Expo Pink & Red Style Show

This is one of my FAVORITE PICTURES from last year's show. On Sunday morning, right before the GO RED Style show -- Judy & Chris -- the official stalkers of the Midwest Ya Ya Sisters...gave me yet another gift -- the red heart shaped sunglasses. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? WHERE DO THEY FIND THIS STUFF?
(I've already heard from them this year -- yes, they DO HAVE tickets for our brand new Friday Night LIVE presentation -- and I'll be posting more information in the coming weeks. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU, CHRIS AND JUDY.. )




This is a picture of Mary wearing her special RED GARMENT -- which, of course, she created out of a red sweatshirt. If you look closely, you might see her skirt's four gores are made out of sweatshirt sleeves.


This is a picture of me being the MC for the event. My outfit was out of recycled t-shirts...and I have often worn that shirt which says, "It's only funny until somebody gets hurt, and then it's freaking hilarious".

Anyway -- I've enjoyed reminiscing about last year -- but the big news is THIS YEAR -- WE WANT YOU!! I posted the "criteria" on the official show blog. Coats & Clark is the sponsor of the event this year and they want it to be interactive -- which means YOU CAN BE IN THE SHOW. Last year, the audience was a sea of red garments, you wore red to support this good cause. This year, we are working for two charities -- the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. So it's a PINK AND RED Fashion show -- and YOU CAN BE IN IT...

Go to the official Sewing & Stitchery blog to read the criteria....we want YOU TO JOIN THE STARS this year!

Mason's Baby Shower

You know how it goes. The usual order of business at a bridal and/or baby shower is you eat, you play some cheesy games, and then you open the gifts. With 16 children between us -- believe me when I tell you my sisters & I have this DOWN TO A SCIENCE...

Our latest shower was for my niece Kelcy and her baby boy, Mason Dean. If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may remember Kelcy decorated her nursery with a jungle theme.

Here's Kelcy, opening a quilt for Mason from Aunt Ronda. (Notice the jungle blanket on the table behind her...made for Mason by his Grandma Deena)We had the shower at the Methodist Church in McCausland, Iowa. They have a beautiful large fully-equipped kitchen -- and a big parking lot, too. It was ZERO degrees, and all our snow makes for poor parking conditions...


Here's the tiny little Guest-of-honor, being held by his Great-great-Aunt-Ada...


Here's the menu: Veggie pizza, broccoli cheese soup, bean soup and chili. After the delicious soup lunch -- our dessert was: red waldorf cake, homemade cream puffs AND mint brownies. I AM TELLING YOU -- THE FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!!

In a future post -- I'll explain our "jungle dress-up-photo-activity" -- which was a surprise for Kelcy. And probably a welcome relief for everybody else -- (this crowd does a lot of whining when we get to the game part of the festivities). Until I get the right pictures -- here's YET ANOTHER PHOTO OF MY GRANDDAUGHTER, LILLIAN...note the faux fur leopard vest. Oh, yes, THANKS TO BLOOMINGDALE'S...

O Magazine & Eileen Roche

One of my favorite people is Eileen Roche, editor of Designs in Machine Embroidery magazine. She is a voracious reader -- and magazines are her personal addiction. Which is why I believe she has the perfect job. I loved her blog about Oprah's magazine and I thought you'd enjoy it, too...


Sewing in O Magazine?
By Eileen Rocheon November 12, 2009 9:03 PM
As a faithful reader of Oprah's magazine, I'm completely aware of all the hype surrounding Ellen DeGeneres' debut on the cover of this month's O. I certainly enjoyed the spread on Ellen and the insider interview. But there's always so much more to O than the cover. As I devoured this issue, I was mildly amused when I turned to page 64 and saw in black and white, the word, SEWING in bold caps followed by a short - but positive - blurb about Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) along with a cover thumbnail. As my eyes moved down the page, aha, another bold cap caught my eye. This time the word was APPLIQUÈ and it flanked a cover thumbnail of Cath Kidston's Make (St. Martin's) along with verbiage touting Kidston's minimal effort and big results projects. Wow. Being an avid Oprah reader since the inaugural issue, this is the very first time - to my knowledge - that there has ever been a reference/review on anything sewing.

I turned the page. And found a large red button with needle and thread at the bottom of page 66. The charming graphic graced the ever popular sidebar: If you only have...15 minutes. If you only do have 15 minutes, O encourages you to read a chapter of How to Sew a Button: And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew (Ballantine). Now I'm stunned. Three references to sewing in one issue of O? Maybe the rest of the planet is really waking up to the intriguing craft of sewing. Hmmm....

I move on to page 146 and gaze at the eye candy in the Beauty Gazette section. The colors of the eyeshadows are luscious. And they are shaped like, I can't believe it, buttons! Ten different colors so luscious you want to buy fabric to match! And they are paired with cable-knit-embossed powder blushes. Uh? And oh yeah, the props they used to style the shot are actual needles, thread, a thimble and fabric-covered button blanks. I think I'm most impressed with the fact that they actually knew where to procure those items! Wow. Beauty and sewing, who knew?

Time for me to move on - head to the airport for yet another Stitching Sisters event. This time to Tampa with our friends at Keep Me In Stitches. I carried my issue of O on the plane so I could finish it before handing it over to my sister, Marie. Settled in my seat, I turn to Connections on page 213, the title: A Stitch In Time. A huge smile spreads across my face. And I sink into Meribah Knight's memories of her grandmother's sewing skills. Meribah's own mother shunned the needle, but Meribah felt a pull, a draw to needle and thread. And much to her mother's chagrin, enrolled in Home Economics in high school. Her mother thought photography would have been a much more modern and useful elective. But Meribah found her home. She sailed, she flew, she found herself. In college, she stepped away from it - mainly because of a space crunch in her Manhattan college pad. But years later, sewing pulled her out of a deep depression. She wrote, "With the passing of my depression, sewing took an almost sacred role in my life. It quieted my mind and engaged my hands." I know the feeling. I have explicit memories of a prayer I often voiced during difficult times, "God, give me something to do with my hands." And oh how those prayers were answered.

What a satisfying issue of O.

*******

Nobody enjoys a magazine like Eileen Roche!!

Thanks for letting me share, Eileen. (oh, wait, I forgot to tell you I was doin' it...)

If you want to read a magazine that's ALL ABOUT SEWING -- ALL THE TIME -- especially if machine embroidery is your addiction -- be sure to check out Designs In Machine Embroidery



KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, EILEEN...

Famous Person NYC Sighting

One of the most famous sculptures in the world -- the Rockefeller Center skating rink is guarded by the famous gilded statue of Prometheus bringing fire to mankind by sculptor Paul Manship. Besides the Statue of Liberty -- this is probably the most photographed sculpture in America. We got a great view of it during our recent trip.


Lexi and I kept hoping we'd see the CASH CAB -- but we didn't. Of course, you always hope you'll run into a famous person while in the city. I was by myself when I snapped this picture at Times Square...do you know what famous person this is?


Yes -- IT'S THE NAKED COWBOY. On a very cold and rainy day in December. Here's another picture I took of him -- last year -- when the weather was WARMER...

I don't know what all the hub-bub is about...lol...

Book Club

Here's one of my favorite pictures from Mary's visit. I MIGHT ACTUALLY PRINT THIS ONE OUT. (and that NEVER happens!) On our busiest day of thrift-store-shopping, we took a lunch break with my book clubbers -- some of my favorite women in the world. Linda K., Linda P., me, Sandy S. and Mary M. We sometimes get together just to visit and eat lunch...we recently did our "holiday download" lunch. But, most of the time -- WE DO READ A BOOK, people!! We're putting together our 2010 list -- if you have any suggestions -- SEND THEM TO ME...


Around the table, this is Linda K., Linda P., me, Sandy and Mary...

Although, it's a tough job to recommend movies for OTHER people -- because you don't know about their own personal "taste level". This reminds me of a day, when the boys were here for the holidays, I went to the video store, and wandered around aimlessly, not knowing what to rent...finally, I asked the clerk, "what was your favorite movie last year?" She said, "Twilight". Without hesitating for even a minute, I said, "is there anybody else working here?"

So -- to give you an idea of our taste in books -- we all enjoyed the Kite Runner and the Secret Life of Bees...and we loved Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, Water for Elephants and the Glass Castle. So, based on that -- PLEASE SEND ME YOUR BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS...

And -- oh -- here's another Christmas picture of me and Lillian..
....if I could put a word balloon over her head, it would say, "Are you kidding me? Seriously? I've worn four dresses in two days!! GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF, GRANDMA! HOW MANY CHRISTMAS OUTFITS ARE THERE?"

Arm Covers for Chairs

Okay -- this falls into the category of "boring, utility sewing" --

I have a lime-green recliner in my living room -- which I LOVE. It was $22 at the Goodwill store. I've had it for maybe two years -- and the entire time, I've been annoyed with the skimpy little arm covers...

Hey -- don't get me wrong -- since this particular LazyBoy was probably 30 years old before I brought it into our lives -- I was thrilled it came with arm covers!

But, finally, I decided to do something about them. I dug through my extensive "Goodwill Sweater Stash" until I found something that coordinates with my living room.

I cut the zipper front out of the sweater, because I might want to use it to make an ENTIRELY NEW SWEATER...



But the sleeves were the PERFECT amount of fabric for me to use to make "extenders" around the bottom of my arm covers...



Now the chair has nice DEEP arm covers. Which I love. And the sweater fabric really stays put, too. It occurred to me, after I was done, that I could have made the OUTSIDE of the cover 24" long -- and it would have been a great way to give the chair a whole new look! Kind of like "faux upholstery"...

Mason's Diaper Bag

Remember my niece Kelcy? She had her baby, Mason, the day after Thanksgiving. She decorated the nursery with a jungle theme...

We had a shower for her -- and I decided to personalize a boring black diaper bag for baby Mason. I started off with a nice JEEP diaper bag, with lots of outside pockets...it even has a separate little detachable cellphone case...

The first step is to put "Mod-Podge" on the areas where I'm going to paint or glue fabric... you can see in the picture above that I podged the upper flaps of the front pockets....
The other essential product is PEEL 'N STICK. I LOVE THIS STUFF. It is basically a sheet of very, very strong glue encased between two pieces of shiny release paper.


* I made a "pattern" out of paper -- of the front pocket flaps, and the side pockets.
* Remove one of the protective pieces of paper and put the Peel 'n Stick on the back of the FABRIC.
* Cut out the pattern from the fabric (which now has Peel 'n Stick AND the last piece of release paper.
* Remove the release paper and carefully place the fabric exactly where you want it.

THEN, as a final step -- put two more coats of Mod Podge on top of the fabric and/or paint (sometimes I combine fabric or embroidered designs with paint borders). FUN, EH??

Inside the bag were a couple of adorable stuffed giraffes, and to top it off, I made a few of Ann Sagawa's luggage tags out of the jungle fabric.