maggiebsmocks

Tutorials on YouTube by Children's Corner

Every once in a while, a great thing comes along that I have to share with my readers.

Lezette from the Children's Corner has posted video tutorials about common techniques used in Children's Corner Patterns. Here is the link:

http://www.childrenscornerinc.com/videos.html

Enjoy!

maggieb!

New SMOCKING Classes

Sometimes I can have an idea, put it to fabric and YIPPYSKIPPY, first try, it comes out just as I imagined it should be. Those projects are what you usually see here on the blog. 

Class projects are another thing. Developing classes is like giving birth. They take months to grow and develop. First I mull the idea over in my head. Then I put the idea to paper in the form of drawings. THEN...I stitch. I make samples. I stitch on doodle cloths. I try various colors. I try different brands of thread. I use different weights of thread. I try different fabrics for each project until the right one hits me. And then I finally whittle the idea down into a project to be taught in 3 or 6 hours. Bear in mind, the whole thing doesn't need to be completed in the alotted time, just the lessons shared. Having taught smocking and embroidery for years, I understand the process. Yet, coming up with new, interesting twists on age old techniques is a challenge. 

However, I feel like my Fantastic Fibers, Fun Stitches classes have focused my lessons just where I want them to be. I try to encourage stitchers of all techniques to branch out of their normal. By giving a class using a new fiber or stitch or using them in a different way, I hope to broaden my student's repertoire. 

I have submitted three classes to SAGA  Smocking Arts Guild of America

for approval toward Artisan Points. I will keep my fingers crossed they get approved!

Keep smocking, Friends!

maggieb!

AND THE WINNER IS....

LISA!!!!

Congratulations!!!

Thank you to all who entered my little blog contest to celebrate my 15K visit to the blog! The latest number is 15,594!

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day. Lew scored fairly well. He tries to

outdo me when FD and my birthday fall on the same Sunday. Needless to say, *I* scored better. I have gift certificates, cards and even flowers from my sweet Sonny & Beth. It WAS a very nice day!

Keep smocking!

maggieb!

One last entry to share!

I'm posting the final entry then MissEm will draw a name from a hat of the entries.

Hi Maggie,
I just found your blog and I love it! I have been sewing since I was 10. I taught myself to smock at 10 from a book and have enjoyed it ever since. Here is a recent creation, Kay Guiles "Amy" pattern in size 10. I made it for one of my daughters. 

The fabrics are cotton cherry fabric and red & white microcheck. I'd like to enter your contest. Thank you for the inspiration you provide on your blog!
Lisa

Lisa! This is one of my favorite patterns for play tops! I love your version of Amy.  WAY TO GO teaching yourself to smock at such a tender age! 

maggieb!

More contest entries for the drawing on June 21!

Judy submitted an adorable sun suit for a special granddaughter. I love the browns & pinks!

 Judy admits to smocking several bishops, but doesn't have any pictures. 

Judy, I have learned to take pictures now since most times I don't get a picture of a child in a maggie-made. 

Another entry arrived today:

I just discovered your blog! I am sending a picture of an outfit I smocked for my grandson last Easter. Now he the big brother of twin sisters, and I am excited to begin smocking for them. There are SO (should I have said, SEW) many possibilities for little girls! 

This outfit was smocked with Barnyard Friends plate- a plate I used to smock a bubble suit for my son 24 years ago. I look forward to reading your tips as I rediscover the joy of smocking. Thank you!

Donna

Donna, welcome back to smocking! I have a 26 year old son who wore smocking. But I have to agree, his little sister had many more smocked pieces ;)

Good luck to all! Just a couple more days to get an entry in at maggiebsmocks.blog@gmail.com

keep smocking!

maggieb!

Drawing Entries

Three entries so far! You have until noon on June 21 to send me a picture to share with my readers. Please make sure the file is under 1mb. I will put the names in a hat and have my own MissEmily draw the winner. I'll announce the winner Sunday evening after Father's Day festivities.

You are entering to win a ready to smock bishop, size 3 months up to 24 months/2, matching floss and an older copy of the Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazine.

From Julie:

it was you and your bishop pleating lesson that helped me finally crack the correct way to pleat a bishop (and believe me I have made many, many bishops before I finally got it).

 

This bishop was made for a friend in the DBE (Daughter's of the Britsh Empire-you can read all about them on their website www.dbesociety.org). Each Christmas we have a Christmas party and fund raiser which is a silent auction. Last Christmas I donated my time and materials to make a dress. I limited the type of dress, fabric choices and smocking design to make my life a little easier! Anyway the winner of the silent auction chose the bishop in blue and I smocked it using 'Peyton' making cast on flowers in place of all the bullions. The dress was for Easter and the little granddaughters second birthday. Everyone loved it!

Jules, I am thrilled to have helped your bishops along. As I like to point out, I did NOT create the fine French seam-pleater groove- concept but I am happy to pass it along to everyone!

Karen says:

It was a hard choice between Emily's Christmas dress and Easter dress so I will send both and you can choose which one to include or include both.  I attached several pictures of both dresses because I couldn't decide!

 

Her Christmas dress is a smocked collar on a yoke dress.  The pattern is Collar's Etc. Yoke Dress 1, the smocking pattern is from a Wee Care pattern someone gave me.  The collar is made from 7" Swiss Embroidery that I cut down to 5in and then pleated.  The dress is made from high quality velvet.

Karen, your sweet baby girl is adorable in both dresses. This is the entry because it was a jpg file and the other was a bmp. For some reason typepad only likes jpg files. How is that for decision making? hahaha

So far...we have a third entry:

Becky's stunning quilt!

My first love is smocking and heirloom sewing but being between children and grandchildren, I've been trying my hand at quilting.  I made this little wall-hanging as a gift to the couple who gave us the use of their home and garden for my daughter's wedding.  It's made from Michael Miller fabrics - one of their kits - but I varied a little bit.  It's called Latte Log Cabin. 

 

I just realized I don't have a good picture of it finished.  But here's hoping if I'm a winner, that will get me back into smocking!  I've bookmarked your site and see that there will be lots of help for me when I get out my pleater again.  I love the close-ups of the pleater techniques.  It's so hard to relearn those things.

Becky I will be here when you are ready to start smocking again!

Thanks to all my faithful readers! There is still time to enter!

maggieb!

15K + visits to the blog

THANK YOU! for visiting maggiebsmocks on typepad. To celebrate, I am hosting a drawing. 

WIN: a ready to smock bishop dress, choose size 3 months through 2 years, embroidery floss and a copy of AS&E from days gone by.

ENTER: send me a picture of something you have sewn in the past year. It can be anything! Include your name, location and a little bit of information about the project. The only catch is that I may post it on my blog as inspiration to guests. I'll be happy to include a referral to your website or blog if you wish.

EMAIL: maggiebsmocks.blog@gmail.com

RANDOM DRAWING: I'll type up all the entries and have someone draw a name out of a hat to choose a winner. Everyone has equal opportunity to win so no need to worry that your piece will be compared to anyone. We are ALL special in our work!

The drawing will be held on June 21, my birthday! (provided I am in VA...still no date for Mom's next cardiac procedure.) If I miss the 21st, it will be as soon as I return to VA.

Happy smocking!

maggieb!

OOOPPPSSSIEEE! I forgot the 's' at the end of maggiebsmocks in the address. The email is up and running, you shouldn't have any trouble now. Thanks, for pointing this out! 

mag

14,998

visitors, give or take a few compliments of sitemeter, lol.

I just returned from Ohio, give me a couple days to get the milestone celebration arranged.

Mom is doing well, taking it far easier than she ever has wanted to do. Thank goodness she is is paying attention to her body and resting! Thank you for all of your thoughts & prayers.

Keep smocking!

maggieb!

How to Insert a Pleater Needle

You know the old saying, a picture says a thousand words. If you have more questions, just ask!

For reference, the pictures in this post are using a Super Amanda Jane Smocking Pleater. The pleater is mounted on a unique pleater box that carries the threads on spools, please disregard the box.

First PLEATER NEEDLES look odd.  They are bent to allow shaping around the pleater rollers.

I store my extra pleater needles in a small zip top bag. It is OK to leave extra needles in the pleater when not in use. I take mine out because I pleat so many different things.

To prevent the needles from falling out of the pleater when you remove the holding roller, place a small object under the front of the pleater.   

I like to use a spare spool of thread.

Remove the holding pin at each end of the holding bar. The Amanda Jane pleaters have a pin that removes easily. Other pleaters have a small screw that needs to be turned to remove a tiny plate holding the roller in place.

      

Remove the pins from both ends of the holding roller.

Gently lift the holding roller from the pleater. The needles should stay in place with the spool of thread tilting the body back.

Insert the shaped needle around the pleater roller.

Move the needles as required then replace the holding roller and pins or screws.

Carrot cake

Carrot cake...mmmm yumyumyum

A couple years ago I was on a quest to find the best carrot cake recipe. I pulled a few cook books and started to read. Being familiar with scratch cake recipes, I picked three options.

I baked all three recipes...one right after the other. I numbered the cakes and recipes and made people vote. I took one-quarter of each cake to each of two neighbors, one-quarter of each to my favorite mechanic and the last group was for us. This was voted the Best Carrot Cake recipe. It is moist and cake-like, not dense like a fruit cake as some carrot cakes tend to be.

The most important ingredient of carrot cake is of course, freshly grated carrots. Be sure to buy the full sized carrots, not those little nubs of carrots that are just buzzed down versions of the big guys.   I know, grating carrots is messy. Trust me, I know! So I buy the five pound bag and grate a whole bunch at one time. Peel the entire bag and cut off the top and bottom ends.

My trusty old, as in twenty-five year old JCPenny food processor, is perfect for making quick work of grating 5 pounds of carrots. 

And why on earth do I shred five pounds of carrots at once? Because it is messy and I want to clean up messes as little as possible. And grated carrots freeze well!   I put them in two cup containers by Ziplock and toss them in the freezer. Now I have grated carrots anytime I need to whip up a cake to take to someone.

Now on to the baking! Gather all of your ingredients before you start to bake.

NOTE: there is a missing ingredient in this photo!

Cinnamon is missing. 

Be sure to choose a pan too! 

HINT: I spray my pan with flour/baking spray before adding the batter.

I have a fun collection of Bundt pans for baking. I have found the rose one shown here is good for a generous portion of cream cheese frosting. Some people think they should skip the cake and just have the frosting. Who am I to disagree?

Finally! On to THE BEST CARROT CAKE RECIPE!

Add ingredients in this order:

1 1/3 Cups vegetable oil

4 Large eggs

2 Cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 1/2 Cups flour (divided) add half

1 Cup (1 8oz can) crush pineapple with liquid

add the second half of the flour after the pineapple has been added

Stir these two in by hand:

3/4-1 Cup chopped walnuts

2 Cups shredded carrots

Bake at 340 - 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean. Baking times will vary greatly by oven and pan style. HINT: never open the oven door until you smell the cake. It isn't going to be even close until the scent is in the air.

Remove the cake from the baking pan 10 minutes after removing from the oven to prevent sticking to the pan.

Allow the cake to cool, but not all the way. The frosting is going to set better on a slightly warm cake. I know this isn't what your home ec teacher told you. But it works, trust me.

At last! The CREAM CHEESE FROSTING!

Again, gather your ingredients ahead of time. I pull my cold items from the 'fridge when the cakes come out of the oven to give them time to soften.

Hint: real vanilla extract tastes so much better than imitation. Spend the extra for the good stuff.

Blend these in the mixer:

4 oz cream cheese, slightly softened

1/4 Cup butter 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pound Confectioner's sugar

milk, enough to smooth the frosting, usually 1-2 tablespoons 

Enjoy!

Recipe variations: as you may have noticed, there is a lot of oil in this recipe. I have found that substituting one individual serving of applesauce (3.9 oz container) is ok. It does not change the flavor nor texture of the cake. If you substitute all the oil with applesauce, the texture changes too much to be a traditional carrot cake.

mmmmcarrotkeck!

maggieb!