Print your own fabric

I was hanging out on flickr and someone had this lovely fabric posted



Isn't it super cute?!

Anyways it seems someone designed it and you can have custom fabrics made from

http://www.spoonflower.com/

I went over to check it out and yup that's right you can have your own fabric made though this website, I think that's pretty neat. Too bad I'm not that creative. Just posting this to let people know. ^_^

String Quilt Four Blocks Made

I started this the night I wrote a blog about it a few days ago.

I thought this was a perfect way to use my scraps. So I started with 6x6 in muslin and I planned on cutting it down to 5.5x5.5.



So you start off by just sewing two scrap fabric strings together.

Then you iron and then you sew another scrap fabric on both sides



Here is a picture of it being ironed after sewing a piece on both sides

So you keep doing this till you fill out all the muslin. Which actually took longer than I thought it would. I really didn't plan out these blocks, just whatever I pulled out of my scrap stash was added. Some of my strings were too long and so I had to cut them but then it was a prefect size to be added to another block.



Here it is befor I cut it. Looks really wonky. When I read the website they said the best string quilts are the ones that aren't planned and just done as people go, I wasn't too sure about that but okay I decided to cut to see how it goes.



Here is my four blocks right now. It actually did turn out pretty good. I actually over estimated the amount of scraps I have so this will be all for now till I create more scraps to make string quilt blocks out of.

I actually think this was an excellent way to use scraps that are string like. ^_^

String Quilt

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this... though I suspect they have since I'm usually the last person on the planet to know about stuff (or at least that's how it feels sometimes).

It seems the string quilt is a big deal these days. I found a tutorial about it here http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltpatternsprojects/ss/string_piecing.htm

It seems pretty simple. I'm going to try it out and let you guys know about. ^_^

Pac Man Pillows

I'm actually trying to make the whole set but this is what I have so far. ^_^



They turned out pretty cute. My blue will is going to look up and my red one is going to look down. ^_^

beloga - really not your grandmother's sewing maching and not even your mother's for that matter!

Man I'm really obsessed with sewing machines right now. Look what I found! The sewing machine of the future, seriously doesn't it look like it belongs in star trek?

Good thing they aren't in production yet, I might want this over the hello kitty one!

I wonder what the price will be for this. Though I think this was designed for fashion people more than quilters. ;-)



belOga comes with a big "O", and an even bigger circular touch-screen which replaces the usual scheme of buttons and controls. This sewing machine concept was designed by Kristine Brückner, an industrial design graduate from the Munich's University of Applied Sciences with an impressive portfolio.
Apart from its less than ordinary shape, the belOga makes sewing more fun. By laying in a spool of thread the machine automatically conducts the thread through the machine - all you have to do is put the thread through the needle to get started. The centre display allows you to see what the stitch will look like in advance, this means less unpleasant stitching surprises. You can even enjoy the inner life of the belOga through two little lenses on the side of the body.Kristine notes that the belOga is not yet in production, so feel free to drop her a message (male.diven@gmx.de) if you know anyone who is not afraid to spice up the backstage of fashion!

www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/beloga_not_your_grandm...

Thread Tension - Janome Problem

When I bought my Janome, I was so excited I started using it right away. BUT the thread tension was weird. It didn't show up right at all. In fact I have to keep my tension for the upper part of my machine at close to 0! I didn't want to complain about it because it's suppose to be a better machine than my brother and I thought eventually it will somehow fix itself.



See it's been like this since I have gotten it. I did all the things I "knew" like
1. re-threaded the top thread - didn't help
2. re-threaded the bobbin thread - didn't help
3. changed the needle - didn't help
4. re-did the bobbin -didn't help

I'm sure there are other things you can do that I didn't think of or knew but these were the things that usually "fixed" my brother.

Well it worked when I had it set to 0 so I just lived with it.

Now after looking at the Hello Kitty comments it seems that people that bought the Hello Kitty sewing machine also had a thread problem! And it's a Janome too!

Anyways in the comments they actually said how to fix that problem! Lucky me. ^_^



So here is my plate and I'm suppose to take it off.



I'm lucky that my plate is only held down by one screw. I'm sure that's like everyone else. ;-)



So you're suppose to take the bobbin out with the bobbin holder.



This is my naked sewing machine! It was kind of dusty so I blew it out with my compressed air (that stuff you use to clean keyboards).



So here is my bobbin with it's bobbin holder.



Anyways in the comments (for the hello kitty sewing machine) it said to pull at the thread while it's in the bobbin hold. So it's suppose to have a nice tug. Not too loose or too tight.

It turns out that mine was really really loose. I had not problem tugging at all.



So to fix it all you have to do is take a little screw driver and for me I needed to tighten that screw between where my bobbin thread enters the bobbin holder and where it exits it.

BOOM that totally fixed my problem! Now I can have my top tread tension at 4 and have my stitches come out right. Sweet.

Anyways this really helped me and I thought if I blogged about it, it might help other people. ^_^

Thanks a bunch!

Priceless

I was just surfing around the web and I came across this one quote and I thought I would share it. I didn't write this at all. Someday I hope to write something this inspiring though. *new goal for the check list*

--------------------------------------------------

A well known speaker started off his seminar
by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 300,
he asked, Who would like this $20 bill?

Hands started going up. He said, I am
going to give this $20 to one of you but
first, let me do this. He proceeded to
crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked, Who still wants it?
Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, what if I do this?
And he dropped it on the ground and started
to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty.
Now who still wants it?
Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, you have all learned a very
valuable lesson. No matter what I did to
the money, you still wanted it because it did
not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped,
crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the
decisions we make and the circumstances that
come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.

But no matter what has happened or what will
happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty
or clean, crumpled or finely creased,
You are still priceless — Unknown

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I think sometimes I forget that. With Holidays around the coner I think this is a great message to have be out there.