Tag Archives: Sewing

A great start to a fabulous Labor Day weekend…

Posted in Animals, Cats, Complainments, Me Me Me! by

Saturday:
6:07 am – wake up call from Zoe meowing and demanding food
9:30 am – phone call with friend Brenda in Minnesota, learned the meaning of the word “gitchy”
10:42 am – drive Zoe to Acacia for her monthly catupuncture session
12:24 pm – finally leave Acacia after learning that Zoe has lost 3/4 lb. (down to 5.4 lbs) and opting for a full panel blood test
1:09 pm – arrive at Joanne’s to figure out what to sew for class; pick out easy pattern for a closet organizer and black fabric featuring skulls and roses
1:54 pm – scarf down a chicken pita pocket prior to sewing class
2:00 pm – sewing class starts
3:14 pm – realize that I fucked up and cut large strips of fabric only half the width they were supposed to be
3:16 pm – realize that I knew I was going to fuck up and breathe a sigh of relief that I had purchased lots of extra matching fabric
4:42 pm – leave sewing class a little early
5:00 pm – walk into apartment as vet calls, telling me that Zoe’s blood sugar is extremely high and that she’s definitely diabetic and that she needs to get to California Vet Specialists asap for insulin
5:42 pm – arrive at CVS with Mom and a very pissed off Zoe
8:17 pm – finally leave CVS with Mom and even more pissed off Zoe, who has had an insulin shot and been taken off her cancer meds, along with instructions to come back Sunday morning for another blood glucose check
9:08 pm – give up on finding anything good on tv, read in bed, sleep

Sunday:
7:02 am – wake up call from Zoe, feed her food she doesn’t want to eat
8:17 am – take Zoe back to CVS
10:30 am – retrieve Zoe from CVS, who has been given fluids and instructions to come back again on Monday for another recheck
Current time – blog blog blog, realizing that I spent almost $600 on Zoe’s medical needs in the past 24 hours

Stay tuned for more excitement!

Gettin’ Crafty

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Last Saturday was my third week in another series of sewing classes. I was originally going to sew up a little bag to match the skirt I sewed during the first two weeks, but on the spur of the moment I decided to whip up some Yule stockings for the kitties and doggy. I had some coordinating fat quarters that I used for the cats’ stockings, and leftover fabric from my skirt for Teddy’s bone stocking. The skirt turned out very well – my first zipper! – but I need someone to take a picture of me wearing it before I can show you what it looks like. Anyway, here are the stockings – too bad I won’t be here to watch the critters enjoy them! Oh well – at least they’ll get some treats while I’m visiting up in Portland/Camas.

Fabulous Teddy Wear

Posted in Animals, Entertainment, Hobbies, Non-cats by

I think Teddy Bear is going to benefit the most from my sewing classes. I used the last bit of yellow flowered fabric that I had to make a nice poofy Easter bow for him. Doesn’t he look nice? Awwwww… He can be sure to look forward to many fashionable clothing items in the future: a vest, booties, maybe a tail warmer. What a lucky dog [insert evil laugh here]!!!

Anne, you’re very proud of me, right???

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Ok, so I know all these posts are about sewing, but that’s my current kick so you’re just going to have to like it or lump it. About a year ago I bought some fabric from reprodepot.com, that’s pink and has tattoo images on it (skulls, hula girls, hearts with knives sticking through them, snakes, etc.), that I had wanted to sew a tote bag with. It was going to be my knitting bag, since I’d found the pattern in a wonderful book called Stitch n’ Bitch. Well, after my first sewing class I decided to break out on my own and do a project all by myself – hence this here fabulous tote bag. It turned out pretty well, the only weird thing about it being that the pattern was rotated 90 degrees from the selvage ends of the fabric. So, in the end, the pattern is sideways on the bag, but I guess every project is a lesson learned, right? I’m going to bring my bag in next week for a little sucking-up teacher’s pet session; the two other girls in the class (ages and 13 and 14) just really have no idea who they’re dealing with!!!

First Class Project: A+

Posted in Accomplishments, Entertainment, Hobbies, Me Me Me! by

In light of the fact that I was never going to learn how to sew without some serious help, I decided to sign up for a month’s worth of sewing lessons at Baker’s Sewing Center. Baker’s is located in historic downtown Escondido, and like most businesses there, has been around since about the 1940’s. Mrs. Nancy, my instructor, informed me that the class would be sewing pillow cases during the first two classes, so I headed down to JoAnn’s Fabric and Crafts store to pick out fabric for my first project. I chose a nice yellow cotton with small white flowers that would match a quilted bedspread that I have. Let me say that JoAnn’s is completely mind-boggling – there’s so much, too much really, to choose from. Anyway, by the end of my first class, I had completed one of my pillow cases, and was almost done with the second, which I completed about 15 minutes after I got home that afternoon. Yesterday was our second class, and I sewed up a “decorator” pillow to match the pillow cases that I sewed the week before, complete with an envelope back so that it’s easy to pop a pillow form in and out of. So voila! Here is my completed set – all the yellow items are the ones that I did. By the way – the quilt hanging above my bed was made by my sister Tyleen, who is a quilting genius.

Intimidation

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Back in February, my Mom gave me a shiny brand new sewing machine. Unfortunately, the last time I even touched one of these crazy contraptions was back in my eighth grade home-ec class. I vaguely remember sewing some sort of shirt, but when I received my gift, I couldn’t have recalled how to even turn the thing on. I took out the book that accompanied the machine and started to read. I found all the parts that were labeled on the sewing machine diagram, but was still pretty clueless – feed dogs? Throat plate? Tension indicator???? The more I read about it, the more my mind began to swim. I referenced a couple of books I bought – Sewing 101 and Sewing for Dummies. Since I’m at the remedial level, neither of these books helped.

You know how when people are afraid to speak in front of an audience, they tell you to imagine your audience naked? Well, I tried the same approach with my sewing machine. I decided that the best way to take away the serious, dangerous, needle-stabbing demeanor of my machine would be to slap a few stickers on it. So I did – and I can tell you that there’s nothing like a small image of Raggedy Ann with an axe stuck in her to lighten the mood. Looks like I’ll be on my way to sewing for Project Runway in no time!