Just A Glimpse!

This is where the magic happens! My sweet little Kenmore from my grandmom has been a dream. Grandmom recently told me the only reason she got rid of it was because my pop-pop wanted to buy her a new one. She ended up with a Singer and I got her Kenmore. I think I ended up with the better end of the deal :) You can see my essentials nearby: Sigg bottle, cell phone, and house phone! Someday when I'm brave enough or clean well, I'll post pictures of the rest of the craft room.



My first row is finally assembled for the quilt along. I have 6 more left (I think!!). I'm waaaay behind but I've got way too many other things to focus on right now!

FO- Plastic bag holder. Hubby has been bothering me for months (or a year) about getting all of the plastic bags out of our kitchen drawer. They just took over one day so that we can't open the drawer above without a hassle. So here is my solution:

The top is closed and has a handle to hang it. It is a straight seam and the bottom has an elastic casing. The fabric is from a swap so I have no idea what it's called. It probably only holds 10% of our plastic bags so I'll take the rest to be recycled. I know what you are thinking....yes we use cloth bags for shopping when we remember, but we need the plastic bags for cleaning the litter box too. We definitely don't need the 5 bajillion I just took out of the drawer though! Next time, I would make the bag holder more curvy rather than straight seamed and Hubby suggested an open top.

My next post is either 99 or 100! Look for a 100th post giveaway!

Edited to add: This was only my 96th post! Sorry, I can't count!

Summer, Summer, Summer Time!!!

In the past week, I've added so many blogs to my reader I can't keep up! It's great to see the projects everyone has been working on.

Here's what I've been up to:

Finished Object - Frenchy Bag

I enjoyed making this bag! The fabric was cute and the pattern was super simple, especially since this is the second one I made. The only pattern alteration I made was I made the 2 pockets into 4 so they would be more functional. I think now I'll try the handbag (smaller) version of this bag!

This week has been incredibly busy. I had a whole bunch of things to post, but not enough time! School started Monday, the world lost Farah and MJ on Thursday, and we experienced a loss of our own the same day. Our neighbor's dog Larry got off of his leash Wednesday night and was hit by a train. It was horrible. He was one of four dachsunds that our neighbors rescued. Larry left behind his mate/wife who was just rescued by my neighbors not too long ago. Paige lost a very good friend that day.

Race Against Time

Looking back this time a year ago, there was no way I would be able to spend an hour (or 2) a night sewing. I was planning a wedding, working full time, and taking classes. I never had time for hobbies, other than pottery. Now that the wedding has passed and I've stopped taking classes, I've had so much time to spend on hobbies. The problem is I have too many hobbies!

By the end of the work day, I'm usually so tired and frustrated that all I want to do is go home and veg...which I do...ALOT! Not to mention all this weight I have gained since the wedding. Who has time (or energy) to work out after working all day, and then even more energy to create? Not me! I can't even imagine what having kids will do to my "me time".

Well I have bad news...classes start on Monday. Yes, classes, plural. The good news....they are online. My hobby time will be gone once again. It's time to prioritize and make some cuts. Scrap booking has been long gone. I'd rather spend $300 on fabric than on a Cricut. I'm sure I'll revisit scrap booking later, like when I have kids to take pictures of. Pottery is on hiatus too. It's too expensive and in this economy it's all about saving money. Besides, how many bowls or cup-like things without handles do I really need? Knitting and cross stitch are good traveling crafts so they'll probably survive the downsizing (at least this time around). It looks like sewing is here to stay! Goals of the week, by Monday I need to finish AB purse #2 (fabric is cut & ready to be sewn) and ORB quilt. I'm still behind in the quilt along. I have one strip set left to complete. Hopefully I'll finish the top tonight :) Then I'll need to pick backing and batting up from the store.

Wish me luck!

Slowly but surely...

the quilt is coming along.

Cutting was quick and easy!

Piecing and sewing strips has been time consuming. So far, I have sewn 6 sets of 6 strips. My blocks are averaging about 12.5 inches. I have about 18 blocks so far, 3 of each pictured below.

I'm still not sure about the layout and the colors. I feel like I'm forcing something which is making this quilt difficult to work on :/

Added to the stash this weekend:

Fabric for Amy Butler Frenchie bag #2. This one is for mom so it'll be cut up and sewn rather quickly.

WIP - Quilt Along

So now that the Frenchy bag is off my plate, I can start on the Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along (see side bar). It's week 3 so I'm a little behind, but I can easily catch up (and so can YOU!).

I really wanted to use the Paula Prass Flights of Fancy line that Dana is using in her quilt, but it's not really in my budget. Instead, I went to JoAnn's during a killer sale and bought this stash of fabric. Looking forward to finally cutting it tonight!

FO: Amy Butler Frenchy purse

I couldn't resist working on this bag. It was quick to sew and when you are working with fabric you love, it makes it "sew" much easier.

Project Time: 3 days - total of 5 or 6 hours. The cutting took probably the same amount of time as the sewing.

I've never made a fully lined purse before this one. It's amazing! It's lined and complete with sew-in interfacing (a huge accomplishment for me), pockets, and magnetic snap. I'm a huge skip the interfacing girl, but I wanted to do this the right way and am sooo glad I did!

I made 2 alterations to the pattern after reading a few reviews. I made the two HUGE pockets into four normal sized pockets. I also skipped top stitching the top panel because of what I read, but I realize now that was a mistake to try and do later with the magnetic snap. I think I'll do it by hand to secure the lining to the exterior of the bag.

I can't wait to make more of these. There is also a smaller handbag version that I'd like to try too! Now all I need is a matching little wallet to go with it!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.