Wristlets

Paige has asked me to make her a wristlet, so I took a look on the internet for a pattern. I bought this one from Oh, Fransson and let me tell you, it is fantastic. Such wonderful instructions, pictures and sewing methods.

Here is my first one, I don't think she will go for this fabric but I did want to practice first. Sorry for the less the desirable picture.

Here is the second one, much better. I used all sorts of fabric from my scrap bin and I am very pleased with this one.

I glued 2 buttons together, added a pin back - thought it needed a bit of decoration.

So if you are thinking about making a wristlet, go buy this pattern, you will not be disappointed. Take a look at the way she finishes the top around each end of the zipper, fabulous.

Paige is coming home this weekend, with her hubby, for my birthday. I will let her pick out some fabric and I will make another one that is just her style.

Now for exciting news around our house:

We have had this countdown on the chalkboard for 3 weeks, tomorrow is the big day. She is one excited girl.

I ordered several knits for Needle Nook Fabric today, yea, the garment sewing mojo is coming back.

McCall's 4836

I have had this McCall's pattern in my stash for quite sometime and finally I had time to sew this one.

I made the view with the green vine print and as always I made some changes.



This pattern calls for a zipper, but I did not have a 12" zipper, so I omitted that part. I do want to try it next time, the zipper closure would be a nice feature. Also, I did not gather the upper part of the bag, I used Peltex for stiffness and that just doesn't gather.

Here is the close-up of the flap and my decorative button. Two buttons hot-glued together.




Here is the entire bag - I wll lower the magnetic snap by 3/4" next time, the closure needs to be down a bit.



Overall, I am happy with this bag, the fabric is wonderful. I made a wristlet tonight and started on a second one. Pictures tomorrow.

Now off to look at fabric online, it is finally a bit cooler and I can start thinking about garment sewing.

Oh, You Sew?..... Can you do this?

All those that have heard that question, raise your hand! Well, I am serging and embroidering 22 fleece blankets for the softball team. The twins play, so they just didn't pick me randomly and I did somewhat volunteer. I can get 5 blankets done a night, then I hoop one in the morning and let it sew while I am getting ready for work. Blanket #11 is embroidering now.

Here is my pile of handiwork:





Since this is a freebie job, I used regular serger thread and set the stitch length to one. I sure didn't want to foot the bill for wooly nylon and I don't think the high school girls will know the difference. Also, I am using an embroidery font with a good fill stitch and the embroidery is looking quite nice. The best part is I don't have to cut out the blankets, my quilt shop friend is cutting them at her shop. Thank you, thank you.

Our high school softball program has this tradition of Rally Week, the last week of softball the girls get special gifts each day, the blankets are for one day. It is fun for the athletes and lets them know their hard work and dedication is appreciated. Now from my point of view, watching my oldest two daughter's high school years go by in a blink of an eye, I am older and wiser with the last two and I appreciate the moment of this.

I could have made a couple more blankets tonight but I had to watch Grey's Anatomy!

I am hoping to record a podcast this weekend. Thanks all for being patient with me, time has gotten away and I am working more hours, which is a good thing.

Bags and More Bags

I have been making bags again with all this beautiful quilting fabric. This is an ebook from

Sweet Pea Totes and it has wonderful instructions. I made the first one per her instructions and used fusible fleece. The fleece makes a more unstructured bag. Here it is:

I made the bag a second time and only made a couple of changes. My preference is a more structured bag, so I used Peltex for this bag. Also, I left off the tab closure and used a magnetic snap on the inside. I really, really like this bag with the Peltex.

Closeup of the rick-rack and flower.

Paige suggested I make a wristlet. I used a McCall's pattern I had and it is okay but not great.

I bought this Oh, Franson pattern and thought I would try it for Paige. I hope to give it a try this week.

Lastly, Meredith wanted to make a bag. She had seen a bag at Target with outside pockets similar to jean front pockets. She had a fat quarter in mind to use and we matched it with a pink print. We went to designing and here is our creation sewn by Meredith:

Meredith is planning on using it for "B" Day classes, her lighter load and says it is the perfect size for this.
We used the last bit of daylight for these photos, so this close-up of the flower is a bit blurry. The flower came from Heather Bailey, so check out the link for the tutorial.

She is Quite Talented

Kaitlyn is quite the catcher for our JV team, plus she went 4-4 at bat the last game. The team won the JV tournament on Saturday, pretty neat but it gets better. Kaitlyn catches, Meredith plays shortstop and Erin helps coach the team. So it was a very fun day for our family.



Now to add to Kaitlyn's talents, she did all my ironing tonight and it was a huge basketful. We were all in the sewing room, Meredith working on some key fobs for friends and I was working on Kaitlyn's quilt for her newly repainted room. Kaitlyn just asks, "Can I do the ironing?" Oh, yes, you certainly can, I had to show her how to do shirts and blouses but the rest she did with no problem. Isn't that the best?

To make things better, I finished putting the quilt together, except for the outside borders, ran out of fabric. That won't take long, then I am onto other projects.

Blogger Help Site

Just thought I would share this wonderful site, Sneaky Momma Blog Designs, I am having so much fun reading her tips and updating my blog.

I should be finishing Kaitlyn's quilt so I can move onto fall clothing but I can't pull myself away!

See my signature, something I learned from Sneaky Momma

Shadowbox

I still need pillows and different shams but this sewing project kept me busy for a bit. The pattern is Shadowbox from Mountain Peek CreationsT and the fabric is City Bloom by Kitty Yoshida from Benartex




I had it machine quilted and picked a circle quilting design. There is so many circle patterns in the fabric, I wanted to continue that into the quilting.



If I was more of a quilter I would have laid out the rows and planned the fabric placement better, see two patterns right together. Oh, well, I do have room now daughter and son-in-law took the foosball table from the basement. This means I have a wide open floor to cut fabric, place quilt designs, and do cartwheels (not, just seeing if you were paying attention)

I do like my new quilt, brightens up my room. I want to take the mirrors down from above my headboard but hubby doesn't like that idea. What is it with guys, holes in the sheetrock drives my guy crazy!

One more quilt in progress, for Kaitlyn's newly painted room, then I am back to clothing. It is still warm here and I can't get in the mood for fall sewing yet. It will hit me when it turns cooler and I have nothing to wear.

Before And After

Thrifty Decor Chick is having a ......

The most dramatic before and after would be our house. Here it is when we moved in, way back in 1984. Hubby and I were thrilled to have a home and a farm, no more apartment dwelling.

Here it is after, the picture is from 2008, but the flowers are so much prettier than this year, I am using this picture. We haven't changed anything since then.

We added the addition to the left about 18 years ago, we needed bedrooms for our growing family. Then the porch, dormer and great room(you can see this at the back of the porch, right side) were added 8 years ago.