Do You Ever?

I frequently find myself in thought and I wonder.....does everyone else have these thoughts?

 Do you ever?

Stop, get quiet and ask yourself.....

For those of us who Quilt and Sew or Engage in other Hobbies

• How many yards of fabric in a stash is enough?
• How many supplies are enough?
• How many spools of thread are enough?
• What would I be doing if I were not out in the search for more?
• Is more what I want and need?

For those of us who have more than enough to eat each day?

• How much food does a person need to eat each day to be healthy?
• How much exercise does a body need for the person in that body to experience an overall sense of physical health?
• What is it that is in all those packages of food?

Do you ever:

Think about the impact all the "more" is having on all other forms that we share this earth/universe with?

Wonder when someone will actually create packaging that is helpful and not wasteful or harmful?

Ask who will stop the putting of un-natural things into packages and calling it food?

Wonder why some of us still watch television, even when so much of what is said and done goes directly against our values and beliefs?


Do you ever think about:

When we will stop asking others to work harder and longer, spending less and less time with their loved ones and robbing them of a chance to have a hobby themselves, just so we can have "more" at a "lower price."

At that place that we all meet....the seam of our humanity.......what does it look like and do I want to accept responsibility for my part?

Nothing more than questions....that I frequently think about in the midst of all of the tasks and activities in any given day or week....no wonder I'm tried...LOL...I've got A LOT on my Mind!

Photo Credit HERE

No need to reply....Sometimes I just wonder  if there are others who have these thoughts too. 


Contemplative Smiles,
Kelly

More Coing Purse Frames Have Arrived

I think I know have more Coin Purse Frames on this Continent....but I haven't taken a poll!!

This frame arrived today, I only have 50 so if you want one, I suggest you order now.  They are silver with the beautiful frame design. 

No, I have not lost my mind....although one might think so.  I had to express ship enough frames for the "U R Priceless Blog Hop."

The deadline to get the frames to people was  looming and there was a sort supply.....so I did what all crazy people do....I went direct to China and had them express shipped. 

The hop starts on Nov 5, 2012 and ends Nov 13, 2012 and IHAN® is carrying the Coin Purse Frames along with Corrie from Quilt Taffy.

Believe it or not, I have made more than 6 already...in all different shapes.  I plan on using them as gifts so I thought now would be a good time to try a variety of patterns. I can't share them yet....but you know I will :)

On the Flamingo front:

They are out raking and collecting all the leaves :)

Smiles,
Kelly

Guess Who I Saw At the American Sewing Expo?

This post comes with a Music or No Music Option-
If you would like to hear the music I have for this post, go to the bottom of the post first and start the you tube video I embedded....then scroll back up and read.  You can control the volume on your own computer.

 The Post Starts Here :)

Yep....you guessed it, I found Brint Fanizza, AKA, "The Scissor Man." 

Everyone knows I'm crazy about scissors right?  If you are new to the IHAN® blog be forewarned.....I am truely nuts about scissors and I honestly don't even know how many pair I own....but lets just say....many more pair than one person could use in a lifetime.  Why?  There is absolutely nothing like the right tool for the job.  I don't like being frustrated and I want to be able to accomplish my task with the best pair of scissors for the job.  So you know the first time I laid eyes on Brint and saw that apron, I was like gum on his shoe....I just wasn't about to walk away until I learned all I could about scissors.

Typically I only see Brint at wholesale events so I figured this being a retail event he may have his scissor sharpening tools with him.  Hooray for me....he had them :)   I think I brought over 12 pair...of every size, age and brand.   Every pair now has sharp clean cutting edges :)

 Did you know Famore Cutlery will sharpen all of your Famore Cutlery FREE!  Yes...free....forever.....(don't ask how long that is....we all know the answer to that...lol)  They will also sharpen all others for just $1 an inch. 

I'm almost...just almost...embarrassed to say I have no idea where I got these scissors....I think they came free in a box lot at a sale....but I can't be sure.  Brint is showing me how well they cut now.  Like he really needed to demonstrate how well he had sharpened them?  I trust him 100% and if he says their sharp....I don't need any proof....but....I guess this comes with the service....so....

Brint blushing?  But why ever would that be? 

 It could be that I mentioned  he should bring mens boxer shorts to show us ladies how nicely the scissors cut.  Is there anyone out there that would agree with me?  Now, I never once mentioned bringing anyone in particular's boxer shorts.....brand new ones would be fine.....it would just be more fun and folks would probably get a good laugh too. 

Apparently the new hire at Famore, Tibur,  thought I wanted his boxers to cut up.  I just wish all of you would behave and quite thinking the worst of me!

I guess Tibur could tell that I'm harmless and even offered to take a photo with me. 

For all of you who are thinking...that Famore Cutlery is trying to keep up with Alex Veronelli of  Aurifil Threads in the "male face department" .....I was thinking the same thing. 

Alex from Aurifil

I hope all of you played the ZZTop song, "Sharp Dressed Man" while reading this post.  Why did I want you to listen to it?  What else would you call a man who wears scissors....a sharp dressed man!  LOL

Wonder what all the fuss is about Famore Cutlery?   Check them out HERE at  IHAN®.

Smiles,

Kelly

A Few Vendors at the American Sewing Expo

I had the pleasure of meeting Cristy Fincher of Purple Daisies Machine Embroidery.

I have done some Free Motion Quilting but in order for me to gain any real skills, I need to practice.  At this time in my life, two little boys, a family, a business...etc....I think I'm going to let my Embroidery Machine make me look better at quilting than I really am :) 

Will you just look at all these Quilting Designs for your Embroidery Machine? 

I can see this in a center block of a qiult or in the corners at an angle...these are just beautiful.

I think I'm going to have to check into carrying the Designs that Purple Daisy offers.  What do you think?  Would you be interested in using Quilting Designs in your Embroidery Machine?

Cristy also demonstrated the Quilt Halo.  As you can see Cristy has the Quilt Halo stacked 2 high.  I asked her why and she said when you get a lot of batting and fabric under your machine, the added weight helps keep your fabric smooth.  Some people use three .....I thought that was very interesting indeed. 

The very minute I walked up to this booth....I knew they were some very smart people.  No clue as to what they do or why they were there, but I saw 3 Reliable V50's set up and going....they had to KNOW what they were doing!  LOL

I learned they were making clothing for women who are returning to the work force.  Using only the Very Best Irons for their gifts to other women....I love it :)

I stopped to meet Sandra Chandler from Just Curves.  She invented the Curve Master Presser Foot. I had  heard very impressive reviews but this was my first time witnessing Sandra actually using the Curve Master Foot.

I started taking photos and then I wished I had my video turned on.  She told me she has a YouTube Video so I embedded it below.  I have a Drunkards Path quilt that I made and I did it without the Curve Master Foot....well ...that won't ever happen again!

If you already have a Curve Master Foot, I want to hear about your experience.  I'll have one of my own soon enough :)

More vendors coming soon!

Smiles,
Kelly

A Surprise Visit to the American Sewing Expo

I was not expecting to go to the American Sewing Expo in Novi, MI this past Saturday....but that is exactly where I found myself by 2pm :)  I met up with Waldo and some friends and took a look around.  I'm not much into home dec or making clothing but I sure did see some beautiful things.

This was the very first exhibit I walked past:

And the first thing that caught my eye were these pieces done in felted wool done by Jan Waller from the UK.

 

As I was moving around trying to get the best photo I could....I was approached by Jan Waller so I had the great pleasure of meeting her and hearing about her beautiful work. 

Here was this lovely artist in Novi, MI....who had come all the way from UK and just by chance I got to meet her.....how lucky am I?  Very :)   If you are a Felted Wool fan....check out her website: Love.Make.Think.  (love the name).

A few other things caught my eye....this hat really grabbed me!

Felted Hats by Karen Lucy

 Naturally there were lots of beautiful dresses and even some very cool costumes.

" Foliage" is the name of this beautiful piece but for the life of me I can't read the artists information in the photo I took. Here is the photo if any of you can read it :)  THANKS TO BRITA....we now know who the artist is :) Tone Haugen-Cogburn of Maryville TN is the fiber artist who created Foliage

"Magpie Mischief" and again....I can't read the name of the artist.  I had to shoot the photos from quite a distance and my I-Phone doesn't zoom like my camera does.

THANKS TO GENE.... "Magpie Mischief" by Janice Jones

This piece did not have a name with it, but I'm telling you I just loved this zippered pouch complete with a face and glasses.  Someone must have really had fun making this :)

Oh...and I visited a few vendors too ......how about I tell you all about those in the following posts.....

Smiles,

Kelly

Christmas is coming - Floriani Metallic Thread Review

GUEST POST BY KARIN
(by the way....Karin is a friend who does not get paid anything at all to write these posts...and began using Floriani after I became a dealer....she was curious how it compared to the supplies she had been using for years.)

Christmas is coming!  Christmas is coming!!  Well, OK, it comes every year at the same time, ( 86 days away as of today), but in just under two weeks, the zoo we volunteer at is holding their silent auction to raise funds, and I promised I’d have something for them to auction.  Sooooo…I thought maybe a couple of Christmas-themed towels and a fabric basket would bring a couple bucks.  I thought it would also present a good opportunity to try out some Floriani Metallic Threads and let you know show you how well they work!

I chose a couple of cream-colored terry cloth towels I had on hand (I deliberately shied away from white, because I didn’t know if I was going to do a Santa or snowman or what, and white thread just doesn’t show up well on white terry cloth.  Next, I looked at all my Christmas-y designs for one that had solid fill lines & shapes, rather than running stitches alone, as running stitches tend to get lost in terry cloth.  So, I easily eliminated all my swirly winds and snowflakes & the delicate filigree ornaments in favor of the chunkier Santas and reindeer.  But I really wanted to incorporate a bit of sparkle from Floriani’s Metallic Thread, so I finally chose this little guy from Embroidery Library. 

But I wanted my towels to coordinate with the fabric basket I’d already made, so I chose to use these colors for my sewout:

Can’t really see that Floriani shine, can you?  Let’s try another view:

Ahhh, yes, there’s that shine!  And that’s exactly what I wanted to feature on my towels.  Oh yes, towels, as in TWO towels….how, exactly do you hoop towels so that the designs are in the same place on both towels??   I use a couple of rulers and that works well for me.

I just lay my towels side by side, put a ruler across them both, as evenly as I can, with the top edge where I want the center of my design, then make a small dot in the horizontal center of each towel using a water-soluble pen.  (If the design stitches over it, great – if not, it’s easily removed by dabbing it with a wet paper towel.)

So now I’ve got my centers marked, I just hoop ‘em up!  Of course, I used Floriani Heat N Gone as a topper so my designs don’t get lost in the terry cloth (see the difference in toppers here!).

Once I got into the design, I realized that maybe less is more.  I’m sure you’re wondering “what the heck does she mean?” OK, you’ve read this far, so I’ll tell ya!   I used brown for Rudolph and Floriani Metallic Red for his nose, and Metallic Gold for the first two flourishes.  Now it was time to sew the last of the flourishes, and I’d planned on using Metallic Green, but I was afraid so much Metallic would be just a bit too much, even for the blingy-lovin’ ladies of Texas….sooooo, what to do, what to do?  Well, Kelly had just the answer!  (and who of us was surprised by that?  yeah, me neither.)

Floriani’s Winter Collection had exactly the right shade of green – it was identical to the metallic green I’d originally pulled:

Bet you can’t tell which is which, can you?  (The one on the left is the normal polyester spool, while the one on the right is the metallic spool.) 

And you know what else is really cool about Floriani Thread Collections?  Aside from the thread quality, that is….each collection includes FREE Floriani designs on a CD you can use and reuse as many times as you need.  These are the FREE designs included with this Winter’s Collection:

So, how did  Floriani’s Metallic Thread perform?  Well, usually I have to sloooooow down the machine’s stitching speed, and I often switch out to a needle with a larger eye….but not this time!!!  I used my regular 75/11 embroidery needle and 850 stitches per minute, and not once did I have a thread knot or break.  And just look at that coverage, will ya?

That is some serious shine!  Santa will have no trouble following THIS Rudolph on the foggiest of foggy Christmas Eves!  And did the designs stitch in the same place on both towels?  See for yourself!



They did, they really did (the camera’s at a slight angle to minimize the flash, so the one on the right appears just a tad higher, but it’s really not!).

Am I pleased with Floriani’s Metallic Thread?  I am, I really am!  Will I use it again?  You betcha!! 

Now, who’ll give me a dollar, do I hear a dollar?  HaHaHa!  HoHoHo!!  They’d better get a whole lot more than a dollar for THIS basket!!

Written by Karin