Just Keep Sewing, Sewing...

First off, Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

For some odd reason, I seem to only blog when I've finished a project. The other day I was thinking "I should really blog about something. But what? I haven't fnished anything lately." Then it dawned on me, like a lightbulb going on over my head: I could blog about my unfinished projects! Brilliant! Ok, enough with the sarcasm. I've been doing some sewing lately, and finished three projects last night. I also started working on the gift I was going to give my cousin last year for Christmas. It was going well until I realized that one sleeve had been put in upside down. I'm not sure who reads this blog, so no pictures 'til after Christmas. In the meantime, here's a picture of my sewing area.

When I sew, I move the machine over. Otherwise I use the space for pinning, scrapping and reading patterns that don't make sense. The bag next to the iron contains mending and projects that I really should finish. The pillow needs to be taken apart and given a new backing. Behind the sewing machine is a two drawer storage unit that has all my ribbon, lace, trim and bias tape. I store my serger on top when it's not in use. You can't see it in the picture because it has a bag of Almost Finished Projects leaning against it. On top of the serger is a bag of fabric that needs to be cut out. The cabinets above store most of my notions, and my two fabric stash boxes are below the counter. (My Grandpa custom-made the counter for us!) to the left is my Mom's sewing space, and our stamping/scrapping space.

Clothespin Angel

I finished this last week. Someone gave me the kit, and I thought "oh, this will be fun! I've never embroidered on Aida before." I will never embroider on Aida again. Between miscounting, trying to keep the lazy daisies from popping through to the wrong side and ripping out a several flowers, this was not a fun project. I was working on it while the kids I babysit were napping. The little girl found it one day, and absolutely adores the angel, so it will probably be her Christmas present. I haven't decided about drawing her face - I'm not very good at drawing faces, especially on clothespins.

Placemat Set

One of my first sewing projects. These were made by cutting strips of fabric, sewing them together, cutting them apart, sewing them together...It was a little traumatic for me, since I'd worked really hard to sew straight lines, and then having to cut it apart. Thanks to the fabric store's crooked cutting of fabric, I was only able to make 5 placemats. There are 6 napkins though, so I'm contemplating making another set to mix and match with. The hot mitt was another first project. Not stellar, but it keeps your hand from getting burned.

Baby Clothes

Some more things from my hope chest. Several of my sewing projects for school were these baby clothes. The patterns are Quick and Easy Playwear and Quick and Easy Layette by Sew Little Pattern Company. (I couldn't find a link for these - if you have a link for them, please leave a comment and I'll add it to this post.) The peter pan collars on the dresses drove me bonkers, but other than that the patterns are quick and easy to make. Please excuse all the wrinkles - I didn't see much point to ironing them and then putting them back in my hope chest to get more wrinkles.

Embroidered Pillowcases

My hope chest was taking up too much space in the basement, so I unpacked it, moved it up to my room (with help from my sister's fiance) and repacked it. Among other things, I unearthed my embroidered pillowcases. These were a school project, and took too many years to finish.