Preparing

I am preparing for busy times ahead.  There was a lot of cutting going on today... not by me, though.  

My husband once again has come through by helping me cut fabric.  I have been blessed with many many MANY orders in the last several days.  Having his help is priceless.  

Zoe is now going to school 4 days a week instead of 2.  *Shey*[B] has just become full time.  For now.  Zoe loves going to school.  It's a small place in a woman's garage.  She completely remodeled her garage for the children she watches and teaches.  It's quite amazing really.  I am feeling very very blessed, loved, and overwhelmed with everyone's kindness and support.  

I have some good stuff coming up this week for you all.  I have been overwhelmed by how many of you liked my post about starting a business.  So... I am going to make it a regular topic... or a series if you will.  If there are any more questions you might have, go ahead and leave them here in the comments.  I am also trying to talk my husband into doing a guest post on here.  Some of you have asked about technical stuff, and since he is a software developer, he is more adequate at answering those types of questions.

Thank you SO much to those of you that have voted for my blog over at The Lovelies!!  As The Pioneer Woman would say, I love you more n my luggage.  :)  If you haven't voted yet, you still can.  Click here to do so.  Thank you, friends!

I truly hope your weekend was full of fun, love, and creativity!  

P.S. New in my store...

Ruffler Foot Tutorial

I have had a lot of people request instruction on

how to use a ruffler foot on their sewing machine.

So, I am happily obliging that request

by providing a tutorial.

First of all... if you don't have a ruffler foot...

you need one!  They're amazing in every way!

Have your sewing machine ready?

Yes, the above is my new sewing machine.  :)  

OK, here we go...

First thing you need to do is remove the boot & the foot

on your sewing machine... like so:

Say hello to the ruffler foot...

I assure you it's saying hello back.  :)

OK.  See this screw below?  The screw that essentially

holds the needle in place?

Good.  Now see this part of the ruffler foot...

it looks like a wrench ...

OK.  The wrench looking piece needs to

go onto the screw that holds the needle.

Basically, it looks like that wrench piece is grabbing the screw.

Like so:

OK.  Now, once that wrench looking piece

is "grabbing hold" of the screw that holds the needle

{I have no idea what it's called... can you tell}

then the ruffle foot will have no choice but to

end up wrapped around where the boot would normally go.

If that makes no sense, email me.

I couldn't get a good picture.

Anyway... the ruffler foot comes with a long screw

like this one:

Tighten the screw.  Make sure that ruffler foot is on their

nice and snug.  But don't over tighten, or you

could accidentally strip the screw.

It will look like this:

We are almost ready to make ruffles!

But not quite yet.

See this?

This "tells" the foot how often to make a ruffle.

Now you need to decide how much you want

your fabric ruffled.

Once you decide that, you're ready to sew!  :)

There is a little slot in this foot.

That is where you put your fabric in.

If you don't, it will only sew.  There will be no ruffle making.

Ok.  So as pictured above.  Slide the fabric in the slot, and

push it up and under the "claw".  I push mine all the way until

the fabric is right under the needle.

Now... start sewing, and watch the magic happen.

Because I assure you.  It's quite magical!

Told you.  :)

A couple things I recommend...

Make sure your bobbin is FULL before

putting the ruffler foot on.  Just trust me.

Make sure your bobbin is loaded correctly.

Or your machine will throw up

bobbin thread at you.  Trust me on this one too.

Make sure your needle lines up above the

opening in the foot, or your

needle with jam and wrap around your fabric.

Resulting is a broken needle and frustration.

Again, trust me once more!

How much are ruffler feet?

For the Singer they're anywhere from $15-$30

For Viking they're $80

Not sure about other machines.

Mine was $80.  And worth every. single. penny.

Come back and tell me if you tried

using a ruffler foot!

Better yet... share pictures of your projects!!  :)

Happy Sewing!

Back With Things To Share!!

OK, so I promised to share some 

fun things today, so here I am!

Here are a few pictures I took

of my girls today for Christmas 

Card pictures.  These ones aren't going to 

be used, but I love them anyway.

Now, I have been pretty allusive on Twitter

about this really great idea I found in 

the blogosphere...

So... here are the pictures...

The background is chalkboard FABRIC!

How cool is that????

Love it!

What do you think?

And... here is Angelina's quilt!

I just got it back from the long arm quilter!

Yipeeee!  It's fantastic, and I KNOW she will LOVE it!  ;)

OK!  Much to do!

Cooking dinner, putting away laundry

and SEWING SEWING SEWING!!

Night!

Missing In Action!

Hey friends!

I know I know. 

All you are hearing around

these parts are crickets.

So quiet on The Benner Daily.

Sorry for that.

I have been told that posts are

missed, and it's too quiet.

I will be back soon.

Tomorrow, in fact.  I have some

things to share.

For now, I will tell you

that to my surprise my shop, *Shey*[B] was

featured on DOOCE!!!

Wow!  I was in shock,

but was yelling, jumping, clapping

and squealing with delight.

If you don't know who Dooce is,

check out her blog.

She is a top 10 blogger.

She was on the Forbes list.

She. Is. Huge. in the blogging community.

I am so honored that she featured

my shop along with some others.

AMAZING!!

Anyway.  Back tomorrow!

For now... I have to sew massive

amounts of camera strap covers

by Saturday, so my posts won't be

many, but there will be some.  :)

The deadline to order for Christmas

has passed, but I added some

gift certificates to my shop

if  you're interested, click here.

Oh my, my, my!

Scroll down for this week's giveaway, or click here.

Today was a good day! The UPS man came!! Do you know what he brought for me? This beauty...

Oh! It turned out SO GOOD!!! Thank you to The Backporch Quilters!!! It's perfect!

Do you think they'll like it?

Incase you didn't know, I made this for my brother and his fiance. They are getting married this Sunday. I will be flying out to Oklahoma on Saturday to photograph their wedding.

I picked the heart design for this quilt... I figured it was a good choice considering it's a wedding gift to them from me and my family. ;)

Oh! I love it! There will be more quilts in my future!! :)

P.S. Scroll down for the sneak peak of a photo shoot I did last weekend.