The Latest

Happy 4th!  Okay, I'm a day late.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday.  I would love to tell you that I partied the weekend away but sadly, nope.  Nothing like that.  Homebody that I am, I stayed VERY close to home.  I never left... except to go to the grocery store yesterday.  Amelia has been away since Thursday, enjoying some time with her Grandma and Grandpa in New Hampshire.  She will be home sometime this afternoon.  My husband worked most of the weekend because he could.  I, on the other hand, watched a bunch of junk on TV and sewed.  The neighbors did invite us over yesterday to watch fireworks and while I was very gung-ho about going in the afternoon, come time after dinner to head out... I fell asleep on the couch.  My husband went alone.

I have been busy sewing.  Here are a few things that I finished up.  First up is a beach bag for Punkie.  PLEASE keep in mind that I did not... I repeat... I DID NOT... pick out the fabrics that are used in this bag.  Punkie did.  It's her bag and she will be pleased to see it all together today.  It was a WIP when she left.

Lovely, isn't it?

Next is a Pinwheel Charm Tote for one of the hairdressers where I go.  She's been wanting one since March and I left it up to her to cruise the internet and find fabrics that she liked.  When she told me she couldn't decide and left that chore up to me, I couldn't decide either!  This is what I went with:

Dream On by Urban Chicks

Dream On by Urban Chicks

Last up... table runner with my Sanibel scraps.  The table runner pattern is available within the Sweet Pea quilt top pattern.  I thought it would be a good size for my table or my china hutch.  Not sure how I'm going to quilt this one yet.

Come back soon.  I've been playing with my embroidery arm of my sewing machine.  I'll have to show you what I made.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Getting that To Do list down!

Another thing off my list!  WOOHOOOO!!  You don't know how happy that makes me feel.  2 more "must do's" and then I can go back to doing things that I've set aside.

This is for my SIL for her birthday.  Okay, her birthday was a month ago and she request a bag almost a year ago but that's fine.  :)

I like how this one came together.  Came together rather quickly.  I made myself the largest size (the pattern has instructions for 6 different sizes) and I found it's way too big.  Now that I'm seeing this one; this one is better fitted for what I would use it for.  Hmmmmm, another tote bag in my future?!  LOL!

ONLY thing I would do differently is use another color for the "C" stitching.  You can't really see it.  I should have used white or a lighter blue.  I wanted to but I debated with myself and the darker blue won.

I'm excited to have only a few more things left on my list that I HAVE to do.  Then I can work on my FQS BOM blocks and Amelia's pillow shams for her quilt.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

It's a Party!

A charm party.  A Charm Party Tote in all its cherry glory.  I started this bag last Spring and for whatever reason, I put it aside.  Maybe I thought the fabric was too much to look at.  Maybe I got tired of it.  Maybe something else came along.  Who knows.  I don't remember but I pulled it out of my WIP basket a couple of days ago and got it finished today.

One thing I did different was make the handles longer.  I don't like short handles.  If I'm carrying a bag, I want to carry it on my shoulder comfortably.

It's cute.  I like it.  Great for toting things around this Summer.

View #1

View #2

Lining...

Amelia and I had a play date this afternoon.  My good friend from high school and her daughter.  We went over to their house and hung out all afternoon.  It was nice to just sit, relax and chat while the girls played.  We had a good time and can't wait to get together again.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!
Jen :)

Tote Mania!

How was everyone's Thanksgiving holiday? Good I hope. Ours was very nice. Spent most of the weekend away from home so today, I'm tired but it's back to work time!

I was off from work starting at Noon on Tuesday last week so I did get some sewing done on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. I'll show you what I was working on.

These are the Claire totes that I did for my Mom and my MIL for Christmas from Punkie. These aren't my Mom's thing but I figured she could carry her lunch it in for work.

After getting all the bits and pieces cut, the tote goes together fairly quickly.

Here's a shot of the inside of one. Love all the pockets!


And MY tote. I started this one back in September but put it aside to work on Christmas projects. I had time on Wednesday afternoon and it was pretty much done. I just had to join the outer piece and the lining together so I got my own tote done. LOVE IT!

Pattern is the Bring Your Own Bag II from Whistlepig Creek and it's really big. Good size for an overnight bag. This one has lots of pockets too. I added a snap at the top as well.

The machine embroidered "J" is from SWAK Embroidery. The WPCreek pattern has you make a circle and then applique a letter in the center but I wanted to be different. And I'm glad I did my own thing.

I brought my bag with me to Thanksgiving dinner to show it off and my SIL wants one, just a little smaller. So after the holidays, I will make her one.

I also worked on another project yesterday that went really quick. I need to take its picture and I'll show you.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Birthday/C-Word Gifts

I will not mention the dreaded "C" word but it's fast coming upon us. I have two cousins (sisters) that both have birthdays in December (a day apart from each other) and the birthdays fall two weeks before the dreaded "C" word.

They admire the few totes that I've made for myself so I thought this year, I would make them each one as a combined birthday/C-word gifts. I'm also going to make them each a pink Yankees fleece blanket since they are both Yankees fans AND I stumbled upon the pink Yankees fleece at my local "we have everything" fabric mill store. I searched and searched for the pink fleece over the summer with the blanket idea. Come to find out, they had discontinued it. But I found it so I bought 4 yards of it. I digress... back to totes...

Kris made some very cute totes over the summer that I really liked. One is in her blog header that I totally copied but she knew in advance so it's okay ;) and another called the "Practical Bag" that she shared the pattern with me.

Here's my Cotton Blossom pinwheel charm tote for Cousin #1. I too left off the cuff from the original pattern. The tote looks MUCH better without it. I also added a magnetic snap and I forgot to do the inner pocket! Oh well. Who's gonna know?!


Next up... the awesomely purple (but you can't tell from the picture) Practical Bag for Cousin #2.

The purple fabrics that I used are awesome. They remind me of the color of grape Kool Aid.

And since I loved the pinwheel tote so much, I made one for myself! I used a Hushabye charm pack. I used the tote on an outing on Saturday and got lots of compliments on it. Again, I added a magnetic snap and forgot to add the inner pocket.


Here are all three together.

I've decided to make two more totes as gifts. From Punkie to the Grandmas. I picked Claire from Lazy Girl Designs. I figured my mom can use it as a lunch tote and my MIL can use it as a tote/purse. I bought my fabrics for it over the weekend and started cutting all the pieces out. I'm going to start those this week (I hope).

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

(Somewhat) Instant Gratification

My vacation is over. Punkie is home. And I'm very happy because I was missing her terribly and getting a little bored with my free time. I will say that every mom friend that I talked to over the week who asked me where Punkie was were a bit jealous that I got that free time. And that Amelia was willing to spend all that time away from home with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm glad I started farming her out to spend nights at the grandparents' homes when she was 3 months old - and that they were willing to take her. She's very well adjusted like that. LOVES to go on vacation. But she was VERY happy to be home and back with her Mama and Daddy.

I got some work done on my various projects while she was gone. I'm half way through with sewing the binding on the pinwheels, I cut some of the Clementine FQs for my SIL's quilt, I did some machine embroidery - which was a COMPLETE disaster. I'm so sad. But I did some more machine embroidery practice and came up with another project for myself. I'll talk about that in the next couple of days.

I did start and finish a project yesterday and I LOVE it! I bumped into the bag on Gudrun's blog... after all, it is her pattern. It's called the Strip to the Beach tote and it's HUGE! Wide and deep. I love it and I can't wait to use it. I went and ordered the pattern book from the Fat Quarter Shop, along with my Oh-Cherry-Oh jelly roll and got started yesterday.

Here's the bag...

And the inside...

I'm glad I did the red polka dot fabric on the inside. Breaks up the cherry look. The bag IS a bit obnoxious looking with all busy cherry fabrics and colors but for the summer... I don't care! I will make this bag again with a calmer look. Now that I know what the yardage is, I can go and buy some fabric and make my own 2.5 strips. I have the fabric in mind too. :) And I will make the handles a big longer for myself. Personal preference.

The bag is very easy to make. I started at 1:00 p.m. and finished at 9:45 p.m. with a 5 hour break when Amelia got home.

Well, I need to get my pasta salad made for a picnic we're going to in a bit. Enjoy your day!

Jen

My Latest Projects...

Just a couple of things to show you today. First off is the tote that I took a "class" on. A friend of mine took the class a couple of years ago and then she taught me. It's cute. I've been using it as my laptop bag just to get some use out of it. I'm not liking the aqua anymore. When I first decided to make the bag, I had planned on using a pair of lighter denim jeans for the pocket and handle. Then I decided to use the darker pair. I think a darker blue fabric versus the aqua would look better with the red and cherry fabrics. Oh well. I'll just make another one!



Speaking of the cherry fabric... I LOVE how it looks with the denim so much that I'm going to make a cute little jumper for Amelia out of denim and use the cherry fabric as a ruffle accent. My friend has to show me how to do that too. I bought a couple of patterns. Just need to decide on one, buy the fabric and get to creating!

Next up, fabric Easter baskets. I love how these came out. I hope the recipients like them too.

Here's one filled with some Easter goodies...

I am working on some gift items. I'm putting together a pinwheel wallhanging for my best friend's daughter's first birthday and I'm going to make a couple of table runners for Mother's Day - if I get motivated and get cracking on them!

That's all for now.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Making Progress...

While on my weekend getaway in New Hampshire, I brought my sewing machine along so that I can get some projects done. One of those projects is the polka dot and ric-rac swap that Sharon is hosting. These items aren't completely finished but I really like how they came out.Pretty simple actually. I bought some black ric-rac yesterday to add to the white kitchen towel. I need to embellish the jelly bag some how. I'm kicking around some ideas in my head. I just haven't decided what it's going to be. That jelly bag is very easy to make. I was surprised. I got it done in a couple of hours. The pattern has bags in 5 different sizes and says that you can use a whole jelly roll to make all 5. I made the large size. I need to work on sewing a curved line but I don't think I did half bad. Not sure what I'm going to put in it for the swap. This is the pattern. I brought 4 different bag/tote patterns with me because I could not decide which one I wanted to do for the swap. Just knew I wanted to do a bag. This one won the coin toss. I like the kitchen towels so much, I'm going to make some for myself. And I'm going to start making some for little gifts for Christmas next year.

I have other little things to add to for the swap that I've been collecting. I have to pull everything out and decide when to stop shopping and collecting!

I will show the crayon/coloring bags that I've been working on in a few days. I have to get the handles on one of them and it will be completely finished. My plan is to work on that this weekend. I also have a child's small chair that I'm going to re-finish and decorate as Marsha is my new inspiration for all things decoupaged!

That's all. Enjoy the rest of your day!

Jen :)