Hello, Gorgeous

What is this new thing of wonder?  Why, it's my new sewing machine.  By new, I mean that I got it for Christmas from my in-laws, but have yet to post anything about it.  But all that has changed.  It quilts without those tiny little annoying snags!  It adjusts tension!  I can chose the needle down feature!  All of these things are things the other machine didn't do.  Plus, I read the entire manual from cover to cover, so now I know what everything does and how to use it.  Did I mention that it came with a zipper foot and a walking foot?  Oh the joys of this machine.  The only down side is you have to choose which speed you want on a dial for slow, med, and fast.  But the nice thing is that if you accidentally push the pedal too hard which I always never do, then you don't have any accidents.  I have already used it to alter our high school's tin man costume.  This brings me to my next point.  


Person who made the costume in the first place:

WHY ON GOD'S GREAN EARTH DID YOU USE SILVER TISSUE LAME'?  DO YOU HATE ME?  IT'S EXACTLY LIKE SEWING TWO TISSUES TOGETHER!  ONE SNEEZE AND THE COSTUME IS IN PIECES!

I'm sorry to type in that tone of voice, but I really do feel better now.  Phew!  But seriously...never again with the tissue lame'.  I hate that junk.  NEVER!

Pintrest To Do List

Gotta love Pintrest.  Here is my Pintrest to-do list.  Hopefully it will soon be a done list!

 

Chevron Quilt

I love this quilt.  Chevrons are so popular right now, and this tutorial makes it seem pretty easy.  Love to do this for the boy!

Baseball Quilt

I'm thinking that this would be really cute for Gavin's first birthday party...But it needs to be backed in a Cubs fabric.  

Baby Shadow Box

 I have baby boy's going home from the hospital all clean and ready to put in here.  It was a very cute outfit...which he HATED. 

Adorable and unique baby pants

I've made these rugs before.  My grandma used to make them all the time for us.  Now those rugs have all seen better days.  It's been a pseudo goal for me to try and replace some of them.  I can't replace the memories with them, but I can carry on the tradition.

But I CANNOT do anything until school is over.  Right now my plate is full.  Maybe I'll get some stuff on Etsy as well, who knows?

To be continued...

What a Steal!

My garage sale haul (part 2!).  See part one here.

The day was extremely cold and rainy.  But I bundled myself and Gavin up in our warmest comfiest clothes and we headed out to a subdivision.  The selection was a little surprising, considering how nice the mansions homes were.  Maybe I've lived in an apartment too long...but I saw a bunch of junk there!  I walked off with some of the best of it.

The Gavi-tron will have dress shirts to wear to church in EVERY size until he moves out...and I'll have gotten them for a steal!  Plus, I got him a sweater vest.  It's soooo cute.

Look how cute that little polo is!  It's so soft!

But don't go thinking that I only bought stuff for Gavin.  I managed to score myself a pair of jeans (Gap) for $10 and 2 shirts at $2 a piece.  Yesterday, I wore one of the shirts to work with a skirt that I got from a garage sale as well!  Total price of skirt (Jones New York) and top (Target) = $5.  Paired with some Target clearance tights, I felt like a frugal gal!  But I'm pretty sure no one else noticed, since I received lots of complements.  But if you know me in real life, I paid full price for them and I've never worn anything from Target.  They were designer labels.  

How about you?  Any garage sale scores or hauls?  Please share.

Garage Sale Haul!

I'm new to the whole garage sale-ing thing.  I used to avoid those crazy bargain shoppers...blocking in our driveway...holding their cash...talking people down a buck on used junk.  But, I judge no more!  After the large kids clothes event held in Valparaiso (it was AWESOME!) and a few others held the same day in a similar area, I'm a believer!  Perfectly good boys clothing that's cute and looks brand new.  Adorable little shoes for $2, when I know they retail at over $15.  Here's an exhibit of how crazy I went:

Wide gambit of shirts, sweater, and jackets

Pants, shorts, and socks galore!

Overall, the total was about $80.  But...I did get:

3 Jammies

21 pairs of pants

8 pairs of shorts

3 pairs of shoes

20 pairs of socks

10 onesies

1 coat

1 bathing suit

2 jackets

30 shirts

1 Cubs jersey

That's over 100 items.  Even more if you count the socks and shoes separately.  So if you average everything out, then I paid less that $1 for a ZeroExposure coat, which I know has to be way more than that at Kohls.  Nothing against Kohls--I love them.  But this was waaaaaaaay cheeper!

And now for the bad news: I think I might be addicted to garage sales.  I spent last night searching them on Craigslist.  Then I spent time strategizing about who would go with me.  (I might be addicted, but I'm still scared of crazy garage-salers).  Anyone want to garage sale?  ; )