Sewing Machine Language

I spent the weekend knitting and sewing, and I finished a log cabin baby blanket and a dozen caps for the nurses at work to wear in the OR. 

Every time I break out my sewing machine, I smile. Not because sewing is fun and makes me happy (which is true), but because I remember the story of my Sewing Machine Language (which is always capitalized in my mind). 

Years ago, when I was living in my third apartment, my Gramma gave me her old sewing machine because she had just bought a new one. The old one was OLD, but still mostly functional. I'd been sewing for years, but this was my first time using a machine that wasn't my mom's. 

I was making a costume for a Halloween party - I was going to be a cheerleader, with a cute red-and-white uniform. Unfortunately, I had underestimated the time it would take for me to finish... So I was still sewing away when my mom called to chat. 

Things were fine until... Well, it was an old machine, as I said. Old enough that the handwheel connected to a motor outside of the machine with a belt. The belt was mostly covered by a protective piece of metal. Mostly. 

Have I mentioned that I have small hands? Tiny little fingers that fit into places they shouldn't fit into? I was talking on the phone and trying to finish up the line of top stitching by turning the handwheel, and I got my baby finger caught between the wheel and that protective cover. 

It hurt. A lot. And there was blood. And the language that came out of my mouth would have made my career-military father stop and stare. 

And I said all of these horrible words while I was on the phone. With my mother. Who I had been very careful not to swear in front of up to this point. 

She handled it well. She was quiet (possibly in shock), and suggested that she might call me back at a better time. 

Since that day, my entire family has referred to swearing as 'Sewing Machine Language.' Even though I have another sewing machine now (I inherited Gramma's newer machine a few years back), I still smile when I start sewing. And I make sure to end any phone calls before I start to sew. 

This is a horrible photo of the caps, because until they're on heads, they just look like blobs. 

This is a decent photo of the baby blanket, which now brings my stash of blankets up to a whopping total of two. 

A whirlwind tour

I spent this past weekend with Karen and her family in Canada, and it was wonderful! My parents and her in-laws were there, too, so it was a full house. 

I usually like to use my vacations to relax and knit, but this time, we had lots of things scheduled, and my only knitting time was on the plane. 

I finished the pair of hand-warmers that was on my needles last week, and I managed to finish another pair during my travels - and it was a pair I'd been working on for far too long. I tend not to follow yarn/needle size recommendations for adult-sized hand-warmer patterns, because I have tiny hands. No, really. When I go to a store to buy gloves or mittens, I have to buy children's gloves. Instead of using standard worsted weight yarn, I usually use sock yarn and smaller needles. 

The warmers I finished, from a pattern in Mollie Makes magazine, were so cute! They've got an owl motif, and I really wanted them, but I went too small in my yarn/needle combination. I suppose I could have just ripped out the first one when I realized it was too small, but I hate doing that. Instead, I made the second one and gave them to my niece!

But I don't have photos yet. Good news, though, Karen lives with her kid, and can totally post photos for me! (Hint, hint.) The owl hand-warmers are knit from PureLuxury Organic Peruvian Alpaca in colour 5, a dark grey colour. 

Of course, with one project done, another begins: more hand-warmers, this time from Bernat Bamboo in Rain Garden. Photos will follow when complete! 

On my needles

A quick post today, as it is nearly tomorrow! Oops. I'll work on this whole being-on-time thing. 

Tonight, I'm working on a pair of handwarmers. I've made lots of these over the past year. I've got a vascular condition, and my doctor basically told me that I can either wear gloves or mittens all the time to keep my hands warm, or I can start taking blood thinners and be on them for the rest of my life. I chose gloves. 

So here is the pair in progress: 

They're made from Austermann Seta yarn, a 100% natural mulberry silk yarn made in Romania. It's so silky and soft! If it weren't so darn expensive, I'd totally use it for a sweater. For now, I'll just be happy with my gloves. 

Journal Time

I have a small obsession with notebooks. But lately - I've been too cheap to buy the fancy pretty ones. So I decided to make my plain ones fancy and pretty on my own!

For your supplies you will need:
- 1 notebook
- 2 pieces of scrapbook paper
- glue or adhesive
- exacto knife and scissors
- embellishments

Here are my supplies all laid out:


Step 1: (not pictured) measure cover of your notebook on scrapbook paper and cut it out.

Step 2: apply glue/adhesive to notebook


Step 3: place paper onto notebook


Step 4: trim around the edge of the notebook to get rid of any excess paper






Step 5: add any embellishments that you like!


Easy-peasy!! A super sweet looking notebook that took very little time to do!

Happy Monday!!

Love K

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How I spent my weekend

This past weekend was a little bit crazy. Every once in a while, I agree to take on a big project, and stress myself out by completely underestimating the time it will take. This time, though, my estimate was spot-on!

I made a wedding cake AND a groom's cake for a reception that was an hour away from my house, and started at 5:00 pm. I worried about the timing, honestly, especially on Friday night! I started baking at 2:00pm, and crawled into bed around midnight. But all of the cakes were baked and crumb-coated!

I woke up early on Saturday to get the rest going. I managed to get all four tiers frosted and covered in fondant, and get the supports in, before noon. 

Then I worked on the groom's cake. It wasn't what I had originally planned - I was going to do a big UGA logo, but it would have been next to impossible to get the cream cheese frosting coloured black. Instead, I went with a football sitting on a field, with a store-bought logo applied to the football. 

I'm glad I bought that grass tip! It definitely turned out the way I hoped it would. 

Somehow, I finished with enough time to have a shower, do my hair, AND put on makeup before my wonderful helper arrived to load up the car with me. 

I got all of the cakes, plus my camera and my toolbox in the back of my car, which is pretty cool, given how tiny my car is. With a bit of help, I got the cakes into the reception hall, then piped the last bits of beading and scrollwork, and added the flowers the bride picked out (which I had not seen until I arrived at the hall!).

I have to say, I'm really happy with the end result:

And more importantly, the bride was really happy with it!

So that's what I did this weekend. 

Michael's

I have a small problem.  I love Michael's.  I don't have a Hobby Lobby up here in Canada.  Or JoAnn's.  Two other stores I love very much.  Tonight was a night of spending too much money at Michael's but seriously - I got some awesome deals.  

Like these:  A pack of 8 cards for $1.50 with the little pennant banner already punched out!

Some super cute markers - all $1.50 each.  Not pictured is also a light purple one.

Here's a quick little card I made with my new supplies - nothing too fancy - but still cute :)

And then I bought some Owl cards for thank you notes, Hello Kitty sticky flags (I'm a sucker for anything post it note related lol), and a pack of cute little purple cards.

I also bought more... but it's stuff that is being used for a top secret project (and I left the shopping bag downstairs lol).

Do you always spend too much at the craft store???

Love K

What I've been doing

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've still been making things, even if I haven't been posting about them. Mostly, I've been making baby blankets. Karen had two babies, and at last count, 53 of my friends and relatives have had babies in the last three years. Yes, you read that right. Fifty-three.

Not all of them got blankets - that would have been the equivalent of a blanket every three weeks! I'm good, but I'm not that good. Earlier this year, I even did a display at a local theatre of photos of babies on the blankets I made. It was pretty cool (well, I thought it was), and the little old ladies at the theatre loved it.

I don't have photos of all of the blankets I've made, but here are a few samples:

We're BA-ACK!!!

We're ba-ack!  Wow, it's been an awfully long time since either of us has posted here. Although, to be fair, we've been busy. I moved, and Karen had a couple of babies (yes, she has a better excuse than me!).

That is very true - since we were last around, I now have an almost 2 year old and an almost 2 week old.  Life is sure crazy for both of us, but it's time to get back into CRAFTING MODE! With the introduction of Pinterest - I have been so motivated to do more projects around the house and bringing our little ol' blog back to life will help me ensure that I actually get some of this crafting done.  AND we are also in the process of opening our online store that will showcase our superfun projects such as tutu's, hats, jewelry, headbands and more!!

While it sucks for us to be located in two different countries, it's probably going to be great news for a lot of people who want to order stuff from us! We see each other a few times a year, and we'll keep a stash of each other's creations on hand so we can ship from the US or from Canada. And it's also nice because we can get supplies that are available in one place, but not the other, without having to mess around with international shipping... Though sometimes that means waiting six months for a roll of tulle ;)

Not that I've had to do that recently... don't worry - I still love you lol.  Between the two of us - we do A LOT of crafting.  You name it; we've probably tried it.  Scrapbooking, card making, jewelry, knitting, crocheting, sewing, painting, making ornaments, headbands.... I'm sure there's more lol.  So now a bit about us.  I'm the younger sister by 3 years - and I'm the Kay of KayDeeCrafts.  K stands for Karen :) I'm married to an awesome husband who supports my crafting addiction; he even let me turn our basement into a craft lair.  We have two wonderful little girls who I hope will be as into crafting as their Mommy and Auntie - Baby A and Little Bear.  We've already done some fun projects with Little Bear and hopefully will do more soon.  We are getting ready to relocate back "home" as hubs is with the military and we've been posted to my hometown for 18 months.  I'm looking forward to being back, but sad that I will no longer be only 45 minutes away from JoAnn's and 2.5 hours away from Hobby Lobby - that's the perk of living close to the US border lol.

I'm Danielle, the Dee of KayDeeCrafts, and I'm way closer to JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby than my sister. I've got a dog instead of kids - an adorable minpin named Mia. Most of my crafting has been of the knit variety lately, but I've done a little bit of almost everything. Except quilting. I'm pretty sure that if I started to quilt, I'd have to quit my job so I could have time for all of my crafts.

So that’s us in a nutshell – hope you stick around to see what we have to offer!!

Bloglovin

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/2854396/?claim=j8my52tbabq">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>