Martha I Am Not

I need about 2 more hours in the day...or two less hours at work every day. That sounds more like it! I am going to work really hard this weekend to get my house in order and several things on my to-do list for school done. I can't get caught up {and realize I never will}.
So, I'm just gonna keep trying and enjoy the time we do have at home. All of the laundry, dirty floors, ungraded papers, and unironed clothes will wait, right?

My new friend is this:



You can see the disorganization in my life by looking at my workstation:

This has since been replaced with a small table. The table has a drawer to hold my thread and small supplies.

I now have a basket underneath for my fabric and hoops. Another small step towards organization.

I got my embroidery/sewing machine {my Brother} after Thanksgiving. I really wanted to learn to applique and monogram. I'm not sure how interested in sewing I am, but I wanted the option. It took me 2-3 weeks to even figure out how to attempt to applique anything. I did a couple of things for Christmas and then I did this shirt that I've shown you before. I may not have an online art degree but I enjoy it and it came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

It is certainly not perfect, even to the untrained eye, but I'm proud of it because it was first "real" project.

The hoop lines do wipe off, by the way. I realize they aren't very cute.

Several people have asked questions about my Brother, about the costs and time it takes to make a shirt, so I thought I'd try to answer a few.

1) What kind of machine did you buy?
My machine is a Brother 950D. It has Disney capability {whatever that means}.

2) Was it hard to figure out how to work the machine?
I was able to use a font already loaded on the machine to monogram a scrap piece of fabric on the day I bought it. Figuring out how to download cuter fonts and get them on my machine took me a few days {and a few google searches}.

Learning to applique took a few days longer. Once I figured out how to get the patterns loaded on my machine, I couldn't get them centered. And I really wanted to do more than one pattern/letter at a time, but I couldn't figure out how to do it on the machine. No one told me I needed an editing software {until a couple of girls at school gave me a tip!}. So I downloaded Sew What Pro and my attempt at becoming Martha Stewart became easier. I could merge my patterns & fonts in a jiffy!

I will admit it takes a lot of patience for this craft! Before Christmas, I spent a lot of time trying to do a few shirts for cousins. I got really frustrated because I kept messing them up. I didn't have the hoop centered. Or I had almost finished the shirt and then got the sleeve caught in the needle while it was moving. If you remember, I got most of them completed Christmas Eve.


Here's another one I did for Christmas


Last week, I had Avery Claire a Valentine's Day shirt in the works. My needle kept getting stuck in the bobbin area. I took the needle section about 2-3 times and then it did it again. I took my Brother to the sewing store and the guy fixed it in 5 minutes. This just happened to be the night Bama won the National Championship. Roll Tide!! I was up late and trying to work on a shirt and my needle did the same thing!! I took my Brother back to the sewing store Tuesday and they kept it. There was a problem with the bobbin area and they fixed it. I picked my machine up Saturday. Sunday, I cranked out three shirts!!





3) Do you think it's cheaper to do your own shirts than to just buy them?
It definitely takes more time to do my own shirts. But, I can buy a shirt at WalMart for $3.88 and either use a pattern I already have or buy one for $1.50. I bought a few yards of fabric when I first started and still have TONS left! The appliqued/monogrammed shirts I see online {etsy/facebook} cost from $18-25 or more. So I think it's worth it to do my own.

I would recommend buying a machine at a place that offers warranty. Ken's Sewing Center
is located near us, and they offered something like a 25 year warranty on my machine. And I've been back often for help with something I couldn't figure out. They have most of the machines there on the floor and they take you to one like yours and help you figure out how to do what you can't. At one point, as I left one afternoon, the nice lady there said "I'll see you tomorrow!" Ha ha!

One thing I've decided during this learning process - my next child will have a short name, like Ava. That will be much easier to work with!!

I'm really enjoying my new hobby. I think it's one of those things that takes a lot of practice to make perfect. And I'm sure it won't ever be perfect. It's very satisfying to put a cute little shirt on my sweet girl that I "made."

Speaking of my cute girl, one of the things she loves to do these days is "go night-night." She climbs in her little rocking chair and looks over into her bed and wants to get in. So I let her.


This mama wasn't born yesterday. I realize this may just be a ploy to get to the pacis {or sha-shi as she now calls it}. It does give me a couple of minutes to get something done while she reads or plays with Bessie or just loves on her sha-shi.

Her chin looks sooo much better. This was last night. The glue has already started to peel off a little. She has a pretty good little bruise there, but the cut is almost unnoticeable. She still hasn't complained once. She will touch it and say "my boo boo" and move right along.

I just love her so much. How can you not when you look at that sweet face and those sweet hands building something with her blocks?



She loves to look at pictures and has started pulling our big scrapbook down to look at it.


This scrapbook is caught up through March 2010, right before Avery Claire's birth. Just another example - Martha I Am Not {caught up or organized in my craft life, either}.