Sunkissed Chubby Charmer and Goodies

My new tote is all done; except that I have to sew my turning hole closed... I love this bag!  It's huge.  It's going to make a great overnight travel bag for myself for a travel bag for Punkie to hold all her crap that she insists she "needs" when we travel by car.  I made the handles the length specified in the pattern but they are a tad too short for my liking.  Truth be told, I was just too lazy to cut another WOF to create a second handle piece so that I can cut it down to the right length.  My husband even got me a piece of Plexiglas for the bottom.  He just has to round out the corners a bit.  I'm afraid I would rip the lining.  It fits but it's a bit snug.  Don't want to create holes in my new bag!

tote with snapped sides

inside of bag.  Love the gray Sunkissed check!

And just to give a little more perspective on the bag's size, here is it sitting next to my iron.

I really like this tote and I would like to make another one to use as a beach bag with longer handles.  :)  I would make it a solid piece of fabric (not patchwork).

Last week I received some goodies in the mail from my blogger pal Kris.  I had admired the fabrics that she used in her apron that she made not too long ago and asked her what the line was called.  She surprised me and sent me some along with a super cute zippered pouch that I had to hide from Amelia.

love that card too!

AND I already know what I'm going to use with my new fabrics....

I'm going to make myself a Whimsy tote (lazy girl designs pattern).  I can't wait to get started.  I'm going to get the pattern all cut out today and fingers crossed!  by Sunday I hope to have another tote completed to show you.

And I should probably get back to working on my Bliss blocks and maybe my BOMs.  But oh.  Those can wait another week or so!

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

Friday Blog Post

I couldn't think of a cute blog title.  Friday Blog Post is all that I could come up with.

Slowly, I've been making tracks back into my sewing room.  I think part of my problem is that my mind is full of projects that I want to get done and then new projects I want to start.  Have you seen the Postage Stamp quilt along?  Well, the quilt along is now over but you know what?  I want to make one!  So now that is on my mind 24x7 but I haven't acted on it yet since I want to make it out of Sunkissed and I don't own a Sunkissed jelly roll.

About Sunkissed.  I'm a little disappointed in Moda's charm square production.  OH NO!  I am going to speak bad things about Moda!  Don't shoot me.  Just venting.  ;)  I bought 3 Sunkissed charm packs to use in some future something.  I hadn't decided yet.  Then I got the itch to make myself a new bag.  Something to use when traveling or for Punkie.  Sunkissed called my name.  And then I found a pattern in my ever-growing pattern stash.  The Chubby Charmer Tote.

I don't have any of the lining or handle yardage yet but I thought I could get started on the front and back charm panels.  I busted open 2 charm packs because I needed an odd number of charms for the pattern and I wanted to mix things up a bit.  Well, one of my charm packs had odd bits in it.  Like pieces of a charm square but not a whole charm square.  I ended up with 4 of them in one pack alone.  Did I count to see if I got even the right number of squares in my pack?  No because everything was all mixed up by then. AND my charms are all over the place with sizing.  Some are way big.  Much bigger than 5" and some are smaller.  So my piecing was a bit of a swearing showdown.  Some of my seams don't match.  This isn't the first time I've run into this either (both issues) but it's the first time I'm venting about it.  Moda is getting sloppy, in my opinion.

So here is my start.  After all is said and done, this is going to be a big tote.  I need to finish the second charm panel (2 more rows).  I started yesterday afternoon before heading out to my ceramics class and ran out of time.

Ready for some Bliss?  I've also been working (slowly) on my Disappearing 9 patch Bliss blocks.  I have decided for production reasons that I would make all the 9 patches first then make them disappear.  I'm sure many of you work that way (step A, step B...) but it takes me a while to figure these things out.  I'm usually a little late to the party.  LOL!  I also get very excited to see things emerge so I like to have everything done NOW.  It was getting to be a PITA to work one 9 patch block at a time so I changed gears.

There are 14 blocks here.  I need like 20-25 more.

I'm also working on some Valentine's Day gifts for my husband and Punkie.  They are getting pillowcases.  Chris can use his at the firehouse when he sleeps his 2 nights there and Punkie just loves pillowcases from Mama.  I will post those when they are done.

Enjoy your day!
Jen