ONE HUNDRED HOURS

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challenge, clothing, easy sewing projects, fabric, patterns, projects, quilt, quilting, sew exhausted, sewing, sewing vintage clothing, vintage patterns

Halloooo… and YES- you read that correctly.

I have been mulling this over in my mind for the last week or so. And I discussed it with Kerrielee on one of our 4 mile walks… AND, WELL, I am thinking I can do this! I am thinking WE can do it! Kerrielee took a little convincing, but once I broke it down for her, she thought it COULD be doable. And why not give it a shot? If we only make it to 92 hours, well HEY! That is 92 hours of sewing!

Oh the things we could make! And you know we all have PLENTY to make! A never ending list!

So, this month, we are going to sew for 100 hours. 😀 And that is 100 hours each. We will keep a little tally going in the sidebar in case you want to check on our progress.

The nice thing is we already sew 8 plus hours on Saturday together, and about 5 hours on Drink and Sew Thursday… That leaves 22 days in April- each day 2.27 hours. I just made it an even 2 and a half hours a day.

The truth is it will be easier for me. I have older chilluns. I have a full time job but I work 5 AM to 1:30 PM. At 1:30 Kerrielee and I meet for our 4 mile walk and then I pick up 1 child, my youngest, from school. (She is all of 16!) Off to dance classes she goes and I am free. Sometimes until 9 PM at night! What do I normally do with that time? Ummm- well, I confess I have made great friends with my Roku and Netflix account. Do you know how many GREAT series’ there are out there I have never watched? I watched over 100 episodes of ALIAS! Just finished Season 5 of Mad Men… Watched Lost Girl, Criminal Minds, Warehouse 13, and well, the list goes on and on. I think I can easily find 2.5 hours per day!

Kerrielee on the other hand has a 2 year old at home and 4 other kiddos she gets to care for. AND the hubby– lets not forget the husband. And to top it all off she is caring for her mom too. So, it will be much more of a challenge for her- BUT I will cheer her on. 🙂

So- On our marks, get set… and GO! Let the sewing begin!

Laurie and Kerrielee

PS. We do have a lot of March projects to share- we will do a little March roundup in a few days… AND I have completed my Bowie Sew-A-Long project- I just need to take pics! 😀

The Two of Us…

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costumes, crafting, daughters, dress, easy sewing projects, fabric, fabrics, Family, patterns, projects, quilt, quilting, quilts, sew exhausted, sewing

I thought it was high time for a proper introduction… and so here it is!

For those of you that have been reading a while, you may have noted that there are two of us. Cousins… and we love to sew! And we LOVE our families! I, (Laurie), am older and admit it- SIGH… and when Kerrielee was 3, my mother and sister and I moved down to the San Diego area. Kerrielee became like my little sister. 😀 We lived next door practically, and she was always over (I could get her to help me clean my room) and when she was 8, I’d take her on dates with me- YES- my chaperone!

Through marriage and kids we have remained tight. Both of us started sewing as teens and we have kept it up. But only in the last 10 years did we start sewing together… and boy has it been fun! Anyway, here is a little about US…

Here I am with my kiddos… I have four. A son, who when he was little I would make button down shirts for, and three daughters. When I was pregnant with my eldest daughter I started sewing her clothes. She had a FULL closet before she was even born! I’d make matching bloomers for her dresses to cover the ugly diapers and because it was the 90’s she even had lots of matching hats. My youngest daughter had 3 times as many clothes because she got the hand-me-downs and new ones! Those were some well dressed girls! I still sew for them… and I sew for me too!

Here we all are- Casey, Kadi, Holly and Juliette. (And me)

Kerrielee has five children. Four son’s and one daughter. They are all much younger than mine and so she is kept a “little” bit busier in the “mama” department!

OKAY! Getting 5 kids to all smile at the same time can be a chore! But here they are- looking mighty adorable if you ask me! Kerrielee makes super quilts and even has designed a few. I keep telling her we need to turn those in to patterns and SHARE! But we seem to always be busy doing other things. You just wait though- one of these days!

Kerrielee and I sew together twice a week- Thursdays which we have affectionately dubbed Drink and Sew Thursday… and Saturday. From 11 AM and on until we can’t sew any more! If we have something hanging over our heads we may add an evening or 2!

We like quilting… and sewing clothes. We love reading all your crafty/ sewing/ quilting/ cooking blogs… We are on Facebook and Twitter… and you can follow us Via BlogLovin. OH! And Pinterest too- We can spend WAY too much time on Pinterest!

Most of the posts will be written by me- I have a little more time on my hands. But Kerrielee finds great tutorials and helps keep the FB page up. And every now and then I will nag her in to writing a post! 😀

And that is US- In a nutshell pretty much.

He he he…

Laurie and Kerrielee

Kerrielee: Gee, Laurie, what do you want to do tonight?

Laurie: The same thing we do every night, Kerrielee – try to take over the world!…

Laurie: Umm.. I mean SEW!

Here I am blogging world, and I have brought with me a challenge…….

Tags

challenge, fabric, fabrics, projects, quilt, quilting, quilts, sewing, UFO's

Here I am! I have been making you all wait and wait to get to know me and now is finally the time!

I will be more of the silent blogger, but you might get to see some pictures of my work in Laurie’s post. I am the one with the 5 kids, husband, and puppy. That is a lot of work in itself, but in my free time I love to quilt, and thanks to Laurie, I am getting back in to sewing garments. I wont bother you with all of my info today…we can get to more of that in other posts (see! I have just committed to join you all again!)

The reason I have decided to join you today is because I have come across one of the challenges we are going to commit to for the month of February. I have been following EvaPaige Quilt Designs Facebook page and today when I clicked on her blog I see that she is having a UFO challenge for the month of February! All she asks is that we make a commitment of sewing time each day in the month of February to our UFO’s (and she has prizes!). So here is our commitment for DaGMT 2013-

We, Laurie and Kerrielee, are joining in Quilting Hottie Haven’s second annual DaGMT event. We both pledge to quilt for at least 45 minutes each day in the month of February 2013, giving up doing dishes, laundry, and making dinner for the sake of our sewing commitment. In doing so we hope to finish as many UFO’s as humanly possible for 2 women with 9 kids, a husband, a puppy, and a fish! Lastly, we think Beth Helfter is brilliant for coming up with this concept and inspiring us to join.

Here are a few of the UFO’s you WILL be seeing completed by the end of February-

Mine-

Laurie’s-

Head on over to Quilting Hottie Haven’s Blog to see all the rules, there are only a couple, and let’s all get started on finishing some of the many UFO’s cluttering up our sewing spaces!

I am so happy to have met all of you today and look forward to getting to know all of you more. Until next time….Happy Sewing! ~K

Milestone- 1000 Views and a Little Giveaway!

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fabric, fabrics, gifts, Giveaway, makeup brush holder, quilt, quilting, sew exhausted, sewing, sewing vintage clothing, Vintage

Today we reached 1000 VIEWS! So, we decided a small celebration was in order- THANK YOU to all who have stopped by and read the Sew Exhausted Blog. You are VERY much appreciated. xoxox

Our giveaway is just a little something and easy to take part in. A comment gets you one entry and liking our Facebook page gets you two!!! (Just mention in your comment you liked FB and we will put your name in twice. AND if you already like us on FB we will toss one in for you anyway!) I will do the drawing on Wednesday and announce the winner Thursday. (Christmas and the Holidays mean I am be a little busy!)

I also noticed we have a variety of readers- so there are several different little somethings you can choose from if you win!

For the seamstress I have a yard and a third of this sheer chiffon type fabric. (Yeah- I am really knowledgeable about WHAT type of fabric this is- lol) But I know its pretty and has nice drape and is a bit sheer. 🙂

A while back I made about 10 Make-up brush holders and did a tutorial on it. So, I thought I would throw one of those in to the pot.

And for the Quilter we have a great set of 36 5×5 squares.

I want to apologize for the dreadful photos- I snapped them in a rush right before I left on our trip to Oregon for the holiday… Because I just KNEW 1000 views would hit while I was away…

So, THANK YOU! Leave us a comment- and what you think you’d like to win! And like us on Facebook too! Entries are welcome from anywhere- I know we have readers from all over…

~Laurie and Kerrielee

PS. Have a blessed Holiday!

We Are BACK!!! For Reals!

Tags

fabrics, quilt, quilting, sewing, Vintage

Well, I guess we were a little TOO exhausted to sew or quilt – hmmm – or maybe just to blog about it! BUT, we have decided that today is the day to refocus and get busy! Especially with Christmas right around the corner. There are quilts to make, gifts to sew, and outfits calling out to us! Last night I got the bright idea to make panties… vintage style to be exact. I mean, after all, what could be better than making something you need! So, I went to ebay, bid on EXACTLY the one I wanted, (a nice little vintage 70’s pattern) and hope to have it in my hands by next week!  The best thing is it has ALL sizes. Now that is good thing when between Kerrielee and her daughter, and me and my 3 daughters we can all have panties from the same pattern. Different styles and prints of course so we can tell them apart in the wash! (Doubt Kerrielee will have that problem as her house is full of BOYS) I figure it can be never ending! Different fabrics, trims, styles, cuts. 🙂 I am very much looking forward to the “The Great Panty Adventure!” (I will certainly keep you all posted with pics once I start whipping them up!)

 
One of the projects I want to make this weekend is a gift for my girls for Christmas. I am on a pretty tight budget- so I will making a lot of my gifts from stash I already have! My girls all wear make- up and I saw a darling but simple make-up brush holder that you roll up and tie with ribbon. With all the quilting cottons I have hanging around I am more than likely to have something that will fit each of the girls personalities. And if I am feeling especially energetic I may add a matching zippered make-up bag in to the mix. I will post pictures next week! (This way I HAVE to accomplish my goal now that I have promised you all pics!)

 
I also have a myriad of other projects I am going to be focusing on- Among them, a great little vintage 60’s dress for my eldest daughter and a skirt for myself. My goal is to start using some of the fabrics and notions I have stored away over the years, and do my very best to buy only the minimum of what I would need to finish a project. Plus I have an AMAZING collection of patterns- from a gorgeous 1920’s style slip I am dying to make and a darling swing coat, to the contemporary pajama bottoms and dresses just waiting to be whipped up.

 
I suppose I better get busy. I have a really exciting project I need to undertake right now. The replacing of a broken zipper in a GORGEOUS Renaissance style Princess dress my daughter picked up at a thrift store for $10. She wants to wear it in a  few hours. (BTW- I had the right zipper in my “stash!” 🙂

 

Take Care friends, and Happy Sewing!  -Laurie (1/2 of the Sew Exhausted Team!)

A new quilt… or 2…or 3?

Tags

fabrics, patterns, quilt, quilting, sewing, Sunbonnet Sue

For some reason I can’t manage to only have one project going. Maybe it is because a quilt is not a 10 minute craft? Or maybe I am swamped with too many ideas? Or maybe I am just schizophrenic when it comes to creating?

Currently, I am finishing up a pattern I am writing- The thing is, you have to make a finished quilt if you are going to write a pattern. It is a Peacock pattern. And during the quilt making process I thought about some other colors I would love to see it in- So, I race out to buy some batiks. And let me tell you- they are gorgeous and I am very excited as I see it taking shape. But now I have 2 peacock quilt tops I need to finish!

But wait- When I started the peacock quilt pattern I still had my daughters lavender, black and white kitty cat quilt to bind and finish… The one with the adorable princess cat flannel on the back. (I added a few swarovski crystals to their crowns!) All I have to do is bind the darn thing. Then my daughter Holly (the middle one) will be so happy!

AND I have the half finished mystery quilt I was making- It is still a mystery to me!

And last weekend?? Well, I am trying to control myself but I have ALWAYS wanted to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I love Sunbonnet Sue. And there are so many variations! The thing is I want a Sunbonnet Sue– and I have 3 daughters. Can I possibly make 4 Sunbonnet Sues? I got even more excited when I started thinking about the possibilities… I asked each of the girls to pick 2 colors- Then I went through my stash of fat quarters and pulled out the colors for each… And today, I started thinking about the variations I could create. I mean, I don’t have to just cut a ton of Sun Bonnet Sues all in the same dresses and bonnets. I am going to create special Sunbonnet Sues that are relative to each of us. Then we each will have a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, in colors that speak to us, and are special! (Oh, and I will have 4 variations of a Sunbonnet Sue quilt I can share with the quilting world!)

OMG! I need to go get busy. So much quilting… so little time!

Ciao for now!

Laurie and Kerrielee

PS. I did not even MENTION the quilt I cut out for my bed all in white with a touch of pale blue and green…