a little different

I have loved hosting giveaways each Friday.

It is so satisfying to spotlight wonderful women.

Fantastic shops. Happy handmade goodness.

But I am going to take a little break from

regularly scheduled programming.

God has been stirring something in my heart for quite a long time.

It is exciting.

Big.

Scary.

More than I can do alone.

But I have Him.

My ultimate desire is to bring Him glory and change lives.

I can't wait.

Now I need you.

Want to be in on it?

Want to use your hands, your talents, your shop for

something much bigger than you could ever imagine?

Click on the Contact Me tab up on the left.

Let me count you in.

I can hardly contain my excitement.

It is going to be so very, very good.

I have been crying happy tears about it each and every single day.

I re-opened the shop and added some fun new flowers.

Half of all sales are going to buy water.

So shop and save lives.

Giddy. I can't wait to tell you what it happening!

Can't. Wait.

Why?

What would we do without Google?

How would our questions be answered?

Now Google is so creepily smart that it tries to guess what you will ask it.

Perhaps it picks the most frequently googled questions and lets you go from there. All I have to say is...

people ask weird questions.

Enjoy the screenshots.

Then go ahead.

Type "why..." into the search box and see what comes up.

Weird.

I have never owned a parakeet. Nor should the people who are wondering this. Paging animal control.

You probably can't own a Canadian because of weird customs laws or something.

Or because it's a PERSON!

If you have to ask Google why he doesn't love you, you probably have your answer right there. Sorry sweetie.

Your computer is so slow because you are spending too much time asking Google why your computer is so slow. As for the Pakistani... someone please call 911.

Something I am wondering is why doesn't my keyboard have a cents symbol?

Because it bugs when you have to type 50 cents.

Why did I have to type 50 cents?

Because over at The Benner Daily, you can find out how to make gifts for 50¢.

What's that?

Did I just type ¢?

Holla!

Thanks Trish.

You are better than Google.

Scarf Along Week Two

Part two.

Take two.

Blogger and I made up.

Sort of.

Let's go...

Are your rectangles cut?

Do you still have all of your fingers?

Those rotary cutters can be vicious!

Lay your pieces out on the table that you have wanted to paint for 7 years.

Get annoyed that you still haven't painted said table.

Oh wait, that's me.

Nothing like making you really want to paint something when you have to take pictures of it and blog them for all to see your ugly table.

No likey.

Anyway, lay them out like you what you want the final scarf to look like. Play around with the fabrics, see which ones flow nicely into the next ones.

If one of them is cute, but doesn't totally fit with the rest, put it at the top, or fabric #5. This fabric will most likely be hidden behind the scarf wearer's neck.

Now all of the fabrics that I am using don't have an up or down. But because I am sure that some of yours do I put two in for illustration purposes.

Make sure that they go the right way.

It might seem simple, but believe you me I have sewn way too many things upside down in my day.

Once you have an arrangement that you love, keep them on the (ugly) table. This is the order that you will pin in.

In sewing there is a

Right Side

and a

Wrong Side

You might come across the abbreviations RST or WST which stand for Right Side Together or Wrong Side Together.

In general you want to put Right Sides Together and pin on the Wrong side.

Take the bottom edge of your bottom piece.

Flip it up and on top of the right side of your piece #2. What was the bottom of the bottom piece will now be at the top.

Pin at the bottom about an inch from the edge.

See how I folded back the piece?

Both of the Right Sides are facing each other.

After pinning, open up the two pieces, keeping piece #2 still on top.

Now flip piece #2 on top of piece #3.

Line up the edges, smooth it out and pin.

Keep working your way around all nine pieces.

Flipping, lining up, smoothing out, pinning.

Turn the scarf Wrong Side down and check your work.

It should still be in the right order,

None of the Wrong Side should show.

Try it on and look in the mirror to make sure that any directional prints aren't upside down.

This is what the back should look like.

Lots of lined up edges all ready to be sewn.

Breathe.

You are doing really, really good.

Now we sew.

I am so excited!!!!

This is my machine.

This is the settings that I use for normal sewing.

Your machine most likely will be different, but I just wanted you to have something to go off of.

My Tension is set at 4.

My needle is in the center position.

Which is about 1/2 inch seam allowance.

My stitch length is set at 3.

If you did your homework, hopefully you figured out a formula that works best for you.

You did your homework, right?

Pull up the needle with the knob on the right.

Pull up the foot with the lever.

Put the pinned edge of fabrics #1 and #2 under the foot.

Click this picture enlarge it so you can see how it is lined up.

Put down the foot.

Turn the knob to put the needle in the fabric.

Press the foot pedal slowly.

Stitch a few stitches.

Stop.

This loopy arrow is the backstitch.

The backstitch locks your row of sewing so it doesn't unravel and make your cry. It is so very, very important that you remember to do a few backstitches at the beginning and end of each row.

For reals important!

After backstitching, press the foot pedal and sew to the end of the fabric.

Then backstitch.

Turn the knob so the needle goes up.

Lift up the foot.

Pull the fabric and thread out 6 or so inches.

Cut the thread.

Most machines have a little razor thing that you pull your thread down on and it cuts it for you.

Move on to the next two fabrics that are pinned together.

Before you line it up under the needle, pull out a bit of thread and bring it to the back of the machine. If there isn't enough thread pulled out, when you begin to sew it will pull it out of the eye of the needle and you'll cry and hate sewing and rethreading, and no longer like me.

So don't do that.

Kaythanks.

Keep doing the above steps until all of the pieces are sewn together.

Open up all of the seams to make sure there are no gaps where you might have missed some fabric.

Lay it out on the (ugly) table and admire the awesome.

Good work!

Now to my least fave parts of sewing.

B.OR.ING....

Go to the couch. Get some scissors.

Put something lame on the TV.

Something mildly entertaing, but that doesn't need your full attention.

For me that used to be the Hills. But I am boycotting it since LC left.

Clip all of the hanging threads from each side.

If you don't, they will get in the way later.

Clip, clip, bored, bored.

A.D.D.

(Just me again.)

Now get your iron out.

Put it on the hottest setting and fill it up with water if you have a steam iron.

Soooo much easier!

Place your fabric Right Side down on the board.

(Ugly table, cute ironing board.)

Iron down each end 1/2 inch.

Then carefully iron each seam open. Be mindful not to pull the seams and make them all wonky. Just simple pressure and a burning hot iron should do the trick.

Then grab your nearest cute baby and try it on them.

Because cute babies always make for a good end to a successful sewing session.

Hooray!!!!

You are nearly there.

Gold stars for all.

On Monday we will finish our scarfy goodness.

I am so very proud of you.

Please upload your progress to the Flickr group. I would love to see how you are doing.

Plus, it is a great place to get your questions answered by other members and I may or may not be randomly giving scarves away to a few of you cool kids.

Holla!

Just kidding.

It is one of those days.

The bad kind of days.

The kind of days where you have to pray.

The only thing you can think is:

Love God.

Love others.

Regardless.

The End.

Blogger is being mean.

It won't upload my 18 pictures

that I spent way too long Picniking.

While angry, teething Janey cried and cried.

So no scarf along post.

For now at least.

Sorry.

But join the

Flickr group.

Because all of the cool kids are.

When Blogger comes out of the naughty chair

I'll post.

Peace out.

Scarf Along Week Two

Part one.

Hello friends.

Are you ready?

Did you do your homework?

Is your sewing machine your friend?

Do you have your scrumptious fabric out?

Are you ready to cut?

Deep breath.

Here. We. Go.

Read through the cutting directions a few times.

Click on any of the pics to enlarge them.

If they don't make sense, or if you have never

use a rotary cutter before, practice on a

piece of those old pajamas.

Getting the pressure right on the rotary cutter

can be difficult at first and you will use nearly

every single inch of the fabric,

so there is no room for mistakes.

I tend to get confident, or let my mind wander and

have ruined way too much fabric in my day.

I don't want that to happen to you.

Lay out your fat quarter on your mat.

This part is TRICKY.

Cutting the wrong way will ruin everything.

Seriously.

I know I'm being all dramatic, but it will.

Pay attention. Get a hold on your A.D.D.

(or that's just me...)

I want you to familiarize yourself with the fabric.

At first glance it is hard to tell the 18 inch side

from the 22 inch one.

Lay it out with the 18 inch side vertical

and the 22 inch side horizontal.

Double and triple check it.

Quadruple check it.

Fold it in half.

The fold should be on the bottom.

The rectangle should measure

18 inches along the fold

11 inches along the raw edge.

This will make or break your scarf.

Your goal is to have two

pieces that measure

9x22 inches.

If the way I cut it is crazy, cut it a way that makes sense.

Just be sure to cut it this way.

For reals.

Cut vertically at the 9 inch mark.

Sometimes rotary cutter mats are

numbered strangely.

Double check that the line that

you start it at is zero

and the line that you cut it at is 9.

Turn the mat around until you get it right.

Unfold your pieces.

If everything went well you will have two

9x22 pieces of fabric.

Yay!

Stack your two pieces.

Line them up the best you can.

If one of the edges is uneven, trim a tiny bit off so it lines up with the line on the mat.

This is the selvage.

It is the prefinished edge on each bolt of fabric.

Make sure that it is on the left side of your board.

You won't be using it and don't want it as part

of your pieces.

You are going to make four cuts.

At

5 inches,

10 inches,

15 inches,

20 inches.

Nicely done.

Now you have 8 pieces that are

5 inches wide by 9 inches tall.

Plus two little scraps that you can do what you please with.

Now repeat these exact same steps with each of your nine fabrics.

Get yourself a treat, stack all of the piles and admire the cuteness.

Tomorrow we pin and sew.

Breathe.

It's going to be alright.

Happy Sunday.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

a craft room.

happy, happy, happy.

I have my first sewing class in here on Sunday

and I am so very excited. My local friends are

my Scarf Along guinea pigs.

Wish them luck!

All weekend I have been holed up in

here unpacking and organizing.

There is a lot to do, but it has been really fun

I have never had all of my fabric in the same place.

Ummm....

can you say a bit much?

Stacks and stacks of happiness.

Thanks so much to all of you who bought water

yesterday and plan on continuing to by water this season.

Mel shared with me two videos from The Advent Conspiracy that really checked my heart and solidified how I am going to look at this consumer driven Christmas in a whole new way.

I dare you to watch them.

You will be changed.

Speaking of Mel,

I know the winner of their own batch of custom cards.

Is it you?

Mel has generously decided to buy $10 worth of water for each card she designs.

Why don't you save lives while you get AMAZING cards made?

Go. Order yours now!

Thanks Mel.

Your heart is so generous.

Happy day my friends.

The first gift I'm buying this year.

As I sit and write this, in front of my beautiful computer,

a cup of coffee next to me, in my safe, big new home,

mothers are burying their babies.

This is not okay.

I know what it feels like to bury a child.

I would do anything to prevent a mother feeling that pain.

That devastation.

If I could have prevented Joy's death I would have.

If you could have prevented her death, you would have.

But we do have the power to save lives.

To change the world.

With water.

Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80%

of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every

year than all forms of violence, including war.

Yet for only $10 you can provide one person

in Africa with clean water for ten years.

Ten. Years.

Today I do not care about anything else.

Today I am buying water.

Because I can do something.

I can change something.

I can save a mother from the agony of losing her precious child.

$10 is hardly a sacrifice for me.

But I know with all of my heart, that $10 will be

by far the best money that I will spend this Christmas season.

Join me.

Blog about it.

Tweet about it.

Update your Facebook status.

Today is about water.

Today is about saving lives.

Today is about something bigger than ourselves.

Donate here.

100% percent of your donation will buy water for Christmas.

Every single penny.

Because I am so heartbroken,

so passionate about this,

I will send a scarf to the

first ten people who

email me

after they buy water.

I am serious.

Now go.

Buy some water.

No trees were killed.

It's official.

Although we moved in a few weeks ago,

today the house is officially ours.

After months of panic and prayer I can breathe again.

All I can say is we are extravagantly blessed.

Abundantly taken care of.

Extraordinarily thankful.

Home sweet new home.

yay!

The thought of sending out change of addy cards right

before Christmas cards was sending me over the edge.

There is just so many envelopes that

a girl should be required to stuff a year.

(We send out 500.

Don't ask.)

So what is a girl to do?

Embrace technology,

Picnik up a picture

and slap in a mass email.

5 minutes.

$0.

Holla!

Can you believe I live on Rad Lane?

Truly, this house was meant to be!

Hey you overachievers!

Are you already BFF's with your sewing machine,

but don't want to miss out on the fun?

Don't fret.

Heather from Cookie Mondays offered,

(I actually forced her, but that is besides the point)

to host a

Honor Student

Scarf Along

where she will teach you how to make this cozy,

gorgeous bit of delicious.

Selfishly I just wanted to learn.

But then I thought you fancy seamstresses would too.

Want to add another fun project to the never ending to-do list?

I do.

Hop over to say hello to our professor Heather.

It's going to be fun!