Saturday, May 19, 2012

Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party...Week 66


Some of us love to craft, cook, sew, quilt, scrapbook, garden, blog, embroider, paint, decorate etc. Some do just one thing and some can do everything. What's the most important thing of all...when you share your talents here! Lol

I love it when you share and I can't thank you enough. Sharing is what bloggers have in common. It brings us all together into one big world wide group of friends.

So, let's see what all our friends have been up to.  


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If you're NEW to Sew Darn Crafty, then grab a cup of something tasty, sit back and join in on the fun (starts Sunday and lasts all week long here at Sew Many Ways).

If you want to add the button to your blog's side bar or your list of parties that you're in each week...Click HERE for a tutorial for adding a button




WHAT IS A LINKING PARTY...

I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.

Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking
  • you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or
  • you can share what you've been up to (linking)
If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger who was willing to share her thoughts and ideas.


HOW AND WHAT TO LINK TO THE PARTY...

Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration

Easy steps to join in on the fun...

  • link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post. Copy and paste the address that's at the top of your computer into the linky steps.
  • link as many projects as you'd like...old or new
  • anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...
  • visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!
  • linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in
  • just click the blue "click here to enter" button below and follow the easy steps

Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week
~Karen~

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Give Away Winner...


Thank you all for entering the wonderful give away sponsored by Vicki, from Hand Dyed Fabrics. The give away is closed, but if you're stopping by here for the first time, please visit her Etsy Shop for a fabulous selection of fabrics.

Click HERE to visit Vicki's site.


The winner of the give away is #36...

Shirley C from the blog Shirley C 

Click HERE for a visit to Shirley's blog. Congratulations Shirley. I'll send your info onto Vicki



Thank you all again,
~Karen~

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Friday, May 18, 2012

Find a Friend Friday...


Happy Friday everyone!! Fridays are not only great because it's the end of the work week, but it's also time to find a new blog friend!!

We are always stumbling on new blogs when we are clicking from one to the next. We all get lost in blogging and forget where we were going or what sites we've been to, but the goal is to find wonderful, interesting blogs and the people behind them. Well, you can find all that in one place...right HERE!!

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If you are new to Find a Friend Friday (FaFF), you are in for a treat! It's a simple linking party to add a link to your blog so friends, old and new, can stop by and visit.

It's great to share your blog with everyone, but it's also fun just to look around. Even if you don't have a blog, you can find a wealth of great people willing to share their talents.

Tell your blogging friends about the linking party too and more will join in with us!

This is an easy one to participate in...you are just linking to your own blog. No projects to sew, no furniture to paint, no cookies to bake or pictures to take. You are just sharing your blog and then friends will stop by for a looksy.
  • click on the blue "click here to enter" link below
  • copy and paste or just type in your blog address...example: http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com
  • enter title of link...your blog name or phrase to grab attention
  • add a photo of you, your profile picture or your blog button or whatever you think will grab some one's attention...(I'm thinking a picture of a big piece of strawberry cheese cake, but that just me LOL)

That's it...super easy. Just think of the possibilities of finding some wonderful blogs.

Thanks for participating,
~Karen~

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Thoughts on Thursday...

Do you say things that "DATE" you...I slip sometimes and still say cream rinse instead of conditioner.

Remember these cream rinses from the 1970's? OMG so funny the memories.

Tame...


and Breck...



I also say dittos instead of worksheets...worse than dittos was mimeographs.

Ok, I'll stop. I'm getting OLDER as I type!  Lol

How about you? What do you say to "date" yourself?

Happy Thursday,
~Karen~

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A New Sponsor and a Give Away...

I am so excited to share with you a new sponsor here at Sew Many Ways...Vicki Welsh Hand Dyed Fabrics.
I can't thank Vicki enough for joining Sew Many Ways. If you are looking for beautiful, one of a kind, hand dyed fabric, then Vicki is the person for you. When you come back to Sew Many Ways and are looking for a link to Vicki's awesome site, her button is on my right side bar. She is also having a give away for us here, so read through to the bottom!!
So, without further ado...let me introduce Vicki


Hi Everyone!
I have been following Karen’s blog, Sew Many Ways, for a long time and I am so impressed with everything she has going on here. I recently decided that it was high time that I got involved myself and I am thrilled to be a blog sponsor now.
I retired from corporate America in 2010 after spending almost 30 years as a project manager in the financial services industry. It was a great life but I am lucky to now be able to devote myself to my passions: dyeing fabric and quilting! I’ve been sewing all my life and started concentrating on quilts about 12 years ago. I started dyeing fabric in 2007 and have been hooked ever since.


The most unique thing about hand dyed fabrics is that they are one-of-a-kind creations. That said, I have hundreds of dye recipes and can create (and recreate) custom colors. I am most known for my fabric gradients (5 popular ones are shown above). These fabrics blend colors from selvedge to selvedge. I also have fat quarter packs and one-of-a-kind pieces.





Additionally, on my blog, I have a Featured Fabric Palette of coordinated “solids” and gradient that is offered at a special discounted price for a limited time.
My goal is to introduce (or reintroduce) quilters and fiber artists to the world of hand dyed fabrics. Hand dyed fabrics have a reputation for not being colorfast and, therefore, many quilters avoid them. My fabrics are processed to remove all of the excess dye and you can use them in your quilts as confidently as you do commercially printed fabrics. You can read about my process for removing excess dye here and the process is also effective with commercial prints that bleed. One recent quilter used this process on a finished quilt that bled and it got out all of the excess dye that had bled onto her white fabrics. Turquoise dyes seem to be the most stubborn and they sometimes require multiple treatments. I apply this process to any commercial fabrics I buy. I put them through the soak before they are ever placed in my stash.
For up to date information on my new palettes, new products and special sales, sign up for my monthly newsletter here.
You can find me in all these places on the web:Blog: http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/ (with lots of tutorials)

GIVE AWAY...
Now, let’s have a reward for all of you who read this entire post. What we need is a good giveaway! Visit my shop and leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite section. Do you prefer the gradients or maybe you are drawn to the fat quarter packs or stash packs. Let me know! Leave your comment by Saturday. Karen will draw a winner this weekend and the lucky person will receive their choice of a Stash Pack from my shop along with a sample of Transdoodle transfer paper from Mistyfuse



Thanks again Vicki...it means a lot to me to have you here! So very much appreciated

Good luck everyone,
~Karen

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Monday, May 14, 2012

Tool Time Tuesday...Sewing Soap Dish

Sewing Soap Dish...What?!? You know me, I'll find anything to transform into something else and this time it was in the bathroom section of the hardware store.

I think a better name for it is Armchair Sewing Table...



Here it is in it's original state. It's a soap dish that hooks onto the edge of a bath tub and holds your soap. I'm thinking armchair, but if you do any hand sewing in the tub...this will work great for that too, LOL!!




Here's my thought process...you need a few STRONG magnets...not the crafty ones. They sell strong ones in the hardware store too.


Put the magnets on the bottom of the soap dish. They stick on their own because teh dish is metal


I found some of the strong silver magnets too.


The magnets on the back of the metal dish make the top part magnetic to hold your pins and needles in place!


If that doesn't work for your soap dish, use my ever popular magnetic business cards. You know I use these a lot. Click HERE for other projects using these magnets


The magnetic business cards have a sticky side...


and a magnetic side.


Peel and stick it to the top of the soap dish.


Now it holds your pins and needles too.


Now onto more fun with this idea. These clips are name badge reels. They hold a name badge and they also pull out with a string like a tape measure.


I found these in the office supply section of Walmart...4 for $1.88.


Clip the reel to the handle of the soap dish.


Open up the name badge holder that has a snap closure and add your little scissors.


Now you can pull the reel to clip your threads, but never lose your scissors in the chair.


Ok, here's where the demise of this idea came for me :(

See that arm of the couch off to the left...that's where this adorable soap dish WAS going to fit. WAS is the operative word here. The couch is fairly new and I forgot that the little brown pillow is "attached" to the arm of the couch, so my little sewing helper doesn't fit here.


Works on the pillow though. I will find a place for this...seems like the armchairs in my house are a little too big.


Still wanted to share the idea though, just in case the soap dish, armchair sewing table, thinga ma bob might work for you.

It is great to have all your sewing needs in one place when you are doing your hand sewing and you'll never lose them in the couch!!

Happy Sewing,
~Karen~

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Make Your Own Handmade Fabric Labels...

I know we are all "Do It Yourselfers", so when we make things for others as gifts or to sell, why not have your own fabric label to add to what ever you make.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to make your own fabric labels, but you can certainly add your own special touch to them too.

You will need:
  • fabric...I used 100% cotton muslin
  • Freezer paper...found in the grocery store in the aluminum foil section
  • computer and printer

Here is my attempt at a "Sew Many Ways" label.



Here's where the idea first started over 3 years ago. Remember my daughter Courtney's high school senior project? It was a Underground Railroad quilt. If you look in the lower right corner, I showed her how to make a label describing all the blocks in the quilt. This is the same process.


Here is a picture of freezer paper. Dull on one side, shiny on the other. You will use this to stabilize the fabric as it goes through the printer. The shiny side is perfect for ironing on fabric and it is re-usable over and over. I also use freezer paper for English Paper Piecing my hexagons.


Iron the shiny side down on the wrong side of the fabric. Don't let the iron touch the shiny side!!!


Trim paper/fabric to 8 1/2 inches x 11 inches.


Fabric on one side, paper on the other.


I used Mircrosoft word to print what I wanted...experiment with your own computer.


I printed towards the bottom of the label, so I can fold it over...see below.



Iron the whole sheet to "set" the ink.


Cut out and just peel off the paper.


I folded over the side edges.

 
and then folded in half.


Perfect little label ready to sew into a seam.






If you want a flat label that can be permanently ironed on, instead of folding like I did, just iron the label to permanent fusible web, like Heat and Bond. Then the label can be ironed onto your item.

Have fun experimenting,
~Karen~

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Wisata Danau Toba - Sumatera Utara

Danau Toba adalah salah satu destinasi wisata alam terbesar di Indonesia dan terletak di Sumatera Utara. Ini adalah danau vulkanik terbesar ...