Snow, Snow and More Snow

Great Copy booth at ETA Sew Expo

     I spent the past weekend in Dallas working at the ETA Sew Expo.  I was helping Pattie Otto of Great Copy.  While she was teaching classes I was manning her booth.  She had several of her patterns for sale plus her embroidery designs.  She also had her Edge Perfect Blade and book for sale.

    Getting to the show was an adventure.  I picked up Pattie early Thursday morning and we drove to the Milwaukee airport.  We dropped off the car at a valet parking lot and hopped on the shuttle to the terminal.  We checked our bags at the curb and proceeded to security.  No problems and we sailed on through.  The plane was a bit late taking off but not bad.

     Unfortunately there was a lot of turbulence so no drink service.  We landed in St Louis and there was a bit of snow on the ground.  We walked from one gate to the next and boarded right away.  That's when the snow got heavier.  We were all on board but they were delaying our departure.  After a while it was decided that they were not going to be able to take off.

     Then it was standing in line for an hour to rebook our flight for the next morning, Southwest had canceled all flights for the day.  We got our luggage and finally booked a hotel for the night.  After waiting for 3 hours for a shuttle, we canceled the reservation and slept in the airport.

     The police came around with pillows and blankets.  After much maneuvering we were able to 'check' our luggage and go through security to where the food and more comfortable chairs were.  We got some dinner and then settled in for some sleep.  The next morning we flew out without any problems however Pattie was supposed to be teaching at 8:30AM.  Peggy kept the women entertained until we got to the hotel at around 10:30.

Some of Great Copy's pattern samples

     While Pattie was teaching, I did my 17 mile run on the treadmill.  That was boring but at least I had my music.  Then I set up the booth, we grabbed some pizza, did a little grocery shopping and got a much needed night of sleep.

     On Saturday there was a design challenge fashion show.  The participants were given the fabric and the idea was that you had to make three outfits for three different events for your high school reunion.  The patterns were to be selected from the vendors that were going to be at the show.

     Becky used several of Pattie's patterns.  She made some alterations to Great Copy Crossover Top #2445 that changed it from a yoga top to a flowing cardigan.  She also did some discharging of color from two of the fabrics and then dyed them a turquoise color.  What an imagination.

     For our trip home we were to go through Kansas City but they were going to get hit by another winter storm.  We managed to change our flight to go back through St Louis.  We got home later than we had originally planned but at least we didn't have to spend another night in a airport.

Becky in Sedona Skirt with Paisley embroidery and Catalina Tee w/ Pattie Otto

Cold February

     Not much is happening here right now.  In my Monday group of girls, Julia had to miss because of a cold, Bella is working on her square neck blouse, Meghan added some extra details to the sport shorts she is making and Katie just has the handles to do for her tote.

     Tuesday's girls has Izzy almost done with her red checked square neck blouse and looking forward to starting on her next book.  Lauren is working on her orange and black plaid pajama pants and Christina is nearly done with her bird print square neck blouse.

     Wednesday's girls has Cara working on a nightshirt, Hayley working on pajama pants, Ellen working on a square neck blouse and Greta working on pajama pants.  They are all close to finishing so we will probably have another busy day with them all trying to cut out their patterns at once.

     I'm getting ready to fly to Dallas with Pattie Otto of Great Copy Patterns.  She is going to be teaching several classes at the ETASew Expo.  While she is teaching I will be setting up the booth on Friday morning and then working it over the weekend.  While I am there I have to get in a 17 mile run on Friday afternoon.  I hope to find a park nearby otherwise it will be on the treadmill.

     This past Sunday I did 15 miles.  It was cold but sunny so it really wasn't bad.  Did get some sun on my face from being out for nearly 3 hours.  Since  I was wearing a baclava it left some interesting lines. Today was single digit temperatures with wind chills below zero.  Decided to do my 8 miles on the treadmill mostly because at 5:30AM that feels even colder.

Colton's Christening Wallhanging

Christening wallhanging

     Here is a photo of the wallhanging I made for Colton's Christening.  This was truly a labor of love.  Last week I had photos of the embroidery designs I had bought from Embroidery Library.  I then printed out all the designs I was going to use and laid them out on the background fabric.

Background fabric with printouts in place

     I then used 1/4" strips of blue painters' tape to mark where I wanted the designs to be embroidered.  I placed a pin at the intersection that was to be the middle of the design.

Background fabric with painters' tape and pins ready for the machine

     The lines of the tape made it easy to get everything straight in the hoop.  I hooped sticky paper and used that for my embroidery.  I had also ironed a sheer fusible interfacing to the back of the white fabric as it was vey lightweight and semi-sheer before I started this process.

Embroidering his name

     Then it was time to do the actual embroidery.  This took almost three hours.  I started with the center line of text.  I peeled off the horizontal tape after getting it lined up in the hoop, but just peeled back the vertical tape to keep that line intact until all the elements were embroidered.

All embroidered and ready to be pressed

     Then it was time to press it from the back.  I did use some Best Press to get it nice and flat.  Then I trimmed it to the correct size and added the borders.  Pinned it to the backing and batting and just did stitch in the ditch quilting around the borders.  I also outline quilted around the shell and the scrolls in 'God Bless You'.  Since it is a wallhanging I am not too concerned about quilting it more closely.

     I then sewed the binding to the back of the quilt and then topstitched it in place from the front of the quilt.

Fabrics for the wallhanging

     I couldn't find a baby boy print that wasn't really 'cutesy' so I chose a pretty blue print and then picked up the tan shades for the other fabrics.  The background is a white on white crosses print.

Colton with his parents and godparents

     I had this wallhanging on the wall between the kitchen and dining room but we moved it to the living room for photos.  It was too small to fit the hangers holding up the quilt in there so we just pinned his wallhanging on the front of it.  The colors didn't clash so it worked out fine as a backdrop for all the photos taken that day.

February Fun

Embroidery design from Embroidery Library

     On Sunday we will be celebrating Colton's Christening with the family at St Gilbert's church.  Then we are all coming back to our house for brunch.  I decided that we needed some decoration for this wonderful occasion.  I have a wall between my kitchen and dining room where I hang a seasonal quilt.  That is where I chose to display a small quilt/wallhanging for Colton.

     I bought a couple of designs from Embroidery Library to use and then used my software to digitize the wording I wanted.  I played around with different fonts and sizes until I came up with a pleasing arrangement.  My husband helped me last night with a few suggestions also.  

     Today I will start stitching out the designs and hopefully on Friday I will get the wallhanging together.  I will post a photo of it next week.

Embroidery design from Embroidery Library

     In my after school sewing classes Julia forgot her project so she worked on a pillowcase, Bella is working on her square neck blouse, Meghan finished her pillow with some hand sewing and Katie is working on her tote.  It has been a long time but it is really looking good.

     Izzy is working on her red gingham square neck blouse, Lauren cut out her orange and black plaid pants and Christine cut out her square neck blouse from a cute bird print.

     Cara is working on her denim skirt, Hayley and Greta are both working on some pajama pants while Ellen is working on a square neck blouse.  

     I have already had some responses to my summer camp mailings.  I'm looking forward to spending the summer teaching more children to learn to sew plus expanding the knowledge of my former students.

     It has finally snowed here in the Chicago area. I had to run 13 miles in it on Sunday.  Not too bad.  I hope to get in a day of cross country skiing before it melts but with all my scheduled runs and bikes it is hard to find the time to do something else active.