the split stitch

MIA blogger

2013-02-18T19:07:00.002-05:00

So I have pretty much been missing in action since August of last year ... it has been a long time, huh? I really want to thank all of you that stayed followers, and want you to know that your loyalty will be rewarded because I have some new patterns and freebies/tutorials in the works.

But, I would like to share with you the nature of my absence over the past several months. Although I try to keep the focus of this blog on crafts and fun things, I also like to share some of myself so that we get to know each other.

My last post back in August was about all of the stuff I kept making for my mom. She was diagnosed with stage IV cancer, and despite being a full time nursing student and having 3 boys of my own I spent a lot of time helping her and making her stuff. I don't know why I kept making her stuff ... I guess I just wanted to see her smile.

Well on January 2, 2013 my mom passed away, and every thing that I made her is now back at my house. I cannot explain how awkward and painful it is to get back the stuff that you made for someone. It is like when you are looking at it "what am I going to do with this?" but at the same time you don't want to throw it away or donate it, so it ends up back with you. It really is a strange thing, but the dala horse, the bunny ... almost every thing I have again. The only thing my step-dad kept was the quilt I made her because she used it so much that he associates it with her.

It has been a painful journey, in August even though I knew she had a poor prognosis I really hoped that she would be a part of that 5% that would still be alive in 5 years. But, her chemo stopped working, and a new one gave her a bad reaction and it was downhill from there. Eventually towards the end of November they said that there was nothing more they could do for her, and that she would need to consider hospice care. They gave her 4-6 weeks to live.

So, even though I live over an hour away, and was already going out to see her about twice a week, I started to go out there nearly every day. And watched my young, sweet mother go from alive and energetic, to weak and frail, to delirious, to comatose, and eventually not with us anymore physically.

It was very hard to watch, but I would not give up my last month with her for anything. She never complained, and even selected her own funeral home, and music to play at her service. I will never forget her strength or compassion. After signing a DNR (do not resuscitate) order for herself, she looked over at me and saw that I was sad and offered comfort to me. Up until our very last conversation she was still taking care of me.

She passed away peacefully, at home, surrounded by everyone and every thing that she cared about most. Her service honored the person that she was, and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful that I got to thank her for being my mom, and letting her know how much I was going to miss her. We cried together many times, but she was always there for me.

So, now you know why I have been gone ... but my mom would have wanted me to continue on with my life and with my crafts. She always supported my crafting endeavours, and my dream of becoming a nurse. While I am sad that she will not be there when I graduate in April, I know that she will be looking down on me from some where and smiling.

To all of you who still have your Mom, give her a big hug and tell her you love her, you just never know what life will bring.

Anyways, thanks for listening, and I promise happier things are on the horizon. I just felt like I needed to honor my mommy ... her name was Julie, she was only 53, and I will love her and miss her every second of my life.

Hugs,
Sara

A BIG thank you

2013-02-18T18:50:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to thank all of you out there who responded to my plea for help yesterday about the site that was illegally selling my tutorial. I know I have been absent from blogging for a while (more about that later), but it was really heart-warming to see the crafting community come out with such a force of support. In addition to the comments I received, I also got several emails as well.

So, what I ended up doing was what one reader suggested ... to send a cease and desist notice. I found a template using google, and modified it to fit my situation. I sent this to the site owner "Dixie Champoux" through the contact form. I then went and tried to find out which other patterns this person stole. As it turns out all of the patterns that I hunted down using google were stolen from other blogs like mine, and I contacted those designers too to let them know what was going on.

The result is that my pattern has been taken down as well as some others, and I also found out that basically every pattern on that site is stolen .. the cross stitch patterns and every thing! Amazes me that someone out there has such audacity!!!

For you crafters out there, just know that your words and your photos are protected under U.S. copyright laws, and that if someone steals your work they can get in trouble.

Many thanks to you loyal followers. I am getting prepared to start blogging again soon, and have some freebies planned, so stay tuned.

Hugs, Sara :)

P.S. I just went back to check on the losangelesneedlework (dot) com site, and it says that the account has been suspended! Yay!

Help! Someone is selling my pattern

2013-02-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

My fellow crafters, I have sadly found that someone is selling my tea time mug rug pattern on their site, and I am not sure how to proceed.

Take a look ....

Thank you to the kind person that alerted me to this, but I am not sure how to proceed. I sent an email to the person "Dixie Champoux" who claims to run the site, asking her to remove my pattern from the site, but have not heard anything back. Can you believe that someone would be so malicious? Please support me, and other crafters who design patterns by boycotting this site!

www (dot) losangelesneedlework (dot) com

Any advice would be welcome!

Hugs, Sara :)

Stuff for Mom.

2012-08-13T07:35:00.000-04:00

So I mentioned a while back that I had been making a bunch of stuff for my Mom. Well, I finally have the pictures to prove it! Here are just some of the things I have made for her lately (and by lately I mean some time this year, ha, ha!).

A miniature faux terrarium. I was inspired by this tutorial..

A dala horse softie I made using the bonus softie size pattern that comes in my Scandinavian Birds II pattern set. I attached a piece of ribbon so that she could hang it some where.

A bunny I made using a pattern by Gingercake Patterns.

A pincushion, using a pattern from I Love Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.

A gnome, using a pattern by little dear (Aimee Ray).

And a cozy throw size quilt. I did not use a pattern for this. I simply sewed together a bunch of charm size squares (5" x 5"), put some sashing around the edges, and hand tied the whole deal. I personalized the back ... my mom seems like she really loves it.

Does anyone else find it hard to get good pictures of quilts?

Hugs,

P.S. I am still having that photo sizing problem I mentioned yesterday. Blogger will let me resize the first photo in a post, but not the subsequent ones. Never had this happen before ... is this happening to you too?

A new ATC.

2012-08-12T07:53:00.000-04:00

I have been trying to find ways to use up even my tiniest scraps of fabric, and came up with this cute ATC. As per usual, I used a ton of supplies. Besides the fabric, I used: adhesive, decoupage medium, tim holtz fragment, tim holtz word sticker, glossy accent, white embossing powder, glitter gel pen, martha stewart gold paint, and black distress ink.

What do you make with your tiny fabric scraps?

Hugs,

Paper Craft Supplies are back!

2012-08-11T06:58:00.000-04:00

Thank you to those of you who have been waiting so patiently ... I just wanted to let you know that a small selection of paper crafting supplies are back in the shop, with more potential for customization then ever!

First, my popular kraft cardstock tags.

Now with 4 different string options.

Next, my cute "sack of shapes" ... now you can let me know which shapes you would like!

My round scalloped tags .... with a ton of different colored string to choose from. These can also be make out of white cardstock, or kraft cardstock.

And of course the monogram tags. Another popular item. You choose what letter or number, the paper type, and of course the string color .... the combinations are endless!

And, for the sake of simplicity, I have changed the quantities in the listings so that all of the paper craft listings are only $4.00! I only charge actual shipping, so order as many as you like, and I will refund any excess shipping over $0.50.

And, for a limited time only, blog readers save 10% on their entire purchase at the split stitch ... whether patterns or supplies, by using the code "ILOVETHESPLITSTITCH" during checkout. But hurry, this sale will only be available for a few days!

Hugs,

P.S. My picture sizes a little small? For some reason, blogger is not allowing me to make my pictures bigger when I click on them ... anyone else having this problem?

Still trying to get more comfortable taking pictures of myself.

2012-08-10T18:28:00.002-04:00

So, as the title of this post says ... I am still trying to get more comfortable taking pictures of myself. After I wrote this post, it occurred to me that this is myself .... this is me. Why should I feel so strange taking pictures of myself, or looking at my own image? It is kind of like hearing my voice recorded ... sort of makes me cringe. I don't know if I will ever think that my recorded voice sounds "like me", but I thought, "hey! I am a 32 year old woman, I should be comfortable with the way I look!" So, I set about taking some more pictures of myself. Like this one ...

I actually sort of like that one, because I have makeup on, my hair is done, etc .... but then I decided I should be comfortable with out all of that too! So, another picture of me ... after ~~sweating~~ gardening for 2 hours.

A little bit funky in this one, eh? Ha, ha. Anyways, I think I am getting a little bit better at editing my photos too .... so that is a plus!

For those of you, who like me, are uncomfortable taking pictures of themselves, or seeing themselves in pictures ... what do you think that says about us? Anything? Nothing?

Hugs,

Instagram photos.

2012-07-29T17:10:00.001-04:00

Some instagram photos I took today. A cute (and cheap!) owl container I bought from target, a pile of scraps waiting to get divided up into one half yard scrap packs to sell, and a stack of fabric for a potential project for my house.

Now on Twitter!

2012-07-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

Along with following the split stitch on facebook, pinterest, and flickr, you can now follow the split stitch on twitter! Become a follower and keep up to date on what I'm up to, as well as twitter only specials, sales and give aways. You can follow by clicking the little follow button in the sidebar, find me HERE, or search for @thesplitstitch on twitter.

Hugs,

Big Cartel Shop Closed.

2012-07-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I went ahead and did it .... I closed my big cartel shop. I mentioned before that I was thinking about this, and after much debate decided that one shop is enough. The great thing about my big cartel shop was that I was able to hook it up with pulley, and customers were able to download their patterns immediately. However, with the monthly subscription fees to big cartel + pulley, and the number of products I had listed vs. the number of products I actually sold, I no longer felt it was worth it to keep my big cartel shop open in addition to my Etsy shop.

So, I just wanted to let you know in case you went to visit my instant downloads page, that it no longer exists. But my Etsy shop is still open and going strong ... over 500 sales over the past two years ... not too shabby! There are many places throughout my posts where my products are linked to the big cartel listings ... I will try and go through and change as many of the links as possible to my Etsy shop page ... but this will take a while, so I apologize for any hiccups along the way.

Hugs,

New Denyse Schmidt Richmond collection ....

2012-07-26T12:56:00.001-04:00

.... is starting to hit the shelves! I am scooping up the four orange prints. I would get more, but they do not have all of the bolts out yet, and I only have four coupons .... and I do not like to pay full price! All of the designer fabrics go on sale Sunday, so I will probably be back then.

A new me.

2012-07-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

Well, maybe not a "new me" per se, but a new "about me" page. When looking over my about me page I decided that it needed some sprucing up ... and namely it needed a new picture. So I took some pictures of myself at arm's length, and went through the tedious task of trying to decide on which one was the best. I must admit I felt odd taking pictures of just myself, and in fact, as far as I can remember this was the first time that I have ever taken pictures of just myself. I probably took at least 100 photos to narrow it down to about 10 that "looked like me". Then I narrowed it down to these 4 that I actually somewhat liked ....

I ended up choosing the last one because I felt as though it looked the most like me. When I showed these four pictures to my husband he thought I should have used the second picture. When I told him that the last picture looked the most like me, he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "They all look like you!"

Men. They just don't get it do they?

My new official about me picture:

The photo of course has a touch of adjusting ... a little smudging here, and blending here, but overall I did not have to do a lot with this photo. I cannot remember what font I used, but the neat shape I used was from pugly pixel. And me? Nothing fancy there ... I'm wearing an Old Navy shirt and Target earrings.

What about you ... do you have a hard time taking/looking at photos of yourself?

Hugs,

Four ATC's, One APC... and an inchie.

2012-07-25T09:17:00.000-04:00

As I was re-organizing/cleaning my craft space the other day I got inspired to create some little bits of art.

First this altered playing card ....

"Embark" Altered Playing Card (APC)

I used an ace of clubs (obviously), some scraps of paper and a map, the bike cut out, green staples, an 'embark' sticker (from Tim Holtz) and a glitter jelly roll pen (my favorite!).

The next ATC, "Flapper", I actually made back in October of last year. I was just so busy with school (and etc.) that I never photographed it or anything. I used a stamped image I received in a stamped image swap on swap-bot, lots of jelly roll pens, stick-on gems, a colored pencil and black distress ink. All the coloring in by hand was a lot of fun.

"Flapper" ATC

This next ATC (below), I call "Bouquet" ... I know .... it is only one flower. But I recently bought one of those old embossing labelmakers, and really wanted to use it for this project. When trying to come up with a word for the label I was having some sort of creativity block ... 'flower' seemed too boring .... 'fleur' too fancy, etc., etc.. So I settled on 'bouquet' and, in the end I really liked that choice. This ATC I made by first using my 1" square paper punch to make the two cut outs you see in the brown cardstock. Glued to the back of the brown piece of cardstock is a piece of kraft cardstock with pink lace adhered to it. The metal leaf I heat embossed with green powder and attached with a brad. The flower was a paper cut out I had sitting around, and them stem is made from a piece of washi paper that I decorated with a jelly roll pen. I really liked the way the punch outs turned out. They act as windows of sorts through the ATC.

And I know it is early, but I also made these Halloween inspired ATC's (plus an inchie) ...

"Witch's Apothecary" Inchie ATC

"Halloween Gift" Inchie ATC

"Spiders" Inchie

If you make/trade ATC's/APC's (or inchies!) you can find mine HERE on my flickr page ... if you would like to trade, just send me a message through flickr mail.

Does inspiration hit you while you are cleaning up your craft space too?

Hugs,

Chubb?

2012-07-24T09:08:00.000-04:00

So I finally made a trip to the closes LQS (Local Quilt Shop) to me. It takes about 50 minutes to get there, so you can imagine why (despite my love of fabric) I have never been there before. I won't mention the shop's name, because quite frankly I doubt I will be going back there any time soon. I found the selection to be rather limited and leaning towards the more traditional side. But I was able to pick up a few fun prints, and also discovered a new term?

This store offered 11" x 18" cuts of fabric, and when I looked at their handwritten sign they called this size a "chubb". I thought that was pretty funny. When I got home I searched google for the term "chubb fabric size", and could not find this term anywhere in relation to fabric. I guess this store sort of made up the name? I mean of course I have heard of fat quarters, layer cakes, jelly rolls and even candy bars in relation to fabric precuts, but "chubb" was new to me. I picked up these two "chubbs" @ $1.35 each. A crab print by Timeless Treasures and an old Daisy Chain Amy Butler print.

I also bought these two fat quarters. A Jennifer Paganelli print and a Michael Miller print.

Lastly I bought these two prints ... a half yard of each. I cannot resist a good cherry print, and the lady bugs are too cute for words. The cherry print is from Michael Miller and the Lady Bug print is by Moda.

Have you heard any funny crafting terms recently?

Hugs,

Crafty finds in Chicago.

2012-07-23T09:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned last week, I went on a trip to Chicago this month. While I was there I picked up a few crafty things. First I had to stop at the Needle Shop. I have seen their Etsy shop, and knew I had to stop by in person if I ever got the chance. I really loved it there and wish I had a shop similar to it locally. Anyhow I picked up these 3 fun prints ....

Moroccan Mirage by Anthology Fabrics, Far Far Away III by Heather Ross for Kokka, Where's my 'Stache by Alexander Henry Fabrics.

And, Jessica Jones of How About Orange designed a line of canvas cotton home dec weight fabric for the Needle Shop, so you know I had to scoop some of that up while I was there! The collection is called Outside Oslo, and has a fun Scandinavian feel. I think it came out around a year and a half ago, and I have had my eye on it for a while. My only regret about buying this fabric is that I did not buy more of it while I was there. I bought this 6 fat quarter pack in the "Dawn" colorway, and am regretting not buying any of the dusk colorway.

The great thing is, is that The Needle Shop has an Etsy shop ... I just might have to scoop up some more of this fabric soon .... like this other fat quarter listing HERE.

Lastly while I was at The Field Museum I picked up this origami kit for me my kids. We have not gotten started on it yet, but it was so cute ... how could I resist?

You make any crafty purchases lately?

Hugs,

A pouch for my new camera.

2012-07-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday, I got a new camera. Before I went on vacation I decided that I needed a cute little pouch to put it in. I thought about designing a pouch of my own for this camera, but then decided it would just be easier to buy a pattern. So I decided on the padded camera pouch pattern from Michelle Patterns (formerly KeykaLou).

I am really pleased with how the pouch turned out. I used the medium size for my Canon G12. After making the pouch I sort of wish I would have made the large size though. The camera+the strap are a tight fit, and there is not any room left over to put in my extra batteries. If I ever make another pouch I will make the larger size so I can always have my extra batteries on hand (the pattern comes with 4 sizes).

The pouch itself went together very nicely, but it was an all afternoon project for me. Maybe I was just having a slow day, but it took me a lot longer to make it then I thought it would have. The interior and exterior are both quilted, and along with installing the eyelet and some hand basting this project was a bit involved, but the end result was well worth it. I used a Nicey Jane print by Heather Bailey and a Washi print by Rashida Coleman Hale. It is very rare that I actually make something for myself, so everytime I look at this little pouch it makes me smile.

Have you made any cute projects for yourself lately?

Hugs,

A new camera.

2012-07-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

Along with trying to learn photoshop (here, here and here), I also bought a new camera a couple of months ago. I was using a simple Canon PowerShot A3100, but was ready for something that was more robust.

My "old" camera. Works great, but I just need more options.

I briefly debated on getting a digital SLR (like this one), but decided against it. Although I would love to be able to take the gorgeous photos that can be taken with a digital SLR, I just do not have the time right now (or the money for that matter!) to commit myself to another hobby. With all of the lenses and everything that go along with a digital SLR I just decided that I needed something that had the simplicity of a point and shoot, but that had more options to take better pictures in lower light settings, etc. ... something that was sort of middle of the road. So what did I buy? Well, I went with another point and shoot camera, but one that is substantially nicer than the one I had before. I decided on the Canon G12. I first added this camera to my amazon wish list months ago, but was waiting until Canon released their newer version (the G1 X) because I figured that the G12 would come down in price ... and what do you know, it did? It now is around $385, and for the price it really is a great camera!

My "new" camera.

So far I have been really happy with this camera, but there are considerably more options on the G12 than my old point and shoot. Some of the options I don't even know what they are for, or what they do. So to get the most out of my investment, I decided it would be prudent to purchase some sort of a book, so I bought the book below (along with this memory card, and this extra 2 pack of batteries). The book has really been great so far, and got me started straight away with taking photos using this camera right out of the box.

Although I have been making slow progress with this book, and have yet to get to the real meat and bones of it, I have been starting to learn how to take some great photos. Check out this photo below ... I took this inside Shedd Aquarium where it was very dark, without a flash and got a real nice shot of a these jelly fish while they were moving inside of a tank. I did not edit this photo at all.

Pretty decent picture considering the low light environment, movement, etc .... I also took these photos with my new camera while in Chicago (once again these have not been edited at all) ...

Now all I need is a good book (or web site) on photography basics. I am vaguely aware of the rule of thirds but am not really that great on following it, and have a lot more to learn about composition and such.

Is there a site or book you would recommend that has helped you learn how to compose great photos? If so, let me know!

Hugs,

Still working on my photoshop skills ....

2012-07-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

Well like I told you about here and here, I am really trying to get to know photoshop. Check out these two pictures ....

The original ....

That is a picture of me and my youngest on the water taxi (or maybe even the "L" train ... I forget) in Chicago. It's an okay picture, but I did not like my bra strap hanging out, my bumpy skin, and how the picture was a bit out of focus. Plus the picture was too big ... so here is what I came up with after photoshopping it ....

Better, right? I will tell you what I did to the picture. First I cropped it just slightly and changed the image size to 550 pixels wide (my fave size for blogging). I also brightened the picture, changed the tone and exposure. I sharpened my face and Ryan's face, and blurred the background. I also took out my bra strap using the patch tool. The result of the strap removal is okay, but my arm looks a little blue and blurred now. I tried many different ways to take my bra strap out (such as select+edit+content aware fill, spot healing brush, etc.), but this version was the best. Guess I need to work on that skill some more .... or just wear a strapless bra next time, ha, ha! Anyhow, I used the smudge tool to make my skin less bumpy looking. I also selected the whites of my eyes ("sclera" to you science nerds out there!), and used the hue/color saturation option to lighten them. I also selected my eyes and using the color adjustment features made my eyes more blue.

What do you think? Progress, right? All I used was this book too!!

Hugs,

Back from vacation.

2012-07-18T16:09:00.002-04:00

I am back, and the split stitch is now open again. Myself, my kids, husband, in-laws and their kids all went to Chicago last week and over the weekend. We had a blast, and hit all of the touristy places, rode the "L", the bus and water taxi, and had some really good eats. And of course I took a bunch of pictures ...

Myself, husband and kids @ Navy Pier.

View from Water Taxi on the way to the Navy Pier.

Upside down jelly fish @ Shedd Aquarium.

Jelly fish @ Shedd Aquarium.

The Navy Pier @ Night.

Benjamin on the Sky Deck 103 floors above Chicago.

Walking through "the bean" (Cloud Gate) in Millenium Park.

"Sue" @ The Field Museum.

We went to Chicago last summer too, but were only there for around 3 days, and did not feel like we got our fill, so we went back again this year. Now we feel as though we have "done" Chicago, and are planning on going down south or to the East Coast for our vacation next summer. The great thing about Chicago though, is that it is less than a 6 hour drive for us.

This year we were smart and bought City passes . With City passes you get reduced rates to the major attractions, and in some cases get to get in your attraction faster. We went to: The Field Museum, The Adler Planetarium, The SkyDeck, The Museum of Science and Industry and The Shedd Aquarium. We had already been to Shedd and the Willis (aka Sears) Tower SkyDeck, so those were nothing new to us, but we really enjoyed the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry. Both museums are a nerd's dream. And, being that I am such a nerd at heart, I loved them both. My favorites were seeing Sue the T-Rex fossil at the Field Museum and the indoor lightning and tornado at the Museum of Science and Industry.

If I were to go back to Chicago I would visit both museums again, because there is so much to see. I would however skip the planetarium, it was pretty boring to me, but maybe that is because I am not that interested in space. They had some funny shirts in the gift shop though, my favorite one said "Pluto, Revolve in Peace" (referring to Plutos downgraded status from planet to dwarf planet).

We also window shopped along the Magnificent Mile (which is all we can afford), hit up the Water Tower Place, bought fabric in Bucktown and strolled along Armitage Avenue. We went to the Navy Pier, the Taste of Chicago and saw "the bean" in Millenium Park. At the taste of Chicago we of course had some Chicago style hot dogs and fries, and dessert from Eli's Cheesecake Company. When we were not at the Taste of Chicago we ate at several places including Lou Malnatis for some Chicago style pizza, the Weber Grill (where I had the BEST burger ever), Bubba Gump Shrimp on the Pier and Garrett Popcorn. Whew! That was a lot to fit into a vacation that lasted less than a week, but such a great time!

The smartest thing I took with me this year, that I did not last year? This book:

I borrowed this from the Library and really got a lot more out of my Chicago trip this year, having this book on hand. The pull out map with transit info was also really handy.

Have you gone anywhere fun this summer?

Hugs,

Shades of Gray ... fabric that is.

2012-06-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

I have a new tutorial coming soon .... and it involves these fabrics .....

The fabrics above are (from the left): Flea Market Fancy Legacy Reprint by Denyse Schmidt, Impressions by Ty Pennington, Daisy Mae by Denyse Schmidt, Quilter's Quarters by Denyse Schmidt, Echo by Lotta Jansdotter and Chevrons by Riley Blake.

Can you guess what I will be showing you how to make?

Learning to sew again (aka "the sewing machine debacle").

2012-06-28T19:11:00.002-04:00

A few days ago I mentioned that I had a "sewing machine debacle" that happened to me back in April/May, and thought I would share the story. First here is a picture of my sewing machine ... doesn't she look so innocent just sitting there?

The ThreadBanger TB-30 ... it really is a great machine. They no longer make this machine due to the demise of the Thread Banger website, but this model is the same thing, just with different packaging.

So back in May I was making a bow for a stuffed bunny I was making for my Mom, when all of the sudden my machine stopped sewing and I got an ominous "E1 error". I tried everything ... turned it on and off, cleaned it out, replaced the needle, etc .... and it would still not sew. The LED screen did change to an "E2 Error", but that did not help me at all.

After consulting my owner's manual, and reading what some people had to say on the internet, it sounded to me as if there was an electrical problem most likely relating to the board, and that I would need to take it into a sewing machine repair shop to get it fixed.

So, I did. We only have one sewing machine repair shop around where I live, and in fact it is the same place where I bought this sewing machine. They were just as baffled as to the cause of the error, and began asking me questions like "do you sew a lot?", "do you beat up on your machine?", "where do you store it?", etc.... as though it were some how my fault the sewing machine stopped working. I pointed out to them the section in the manual about how the E1 or E2 error is the result of an electrical issue, and mentioned what I read on the Janome forums. Did they listen to me? No.

Well, about a week later I got a call from the shop, they claimed it was my zig-zag motor that was out, and that they needed to order one. So another week or two went by, they put the new motor in, and guess what? The machine still did not work. So then they decided it was some other part (I cannot even remember the name), ordered that and put that in my machine. Mind you I had now been without my machine for at least a month by this time, and after the new part the machine still would not work. So THEN they finally decided it was in fact the board (d'uh!), and had to order one of those.

So about 6 weeks after I brought in my machine, I finally had it back ... complete with a new zig-zag motor, can't-remember-it's-name part, and board. They told me that I must have just gotten a bad board, because on the whole these machines do not have any problems. My machine was a little dirty, dusty, and had greasy finger prints all over it, but I was willing to overlook all that .... I was ready to sew!!!

So I plugged in my machine, turned it on, and went to go sew and I got "BEEEP!" and an "Fc" error. I will tell you what, I am normally a very calm and patient person, but I almost blew a fuse ... I was livid .... LIVID I tell you!!! So I pulled out my manual and saw that an "Fc" error message means that basically you have the foot controller plugged in, and are trying to sew using the start/stop button ... only thing was, I did not have the foot controller plugged in. So I called the sewing machine repair place, and they were pretty much like "oops, we must have put the wrong board in."

Here is where the part about learning how to sew again comes in. You see before I had this machine, I had a crappy Singer sewing machine. I sewed with a foot pedal on that machine, but the machine itself had tension issues, and it broke only after about a year and a half. So enter the Janome Threadbanger (TB-30). I loved this machine from the outset .... it had automatic tension, was a real work horse, had adjustable presser foot height, AND a start/stop button.

If you don't know what it is, here it is .... the beautiful start/stop button.

This button allows you to push a button and the machine just sews ... you do not have to use the foot pedal at all, and to adjust the speed you just slide the speed control left or right. From the moment I tried sewing with the start/stop button, I loved it. For some reason not having to use a foot pedal was *sew* liberating.

Fast forward to the present ..... my machine will now ONLY work with a foot control pedal. The start/stop button no longer works. I was at a crossroads .... bring my machine back to the shop and be without it for another month+, or just use the foot control pedal and get on with life.

So, I decided that I would just sew with the foot pedal. But I have got to tell you, I feel as if I am learning how to sew all over again. I am clumsy, and I keep going to push the start/stop button instead of using the pedal. It has been so frustrating! But, I had decided that I could not be without my machine for another (potentially) 6 weeks, and after doing some online reasearch realized that not very many machines come with a start/stop button anyhow. Some day I am going to want to upgrade my machine again, and when that time comes it will most likely come with a foot control pedal only .... so I figured I might as well get used to it now. But, oh .... the swearing going on in my head as of late has been quite terrible .... every time I go to push the start/stop button and I hear the annoying "BEEEP!", I feel the steam coming out of my ears.

What would you have done .... would you have taken the machine back in, or would you have just learned to sew again?

Learning photoshop part 2 and a new look for the blog.

2012-06-27T11:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I told you how I have been trying to use photoshop, and it has been going really well. I was able to create some new elements for my blog. If you are viewing this post on my actual blog, then I am sure you noticed the changes, but I know the majority of you read my posts via readers and may never actually take a look at my blog. But check it out ... I was able to make some new stuff for my blog. In the past I would have had to have paid someone to make these types of things for me. Once again, I fully acknowledge that for those of you who are photoshop pros this kind of stuff you could make with your eyes closed, but for me making these things was an all day process ... literally a full day!

Anyhow here are some of the new things I made for the blog ...

... a new header ....

... a new picture to click on to take you to my Etsy shop ....

... a new signature to use at the end of my posts ....

... a new little place to take you to my tutorials page ....

... and a new Etsy banner for my shop ....

What do you think? Before all of my stuff was really colorful ... like rainbow-ish, and I decided to tone it down a bit. But to stay true to myself , I used my favorite colors: pink, blue and gray. Most of the elements I used were free or I purchased from pugly pixel ... as I mentioned yesterday I love that site!

What do you think of the new look?

Trying to learn photoshop.

2012-06-26T14:25:00.004-04:00

So I have had the full version of photoshop CS5 for a long time now, and never learned how to use it. I feel especially behind the times since there is a newer version available now (photoshop CS6). I never learned how to use it, because I have absolutely no experience with photoshop software, have never taken any classes, and am basically self taught with every thing I do, and photoshop just does not seem like the type of thing you can learn on your own without some sort of guide.

Well, I decided this summer was it, I am going to start using photoshop. What was the major catalyst? For me it was the closing of picnik.com earlier this year. I had been using picnik to edit all of my photos for the past ... hmmmm .... not sure how long, but it allowed me to do stuff like this ...

... take a big so-so photo like this taken with a regular point and shoot camera ...

... and resize it, brighten/sharpen it up, and add some basic text like this .....

You can access this tutorial I made by clicking on the photo.

Pretty nice right? And it suited my needs .... all I really need to do is edit my photos, and maybe add some text from time to time. But one thing that picnik did not allow me to do (or I could not figure out how to do) was to add fun elements like pieces of washi tape to the corners of photos, or do fun effects like the faux embroidery in the picture below.

I took this photo at Greenfield Village a couple of months ago while I was chaperoning my son's field trip.

Additionally the fonts to choose from on picnik were rather limited, whereas with photoshop your font selection is nearly unlimited. You can find cool free fonts all over the internet, and there are a gazillion more if you are willing to pay for them.

So anyhow, once picnik closed I was at a crossroads. I could look into google+ where a lot of the picnik features were moved to, find a new photo editing site, or just finally learn photoshop. So, you know what my decision was.

But I really did/do not know anything about photoshop, so I bought this book from amazon:

This book is like the ultimate beginners guide ... I mean it starts off with telling you how to simply open the program. But I gotta say this, I have learned some basics and can now take this photo:

and turn it into this photo:

These will be available in my shop soon.

For me, it is a real accomplishment to even be able to do the simple editing above. I still have a lot to learn, but I am really making some progress. In addition to the book I mentioned above, I have found pugly pixel to also be especially helpful. There are a lot of great tutorials on that site, freebies, and $5 will get you a membership for 30 days to download the premium content ... pretty cool.

Do you know of any helpful sites to learn photoshop, or sources for cool elements?

Score! DS Quilter's Quarters now at JoAnn's!

2012-06-20T16:25:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I was so excited when I stopped by my local JoAnn's and found that they had the new collection by Denyse Schmidt available. If you have not heard about this collection, they are a series of 4 pre-cut yards of fabric, packaged as shown below. Each yard has four different prints, for a total of four fat quarters per yard.

The quality is good, similar to her last collection for JoAnn's and the prints are really fun. One caveat though, although this is promoted to be four fat quarters, each quarter is technically less than a fat quarter. You lose some of the print to the white space around each print for cutting, and some to the selvages on the sides. But, if you are a DS fan, I think you will enjoy these pre-cuts. The regular price is $12.99/yard, but I bought mine for $9.00/yard on sale yesterday. You will not find these pre-cuts by the bolts of fabric, but rather by where they keep all of the other pre-cuts.

Out of the four pre-cuts, this one is my favorite. The colors are so pretty.

This one below I was really on the fence about. Although I like the yellow print, as well as the gray print, I was not sure if I would be using the other two. But when I saw that there were only 2 available, I thought that I might as well scoop one up while I was there, because knowing myself if I did not buy it, and went back later and they were all gone I would be really annoyed!

What do you think about this idea of having four different prints per one yard? I think it is a neat idea, and that other designers will be likely to follow suit. The only other drawback, besides the smaller fat quarter size as mentioned above, is what if you only like one or two of the prints, are you willing to pay for the whole yard? That was my quandary with the yard above.

So what do you think ... should more designers make prints like this?

2011-2012 Recap.

2012-06-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

So it has been awhile to say the least, and I want to "get the blog going again" (as I like to think of it), but for some reason I cannot get going again with out recapping what has been going on with me over the past 8 months or so. If these sort of posts bore you, then just skip this one, but just know I have crafty ones on the way!

So back in September, I started my junior year of nursing school. It was crazy, I had classes like "Acute Care I & II", "Pharmacology", and my Adult Medical Surgical Rotation at a hospital. The semester was really tough, but I pushed through, learned a lot, and saw a lot. I had planned on having a really creative, relaxing and fun Winter break in December, but as I mentioned in one of my last posts, some where between Thanksgiving and Christmas I got some pretty devastating news that my Mom had stage IV colon cancer. I spent nearly my whole Christmas break pondering on whether or not I should continue with school or quit school to help with my mom.

Well, ultimately I decided to stay in school. It was a difficult decision, but with living over an hour away from my Mom and having 3 small children to care for, I decided that realistically even if I was not in school I could still only make it over to my Mom's house once or twice a week to help. So in January I started an even more grueling schedule of school 4 days a week, all day on Friday with Mom, and weekends to catch up on housework/errands/studying. I was not left with much time for crafting, but when I did, it was usually something for my Mom.

This is a dala horse softie I made for Mom using my "Bonus Softie Size Dala Horse II" pattern that comes included in my Scandinavian Birds II pdf.

During my second semester I still maintained my grades despite the grueling schedule (having to wake up at 4 am for clinical days!), the worry over my Mom and other obstacles. I was even inducted into Sigma Theta Tau which is an international Nursing Honors Society.

Once I got through finals and school was over in April, I felt like I had so much to catch up on around the house. Last summer I started my oldest son's room. He turned 9, and I just felt like his jungle theme was no longer cutting it, and decided to move to more of a color based theme that could grow with him through his preteen years. The color palette centered mostly around a cement gray color with pops of cobalt/royal blue. Shades of a lighter blue and khaki were also to be worked in. Well, I only got about 30% done before school started in September, and his room basically sat like that until this April. It was such a relief to get that project done. His room is all done, and I love the way it turned out. I will have to get some pictures up of his room once he cleans it up again.

In May I spent the majority of the month cleaning up my yard. We have natural landscaping borders, and they need to be re-cut every year with a half moon spade. Guess who does the re-cutting? Me. It takes me forever, and it took especially a long time this year because I did not do it last year. Then I got 6 cubic yards of mulch delivered and spread that all on my own, and then got my garden going.

My front yard. Takes a lot of work to get the edges looking nice, and all of that mulch spread. I had trimmed all of the hedges, but alas they are starting to look messy again.

Since May I have been wanting to get back into sewing but had some issues with my sewing machine and had to take it into the shop, I had a pretty poor experience with that and was without my machine for over a month. I will have to tell you about my machine debacle soon.

Anyways life has settled down somewhat around here for me. My mom's symptoms have really improved as the chemotherapy has shrunken her tumors. Although her cancer is incurable and inoperable, we are hopeful that with continued treatments she can be maintained in such a way to have a great quality of life for years to come. My step-father gives me hope ... he has had leukemia for the past 15 years, and although he was only given months to live upon diagnosi,s he is still going strong to this very day. He takes chemotherapy medication, but has an otherwise great quality of life despite his condition, and that is what I am hoping for with my Mom. I continue to see her once or twice a week to help out with housework, and to just spend time with her. I really want to thank all of you who offered me prayers when I wrote my post about my Mom, it really meant a lot.

All 3 of my kids are off from school for the summe now, and we have been hard at work doing "learning time" daily to prevent summer slide, and I take my oldest son to Mathnasium twice a week to work on his math skills. I am back to cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the yard ... and now I finally feel like I can get back to crafting again too! I have also been trying to learn Photoshop, bought a new camera, and have been hoarding fabric like never before .... but more on those topics later.

What have you been up to?