Who knew that the scrapbooking business had it's own holiday?! Today is International Scrapbooking Industry Day. (It's also National Grammar Day, so I'll be sure to proof this blog twice.) In honor of the day I've pulled something from one of my moving boxes, a stitched scrapbook page using photos from the days when I was a singer in a band. (Bet ya didn't know that, either!) In keeping with our girl group theme, and with a nod to the textile industry, we were The Fabulous Acrylix ;)

I created with page with scraps of fabric, buttons, and clear vinyl, couched metallic cords, and a rotary cutter with a wavy blade. Stitched on my faithful BERNINA sewing machine, of course. Click here for instructions for the techniques I used to create this page.

Do you remember your first sewing project? The first time I remember stitching pieces of fabric together with needle and thread was in Brownies, when we made a Santa Claus ornament out of felt and cotton balls. And I made a yellow gingham apron in 4-H - gingham because it's easy to fold and stitch straight lines ;) But this - which I came across while unpacking still more boxes - is the first real garment I made, from an actual pattern with pieces and instructions.

I was around 11 years old, still in 4-H, and still remember going fabric shopping for "kettle cloth." I'm still not sure where "kettle" comes from, but it's a woven cotton fabric that's easy to work with and presses well. I made this on the sewing my parents bought in 1965 - a Riccar that came free with the purchase of a $79 sewing cabinet. It went forward and backward - straight stitch only - no zigzag - and it's what I sewed on until I was 12 or 13. All of my seam allowances are straight stitched 1/4" from the raw edge, then hand-overcast - miles and miles of hand-sewing, that took forever! Now I zip right along on my BERNINA and Overlock Foot #2, or - better yet - use my serger to trim and overcast at the same time. But I did a good job, even with so much hand-sewing, and won a purple ribbon at the county fair :)

What was your first project? I've been asking some of my friends, and will be posting some of their stories over the next few weeks.

It's almost 2008 - what sewing projects do you have planned for the new year? My resolution is to organize my sewing space(s). I moved almost four months ago, and still have boxes stacked in my sewing room - boxes of thread, bins of fabric, bags of trim & lace, containers of sewing tools and presser feet - there's a lot of stuff. Erika redid her sewing room about a month ago and it looks great! She's my inspiration, but I think her space might be bigger than mine; maybe it just looks larger because she has it so organized! I have two tiny (8' x 9') bedrooms for my office and sewing room, plus space in the garage for sewing machine boxes, and under the kitchen counter for fabric (I needed something to fill in the space where the dishwasher used to be). Hmmm... I think I'm going to have to take over some of the guest room, too. I've found a plan that might work for me: The Domestic Diva started a Sewing Room Organization Challenge about 6 months ago, and her plan of action and storage suggestions seem like they'd help corral and keep my - ahem - extensive collections in order. Today she posted another in the series, this one on organizing notions - with dozens of ideas for those of us who are organizationally challenged. More on my 2008 sewing resolutions later. What are your sewing resolutions for 2008?