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Friday, December 23, 2011
Merry Happy Everything!
Wishing all the Prudent Mamas a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Awesome New Year, from our family to yours. Jacinda and I are taking the week off to be with our families and work on the all-new Prudent Baby website, launching sometime in January. We can't wait to show you what we've been planning. In the meantime I hope you enjoy my video holiday card. Here's hoping your new year is pretty in pink! Read more »
Jacinda and I don't get to see each other too often these days, what with her shacked up in Dallas and me homesteading in Los Angeles. But every now and then a fun opportunity comes up for us to get together in another city and enjoy champagne and craftiness and eating cheese until 2 a.m. in hotel rooms in our sweats. So when PBS invited us to head out to Cleveland and do some sewing tutorials for their awesome TV show It's Sew Easy, we jumped at the chance!
But first we had an incident while getting prettied up for TV. As I said on facebook, I need a caption for this picture but I was (and still am) laughing too hard... suggestions welcome. I think that so far "Bless You" is my fave...
We are still unable to take a picture in which one of us is not laughing and staring off into space.
The magical sewing table was rearranged for each of our projects to accommodate two sewists (or one sewist and one Prudent Mama cracking jokes while the other one tried to sew)...
I so wish I could tell you about the amazing super-adorable tute Jacinda prepared for the show, but alas I am sworn to secrecy! You best check your local listings for when It's Sew Easy is on in your area, and we will keep you posted on when our segments will air!
Back in May I asked you for help turning my patio into a place of relaxation and beauty (prudently). I gave you a whole rundown of the scenario and a bunch of before pics and you offered up fantastic suggestions that had me all excited to redecorate (or, umm, just actually decorate). Since then I've been diligently working away, parsing out my American Express Membership Rewards points to avoid spending cash and DIYing just about every detail. I can't wait to share my source list, show you how to build a pallet daybed (with arms!), block print your own fabric, make fabric tassel garlands, sew embroidered seat cushions, ombre dye bedding, and more. You can learn a little more about the elements on Design Sponge today too. But for now, I just wanted to share the transformation with you in this little time lapse video. I can't wait to hear what you think.
P.S. If you watch closely you can see me toasting the Prudent Mamas with a glass of champagne at one point. XO
...WHO UPLOADS A VIDEO! I'm totally serious. I am going to send you fabric because I love you. And also because I need more videos for the Prudent Advice book trailer and I'm hoping you guys will help out! Twenty of you? Fifty of you? One hundred Prudent Mamas? Yes! Every single person who makes a video of themselves/their husbands/their kids/their friends reading a piece of Prudent Advice and uploads it will get a mystery fabric fat quarter from my stash (and my stash is mostly from Fabricworm so you know it's good)!
Which fabric will you get??? It's a mystery! Will it be oil cloth or home decor weight? Fancy pattern or decorator solid? Cozy flannel or quilting cotton? Will it be from the blue stack...
or the pink stack...
or the yellow and orange stack...
or the yet-to-be-filed stack?
The mystery awaits those who upload videos! Are you so excited? Okay, here's what you have to do:
1. Read the Prudent Advice blog and pick a favorite piece of advice. Some of my favorites are #13, #17, #212, and #500 (but that's a surprise). Find one you like on the blog!
2. Record a video of yourself or whoever else reading the advice (videos of other stuff - like your dog barking, you just sitting there silently, or the time you got hit in the head with a football - will be disqualified).
3. Download it to your computer.
4. Go to this website and upload it: Prudent Advice Video Submission Page (It's super easy, just follow the directions and hit "Send this file package"). It might take a while if the file is big, so wait until you get the Thank You page. If you don't see the thank you page then we won't see your video so be patient!
5. Include your name and address in the "message" section of the page so I can send your fabric.
Do this all by next Friday, September 17th, 2010, at midnight. That's when we close up shop at the free fat quarter warehouse.
Sound easy enough? If you do it, leave me a comment here letting me know! The only caveats are: I can only ship to US and Canadian addresses, make as many videos as you want but only one fat quarter per person, and if it hits 200 or more, I'll have to tap out, but I'll warn you first. To see some samples and learn more about the video project visit this post. It's going to be such a great compilation! I can't wait to see what you send!
After I posted the How To Make Bias Tape Tutorial y'all expressed some curiosity about the magical machine, so I thought I'd show it off. Can you sense my enthusiasm? Check the video to see how it works, then try to stop yourself from buying one here: Simplicity Bias Tape Maker. $68 bucks. If you use bias tape it'll pay for itself after like two quilts or some tops, or art smocks, or baby dresses, or mommy dresses, or oven mitts, or swaddle blankets, or whatever you can dream up. Or don't, you can totally come over and borrow mine.
So, um, I've learned that I say "so, um" ALOT. You notice this kind of thing when you make your first video tutorial. So, um, please be gentle while I teach you how to make Royal Icing Forget-Me-Not Flowers. And if you need a refresher, visit Preparing Royal Icing and Decorating Royal Icing Sugar Cookies.
Call for Submissions and Prudent Advice Signed Book Giveaway!
Reader friends, you have all been so supportive during the process of writing and editing my book, Prudent Advice, I just could not possibly have done it without you. When you email to share a life lesson from your grandmother or to tell me why a certain entry moved you, it makes me feel a sense of community amongst mothers that is deeply touching. Now I'd like to ask for your participation again. And I'd also like to ask you NOT TO MOCK US FOR OUR PERFORMANCE IN THE ABOVE VIDEO!
My publisher is creating a video about Prudent Advice and they want YOU to be in it! I'm so excited to have you participate and see what you come up with. What we ask is that you take videos of yourself, your friends, your family, or anyone who wants to participate - even dads and sons (they email me more than you would think). The video should be of you reading/discussing/sharing your favorite piece of advice from the collection thus far (as we tried to show by example above), which you can read from the beginning here. If you want to, you can also share your own best motherly advice, given or received. If your video makes the final cut, you will be the first part of what I hope to be a great archive of motherly wisdom, and I personally will send you a signed copy of the book when I get them in the fall.
Here are a few tips for making a video the producers can use:
-File types: QuickTime (file extension .mov) or Windows Media Video (file extension .wmv), the higher the quality the better!
-16:9 orientation preferred. We can use videos that are 4:3 but the video for those segments may have black at the sides depending upon whether the shot can be enlarged to fit a 16:9 orientation.
-The top issues with home videos tend to be sound and lighting. Please do a quick test and make sure you're easy to hear and that it's not too dark, yellowish or blueish before you shoot your final video. Don't wear a shirt that is too crazy of a pattern or have the lights off, you know.
-Don't include any background music in your video, we will add that later!
-Let us see a little bit of YOU: Try to choose an interesting background and don't make the shot too tight of a head shot...we want to be able to see more of you and your surroundings. If you want to include your daughter...whatever her age...in the video, that's fine, too!
When your video is finished, just upload it here: Prudent Advice Video Submission Page. I am so excited to see your videos! Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments, and also leave me a comment after you upload your video so we can contact you to send you your free book if you win it!
And that beautiful, beautiful song is Cyndi Lauper's classic Fearless, sung by my dear friend Erin.
Back to Basics: How to Thread A Sewing Machine with bonus Buying Guide
So, lots of readers tell us they have a sewing machine and want to start using it. Some of you have an older hand-me-down that is collecting dust, while some of you are sporting fancy new machines post-holiday. Many of you want to learn how to sew but find the machine a little intimidating. That's understandable, I had the same issue for years. The first step is learning how to thread your machine. Once you have threading down, you can just start playing with it and you'll be a sewing master in no time. Seriously! Sewing is one area where practice really does make perfect. Well, closer to perfect.
This video shows how to wind a bobbin, thread the top of your machine, and load a drop-in bobbin ...and bonus footage... Carleton Curtis (prudent husband) chipped in to show you how to load a bobbin on an older machine from the early 70's!
Please let me know if this video is helpful or just makes it more confusing, and if you have a video tutorial you'd like to see here on Prudent Baby, leave a comment letting us know and we'll try to create one for you (or find someone who can)!
If you are thinking about buying a sewing machine, get the basics and my recommendations after the jump... Read more »
A serger is a type of sewing machine, with it you can sew your own stretch t-shirts and sweatpants as well as finish hems so your projects look super professional. This serging basics video will show you three of the basic stitches you can create with a serger: a three thread overlock, a rolled hem and a t-shirt hem. It's super easy, check it out (and ignore how messy my garage workspace is please).
. $68 bucks. If you use bias tape it'll pay for itself after like two quilts or some 
