Swap Partners, A Winner, Ruffles, and My First Dress

Swap partners have been emailed!!! Please take a second to check them over. I already sent one person their own info (hee hee). Thanks so much for all of you taking part in a swap on my blog. I am truly touched that so many people wanted to be involved.

Now to what you are really waiting for................ the winner of that fabulous fabric!!! Thank you all so very much for posting on your blog about the swap. The reason so many people are participating is because of YOU!!! So the winner.........randomly drawn................ is CHRISTY H!! Congrats Christy! I am going to the post office at the end of the week and your fabric will be in the mail to you then! Thanks again to everyone. This swap was democracy at it's best :)

Some other exciting news: I am sewing my first dress ever for my niece (she's two) and it is almost done. Here is a preview of what I have completed so far:

I still have to add two pink buttons and put the facing on the inside and then the dress will be complete!! I am making a small one to put on her bear that I have made her too. I hope to mail it out this week. I will post pics later if we get any of her opening the gift!

I also received more ruffles in with my fabric scrap swap partner Shawnee. How exciting!! I love ruffles. I would put ruffles on everything if I could get away with it. Well, that and tulle. Guess I like girly things! Look at all of my goodies:

Okay - now everyone start working on those totes. I can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

We The People Swap: CLOSED

I am closing out the swap and will begin matching partners soon. Everyone should receive an email from me by 10pm Central time this evening with your partner's name and info. Let's keep it a surprise who you partner is!! Details coming soon in emails!!

Some New Wheels.......

For my sewing machine!!! I have been searching for months for a roller case for my sewing machine that didn't look like my grandma might have given it to me - hee hee. I found one of JoAnn the other day for almost next to nothing. Come to find out it was made to haul yarn around town. I knew my machine would fit AND it does!!! I can't wait to go to the next sewing meeting here in town and roll my machine in style. Check my new wheels out:

I Received An Award: Cue The Music!!!

*****WE THE PEOPLE TOTE SWAP DETAILS FOUND BELOW THIS POST*****



What an exciting way to start my day off by learning that I had received an award from a wonderful friend!! Not just any award either kids!! I received the Arty Y Pico Award from the wonderful Yarni Gras!. The Arte Y Pico is awarded to blogs that you consider deserving due to their creativity, design, interesting material and for their contributions to the blogging community. She was kind enough to select me for a virtual award for having a great and creative blog. How awesome is that? She is so creative and seriously folks - this lady can do it all. Check out her blog!! So - of course - when kindness is paid to you - you must pass it on!!!

Here are my top 5 choices to be winners as well for fantastically inspiring blogs:

• Lucy from My Byrd House - if you haven't met Lucy or checked out her blog - you are missing out. This woman not only can bake and sew - but does it all while raising a big family, taking care of her mom, and running a farm. The most endearing quality I find inspiring from Lucy is her honest concern for others lives and the desire to see all enjoy the world of sewing and creating. She is an active supporter of her community and if you haven't heard of the Apron Angels yet - you must check it out today.


• Christy from Sew Much Fabric, Sew Little Time - Christy's blog will amaze you!! How this woman finds the time to work, enjoy time with family, and sew everything that she does - well - the woman must not sleep EVER!!! She continually inspires me to try things that I haven't yet due to fear of not succeeding. Her blog reminds me that even if a project didn't turn out the way you thought - well - take it apart and try again. Her enthusiasm and humor help me get through my sewing adventures!


• Sarah from A Needle & Threads - not only is this girl my best friend, but she is the World's Best Mom. The crafts that she does with her children and the creations she makes for them - is amazing. Sarah makes her crafts and sewing look effortless. How great is it to have a best friend who loves to sew? Her blog is a must see!


• Trash from TrashCan - I just met Trash through a swap I joined and let me tell you - her blog makes me laugh. She is witty and goes through life on her own path - and that inspires me. Her crafts are great but I like her spin on life. She is internationally awesome to me (she lives in the UK) and makes this silly American girl long to live in the UK. UK girls always seem to have the grandest lives - and Trash is the finest example of that!!


• Alicia from Posie Gets Cozy - Have you ever wanted to live somewhere and experience the culture of someone else? I daily long to live in Alicia's shoes. Not only is she inspiring with all of her crafts, she is a survivor, she has a loving husband and friends, and a thriving craft business. The best thing about Alicia is that she shares her secrets for success and how to do crafts. Her blog makes me feel like I can sit down and do anything. Plus - her studio would make an crafting girl completely envious!! I want that studio!!!!

Thanks Yarni Gras! for this awesome award and for the fun!! Here are the rules!

• Arte Y Pico Rules:
  1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
  2. Each awardee has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
  3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
  4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
  5. Display these rules

We The People Swap

*****NEW POSTS FOUND BELOW!!!!!*****

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JUNE 29TH DUE TO MY WORK SCHEDULE! TELL YOUR FRIENDS!! ENDS SUNDAY AT MIDNIGHT!!!

After looking through the comments - I think the next swap that I will host will be to make a TOTE BAG. The swap is called WE THE PEOPLE SWAP because it was selected by YOU! Thanks for all the awesome input!! Here is where I want to keep it fun - you choose the pattern of a tote bag you want to make. I hate when you get assigned a certain pattern to follow - not knowing if it will be easy to follow. So here are the requirements:

1. The bag must be large enough to carry books, magazines, or some grocery items.

2. The bag must be made around your partner's likes. Please pay close attention to what your partner likes and dislikes. We want a bag that someone will love and use.

3. For fun - because who likes an empty bag?- let's put 1 yard of your favorite fabric inside the bag to share with your new friend. Please give your partner your favorite fabric and not a "left over" or " least favorite" type of fabric. Let's stay away from Holiday or Juvenile prints (strawberry shortcake or Pooh), and maybe aim for stars, flowers, apples, owls, stripes, dots, etc.

4. Add a recipe, a favorite book recommendation, or a craft you like to make - so that once your partner has their new bag - they can go out and fill it with goodies!

5. You will only have ONE PARTNER this time around!

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP: Sunday, June 29th @ Midnight

DEADLINE TO MAIL PACKAGE: Thursday, July 31st

INFORMATION I NEED IN YOUR EMAIL TO ME (Punkrockertracey@yahoo.com):

*Name

*Address

*Email (for my purpose only)

*Blog or Website Address

*Your likes and dislikes

*Tell me if you would mind international shipping

If you like to read or go to the farmers market, tell your partner. More information helps your partner make a bag that you will love. Do you love lots of pockets or hate pockets? Do you always carry a cell phone or water bottle? Think about what you like on a bag to offer as a suggestion. Your partner DOES NOT have to follow your suggestions - but it may be of some help when selecting a bag pattern to follow

HERE IS A CHANCE TO GET ANOTHER YARD OF FABRIC FREE:

Post about the swap on your blog and drop me a comment on here. A random winner will be drawn and you will receive one yard of one of my favorite fabrics right now:

Fresh Squeezed by Sandy Gervais

So please join in the fun. I had such a great time with the last swap. Let's make this one just as fun!

Cinna "MAN" rolls and Cleaners

This weekend was a rare occurrence of the husband and I actually being off work. We had a great weekend with friends and spent some time together. I didn't get as much sewing done as I would have liked to, but time with each other and friends was WAY overdue.

Some fun things I got to do this weekend was make breakfast for the husband and I made my own vegetable cleaner. I found the recipe for the cleaner online.

I used:

1/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup vinegar

The recipe calls for apple cider vinegar, but we were out here in our household, so we used regular vinegar. The cleaner worked well!

Fabric Scrap Swap Slideshow

Here are some of the fabrics that were swapped. Aren't there some great fabric selections??

Amy Butler Tunic: Completed!

Here is my tunic I made in my sewing class. Turned out awesome, huh? I still have to sew up a belt and finish the flower pin, but I wanted to wear the tunic out with friends this weekend. I had a great time making the tunic and feel ready to tackle some more clothing!!

Atomic Housewife Cookbook Swap

Look what I received from Debbie, my swap partner from Canada. The requirement was to send a cookbook from the 1950s. My partner sent me The Purity Cookbook (which at first made me think - what?). Turns out that Purity is a brand name flour in Canada. Funny!! She was also kind enough to send 4 pictures of pin up girls and 4 embroidery flosses for me. I had such a great time with this swap.

What A Day!!!

I attended the Sewing Market today and what a fantastic time! I went to two free classes - one for beginning smocking and the other for making skirts without a pattern. I learned so much fun stuff. I was able to get Martha Pullen's autograph (Awesome!!) and spent time browsing different vendors booths. I went with 4 other girls from our Fort Worth sewing group and had such a great time. I wore my Obama shirt that I made and received tons of compliments, questions on how I made it, and cheers from other Obama fans. That was fun!

As if the day couldn't get any better, I came home to find a package waiting for me. I had received my Flirty Apron Swap package. Here is what I got:

Many thanks to my talented partner, Skye, who made the amazing apron for me. Here is what the conversation with my husband entailed:

I put the apron on and said "What do you think?". His response was, "I like the top" with his dimples out. Boys! What can you do with them? Their minds are always in the gutter. Guess I should be happy my husband loves me and my new apron so much.

Sewing Market Tomorrow

I am attending the Sewing Market coming to town tomorrow. If I learn anything cool from free classes, I will share some tips with you. Have a great day tomorrow. I can't wait to be inspired!

Lemony Goodness!!

Tonight, the husband and I made Lemon Curd. Besides the screaming we did from the lemon juice getting into cuts in our hands, we had a good time together. The lemon curd was great - a little sour - but the husband added extra lemon juice (he loves tart things). I puckered when tasting it, but I added vanilla ice cream and it was tasty. We poured the curd over angel food cake. What a great summer treat. I am hoping to try another recipe or two from this book

- possibly the apple butter or the apple and orange curd. Yum!

Fabric Swap Mailed

I mailed my scraps out to my two partners today. I had a blast hosting a swap through my blog and may have to do another one soon. It was a blast to hear people getting so excited plus seeing what people were receiving. For those of you involved in the swap - only 2 days left. Get those scraps in the mail!!!

Red, White and Blue and A Surprise Package Too!!

I finally completed my Flirty Apron Swap tonight (just under the deadline too - it is due in the mail tomorrow). The apron is one of the best ones I have made - because it was fun to watch it come together. I used Simplicity Pattern 3752. Here are some pics:

I also received my first package from the Fabric Scrap Swap I organized! What a treat. Check out the cute clothespin girls. Love how she wrapped the ribbon around the girls. Love it! Katy from the UK is the best swap partner EVER. I want to swap with her every time. I guess I should share - let me think about it and I will get back to you!

Some fabulous giveaways!!!

Head over to my dear friend Cathy's blog and enter in her birthday giveaway!! You can win an apron and if you don't win that, don't worry - you could still win a adorable pincushion!!! Deadline is TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT. Hurry and sign up!

Also, head over to the Apronista and sign up for Carolyn's Holiday Giveaway! Deadline is FRIDAY THE 13th at 9pm Pacific Time. Here is the prize:


You can enter up to 3 times. Head over and sign up!!!

I am BEARY busy!!!

Today I worked on cutting out an apron for a swap that was due today (but I will have completed the apron tomorrow - yea!) and working on a birthday present for my niece's 2nd birthday! I am making the bear from the Wee Wonderfuls pattern. I changed up the pattern a little bit. I made the bear all one color and plan to sew some dresses up tomorrow for the bear to wear. This will give my niece the chance to change the clothes to whatever she wants. I also put the eyes closer together. I didn't mind the eyes wide apart, but I wanted to make the bear as close to the way our faces are. I hope she loves the bear. Here is a picture of the bear in progress (she still needs her nose and a mouth) hanging out with Audi:





I will try to post the apron and the bear's dresses tomorrow. Plus I still have to put a few finishing touches on my Anna Tunic. If I get real lucky, I will be able to start sewing my Flirty Apron Swap too. Keep your fingers crossed!!

2 Aprons Down, 2 To Go

I finally completed two other aprons - the Apronista Swap (A week late - oops!) and the Summer Fun Apron Swap. I can't tell you which apron is for who yet but one goes to my GREAT friend Lucy and the other to my new friend Tammy. I hope they like the aprons I made. The Apronista Swap theme was rick rack and the Summer Fun was a Summer theme. That may be a hint, but then again I used rick rack on both aprons and both materials are flowers. Tomorrow I will work on 2 more aprons some more and I have some presents to wrap up for my niece's 2nd birthday. JoAnn is going to have to let me have some time off to sew!!!!

Some Patterns For Sale

I was able to get 10 patterns that I discovered out at my husband's grandmother's trailer downloaded for sale tonight. You can find the 10 in my Etsy shop. I will be attempting to download 10 each night until finished. I may have about 40 to 50 patterns. Keep checking and order away!!! Thanks for your interest!

A New Apron, Fabric, and Notions

What a day! I received two packages in the mail today. Yippee! My first surprise was my apron from the Apronista Swap made by my lovely friend Maren. I was so pleased when I found out that Maren was my partner. She is a FABULOUS seamstress. The apron she made me is just what I like! Take a look:

Thank you Maren for a perfect apron!

I also received my package for the Fat Quarter Yellow Swap. What a package!

I had a pretty good day, don't you think???

Dotee and An Apron

I finally was given some time off from JoAnn long enough to complete a few projects. I still have a few finishing touches to put on Lucy's Apronista Apron and my Amy Butler Tunic - but they are almost completed. I was able to complete my Dotee Doll which I participated in through Swap Bot. Here she is - Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice:

The theme was to make a Dotee Doll who was your favorite book character. Hope my partner likes her!

I also finished the Sassy Apron Swap and included a tea towel my mom and I found at a Craft Fair and a recipe for Cranberry Cocktail! Yum! Here is Greta modeling the apron:

It feels good to be making some progress after so many weeks of little sewing being done. I have enjoyed my time at JoAnn and have met some really wonderful people. However, a girl needs some time off so she can sew!!! Ok - back to the next projects!

Items From My New Treasure Chest

Here are some of the awesome finds I discovered yesterday:

A Buttonholer - how cool is that?

Pattern Weights

Boxes of Patterns

The girl matches my pin up girls

Gingher Scissors

And my favorite - I am assuming she used this to turn or push out corners and such. Funny!!!

I also found some fabric, vintage tablecloths (all stained) and some older aprons. I am laundering those now. I found tons of buttons, rick rack, bias tape, zippers, old cookbooks, and more. I am so excited to start using some of my new supplies. You may see many items appearing in my next few projects. I am also going to sell some of the patterns that I don't plan to use. Watch for details to purchase any of those you might be interested in!

Check out these Aprons!

While you wait to hear all the goodies I found yesterday.... spend a moment looking at My Mom Would Be Proud and the awesome aprons you can purchase! Isn't Vicky so talented?

Treasure Chest

Just a quick post to let you know that we spent today at my husband's grandmother's trailer clearing out TONS of stuff. She lives in a skilled nursing facility so my MIL has been cleaning her mother's trailer out. Today I found a treasure chest of yummy sewing stuff. Can't wait to share with you. I am SO tired from the day, so tomorrow evening I will post some of the great finds I discovered. Hopefully by Wednesday I will have some patterns for sale that I located out there. Some from the 60's and 70's it looks like. Can't wait to share the great finds! Check back tomorrow.

A quick note for those concerned about the naming of my monster I won (I am sure many of you can't sleep at night wondering what I was going to name him!!): we came up with a name. I wanted to use something that had to do with Obama - so we took the title of his book: Audacity of Hope. I chose Audacity and my husband so smartly shortened it to Audi. So - his name is Audi!