Who Loves Ya Baby?? ~~Just a tip or two~~

As a quilt teacher, I tell my students that the most important thing you can do for successful sewing is to take care of your machine! Make sure you get it in for service at minimum of every 18 months, and that’s only if you aren’t having any problems with it. Your dealer takes it all apart and makes sure it is cleaned and oiled in the proper places. I don’t have a degree in sewing machine maintenance, sew I leave that to the experts.

In relation to that - clean your feed dog area – (dig out your owner’s manual because it will show you the steps) take out your bobbin case and really get in there with that little lint brush that came with your machine. I do this about every 10-12 hours of sewing. Lint from your fabric and threads builds up around the bobbin case and your machine will do all kinds of crazy things if you don’t clean this area on a regular basis. HELPFUL TIP: I also use q-tips to do this, the end of the q-tip is a natural lint magnet, plus it can get down deeper in the crevices of that area.

In addition - change your needle – put a new needle in your machine about every 10-12 hours of sewing, unless you are sewing with paper (paper-piecing). You need a good sharp needle when doing topstitching or machine quilting. I sharp needle gives you even stitching.

There you have it, just a few simple rules to follow for successful sewing! Along those lines, I am proud to show you some of my attention to detail sewing….hope you enjoy these pics…

~Peanut Butter Gone Wild Child~

I love peanut butter on many things, but this is just SEW FUNNY!

Note to self~~ Remember to ask Mom if I ever resembled this pic! My guess is I'm still breathing...sew probably not!

Simple Pleasure Thursdays ~~Sunflowers~~

One of life's Simple Pleasures is flowers. I love sunflowers, the official flower of the Ya Ya Sisterhood Diva Quilters....

I have made the Ya Ya's some gifts with this sweet sunflower material and my latest creation with it is this new sunflower tablerunner....aren't the colors sew pretty? This tablerunner will be for sale in the Painfull Acres Shop soon.

Hey...Advertise Your Shop!!

Wanna know where you can get a great advertising deal? Click on over to blockheadradio.com and hit that advertising info button. Trust me, it's not expensive and you will get sew much for your money!

Oh yeah, and there is an awesome contest going there too....If blockheadradio sells (50) 5,000 impression ads from now until March 15, 2009 Rod is gonna do a utube video dressed in a tutu and his Florida flip-flops....well worth seeing. Get over there today....we all wanna see Rod's version of The Nutcracker Ballet!

Ya think he will look anything like this???





Nutcracker ballet...ouch..but hey...they look sew happy and sew in touch with their feminine side....

Feature Five for Friday

OK, sew it's feature Five for Friday...which means I am featuring a few of my etsy friends treasures that I love and hope you will too.....

~This awesome quilt is from the shop of ArrivingAngels~


~These cute little mocs are from the shop of myminimocs~


~This wonderful little porcelain puppy is from the shop of TheMagicSleigh~



~This lovely necklace is from the shop of BeadedTail~


~This awesome necklace is from the shop of Roseworksjewelry~

~~Simple Pleasures Thursday ~~ Recalling Sweet Memories

Sew and McStevie on the beach in Gloucester, MA

I was recently going through some of the pictures I have downloaded on my computer and re-living some wonderful memories. Have you ever had a day like that? What would we be without our memories of wonderful times?


I first loved the book, and then loved the movie A Perfect Storm released in 2000.

In 2003, not long after our granddaughter was born we took a family trip to Gloucester, MA, a fishing mecca of the east coast. We stayed at an adorable motel with adjoining rooms that overlooked the ocean and was a short walk to a lovely beach. We visited The Crow's Nest, the actual bar that was part of the movie. We visited the monument dedicated to the fishermen that have lost their lives at sea. We went on the Seven Seas Whale Watch which was exciting, as we left in a rain, thunder and lightning storm and got out to sea and it was fairly calm. We DID see a few whales, too, (which pleased our grandson, Tucker, who was 4 at the time)! We went to a lovely restaurant in the town and had great seafood, what else? Tessa was just a baby, it's too bad she doesn't have the memories we do, I guess we have to go back?? It was a wonderful time. I hope you enjoy some pictures and sometime get to visit this lovely spot....


Son Jeff, Tucker and McStevie having fun at the restaurant...


Grandpa gets the tickets with Tucker...

Daughter Mandy & McStevie outside the Crow's Nest...and...the monument...



List of lives lost in the storm of '91 on the Andrea Gail fishing boat...


Tessa was a good baby!


Jeff, Sheila, Tucker and Tessa at the monument...


Fun at the beach.....in this pic, grandson was naked, clever, how Jeff's hand is positioned..

My version of "Turtle Mania"

My latest quilt creation, "Turtle Mania". I made this quilt for my co-worker, Adrienne. I was pleased with how it came out. The quilt is done first by machine appliqueing the turtles on to each square, putting all the pieces together, adding the borders and then quilting the quilt by machine. The binding on the outside comes last and is sewn on by hand. I have the turtle appliques for sale in my SewHappyDesigns etsy shop, sew you can decorate with turtles too!

Wordless Wednesday ~~polish your self-esteem~~

Whine, whine, whine...pass the cheese~~

OK, sew I know I have been whining everywhere I can and to everyone I can about the northern NY snow and how it keeps coming and coming and coming. Here's a few pictures to show you what I am talkin about. The GOOD NEWS is, here, now, just at this moment, it IS NOT snowing....WOOTS!

The BAD NEWS is that more snow is in the forecast....sew crappy...or crappie as blockheadrod spells it..(**winks at private Pluggers United Team joke**)


The first two pics are what our last storm looked like....the back yard and the neighbor's barn in view...

These next 3 are pics McStevie took this morning. The first is the view from the end of the driveway. Sew once you get the car out of the garage and head down our driveway, it's a real pain to try to see around those wicked snow banks. Yikes!

Another angle from the end of the driveway. Can't see much out those garage windows on the end.

That big bubble in the front yard was where it drifted a bit and then McStevie starting snow-blowing and it had to go somewhere. The ladder is a prop...hehe.

I will be sew happy when spring comes.

Spotlight on.....Me?

Oh...the bright lights, the glamor, the sequin dress, the tiara...my future is just sew bright! Thanks to blockheadradio!

What am I talking about? Take a look here!

AND, check THIS OUT! WOOTS!