Merry Christmas!

Now I can finally show off one thing I made! I still have to run upstairs and put the finishing touches on another gift before we head out the door to my sister's house...but here is the guitar purse I made for Maiah! They posed with their favorite gifts.


Hope everyone is having a wonderful day. 

What title...

I'm still around. I've been so sick! I'm off quite a few days in a row now and the kids are on break already, so we will be doing Christmas things and I'll be resting up.  I stillllllll have things to finish making, but at least I started wrapping something today :D. The girls are happy to finally see something under the tree they decorated weeks ago lol. I mostly finished my shopping yesterday....I'll know for sure after digging through bags collected in my closet and making sure I covered everyone.

I'm loving the job! So much to learn and I am official now according to the state.  Yay!  Now to get all healed up and get through the holiday then back to lots of hours and learning!

Maybe I'll have some pics to post later today or tomorrow :D. This blog gets a little (haha) boring with just me talking.

Lazy day

I had a day off today and got pretty much nothing done :D. I did get a much needed nap! I've loved learning so much at work this week (long way to go) and the laughs today topped it all off.  Tomorrow is payday yay! And...they needed me different hours so now I have the evening off tomorrow to go out and enjoy life :D.

Do I sound happier? I really am! So much so!

I'll get back to sewing hmm maybe Sunday evening? We have a busy weekend planned. Volunteering Sunday with special needs kids doing something Christmas related I think...not even sure but looking forward to it!

Getting it done early...

I seriously do not remember learning all this about Roman Numerals back in grade school...I do remember learning about them in hmm 3rd grade or so, but not THIS much about them lol. It's easy but  :D Maybe I purged the information when I deemed it useless other than telling time at a glance on my mom's clock lol. Now onto fraction review...yay (?!?) I do remember a bit more about them.

Something I started today

This is a purse I started today. I changed up the pattern some and am happy with it except now I wish I had put in something to give it more stability. It will work as is, but hmm thinking my sister might like this. I'm still deciding on the closure and binding for the purse. It will be a solid red, just not sure zipper, flap, button ???

The inside is a lovely bright green :D. I love making liners a bright color. This is a pretty crappy pic, but I was taking it really fast before getting into bed to load this. You can see how I should have lined it :X

Figuring out how I want the coin purse and/or makeup bag...it's about the size of a dinner napkin and shaped much like one LOL. I can go a few ways with it as it is ...

Here is my prized duffel bag purse! It's ugly canvas/brown color but it's awesome! I used no pattern and winged it the whole way through and as soon as I remember to buy more colors of canvas and straps, I'll make more. I like the durability of the fabric...not sure if I'd make it in a lighter fabric. I can throw this around and not worry - well other than not smashing my phone, camera, ipod, etc LOL. They do have their own little padded sleeves but still :D

The inside is a very bright blue. I hope to find more blue fabric like this - it's a perfect liner color for a lot of fabrics I have. The inner design of the purse needs more - I did one blah pocket and it's rather useless. I have a few ideas for the next one. This purse is still my favorite even with its' flaws! The flower(s) I stenciled as an afterthought when I found my pattern test turned out usable.

I should sleep. Tomorrow is my first official day in the new job position!



One gift done....

I finished a Christmas gift today! I wish I could post a picture of it, but the person might see it on here....it turned out pretty good!

It's really odd having weekends off after working them for a few years now. This is the second one in a row and I still find myself planning things for a weekday then thinking oops!  I won't be working 40 hours most weeks so I'll still have some weekday time free sometimes, but still, yay! I don't know how to be normal anymore :D

Taking a break right now to play on here, then back to the sewing machine. I also have some math homework to work on...it's easy math so far, but since it's been so many years, I need the review!

I had some friends see my purses and say they'd buy them, so hmm....maybe? I keep toying with the idea. Maybe after some more practice purses. I'm also working on figuring what design I like best. I am keeping my patterns as I make them. I can totally say I suck at making wallets! Coin purses and makeup bags are a breeze, but wallets I might have to practice at a lottttttttttttt more! I think I know what the problem is. I always start a wallet after I have made a purse and I'm ready to be done with that purse and on to the next LOL. I have no patience left. I should stop making matching things and just work on wallets for a bit. Maybe after a couple more Christmas purses that I am kinda planning on giving away..? :D

Happy Thanksgiving!

The house smells wonderful and I'm getting so hungry! Just waiting on the turkey now....then lots of sleep (hopefully) before a crazy black friday shift at work - my last official shift in the old job position and then another weekend off! I'm loving my new schedule. We can be a family again :D

I'm here...

I'm working on a really cool Christmas gift and can't post pics here... We've had a lot going on and lots of changes in my life. One thing really bad I finally had to make the decision to leave behind for good, and a few really great things happening. The good outweighs the bad :D



Here are a couple purses I've made in the past year. The zebra one is for my oldest daughter. She picked out the fabric. The accent fabric (huge outside pocket not shown - other side) is a sold bright green and is also the liner color. She carries this every day stuffing it full of stuff for school and it's holding up well.

This pyramid purse is one of my favorites. I found a blog with a great tutorial and need to find it again to give proper credit. None of us has used this purse or the others I made like it. They kind of got shoved to the side in my excitement to try more and more techniques and designs. It would have went well with the black homecoming dress darn it.

I've made some other purses but don't seem to have pics of them...my current favorite for myself is a little duffel bag purse. I made it with no pattern out of scrap canvas just to see if I could make one. I love it! I do want to make more like it and still with some type of canvas/duck cloth for durability. It's not huge, and yet I can stuff a ton of things in it. I carry a little bit of everything with me to work ready for anything lol.  I stenciled a flower on the outside of it just to make it somewhat presentable.

Here are a couple pics of the bookbag I made for one of the twins. She is very rough on bags, so I was determined to make something that would last a year :D. No pic of it completed even though she has now used it for months...you'll get the basic idea though :D

Ok the other pic I have wouldn't load right now. The bookbag is a double (?)(my description - 2 large pouches) messenger bag with lots of pockets hidden in flaps and on the outer sides (One for her reusable water bottle). I also made a matching cylindrical pencil pouch. We determined her needs and designed it specifically for her. The one I will make for next year will only have minor changes. This is heavy red duck fabric with the black cotton only used for decoration purposes.

I keep going back to edit. Got it to load! You can see the very large outside zipped pocket she uses as her purse. I need to get a current pic of the bag. I heavily padded the strap because she hauls everything with her all day all over campus (no lockers).

The fabrics

Here's what I'm working on today...I am starting to accumulate unfinished projects LOL. I will finish this one in the next day or so. I'm not following any set pattern, but it's a simple tote. Isn't that fabric gorgeous!?!

Here's my current zipper collection :D



Tote bag

It's already turning out great! I did have to make a run to find a batting I liked (to avoid joining scraps I have) and also had hopes of finding more of the orangish red snowflake fabric I used on my Christmas purse...and I found 2 fat quarters of it!!! I was about to give up and walk away from the display when - voila - there it sat right in the front! I guess I was too fast to dig through others thinking it would be hidden away to notice it!

The orange snowflake actually goes very well with the Merry Main Street fabric and I'm using it as an accent strip as well as the straps (I think lol). I also needed some darker orange almost red liner fabric and found a great one. I want this tote nice! Pics to follow.

Oh I also bought a couple more zippers...I am seriously developing a zipper obsession! :D

Oh yeah!

So I spent a lot of time hand washing all the red fabric, prints and solids, that I had originally intended for the quilt. After much washing and rinsing and washing and rinsing again, the water ran pretty much clear finally! So...as you could probably see from the previous post's pictures, I went back to red for a border on the quilt. Anything else I considered just didn't do. I will also be using the simple patchwork reindeer I did as the backing. I wanted both sides pretty in case she didn't like the tree side so much LOL. I'm always nervous others won't like my creations, hence the built in ability to hide it as an option. :D

Catching up

I've been on, just hadn't fished out the camera cord to upload some pics - lots to show here even though I left out a lot...

My new sewing area (which is already much more cluttered than this pic shows lol) You can see my little fabric basket I made for fat quarters - I like to look at them for inspiration and to coordinate colors on projects. I added a lotttt to this basket yesterday. I used my 25% off at Joanne's and bought way too much stuff.  I know they are a little high in prices, but they had most fabric starting at 40% off then another 25% and well you know I filled up my basket. I bought some Christmas fabrics I had considered ordering online. Found one called Merry Main Street that I LOVE and ended up with 2 yards. Hey I got some Insul-Bright (sp?)! After setting up this area, I realized even though I love my teeny tiny little sleeve ironing board (I know there's a real name for that somewhere), I needed a bigger one that is square and not long like what you can buy in the store. So, I'll be getting out my jigsaw - I love power tools lol - and making myself a custom ironing board.

I bought a lot of zippers since our local Wal-mart is the only place to find them anywhere close to here and their selection well sucks! I'm a freak sewist (?) that actually loves zippers! They do not scare me. I know people turn their noses up at getting sewing supplies at wally's, but wouldn't you know I see a few of the same exact fabrics and a lot of the same notions and other supplies as higher end stores - ahem - We have one wallyworld close that has pre-packaged fabrics and another that actually has bolts of fabric (although rather limited) and a clerk to help. It's good for a quick trip.




Here I was doing the applique of the star. It has a white part over it for more star points as well which I think shows in the pic above. See the blue "snowflake" fabric is actually flowers.

A few Christmas fat quarters I picked up. The stripe will be the quilt binding. I went back for more of it.

I loved this little fat quarter and started practicing quilting on it - it became a purse. I used fleece as batting - I'm already a big fan of fleece as batting at least for purses. I've done a couple more since this pic.

I practiced binding the right way. I have done some binding on other purses and did it way wrong and way hard. Following directions was easy! Maybe I should more often...(I am not fond of patterns or directions lol)

Here is the finished purse. I love my little quilting experiment! I can't wait to use it and the girls keep coming in and eyeing it and playing with it. There is a zipped pouch attached inside. I like having what I consider "privacy" pouches for odds and ends we don't want falling out of our pocketbooks when fishing for other things lol.

I love making various little bags to match purses, so here's a - zipped - coin purse out of the very few scraps I had left of the blue. Oh the orange fabric is a kind of snowflake pattern that was so perfect! It's an odd Christmas color pairing, but it really works. I did also make a little credit card holder that fits inside this, but it turned out sloppy, so I'll leave that up to you to imagine lol.

I had so much fun quilting that purse, I started another. I even went with very similar colors. This one quilted faster and even better. I'm really glad I'm practicing before I quilt the Christmas quilt.

Here it is as it stands now. The quilted pocket is as near to perfect as can be! It doesn't even need a closure or flap like I originally planned. I have done the lining with some basic pockets and it will zip close. I'm still deciding on whether to bind this one or not. The straps will be the blue fabric.

Did the applique packages and placed the ribbon yesterday morning. I wanted to be sure the gold is what I wanted and I am happy with it. It's still pinned waiting to be sewed. I had to rush off to Joanne's you know!  (30 to 45 minutes away in good traffic - Raleigh beltline)

I wanted to see how it's progressing. I stopped work on it for awhile and kept just looking at it wondering what I should change. I wish the star showed in this pic. Now with the presents, I'm happier again. I still have more to add to this - thinking a little snow on the tree maybe? I also want names on the packages somehow to personalize it. I was also thinking of some little woodland creature maybe - was hoping to find a fabric that I could cut one out of, but no luck on right animal and/or size. Maybe a snowman instead?

I have more things to work on before the holiday. I got most supplies yesterday, soooo no more shopping until I make a good dent in the decent fabric and supply stash I've built up! Well, I might need a solid color or two.... :D



Christmas purse...

I have my Christmas purse done! I also made a little coin purse with a credit card insert that matches. I work today, but after I will be posting pics of my projects. I wish I could use this little purse already! It's really cute and I can't wait to show it off. It's not perfect - it's another adventure into quilting, but it's definitely good enough to use and show off. I may have to see if I can find another fat quarter or two of these fabrics.

Still practicing...

I tried some more quilting yesterday. I bought a few (10 or so lol) fat quarters when I went for quilt batting. They were intended to maybe border a quilt or be part of the backing for one or two, but one was so cute that I made the decision I needed a Christmas purse! I used the fat quarter and some coordinating felt I have as both the inner lining and the batting and already quilted it and started construction. Today I'll be adding a small outside pocket with another fat quarter fabric, binding the top with maybe a zipper closure, and a handle. Thinking I might be able to still add an inner pocket somehow - in my haste to see how the rather thick felt would quilt, I left out that inner pocket I so love to put in purses. I'll add pics later today or tonight. The fabric is really cute. I'm happy with my quilting of it too...I just kind of meandered along in no particular fashion and even got fast with it and had to make myself slow down!

I'm kind of stuck on where I want my quilt tops to go next. I did find a good binding material in fat quarters. It's a red, green and white striped material and I already went back for what is hopefully enough to do the lap quilt. I still need more blocks before I can quilt it. It's a little too hmm arty or direct of a quilt - I'm stuck on what design and color to make border blocks to add much needed size. 2 months to finish at least the one intended as a gift! I keep looking at fabrics and so far nothing is jumping out at me.

I'm awake much too early!

Some projects I'm working on...

My scissors...I love my scissors! I got them half off on a great sale one day and no one is allowed to use them, or even touch them! Also, my pink tomato. I have so much red stuff and even though pink is one of my least favorite colors, I thought it was a good color to stand out amongst the mess!

Hmm you really can't see it well, but this is quilted. It is the first time I have ever machine quilted something. It's out of leftover squares and I heeded the advice to practice on something unimportant before tackling a quilt and the actual quilting part went well...then I did a very quick, kinda awful binding. I'm sure experienced quilters looking at this are gasping in horror at its' very unsquarish shape and improper mitered corners...but hey I quilted something! YaY me! I will now proudly use this as my mug rug and even dare to show it off to anyone willing to look! hehe. It was all just scraps afterall!

Ok if you are OCD about cleaning, close your eyes and click onto something else...this is my current sewing area and why I need to change it! When you walk into my home, this is directly to the right. What a mess! I can't wait to buy a new sewing table tomorrow and tuck all this mess upstairs.

The other 2 machines in the same room as above...as you can see, we do not have any big, fancy, expensive machines here. The one on the table was under $100 and is doing just fine until I save up for a nicer one. The Kenmore machine on the floor was a gift from a friend to my daughter. Her daughter had gotten it years ago and used it once...yep it's like brand new! It doesn't live on the floor normally, but  I needed room for these quilt tops and didn't want to risk any machine falling off table accidents!

The big bin of fabric is somewhat organized and ready to move upstairs...I decided not to show all the bags hiding under the table right now lol...but I need more bins.

                                     

Here is the applique/pieced lap quilt I'm working on. How do you like my (ahem) design wall? This top is pinned to an over the door ironing board LOL. This is the quilt that I saw someone else's idea and changed it. I have more to add to it - again once we get to payday!

This was going to be the back of the tree quilt hence the plain design...but I decided not to risk pink snow, so now I've expanded this one and making it another lap quilt. Nothing fancy, but the little reindeer are so cute!

Now I have to find 2 fabrics I like for backs and some border fabrics. Poor me, I have to go fabric shopping! hehe!

 I've made a few more odds and ends organizing things to get ready for the weekend sewing transformation, but ugly (but durable) scissor pouches and basic fabric bins are boring to look at. MMM also have some throw what ya got into the pot black bean chili simmering on the stove...it's smells amazing!

My impromptu day off

Today I got some done on the Christmas quilts. Well, it started as one quilt, then I let the fear creep in that the red of the back would make the snow on the front pink ... so it's 2 quilts now instead. I'm making these up as I go along and I've never made a whole quilt before. One is very basic squares, simple, but a cute print mixed with a solid. The sashing and border are not known yet - maybe another pattern. The other I borrowed an idea (I wish I could remember the blog where I saw it and who to credit) and changed it some. It involves some simple applique that I haven't decided if I'll do by machine or by hand.

I'm not totally new to quilting. When I was a young girl, my mom got me one of those standing hand quilting hoops. She bought me material that was already quilted then I'd add some hand quilting with yarn. I also had my first full size sewing machine when I was pretty young. I usually stick to making clothes, but thinking of Christmas ideas and recently volunteering at a quilt auction got me thinking it might be fun to try.... I'm not into the country look  of traditional quilts as far as decorating my own home, but I love the modern twist I've seen done with the same techniques. I have a queen size bed that needs a pretty cover....

I'm also planning on moving my sewing area upstairs to my room once I get paid. I need a folding table that can be put away when I need my room pretty. I made some fabric baskets and bins today to help with organization once it's all upstairs. I had to do something.  Fabric and thread and notions and machines are taking over my dining room and that's the first room you see when you come into our home. :D

My phone was acting stupid, so no pics today. I'll get out the actual camera tomorrow and show progress. I'm anxious to show someone somewhere since I can't post to facebook - one quilt is a gift.

Dresses for Homecoming 2011

The black dress is my design. I made a very simple bodice pattern then started adding other things. The skirt is a circle skirt that I didn't round the corners on. It's kind of old Hollywood with a goth twist.

The back view. We had to fasten a bit of the skirt together at the bottom in the back and it formed a bit of a pouf mini train that added to the awesome flow of the skirt. We made the crinoline and adjusted it as the dress was finished. The skirt's movement bounced as she walked. This is my favorite sewing creation so far.

The red dress was a huge, dowdy dress that I tore apart and restyled (as well as removing many yards of fabric). The sleeves are the only part untouched. The bodice is a portion of the original and drastically altered and shortened to more of an empire waist. I added the sash made from material originally part of the skirt. Yes that's a pink stripe in her goldilocks hair.

I pleated the back of the bodice which looks a bit bunched up in this photo. I was trying to avoid ripping out and redoing the zipper. It is a beautiful dress.

I was nervous all night wondering if their friends liked their dresses.

Hello!

I'm always on here reading other people's blogs, so it's time to start my own!