Wishcasting Wednesday

"What Do You Wish To Do One Day?", ask Jamie at http://jamieridlerstudios.ca.  Such a good question and so many answers.  One thing I know I wish to do, travel cross country with my children and my husband.  I did this with my husband about 10 years ago and loved every second and can't wait to do it again but with better planning to make sure I get to experience all that I want to.

Another answer would be to have a career in something I love.  This is one area that is going to be difficult!  Mainly it's going to be difficult because I need to future out what it is that I truly want to do with my career.  I have thoughts about going back to school for art therapy, natural health, aromatherapy, herbs, or for nutrition training. I have crazy thoughts about opening my own studio with a healthy cafe and shoppe.  I think about doing more with flowers and gardening.  Then I think about just being a social worker.  I know that I will be going back to work sooner than I expect.  My twins will be in school within the next couple of years, and at that time, I hope that I can actually get back into the work force and love what I do.  I am trying to use this time that I am not working to figure out what I want to do with my life and hope that answering questions like this will help guide me to my love and passion!

"What Do You Wish To Do One Day?"

Amy

Hexagon Maddness

With it being National Sewing Month, I am really trying to get some sewing projects completed.  My friend at http://www.goddessinprogressblog.com/quilts/ posted a hexagon project a while ago and I was intrigued.  More recently she posted a picture of her hexagon quilt and it got me thinking, this would be a great take along project for the part (maybe), and a great project to use up my scraps.  Of course now I want to branch out and maybe use things that aren't part of my scrap bin.I'm tempted to buy fabric, but I really want to try to use what I already have.  I can't afford to buy more and I don't have the room to buy more!  I'm trying really hard to be organized and right now I have my material pretty organized so I don't want to add more unless I have to!

My first hexie flower put together with a ladder stitch

Daddy and Thomas were watching the Patriots while I sewed and the other 2 kids were playing in their room

I am also working on a doll sized granny square afghan.  I was able to spend some time working on it while the kids played at the park!

4 flower hexies 1 completed with a whip stitch and 3 with the ladder stitch

I have been trying to organized my craft things and have been trying to get rid of some things.  I have free cycled some things, but there have been some stuff that no one seems interested in.  I have some yarn that no one has wanted and I have some stamps that I haven't posted yet.  I am hoping to get more stuff together so that I can get rid of rings and have a more organized place to work and know what supplies I have.  It's definitely a work in progress and really difficult to get rid of things.  I also just found out that I have some yarn that I totally forgot about.  I think once I finish some of the projects that I am working on, I need to go up in the attic and decide if this yarn is stuff I need/want. or if I should just get rid of it.  

It has been nice to have a more organized space.  I am not making a ton of things, but I really have been able to create more easily, know what I have for supplies, and not have to stress about cleaning up a project in the middle of working on it.  I like having a place for my dewing machine to be out all the time.  I like having small projects organized so that I can work on something while watching TV.  Of course all the new shows are starting up so it is really important to have things that I can work on while watching my favorite shows.  That way I can be productive as well as veg out in front of the TV and enjoy some good shows!  The funny thing is, I really like to be organized, but I am not one to get organized easily!

What are you making for National Sewing Month?

Amy

I think my next post will be about my Christmas list.  I need to get a plan in place if I want to make things for people for Christmas.  I need to have a plan in place so that I can get started.  I think I'll take the kids out in the back yard and work on my list!

First Actual Sewing Project of the Month

I preciously wrote that I was going to tackle a tissue box cover for my oldest son's classroom.  Needless to say, I didn't get to it.  It is still on the list of things to do and will hopefully be completed soon.  I did put together my hexagon sewing kit (I think I have everything I need in it) and actually completed some.  I was pretty impressed with how easy it was and how I was able to complete some while the kids played with playdoh.

I used free templates from http://moxyideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/moxyideas_1.5in_hex.pdf that I printed out on card stock.  I also punched a hole in the template as was suggested by http://mythreesonsknit.blogspot.com/2010/05/hexagons-beginning.html.  I then used this tutorialhttp://sunshinescreations.vintagethreads.com/2007/03/tutorial-on-english-paper-piecing.html for completing the hexagons.  I have only made the start of a flower so far, but I plan to do more.  I love that this is a great way to use scraps, a great way to fussy cut material into easy shapes, and something that I can easily take with me or sit in front of the TV and complete.  Thanks to my friend at goddessinprogressblog.com/quilts/, I now have a new craft project to work on (not that I needed one, but it is nice to have one that is mobile).

I can't wait to make more hexies.  I can't wait to sew more!

Amy

First Sewing Pattern of the Month

So, it's national sewing month and my goal this month is to do some sewing everyday.  It's Labor Day weekend and my husband heads back to school tomorrow.  I didn't do any sewing today, but I did get my hexagon project case started.  I made a few templates and put them along with some material into a case.  Unfortunately I didn't get much else done.  I really need to get that finished so that I can have a travel case with a project to take with me if I go anywhere, where I can get some sewing done.  I am using this blog post to help me: http://mythreesonsknit.blogspot.com/2010/05/hexagons-beginning.html#.

My next project, I think, is going to be something for my son's preschool class.  I had bought some material at the end of the year but never did anything with it.  Then, the other day, I found this on interest: http://www.craftandfabriclinks.com/TIPS/boxcover.html

or http://laracameron.com/index.php?p=tutorials

I have plenty of project that I need to work on and finish.  I am hoping that national sewing month will help me do what I need to do to get projects complete and actually work on things that I enjoy!

Happy Sewing!!!!

Amy

National Sewing Month and A Little About Soaping

September is National Sewing Month.  I am going to attempt to use this to motivate me to work on some sewing project every day.  Even though there are things that get in the way, for me, being creative is one of the ways I de-stress and sewing is one of the creative outlets that help make me a better mom, wife, friend, and person.

One of my more recent creative outlets is soap making.  My friend T.J. commented on my last post that she wanted to make her own soap.  Honestly, if someone is really interested in making soap, I say go for it.  There are people out there that will tell you it is too dangerous and that you need to have an  experienced soaper around the first time you make soap.  I spent a lot of time watching youtube videos and researching soap making, but was a little petrified sue to one soapers comments about the dangers of lye.  Thanks to the support of my husband, I had the confidence to make a small batch of crockpot soap.  Since I have little kids around, I have only tried crockpot soap making.  That is because after only a couple of hours, the soap is dine and the lye is completely soponified and if done correctly will no longer burn you.

There are a few things you need to make soap.  Since I am just a beginner, please do your own research to ensure that what you are doing is correct.  I often have my iPad set up with a couple of youtube videos to help remind me the correct way of doing things.  Youtube has a ton of helpful videos and there are a bunch of great blogs that talk about soap making.  you also need to have access to a lye calculator.  The two that I have used are http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php and http://www.SoapCalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp with the second being my preferred calculator.  For me, the tools that I have are a digital scale, a crockpot, plastic tubs for measuring the lye, the water and the oils, a stick blender, rubber gloves, and a mold lined with freezer paper.  Once you use tools for making soap, you must never use them again for food!

My favorite oils to use right now are olive oil, crisco (yes crisco), and coconut oil.  I wasn't sure about crisco, but it is in the lye calculator and after some research, I did find one site that said Crisco was initially made for soap making purposes.  I'm not sure how true that is, but it is a possibility.  I chose these oils since they are readily available and according to the lye calculator, it made a good soap.  So far I am happy with how the soap has come out.

It can be difficult to get lye, but I found mine at my local Lowes.  You have to be careful that you are using 100% lye, I believe that Roebic is the brand that Loews sells.  You may be able to get it cheeper, but again, I wanted to have it readily available.  The lye is what makes soap making dangerous.  Lye is very caustic, but as long as safety precautions are taken, there is really little to worry about.  Again, as a reminder, please ensure that you look into safety precautions on your own before attempting to make soap.  

When working with lye, I recommend that you wear long sleeves, eye protection, rubber gloves, and have vinegar near by for spills.  I also do my soap making after the kids are in bed to make sure that they don't get hurt and that my attention is on making soap.  I also have started with crock pot soap so that the soap is finished before the kids wake up and they don't get into trouble.

There are a ton of blogs on making soap.  I love reading and learning about different techniques that can be used.  I really want to try cold process soap making but with the kids, I am a little uneasy that they may get into it.  I may try something called cold process/oven process soap making.  I need to research more, but I believe that it gives you the ability to do all the different things that you can do with cold process soap making such as swirling, but you basically cook it in the oven and then after that it is finished.  It's always better to let it cure for a couple of weeks, but it is usable after the cooking process.

So, T.J., if you can't tell, I say go for it.  Make soap, but be careful is can be very addicting!  There are so many things you can  do, and I would say that I have only skimmed the surface!

As much as I love making soap and other creative processes, I want to focus on sewing this month (since it is national sewing month).  I'm hoping to post more projects and maybe more sewing info as the month goes on.  Now that I am officially the Massachusetts representative for Enchanted Makeovers Sewing Projects,  I am hoping that National Sewing Month with give me a kick start to get some projects going and start talking to some shelters in the area.

Happy sewing and creating!

Amy