My 1/2 Dozen Daily

Busy, busy, terribly busy...

Carla — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:48:47 -0500

I got my title from the Veggie Tales version of the Good Samaritan. lol! Love Veggie Tales.. they're just so funny & cute! Who doesn't love veggies who can sing and dance and do all sorts of things we can do but with no arms! Just pure awesomeness! ;)

Anyways, I was going to do my budget post today, but I haven't had any time to sit down and crunch numbers yet. I do know that we went waaaay over if that helps anyone out. lol! So I think i'll work on that post tonight and have it up tomorrow morning instead.

For now i'm going to head downstairs and get a bit more sewing done before I need to get the girls in bed! Thanks for popping in, hope you had a great day, and have a wonderful night!

***

What have you been "terribly busy" with lately?

My sewing machine has nearly "paid for itself"! :)

Carla — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:07:47 -0500

***

You know that something was 'in the stars' when it comes together so very nicely...

When I bought my new sewing machine last week for a hefty $960.00, I knew it was a major splurge for us, and could have possibly waited until my other machine 'died'. However, with my other sewing machine not being "worth" fixing what was wrong with it, we 'bit the bullet' and bought a new machine. Since it helps with our income and I sew nearly every single day, we don't think it was 'extreme'. I have to say, I absolutely LOVE it and don't regret the purchase even for a second. It's just incredible how much easier it's made sewing.

I was wondering how long it would take me to "make up the cost" of the machine and apparently, not long at all!! I've received a handful of large orders since we bought my new sewing machine and after I take out the cost of the new materials I need to buy, i've made back a nice chunk of what we put out already!!

Total (approximate) earned after *new* materials are bought is $730.00. I'm not counting materials that I have on hand as i've already put out the money for them, or else the profit won't be as high, so i'm simply going with what will be put into our account. Add the $100.00 I had tucked aside for myself and that puts me at $830.00 of my $960.00! So, it appears that my sewing machine has almost already "paid for itself" which is exactly what my husband said when we bought it. :)

With these orders and after I have in all the payments, i'm hoping that our slush fund will be very near the $3K I like to have it sitting around once again! The only fabrics & materials i'll be buying for a while are materials I absolutely *need* to buy for orders. Other than that, i'll be using the wonderful fabric I have on hand as much as I can! :) Isn't that just amazing?? What a blessing!

Before I leave, I just wanted to thank the lovely Sicorra over at "Tackling our Debt" for the feature and kind words about me! :) I'm always so humbled & honored over the genuine kindness of others i've 'met' through blogging! What a wonderful way blogging is to have friends near & far!

Well i'm off for now, after I do my running around and finish up with the girls i'll return with my "Budget Thursday" post... it's not a pretty one this week, but such is life. ;) lol!

***

Have you ever bought anything that practically "paid for itself"?

Something to ponder...

Carla — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:11:40 -0500

***

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

~Lao Tzu

Happy Mail from a FQ swap! :)

Carla — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:01:25 -0500

I decided to join a couple sewing related swaps last month, and this one being the first was a fun one! The other one is still "in process". I joined Kool Beenz FQ Friends swap as I loved that you were swapping new fabric. You were to send your partner 4 FQ's (Fat Quarters) and could include whatever else in your swap pkg... little treats if you liked, but it is optional.

***

I was matched up with April, from Kool Beenz! Here is the pkg. I sent her... 4 FQs of Michael Millers new Norwegian woods, a spool of Gutermann thread, and a matching glossy button! She seemed to really like what I sent, so I was happy! :)

And here is the fun pkg. I received from April today!! :) She spoiled me!!

A bundle of bright & fun 5 FQ's!

Not sure who makes this fabric however, thinking maybe Moda?

A pkg. of PEZ candy, which my girls have already ~~inhaled~~ enjoyed, a pretty spool of the awesome Gutermann thread, and a bone folder. (For pressing seams i'm assuming? A lot better than using my fingernail I bet! lol!)

Along with 5 pretty DMC threads!! LOVE these colours!!

***

Thanks so much for the wonderful pkg, I love it to bits! What great happy mail today! :) If you'd like to join the fun, the June sign ups for the FQ Friends Swap on Kool Beenz can be found HERE!!

And with that i'm off... the girls are done their schooling and are desperate to get outside and burn off some energy, so i'm off for now! :) Have a great day!!

5 reasons I may be reading your blog!

Carla — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:15:39 -0500

There are some blogs that I love to read and will read without fail, day in and day out. There are some blogs I read here & there, and there are some blogs I avoid like the plague.

I thought i'd share 5 reasons why I may be reading your blog....

You keep it *real*! You're not trying to be anyone else, you don't put on 'airs', you're honest and caring. You don't do 100 "pinterest" projects every week with your perfect family. ;) I simply cannot read a blog where I feel like i'm always trying to be "impressed" and "harped at" about one thing or another. I really enjoy getting to know who the blogger is, and I tend to read blogs who don't post anonymously 99.8% of the time.
Your blog doesn't constantly overload me with advertisements, guest posts, affiliate links, etc... I don't mind guest posts, links, ads, etc... but there comes a point when it is no longer a personal blog, but a revenue to simply make money. I've seen this happen to a few blogs that I used to read and comment on, and have since stopped reading. It's just "too much" for my liking, so I cut my losses & move on.
Your blog is "clean" and easy to read. I find it incredibly hard to read blogs where there's soo much going on that I have no idea where to start. Either it's too crammed, there is too much going on, the colours are horrible (dark background, dark text, or light background, light text), and so on. I also cannot stand when blogs have "music playlists" or "pop-ups". It's a surefire way to keep me away!
You inspire me. You are positive & upbeat!! I understand we all go through tough times, sometimes need to vent, etc.. I do too! But blogs which are forever negative, always in the "woe is me" mood, always getting the "short end of the stick", etc... If you have more family & personal problems than most "reality stars", then there's a pretty good chance, that i'm not reading.
You post regularly. I find it hard to keep up with blogs that post sporadically at best. If I know you post daily, or even every other day, etc... I read. If there are posts for a couple weeks every single day, then you fall off the earth for a few weeks, then come back for a week of regular posting, gone again for a month, I usually give up. There's nothing wrong with only posting here & there, but I do find it keeps you from getting regular readers who come back faithfully. Myself included.

***

What are the reasons that keep you going back to read blogs?

Western Barbie, how I miss thee...

Carla — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:11:04 -0500

Some times a little thing just totally sets your mind back to the past... Morgan started telling me little Barbie facts and whatnot, which got me thinking about my ALL-TIME favourite Barbie of all time! I so loooved this Barbie, she was by far the best, most beautiful Barbie ever. She had fabulous baby blue eyeshadow, a rockin' cowgirl hat, outfit & boots. And the best thing of all?? She *winked*. I kid you not. Amazing right!? haha!!

*Look!! She's a *Gorgeous Western Star!*

Even says so right on the box... :P*

(In case anyone wants to buy her)(((

And along with this, I had a fabulous camper as well... because what Barbie doesn't want a plastic camper to live a life of luxury in?! I do remember those little chairs... Barbie never did sit very comfortably on those, but when your legs only bend to a 45 degree angle, it makes it hard to balance. lol!

****

***

I remember one Christmas my sister was gifted a Barbie from my uncle that always bought *me* a Barbie, that should have been for ME! He got the gift tags mixed up.... i'll never forget the horror. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy ~~spoiled brat~~ little girl. I threw a temper tantrum and quickly received my rightful gift while she got stuck with a dumb doll. :P As you can see, I was a wonderful & angelic child. (hahaha!!)

***

Tell me, what was your *absolute* favourite toy as a child?

QAYG Potholder Tutorial!

Carla — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:31:30 -0500

Are you ready for the next steps? It really is pretty easy, although I messed up on mine as I should have used smaller pieces of fabric. Oh well.. it's done and it shows you how, so here we go!

First gather up your materials.

Second, cut your backing fabric to about 1/2" larger than your batting as shown and pin in several places...

Now lay down a small scrap of fabric...

And quilt over top of it....

Now take another small scrap of fabric and laying right side down on top of the first piece, sew *ONE* seam...

Now flip that piece over...

And quilt it as you did the first piece...

Again, take another scrap, face side down over raw edges and sew one seam...

Flip it over and quilt again...

*Rinse & Repeat* untl you've quilted the entire top.

I messed up on mine... looking back, I should have used small pieces of fabric... you'll see when i'm done where I messed up.

The back will have quilted lines going this way and that way... everywhere! You can clean up the loose threadss after you're done... no worries for now! :)

After you're done, you want to square it up.... cut your hot pad at 8 x 8" square.

*oops!*

And after you're done the front, you want to make your binding, sew on your binding (either by hand or machine) finish your binding, and you're good as gold! :)

Here is my finished pot holder... (which i'm not happy with, but such is life... it will still serve it's purpose!)

And there you have it! Easy peasy! :) I'm tempted to try again, but not today. I'll probably make another one soon using smaller scraps of fabric and see how it turns out. For now i'm going to finish my coffee and relax for a bit... hope everyone is having a great day!

Please link me up if you decide to give this tutorial a try! :) Happy sewing!!