Love of my life "Oh Brother"

After much research I introduce to you...
...

What the heck is this you ask? Take a better look.

Still not feeling it?
Here this one should do you some cutie~pieness

Yes this is my Brother cs6000i.

How did I come to purchase this sucker is a good question. I was entertaining the idea of sewing projects beginning of this year 2011. I have always loved to sew and on broken machines (not so much fun). I decided to beg borrow or steal a machine. Lucky me I found a singer I could use. It was so old and fun. Twist dials you add to make new stitches which I totally did not understand.
I decided to purchase a newer machine. $150 was the price range in which I was comfortable. After harassing Vicky @ Joann's for 2 months I found a Heavy Duty Singer. I waited for the sale and bam! I had one heavy sewing machine. It was beautiful and a nice dark gray. Right before I brought her home I purchased 6 patterns. My very first e~pattern purchase. Ebooks from Gingerlouise on etsy. I was so happy and could not wait to get some projects on the road. My first two items were not easy, yet fun. Paints with ruffles & cow girl skirt.

Yes I pleated by hand :0!

Then came some cowgirl dresses and some tunics~
Now the list continues, but by day 10 we had all and enough of the Heavy Duty. It was so loud. So very loud. It could not sew threw 5 pieces of cotton. I was also jealous of other machines who had options. I found that I liked to use decorative stitches on the bottom of the yoks. So I ran to Joann's for a return. Vicky was not please. She did not have any other options for me so I started my research.

First i read every blog possible about sewing machines, found a consumers report magazine, and inquired with friends. Blogs are not a fun way to do research is one thing I found. I was more confused then ever and hear I go blogging about my machine, ha ha ha! Next, I had a friend tell me about her work experience with Brother. She was more then pleased. She even recommended this model to me and forward me a link to amazon which had a video. (I was pretty much sold at this point but not good enough research yet) The consumer report had just a few top models and one of them was a Brother Project Runway model. Which was very pleasing. Then I called the company up several times. They had great customer service and directed me well. I found loud and clear, Brother. It fit the budget, Check. It fit the quite noise issue, check. It fit the, "I need some options", check. It fit the great customer service not Vicky, check check check!

So all that was left was to find the best price. Now most of you know I am an ebates fan. I love how easy it is to use too. All I do is go to the site, sign in and type my product or store name. It directs me in 3 seconds flat. Once I make a purchase I get a percentage back from ebates. I usually get 80 bucks back from x-mas shopping & around 50 bucks threw out the year. It will only take you 30 seconds to sign up, and there is no junk mail! Go... ...do it now!

Are you done already?
So back to my Brother and gladly! There's really not much more to say except I love it! I was thinking about painting it pink or giving her a name. Not sure yet.
Oh and yes, she can sew threw a few layers of jeans too!

These were cut the moment i pressed pay on the computer.

I threw this funny photo in as I love how silly my girl can be~ Experimenting with upcycling.

I will post some of my new projects next. I hope you enjoyed this and found some helpful tips.

Cake Pops

Ok, so they were fantastic! It took several tries. I was scared at first, but then no big deal. The only key I can give away at this time is, TIME. You must let the chocolate be cold. (that was hard for me)
So I want to give many props to the author of Cake Pops: Scoochmaroo @ Instructables. Here's a copy of the link: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cake-Pops/
Here are some photos I thought would have been helpful. I have only worked with chocolate a few times. I used many a mold and swore off white chocolate at the young age of 20. It was a disaster and I could never get the smell out of my head.
For this project I used chocolate melts found @ Michael's. It's almost Jessie proof.

30 seconds in the microwave. Just stir it up! 15 more seconds and we were ready!

So here we have a cooked and cold cake crumbled with a can of frosting. I choose white with white. I try to go simple on the first round so I know the basics. Make balls and place in fridge until cold. Dip your pop stick in the melted chocolate and place in the top of cake ball. Once again.. ...stick it in the fridge. I would suggest 20 minutes so chocolate is hard and cold.

Once the 20 minutes are up and chocolate is cold, I would take 2-4 pops out of fridge. Dip in chocolate then turn over and sprinkle Place right back in fridge inside the mason jar asap.

I used a small mason jar and did a balancing act. I would have used a taller one but it was in the dishwasher. I have a small kitchen so I used up my Halloween sprinkles and also used my favorite which would be rainbow and colored sugars.

Wrap with a triangle of saran wrap, ribbon, cut saran wrap back add clip art. Which was provided by Martha. We placed 3 in to a cone and thought we could elaborate it more with a ribbon handle.
This made about 50 pieces. We had to cut bamboo skewers. I like the white lolly pop sticks for handing out and I would like the thick wooden sticks for at home use.
Next time, animals!

Grabbing Buttons

OK, so now that I have had a few weeks on and off gathering information on bloggers and websites. I have decided I like the blogger world for now. It's a place to be crafty and it's my place. I have notice many bloggers have buttons. So if you have a very cool blogger I plan on adding your button. Wish me luck as this is a new water's for me.
Erin as you are my only follower, you are first! Erin can you please tell me if you get a notice that I have edited my post here? Thanks HUN!
Ok I just added my first button. What do you think? Erin this is so just for you, can you tell? xoxox

Give away from Forty Toes & Night Owl Boutique

Check it out!!! Click on this link to see!
http://momof40toes.blogspot.com/2011/05/giveaway-for-night-owl.html