Teacher gifts and a skirt to boot!

The school year is coming to a close, and I've been scrambling to get some teacher gifts done. Monkey is not in school yet, but goes to a pre-school program full time, so he definitely has some teachers in his life.... 6 to be exact! I loved these felt dahlia pins when I saw them on Holidash, and just had to try it out. I figured if it worked, it would make a fun, stylish gift for his teachers (who all happen to be female). One of the 6 teachers is on maternity leave, so the pressure was only on to complete 5 by today.

And here they are: (sorry for the crappy pic, it was taken at 12:30am in my dungeon of a basement)

The pink one is actually more of a baby pink, not as peachy, and the purple one is not as dark, it's a deep aubergine colour, like this: (Miss Lyndsey's FAVOURITE colour is purple, so we KNEW who would be receiving this one!)
And although I only had to complete 5 of the six, I made the sixth one as well, or I'll use it as a head start making 3 tonight for Sweetie's teachers. Here's a bright yellow one that has not been gifted yet:

And a close-up of the detail on the red one. I think It makes a great poinsettia for Christmas too!
And just because people have been asking to see what I sew for myself, I'm including this pic of what I'm wearing today (lovely pic taken with a self-timer in my office!)
The tank top is thrifted - it has the sweetest little ruffle all around the neckline! The skirt is made by me - it's cotton with a stitched floral trim at the bottom (already on the fabric - I'm not THAT talented!!!). It has 8 rows of shirring (elastic thread) at the top, which makes it very stretchy and comfortable. It gives it some really sweet gathers too. I do think that it needs a little bit of shaping though, as it's quite wide. I may take it in a little so it doesn't billow so much (especially in the wind, you should see it puff up!)

There you have it, some of the latest goings-on in my dungeon sweatshop (aka sewing room)!

Shutter love Tuesday

This week's theme for Shutter Love Tuesdays on the Trendy Treehouse blog is "a Father's Love". As soon as I read it, I thought of this picture. It was taken at Ipperwash beach, Lake Huron in August, 2006. Mac is throwing Sweetie up in the air and scooping her feet in the water, and she loves it!!!

Here's hoping I win! Come visit the Trendy Treehouse and check out the other entries! (click on their button above)

I'm gonna pee my pants!!!!!

A couple weeks back, I was in the thrift store, and happened across these: (circa 1955 - that's 22 years older than me!!!)

I had NO idea what it really was for, or whether I'd even be able to use it, but.... did you see the price tags? I had to have them, even if my $3 was wasted in the end, and they turned into paperweights.

I got home and did some research. Turns out the automatic zigzagger was quite an exciting thing in its day. This was before sewing machines were made with 5 million different stitch patterns. They didn't even have zig zag as a basic stitch!

.....and it turns out, that this little $3 investment could make me a little $$$...

This website sells sewing machine attachments and spare pieces. They'd like you to purchase your very own Automatic Zigzagger for $69.95!!! The red set of 4 additional stitch designs can be purchased for $34.95. Check out the Automatic Zigzagger listing here http://www.april1930s.com/html/singer_automatic_zigzagger.html, as well as a cute little video clip of how it works.
I'm kind of kicking myself right now, because alongside these great gadgets was another one, an automatic buttonholer, also made by Singer. I think it had an equally shocking price of like $2 or $3 or something, but I thought I might be pushing it by purchasing things I didn't even know would work with my machine. Now I wish I brought that baby home too!

So, here's where it gets exciting...... I tried attaching the zigzagger to my machine, threaded the machine with some turquoise thread (my favourite colour!), and.... wait for it...... IT WORKS!!!!!!! I never thought I'd be so excited about something so silly, but just think of all the fun designs I can make now! Be aware that many of my creations will now be adorned with ornamental stitches of every kind!!! The perma-smile on my face was pretty rediculous as I kept changing out the red dials to try out each and every stitch (8 in all!!!)

So, it's quite obvious that I won't be selling these babies at a profit, these are staying with me in my sewing room! My sewing machine is pretty basic - just straight and zigzag stitches, but now I'll be rocking some pretty awesome stitches - in contrasting thread, of course, just so you'll notice it!

And that, my friends, is my exciting news for the day.

Have a great weekend, and to all Fathers out there: Happy Father's Day!!! I'll be missing my father, thinking fond thoughts and memories of him.

The Thrifty Garde Robe

I've just joined the blog The Thrifty Garde Robe, where all contributors post about their recent sewing creations. I just added my first two cents worth here. Go check it out!

SewMamaSew Giveaway winner

Ok, another mention of the SewMama Sew giveaway day....

The winner of my giveaway was Rachael from A Little Bit of Everything. Rachael's blog has the same background as mine! I think it was meant to be, definitely destiny that she would be the winner! She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, so my goodies sure went for a voyage!

The prizes arrived, and she blogged about them here (lucky girl, she won another giveaway as well!)

Here's some pics of the loot:

The ruffly apron, cup cozy and the felt breakfast set all together. The ruffly thing on the bottom left side is a ruffle card I made.

The apron

The felt breakfast set

The "Wilds of Canada" cup cozy

...and the reverse side of it. I love this fabric, it's so much fun!

Glad to hear that Rachael is enjoying her goodies on the other side of the world!

I'M A WEINER!!! um, er, I mean WINNER!!!

Remember the SewMamaSew Giveaway day in May? I sure do - and so does my blog! My hitcounter went THROUGH THE ROOF that day. It sure was fun visiting all the other 5 million blogs and entering their giveaways - it took me 3 days to get through them all!

Now, I'm not really the luckiest person around when it comes to giveaways. I won a crockpot once from our local health unit - that was pretty cool - but other than that, the winning just isn't in me (if only it was - I'd play the lottery!)
Well, time to buy a lottery ticket..... I WON SOMETHING!!! I am the lucky recipient of these gorgeous lovelies from Paloma at Three Kitchen Fairies.

A super-cute pincushion!!! This is not the exact one I got, but it's similar. Mine has a couple different fabrics, a red flower, and different buttons.

And .pdf embroidery patterns!!! These cupcakes are so cute! I've never done embroidery before, but, hey, it can't be that hard, right? (tee hee, like I need another hobby!) I can just imagine one of these cupcakes on the front of a cute little dress for my niece (who has an unofficial nickname of "cupcake" from all the Gymboree her mom dressed her in!!!)

Check out Paloma's goodies on her etsy shop here at Three Kitchen Fairies on Etsy

Thanks Paloma!!!! My daughter is so excited that I won a new pin cushion, she thinks I'll give her the old, ugly tomato one now. We'll see.... somehow I don't think a six year old should have any use for straight pins!

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A little side note for all of you: Mac and I are off and away this weekend to his cousin's wedding. I'm "coming out" as a sewist this weekend - I'm planning on wearing a dress that I MADE - IN PUBLIC!!! Ok, I shouldn't be so worried - I've worn a few of my creations lately in public, just not at such an important event. It'll be fine - the seams won't rip and the garment won't fall off me on the dancefloor..... I hope.

Pics to come after the weekend!