Team Spirit

Minnesota seems unique to me in their adoration of their sports teams even when they under-perform. I'm from Chicago where there have been great teams and years for the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Socks, and Cubs: there was something to be proud of. Alas, Minnesota continues to be disappointed with the Vikings and even the Twins give reason for angst. But, If I'm to market my hot mitts to a wide variety of people I must include sports and their teams so I'm busy making them out of fabric that has Twins and Vikings logos on them.

After adding over a hundred hot mitts in a variety of colors, I checked my stock of sports teams to find no Twins, four Vikings, many Packers, a few Timberwolves, Wild, and Gophers. I had to get busy and sew up some Vikings since we would still be in football season during the craft sales, and since there are diehard fans I even had to buy more Twins fabric:

Left: newer logos waiting for binding, Right: traditional

Just to be generic enough to include many teams, I had some fabric with NFL teams so I added some football fabric to make these:

NFL on white with footballs on black for inside and binding

They sew together so nicely but since I've made hundreds I've got the process down pretty good. This is the second year of using the Bernina 217 industrial sewing machine and I really like her. It's all set up for the heavy layers for the hot mitts and I'm not certain enough of my skills to try and adjust it for two layers of cotton.Besides, don't I have at least one other sewing machine I can use for light weight sewing? I think so.

With my first craft fair only 10 days away, I need to get going on baby booties and cobbler aprons. I got distracted by all those sewing machines from the River Rats TOGA but for now I need to ignore them and get cutting and sewing!

Bin with many of the new hot mitts

Craft Fair Hangover

Yes, it has been quite awhile since I last posted and I apologize for my lack of industry in getting my latest activities posted but it has been a bit crazy around here. Along with three craft fairs three weekends in a row, my husband had another set of kidney stones which landed him in the hospital. Along with stents, lithotripsy, and pain meds he has weathered the storm again but it also meant he was out of the picture for the craft fairs. Since my daughter Kelly is the one who comes along with us, this time she was relied on quite heavily to hold up her end with additional product. We had double booths at all of the fairs so we could really spread out! Here's what one of the displays looked like:

Karen at Blaine High School craft fair

and here are Kelly's burp cloths and memory wire bracelets:

Salem Covenant Church craft Fair display

All in all we did great at each one! Blaine High School Swim & Dive Club has an efficient set-up and take down routine with lots of help so we were glad to go back for our second year. The Minnesota Viking hot mitts sold out so I went home and made up twenty more and ended up with about eight left over at the end of all three sales. Who knew?

Our meager sports display at Salem

Our first time at St. John's Lutheran Church in St. Paul gave us a bit of a surprise when we found ourselves in a line-up of tables but we made do and paired down our offerings:

Kelly watching our goods over two tables

Our sales were fine but I ended up spend way more than I usually would because they had a bake sale and a rummage sale. Who could resist? During the last hour there was even a $5 bag sale and I went back for more. We went home happy and I only had to sew up a few more Green Bay Packers hot mitts and a few more towels.

One of the best parts of having sales back to back was in leaving the car all packed up. After the first sale we just added Kelly's tables to mine and it all still fit in the Jeep. The second sale already had tables and chairs for us so only the bins came out. By the last sale, where I usually need the wheeled cart, I could park right next to the door to unload so no cart was needed. It also helped that I thought it started at 9 am so we were both there at 7:30, just like the past two Saturdays, only to find out it didn't start until 10. What? We couldn't help but wonder where everyone was at 8:30 when we were nearly done setting up and some of the booths were empty! Next time we will have to review the details ahead of time.

Display at Salem Covenant Church

Will we do this again? I hesitate to return to the smaller church sale and three weekends in a row was exhausting, but Kelly and I did have a great time together as mother and daughter. Make that mother, daughter, and granddaughter: she announced she is having her first baby April 30, 2019! Of course, I cried, we got all excited together, and then could spend time between customers talking about babies, her new favorite topic. There will be so much sewing and knitting going on for babies now: I can't wait!

Weekend Warriors

It was a busy weekend with the first craft sale now over and a fun garage sale in my neighborhood that netting some great finds. We started out on Friday night setting up our tables at the local high school where the long-standing craft fair is a benefit of the Swim and Diving Club. We figured if we got our tables and stands all set up the night before we would be that much ahead for Saturday morning but when we got there we were in for a surprise: the students not only unloaded your car and brought everything to your booth, they also would help set everything up. As we looked around we could see everyone else had their products out so we figured why not? Another dash home and loading up the Jeep, we returned to have the same great help in getting set up. They did really mean 6-9 pm because at 9 they announced they were closing and we had to leave but could return at 6 am. This seemed fair since we now had so much set up it would only be a matter of rearranging in the morning.

Double booth space and set-up Friday night before the craft fair

Jim had great helpers again to put necklaces on the stands and even made a sale as one of the girls couldn't resist an item of jewelry. Kelly joined us and added her memory wire bracelets and flannel burp cloths, help in proper display set up, and we were off and running. It's always fun talking to everyone but by the end of the day I'm pretty well talked out and exhausted. I only bought one item from a fellow seller, a pair of LuLaRoe leggings that are buttery soft, and a jar of jam from my hairdresser, Kathy, who shows up at some of my venues, too. How can you resist strawberry basil jam? It's truly delicious!

We are in business!

Coming home exhausted isn't exactly our idea of fun but we were prepared for this and I had barbecue venison in the slow cooker, all ready for dinner. Since we have another craft fair in only two weeks, we left our tables and stands in the garage and stored the bins and boxes in the spare guest room so no hauling everything downstairs. At the end of the day when we tallied up our accounts we could see that we both made money but it's not spectacular.  This was our first time at the high school and we would sign up again if our schedules allow but life has a way of intervening and it gets tricky to keep these commitments.

The next day dawned bright and clear after a very rainy and cloudy Saturday at the fair (what did we care since we were inside all day!) and we visited a neighbors garage sale. My husband was there on Friday and said we needed to go back because they still had some things I might be interested in. Did they ever: I spied an Elnita 140 sewing machine in pristine shape with a large amount of accessories included:

Elnita 140 with extension bed in place

Print manual, bobbin box, accessory box with snap-on feet and other extras

The price was right and the accessories included feet, bobbins, and thread I was interested in. She also had machine embroidery stabilizers that came home with me but I missed the Bernina thread box, already sold to someone right ahead of me. Win some, lose some, but I'm thinking this was a decent deal. I get everything home and sorted but don't have time to play with it until the next day.

I did put the Elnita 140 to the test as I made up three ironing board covers to test out the stitches and then put together two cobbler aprons that were requested.

Busy prints to hide cooking foibles!

The quality of the stitching was good, ease of use went down when I had to remove the extension bed every time I changed the bobbin. With the pink trim on the aqua background fabric I was changing the bobbin often and it wasn't horrible but not convenient either. Conclusion: it will make a nice occasional sewing machine or a first timer. Here's the results:

Bias tape foot with zigzag finish

Flat fell seam near pocket

Make no mistake, this is not an Elna sewing machine but for the price point, it will get you sewing and should lead you to a better sewing machine when you are ready for one. Yes, it was a nice weekend after all!

Too Much On My Plate

Once again, my eyes are bigger than my stomach: I have way too much to do for the upcoming craft fair! I planned on making a mountain of hot mitts, pillow cases, some cobbler aprons, refresh other stock, etc, All I have done is make 64 hot mitts:

Hot mitts finished and ready to go!

That's a lot for me so no moaning and groaning but that is all I have done. Except. I did take that Power Tools for Women class, cycled through most the ten sewing machines I got from Erin (see below), and even managed to get the green Singer 15-91 in good shape.

Singer 15-91 (yes, it is green)

Then there was the New Home Memory Craft 6000 that I couldn't resist:

New Home Memory Craft 6000

It came without a power cord, a pricey item, but I managed to get one reasonably priced, and it came last night. The machine only hums. I've tried everything but know it's electronics this time and I'm in over my head. A sewing machine tech owes me a favor so I'm calling it in on this one. Everyone says this is a fabulous sewing machine and it sure looks like it so it's worth paying to have it fixed, I believe. You know I don't want to pay to have someone else do my job but I know when I'm out-skilled. I just love these New Home models with the accessories under a flip up top:

New Home MC 600 accessories "under the hood"

As promised, I've been working through the ten sewing machines from Erin and have two more that are ready to go. Both needed cleaning and tension tune-up but are stitching fine now. The Singer 237 is such a classic sewing machine but I have no portable case, only a table if it is necessary. Of course, it will need accessories, too. The Singer Merritt 1872 runs pretty well but it has a belt system for the feed dogs and I've never been a big fan of this system. This particular model has a clinking sound when it is at maximum stitch length but I'm going to not spend any more time on it and just give the buyer a warning about this anomaly.

Moving things around in the garage, I decide I need to toss the box the New Home MC 6000 came in and guess what I found? The foot control. That's right, it's the same one I just bought. I'm just a bit chagrined but glad I didn't pay top dollar. I checked back in the ad but the foot controller was not shown and only referred to as "powers on from source" so I figured that was geek speak for "borrowed cords" but I was wrong. Well, it still needs to be sent in and I hope to sell that foot control/power cord set.

We have a button maker at work so I made up three different styles of buttons for a give-away at the craft fairs:

Yes, it's all about sewing

They were fun to make and I hope a bit of low cost advertising. I better get going and finish up the pillow cases that are all cut out and ready to be sewn, a new item that was fun in the design process. Hope they turn out as cute in real-time as they are in my head:

Pillow cases: a few done but most just to show combinations of fabrics and colors

In Defense of Crummy Weather

I have a hobby and business that thrives on crummy weather. When it's blistering hot or sub-zero, everyone stays inside and picks up on their hobby and, hopefully, it's sewing. Nice weather has all of us outdoors enjoying these last days of mild temperatures and this weekend was no exception. It was glorious! But I was indoors at a craft fair where everyone decided to come in the morning so they could enjoy the afternoon outdoors. Our sales were not too shabby but less than we had hoped for and other crafters were complaining so I knew we weren't alone.

On Friday I brought over three of our tables and found our usual space but now we had two spaces to include both Jim's jewelry and Kelly's bracelets. Here was a photo I took:

Our double booth space between two doors and all that natural light!

We got everything setup with the tables you see plus one down the center that was a new one Kelly bought. A couple hours into the sale the organizer comes over and said  we actually had another four to six feet! I didn't read the sign on the floor correctly! We moved the tables over and Kelly brought in her second table so now we really had the space. Here are a few shots of our displays:

Karen with shirt aprons, hot mitts, and sets of kitchen towels.

Kelly with her burp cloths and beaded bracelets (all new!)

Jim with his vintage and hand-made jewelry (two tables!)

We had fun taking off and looking at everyone else's displays and products, even buying a few items we couldn't resist. I bought some of Kelly's baby burp cloths so keep the money close to home, I guess. We enjoyed their good lunch served by the youth group of wild rice soup (Karen), ham and cheese croissant (Jim), and hot dogs (Kelly). Clean up is easy since we have done this so many times  together and we can drive up close to the doors for easy loading.

Next year we are planning on adding another location in Blaine that I scouted out last month and I always have ideas for new products; I just need to start much farther ahead I keep telling myself. Isn't it adventures like this that keep us young? I sure hope so!

Last Minute Ideas

Here we are only a few days from the Salem Covenant Church Craft Fair and I'm coming up with new ideas. STOP I tell myself but the ideas keep coming. The good thing is having all of the hot mitts finished, all of the hand towels for sets have long been done, and I've decided what I will not include in this sale (baby back-zip sweaters, tea cozies, and tea bag holders). As soon as I have typed this I think about adding a few aprons, ironing board covers, and curling iron cases but I have to say STOP to keep my sanity.  I have made up the heart pot holders in another color scheme:

It's a patriotic hot mitt!

and I have the already-pieced fabric for four more hearts. Here is my dilemma:I started to make up some floaty throws/capes that I would love to feature but only have two so far:

Sheer fabric on this one with satin bands: so elegant!

Then I would like to use the great idea my daughter Alison pinned for me about a great little girl's Christmas dress:

One of the Pinterest versions

I already have a size three finished and fabric for several more but not the time even for such a simple dress. Maybe I can make just one and put out a sign taking orders?

My version with small chevrons and green polka dot ribbon

As always, I need to move the cabinets out of the garage so I can get my car in before it snows. In Minnesota that could be any day now but they continue to predict mild weather and I'm holding onto that. On Sunday I brought most the the sewing machine heads indoors along with three cabinet models: Singer 101, Necchi Mira SU, and a Singer 503A. The Necchi looks so nice, even if it is in the kitchen that I don't mind keeping it around. The Singer 503A is having difficulty stitching in the right position and think I could sell it easily once I got it fixed.

But I cannot dwell on these issues until after the craft fair! I'm also excited about having out-of-town visitors on Sunday after the craft fair and need to get things put away so they can walk in the door as it will be that bad after the fair. So all these things are balls in the air and I'm trying not to drop a single one.

I "Heart" You

I enjoy Pinterest and get so many good ideas that I can never hope to follow up on but there is one potholder that gets "liked" on an almost daily basis:

It has come to the attention of so many people that I decided I better make this one up.  It turned out not to be as easy as it looked for a variety of reasons.

The fabrics in the above color combinations were not to be found. What? It's just a polka dot fabric! After searching online and in too many stores, there is no yellow with red dots nor the aqua with white dots. I tried, really tried, but could not find it. That's alright, I can be creative and use  other colors. So I get out my polka dot fabric and give it a try. Let's just say my first attempt was not a great success due to the size of the squares: they need to be two inch squares, not one inch! Then I tried two inch squares only to find I needed to use a walking foot on my sewing machine and pay very careful attention to my piecing. I finally made a good one last night so I wanted to share the steps with you.

First, I needed to cut each of the three chosen fabrics into 2.5 inch strips using a rotary cutter:

Fabric cut into 2.5" strips on the width of the fabric

Then I needed to piece the long strips together, being very careful to keep the same distance from the edge so they would be match later with less grief:

Strips sewn together before pressing

I made this up with 12 strips of fabric, pressed with all of the seams facing one direction, pressed again on the top, then cut this new piece of fabric into six strips cross-ways. Now I can stagger these strips to give it the pieced effect without having to sew each tiny square, using my Pfaff 1222 with the IDT as their version of a walking foot:

Strips staggered to see how to sew together

Six strips sewn together would give me enough new fabric for two hearts:

Strips sewn back together, pressed, and ready to cut out 2 hearts

All of the hard work is now done so I can sew this together with the layers of batting, heat reflective layer, and pockets for the back:

Back of pot holder to show pockets where you slide you fingers in

I forgot to sew the binding on with my new double layer technique but the old way worked just fine, too:

Binding sewn onto the front, ready to trim pot holder
edges and sew binding to back by hand stitching

The above photos turned out pink but they are really red, black, and neon green:

Final version in red, black, and green fabrics

Here's a photo of my first two attempts with the final version, just not pink as the photo turned out:

First version with one inch square at the back,
 second attempt in middle with different fabrics

I like the middle version with brown, orange, and red, too, but it needed some color to make it "pop" so the green did that in the next version. Is it the same as the Pinterest heart? No, but not bad either:

Pinterest love

Final version

Good lessons learned about piecing, colorways, and how to meet the public's demand (we shall see if they sell!). I have more fabrics in polka dots and have more colorways to work with: red, white, and blue will be the next one. But right now I just need to finish up so much sewing but know I will never be ready. That's okay, the craft fair will still come and I'll take what I've got and be happy at the end of the day (like I have a choice? Ha!).

Double Bind

The craft fair is only two weeks out so I pulled out some of my boxes of crafts for sale to find I really sold a lot of the hot mitts last year and needed some serious restocking. Wasn't that what I was buying all that fabric for? Right. I've been busy sewing up new hot mitts, over 40 have been cut out. But I've discovered a few things over the past five years that I wanted to share with you.

The first is the sewing machine I've been using. With so many layers, ten when I'm sewing the binding on, I will no longer use one of my good but not sturdy enough sewing machines. I've tried my Viking 1100 with a walking foot and a Pfaff 1222 with the IDT built-in walking foot and felt like I was going to run each one of these machines right into the ground. Next up was a Singer 15-91 and a 201-2 and they were not going to burn up but they were struggling even showing some skipped stitches. This time I got out the portable industrial, a Consew CP-206R:

Consew CP-206R

After getting over being afraid of it, I have been sewing through all those layers and more without any hesitation. Now, you know I'm all about the "experience" of sewing: how does it sound, how does the machine feel while sewing, even how it looks all add to this factor of "experience." All that had to go out the window when I needed to get 40 of these babies done pronto! The Consew is loud, feels clunky, and is industrial grey/white so it fails on all counts for the experience but it does sew without having to go back to resew areas and the stitches look good. She delivers so my idea about enjoying sewing goes out the window when I need superb functionality and the Consew certainly has that.

The second new thing I want to share with you is a technique that quilters have been doing for years but I'm new to this double binding effect. In the past I added the bias tape edging just like I was putting it on the edge of any cut edge using a two step process. First I would put on a single layer of the bias to the front of the item and then fold it to the back, pinning it in place, and hand sewing it on. It turned out nice but was pretty laborious, taking about 30 minutes per hot mitt.

Step one: bias strip, single fold (ripped out later)

Step two: bias strip folded over to back and pinned in place

 Now I take the same bias strip and fold the long raw edges together and sew the raw edge to the edge of the mitt:

Step one: sew raw edges together

Step two: trim excess fabrics and fold over, sew in place without pins

Now it is doubled right from the start and I can fold it over to the back side of the mitt and sew in place by hand without pinning. It only takes about 15 minutes per mitt this way, providing a double edge for better wear. I think this is brilliant and thank my quilting friends for sharing this tip. Since I cut all of my own bias binding for that exact match of fabrics I need to make sure I cut it wide enough so it can fold over and cover all those layers but that's been the only real problem. Here's an array of what I'm sewing on, just to give you a flavor of the fabrics I been using:

Hot mitts in various stages of readiness

It was also another big sale week with a church garage sale and more from Goodwill Outlet:

and there is more...

Next up will be my heart pot holder that I've been experimenting with various fabrics to piece little squares. Stay tuned!

Discouragement and Encouragement

The last craft fair came and went without any good news: it was a bust for us, barely covering expenses. We have analysed it and think it's possible this is too big of a venue and my kitchenie type of craft does not appeal to the younger women that come to this particular show. Between the two craft shows I worked like crazy making up 25 new hot mitts, five more aprons, two new tea cozies, and fixing the display hardware and soft ware (pressing the tablecloths to be exact).

There was interest in the men's shirt aprons where I added vintage linen and most of them sold:

Corner of a vintage tablecloth

Center circle of vintage tablecloth (lace added)

Nice to have a good idea for the linen and great comments from the women who looked so I'll continue to use the vintage linen with other ideas I have. On the bright side, my mom wants four of the hot mitt sets with towels so I consider that goes with the craft show sale and makes it a bit better. Thanks, Mom!

Just when we think life is treating us cruel we are in for a surprise. After picking up a turkey in preparation for Thanksgiving, I stopped at a local thrift store to see if I could pick up a kitchen tool I like to sell with my hot mitt sets.There was a sign on the door announcing their furniture with orange tags were half price today so that peaked my interest, too. I just got to the back by the furniture when I spied a desk with a split top, a sure sign there is or was a sewing machine inside. It was a very nice desk, a newer solid wood style in light oak with a price tag that was a little high for this particular store. I open the top up and see the back side of...a Viking sewing machine. Not just any Viking, but as I pull it up into place I see it's a Viking Husqvarna 1070, very similar to my beloved Viking 1100.

Cabinet fit for a Viking!

Storage, storage, storage!

 I'm pretty excited by now and as I open the doors and drawers that are loaded with supplies, I see the foot control. After asking if I could move it over to an outlet and scooting it over seven feet, I get it plugged in and see that everything lights up but the needle is broken off and the bobbin has a ton of thread wrapped around the finger. That was the cause of the jamming and broken needle so I think I can fix that pretty easily. With shaking hands I get it up to the check out where I only have to pay half the amount on the tag. YES! I have to drive around to the back for loading (so much for dragging it up to the front) and talk the young men into letting me use my screw driver to take out the two screws that bolt the machine into the top leaf. I also insist on removing the drawers so the contents don't end up all over the back of my car but they are good sports and go along with my requests before loading it in the car for me.

Once I get it home with the turkey I have to tell my husband that I bought another cabinet model. After I exclaim about the great turkey we are going to have in a few days I tell the story about the half price Viking I found. He's not mad or even unhappy but I know he feels his space is shrinking. It is. Dinner is made and eaten and I have to fly out the door to babysit but the anticipation of coming home to find out if I made a big mistake with this purchase looms.

Viking Husqvarna 1070 sewing machine

I end up using a razor blade to remove the knot of threads but then the bobbin really rattles so the whole casing and hook needs to be removed and the area under the needleplate is also in need of a cleaning. It's full of packed lint but nothing terrible or alarming so I get everything clean and reassembled. Without the bobbin case it sounds very smooth so I run it again with the bobbin and case to find it seems a little loose. When all threaded and trying out a variety of stitches, I need to adjust the presser foot pressure but everything else works great. Unlike the Viking 1100, there are no stitch cassettes to remove and lose: everything is built in and seems to work perfectly. It came with only one additional foot and is missing the extension table, but has the original manual and another printed set of papers where you can see the owner took a learn-to-use-your-Viking sewing machine class. I'm in heaven!

Built-in stitches with the push of a button

The next evening I get another Viking in the mail, an Ebay bid I won for a Viking #1+. I get it for a ridiculous price because there is no foot control. I see it uses the same one as my 1100 so at least I can try it out before investing in one for this machine alone that is over $100. It does come with the extension table that is full of additional feet and bobbins, maybe ones that can be used with the new-to-me Viking 1070.

Viking 1250 a.k.a. #1+

Extension table with front and back storage for feet, accessories, bobbins

Although this one had stitch cassette A, it looks pretty beat up yet it works:

Viking 1250 with stitch cassette A

I think this might be one from the earlier 1100 series because the Viking #1+ has cassettes that are fairly bright blue. With only one cassette, I need to look for the rest and find L is available for only $20 so it's now coming in the mail this week. The manual, a free download from the Viking website, shows only cassettes A, B, D, and L were to come with the machine and now I have two of the four.

Each machine has parts missing but I'm not ready to put them together to make one machine: both are just too good to use for parts! I'm excited to try them both to see what they can do and hope this long weekend gives me some time for sewing. Already two calls have come in for sewing machine appointments (cabinet models!) so let's hope there will be more space available for that great cabinet/table of the Viking 1070, now waiting in the garage.

Nice sewing space, huh? Get me out of the garage!

 For all of the above I'm grateful. I have a roof over my head that I share with a generous man, good health, a great job, and a wonderful hobby that I get to share with you, my readers.

Thank you, dear readers of this blog about sewing machines and my adventures with them!