Inch by inch

My good buddy Elizabeth picked up this cool yardstick thing at a yard sale. She knew I would love it and she was, as the French would say, "correct".


Look at it installed on my wall.
Woo Hoo!
Merci beaucoup, E!

Elizabeth has been at the paint again

Check out her newest project

Before~~

After~~

Pretty fabu, right?

Project Runway in a fun way

I gotta brag on my friend Elizabeth and her church friends. They organized a Project Runway night overnight "lock-in" for girls in grades 4, 5 & 6. That's ages 9 through 11, right? Get this, 43 signed up and they had to turn away another 10 more because they didn't register on time. Some girls brought friends as guests.
Elizabeth and the organizers followed the Project Runway format with the first show toast of champagne sparkling fruit juice, a dash to form teams and table full of folded fabrics grouped by color a la Mood Fabrics. A sample wall included jewelry, hats, shoes and accessories of every ilk.
Their first project was a super easy tote bag made with a T-shirt the girls brought from home. (An adult machine sewed the bottom seam of the totes.)
Walk it down the runway and show off your tote bag.
Next, embellish a plain white T-shirt with an array of trims, buttons, ribbon, etc.
Show it off, girls. Strut the T and show us what you did.
Last, a tutu.
Let's see a parade of tutus, ladies. (What girl doesn't like a tutu?)
There was even a hair and make-up room so the girls could have fun just playing around for kicks. Their hair and make-up went from barely there to overdone as the evening progressed.
Elizabeth tells me "fancy" food was served on fabric tablecloths with candles which made the girls feel very special. She was impressed with their creativity and enthusiasm. The organizers gave the girls goodie bags to carry their projects home along with some printed instructions for more projects. The girls had a great time and want to do it again.
Hoping the Project Runway party trend catches on!

Pretty mantel look

~~brought to you by Elizabeth

Check out Elizabeth's easy Roman Shade

My friend Elizabeth has great taste, wonderful things and mad skills with her fabulous embroidery machine but she is scared of cutting a piece of fabric. You heard me, scared. This week she looked her scissors in the eye, declared "you are not the boss of me" and cut some fabric to make some fabulous Roman shades made from ~~~mini-blinds!! She found the tutorial over at the Little Green Notebook blog. Look at the finished product! Pretty wonderful, right?


Considering a try myself.

F marks the spot

My friend Elizabeth has been dying to etch some glass casserole dishes for gifts but wisely experimented on an old glass pie dish first. Look how great it looks!

How to watch those sewing shows

Oh Fuh Gawd.

Every single Saturday morning I record and watch sewing shows on television. Our local PBS station airs "Sewing with Nancy (Zieman)" and "Martha's (Pullen) Sewing Room". They no longer air "America Quilts Creatively" and "America Sews" with Sue Hausmann. My friend Elizabeth tried to view them after she purchased her fancy schmancy embroidery machine and decided it wasn't worth sitting through. "How do you watch that? It's horrible!" she asked.


And I'll tell ya how:

• Record ahead of time. Do NOT watch live!
  
• Have your remote control handy
• Fast forward through the countless sponsors
• Fast forward through the theme music
• Shoo all small children from the room because you will curse at some point during the next 25 minutes or at the very minimum, roll your eyes and sigh heavily.
• Fast forward through small talk with guests
• Stop when actual demonstrations begin
• Decide if you will ever need or use that particular demonstration technique. Example: I don't quilt but will use bias tape binding on other projects. Hand embroidery, yes. Ribbon embroidery, no.
• Watch demonstrations you need, fast forward through others. The more you watch, the more you learn how to adapt the techniques to other projects.
• Understand that the entire show is funded by a sewing machine manufacturer and they will demonstrate specific features on the newest/highest priced machines on the market. Features your sewing machine doesn't have.



• Martha Pullen wears the most God-awful homemade crap and repeats the same stoopid shit on every show. If it sparkles, it's "diamonds". She has rhymes for ironing. She loves dupioni silk (She seems to feel that she is the first person to discover the fabric.) Glass heads pins are the only kind she uses. Heirloom sewing is her specialty. Doll clothing, too. You heard me. Dolls! Creeps me out. If you are an old lady sewing tiny heirloom dresses from silk dupioni for a doll - you need some new meds. And her voice goes up, up, up when doll or baby clothing is shown. Your neighbor's dogs will begin barking. Hurry, grab the remote. Fast forward through the antique heirloom apparel demonstration at the end. Same for the viewer letter. There, you have watched exactly 7 minutes of her show.



• Nancy Zieman has an entire empire based on sewing and everything she demonstrates can be purchased. No free downloads on her site, unless it is truly horrible. Nancy opines about "what is hot in fashion" and presents her version of it but I'd bet she's never attended a designer runway show nor picked up a fashion magazine. A sewing convention is probably her only exposure to the outside world. She isn't nearly as corny as Martha, typically dresses better unless it is an embellished jacket. All those sewing ladies love a heinous embellished jacket. If the ugly jacket looks like you would put it on your great grandmother at the nursing home because you're sure the staff wouldn't steal it, these ladies would love it. The older the lady, the shinier the jacket. Fast forward through the introduction, watch the demos and fast forward through to the end. End-of-show Nancy segments included recipes, viewer letters and exercise tips. Cancel.



• Watch anything with Sue Hausmann first to get it out of your way. Make sure you hit that button the very second the show begins to avoid the fake cheerful greeting and smile of the mentally challenged. Fast forward through the chatter. Decide that Sue's jacket is the ugliest of all. She will wear anything a guest brings her. Play your own Saturday morning drinking game and have a sip every time Sue snatches something out of a guest's hands or interrupts. You will be soused in 20 minutes. She is rude, I tell ya! Watch how many times Sue tilts her head back to view out of her bi-focals.

By now, you are wondering WHY the hell I watch these shows and must admit I've learned a few sewing tips and techniques but geez Louise, I had to earn it! Hopefully, a new generation of sewing show ladies are working their way through the ranks and will bring some youth and style to the moth-ball smelling current offerings.

I talk a good game but

in the end, I am a wuss.
Back when I didn't know how to sew anything but straight lines, folks were wanting to bring over their pants for hemming. (I still don't hem my own pants because I don't want to "learn" on my stuff and ruin them!) It was easy to tell folks I didn't know how to sew their stuff but meanwhile, I was plying all my friends with my latest sewing projects. Plastic bag dispensers, tote bags, pillows, tissue cozies - you name it.
It finally became clear what that Victorian lady meant when she said ladies shouldn't reveal if they can sew. I get it now. I made the rule that if you want me to sew for you, then be prepared to sit right alongside of me and keep me company. That rule has not been followed and it is all my fault because I have no concept of how long a sewing task will take.
Elizabeth's valances, Kay's curtains and RikkiTikkiTavi's red tulle tutu - my big mouth volunteered to help and then later, sitting all by myself in the Skitzo Leezra Studio, I wonder why I get myself into these messes.
Take a big old gander at the latest mess I landed in. I offered to sew pillowcases for my volunteer organization's committee that provides items to foster children. Easy, right? Fold over one long side, sew 2 seams, fold under and top stitch the open edge.
Prototype delivered. Committee approved. Materials purchased.
Look what I found on my front porch last week.

Elizabeth gives me stuff

Elizabeth gave me a stash of wooden spools.
(I use them for narrow ribbon storage.)

Hold please

Elizabeth is tired of logging on to the SkitzoLeezraStudio and seeing my sad quilted blanket and wonders why I don't post something new but have been busy lately visiting HER to fix my laptop computer and contending with washer flooding issues.

Anywho, take a look at these photos I snapped in NYC 2 years ago.

Working to get my mojo back,

I am,

SkitzoLeezra

Cute bird tassel

made by Elizabeth.

Don't you think she should sell these on etsy?

Monogrammed tea towels

~~Courtesy of Elizabeth.



She and I have a great barter system. I provide items for her to machine embroidery - one for her, one for me. That way, she isn't stitching, coveting and resenting all at the same time. THAT is a no good combination that may result in defective goods and cat fight scratches. People give me stuff - personalized stuff!

Nice cotton tea towels from Martha Stewart's line at K-Mart

Elizabeth displays wreath made by me

So, last year when I made a couple vintage ornament wreaths, I gave one to Elizabeth, mind you AFTER Christmas. Then she moved. Yesterday she e-mailed me a photo of said wreath layered atop her dining room mirror. DANG, that is some pretty. And I am so gonna copy her idea and hang mine in the same way. Love her ribbon!

This is what my friends do so well: display my stuff so much better than I could and make me want the very thing I gave them. It is the curse of good taste, I tell ya.

Black and white tote bag

Elizabeth has made some great embroidery gifts for me lately so I made this cute black and white print tote bag for her. Black and white print on exterior and toile inside with gingham pocket. I love using an unexpected lining and I think every bag should have an interior pocket. With that ever growing fabric scrap stash of mine, I can sew little pockets on everything!

Burp cloth from cloth diaper

It is a NEW cloth diaper, people!
On a big black and white kick lately so when buddy Elizabeth wondered how to finish the bottom edge of the cloth, out came the black and white fabric scraps. See? THIS is why I don't throw away anything.
Elizabeth has a big fancy schmancy embroidery machine so it will look even MORE fabulous with a stitched name or monogram. How cute is this?

Kitty loo curtains

Elizabeth purchased one curtain panel from Lowe's ($4, make ya holler) and we cut it up to make a lavatory skirt (photo to appear in upcoming blog entry) AND curtains to hide the kitty's litter box. Welcome to the Pooh Loo Lounge!

Curtains, valances and skirts - oh my!

My friend Elizabeth just moved, wanted new window treatments and totally played me for being the better sewing girl of us two. Anywho, I fell for the bait and made a few simple window treatments and am impressed. While Elizabeth and I have never-to-be-doubted fabulous taste, we cannot seem to measure for shit so every fabric had to be pieced and lined with other fabric because we purchased too little yardage. How much fabric did I have left over? NONE! Please to enjoy, photos of curtains below.

Waverly "Pretty Paisley" and gingham

Burlap and black gingham

Monogrammed eyeglass case

I am so proud of me!! Sewing is a new passion and this little case makes me wish that I could stay home all day long and make more for everyone I like. But, instead I post photos while I am supposed to be working . . . .

Cross stitched the monogram.
Ironed on vintage ribbon with that magic no-sew tape.
Employed a decorative scallop stitch (my sewing machine's ONLY decorative stitch) to attach pink floral flannel lining.
Folded in half, lengthwise, with right sides together.
Sewed the two remaining sides.
Hand sewed old metal snaps to inside.