Non-sewing related post

Pin It After a long time coming, some tears, and lots of work, I would like to present...... drum roll please..... a newly minted bike riding kid.

Check out the big huge grin that he has.

This is literally minutes after he started riding his bike on his own. What is really funny is Mr. K2 and son had just gotten back from the store where they had purchased a new bicycle for Ruben. The bike you see in the picture is his old bike. We told him he couldn't get his new bike until his birthday (mid-April) AND when he learned to ride his old bike. Ruben and I had worked many many times together to teach him to ride, but nothing had caught on. Then Mr. K2 takes him out and within a half hour Ruben is riding on his own.

Now I need to find a better bike for myself. I am looking at Electra's, they are so pretty. Yah, I know, pretty probably isn't the first thing I should be looking for. I love their retro styling too, but I don't know if I would prefer the coaster brakes like they have on the cruiser models, or if I would like hand brakes better. I think I need to go do some more research. My favorites are the Betty 3i in Hot Red (with leopard seat!), and the Hawaii Custom in Butterscotch. If anyone has any insight into Cruiser / Retro style bikes, please let me know.

Bar Soap Bags

Pin It A while ago my doctor recommended that I stop using shower gel and start using bar soap. Apparently, bar soap is less drying than shower gels. And being a classic redhead (auburn hair) with sensitive skin, I need soap that won't make my skin any dryer than it already is. So, off I went to the drug store to buy my bar soaps. Then I ran into the age old problem of what to do with the bar slivers that you end up with after wearing the bar soap down. I don't want to waste them. I remember when I was a little girl, my mom had made a little netting bag that we put our bar soap slivers into in order to use them all up. Okay, so I had the basic idea of what I wanted to do, but no netting. Then last night I won 10 assorted microfiber washcloths in a raffle at the Knights of Columbus Steak Fry that we go to every month. Two of the washcloths were white with netting on one side. Voila - here is the perfect material to make my soap bags out of. Plus, with the washcloth material on the one side I don't have to wait for the bar to become a sliver, I can pop the whole bar into the bag. The netting on the outside of the bag can act like a bath scrunchy/scrubby.

I marked out lines on the washcloth so I could sew a line and then zigzag stitch over it to lessen any fraying once I cut the fabric. Plus, with two layers, it kept the layers from slipping around.

My first attempt turned out a little big, but I just seam ripped it apart and shortened the length. The width turned out perfect for putting the bar in sideways.

Here are two finished bags. You can see the netting material on the outside of the bags. They close with a little strip of velco. One bag for me, one bag for Mr. K2.

Auffle

Pin It

Only I would go to a Quilt Club meeting and come back with patterns. Okay, I knew that I probably would this month because my QC was having an Auffle. What is an Auffle you ask? It is basically an Auction and a Raffle mashed up together. Everyone brings things they want to get rid of; whether it is fabric or books or patterns. You buy raffle tickets for $.25 each. Then you use your raffle tickets to bid on specific items that you want. For example, if there is a stack of fabric you want, you place however many raffle tickets of yours into the bin in front of the fabric. Then they mix up the tickets and choose one. Whomevers ticket is drawn would win the fabric.

Here is some of what I won...

Two sweet sleeveless dresses. I especially like the one on the right.

Two dresses and an apron.

Two more aprons.

A playsuit and blouse pattern.

These were in a large pile of patterns, of which I sent the majority to the charity shop because they were awful 1980's patterns or wouldn't suit my body type. The pattern on the left was the only one I really wanted, and only one other person bid on this lot of patterns. I kept the 1970's one on a whim because I liked it.

Giveaway Information

I have posted 3 out of the 5 packages from my giveaway. Allie and Tart Deco have not gotten ahold of me yet to give me their addresses so I can send them their prizes. I will give them until 3/25 at 6pm Pacific time to send me their addresses to k2bernhard at gmail dot com.

If they don't get ahold of me, what do you think? Should I just redraw names? Or have another giveaway? Or even let people say which pattern they want and only draw names based on that? Let me know what you think.

Winners!

Pin It Here are the winners of my first giveaway.....

#1 - Allie
#2 - Kaybee
#3 - Tart Deco
#4 - Leslie
#5 - Becca

Please contact me at k2bernhard at gmail dot com and let me know your address so I can send you your goodies.

The Big Box of Patterns

Pin It Some of you requested a sample of what came in the Big Box of Patterns (BBP). Here is just a small sample of my favorites that I cherry picked out of the box.

First up. Butterick 2745. I think this wrap around dress is adorable.
McCalls 4102. Doesn't the middle dress look exactly like something Betty Draper would wear?
Vogue 5465. I doubt I could make this and have it look nice on my figure, but I still think it is pretty.

Simplicity 8251. Cute beach coverup. Don't you love the headband on the center model?
Simplicity 7097. Another very cute beach coverup.
McCall's 9336. Shorts and two different tops.

Simplicity 1459. I have this one filed under housecoats. Normally I probably would have filed it under shirtdresses, but, come on, the mop! Miss Red Stripe has a mop!
Simplicity 5449. Another cute wrap dress.
New York Pattern 656. My only New York Pattern. Pretty nightgown.

Simplicity 4354. Pretty sundress.
Simplicity 4105. I'm not sure if I should file this under housedress or not. I can see it being a housedress because of the buttons up the side.
Simplicity 1164. Sweet teen dress. Way too small for me, but cute still.

This is just a tiny sample of the patterns in the BBP. I'm a sucker for housedresses, wrap dresses, playsuits, and sun dresses.

I had a question about how I buy patterns from ebay. Honestly, I don't really have a system. I tend to leap in with both feet. I try to keep the cost down though. The BBP, I paid less than $1 per pattern. What I try to do is go through the pictures on an auction and count up the patterns I really want. Then I estimate how much maximum I am willing to pay per pattern I want, and I bid accordingly. I usually try to get patterns for less than $5-10 per pattern if I really really want them.

You all are witnesses, I am officially giving up Ebay for Lent. So, no more patterns for me for a little while. Probably no more until after May. My work quilt club is going on a road trip in May to a really good fabric store in Portland, Oregon. I want to save my allowance for fabric.

Gah! Stop me from visiting ebay.

Pin It I really need to stop looking at vintage patterns on ebay. It probably wouldn't be so bad if I picked and choosed specific patterns I want. But I persist in putting into the search field "vintage pattern lot". So I get things like this in the mail...

Giant boxes filled with this....

Yes. That would be 180+ patterns in my giant cereal box. I really have to stop the madness. I'm spending more time sorting and organizing my patterns than I am sewing anything. Enough. I just have to put it to the side while I try to get my blocks done for next weekends BOM (block of month) class.

On a side note, I have jury duty this coming week. So, I will be either sitting and reading in the jury room waiting to be called, or I will be sitting and trying to pay attention during an actual case. I really hope I don't get put on a case. One good thing, the jury waiting room has wifi, so I'll be able to play Farmville (another habit I need to break) and generally goof around on the computer. It is a good thing that I don't drink or smoke, my other bad habits make up for it though.

Anyone else have any bad habits they want to confess too?

First Giveaway!

Pin It I finally went through all my patterns, organized them, and found all the duplicates. So, I'm ready for my first Blog Giveaway! Yay! There are two options to enter. If you leave a comment using both options, you will have two chances to win.
1.  Be a follower and leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite color is. (mine is yellow)
2. Link to my giveaway on your blog and leave a comment here to let me know you linked to me.

Here are the items... I am giving away 5 items, so you have a pretty good chance of winning.

Item #1 - McCalls 6458 from 1946. Size 16, 34 Bust.
Item # 2 - McCalls 7345 from 1964. Size 16 1/2 - 18 1/2, 37 - 39 Bust

Item #3 - Simplicity 5193. Size 12, Bust 32
Item #4 - Simplicity 2436. Size 16, Bust 34

Item #5 - 2 Sets of vintage pink buttons still on card. These are from the stash of buttons that my Mom gave me.

Entries are open until Friday 3/11/2011 when I will draw names.