Sew N' Tell - Pintuck Pillows

A while back my friends and I were brainstorming about all of the fun things we could do once we were done studying for our big huge test. Here is what I remember: read for fun, go to the beach, watch TV, exercise, and then I chimed in: start a sewing club. And thus, sewing club was born.

The club has three members including myself. Our first "meeting" consisted Kirsten, Jill and I going out to eat and "planning" our projects and voting for which one we wanted to make first. The second meeting came shortly after Charlie and I got engaged so that meeting consisted of Kirsten crying in the aisles of Joann Fabrics, us buying fabric, reading wedding magazines and making dinner while chatting about color schemes. At this point Jill became busy and didn't come to a few meetings. The third meeting was canceled because Kirsten and I weren't feeling well. Shortly after this I realized that I was moving away very soon and that we had better have a sewing club meeting in which we actually sewed something! On Wednesday we had our first and last actual sewing club meeting.

Kirsten wanted to make pintuck pillows. She found a tutorial online; I thought it was funny that she found it on one of the blogs I really like and have on my side bar: The Long Thread. Jill ended up coming to the meeting and although she didn't sew she offered lots of moral support and mathematics help. Kirsten worked very hard and even finished some steps before I did and patiently waited for me. This project was very fun and easy to teach someone else how to do. I would recommend this project to anyone in a sewing club, or anyone who wanted a nice decorative pillow, since I don't know of many sewing clubs. Here are our finished products.
Kirsten gives this project a thumbs up:
She made the gold one and mine is the plain white one. After we were done sewing, Jill and Kirsten made us all dinner. It was excellent, because they are great cooks, and also because my contribution was setting the table and staying out of the way.
Jill wanted me to be sure to show her contribution on my blog. Doesn't it look great? I have no idea what was in the sauce of how they made it, but it was delectable.

Overall, it was an extremely successful and satisfying sewing club meeting, it's just a shame it was our last, since I am moving on Sunday. Boo hoo. Jill has already suggested that we have a Skype sewing club. The only problem is, you can't Skype delicious meals to each other after the sewing project is done.

Happy Friday to everyone! Be sure to check out the Sew N' Tell.

Lauren!

p.s. The plus side of moving is that you will never have to see another pillow picture taken in our cave of a bedroom.
If that doesn't look cave-ish enough how about this one?

Sew N' Tell - Tiny Clutch

While cleaning the other day I got distracted and went online. I decided if I wasn't tidying my house I could at least clean out some of the project ideas and tutorials I had stored on my computer. One sparked my interest, and instead of continuing to clean or tidy anything I began to sew.
I made this little clutch from this spiffy tutorial. All of the fabrics were scraps that I had around, and even the zipper, one of the 20 I got in New York, was a perfect match. The only problem is that I am still awful at sewing in the zippers, even with the trick that the tutorial had. I guess I'll have to keep working on that.
I also wish I had used interfacing, but I had none around. And lastly, I always make these tiny clutches and then kick myself for not adding a strap so it can be used as a wristlet. Maybe next time I am supposed to be cleaning I can make this one and remember to add a strap.

Check out the other finishes at the Sew N Tell!

Lauren

p.s. I am in Maine this weekend visiting my Mum, I brought my serger and I will learn how to use it before the weekend is over, even if it kills me.

Sew N' Tell - Scrub Caps

A little over a month ago it was my best-friend Lorelei's birthday. She asked me to make her some scrub caps. Lorelei is a nurse in the Army and she is serving in Iraq. I immediately thought; "Where are you going to find Army approved camo fabric?" But then she informed me that the caps could be made out of any fun fabric. I guess if I had to wear camo pants and shirts all day I would want to wear something fun on my head. I made two of them and shipped them off.
Then, Lorelei's roommate really liked them, so I was recruited to make some more. That was about a month ago; I have had a lot on my plate, which means I just got to it yesterday. I was dreading this task because of the ties at the back of the cap. I nearly gave myself "car-pool-tunnel" syndrome sewing those things inside-out and then making them right-side-out. Then I stumbled upon this nifty trick from Rae of Made by Rae. Why didn't I think of that? This made making the scrub caps 100 times easier, and faster. Now if only Rae would make a post about adjusting the tension on your serger, then I would be cranking scrub caps out left and right.

Here are just a few that I made, I didn't want to ruin all of the surprises before they got to Iraq.
Taking pictures of scrub caps and making them look good is quite difficult. So I tried one on while I was thinking; "Self, why did you not become a nurse? You could have been done with school and making money long ago." Then I tried to take a picture of myself wearing a scrub cap and I changed my mind.

I haven't posted on the Sew N Tell in a very long time, and I am excited to be back!
Happy Friday!

Lauren

When You Least Expect It

Sometimes when your boyfriend takes you on night canoe trips you might think he is going to propose. But he probably won't. And other times when you go on romantic sunset walks on your favorite trails you might think he will ask, but he doesn't.

He will however, propose after you get back from water skiing and going off the rope swing and when you are lying on a dock in the sun at your family's boat house wearing only your bikini on the 4th of July. Or at least that's what happened to me. Things like this seem to happen when you are least expecting it. When you think that the day couldn't get any better than spending time on the lake with your family; and then you are given the most beautiful ring and the opportunity to marry your best friend.

I still haven't wrapped my head around all of the good and very exciting things that have happened to me in the last 2 months. But this is certainly the biggest, and most exciting. I can't wait to spend today, tomorrow, and the rest of my life with Charlie. After all, it's not everyday you find someone who will propose to your in your bikini, and likes your armpits.

I hope you all find the happiness you deserve.

Lauren

True Love: It's in the Armpits

I like to ask Charlie the same questions almost every day. The first is, "How much do you love me?" to which he usually throws his arms as far apart as he can get them, or spreads his thumb and pointer finger apart and responds; "This much", depending on his mood and how obnoxious I am being that day.

The second questions is; "What's your favorite part about me?" I ask this because I get concerned that the part that is his favorite may need some extra exercising or toning, or I could just buy clothes that accentuate his favorite part, I think it's important to look nice for the person you love, and if that means buying a push up bra or pants that make your butt look big, well..I guess I would do it. However, the response I get when I ask this second question is always; "Your intangibles". This frustrates me to no end. How the heck am I supposed to get my intangibles in shape? Can you buy a beauty cream to make your intangibles get less wrinkled when you sleep? This answer does me no good.

After a few thousand times of me asking this question and getting the same response I got smart and started asking "What's your favorite part about me, besides my intangibles?" (always asked in a really fast way). To this Charlie always says; "Your eyes." Awe, isn't that sweet? Sure it is for the first hundred thousand or so times, but then I am always back to my original reason for asking. How am I supposed to make my eyes look better?

Last night, I figured out the perfect plan. I said, very quickly mind you, "What's your favorite thing about me besides my intangibles and not on my face?!" Charlie responded; "Well, that would have to be your armpits."

I guess the moral of the story is that you'll know it's true love when you boyfriends favorite parts about you are things you can't see, or touch, or exercise, tone, firm, and sometimes smell pretty bad.

What's your favorite thing about the one you love?

Lauren

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Edit: Charlie never asks me these questions because he is kind of bad at reciprocating, and he probably doesn't care. But my favorite part about him besides his intangibles is his right shoulder, it's perfect for resting my head on when he gives me a hug.