Finished Pat Williams design - with more Orthodox style and embellishments. Yes, I created the sheepherder - which didn't come with the pattern set.

Nativity finger puppets - made with my new sewing machine. 
And yes, I'm selling my faithful workhorse Bernina 1130.

I am part way through making the ITH Pat Wms Nativity finger puppets.  I have made a few changes so far to make them as Orthodox as possible.  Mary's mantle color for one, and I painted silvery-gray beards on Joseph and the wise men - the photo doesn't show very well.  Halos to come for Infant Jesus and Mary - maybe some glued on stars for Mary's mantle too.  Not going to do the cow - really.  but I will do a couple more angels, and more than just one sheep.  I will do some sheepherders using Joseph's pattern.  I am hoping that I can open the PES file in a stitch editor to incorporate some of these tweeks.  We'll see...   here's the progress:

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Sus

OK - I skipped a formal dinner and spruced up my torn up but still soft and good on the feet - GEL MAT in the kitchen.  It was $18 dollars three years ago... and being a cheap bunny I decided to fix it up instead of buying a new one.  Before / during / and tada photos!!  Yes, that's black duct-tape covering the rips in the mat.

Sew... it fought me most of the way.  I ended up stopping my edge stitching and basting the old mat to the new black vinyl, then continuing with the oil cloth edging.  I did have to roll it up as I sewed, and used a tiny pokey stick tool from Harbor Freight on the corners to get it under control as I sewed. What a bear!  This was way worse that sewing that lead lined X-ray dental vest.  But that's another story.

Costs - Oil cloth edging - I don't know an eighth of a yard - maybe a dollars worth (I have a bit because I have been making kitchen appliance covers out of it - no photos yet of the collection b/c only two are done and I have a couple more to go).  The black textured vinyl was on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I think I paid five for a half yard.  So six bucks.  Much better than another $18.  AND it coordinates with my kitchen.  Saved 12 dollars on the DIY.  M&L has 20% off for the next week - I'm should go buy more oil cloth to finish the kitchen. I need more duck cloth anyway to finish Vlad's BBQ cover.
Lello cover - done
mixer cover - to do
Blender cover - to do
NuWave cover - done
toaster cover - to do
knife block cover - to do -Oooh - maybe I'll use the left over black textured vinyl for this - yeeeessssss. with a cool red metal zipper up the front to get to the scissors easy.

Just wait a month or so because I will be making swags with jabots and chevrons for the front room windows - or getting a baliage on my hair - depends how much money I have and how well my own DIY hair project hidden color test turns out tomorrow.

Outta here - time to hit the pillow and start drooling.
Spakoine Nocche as Vladimir says.

Kitchen Cafe curtains - finally

I completed my kitchen cafe curtains this weekend. Yay - happy 4th of July 2014!!

Now my husband and I can actually eat our meals with a bit more privacy when we want the window and blinds open for fresh air.  No more lookie-loos from the passers by between the 4-plexes. Goodness gracious, it sure seems everybody looks up to our kitchen window (we're on the 2nd floor) as they walk on the sidewalk below ALL THE BLOODY TIME when we are having our dinner.

List of ingredients for the 3:1 valence and 2:1 tab cafe's.
1 - 6 foot window [duoh]
2" wide grosgrain black ribbon for the tab tops [2 spools from Hobby Lobby]
6 yards print fabric and 6 yards lining - rail road cut so there are no seams to cast shadows [I love M&L fabric's prices]
1- decorator rod with clear bubble finials [under 12 dollars at Family Dollar Store]
1- 74" redwood furring strip for the valance (stapled with the pneumatic stapler - it was soooo fun!) [ 1 dollar from Ganhal Lumber] mmmmmmm air-tools.  so cool.


Next up... two cushions for the chairs, and a new vinyl cover for my gel mat that has many rips in it.
I'm somewhat torn between actually having dinner or sewing first.

Toodles for now - Suz