Whew, I finished up my bar-b-cute tea towel! Thank goodness for ANTM (america’s next top model) marathons; it’s the one mildly “trashy” show I allow myself to watch, a guilty t.v. pleasure I suppose 
And goodness, while I try not to get sucked into the shows on Sunday afternoons, it unfortunatley does happen sometimes, but I got a lot of stitching done at the same time! Pattern here and close ups on flickr.
My fingers need a little stitchy break, but my stitchy to-do list is a mile long. Are y’alls?! However here are some projects that have priority:
- My sewing machine’s throat plate does not have engraved seam allowance guides! Do y’alls? It’s not the biggest of deals, but it sure would be swell if it had the engraved markings! I’ve been using painter’s tape to mark 1/2″ and 5/8″ and a magnetic seam guide, but someone on craftster gave me a good tip on making something to tape to my throat plate.
- I do plan on making a pot holder later this week. I got some good pot holder assembly advice here that I will tweak and make my own And hopefully everything I stuff between the cotton fabric will help make it a functional pot holder that CAN take things out of the oven!
- I need to make a muslin mock-up of top from Simplicity 3835 and if all goes well, make the real thing using my green floral fabric.
- I also need to draft a skirt pattern and make a muslin mock-up using Sew What Skirts as a reference, and if all goes well, make the skirt using my fishie fabric.
Filed under: Embroidery, Sewing
Eek I’m not brave enough to write my stitchy to-do list down, I’ll scare myself at how long it is!
I have the engraved guides on my machine but they are so far back I really need good light to see them. I really want a magnetic seam guide but when I bought a computerised machine I found out they don’t go well with magnetics. I like the idea of painters tape, I’ve held off on tape in case it marks my machine.
Cute tea towel! And what a talent, stitching and watching TV. I can’t do it, I poke my fingers way too much.
You did great (as always
) embroidering all those bar b cuties !!!
Nice list of to priority projects you have , can’t wait to see each one of them !!!
Your towel turned out so cute, I can’t decide which is my favorite little cutie!
I have way too many to-dos, I’m not brave enough to write mine down either!
My old faithful Kenmore does have engraved seam allowances, guess sometimes older is better
I love the towel!! I saw the close ups on flickr earlier today. I love each little character.
thanks y’all for the comments.
I actually like that my stitchy to do list is written down
I always know that I have something to do, and even when I’m crossing something off the list, new ideas end up getting scribbled down 
@lisa: do you have a lot of engravings? I’m trying to think of other common seams besides 1/4, 1/2, and 5/8 yet at the same time I don’t what I end up making to be too crowded….
That turned out very, very cute!! (I love the red striped towel itself, too.)
My sewing machine does have the engravings, but the machine is tucked away into a closet and I can’t get it out right now without waking up the hubbers. The three seams you mentioned are the ones I use.
Oh yeah . . . forgot to respond about the stitchy “to do” list. I did have a general “want to do” crafting list at the beginning of the year, but then I scrapped it.
I decided last week to not sign up for any more Craftster swaps or to obligate myself to making anything for birthdays, which means once I complete the Craftster swap I’m currently doing and once I finish a belated bday gift I want to make one of my SIL’s, I will have absolutely NO “make for others” to do’s on my crafting list, for the first time in nearly two years. Freedom!!! LOL. It’s fun to craft for others, but it’ll be nice to have nothing on my to-do list.
Your towel is freaking adorable. That has got to be one of the cutest patterns ever. I love the barbeque. I had plans to do a bunch of crafting while waiting for my foot to get better but instead I’ve read 417 paperbacks and spent countless hours on Facebook. Thanks for the get well wishes!
Just went and checked and my machine has a line engraved every 1/8th inch, and “5/8″ and “7/8″ are actually engraved on, does that make sense?
@glenda, the red striped towel is an Aunt Martha one. It is nice because it’s a bit smaller than the regular 28×28 white flour sacks they have. It was hard to transfer my pattern to it though, I had to use 2 lamps under my plastic storage tub so I could trace using my fabric pen!
And yes you did have a bit of craftster swap fever but you did receive some beautiful things in return
@Patty, 417 books in a couple of years, right? wowie!
@lisa, yup that makes sense, so you have 1/8, 2/8=1/4, 3/8, 4/8 = 1/2, 5/8, 6/8 = 2/3, 7/8, and 8/8 = 1. I think I’ll just use 1/4, 1/2, 5/8. maybe 3/8 and 7/8. I don’t want things to get too crowded…. thanks so much for checking!
and I suppose those engraved llines correspond to a very specific needle position, right? I sew with my needle in the middle unless I’m doing a zipper but then I don’t need to worry about seam allowances then. I think I’ll leave my needle in the middle position when I make my measurements.