Blog Hopping~~

Today you can find me at the Henry Glass blog. :-)

A little more of that 'secret sewing' revealed! :-)

More Secret (Christmas) Sewing (Part 2)

For my sewing and quilting friends I wanted to make things for their sewing rooms~

I made a sewing machine cover and matching notebook cover for one friend. 

She love chickens, so I had to embroider that rooster on the one side. LOL The other side has pockets. Sorry no pattern, I just went by her machine measurements~ which I got from another friend who has the same machine. ;-)

I added the band of chickens across the front for a little fun.

This quick and easy pattern can be found HERE

Another sewing friend received a sewing machine mat with pincushion and clip holder. And a notebook too. ;-)  We all plan to keep track of our sewing this year~ we will see how that goes for me! LOL

I totally forgot to take some pix before things went out in the mail! :-o Oopsie!

Since I want to make another of those things, I will just wait and show you when I have one done. ;-)

That is all for today~

It is a blustery, rainy day here~

time for some hand stitching!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

Secret Sewing part 1

Hello there!

Did you have a good Christmas? Ours was wonderful!  I even managed to get all but one of my gifts sewn~ and I have a little time on that one as we aren't getting together with our DD until after the new year. ;-)

I am going to divide my Christmas sewing into two posts. The first will be the bagmaking part of my gifts and tomorrow or the next day, I will do the quilting/sewing projects.

I made this bag for my DDIL.  She loves Harry Potter, so it was a no-brainer on my part to find some HP fabric.  

 

I made this over the summer and blogged about it HERE

I am happy to report, she loves it! :-)

I made this set for my Mom~

 

The handbag is smaller than most. The pattern is by Toriska and is called the Sweet Sunday Bag.

There are a number of variations to the pattern. My favorite part is the large outside pockets!

 

 

I also made a wallet to go along with the bag. This pattern is by Uniquely Michelle and is called the Kristine ID wallet. I see more of these in my future! ;-) Sorry~ I didn't take any photos of the wallet other than the one with the bag. Oops!

I also gifted all of these bags~

You can read more about them HERE

That is all for today~

I'll be back soon!

Until then..

Happy Stitchin'!!

Something Fun!

Hey everyone, check this out!~ 

Henry Glass Blog

The threads are flying at my house! LOL

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

Still Sewing Here!

Wow! There is just sooo much I can't show you yet!

I am trying to remember to take pix so that after Christmas I can do a long post~ or maybe two. ;-)

In the meantime I  have done a little more pattern testing. :-)

Nancy from  Designz by Nancy Stroop will be coming out with a new pattern soon~

It is a set of five zippered pouches. The set can be divided any way you like, make one, two, or all of them!

I chose to do all of them since I couldn't decide on one! LOL

 Sorry my pix are a little dark~ we have had some cold and foggy days and really need some sun!

I chose to machine quilt the fabric for all the bags. 

I also added an inside pocket on the smallest one, and a couple have zip tabs on the side.

Just for fun. ;-)

I don't think the recipient reads my blog, or maybe she does!

Time will tell! :-)

I must get back to work!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Looking Back~

I was flipping through my files looking for a pattern and realized I never showed y'all this cute bag!

I was lucky enough to pattern test the Half Note Bag by Barbara Davis of Musical Bags.

 It is the perfect size when you just want to take your wallet and phone and head out the door!

I machine quilted my outside fabric with a double needle and love the texture!

The inside has both a zip pocket and a patch pocket on the opposite side. The top zips closed for extra security.

You can find the pattern on Barbara's Etsy page HERE :-)

Until next time~

happy Stitchin'!!

Sewing Like Mad!

Are you making gifts for Christmas?

Suddenly sewing like crazy? (Please say yes so I don't feel so alone! LOL)

I finished 2 gifts I want to get in the mail this week so the kiddoes have time to enjoy them.~

I purchased the shirts and added the embroidery designs.

I made the skirt and stretchy pants.  I have to just guess at sizing as the kids live so far away!

I also made this pillowcase for DGD. The front is a feed sack towel from Wal-Mart~ when I saw the design I knew it was meant to be for one of the kids. A friend shared a photo of the one she made on Instagram and I had to do the same! LOL

I'm sorry if my photos are a little washed out~ I was trying to compensate for our gray and rainy day here and it looks like I took it a bit too far. :-/  I sure wish I had a program that just did it for me with no guessing! LOL

Until next time~

and more projects completed (I hope)!!

Happy stitchin'!

A Finish- Delivered!

This was one of my secret sewing projects over the past few weeks.

Some friends and I got together and made a 'friendship quilt' for one of our friends who is dealing with some health issues for both herself and her dear hubby. We wanted her to have our hugs near at hand since we live too far away to do them in person. ;-)

We chose a block from Quilters Cache~ The Dandy Quilt

And set about making blocks in both a positive and negative colorway, reversing the color

placement in the negative block. Everyone sent their blocks to me and I assembled and quilted.

I thought the quilting would do me in as my thread kept breaking and I couldn't figure out why!  I eventually got 'er done!

Everyone also sent a 2½ inch strip of their main fabric for a scrappy binding.

I always hand sew bindings down, so that took a few nights in my easy chair. ;-) 

Any extra blocks went on the back with a great embroidered label one of the gals did on her machine.

 I am so happy to have this quilt in the hands of its new owner!

That's all for today~ back to my machine for some more 'secret sewing'! :-)

Untl next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

My Friends 'Get' Me!

LOL Isn't it a great feeling when your friends get you? :-)

Yesterday was my birthday and I got some amazing mail!

One of my girlfriends (no blog) and I always gush over the Buttermilk Basin and Primitive Gatherings designs. She is a great cross-stitcher, and I have convinced her that hand embroidery is pretty fun too. ;-)

She sent me this wonderful mini hanging, and ornament along with honey from her own bees!

Yes, she is also a bee keeper. :-)

My photo really doesn't do either of them justice! It is a gray and rainy day here. 

The hanging pattern is from Buttermilk Basin and the ornament from Prim. Gatherings.  Just last week we had been talking about all the Ball jars you now see with mini scenes in them. LOL

Another friend who doesn't blog knows my love of scraps. ;-)  She found a great little bag of Ricky Tims hand dyed fabrics  and sent it to me. The colors are really intense, again my fault for the bad photo! ;-)

I have started pressing them and they are all a nice size~ 10" x 10" or larger. Now to decide what to do with them!! :-)

I have been working on a few things I still can't show you, and just today I realized Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!! :-o  How did that happen??!! I really need to buckle down and work on my Christmas sewing!  How about you?  Are you Christmas sewing too?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Happy November!

We are well into my favorite time of the year!

Lots of 'secret' sewing of gifts for family & friends, cooler days, colorful leaves,

hot chocolate! Love it!! :-)

I have been doing a bit of Christmas sewing, and since most everyone on my list reads my blog (Hi Mom!), I won't be able to show you those projects.  Luckily, I do have a few other things in the works.

I am making the 12 Minikin patterns by Sara of Sew Sweetness and gearing them toward certain recipients. We have two Harry Potter fans in our family, so this could go a couple places. ;-)

This is the medium size Cotton Candy Pouch. (the pattern comes with small, med & large sizes).

You can find the patterns here~

Minikins!

Yes, there are a set of 12 and it may seem a bit pricey, until you divide it out.  Also factor in that Sara is making free videos to those who purchase the patterns, so if a step or technique is new to you, she walks you through it.

 

I don't have them all printed out yet, but when I do I plan to make a booklet so they are easy to reference and use.  Last year my DH purchased a binding machine for me to store my patterns.  I love it! I can put all the patterns I plan to take to retreat, in one little booklet.  I went to the dollar store and purchased a bunch of index dividers to separate patterns.  The nifty thing is that I can also remove them without hurting the binder comb or the patterns and switch them around if I want to take others the next time. ;-)  I use a heavy card stock for the back cover. (from my scrapbooking supplies)

That is all for today~

I am knee deep in making binding for 2 quilts I hope to share with you in the future. 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Winner! Winner!

Actually, I feel like just as big a winner as the real winner because I got so many blocks sewn at retreat!

 

First I did 6 blocks for the Las Vegas Modern Quilt guild-- they are collecting blocks to make quilts for victims of the terrible shooting there on October first.

Next I did 36 blocks for a string block swap I am participating in~

6 blocks for each swapper. :-)

And finally I used two oversized jelly rolls plus some yardage and made 124- 7½ inch strip blocks! These are going into a quilt for my DBIL, and I can't wait to start playing with them!

Making the grand total 166 blocks!!  :-) In addition to all the retreat sewing I did!

I was so happy with myself! LOL

And Dortha  you should be pretty happy with yourself because you picked up on my clue of 'over 100 blocks' in a previous post and guessed 110~ making you the winner!  Congratulations! :-)

I am sending you an email for your snail mail address.

Thank you everyone for playing along!  

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

The Minikins Are Out!

The secret sewing is revealed! LOL

I had the pleasure of testing a couple of the 12 Minikin patterns by Sara of Sew Sweetness.

I did the Jetset Cinched Bag~

I used it for my toiletries at retreat and it was just perfect!

And the Desktop Cubes~

Mine sit on my cutting table, the largest holds a box of tissues perfectly!

You can find the patterns here~

https://sewsweetness.com/products/minikins/?wpam_id=113

The price is reduced for a limited time only.

Yes, this is an affiliate link and if you use it to purchase the patterns,I will receive a small credit.

Sara will be releasing videos to go with each pattern monthly. 

There is still time to guess for my giveaway on the previous post. 

I will be announcing the winner tomorrow. Until then,

Happy stitchin'!

Guessing Game --Giveaway

I told you yesterday that I sewed a lot of blocks at retreat--

 I may have even given a hint. ;-)

Sorry the photo is a little dark~ it is dark and rainy here!

Anyway, guess how many blocks I  finished, and I'll send a little prize to the

person who comes the closest without going over. :-)

The game will end on the 22nd and I'll post the winner on the 23rd.  

Have a great week and

until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

After Retreat~

I am post-retreat dragging today.  ;-) The lack of sleep has caught up with me. LOL

But! I had a wonderful 4 day sewing/quilting retreat this past weekend and got so much accomplished!  I am going to break my posts into two~ first the bag and pouches and tomorrow the quilt blocks. :-) (just a little teaser~ I sewed over 100 quilt blocks!!) 

First up is this Rylee tote bag pattern by Nancy Stroop of Nancy Stroop Designz

The pattern comes in two sizes, and three options for the front of the bag.

I chose option 3 and rather than do machine embroidery I used this~

It was originally a long denim duster-type jacket that belongs to a friend of my Mom's. (I wish I had taken a photo before I cut into it!)  The owner had the floral design hand painted on it and she wished to re-purpose that lovely painting.  

I used the side seam in this option to add a zippered outside pocket--

 The top has a recessed zipper closure and inside there is a large zippered pocket--

 

I am going to have a hard time mailing this off!! :-)

I also made two smaller zippered pouches (no pattern)

A friend gifted me the Moda panels, so I made a pouch for each of us.

For the back I used some red dots--

This was just a fun little nighttime sewing when your brain is too tired to do much else. LOL

Did you get to sew over the weekend? What did you make?

I will be back tomorrow with blocks galore! ;-)

Until next time~

happy stitchin'!

Sewing~ Sewing~ Sewing!

In about another week I will be able to show you some of the fun things I have been sewing. :-)  In the meantime let me show you another little project I did up for my LQS.

We are having 'Fun'tastic Fridays, where we have a little class and the customer goes away with a fun project that would make a wonderful gift~ especially with the holidays fast approaching!

This time I made a 'Take A Quick Note' notepad and pen holder.

I drew out the pattern myself and after making one too small, and the next one too big, I got it just right! LOL My friend said I should have called it the 'Goldilocks Notepad Holder'. ;-)

We had a lot of fun making them last Friday.~

And I feel so much better about the approaching holiday season as I have something for my gift box! ;-)  Have you started holiday sewing? There is so much I want to make/do that I feel like the sooner I get started the better I will feel when December rolls around.

Have a great weekend!

Until next time~

happy stitchin'!!

Happy October!!!

Has it really been since the middle of September since I last posted?!

So sorry! I have been busier than ever, just not a lot I can show for it yet. ;-)

A few projects I can show you~

1.) Machine embroidery

Yes, I have been keeping that machine humming! My friend loves red trucks, so I thought this design was perfect for her~ 

Design from Julia's Needle Designs

And my DDIL loves Halloween, so these ornaments will be perfect for her~

 

Designs from Anita Goodesigns

 

2.) Sewing~

 I have made a few of these for gifties. :-) 

 

 This pattern I made up as I went along. There are two styles of flap~ the curved edge and the angled edge.  I hope to get the pattern into my Craftsy shop soon.  Well, soon as in the next two weeks. ;-)  Next week I will be off to a sewing retreat and I am trying to get my kits ready to go. :-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

A Little Secret Revealed~

Pinch me! Go ahead and do it!  

I can't believe I did this, but I wrote a pattern!

After a lot of edits, rewrites and head scratching, it is now ready for the world. LOL

The 'Double the Fun' Zipper Pouches~~

 The pattern is available on Craftsy

I could not have done this without the help of some incredible friends!

Be sure to visit my testers and see all their pix~

Kim@ Lily Patch Quilts chose these lovely pinks~

Daryl@Patchouli Moon Studio went with blues~

 

My friend 'J' (with no blog) chose yellows~

 

And 'M', who also doesn't blog, chose some pretty solids and batiks~

Thank you friends!! <3 div="">

And if you would like your own copy, visit Craftsy.  :-)

(I know that is a terrible photo on Craftsy~ I need to take a better one but the pouches are now at my LQS! I'm still learning!!)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Fun & Un-fun Sewing :-)

I am sure we all have those 'un-fun' sewing tasks that, if you are like me, you put off and off and off.....  LOL Until the need is great. ;-)  

Hubby does all of our outside yard work with the exception of the flowerbeds and garden.  I do push the mower for him at times too. ;-)

And he is hard on jeans!!  It seems like all I have to do is blink and there goes another pair!  So today I took the third pair, which was totally patched and worn through the patches and used the backs of the legs (which were perfect!) to patch his other two pairs. 

 I rip up the side seam and then when I have a big patch in place and sewn down, I use my serger to sew the side seam back up.  I rarely use my serger, so this involves pulling it out, the dreaded threading, oiling etc.  It took me all morning to fix up two pair of jeans! But they are ready for at least another week! LOL

Yesterday I did some fun sewing~

These blocks are from Quilters Cache and are called 'The Dandy Quilt' 

 I love them in autumn colors!  I think I am ready for autumn. ;-)  

I have also been doing a little secret sewing, which I can't show you yet.  It was fun! 

Now I am off to do a little embroidery~ I think I deserve it after wrestling jeans, don't you?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!