A Little Cultural Flair
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything, I kind of went through a sewing lull and then had some set backs, but am now settled into a new apartment and feel ready to get comfortable sewing again! Today, I pulled out my fabric and hated all of it! Times have changed in the last 8 months, and I need new fabric. I did, however, find this scarf that we bought from India in Jan/Feb 2013 when we were last there that turned out to be poorly stitched and kinda wonky-looking… so it’s now fabric for my sewing pleasure!
I temporarily cannot find my DSLR camera, so my apologies- these iPhone photos will have to do for today.
I chose to work with just the green side, wanted to keep it kind of simple. Here’s the finished product. I’m not a huge fan of it as it’s just not my style, but I’m happy with the way it turned out, and it was a good start to get back into sewing mode. Except- I used a zipper foot for the first time ever, and I sewed right through my finger… ouch! That hurt.
Napkin Holders
I just recently took a trip to India (after 15 years!) and I happened to have found these little gems in a random shop.
The problem with finding things you love when you’re in another country is that you HAVE to get them, or you’ll think about it forever and never EVER have the chance to get them later. So I made sure to buy everything I fell in love with while I was there :)
These will go perfect with the napkins I bought from Anthropologie! All I need is a dining table- and I have big plans to build my own farm table soon! :)
The Bloomsburg Fair
Happy Nurse’s Week!
“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
-Emily Dickinson
Happy Nurse’s Week to those who spend their days taking care of everyone else and yet still find time to take care of themselves..
My New Machine!
I have FINALLY chosen the machine I want. Since mine broke about a month ago, I’ve been on the hunt for a new machine that was of better quality than my original one, something my parents could buy me for my birthday. After many long nights of internet research and long hours perusing the sewing machine shops in Delaware, I’ve finally decided on SOMETHING.
Originally, at the Singer store on Kirkwood Hwy, a sales rep decided to sell my mother on a machine that was about 3 times the price I wanted one for, and had a whole lot of fancy things going on that I wasn’t expecting. Inevitably, after I checked it out, I was sold as well. But really, I didn’t want to spend $600 on a machine… even if they do claim that it was originally $999. I really don’t sew THAT much. I ended up falling in love with the features of that machine, however it had as usb cord to attach to a computer but was only compatible with PCs. WTF people?! Where is all the Mac compatible stuff in the world?? Don’t you people know that Macs are the best? How can you NOT know?!
So then I decided to research around for a cheaper one. I finally found the one I settled on, and it is an older version of the $600 one. It’s normally $400 (and actually just saw it on Joann’s site at $600), but I found it on overstock refurbished for $290. Done. It may not be of better quality than the old machine, but it’s got new features, like embroidery that I can play with. If I get good at embroidery and fall in love with it, then I will upgrade in a few years to a higher end machine that is over $1,000. I realized the other day that I spent $1,000 on my digital camera without even thinking twice about it.. why wouldn’t I give my sewing machine the same consideration?? Also, I read online in many reviews that Brother says the SE400 will not work with Macs, but in reality it will if you just plug it in.
Here she is. The Brother SE400 Sewing and Embroidery Machine. Any name suggestions? Maybe an old lady name will be nice. Agnes, Vera, Mabel, Cordelia?? Well whatever, Cordelia will be arriving in the next few days, as she has already been shipped!
And for fun, I will leave you with this… when I am rich one day, I will buy this $10k machine, the Pfaff Creative Vision:
Coco’s Lessons for the Day
Coco learns to sew.
First, wind the bobbin… sometimes chewing it helps.
Then look closely at the needle to make sure it’s there.
Finally, stick paw in needle area to play with the string that comes off of it.
Easy!
Coco’s tutorial on stealing milk.
Step 1: Stick furriest paw in milk.
Step 2: Lick milk off paw.
Step 3: Repeat numerous times.
Step 4: Just screw the paw thing and go for the gold!
Pretty Coco
Just because she’s beautiful.
It’s All For Love
Crate & Barrel has a wedding contest, and my best friend needs votes to win!!
Please click HERE to vote for Tracy & Greg
Thank you!! And don’t forget to tell your friends. :o)
A Very Uncreative Dinner
Just for fun, I thought I’d post my dinner tonight. Olives and Coke. And for dessert, brownie batter (by the time the brownies were done I didn’t want any more chocolate so I haven’t even tried them yet). I have to say, boxed brownies are the best. A few weeks ago I attempted to make homemade brownies and they turned out disgusting. I must have done something wrong because I’m pretty sure I’ve had other people’s homemade brownies and loved them. Regardless, I’m still a fan of Duncan Hines. I always make them in the mini cupcake pan to create bite sized brownies. When I eat them, I top them with chocolate frosting and those crunchy little ball sprinkles. I probably should have posted a pic of that because it’s cute, but I forgot to purchase the frosting this time. The dinner of olives and coke was delicious though! I ate the whole can of black olives.
My very own website!!
When I started my blogspot blog a few weeks ago, a couple people suggested I purchase the domain name for Sew Knot Kneaded and eventually move over to the site. I took the advice, and my good friend Dave bought the url for me. I’ve been waiting to move over to this site until it was ready and I’m happy to announce it is finally here! My very first website!!!! This is very exciting.
You can bookmark this site, or thanks to my savvy html skills (or googling and direction following skills) you will automatically be redirected here from the blogspot site. (Stating that was completely unnecessary, however I was quite proud of my work..)
Hope you like this site. I’m really excited for it! Don’t be surprised if I keep changing the design on it.. I like to play!
New Header
Ok, so I really loved the old blog header, but it was a premade one and I wanted my own. So, I designed these headers myself with a little photoshop fun. I had originally made the larger one with a lot more going on based on a painting I did in my living room, but decided to simplify it… if you could even consider it simplified. However, I am still looking for a 3-column layout that will allow me to use my header. If anyone has any suggestions as to where I can find these, please let me know!! I’ve been googling and downloading all kinds and trying them out, but nothing seems to work. I even tried a 3-column blogger minima (that looked just like this 2 column one), but for some reason it wouldn’t let me upload my header.
Anyway, here is my original:
And here is the new one:
I would love input on my headers! Should I simplify it even more? Should I change any colors? Is it just plain ugly? Let me know! I love constructive criticism!
UPDATE: Jon said he likes the colors of the original but the layout and font of the new one… so here is what I came up with:
But I’m still looking for more feedback!! Tell me what you think. Thanks!