Messymama’s Weblog

That’s about all I can say! Why in the world did I wait so long to thread up the new machine??

The new/old one is fantastic. Don’t get me wrong. I am in no way, shape or form saying anything less than complimentary about that machine. But the new one…it’s…oh, my.

You pros out there can talk of your love affairs with Bernina and Viking. You can go on for hours about the passion you feel for these machines and the effects they create under your hands with such ease…but let me tell you something: In this moment in time, nothing can touch my euphoria for my Singer. I can’t imagine being any happier if it was a Bernina or Viking.

After sewing with a broken Brother XR-65 for months (’cause let’s face it, no one really knows when those kids got a hold of my crochet hook and shoved it in there. It’s been acting weird for a long, long time, in all honesty) the new Singer just took my breath away. For everyone who says that you can’t buy a good machine for cheap these days, I have to disagree…I just scored two for less than two hundred dollars, and I’m in love. Granted, they haven’t belonged to me for very long, so I have no idea if I’ll still this way a few months from now, but tonight I am on cloud nine and loving every second of it! I only wish I’d used the new/new one last night so I could have been that much more ecstatic…lol.

A little distracting lately.    What is it about life that gets in the way of blogging so much?

First things first:  if you are on the market for a new Singer, DO NOT buy the Inspiration model that I just bought!  The parts for it are impossible to buy in stores.  I broke my bobbin case and had to wait three weeks to replace it…one whole week was spent just locating someone who had it in stock.  But I will say this for that machine…it is so much easier to take apart than the Brother I had before.

As a side effect of waiting for the bobbin case, there has been little to no actual sewing being accomplished.  I picked out the fabrics I want to use for my new patchwork quilt, they are waiting to be cut into.  This time around I’m going for a new approach…starch!  I researched it and so far it seems like it should really help with my wonky points and off-squares squares.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  :0)

The black and white quilt has found a home on my sewing room wall until I learn how to hand sew or else take the binding off and replace it with something else.  Neither of which seem likely to happen in the near future, mostly because…

We are moving!  Who knows to where, exactly; we have a really good prospect but we have to find out more info.  Who knows when, exactly; we don’t have a set date that we have to be out by yet.  But we are most assuredly moving!  I’m excited as well as scared to death so we’ll see how it goes.

Well I guess that’s about it for right now, more later.  :0)

I can’t shake this cold thing. I thought it was just a severe cold, then I thought it was allergies, now I am wondering if it’s turned into that most heinous of all beasts - a sinus infection. Blah. As much as I dread it, I may have to beak down and get some antibitotics after the weekend’s over if I still feel cruddy (yes, cruddy is a word. At least according to spellcheck. Which it’s telling me is not a word, go figure, lol).

On the sewing front - I broke in the new sewing machine! It makes sewing such a breeze. I realize now that sewing isn’t that hard, but fixing the mistakes my old machine made me make was a pain and a half. If you are having a lot of problems with your sewing and/or machine and are even half-way considering replacing it, I say do it. It’ll make your sewing life expand a thousand percent to have a decent machine under your hands.

I’ve started a black and white quilt that I’ll be posting a tutorial on and pics of later tonight, along with some glamour shots of the new machines in all their glory, just ’cause I love ‘em so so much.

On a personal note, I hate feeling sick, but I love staying at home and having a half-way clean and organized place again. My house feels like my comfy spot in the universe and where I belong - something it hasn’t felt like in a long, long time, since I don’t feel comfy in ragged messes and under piles of house work needing to be done.

Speaking of which, the dryer just buzzed. I’m off to change laundry loads and take pictures!

I reached a milestone in my sewing life.

I sewed something just for me. Something to wear even. And it works!

This is the top…and sort of a teaser, lol.

And here’s the whole thing! Isn’t it great? This tutorial was awesome. Easy instructions, easy idea, and so fast it’s not funny. I whipped this thing up in just under an hour, and it’s only the second time I’ve ever sewn clothing! And it’s sooo comfy. I’ve been wearing it pretty much since I made it, and I love it. Seriously. As you can tell from the somewhat shiny floor (lol) I’ve been cleaning all day, that’s where the garish kid’s jewelery on my wrist came from. I found the beads on the floor beneath the kitchen table along with the watch I’ve been missing for weeks and a bunch of rings in a little basket my kid was hoarding. Isn’t life with monsters wonderful? :0)

On another note, Shey, I did consider returning the new machine for my money. But then I got mad. See, I’ve made a lot of day care money since I started in January, and all of it has gone to things for the house or for the girl’s school or other endless drain holes in our budget. Meanwhile, the hubby has plenty of money for the things he thinks he can’t do without, so why should I not feel the same? (Yes, this sounds kind of petty. Truthfully, it is, and I think I’m just trying to justify the overwhelming desire to have two nice machines, in all honesty. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone.) So I’m keeping them both and signing up for quilting classes, which I will take one of my sisters to with me so she can learn as well…two machines are worth it, right?
I’ll try to fix those pictures in my sewing machine blog when my guests take off. It most assuredly was an amazing haul!

There would be pictures to go along with this post.

Okay, I’m not the lazy, hold on a minute…sheesh.

(Why do all of these pictures look yellowy and nasty? I’ll have to try for better ones tomorrow or sometime…when I really am not being so lazy.)

Okay, class, time for a pop quiz. Look at the following picture and tell me in five words or less what it is.

(This part of the blog will have to wait until temperamental wordpress allows me to add pictures. Sigh. is now fixed, but the pictures still look nasty! lol))

A pile of junk?

A heap of useless parts?

Ah, you there in the third row…great answer, you win the prize! That’s right, folks, it’s a Severely Damaged Sewing Machine. (I said five or less, not five exactly.) Aka as the Brother that I’ve owned for two years that worked like a charm until the daycare kids stuck a crochet hook down inside of it a few months (weeks? Years?) ago and it jammed up and broke a bunch of stuff in there yesterday. And oh yes, my hubby didn’t help much when he took it apart while drinking and proceeded to tighten and loosen screws while drinking still more.

I used to have an iPod. Last week I spent my hard-earned daycare money on a new iPod for myself. (Remember the iPod cozy tutorial? Kinda useless now…sigh). When my sewing machine kicked the bucket last night, I turned and stared that tiny little video-capable screen right in the eye and seriously weighed my options. I’d originally bought the iPod to listen to while I sewed. Now, with no sewing machine, it stands to reason that the iPod had lost some of its magic and purpose through no fault of its own. I checked the store’s return policy and discovered I had fifteen days to return it. I was still undecided, so I went online and looked at Joanns.com and saw that the singer I’ve had my eye on for a while was on sale…how amazing! I decided on the spot that that expensive little music player was in no way more valuable to me than the ability to shut myself up in my sewing room and send my machine humming happily through piles of fabric and recycled clothing. I took the iPod back to the store today and clutched the returned cash in one sweaty fist all the way to the sewing shop.
The woman at Joann’s was excessively friendly and sweet. She let me tinker with the display model and listened to me explain that I don’t sew heavily, just every day, (isn’t that rather heavily?) and that I don’t need it for much more than quilting and a few dresses here and there (which is rather a lot, when I think of how many queen-sized quilts I made on that Brother before the death-by-crochet-hook thing.) After about four minutes of thinking hard, I gave the go-ahead nod, and she carried the machine in its pretty, unblemished box to the counter. I paid and signed up for classes (what? When you buy a sewing machine you get to go to classes? What is that about? WalMart sure didn’t tell me about that! Oh, by the way, this particular model that’s on sale at Joann’s for $150 was $197 at Wally World. Not a great deal there.) and then we walked out of the store cheerfully.  Here’s some pictures…

Isn’t the box so pretty?

Sad fact:  Twenty-four hours later, I still haven’t threaded this thing.  It’s intimidating me.  I’m vowing to myself that before bedtime tonight I will have used it to make at least one dish-towel-hanging-loop (a blog will be coming on that subject soon, I swear).

After that heady rush of excitement, I was fully prepared to drive straight home and play with my new toy. But since I hadn’t spent all of the iPod cash (still had a twenty and some change in my pocket) I decided to head over to a local thrift store for some sheets (yes, I had this tutorial from the tutorial contest over at SMS in mind and can’t wait to try it out). When we got to the register I was surprised to see that the girl was taking half-off every price tag she rang up. When asked, she told me that it was half-off day - half-off anything in the entire store. I had spent a whopping six bucks (two sheets, a bath robe for the girl, and a pair of shoes…not a bad score in all) so I still had some cash just dying to be spent on something I’d seen in the very back of the store.

An empty case, you ask?  Good question, but no.  I just failed to get a pic of the machine inside the case before I yanked that baby out and got to work.  Here’s the machine:

I ran to get it like the place was full of ninja’s going after my secret treasure. People looked at me like I was some kind of idiot as I hauled the thing up to the register and waited in line all over again. (BTW, people, it’s called Air Conditioning, and I’d patronize your store a lot more if you used it!)

It’s another Singer, but weighs about ten pounds more than my brand new one and is a 5525 model. In a black and white lined case. With a ton of bobbins, a zipper foot, and the whole foot pedal. I paid $16.09 for it, thinking in the back of my excited mind that even if I had to put it in the shop before I could use it, the purchase price was more than worth it.

DH was shocked and amazed to see me come in with not one but two machines. I set to work as soon as I got home. I unpacked the new/old one, leaving the new/new one in its virginal box on the floor. I already knew it would work; I was dying to see if the new/old one would.

I was shocked and amazed when it hummed easily to life and sent its needle happily pulling stitches through my test fabric. It works!! Beautifully, silently, effortlessly…it’s a gift, really, to plug in a machine, sit down and enjoy it so much. A gift I’m so grateful for!

So it might have been worth the crochet hook, the hours of frustration on the crazy quilt that i have yet to blog about, and the returned iPod (and wasted tutorial, lol) to end up with two nice sewing machine for about the same price as some expensive little gadget. I am seriously in love with life right this minute.

But, I’m off to sew, sew, sew! Until next time, happy sewing!

For some reason, I seem to have forgotten how incredibly sick I’ve been this week. I severely overloaded my plate today and now I’m exhausted and on my way to take a late nap.

But first, some pleasant thoughts…

Isn’t it beautiful?  I wish I could live there, surrounded by all that peace and romantic scenery.  It makes me want to get out a pen and a new pad of paper and write away.

My love, the Chiweenie.  AKA Melody.  (That’s not an owie on her leg, just some weird camera shadow thing).

That face just makes you feel like laughing, right?

The porch swing is dying for someone to curl up and relax on it, and I really think I’m the girl for the job.  So good-bye for now!

I’m cheering myself up with laughter today, and this blog has helped considerably! I’ve been cracking up…well, okay, chortling in between sneezes, for the past ten minutes. You should check it out.

On crafting notes, I need to go get some felt so I can make a Pop-Tart holder for my iPod. This blog has totally inspired me. But I’m torn…this one is even better, and reminds me of the Carebears star, which as everyone knows, is so way my thing. (Well, since I have 1.2 readers, everyone didn’t know, but now you do.) The only bad thing is, I have never - gasp - never tried hand sewing, except to put on two buttons once. I don’t even think I know how to begin. If you know of any good tutorials link me to ‘em, I’ll need all the help I can get!

And, as you probably guessed, the hand sewing is necessary because…sadly…my sewing machine is still sitting on my table broken. And now I don’t have any extra money to put it in the shop. Sniff, sniffle, sneeze.

Well, my cozy quilt and comfy couch and icy OJ (thank you Mr. Man!) are calling my name. I can hear it through the fog in my ears. I may have time for just one more lolcat read though…

First and foremost, I’m here to whine. That’s about all the goodness I feel like contributing to blogland today - haha. So, if you don’t want to read my list of complaints, I will not - I repeat, not - feel in the least bit ignored or slighted. Feel free to run away now!

Well, it started because yesterday, while I was writing/sewing/taking pictures/posting my iPod cozy tutorial for Sew, Mama, Sew!, I started to feel like my head was in a metal bucket. You know how when your nose is stuffy and your ears are itchy and your throat is scratchy? That’s what I’m dealing with. It feels like a massive cold. No fever, though, thankfully; since I have such a hard time taking any kind of meds, even Tylenol, I’m terrified that I will have to break down and do it. It’s becoming some huge obsession in my foggy head: What if it’s a sinus infection, and I don’t go to the doctor and I end up fainting? (This happened to my aunt, by the way. Oh, also by the way, one of my hugest fears besides taking pills is fainting. I’ve never done it and I’m scared of it. Why, I don’t know and couldn’t explain; I just am, that’s all I know). I went to bed last night feeling slightly better and confident that I’d wake up with no symptoms this morning.

That confidence was a load of junk.

This morning I am one gigantic blob of sneezing, snuffling, coughing messiness. It’s 12:18 and I’m still in my pj’s with last night’s ponytail sticking out all over my head. I will say one thing though - since I didn’t bother to wash my face last night, I still have on some makeup, which is a plus. The minus is that on one side my black eyeliner is fading away down my cheek so it looks like I have a thin black bruise swirling around my face. I inspected it carefully in the mirror over my bathroom sink as I sucked in some steam off the very hot water. I didn’t bother to wash it off, though, that would have required too much effort. I didn’t even bother to make my bed when I got out of it - which is only second time since April 1st that I haven’t made it. The sheets came off the mattress and I keep thinking that I should pull them off and wash them, so I haven’t made the bed. The only thing is that the washer is full of wet clothes from yesterday, the dryer full of dry but cold ones from the night before, and I don’t feel like dealing with any of it long enough to get my bed linens clean. So, the result is a slightly smelly laundry room and a tangled up, unmade bed. And you know what? I just don’t have the energy to fix any of it.

Also today our housemates are moving out. The house is in a complete muddle of disarray, with half-packed boxes here, shoved couch sets there, carpets that need shampooed over there…and again, I am not only being of no help to anyone who could use it, I just don’t have the energy to feel bad about being lazy.

One good thing is that I’m wrapped up in my quilt and have lots of shows I need to catch up on online (Gossip Girl, anyone?) I am looking forward to that. It’s rare that I have absolutely nothing I have to do on a Friday, so it’s a good time to be sick. Plus when the hubby gets home he won’t mind going to the store and getting me some OJ and chicken broth, both of which sound amazing right now. I plan on taking a long steamy shower and an even longer nap later today, which I am looking forward to even more than watching my shows. Plus, DD is over at the neighbors house, who happen to be my in-laws, and they never mind taking care of her. That’s a wonderful luxury - built-in babysitters right less than a hundred feet away. Some people might dread the thought of being that close to their in-laws, but I’m dreading the thought of having to move away.

The saddest thing about today is that I don’t get to take my sewing machine into the shop and I really need to. It’s only sewing backward. Seriously. To make it sew forward I have to hold the buttonholer level all the way forward (ever tried sewing with just one hand? It’s not fun) and every ten to fifteen stitches it makes this really loud clunky noise and quits sewing forward. Do sewing machines have a neutral gear? It’s like it’s getting stuck there. I don’t know why. But it needs a sewing machine doctor and I can’t haul it in today, which means no working on my quilt today…sigh.

Well, it’s time for some pictures. I need some cheering up, don’t you? So, here’s some happy thoughts to look at…

Quilt blocks in the sun

Roses that smell like heaven

And love that makes the world a place worth living.

I feel cheered up now, don’t you?

iPod Cozy tutorial

This is my first tutorial ever, so bear with me. Personally, when I take a first look at a new tutorial, if it’s too long or has too many diagrams, I tend to get scared off, so I will try to keep this one from being too scary. But I can’t leave out any important details either…

Also, one thing I’d like to say in my defense before you see any of the up-close pictures: I made two of these cozies. When I did the first one, I had no intention of writing a tutorial, so I didn’t take pictures of the process. When I did the second one, for the tutorial, my sewing machine decided to seriously freak out. I’m taking her to the doctor tomorrow but for most of the action shots, the stitching looks awful, I promise yours will look better. And I also swear that I’m a much better sewer than some of these shots imply.

Note: For the sake of making things easier to figure out, I’m going to refer to the denim pocket as, of course, our pocket. The back, where the earbuds go, is going to be called the pouch; although it’s a pocket too, we don’t want to confuse ourselves anymore than we have to (okay, honestly, I don’t want to confuse myself. It probably makes sense to you without the “pouch” but it was giving me a headache.)

Also, all the pictures get bigger if you click on them. Just thought you should know. :0)

Materials needed:

One complete pocket with a flap and button closure, cut from an old pair of jeans. Can be any size, but remember, the bigger your iPod, the bigger the pocket should be, since your iPod has to fit inside it :0)

One small piece of fleece or other soft, slightly thick material (to protect your iPod from the rivet of the button on the inside of the pocket)

A piece of fabric twice the length of your pocket (for the back pocket that holds your earbuds)

Two small scraps of fabric for the loop (optional).

Step One

Make sure your iPod fits in the pocket you’ve chosen. It’d be really, really frustrating to get too far along in this project and then realize your player is too big for the pocket; don’t ask how I know this, just trust me.

Step Two

We aren’t going to take the pocket apart and put it back together. You could, if you wanted to be really precise about raw edges showing and such, but I am just not into working that hard today. So, since we aren’t going to be able to do much to the actual pocket itself, you need to make sure you trim away any extra fabric from the pants it came off of. I used pinking shears for this part, but later I almost wished I’d used regular scissors so that the little pieces leftover would fray and give it some character. Your choice.

Next, slide your iPod into the pocket one more time. If the button of the pocket flap could potentially hurt your expensive little gadget, we need to cover it as quickly as possible to eliminate all threats. I used a piece of green fleece I found on my sewing room floor. Since my machine is being all kinds of crazy right now, the stitches aren’t picture perfect, but they are enough to keep the fabric in place, covering the back of that button and saving my iPod’s life. Turn your pocket inside out and pin the fleece in place. Since we didn’t do a whole lot of precise measuring before hand, you may need to trim your fleece to fit the pocket. I took the easy way out and pinked all the edges so they wouldn’t fray. One important note at this point – you don’t need to sew all four sides of your fleece onto the pocket. All you need to worry about are the two short sides, the up and down ones (aren’t my technical terms impressive?)

Step Three

You could stop here, if you don’t want a separate pocket for your earbuds or a loop on the side of your pocket. I wanted both, so I kept going.

It’s time to make your loop. Take your two fabric scraps and trim them up to be the same width and roughly the same length. Sew them, right sides together, into a tube, and use the eraser end of a pencil to shove the fabric through and turn it right side out. If your machine is running right, this will be the hardest part of the whole project. Sigh. Lucky you.

Step Four

Figure out where you’d like to place your loop and what size looks the best with your pocket. You could put it anywhere, really, but I wanted to be able to cover the rough ends of mine up with the earbud pocket, so I chose to anchor my loop on the back of the jeans pocket, just below the flap. I sewed it on with a straight stitch, and because I am always a little nervous that the worst will happen and my stitches will, for some unknown reason, come out, I backstitched and re-stitched twice. If you don’t have OCD about these things, once will probably be sufficient, as long as you put it a few backstitches at the beginning and end. Make sure that wherever you place it is close to the very edge of the jeans pocket so you will still have room inside the pocket for your iPod.

Step Five

Again, you could stop at just the loop, but if you want to get all kinds of fancy, keep going.

Now it’s time to put our earbud pouch on. Fold your pouch fabric in half, so that it’s the same height as your jeans pocket, and make sure it’s inside out. Then, lay your pocket on the wrong side of your pouch fabric. Give it a rough trace. It won’t be exact, which is just the way I wanted mine. Cut out around this shape and flip it right out. Fold the two rough edges down and sew them up tight with a decorative topstitch if you feel like it, a basic straight stitch if you don’t.

The stitches you use to attach your pouch are going to show on the front side of your cozy. You may want to mark some straight lines to sew along so you don’t end up with wobbly and crooked lines, like I did on my first try.

There are two ways you can attach your pouch, this is a completely personal decision. You could lay the un-stitched edges of your pouch against the back of the jeans pocket and sew it as close to the bottom edge of the pocket as you can get it. Then, flip the pouch fabric up towards the flap, and check out the beautifully finished bottom of your pouch. It’s amazing, right?

Or, if you’d like your stitches to show, you can start on the sides. (Even if you chose to do your bottom with the hidden stitches, this side method is for you. These stitches are going to show.) Position your pouch on top of your jeans pocket and make sure it’s as close to the edges as you can manage, and if you’re hiding the rough ends of your loop, double check to be sure that’s happening.

Pin the pouch in place. Check to make sure that your iPod will still slide in and out of its case easily with these seams. Readjust as needed. Then, choose a stitch to use for attaching the pouch. This will show, so you can get as creative as you want, as long as you don’t use one that’s too wide, your iPod still needs to be able to get into its house. Now, patiently, carefully, and without cursing (if you can manage it) sew around the sides and bottom of your pouch. Clip all loose threads, put your iPod to bed and snug those earbuds into their pouch!

I did something a little extra to the second cozy I made. When I folded the tops of the pouch inward to sew them shut, my stitches ended up looking so terrible that I had to come up with a way to hide them. I found a strip of fabric that matched the loop I used, and I folded both sides in to the center and then folded it half to make a small strip with all the raw edges hidden (I wish I’d taken pictures of this part, but it’s the same as making binding tape.) Then I sewed the strip on the top of my pouch, again I only worried about the sides, just like with the fleece on the inside.

That little extra strip ended up coming in handy. Now I have two places to attach things to hold the iPod to my clothes, hang it up, etc. Here’s some finished shots just to show what the cozies look like together and one of the options for using them.

That’s a clip for a badge I wore at work.

The red fabric is a left-over piece of bias tape that I sewed shut to use as a necklace-typer carrier and hanger. This is pretty much only for the pictures, I don’t think I’d wear it in public, but it’s convenient for hanging it up at home.

See what I said about my machine being screwy? The topstitching can look a whole lot prettier than that.

Both of them, side by side, the one with the iPod in it is the second one I made.

And the backs. Messy but cute, right? Charming. That’s what I call it. :0)

Well, that title doesn’t seem fitting, since I highly doubt the whole world will have an interest in the blog of one SAHM with a penchant for messiness and too many projects going all at the same time.  However, since WordPress picked it, I’ll leave it.

Hello, world.

Today is day number nine thousand and eleven that I haven’t accomplished any of my major goals.  Yes, that would mean that the last time I effectively crossed anything of my to-do list was when I was three, but that’s what happens when you’re always going, going, giong and thinking, thinking, thinking, rather than just taking five minutes out to sit down and do what you actually had planned.  I’m not saying I haven’t accomplished anything at all within the past 24 years; indeed, I’ve done some things I didn’t think were possible, not the least of which include giving birth, getting (and staying) married, and making huge personal strides in my emotional and religious life.  What I am saying is simply that the to-do list never happens.  If I take the time to sit down and actually plan what my chores are for the day, they will be the things that never get done.  A million and five other little jobs will pop up with seemingly impossible amounts of importance, and those get done; but not the ones I planned for.

A while ago I set a goal for myself that I would accomplish one major housekeeping goal daily.  As you’ll see, I succeeded fairly well, and I did it by not making a to do list.  Somewhere along the line I gave up on myspace and quit posting to the blog about my accomplishments, and somewhere along that line the accomplishments quit seeming as important, so they have certainly been fewer and farther between these days.  Hopefully this new WordPress blog will solve that!

I’ve decided that what I need is a not a daily, weekly or monthly routine to keep this house in order (sorry, Flylady, your site is wonderful and your advice priceless, but useless, considering I don’t have time to brush my teeth twice a day, let alone spent hours writing out routines and sticking things in my control journal for my family to use if something ever happens to me.  There are two things I have to say about this - one, if I had time to make organized lists, I’d have time to have an organized home.  Two, if something ever DOES happen to me and I’m unable to clean house for weeks at a time, the likelyhood of any other adult living in this house even looking for something called a control journal with written instructions on how to clean this place, is about as ludacris as the thought of any of them actually cleaning it.)  So, what I do need, are some new habits.

On a personal note, tomorrow I have a really exciting appointment and can’t wait to see how it goes.  I’ll keep you posted!

The appointment went better than I dared to dream, by the way.

So, I am walking away from the computer right now to go do some reorganizing in my sewing room (aka the room where things are thrown and never found again, or where people go to hide out for centuries without fear of being discovered).  It is seriously awful in there, which means that it is even worse in my dining room, which is where my sewing projects explode when the sewing room is in inhabitable.  Today’s non-to-do item is the sewing room.

I’ll let you know how many things get in the way and keep me from doing it.