Carpetbagger Couture

Salsa Fresca

2010-08-24T12:26:00.004-04:00

For all those out there interested in my salsa recipe, here it is. Forgive my lack of precise measurements, I am more of a taste and adjust kind of cook. If you need something more exact, a google search will probably give a number of recipes.

Make a large batch of this. You can double it, just try to keep the same proportions of everything. It goes incredibly fast, at least it does in my house. It usually does not even make it to the table, kids just stand at the counter and slurp it up as fast as I can make it. It does not last long, just a couple of days in the fridge, and does not freeze well.

Ingredients:
4 or 5 cloves Garlic peeled and chopped
1 medium onion chopped, a little less if you don't like onion
2 or 3 peppers. You can make these all jalapenos, or mix in banana peppers according to your desired hotness. Put an extra pepper in if you like it hot.
1/4 cup copped fresh cilantro leaves lightly packed
5 or 6 medium or so fresh ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Basically just chop everything and mix together. Texture can be chunky or fine, as you like it. The real secret here is freshness. I grow the tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic in my own garden. I am sure a good farm stand such as Hopkins Produce can give you the same quality. Tomatoes must be ripe, red all the way through, not just pink.
A food chopper such as the one from Pampered chef is an absolute must. Tomatoes must be cut up by hand, chopper does not work on them. Also, NEVER touch the peppers as you are chopping them. Your hands will burn for days! Wear gloves. I use tongs in such a way that I never touch the peppers. Experiment and find out how your family likes it. I don't think I make it exactly the same way twice in a row.

2009-07-31T20:56:00.007-04:00

Are you ready for Day 2 of the big vacation?
We woke up painfully early (Newharts' are NOT morning people), and we boarded a bus bound for the English countryside. First stop- Windsor castle. Very beautiful place, but I can't imagine having thousands of people walking through my house on a daily basis. She must really feel like a prisoner. These are the Queen's private quarters on the other end of the castle complex from the State Apartments. This is the very quaint English town that surrounds the castle. Lots of cute shops and great old buildings, some nice restaurants too. State apartments are fabulous, lots of heraldry and pageantry.
Next Stop- Stonehenge
This is a really cool place, but it was cold and spitting rain that day, so it took a bit of the mystical aspect out of it. I would have liked to see how the sun moves through the stones. No one is allowed into the circle, we walked around it about a hundred feet or so away. It is mind boggling to think that those stones were there before the pyramids! It is like contemplating how long it will take for us to pay off this ridiculous plan Obama has come up with, many thousands of years. Alex holding up thousands of years of history.

Here is a candidate for Christmas picture- not enough stones though.

This one is the winner.
Mr funny man

Oops, didn't mean to upload that again. Well that is enough for now, I will tell you about the rest of our day tomorrow. Stay tuned!!!

2009-07-30T08:52:00.006-04:00

Vacation Update-

Week number one of the vacation- Lumberton N.C.; Volunteers in Mission trip with our church to build wheelchair ramps for needy people. Hot, sweaty, exhausting, yet very fulfilling. We as a team built 6 ramps I think. Pictures to come as soon as I find them!

Week Number Two- Family trip to London (as in England!!)

We had a great time, and spent boatloads of money. The pound is strong compared to the dollar, so everything was expensive. This is a really great place, I could spend weeks here seeing and doing all there is to do. The weather was pretty good the whole time, albeit a bit chillier than I prefer.

Day 1- Sunday afternoon, we go to the airport an take off at about 5:30. Thankfully we got on the flight (we fly standby). Nice 7 hour flight, my gentlemanly husband let me take the business class seat, (my birthday gift) and he went in economy plus with the kids. He is such a sweetie! We arrive early, at about 5:30 am at Heathrow, and board the train to London. We can't check in at the hotel until 2pm, so we drop off the bags there and head out to find some breakfast. Then we get on the tube and head to the Tower of London. This is the White Tower, part of the larger complex of buildings that comprise the Tower of London.

Here is a nice Yoeman Warder who took us on our tour. Here we are in front of Tower Bridge. Very bleary eyed. Anyone for a nice beheading? Step this way!

Finally at 2 pm we checked into the hotel, slept for 4 hours and got up and had dinner in a real English pub, Churchill's. Chamber pots lined the ceiling, along with various other bits and pieces of memorabilia. Very interesting place. Stay tuned for Day 2!!

Marriage advice

2009-07-08T09:48:00.002-04:00

What is the way to stay in a mans heart? Make him pickled beets that's how. These were grown by my sweetie, and pickled and canned by me and the girls. It is the extra flavoring of love that makes them so good. These are ready for the boiling phase. So knobby and ugly, but taste so good. Blogger decided to rotate my picture for no good reason, so tilt your head when viewing. Happy Summer!!

New WIP

2009-06-20T15:47:00.004-04:00

I saw a post on a blog a few weeks ago about different ways of dyeing fabric and the resulting effects of each. I think it was on http://ohfransson.com/ I thought it was pretty interesting. Then on a whim I was in Joannes and decided to get some dye and try my own. I had done a little tie dye with my kids before, so this was a good continuation of that lesson. I used Dylon dye, and being used to the Rit dye that never seemed to get very intense, this was a big difference for me. The color range was better too. Here are the results-

I like the way they turned out, but I think the big lesson here was proportion. Using the correct amount of dye to get the desired color, and then letting it sit and not being too impatient.

These are going to be mixed with some vintage sheets, and some Kaffe Fassett fat quarters to make a square in a square design quilt, all pictured below. I will show you when it gets done.

Have a wonderful day!

More purses are coming, don't worry!!

2009-06-17T09:58:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to show two new completed tops. Now if I could just find the time and motivation to get them basted and quilted.

This is the snowball block I showed you in previous post . I don't have a name yet, maybe some suggestions?

This is a zigzag from vintage sheets and pillowcases. Saw one like this on Crazy mom quilts, and copied it. I did the triangle method, which I will not do again, because she has come up with a much easier way with no bias piecing. I will try that next. If I can ever figure out how to do links I will put it in here.I just love this pillowcase, it has a circus scene on it, it was so soft, like it had ben slept on by some sweet little child for many years. I made sure I washed it with very hot water and detergent to get rid of any sweet little child drool residue:)

This is some fabric from joannes, part of their legacy quilting line. I know Joannes gets a bum rap sometimes on some different blogs I read, but the one near my house is one of the larger, expanded versions and just the quilt dept is larger than an entire regular joannes store. They don't carry the major designers, but they do have the legacy quilting line, and Alexander Henry fabrics. Oh how I would love to be able to buy Kaffe Fassett or Heather Bailey with a 40% off coupon!!

And what is keeping me so busy you ask? Just these little darlings- It has been a productive, or should I say reproductive , Spring here on the farm. Don't worry, I am careful not to catch that bug.

Meet Lucy. She and 9 other goat kids were born this spring. I had to bottle feed her because her mom had mastitis and could not nurse. She follows me everywhere and seems to resent being left in the barnyard with all those other goats.These are Gabbys puppies. They are for sale. Aren't they adorable? The whelping box is in my sewing room, so that puts a crimp in my sewing these days. Nothing like the smell of puppy poop to dampen your creativity.

Last but not least, this is Hera. She will be Zeus's wife when she grows up. She is quite a handfull right now, and will be more than a match for him.

Such is life on a farm. Have a wonderful day!

2009-06-16T11:31:00.001-04:00

June 16th, 2009

One thing I love about June is fresh peas! Here are some shots of pea picking and shelling in our garden. Dinner was good that night.

Sorry for the shadows, but yes those are happy teenagers shelling peas with their father. I know, it's amazing.

2009-04-21T15:20:00.000-04:00

Good Morning!! WIP- This is a nice little WIP. It is a snowball block, made from a bunch of stuff from my stash, and some vintage stuff. My grandmother in laws sofa is in there, my sisters vintage drapes, some older Longaberger fabric, etc. I think I will border it in black and do some diagonal line quilting to give it a very antique feel. It looks like such a simple block, but takes a while to get just right so things line up the way they are supposed to. This one will get sold at my next craft show.As you can see it is layed out on my high tech "design table" AKA. my dining room table!!

2009-04-21T15:11:00.000-04:00

May 1 2009

Spring colors-

Here is a quilt finished recently. Don't have a name for it yet, maybe some comments may help inspire me? It is made with a bunch of vintage fabric mixed with some white sateen, and a really cute blue stripe for the back. It is a queen size, and was a real bear to quilt on my regular home machine, but it worked and looks great!! I was not sure about the colors, orange and lime green not really being my thing, but it has really grown on me. I think I will do the orange thing again, maybe with some pink and brown thrown in.

My clothes line was destroyed when the maple tree split. so the fence had to do as my stand. This is a detail of some really cute vintage sixties blue fish fabric. Everything old is new again!

raggedy squares quilt

2009-04-21T14:47:00.000-04:00

Hey there again!! Just wanted to show you a quilt I made for my Dad recently, he is not feeling so well right now, so admire the quilt and send over some good mojo for him. This is the raggedy squares pattern from crazy mom quilts. She is such a genius!!

I used blue and brown fabric, some from my stash, some from Joanns. It was quilted with a loopy meander, with a heart in the small center square. He keeps it on the couch so he can take a nap under it. The models are my goofy children hamming it up. Too cute.

New purses!!

2009-03-12T12:37:00.000-04:00

Hooray! I have finished some new purses, and they are available for purchase. If you see one you like, leave me a comment, and we can get payment worked out. I am currently working on opening my Etsy shop, but unfortunately it is not ready yet, so I can only accept checks as payment. I will be selling at a local craft show on March 28th. If you want info on it, leave me a comment. Tell me what you think!

Collection additions

2009-01-17T09:50:00.000-05:00

I have two new additions to my collection of vintage sewing machines. The first I bought a few weeks ago at my local Goodwill(my favorite store!!) for $5. I don't think anyone knew what it was because the case is so different looking. Someone had not known how to close the case, and it was all wonky and laying there on the floor. Of course I snapped it up as soon as I peeked in and saw the Elna label.

I figure it is about 1956 vintage. The date is stamped on the bottom, but is a bit blurred.

As soon as I got online and figured out how to attach the knee bar, I was in business. All it needed was a dusting off and oil. I downloaded the threading diagram and threaded it, and it growled perfectly. For those who don't know much about Elnas, the growl is normal. Just very loud , and surprising if you have never heard it before. It even cam with the zigzag cam. I have not really had time to make anything with it, but will report when I do. Not sure I can deal with the growl though.

Next up- Be Still My Heart!!

This one I found at the same Goodwill day before yesterday. Came in a decent table (needs refinishing), and was bought for the astronomical price of $18. This is by far the most I have paid for a machine, but well worth it in my opinion. This particular machine was made on February 24 of 1955, in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

It is a model 99, a 3/4 size copy of the previous 66 class. I cleaned it up a bit and oiled it, and it works great. I think I will do a tutorial on how to do a basic cleaning and oiling on these old machines. Most of the time it is all that is needed to get them running great again. Manual was free on the Singer website.

This is it. Unless a Bernina 830 pops in front of me for dirt cheap,(figure the odds!!) there will be no more machines in my future. I promised my husband. And I really love my husband.

Frugal Quilter

2009-01-16T12:03:00.000-05:00

One thing I have noticed with shopping quilt shops and reading quilt blogs is that quilting can become quite expensive. I just drool over the latest designer fabric collections, and the bunches of precut options available. Then reality sets in. If I paid the regular price of $8-10 per yard for fabric, and the $20-30 for batting, a quilt could cost upwards of $100. Not what our pioneering quilting sisters had in mind. I just thought I would list some of the ways I get past the high prices and still get quilts made.

Luckily for me I have been a sewer for going on 30 years now, I started when I was 12, in junior high school, and have never stopped since. You can imagine what I have accumulated over that time. Yes, there have been a few weeding outs in that time, having a husband in the military and moving a few times in a few years makes one weed out seriously. Still leaves a lot af fabric left over from different projects.

When battling the high cost of quilting, think one thing- THRIFT SHOPS!!! I use old clothes, old sheets (see below), pillowcases, drapes, basically anything made from fabric. I can't tell you how many times I have bought rolls of expensive home dec fabric for $5-10. Not a little but rolls of 6-10 yards!! How can people throw this stuff away? And you thought Joanns coupons were the best.

The kindness of others- it is amazing how many people have fabric and don't sew, so when they find out you sew, they divest themselves of their unused stuff to you. Lucky me!! I had a friend at work clean out his mom's house and bring me a big bag of scraps, and I have made 3 quilts so far from those, and the pile is still sizeable. I have backed and bound 2 quilts with 2 duvet covers my MIL gave me years ago.

Wal Mart- I know a lot of you poo poo it, but they have good prices on basic stuff. Get over yourselves and go see what they have.

By far the best source of free fabric I have is furniture store samples. When they get discontinued, the stores simply throw them away. Befriend someone in the store, or do what I did and work there yourself! Some of these fabrics are very expensive, and really gorgeous!!

I know it takes some imagination to use this stuff, but just think of all the money you will save, and all the lonely fabric you will give a purpose, and the pure creative challenge. Anyone can go get a kit, or a pattern and matching fabric and make a quilt, not everyone can design and create an individual work of art.

This one is a late Christmas gift for my neice- (Wal Mart fabric) and embroidered on my machine. Total cost- $5. Batting was hand me down from a friend.

This is a vintage sheet quilt, inspired by Amandajean, and backed and bound in the vintage duvet cover(free). Used 4 pillowcases( $1 each) and most of a twin size sheet (Ralph Lauren from thift store for $2) Total cost for quilt- $16 incl. batting.

So go forth and be frugal!!!

Pam

random pieced quilt

2008-12-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

December 15, 2008
This is another quilt from that bag of scraps given to me a while ago. It is random piecing. really easy to do, once you let go of the whole symmetrical thing. It is lap size, and quilted in an allover stipple in blue in the blocks and white poly embroidery thread in the border. These are all vintage fabrics, and my kids love to sit and snuggle under it and look at each pattern and choose their favorites. The weiner dog likes it too.

New hobby- (husband groans)

2008-12-08T08:15:00.000-05:00

I have recently taken up quilting again, after a many year hiatus. Just did not have the patience till now. The new patterns coming out are super simple, and my machine does great free motion, and I finally got a walking foot.

I was sitting in my sewing room looking at the stack of fabric and unfinished projects, feeling very guilty, and decided then and there to finish a quilt top began almost a decade ago. I just released myself from all the pre concieved notions, and let my perfectionistic, controling tendencies go out the door and just did it. This is the result.

It is upholstery fabric samples sewn together with simple borders added.

The next one is an antique top that my Mom had given me years ago that was languishing in a drawer, and I pulled it out a really looked and appreciated all the wonderful fabric in there and decided to quilt it. It was all hand pieced perfectly. The antique quilt connesieurs are probably groaning right now, but quilts are made to be loved and used. This is it-

About a year ago a friend at work had cleaned out his house and brought me a bag of fabric he thought I might like. I have made 3 quilts so far from that bag, and there is still alot of good scraps left. Here is one. this is going to my MIL for Christmas, but don't tell her. The backing is an old duvet cover, a really cute pink rose print that she gave me years ago.

sewing machinegallery

2008-12-08T07:46:00.001-05:00

I have recently developed an affinity for old sewing machines. They are heavy and substantial, easy for a non mechanical person like me to fix up, and the really old mechanical ones almost never break. They can't be compared to new computerized ones, because the old ones simply can't do all that a new one can do, but they should have a place in any sewing room. They can trudge through heavy fabric, some even work with no electricity, and they are a good backup for when the new machine goes in the shop.

This little Singer is the next model after the Featherweight, about 1958. Model 185K. I just thought it was so darn cute I had to pay the $8 for it at Goodwill. Cleaned it up and spent $2 on a new belt and she works great! Just a straight stitch, but a really good one.

This one is a New Home, made by Janome. Model 920 I think. I am guessing about mid 80's. Don't want to pay the $16 for a manual just yet, maybe for Christmas. I bought this one as a backup to my newer Janome, cause it was in the shop and I could not go 2 weeks without sewing. Cost $12, but is missing the accessory box thing. I need to make an extension table for it. It does really nice free motion quilting, better than my Janome. It also has a chain stitch, and double needle, but I need the manual to do those.

This is an old Riccar, probably from the 60's sometime, can't really find much info on it. Was made in Japan, and has an oscillating hook, rather than rotary. Works well, but won't do the zigzag functions. This one was $5. Love the color.

This is a Dressmaker model 2402. This one belongs to my sister, but she said she does not want it back anytime soon. It is a decent machine, but not great. It is missing the cams so I can't do all the neat stitches on the front. Made a quilt top on it and was dissapointed in the overall feel of it. Cost $0.

I have picked up several lately, none for more than $12. I think the total I have spent on them lately, including parts and oil, is about $35. The really old treadle machine is not working, but maybe in the future I will get it going and make something on it. That one cost $80, mostly for the really nice table it was in.

So there you have my vintage sewing machine collection. That does not even count the new ones. I will leave that for another post. I don't think I will add any more unless a really cute Featherweight comes my way for a reasonable price. Enjoy!!

update

2008-12-08T07:24:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I last posted, so here is the update. I want to say a big Thank You to all the nice people that came out to the craft shows I have done recently. They were a huge success!!! I will post some new purses and jewelry as soon as I can get a day to have a photo shoot. Here are some shots of my various booth setups.

Thanks for all of your support and I will get cracking on more purses!! If you have any suggestions on how to make my designs better, or improve my display, leave me a comment! I always love to hear from everyone.

2008-09-27T10:05:00.000-04:00

Sewing Room

I just wanted you all out there to see what a REAL sewing room looks like, just one week before a big craft show. Don't fall for those fancy pictures of nice clean rooms with everything in place and thread tail free. Or in my case dog hair free. That is fantasy, this is reality. Somebody come and pimp my sewing room PLEASE!!!!

long time no see

2008-09-17T13:20:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since my last post, since then a lot has happened, but I will stick to the craft/sewing related events. My husband bought me this beauty-It is the Brother Innovis 4500D, sewing and embroidery.

It is a really great machine! I have been busy making embroidered T-shirts and baby blankets for the squadron. I have used it to make many purses and pillows, which brings me to my next event- I have a table at the Darlington Apple Festival on Oct. 4, in Darlington, MD. I would love for everyone to come and look around. It is a really fun day with many great food booths and games and crafts for everyone. I will have about a hundred new purses for sale as well as pillows and cute little pincushions.

I have also learned how to make some jewelry and will be selling it at the festival. Here are some pics of some of my designs-

pets

2008-05-09T09:25:00.000-04:00

I just bought some new toys for my sewing machine, an embroidery foot and a walking foot. I will let you know what comes of them. I am thinking of making some free motion quilted purses. I got my order of labels from Australia so I am back in business!

I made friends with my serger too. It wasn't too mad at me, cause it only took an hour or so for me to thread it and get the tension right to spend 30 seconds fixing shorts for my daughter. I guess I am just not a serger officionado.I even got a book from the library to help me use it more, to no avail. Good thing I did not spend much money on it. There is just very little I can't do on a sewing machine.

Here is the requisite photo for the post- These are my two Saint Bernards- Zeus and Zena. Mom and Dad to the most adorable puppies. More photos of my other dogs soon to come including Gabby- mom to the cutest Dachshund puppies ever.

Have a great weekend!!

A good day thrifting beats just about anything

2008-05-01T11:52:00.001-04:00

I had a really good day at the thrift stores in my area. I go to 2 different Goodwills, and one Amvets store. The blue and pink floral fabric is two Ralph Lauren sheets that I got for $2 each.

The little picture is a needlepoint that I am going to turn into a pillow, I am not sure about what to do with the vintage barkcloth in the green and yellow, but I am sure something will come to me, and for $2 a panel I could not resist. The other fabrics are scrap pcs for 99 cents and a bunch of ribbon for 1.49.

I will be sure to post pictures of the finished products, whenever I get them done.

My other project ( among many) is to learn all the possibilities that my sewing machine has. I think I use less than half of the capabilities of my machine. I will let you know some progress. Happy Thrifting!!

Good News

2008-04-29T11:27:00.001-04:00

The good news is, I went to the doctor and there is no surgery and nothing to worry about. That is a relief. Now I can move on to more important and fun things. Like.... Puppies!!! The dacshunds are 6 weeks old and very cute, (this is an older picture, more coming soon)

The saint bernards are 4 weeks old, and very funny and full of personality. Kind of like the nice ladies who behave and have good manners (the daschunds) and the loud, funny biker babe( the saint bernards) that you would much rather hang out with cause they are so much more fun.

12 dogs are too many, but they are very amusing and so cute. I just grab a puppy and walk around the house and nuzzle, and smell puppy breath. Not so cute when I am cleaning up little piles and yelping wakes me up at night.

What to write??

2008-04-21T12:30:00.000-04:00

The problem with a blog is, what to write? I am not a professional writer, so I have the quandry about what to write. A writer would say, write about anything, but somehow that does not work for me cause I just think it is not interesting enough. Then I go on someone else's blog and they write about what they had for breakfast and I find it fascinating. Weird.

I was intending to keep this blog for crafty, thrifty stuff, but sometimes you have to veer off the beaten path to discover something new or give yourself a needed break. So here goes.

Sometimes an event happens that really makes one take stock of life and reprioritize. That event happened Thursday morning for me. I found a lump in my breast. So many things go through your head at times like that, it really throws you for a loop. I could not think about anything else for 2 days. What would I look like with no hair? Would my husband still find me attractive? How would my kids deal with it?

The good news is that the testing showed that there were no signs of cancer. I still have more doctors visits and possible surgery ahead of me.

I figured this is a good time to count my blessings and thank God, and thank my wonderful husband, my rock , my lobster. I Love You honey.

Living with less

2008-04-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

This is a concept many Americans struggle with. Living with only the things we need, and reusing, recycling, and recreating what we already have to suit a new purpose. We would all be surprised with how little we really need to live and thrive. Cutting the clutter clears not only our homes but our minds as well. It gets rid of emotional baggage, and lets us be more free.

Very little of the furniture in my house is new. I have recycled old stuff in a stylish creative way to make a comfortable home for my family. I do this mainly to save money, but a part of me does like the "green" aspect of it too. I am more cheap than green. I like very good quality though, no low quality stuff for me. The champagne taste on the tap water budget.

Get over the aversion to second hand, and save yourself lots of money. After all, which would you rather have, nice clothes or a great education for your kids? Set your priorities in the right place.

Here are some pics of my latest thrift store finds, hopefully they will inspire you to go out there and live well cheaply!!

This is 10 yards of Waverly fabric I got for $7. It will be my new bed skirt.Sorry for the angle, I am still getting the hang of the picture thing. These are 2 solid brass Stiffel lamps. About $300 new, I paid $14 for the pair, and some time to polish. After new shades they will look like a million bucks!! Some indian fabric that will most likely become a tablecloth for my patio table. $2. Cute little Vera Bradley purse for my daughters- $5

What I do

2008-04-14T09:26:00.000-04:00

What is Carpetbagger Couture? It is not only my blog name, but my label as well. I design and make purses, pillows and jewelry. It refers to my philosophy on life and style as well. Carpetbagger refers to the look of my purses, they are made from found fabric, vintage bits and peices and new fabric, much like the carpetbaggers of old who found opportunity wherever it existed. I source from all over the spectrum. Thrift stores are the favorite, this can mean any textile item in a thrift store. I have cut up the upholstery on old sofas and used them on some really gorgeous pieces. Friends and family have fabric stashes that as soon as they find out that I sew, they unload all the old fabric on me, much to my delight and gratitude. I also have friends in the furniture business who give me the discontinued samples from the major upholstery companies. I also love fabric outlets and Joann's coupons for discounts.

The Couture part refers to the fact that all my items are one of a kind and completely hand made. You will never see me make the same purse twice. The shape may be the same, but the fabric and trims are always different. Sort of like the Anti Coach purse. No one else has one like it.

Here is a sampling of some peices hot off the presser foot.

Let me know what you think! I am working on an Etsy page also. I hope to get better at the photography also! Bear with me! See you next time!

Ode to a friend

2008-04-07T08:39:00.000-04:00

Who is my best friend? My husband of course. But who is my second best friend? My sewing machine of course.

I don't know where the conscious need to sew came from, but from the first time I sat in front of that machine in 7th grade home ec class, there has been a sewing machine in front of me ever since.

My mom used to sew cute dresses for us with no pattern , just her imagination. My older sister is an accomplished seamstress, and we fed off each other and learned from each other. I learned more about life and sewing at her knee than at my Mom's. I still use the canvas bags she made at her high school job at a canvas boat bag shop in Annapolis, they are the most well made bags I have ever found. LL bean would have been honored to have her sew for them. She does not sew much these days, but I want to encourage her to experience again the simple joy of creating art from scraps.

My oldest sister did not take up sewing until later in life, I like to think that her 2 sisters inspired her to learn how. She was a late starter but really made up for it and gained incredible skill very quickly. She realized the value in the skill of sewing.

I don't know how my mother did it, but she instilled the love of sewing in all three of her daughters in an age of feminists, when sewing and domesticity were considered the shackles that bound us. Now we know that these simple tasks and skills are what sets us free on a creative journey. Just look at the Marth Stewart empire, love her or hate her, she was smart enough to realize the pent up creative force in women and unlock it. She validated our joy in domesticity and made it OK to sew, craft and garden.

I bought my first very own machine when I was in college studying fashion. Most students had typewriters on their desks (now I am really dating myself) books, pencils etc. I had a sewing machine, needle, thread and fabric. A great day for me was to wander the aisles at G Street fabrics, touching, feeling and dreaming, then take the subway to the art museum and lose myself in the paintings.

That same machine has seen me through good times and bad, baby clothes, doll clothes, halloween costumes (worn for years after for dress up), and the latest fashions. It has saved me untold thousands of dollars, and has earned me many thousands of dollars. There was once when it broke, and the time it was in the shop I felt as if my hand had been cut off. I missed my friend.

Sewing is not a chore for me, it is my reward. If I finish all my houscleaning duties, I get to sew. Sometimes I don't even wait to finish my chores, but who needs clean clothes and dishes anyway when there is so much peace and happiness waiting for me in front of that machine?

I just have one wish for all women out there- learn to sew. Unlock the creative diva inside you and reap the rewards.

Today is my sisters wedding anniversary- Happy Anniversary!!! Love You- Pam

2008-04-03T14:20:00.000-04:00

Yes!! I have finally done it! My own blog!! Hope you like this. Now to get to the fun stuff- designing the blog!! See you next time.