Merry Christmas!

I'm signing off for the next week as we finally sit back and enjoy some holiday fun! We'll be celebrating with many family and friends in the next week and I hope y'all do the same! Be merry and bright!

Love,
Sally

Gingerbread House: check

This year was our first attempt at building a gingerbread house as a family.
The kit from Costc0: $8.99.
The amount accidentally fed to the dog: minimal.
The elated sugar high: priceless

ooops

Sorry the link to the Etsy shop didn't work!

Try this one: SewSallyShop.Etsy.com

Etsy takes PayPal, which is very to use if you aren't familiar with it - and it's the best way for me to receive online credit card payments. Once you purchase the pattern, I get an immediate email and hop down to the post office to mail the pattern directly to you!

Thanks for looking!

Etsy shop is open!

It's just a small start, but at the urging of one of my students, I finally got my Farmer's Market Tote Bag pattern up for sale on Etsy! Go to SewSallyShop.Etsy.com to buy the pattern!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Has it really been nearly a month since my last post? Time flies!
Thanksgiving was great ~ a good holiday with lots of good family!
We traditionally spend Thanksgiving with my husband's family in Bend, and we did it again this year, ending the trip with a visit to the Polar Express train in Hood River. It was a bit much, as far as amusement for children goes, but our 3 year old LOVED it!

One of the highlights of Thanksgiving was my father in law giving me his mother's Singer Featherweight. What a dream! It is white, with an aqua case. So very, very special! I haven't had a chance to sew on it yet, but have cleaned it a bit. It's been a very long time since anyone used it, so it needs a bit of TLC, which I am very happy to deliver!
Other recent work has been washing the piles of linens and hankies that I inherited from my great-great grandmother's shop. I think there are nearly 100 of them. Most of them were really musty smelling, so got a few trips through the delicate cycle and now need to be ironed. Some (the ones on top of the pile in the photo) didn't get washed and are still in their original shape - complete with the "Made in Austria" or "Made in Switzerland" or "Made in France" sticker. So sweet.
We got the tree up last week and got some of the decorations up. Still to go are the greenery garlands around the windows. Last year we had them up for something like four months before we were tired of them!
And right before Advent, I finally got the Advent Calendar done for our son. I bought one of those kits, thinking it was the easy way to go... Then I thought it looked flimsy and that I should really interface the pockets for rigidity. Ooops. I ended up scrapping the piece that was supposed to be the back, cutting apart the strips that made up the pockets and just sewing them right on, raw edges exposed. Heirloom quality it is not, but we're making do for now.

It has a dowel and a sleeve for hanging, but we haven't gotten out the nails just yet to attach it to the wall. Inside each pocket is a slip of paper, saying what special activity we get to do. I thought about little presents or candy, but he's getting enough candy these days with what is being handed out everywhere, and it makes him CRAZY. Lucky for me, he actually dislikes chocolate!

So the things we get to do are:
1. Get a Christmas tree
2. Put up Christmas decorations
3. Make Christmas cards (1 or 2)
4. Make gift tags (his drawings or paintings run through my Xyron)
5. Bake cookies and decorate them
6. Buy a toy for charity
7. Make a cape (he's been wanting one)
8. Drive to look at Christmas lights
9. Visit Grammie and Grandpa
10. Read an extra book at naptime
11. Buy a Santa hat (written after he declared he "Had to have one!"
12. Watch a movie with Mama and Papa
13. Make ornaments with Baker's Clay
14. Make pipe cleaner wreaths
15. Go to the Children's Museum
16. Write a letter to Santa
17. Go to the zoo
18. Make a gift for your teacher
19. Have a special lunch
20. Extra book at bedtime
21. Go for ice cream
22. Have a special dinner
23. Wrap presents
24. To Be Determined -- we'll see what works best.

A lot of my ideas came from various places on the internet. The basic idea of doing activities instead of presents came from somewhere that I can't find now. There are also great ideas here.

Project Barbie

For all of you who love Pr0ject Runway, check out Project Barbie! No joke, this is for everyone who wants to sew along with the talented artists of Project Runway but on a small scale. So you follow the rules and challenges of the show, but make your project doll-size! Very, very cool!

Greatness comes clothed in pajamas

I just got a CD of photos from my Aunt, sharing more great memories of the Sisters Retreat. What I love most about this picture is the clock. I think that was the day that we all stayed in our jammies. All day. That might also have been the night when dinner got so wild I almost peed my pants, laughing so hard. I was so afraid I would miss something if I got up from the table. It was like being at a slumber party in the 6th grade. But with all the fun and none of the anxiety.

Now that I've been home for six weeks, I finally unpacked my trunk this afternoon. It felt good, but was sad to go through all the projects that I didn't get to finish. With tremendous help from my mom (she's the best!), my sewing room is all spanky clean and organized.

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For those of you who missed the Amy Karol book signing at Bolt last night, I have to say, she's GREAT. Totally sweet, very fun, and incredibly enthusiastic! I was able to say a few words about teaching at bolt and she said she'd heard of me - the greatest flattery! I was all twitterpated to be meeting such a celebrity, and then that she KNEW of me?! It was great.
Even better was the fact that the early afternoon was spent at The Pine Needle in Lake Oswego, where they were celebrating their 15th anniversary and having a big, big sale! They were awesome with the little man (who was a total trooper being dragged along for the ride), and we were able to pick up the Amy Karol book. We got home in time to put the little one down for a nap and then whip up one of the dish towel aprons from the Bend-The-Rules book. That meant I was able to get a little prize when I went to the book signing, since I brought a completed project!

There's nothing as good as being recognized. For being a teacher. And for being a "sewing person" as Amy puts it.

Cheers and happy sewing!

Is it Christmas yet?

I am one of those people for whom it is never too early for the stores to start stocking Christmas goodies. I love the anticipation, the decoration, the parties. All of it! This year I'll have a bit more decoration at my own house. And on my own self.

These projects were all started at the Sisters Gig. The table runner still needs to be quilted and bound. The back of it has red and green chili peppers for when we either need a bit less wild of a table runner or have already spilled candle wax on that side. The pillow in the center still needs to be stuffed.

And the apron is miraculously finished! Ready to wear! Now I just need my kitchen remodel to get wrapped up so I can start cooking! For the past six weeks we've been without our kitchen and bathroom. It's been nuts! But we're getting close! Next week the floor coverings and countertops go in, then it's just plumbing and putting the finishing touches on everything! Can you tell from all those exclamation points just how excited I am about the whole thing?!

It was a year ago (November 15th) that we discovered the water damage that started this whole remodel/repair. And we'd only lived in the house two weeks when it happened. So when this is all done, it will finally feel like we've moved in!

Some photos finally

I finally got around to uploading the last photos from the OLD camera. Now the learning curve will begin as I navigate the NEW camera. Of course, now there is so little natural light, I'll blame my questionable photo quality on that (versus, say, my unimaginative choice of backdrops...)



The hood and body of a jacket for the little man's upcoming birthday! The pattern calls for a 1" hem, but I think I'll hem it all the way to the bottom of the zipper. It will still fall well below his hips, so I may add a bit of elastic to keep it from getting drafty.

One space left!

Due to some cancellations, there is still one space open in the Apron class at bolt fabric boutique! Class will be held Tuesdays, November 20th and 27th, from 7pm-9pm! There are two apron choices: Flea Market Fancy (a tiered half apron) and Flirty Skirty (a very cute bib apron). Come join the fun!