Halloween

Wow has the month of October just flown by. We've had so many different events it's nice to look forward to a somewhat quiet November.

On Friday night we carved our pumpkins. We invited over Grandpa & Grandma, and Aunt April. It turned out to be fun night. While they finished carving pumpkins I started cutting out the sugar cookies. We decorated the cookies on Saturday.



I used the nighttime setting on the camera so we could show that the pumpkins were glowing. The pumpkins stayed nice and still but as you can see the kids were not able to stay still. Bonnie is behind her pumpkin, Chas is behind his pumpkin, and I carved the white pumpkin.

For Halloween I decided the kids needed to be cowboys! They had the red hats I just needed to add a few pieces of clothing and they'd be ready to go. I sewed up a vest for Chas and added his badge. Chas was the deputy! Then with Bonnies outfit, I had started with this one first, I kind of had to adjust as I made it. In the end I really liked the way it turned out. I also sewed up a skirt for Bonnie to wear because she is a girl and cowgirls need skirts. Bonnie's badge read Sheriff. So we had a Sheriff and a Deputy. They also had guns that they wore in the holsters.



We also tried to get a shot with Charlotte in her carseat with the kids.

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween.

Sewing

A few months ago I bought a new Bernina. This last Tuesday I went to my first Mastering your Machine class and I learned so much. The first lesson I learned and put into effect yesterday was never touching the round nob the moves the needle up and down. Yesterday I did hands free sewing!

After I had bought my new machine, I had told my nieces that they could have my old machine. Plus I figured this way the girls can get better at sewing while not ruining their mom's machine. Since I'm here at there house all weekend I brought it over for them to give it a try.

We waited to begin sewing till three of the kids were down for their naps. That left only three kids awake, plus my brother was hanging out and Danny preferred to hang with Mike than the two sewing machines.

We got the machines out and I set them up. Then I began with the basics. We went over winding the bobbin, threading the machine and needle, and sewing not too fast. Although a certain blond haired niece just thought it was funny every time I told her to slow down. All in all I'd say the girls had a blast. They were working on projects for Christmas and I must say I was really proud that instead of wanting to buy things they thought it would be more fun to make them. My oldest niece put together a block of fabric and I was so impressed with how well it all looked together - I think she might have a flair for matching fabrics together.

Then slowing all the kids woke up and it was time to put the machines away before their littlest brother destroyed all that we had worked on. I found it to be such a fun afternoon myself.

Just can't stop

I've been sewing like a crazy fool lately. Actually I'm just figuring things out on my new machine and learning. Thankfully I'm taking a "master your machine" class because we all know I'd never sit still long enough to watch a video to tell me how to. So onto the exciting things I've been doing.

First, Jay had been bothering me to get a bedroom curtain made. I'd had the fabric for a long time but I was nervous because I didn't want to screw it up - I have a tendency to mess up my measurements.

I am really happy how the curtain turned out. The photo is not great but we've had nothing but nonstop cloudy days. So I just bit the bullet and took a photo.

Then today I got another wild hair. I made a small curtain for the window above the sink.

Unfortunately this photo didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. The lighting was just terrible. And for all who care Jay really hates the fruit tiles but I don't mind them so much.

Really what made all this sewing so easy was this:

So that cool thing to the right of the needles is a guide - I have no idea what the technical term would be. I just discovered this today. I just feed my fabric in and the guide helps me keep it straight. I was so freaking easy.

On another note if you are ever preparing a resume to send out to a potential employer - never, never write about yourself in the third person.

Oh something else - Bonnie told herself No No Bonnie today. I asked her if Bonnie was in trouble and she said yes. I thought it was pretty funny she was disciplining herself in the third person (I should point out that she is two and not creating resumes yet).

Really what made all this sewing so easy was this:

My Sweet Sweet Bernina

Two weeks ago I arrived at our local quilt shop two hours before their Bernina sale ended. I went ahead and ordered an Aurora 430 but unfortunately they had to order it in.

Last week in the very terrible beginnings of my cold the machine arrived. I was so very very excited but all the energy I had was to open the box and look at the machine. After that I promptly went to sleep.

Today I am finally feeling better and pulled the machine out. I LOVE IT! I am so very excited about this new machine. It is going to change everything. I only did a little sewing because the hour is getting late but I am just so excited. I have a long list of household things waiting to be made and now Jay and I can finally have bedroom curtains!