Preparing for Christmas

 Hello, everyone.

It's Advent now, as of Sunday, and in our family that means decorating for the holiday.

This little scenic eggshell was given to me by a neighbor of my late grandmother. She used to make them. My little angel gets a prominent place in the tree every year. 

There hasn't been much done outside yet, but the wreath is up.

Last year's little additions were wired in very well, and still solidly in place when we got it out. I kept them there and added some clip on birds and angels. The bow is off-center this time. I used silver glitter ribbon.

Sewing: a Mixer Mat

 Hello, everyone.

There has been interest in the family for a mixer mat for persons who have stand mixers in the house.

The mixer mat is a kind of a coaster for the mixer; it keeps the mixer from scratching the counter top while it's in use.

This one is based on a Log Cabin method, but using the seaming trick to conceal the end of the row. I am indebted to my buddies in the Sewing Club for this method, it's really neat. At the end of the piecing, I used decorative stitches that were canned in the sewing machine to do the quilting.

The mat could also be used as a hot pad.

Fabrics used were quilting cottons from stash. Corners are mitered. Reverse is a duck print that reminds me of DF.

Mitering the non-45-degree corners did require me to pay attention. There might have been some un-stitching involved...

DF always did like ducks.

Test stitch-out on a new embroidery pattern

 Hello, everyone.

I found a really cute pattern for machine embroidery and bought it. Then began the study of how to use it.

I decided to both try it out and try out using faux suede for the fabric.

I like the way the colors show up on the black. I don't think that faux suede is the right fabric for the project I'm thinking of, though. 

This one does call for several different shades of red. But the little bird is just pretty.

A brief bit about Michigan

 Hello, everyone.

We were in Michigan a couple of months back for a family event. While we were there, we stopped in a small bar for lunch, outside of Kellogg. 

This is their privacy screen/empty bottle display. We thought the arrangement was well done and creative. 

I wish I had taken a photo of their sign...now I can't remember their name. But they are on the south side of the highway between Kellogg and the Ft. Custer National Cemetery. Highly recommend the hamburger! Lovely patio seating, with shade.

Progress on a Christmas project

 Hello, everyone.

This is a progress post of a new project.

This will be a tank top Christmas shirt. (Because here in deep South Texas we frequently have short sleeves weather for Christmas!) 

The design is a "vintage" style Christmas tree with birds in various colors. As y'all can see, the topper is still between the stitches; I decided to wait until the top is completed before soaking it off. I used the Sulky Stick n Stitch to float the interfaced knit in the hoop and the Sulky Solvy for the topper. Both Sulky products will soak off, leaving behind the ProSheer Elegance Fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply. The bobbin thread here was not the usual "crystal" 60 weight bobbin thread. I had noticed that letters look a lot better if I use the Aurifil 80 weight thread left over from the Lion Purse project when testing a design for Thanksgiving decorations. It's so much clearer and nicer on thin lines that I loaded a bobbin on purpose with that 80 weight cotton thread. There just isn't any occasional frost of bobbin thread showing at the base of the stitches on thin lines with it. 😊 

The pattern is from Burda Style 2006 November issue number 111...back then the magazine was still called Burda World of Fashion. It's an easy, wearable tank top that works well with bra straps. Somewhat form-fitting in shape, more so than the similar Kwik Sew tank top is, but unlike the Kwik Sew version it doesn't have a scoop back neck. 

A note on the Aurifil thread: it comes on wooden spools, not plastic ones, so there is no handy built-in thread clip to hold the end. And one of my spools had a snag at one end of the spool. The others seem to all be okay, but I have learned to feel around the edge to see if it will grab the (very thin!) thread while sewing.

On the colors: I ran "auto levels" in my Photoshop Elements and the colors of everything popped up a bit. The blue of the shirt is a little bit dustier in color. The fabric is the same Telio knit that was used for the night shirt a while back...there was quite a bit left over from that!

A recent walk at the Hike and Bike

 Hello, everyone.

I realized that there are some photos that would be nice to share from the Hike and Bike trail. This trail has been a lot busier lately, but sometimes it's not a huge crowd of bike riders.

One of those times we saw blooms on some of the many long-stemmed cacti that have been being planted along the paved trail.

The long stem with its several blooms. (Are these "dragon fruit" cacti? Dunno.)

A detail of some of the large, lovely flowers.

This year's second Halloween costume

 Hello, everyone.

This year's Halloween fun for the little ones was a much shorter trick or treat experience than usual--though the three year old probably was ahead of the game with a short set of visits and then family dinner with the grands.

He wanted to be a flying dinosaur this year.

Using the Simplicity costume for bat wings and butterfly wings, adjusted for a wild guess that the bones of these critters probably showed from the front of the wing, and with safety dots added in the back. (Flying dinosaurs were probably road-colored as that would hide them from larger flying dinosaurs and prey they were trying to catch. At least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it! 😊)The costume was built on a base of purchased tee and pants. They were in the exercise wear section at Target and are a little large for him, but he can wear them as play clothes for a while. Win!

The front, with tail draped over the hanger. (Tail just whipped up with a bit of low fill batting between two layers of the knit. Totally unnecessary tie strings--forgot the pants have elastic waste!) Wing folded back to show "bones" on one side. 

Base fabric for the set of wings was a suitably lizard-colored polyester knit. It stretched. But it was interfaced on both surfaces and was not completely impossible to work with. The bones were an applique. They were made from Kona cotton in a light gray. Heat n Bond Lite was used to stick them down to the front wing fabric, then a row of stitches was added to keep them there. (Being not at all confident that the Heat n Bond would stick well enough at a low enough temperature not to melt the main fabric, I went with the "belt and suspenders" theory of attachment.) I lengthened the back connecting panel and the inner edge of the wings, and used zebra-patterned fold-over elastic for the straps. Dispensed with fabric cover for the wrist loops and the straps, there was plenty going on already. And I ignored completely the idea in the instructions to hand close the wings after turning. (Come on, folks. You're kidding, right?) Instead I edge stitched around the wing with both stabilized the edge of the shape a bit and closed the hole. Much more satisfactory.

On the back, the safety dots. These are cut from one of the lovely reflective bits we had lying around to add to hiking poles and increase walker visibility on our hoped-for pilgrimage walk in Spain next year. (Via de la Plata, a fair amount of roadside walking seems to be on the way.) The sticker was stiff, but cut well enough with my paper scissors and stuck on nicely.