my husband had to work late so we didn't really celebrate but I tell you, I just LOVE simple things like making myself a simple but yummy dinner, cracking open a good bottle of wine and vegging in front of a good DVD movie with the pup sitting at my side (only because she wants some of my steak).

That's about how last night went, except... I made the SILLY mistake of opening a really good bottle of wine and wasn't paying attention and drank about 3/4 of the bottle, eek! I fell asleep on the sofa and then woke up when above-referenced pup heard the wind and had to start barking INSIDE the house. I woke up abruptly and thought it must be around 5 AM. Nope, it was 2:30 AM and I was WIDE AWAKE. That's why I confessed to the wine, the sugar in wine tends to give me a sugar buzz about 6 hours later, darn it. So I was tossing and turning and tossing and turning and before my husband hit me for keeping him from sleeping, I got up. Some web surfing for an hour, then back to bed. Usually does the trick.



However, as I was dozing back to sleep at 3:30 AM, I remembered that I was unable to find the metal filter basked for my espresso machine last night and was pretty sure it was in the trash, which I so efficiently carried out to the dumpster the morning before. So instead of floating gently back to sleep, I start to think about how to get into the dumpster in the morning!

I did wake up, to the dog alarm, sigh, and 7:30 this morning and first thing I did was run out to the dumpster. There was my white trash bag and believe it or not, I could see the outline of the filter basket! (BTW, these come from Italy and have to be ordered and God forbid I should not be able to have my morning espresso for the 2 to 3 weeks it would take to get a replacement!)



But the fun was not over. There was hardly anything else in the dumpster so it was on the bottom and I am not very tall. Darn it. I had to go back to my yard, I picked up a rake, some gloves, and set out again to the alley. It was actually not very hard to get the bag out with the rake but I couldn't find the filter basket so ended up having to dump out the trash to find it and then "YIPPPEEEE", oops. I hope I didn't wake the neighbors. That's where the gloves came in handy, sorting through the icky mess and putting it back in the bag. Oh the dog LOVED this part.

So that was my exciting birthday! But it made me happy. Now I'm going to sew and play with my fabric for 3 days because Monday is a holiday, YAY.

Sewing Machine Attachments/Feet

I bought a new geeky sewing book recently and have decided to use some of my sewing machine feet that have been gathering lint in the feet box!


So I found all my feet and identified each one. There were some I didn't even know their name! Anyway, here they are.

First, let me tell you about the ones I use all the time. They are:

1. Zig Zag foot. My Janome didn't come with a straight stitch foot so I use this one for both straight and zig zag stitching. My old Kenmore did have a straight stitch foot, you can see that one on the right.

2. Zipper foot. I have two of these, one from my Janome (the little square one) and one from the old Kenmore, which I kind of like better just since I'm used to it. It has a bigger foot thing that switches back and forth depending on which side of the zipper you're sewing on.

3. Darning Foot. This is what I use for free motion quilt. I recently broke mine and had to order a new one. Below is a photo of the old and the new one. I couldn't figure out what that little piece of metal wire on the top, that broke off, was SO important but it sits on top of the needle mechanism and moves up and down with the machine.

I circled the broken one so you could see what I mean:

4. Walking Foot. I don't use it often but it works really well when I need it! For quilting or sewing things that slip, like minky.

5. Ruffler. This is a pretty cool contraption that looks a little like a medieval torture device. And it does sort of torture my machine. As it moves and pulls in fabric to create and sew a ruffle, it really causes a lot of motion and I have to make sure it's screwed on tight, it has fallen off during stitching.

That's it! I have tried the rolled hem foot and it's very cool, I just haven't had much occasion to use it.

So, my assignment to myself is to find a few projects that will use these feet and I'll report back my findings to you afterwards.

Iron Stories

So. My iron stopped steaming when I pushed the burst of steam thing. And it was leaking sometimes and it was really annoying. Mostly it was the no steam that pushed me to buy a new one.

But first, there is more to the story (What you say? How could anything be more exciting than needing a new iron? Slow down there Nellie!)

Upon mentioning this to my friend, and later to the saleswoman at Macy's, both told me that my old iron (note, it is maybe 2 years old at most) probably was clogged because I didn't use distilled water (though I did use filtered water).

On my way home from Macy's with my new iron, I stop at Target and buy 2 gallons of distilled water. I get home and open my new Rowenta (BTW, how geeky is this that I am so excited to finally own a Rowenta! My old iron was a Sunbeam) and start reading the manual.

Not once, not twice, not three times (I got tired of reading), in the manual DO NOT USE DISTILLED WATER, Rowenta irons are made to use with tap water. Over and over again.

But wait, THERE'S MORE!

I find the manual to my Sunbeam, which doesn't ever mention what kind of water but does state that it has an anti-calcium (i.e. hard water) filter built into it. And, it says to occasionally flush the iron with water and a tsp of salt.

Perhaps I could have just cleaned it out?

Oh no. Nobody is taking my Rowenta away now. (BTW, I bought this model based on a consumer report website)

P.S. It was on sale at Macy's (though I notice everyone has it at that price, I think it's a marketing gimmick) AND I got another 10% off, some special thing they had at Macy's.

New Fabric from FANCY TIGER

I am obsessed with fabric. I admit it. I was SUPER excited when a friend asked me to make her a quilt because I need to buy fabric!!! Seriously though, I did look at my stash but decided nothing quite fit what she wanted.

Anyway... I was working from home and took my lunch break to drive across town to visit Amber, Jaime and the other Fancy Tigerans, (including Bronwyn, the pup) and also showed them my newest quilt since I bought most of the fabrics from them.

I have loved the Monaluna fabrics all along and the Monaco is to die for, especially in person. It's organic but it also just has the greatest hand, it's very crisp and the fibers are tightly woven I think.


So then when I got home, I looked through my stash to see what solids might coordinate and lo and behold, look what matches perfectly!


Oh, and it was about time I bought this Nani Iro fabric. I've been lusting after it for awhile and it is still in the store, I can't believe it! So here it is, living in my home.

Big Quilt Finished!

I have made larger quilts but this is the first larger quilt I have free-motion quilted on my machine. I see now why they invented the long-arm! My back was aching after hours of sitting there manipulating the fabric but it was worth it, I love the finished product!



I used a Kaffee Fassett pattern from a book but used orange and green fabrics to match our very green bedroom walls. I used some of my stash but also used an excuse of 'needing' to shop for just few more.

The back is all one color and I used a wide white muslin so I didn't have to piece anything. Brilliant if I don't say so myself.



After photographing outside, I took an action shot:

Knit....

Now that winter is coming, I love knitted things like wool sweaters from Irish fisherman, and the like. I also love all things Nordic, wooly, cold and snowy. So when I saw this fabric, GASP, it was for me! Of course, I don't "need" any more fabric so I just got one yard of each. Not sure what I will make with it but think it would be great in a quilt square.



The company that sells it is Connecting Threads. They are SUPER reasonable price-wise and they use cotton that is grown in the U.S. which is nice for our economy. Oh and they have super cotton threads, too. They don't sell anywhere but on their website so scurry on over there and check it out while I knit me something.

Quilt Design Wall Wannabe

So I've been wanting make my own quilt wall for awhile now, then I saw Heather's post about her quilt wall and every time I went into Home Depot, I forgot what that pink board was called. Also, I didn't know if I would be able to find room for such a big 'wall' in my house.



SO, yesterday I was at Hobby Lobby and saw these big pieces of foamcore, Aha moment. Measuring 32 x 40 inches, the perfect size for my sewing area!

I brought it up, cut a piece of quilt batting to fit it and used a regular stapler to attach it to the board. I had to remove some framed art on the wall but I then just hammered the board directly into the drywall, oops. Hey, nice thing about owning your own home, you can do whatever you want.

I can actually stand pretty far away from it as well, the room is very long. I put my quilt bee squares up to try it out, pretty groovy!