blumakings

I've had my sewing machine for over 10 years and embarrassingly have never cleaned it! While researching how to quilt on a normal sewing machine, I stumbled on a tip to clean out the bobbin area with a pipe cleaner. Dust and thread pieces latch on to the fuzz of the stick. Works like magic !  Beware, pictures included are mildly disturbing and not well suited for OCD, clean freaks.  Ewwww!! (But yet so gratifying!)

About a year ago, I was invited to join a quilting exchange at work. Prior to this, I had never attempted to piece together a quilt block. Fast forward a year, I have 3 quilts in progress and will be participating in my first Instagram block swap! It's thrilling to think there are tons of other quilters/sewers out in cyberspace that will be sending in their blocks to be swapped as well! I look forward to seeing what I receive in return.  The swap is hosted by  @heartfullyhandmade  on Instagram using an easy pattern by  @cluckclucksew Once I had all of the bazillion pieces cut out, I was able to bang out 23 blocks within a few hours. Using the chain piecing method saved lots of time. I found this YouTube tutorial to be helpful:  https://youtu.be/RPb5J-vdO5E . Instagram Post

I am what I call an "excited sharer". Whenever I find something new or create something that I consider fantastic, I need to share it with someone. My mother takes the brunt of most of my sharings. Lucky mom! I have created this blog to document some of my projects, with a how-to tutorial for my future self, or anyone else that cares to stop by. About Me.... Let's see here, I'm a Sagittarius, love long walks on the beach and chocolate... oh wait, this isn't supposed to be that kind of description. I am a mother of two boys. My second kiddo was just born in December. He happens to be a good sleeper, meaning that I have time on my maternity leave to do all the things on my if-I-have-time-I'll-create/learn/make-(fill in the blank) list.  In the past month I've learned how to use my serger, embroidery machine and have completed, what seems like, a zillion fun projects. wife mom sewer crafter NH via WA novice quilter paddle boarder reality tv ju

This was from my absolute FAVORITE time of year. Nothing excites me more than getting out all my "spooky" decorations and prepping for Halloween. This year, we redid our living room. The updated room now has a chair rail, which is the perfect ledge for all sorts of spooky scenes! I knew I wanted a cemetery on one end of the room. I scoured the web for free vector or PNG images of gravestones, zombies, grass, bats, ghouls and anything else that could haunt a grave site. What I used: Silhouette Cameo to cut out the shapes. (If you don't have a silhouette, the image files are below.) Laminate:  Duck Brand Adhesive Peel and Stick  Laminate , 20" x 12',  Chalkboard   (only $4.97 from WalMart. I found this to be an insanely good deal. 12 feet of fun!) Gravestone Name Ideas: Dee Parted M.T. Grave Al B. Back Theo Later I.M. Gone Silhouette Files: All of the files I created in Silhouette for the cemetery, mice, pumpkins and Halloween sayings are located HERE (on Google D