Water Bottle Carrier #2 and Seam Rippers

This is a picture of the first water bottle carrier I made for my husband. I made the mistake of using nylon for the outside and the inside. The nylon on the outside wasn't very sturdy and started ripping.

This is a picture of the new carrier I made for him. It has denim on the outside, nylon on the inside, and is much sturdier than the last one. Again, I used Carol's pattern. This time I did not embroider anything on the outside. It's just plain. My husband really likes it.

Recently, while I was reading The Quilter's Message Board, there was a thread about seam rippers. The question was asked if seam rippers can become dull. It appears that they can and it is difficult to find a way to sharpen them.

I've had my seam ripper for 20+ years...I never knew that they could become dull. They talked about using an emery board and the Samurai Shark to sharpen them. I'll try the emery board first. In the meantime, I bought myself a new one. The white one is my old one. The brown one is my new one. I'll let you know how the emery board works. If you try it first please let me know if it works.

Carolina Christmas Part 3

My machine kept jamming when I sewed these two pieces together to make step 3 of Carolina Chirstmas. After quite a few of these, I figured out that I needed to change my needle. Then things went much better and I am finally finished with step 3.

Here is a picture of my finished pieces for step 3 of Carolina Christmas. I'm not sure when I will get to step 4 because I'm working a my Japanese Buzzsaw quilt, which I blogged about here. I am finally finishing up the binding. After that I need to make a label...I need to find some white on white or beige fabric to make the label on. I'll post more about it later when I'm done with it. I'd tell you more now, but it's going to be a gift. I really don't want to say anymore until the people I give it to receive it. I want it to be a surprise. : )

Water Bottle Carrier

My daughter received three stainless steel water bottles for Christmas and to keep them from being dented and scratched, I made her a water bottle carrier using Carol's pattern. (I finally understood the pattern.)

I used my mother's machine to embroider my daughter's name on the carrier. My mother has a sewing machine that embroiders letters and numbers, I think, only...no images. It also can only embroider the letters in one size only. Oh well.

This is a photo of the sky at dusk. Taken from Ko'olau Shopping Center on a voggy evening. The colors were a brighter, pink/orange when I was driving into the parking lot. It changed really fast in the time it took me to park and get out my camera. sigh...maybe next time I'll get a better picture. We seem to be having lots of voggy days. Hope you're having nice vogless (is that a word?) days  where you are.

Cute Fabric and PF Chang's

I found this cute fabric around New Years. It reminded me of TokiDoki.  I bought two yards of each, then asked my DDs what they wanted me to make from it. Their response, "I don't know". I'm leaning toward pillowcases, cute bags, or something. I'm not sure. What do you think? I saw a quilt made from it, but...any suggestions?

We went to PF Chang's for dinner. The only place I trust because they have a gluten free menu. We had my favorite, the  lemon chicken with brown rice, spinach and some egg drop soup. The soup was salty...I don't think I would have that again.

Deformed Potatoes

We harvested potatoes again right before New Years. The one on the left was huge! We think it was made of several potatoes that joined together.

Here's a close up of the huge potato. We actually had two huge deformed potatoes.

Here is a picture of all the normal sized potatoes.

Here is a photo of the two large deformed potatoes. We didn't eat those because we figured there would be dirt inside them if more than one potato joined together to form the huge one.


Otherwise the potatoes were a great addition to our New Years celebration. We were even able to share some with our neighbors.

Carolina Christmas Part 2

I finished part 2 of Carolina Christmas. Yay! On to part 3. I have all the red and neutral cut, but I have to work on two water bottle carriers first. Having problems finding the sliders here. I'm looking on the internet because I couldn't find them at Fabric Mart. Will post pictures later.

Kadomatsu

Been trying to upload this since yesterday. Happy New Year!

We got this kadomatsu from our neighbor. The translation is literally "pine gate". It is made of bamboo and pine needles. You're suppose to have two. They're suppose to be put outside your door to catch the evil spirits and in this way, they bring you good luck. According to this Midweek article, the bamboo symbolize growth and strength and the pine represents long life and endurance. With this kadomatsu, we wish you a healthy and happy 2010!