Carrie came to visit! Carrie came to visit! 
Little did I know, she'd made hairbands that are awesome! Even topstitched. I'm so proud.
Also, it was so good to see her, even if it was a short visit. We schemed about our upcoming podcast -- now she's MOVING. *sigh* We will get it done, though. Because, CONTEST. :-)
Carrie is here for a few days, and we've been trying to connect -- but with Mother's Day and so many people and so much to do, we haven't actually seen one another yet! Hard to imagine. But true. Boo.
This morning I was listening to the Material Mama podcast, which reminded me that I had the Sew Forth Now Podcast on my iPod, and that I'd started listening to this great interview with a gal who owns a fabric shop -- a shop that specializes in knit fabrics! Knits are always more of a challenge to sew with than wovens, and it was excellent to listen to her tips and tricks. (Did you know that you can tell which side is the FACE of a knit by looking at the holes punched in the selvages? The side that the needle went in is the back, and the side that the needle came out is the face. Cool, huh?)
I did pick up something from the "DUH" department. Of course, when you get new fabric, before you use it, you have to launder it. I usually zigzag over each cut edge of the fabric so that it doesn't unravel in the washing process. Well, DUH, I could just zigzag the cut edges TOGETHER, and cut my time and thread use in half. It's such an obvious thing...no wonder I never thought of it. :-)
So, I'd just gotten over being sick, and things were getting back to normal, when we had tragedy strike. My son Spud's dad (my ex) died suddenly. He left no will, no wife...it's been up to us to handle things, and it's just been overwhelming, as you can imagine.
Needless to say, I haven't accomplished much as projects go. But I really do need to get back into things now. I have two embroidery projects for my niece sitting on the sewing table, and I bought a whole bunch of Insul-Brite to make potholders. I like making potholders!
Also, Carrie's been dealing with a career change and moving, so things are terribly hectic.
Construction on my house has also made things wacky, although it's going pretty quickly, and we should be moved into the addition around the fourth of July or so. I don't want to jinx it by mentioning a date, but the roof is on, the windows are in, the rough electrical and plumbing are in, and the HVAC is well underway.
(Of course, the day before the plumbers were to come in to do the rough, our hot water heater gave up the ghost in a puddle on the basement floor...so they had to re-prioritize their days and get us a new hot water heater! That went in today, so two days of cold hand-washing and showers across town at my mother's house are over.)
Please don't give up on us. :-) A new podcast is already in the works, and should be ready soon! In the meantime, I'll let you know that Spud has decided his new robot boxer shorts are 'too childish', and we had to go purchase more 'mature' fabric so I can make him more pairs. One print with money on it, another with pirates....YARR, I'm going to be making boxers until the cows come home! Still love that pattern, though.
Man, I have never wanted to visit the south more than I do now. As I mentioned on the podcast, it seems as though we have a really high percentage of listenership in Arkansas and Texas! Now, for a couple of gals who've not hung down there, that's pretty exciting. In the first few hours after posting our newest podcast, almost a hundred people had downloaded it! That's pretty cool. And several hundred snagged our first one. Who knew? You people are cool.
One of the hopes I had in creating this project was not only KEEPING in touch with Carrie, but GETTING in touch with new people. So, if you wouldn't mind, drop us a line to say hi at missyousewmuch@gmail.com, or just lay a comment on us here on the blog. We have CONTESTS coming up, where you can WIN! THINGS!, and while I can't tell you exactly how they're going to work yet, they WILL involve emails and/or blog comments.
So here's your shout out -- why not give us one back?
Hey Fishy! Muffy came over this weekend. In addition to the fun hangingoutness, she also had some sewing needs. First, we looked at her Singer Featherweight, which is in need of professional repair. :-( So she couldn't fix the zipper in her coat, or make potholders, which she really needed.
Off to Jo-Ann we went to get some potholder fabric. And they had little White sewing machines on clearance!! It would have cost more than $80 to get the Featherweight fixed, and that's how much the machine was, so she got it! It does all the basic stitches, including a four step buttonhole.
We also got some Insul-Brite, which is this soft inside batting that also has a metalic layer, perfect for use in potholders and ironing board covers and such. So, after $80 for the new sewing machine, and about $5 of fabric and materials -- BEHOLD!! The $85 set of potholders! We had expected to spend about $5 and do them on my machine. Instead, we spent $85, and used the potholder project to sort of get acquainted with her machine. WHAT FUN!
I have a fairly inexpensive digital camera that, for the life of me, I cannot figure out.
So, kind readers: what works for you? What takes the best close-ups of stitches or shows off the amazing patterns in the fabric the best?
Also: what would you like our next podcast to be about? Any questions or comments?
Also Also: Super Secret Contest coming up. Tell your friends. And your friends' friends.
Show notes/links/stuffs...
Carrie's sock
Side view of sock
Second sock
More sock
Jacob's yoga mat bag
Jacob's baby pants (OK, baby pants MADE BY Jacob)
Jacob's hand warmers (man style)
Paper Piecing Primer
Dog block for Kerri's sister
Video of knitting machine socks
Socks aftermath
So, Carrietta left Rhode Island and moved to North Carolina. Sad state of affairs, really. Especially since I just taught her how to sew! (Get her to tell you the story about how she got her sewing machine.)
We decided, then, that the distance wasn't going to stop us from supporting each other in our textile art endeavours. We have cameras. We have microphones. We have a blog. And thus, Miss You Sew Much was born. Carrie, she knits. Like a fiend, she knits. She sews, better and better all the time -- she isn't even afraid of zippers! Really, she does it all. Me, I sew, do machine embroidery, and I very lamely do machine knitting on my beginner-level knitting machine. Plus, you know. Everyone does stencils and beads and glitter and felt and all that.
Lots of our friends are involved in the textile art world, as well, and so the hope is they'll be willing to do guest appearances on our periodic podcast (see the link over there?). Leave us comments. Leave us jokes. Tell us we rot. We don't care if you're mean. We can handle it.