FREE GIFTS! - My Mother The Man-Eater Book Launch - Amazon

FREE GIFTS WITH PURCHASE!

Tomorrow is the much anticipated Amazon launch of my mother's new book: "My Mother The Man-Eater".

If any of you lovely readers purchase the book tomorrow (February 24th) from Amazon you will be eligible for a plethora of FREE GIFTS.

These gifts include FREE first chapters of newly published books, FREE Art Cards, FREE editing/critiques for your own manuscripts (limited number of pages), FREE short stories from BEST SELLING authors, FREE marketing presentations and MUCH MORE!

Once you have purchased the book on Amazon follow the link below to receive your FREE gifts:

*FREE GIFTS*

. You may choose one or ALL of the FREE GIFTS listed!

Remember:
1: Go to Amazon
2: Purchase "My Mother The Man-Eater" by Tracy Krauss
3: Get your FREE GIFTS

 

The Author Tracy Krauss with her newly published book "My Mother The Man-Eater".

I hope that many of you will be able to support an emerging author and purchase this book through Amazon.

Don't forget about the many Free Gifts available to you!

If you are unable to do so yourself it would also be wonderful if you would ask your local library to purchase a copy to be put in circulation.

As always have a wonderful day!

Ciao, 

Tomato Apron

Apologies for not having been online in the last little while, things have been hectic! Lots to post about so stay tuned. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting to be able to make this post but couldn't as the recipient is a follower of this blog and would have found out about it before they got it. The person in question is my sister.

So I finally gave it to her and she is thrilled of course. My sister is a domestic diva with aprons for every day of the week, season, holiday and any day that isn't covered by those. She has commercially produced aprons and handmade aprons, funny aprons and girly aprons.

Enter: The Tomato Apron.

I found this fabric somewhere, sometime on sale. And as I am wont to do, I purchased it with no particular pattern or garment or idea in mind. I mean how could I pass up fabric with tomatoes printed on it? There was no way I could leave it sitting on the shelf forlorn.

Fast forward a few months (maybe even a year??) and I found this pattern on sale - 99 cents! I don't normally buy patterns as I find them tedious, overpriced and besides that I took pattern making in school. But... 99 cents and 6 different varieties? I gave in and bought it.

Of course now I knew that the tomato fabric would become a tomato apron, I just didn't know when.

Inspiration (motivation?) struck and I finally started to construct the apron. I had forgotten how much I hate flimsy tissue paper patterns and vowed to never ever use them again. I do this every time I use one and inevitably I will eventually use one again.

Of course I wanted the apron to be perfect and keep it's shape. Perhaps I went a little overboard? Here you can see me finishing the rolled hem on the bottom, but I actually top stitched every single seam down as well as all of the straps. That way when you wash it the seams won't go wonky. Wow - it was a lot of work!

Once this was all done I tried the apron on and realized it would need a couple of darts in the front. Well, in keeping with the rest of the apron they had to be top stitched down too. In the end the apron looks wonderful, the construction is beautiful and I know that it will last my sister for a long long time.

Do you want to hear something funny? My sister hates tomatoes.

: )

Good thing she likes aprons.

Perfection!

City Block In The Rain - Acrylic Painting

As in my last post on painting [Old Woman With Blue Kerchief], this was painted during Christmas holidays at my mum and dad's place. I just felt like painting this winter I guess.

It turned out pretty nice. My sister took it home to her place (after my mum claimed the Old Woman she was complaining that she didn't have a painting of her own so I gave this one to her).

Another view from the dining table. Neither of the pictures are that good, maybe I'll get a new camera....

I always have a good time when I am painting. It's quite calming, and unlike with sewing, if you don't like what you see you simply paint over it again!

The Old Woman With the Blue Kerchief - A Funny Painting

I love to make stuff or do stuff and at times I get an overwhelming urge to make something. I am sure many of you other artsy people have experienced this at one time or another as well! This Christmas seemed to be an exceptionally artictic one for me. Aren and I spent the holidays with my family and while my dad was getting something from the freezer he noticed this wooden plaque with a painting on it. Suffice to say that it was not a picture my mum wanted hung in her home and it had been left in the laundry room presumably by the homes previous owner. As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to paint a new picture on top of the old one. In my excitement I forgot to take a before picture but it doesn't matter that much now. I primed the plaque with white to cover the picture and then proceeded to paint this rather comical grandmother in a blue kerchief.

Her extra large nose and curly lips add to her charm, don't you think? Haha. My mother claimed her but I have yet to see where her new home is. In this photo she is just propped up on the piano. As with everything, this was a lot of fun for me. Hope it gives you a smile!

A Super Cute Rosette Pillow From a Pair of Pants!

I made this pretty pillow for my sister as a housewarming gift for her new house. I was in camp when she had her housewarming party though so I wasn't able to give it to her until Christmas. It was a lot of fun to sew and kept me busy when I was staying with Aren while he was on a job in Grande Cache. It took me a while since I didn't take it to camp with me. Now that I have a portable machine though (thanks Pris!) I will be able to take stuff with me while I'm out. Awesome!

I started with these pants that my sister gave me while I was visiting her.

These were my two ideas for the rosette pillow. I decided to go with the rectangular pillow as the square one seemed too busy.

I made some piping (some people will call this cording) for around the edges to give it a sleeker look.

This is the finished piping before it was sewn onto the cushion itself.

One side of the cushion with the piping sewn down. You can see the seam at the bottom wear the edges of the piping meet. This will be enclosed in the pillow seam once it is all sewn up.

I used an existing pattern that I had made for the rosettes. Basically three circles of varying size.

Each rosette consists of six pieces. You sew two of each size together, cut a small hole in the middle and turn it inside out, then iron them flat. Sorry some of these photos are no good. I don't know what setting the camera was on and I can't really go back and take new photos now. :)

Then you gather each of the pieces into a rosette shape.

After the center piece has been gathered you gather the next piece around that one being sure to hide the hole you cut in between each layer. From left to right we have single rosette centers (three), then a center sewn to a 2nd piece and finally a finished rosette.

The two sides of the pillow were sewn together and it was stuffed before the rosettes were sewn on. Using very small stitches s as to keep them completely invisible the rosettes were sewn down securely in a line across the front.

The Finished Cushion

As I said, this was a fun project and my sister really likes it which makes it well worth the effort! I am pretty excited about the machine I got for Christmas too as I have been unable to do much as far as crafting goes while I am out in camp. I am thinking that I will finish my Strip Quilt while I am out there.