Last Chance to enter!!!

The Hello Kitty Hobo Bag Giveaway winner will be picked tomorrow. Click on the link and add yourself to the list.

Tea review

I wash shopping the other day and was low on tea. I loves me some good ol' Lipton. And sometimes I like English Breakfast or Irish Breakfast and on occasion, some Lady Earl Gray. As you can see, I am not into fancy brews. Wellllll, I was watching Being Human on BBC America and Pyramid tea was mentioned. As happenstance would have it, I saw a box of P and G in the market......"England's No. 1 Tea" according to the box anyway. So I made a hot cuppa this morning and here's what I thought:

 

As you can see, the tea bags look very different. Hence the slang Pyramid. The bag is more loosely woven and the tea seems to be ground instead of leafy. I suggest you give them a little pat to shake out the loose powder or you will have some sediment in the bottom of your cup. The Lipton was more leafy looking, although the pieces were quite small.

They smelled similar, the Lipton a little more fragrant. The P&G has no string.

 When I dropped it in the hot water, it sank like a stone. Right then I was missing the string. After a minute or so, it floated right to the top. Still missing the string, but now, at least, I didn't have to dig it out. LOL

It brewed fast. It was a tad more orangey than the Lipton. The liquid was not as clear and when I added the sugar, it got a lot more frothy than Lipton. It was a littler more bitter and needed a little more sugar, but it wasn't too bad. Conclusion: I still prefer the Lipton but this isn't a bad second choice. Later today, I will see if it can pass the iced tea test. Watch for an update!!

Happy sipping!!

***

Hello Kitty Hobo Bag Giveaway

Here it is, the moment you haven't been waiting for!! 

The Hello Kitty Hobo Bag Giveaway

I made this bag from on online pattern. My daughter, who I thought loved hobo style bags, is not in love. So this little cutey just hangs on my dressform waiting to be useful. Poor little bag.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo, let's have some fun. Leave a comment about your love of hobo bags, hello kitty, green shopping or just say hey.(leave your contact email in the post too) I will have the wonderful online random number generator pick one lucky contestant on: Tuesday, March oneth!! 

For the love of making and sharing :-)

How many of you sew/craft? I am willing to bet a lot of you!! I am not so much crafty, but I do enjoy being one with fabric and needle. I am learning to be crafty...I'm told it's a lot of fun. :-) We'll see!
Here are just a few of the things that were made by me or by a friend. And I apparently have a few new addictions too. LOL
Hope you enjoy the looksee as much as I enjoy the doing and using!!

I am in a pillowcase/nightstand coaster swap. Did I take a pic of the pillowcases I made? Nooooooo . Lame!

These are from my blog buddy Karen. Sorry, I got a lot of my junk all around it.

 Blog buddy Amy sent these. My friend Denise wanted to kidnap the heart pincushion...big time.

In order to keep my new pincushion, I copy-catter-dirty-rattered Amy's creation for Denise.

                                                             Showin' my crafty side!!!

My coasters and a little moleskine notebook that I ever so slightly embellished.

A little wall hanging for Karen's b-day. She really likes red and I really like Mumm. :-)

All the coasties together. New addiction: fabric coasters. Making and using. 

I am liking the mug rug variety too.

And now, the other addiction: pincushions. These are mine, all mine, mine I tell ya!

(possessive, me? nooooooooo)

                  Hey, I just noticed, these pincushions represent Karen, Denise, Amy and me. LOL

 This little feller fits on my finger or my chatelaine. It has a bottle cap base so I don't impale myself.

 This one really fits over the arm of the couch, but 

I fold one side under and use it by the machine most of the time.

This one has a magnet in the bottom and sits atop my dress form. 

Makin' and sharin'.........does it get any better than that? 

What are you making and sharing? Nosy Inquiring minds want to know!

****
 UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE



I found a pick of the pillow cases!!!

***

Back to regularly scheduled blogging

Been a busy time in the Florenti household. I will be back to a more regular blogging schedule asap.
Spent Valentine's in a hospital waiting room for my mom.......nothing wrong with her...yeah!!! Won't get to see Mr. Sweety until I get back home. Hopin' tonight, but maybe tomorrow. Mom and the hubster freak when I am driving at night. Soooooooo it's miles and miles in the middle of nowhere, like I haven't had the car break down in the middle of nowhere on I-5 before.(twice) I are all growed up now people!!!!
Got a lot of making to show and maybe a new tutorial is coming your way. Something green I think. Yeahhhhh, ggggrreeeeeennnnnnnnnnn.......................... OOOOO or Eastery. Or foodery!! Or. or, or....

*****

***update: mom allergic to the xray dye. She's now armed with an eppy pen and a bunch of benedryl.  

She must also avoid idodized anything too!

Wedding Corset; Part Three

.

First, I did promise you a field trip. This is Lacis in Berkeley, Ca.

If you do costuming or needlework, this is the place to be. You can order from them online, but it's soooooo much fun when you get to touch and feel and play with the items.

Street view. 

(Don't worry, I was at the stop light when I clicked the pic!!)

A close up of the boning and busk area.

The eyelet/grommet/lacing area

They were also having an embroidery exhibit, but I digress............


Now that the pattern has been adjusted and the base sewn, it's time to add the boning.

On the areas where the seams are nice and flat, I just stitched the seam allowances closed.

Where the seams were very curvy or non existent, I added twill tape as my boning channel

Make sure you leave about 3/8" space in the center some the boning will fit.

All sewn up. Now, show that boning in the channels. You should have about a 1/2" space top and bottom from the boning tip to the edge of the fabric.

With the boning in the channels, stitch the lower edges closed.

 Time to cut out the fashion fabrics!!

If you are just doing a two fabric corset, you can match your seams and sew the fabrics together wrong sides together and you lining fabric will be your boning channel.  Also, If you choose to use just one, heavy weight fabric, you can sew boning channels on the inside OR, for a more decorative look, on the outside in a contrasting fabric.

I cut the base fabric first, the pinned it to the top layer. Sewed them together and then trimmed the excess off.

 Make sure you keep them labeled and laid out just like you are going to sew them, ala the first tutorial

The pretty side.

Make sure you clip you curved seams. This is me basting the fashion fabric to the base. I first matched up the seam lines, then I basted the seam allowances flat so they did show. If your fabric lays flat with just a good pressing, you can skip this part, but you still need to match seamllines and baste.

You can baste with the machine or by hand. If you are smarter than me, you will remove the boning first. LOL  I broke 5 needles blind sewing.  

Dorkosauraus award winning move. hahahaha

Decide on how many lacing holes you want. A Lot, a little, far apart, close together.  i used this handy, dandy button hole spacer, but a ruler or someone really good could eyeball the layout. I am not that good. LOL

Tools of the trade. See tutorial here: 

http://thedistracteddomestic.blogspot.com/2010/10/setting-grommets.html

taa--daaaaaaaaa

Bind the edges. I used store bought white bias binding and I made my own out of the clear, sparkly fabric. First, I sewed the sparkly fabric on, then I sewed the white on. I flipped it to the back and whipped stitched it down.

 Taaaa-daaaaaa

lace it up and you're good to go.

The bride wanted a large opening and a contrasting lacing panel. So, alas, the never ending tutorial keeps on going.......

The supplies: zip ties, twill tape, blue fabric, sparkly fabric and lace seam binding.

Layer the fabric...sparkly, pretty side down, the blue, pretty side down. Decide where you want the boning. It will keep the panel from bunching up when you lace the corset.

Trim the zip ties and put them in the boning channels. Stitch both ends closed.

Make sure you round the ends so they don't cut into the fabric.

Add the lace down the middle and tack it down in a few places. you will put the corset lacing through the holes to help keep it in place. Like the tongue on a shoe.

I serged the edges and folded them over and stitched them down for a finished edge. You could bind them as well.

The Bride, front view (duh, right)

Back view (again, duh)

 

Me and the newly married Mrs. Andreatta-Jaques.

Part one

Part two

Thank you for reading and keeping me company through the process!!

***

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO..........................................ME!

This little bundle of joy is from my mom! I can't wait to see what else shows up!!

It's official, I have entered my pre-50's!! 

Happy Ground Hog's Day!!!!

Phil says:

Early Spring!!!!

Let's hope he's right!!

Go out with a little ''spring" in your step today!

***

It's time to hoot and holler!!!!

 

NOW OPEN ON AN INTERNET CONNECTION NEAR YOU!!!!!!

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewmuch2luv

 

In honor of my friend, Karen, opening her new shop, 

I have owled- out my blog!!

Stop by her shop everyday. 

She'll be hatching up new things to sell all the time!

And her stuff is amazing!!

I'm going to order something right now!!

***