by Sherri Sylvester | Oct 13, 2015
This weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving. We feasted on turkey, ham, sweet potatoes – and this gorgeous scenery! My in-laws live near this river and every year we take a walk (or climb for the kids!) to see the salmon making their way upstream. And to see the changing colours of the leaves. Makes me glad that I live in a climate with four seasons.
I was also reminded to be thankful because this blog reached two social media milestones. The Thread Riding Hood Facebook page now has over 2000 likes, and Instagram has reached more than 1000 followers! I am so blessed to be surrounded by such an amazing group of creative sewers, and humbling to have this many people excited to see what I do on a regular basis.
Thank you so much for following along!
I took some time yesterday to pull out some stash and make two giveaway bundles that I will be giving away to try to say “Thanks!” Make sure you are following along, I will be posting how you can win the bundles on Instagram and Facebook, Wednesday October 14, 2015. (Hint: It is made up of 6 solid fat quarters + 6 matching fat eighths + a cute surprise!)
In other news, I am also really excited to be going to my first blogger conference this weekend! Yippeeeee! I am going with a friend (Joanna from Nesting Story) to find out all I can about how to make this blog better and I cannot wait! We are going to be at the Blissdom Canada conference starting this Thursday. If you follow along on Facebook and Instagram for the giveaway information, you can also see some of what I’m up to.
For all of you in the Toronto area, I cannot forget to mention that you should all be going to Creativ Festival this coming weekend! It took me a while to decide which to choose when I realized both Creativ and Blissdom were the same weekend. Thankfully I know I will be at the Spring Creativ Festival, so I will see you there instead. Say “Hi” to my sponsors for me! Lots of them will be there in person – so stash away, stash away, stash away all! (Is it too early to make a Christmas reference?!)
by Sherri Sylvester | Oct 7, 2015
If you were on a desert island with a sewing machine, an iron and unlimited amounts of fabric… (pause, just imagine it for a second! Sounds good right?!… ok, back to real life…) Which essential items would you choose to put in your sewing box?
Answer: I’d choose 16 things, and they are all in my latest Bluprint post! Find out if your desert island list matches mine…
Sew, what do you think? What have I missed that you would have included?
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 15, 2015
Looking though some of my photos today, I stumbled on these I took of my youngest in May. She had decided it was important to sew some clothes for the tiny teddy bear we picked up at the grocery store. I couldn’t resist posting them today. (While I’m getting over my head-cold-turned-chest-cold, argh!)
That afternoon in May was the day I decided she needed a sewing machine. Her attention to detail and dedication to hand sewing everything was so fun to see. Who knew a 4 year old could sit still for so long with fabric and a needle and thread! She seems to know how a flat piece of fabric will fit on a 3-dimensional object. And, while I “drafted” the skirt and serged the raw edges to make her life simpler, the sewing was all her. And she loves it!
Hand sewing has always seemed “the slow way” to me, because of that I have always shown my kids how to use a machine, since that’s what I would do! Turns out, maybe they are showing me that the slow way is better. I did relax and enjoy doing some visible mending on my jeans recently. I’m learning (slowly) as my kids grow up and are more self sufficient, that faster is not always better – and to take it easy when you can, not to stress about the little things so much.
I do have to stress, though – that I am NOT good at not stressing. That lesson is going to take me a long, long time! We ended up making a “dress” for teddy as well, a bit later on. And the task was met with the same dedication. Now, even though she has her own machine, she will still ask me if she can hand sew some things, a good reminder for me to let go and slow down!
What do you think? Do you enjoy hand sewing, or machine sewing better?
P.S. I would highly recommend seeing the Imagination Movers in concert if you are able. They were really well put together and so personable. (Not sponsored, we just love them!)
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 3, 2015
As promised! Please pick from these popular (at my house) sewing machine names for the Janome Skyline S5 I’m using. Thanks so much to everyone for your suggestions – it was so hard to narrow the list down to these 6 options. I even had to poll my family to decide!
Oooohhh I can’t wait to see what wins! (edit: the poll is closed, find the winner here)
[polldaddy poll=9059934]
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 30, 2015
Today you can enter to win this Torn and Frayed Kit, the Revival Issue from Cannonball Collective!
I posted my experience with this subscription box a few weeks ago. I’ve been wearing my revived jeans everywhere since and love them so much more now! All of the box contents are still sitting in their tin box (less the Merchant and Mills, which are out for use!). They are waiting for the next mending job – and there will be one I’m sure!
A few days later I got an email from Cannonball Collective asking if I’d like to give one away. Eeek, YES! I love being able to share the fun with you! This kit is so much fun and is filled with super high quality sewing gear. Hello Merchant and Mills, Moco thread, Japanese fabric and more!
I mentioned before that the kit comes with $10 off cards towards the subscription and I want to give one to you! Cannonball Collective is mailing more to me and I’m sending them anywhere internationally! If you are ordering the kit please let me know so I can send you one. (I will update this post to let you know when they have been taken. The subscription is $95 US every quarter and Cannonball Collective ships internationally. Send emails to: sherri at threadridinghood dot com)
This giveaway is open to Canadian and US readers, from August 30 – September 6, 2015 at midnight EST. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, you can use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 19, 2015
I have a problem with Pinterest – it causes me to want to do ALL THE THINGS. You know what I mean right?! The likelihood of my ever finishing all of my pins is currently somewhere in the “never in a million years” range. Yikes! I recently got the chance to review an amazing subscription box and accomplish a bucket list project, so I took it… and now I get to share a fun new product with you today. (Disclaimer: Cannonball Collective sent me this kit in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own – as usual. This truly was a great experience.)
I’ve been seeing a ton of visible mending happening on the interwebs lately. Along with an increased focus on hand mending, hand sewing, slow sewing – reusing and recycling fabrics. When I got an email from Cannonball Collective asking if I would like to try out their Revival Issue, Torn and Frayed Cannonball Kit… I thought it was a great way to get to do some visible mending. But I have to admit it was the chance to use these Merchant and Mills products that made me say “Yes, Please!”
I got the box sooner than expected, Canadian shipping usually takes longer when things come here from the US. Great start! It was soooo hard to wait for the right sunny day to open the box and get some good photos. Unpacking it I wondered how I got to be so fortunate as to have all of these great quality sewing products landing in my mailbox. Fabulous Japanese sourced fabrics, thread and a super well designed ‘zine full of great inspiration – they call it “ignition” which is a great word for it! There’s even gum (melon flavoured) from Japan included just for fun.
I’m a sucker for marketing and branding – how things look – and this ticks all the boxes. It looks amazing and is well thought through. Best part is this box is all about visible mending. I’ve been looking for an opportunity to fix my favorite jeans. They got a huge hole in the knee and I think everyone was tired of seeing me walk around in them – plus my knee got cold in the winter. One bucket list project down! #check
I took an afternoon out recently to explore the box and fix my favorite comfy jeans. The mini magazine included was full of inspiration, so instead of searching online for ideas like I usually do, I turned to it instead. No screens! So I sat with my melon flavoured gum, reading an inspiring interview with Luke Deverell from Darn and Dusted and taking in photo after photo of amazing visible mending. (Oh, and the Imagination Movers in the background… yup, kids…)
The experience was a lot of fun and I found out that machine sewing doesn’t relax me. I love creating, but I’m too much of a hurry to be done and see the final product! With this hand-stitching it was totally different, concentrating on each stitch – the length of them, where to put them… I was inspired by the halo of stars you see over a cartoon characters head when they get hurt. So… the giant hole in my pants is surrounded by stars too. There’s also a star and a few cross-stitches on the side of my jeans – around the hip area where they were pulling apart. We won’t talk about why the hip area might be getting tight though, got me?! #reallife #momlife
You all know by now how much I like to know the story-behind-the-story. Going back again to my Pinterest comment – this kit gives you an actual experience. Cannonball Collective sends out kits with everything you need to create, to make it easy for you! Here’s what they have to say:
“We believe there is a strong desire for good, solid, interesting, inspiring, and entertaining storytelling, particularly delivered digitally. But while it’s fun to discover and learn through reading about stuff, actually doing the stuff takes you that extra mile.” ~ Cannonball Collective Founders Story
Does ordering this subscription and getting a new experience every quarter sound fun to you? The kit came to me with two $10 off cards, and I want to share the love. I will personally mail them out anywhere internationally. So, if you are serious about ordering the subscription they will go to the first two people to email me with their address – and I will update this post to let you know when they have been taken. (The subscription is $95 US every quarter and Cannonball Collective ships internationally. Send emails to: sherri at threadridinghood dot com)
Reader Feedback:Have you tried visible mending?
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