Wow, It's been a While!

I did not realize that it had been quite so long since I had blogged! (And, never mind the fact that I started typing this post about 3 weeks ago!)  That's what happens at the beginning of the school year, I guess.  I haven't been doing much crafting of any sort, really.<-------  This hasn't changed much.

I have done a bit, though.

These photos are completely out of order, which is irritating to me, but not so much that I'm going to go back and try to get them in order.


This is a pattern test I did for Samantha of At Home with Mrs. H.  It is the Little Bow Pleat Pattern (clutch version).  It is a smaller version of the Bow Pleat Bag and Samantha is conveniently offering them as a package version, for a cheaper rate, if you like.  Or, if you already have the handbag pattern, you can just purchase the Little Bow Pleat portion, too.

This is my half of a charity quilt.  I'm working together with my friend, Emily, to make this quilt for a service project through the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  This is a terrible photo, but at least it gives you an idea of what I've been up to.  We bought the background fabric, but otherwise, Emily and I both pulled from our fabric stashes to gather fabrics for this quilt.  I haven't seen Emily's blocks yet, but I'm sure they are equally awesome.  We are getting together soon to arrange and sew the completed blocks together!  I also committed to making another quilt, by myself.  I have the fabrics all pulled for that one and I have decided on a pattern.  I just have to get my fabrics cut and then sew it all together.

This is another pattern that I tested for Samantha.  This one is the Bookbag Backpack pattern.  I love how this bag turned out!  It's really cute and I plan to make this one again, for myself.  This version is going to go to my niece, as part of her Christmas gift.  I made the mistake of thinking that I could finish this bag in a couple of hours... ha!  Samantha was so patient with me, as I was completely late in turning in my feedback to her.  If you make this bag, you'll love it.  I added all of the detail items, like the rivets and such.  All of those little details add up to a bit of time, but they totally make the bag, so it's okay!  Just be prepared for this bag to take more time than some others.  Guess what?  It has a hidden zip pocket under/inside that front slip pocket!

An in progress photo of my quilt blocks, when I only had two of them finished.  These blocks are 24 1/2 inches, unfinished.

I made myself a voile infinity scarf.  I had taken this photo rather quickly, so that I could send the pic to my friend, just to share.  I've worn the scarf a couple of times now and it is nice and warm without being too heavy.  It's really long, so I have been looping it around three times.  I like it so much, I have plans to make myself a couple more.

I think I've managed to pretty much catch you up on the highlights of my doings for the last couple months.  I hope to be back on a more regular basis, now that I've gotten this post done.

The Smart Messenger Bag

Recently, I had the pleasure of testing a pattern for Anna at charmed Liebling.  The name of the pattern is The Smart Messenger Bag, of course!

This bag turned out great!

When I first saw Anna's pattern, I knew that I wanted to make this bag for myself, and I wanted to use laminate (like Anna had).  I figured that it would be the perfect bag to start the school year!  Then, as I was making the bag, I went through a period of indecision...  As  I started cutting, I thought the bag was going to be too small and I was a bit disappointed and discouraged just because I thought I would have to sell the bag or do a giveaway, since I didn't think it would fill my work need.  But, I kept sewing and in the end all turned out well!

I love that is has the little zip pocket on the front.  When I travel from school to school, I am always losing my keys in the depths of my bag.  Now, problem solved!  Plus, I can stick my phone in there, especially on the days when it is raining.

The bag came together fairly quickly, too.  The most time consuming part was fusing the interfacing and the fleece to the different pieces, and that had more to do with the fact that I really had to be careful because I was using laminate!

Before this bag, I had never sewn a whole bag with laminate.  I have to say, it was a bit fiddly.  You can't pin it, unless you want a bunch of random pin holes in your bag.  Lucky for me, I have about 30 of those small Clover clips.  (p.s. the price I saw when I just posted this link, $13 is an awesome price!) The trouble that I ran into when I was using the laminate was when I was top stitching.  I'm a bit particular about my top stitching and I want it to be just-so.  Typically, I have a blind hem stitch foot that I like to use for top stitching because then my sewing isn't at all wiggly... it gives a very professional finish.  Well, laminate sticks to regular sewing feet.  I already had a Teflon foot, which helped, but then the bottom laminate layer would stick to my table!  I had to hold up the bottom layer so it would stick and that did help.

In the end, my bag turned out awesome and I'm looking forward to using it as I head back to work on Thursday!

He Loves Me....

Mr. Random.org, that is.

I've been having the best of bloggy luck lately!

Things I've won in the last month:

A Briar Rose charm pack from Pattern Crush: (I borrowed this photo from Samantha, too).

Samantha (Pattern Crush) is local to me, in the sense that about an hour's drive can be considered local in the Chicagoland area.  She has an etsy shop that has some great modern fabrics in it!  Plus, she's a member of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, too.

So far, I also made a few things from the Patchwork, Please book and entered them into the Zakka 2.0 drawings.  You might remember my place mat from a couple posts ago, and the BLD towels.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to be the winner of the first quarter drawing, so I won a $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!!!!  I'm a little bit overwhelmed by the choices and haven't used it yet.  Plus, I've been waiting for pay day, in case I go over the gift certificate amount, which we all know is easy to do!

As recently as this morning (well, it's still morning, I just woke up waaaaaay early today), I was notified that I won a giveaway over on 627handworks.  It's a nice little bundle of a fat eighth set, some Aurifil, some clover clips, a pincushion, a seam fixer, and a cute little box!  I just recently started following Julie's blog.   She has this series called Block Rock'n, which I think is weekly, and she posts a free paper piecing template.

Overboard....

I might probably have gone overboard on the pouch making:

My friend, Emily, was making a LOT of pouches for a garden walk faire and that put me in the mind to make some pouches, too.  Plus, earlier in the year, Emily was being totally generous to a few quick responding friends (she had put an offer on her FB page) and gave away a few pouches she had made. I was lucky enough to get one!  Anyway, it is such a nice size.  When I asked about fabric cutting sizes, she was nice enough to share with me.  I figured out/made up the rest on my own... pouches can be pretty standard once you have made a few.

So, on Thursday, I went on a cutting spree and cut out fabric for 10 pouches.  You might notice that there are only 9 in the photo... I ran out of time before I had to clean up for company and hadn't finished the 10th pouch yet.  Today, I sewed up the 10th pouch and cut out 8 more pouches, because that's all the interlining supplies I had on hand.  I had planned to finish them all today, but then I had a lazy day instead.  I'll finish them tomorrow.

Of course, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with all of them!  I did manage to sell one of them to my friend.  My dad's cousin said she wanted 6 for Christmas gifts, but I'm not really sure if she wants them now or closer to Christmas.  We'll see on that one.  If all else fails, my family will be getting lots of pouches as part of their Christmas gifts.

In other news, I manage to make three trips into Chicago in one week:  1) a Cubs game with my dad/step-mom, step-brother and his g-friend, and my husband  2) a fancy dinner and 30 minute cruise off of Navy Pier for my friend's birthday  3) a concert at Soldier Field

These are only photos from the fancy dinner and boat cruise, of course.  We were actually supposed to take a sunset cruise on Lake Michigan, but we missed our boat.  We were running a bit behind, but still okay on time... except that the boat company has like three different spots on the dock and we followed what we thought we understood based on the map, but that ended up being wrong.  We're all college educated adults, so I think that the map/tickets and the boat company booths could all have been more clearly labeled.  Something like, "Your boat leaves from spot A/B/C" and then have each booth labeled with an A/B/C.  This would make a lot of sense to me, anyway.  Luckily, though, the sunset cruise was not the last cruise for the night.  So, they let us just switch our tickets to the next boat and that ended up being pretty cool with the night skyline of the city.

{catchy title here}

These photos are of most of the things that I have made in the last few weeks:

A bib for my youngest nephew:

A shopping tote made from this pattern:

The bag was really quick to put together.  I pretty much followed the directions.  The only thing I did differently for this one was after boxing the corners, the instructions would have you just tack up the corners on the inside, instead of cutting off the excess fabric.  I just cut it off.  This bag has batting on the inside, but I think that next time I will forego the batting.  I can see if you wanted to carry this as a purse, you might want the batting.  I just want to use this a a shopping bag, so I think leaving the batting out would make the bag less bulky to carry.

Another project from the Patchwork, Please! book:

This is called the Diamond Patchwork Placemat.  I used foundation paper piecing to make the diamond panels on each side.  The middle fabric is linen and the prints are all Anna Maria Horner fabrics that came in a scrap bag that I ordered last week.  I didn't have a whole piece big enough for the back/binding, but I had two pieces of the same fabric that I was able to stitch together and use.

A ninja pouch for my oldest nephew:

I just love the ninja fabric!  I only bought a fat quarter and I think I've used most of it already.


Over the weekend, I also attended a workshop sponsored by the Chicago MQG and taught by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  Of course, that probably deserves its own post, so more on that one later.

BLD Towels

This summer, since I have more time I wanted to participate in the Patchwork Please Sew Along, at least for the projects that I really love and can get made :)

I'm really pleased with how the B, L, D Towels turned out: (although this is a bit of a sketchy photo)

All the supplies for the towels came from my stash!  As you can tell, I'm really excited about that.  I had purchased the linen when I was in CA over spring break, all of the fabrics for the letters and dishes/utensils came from my scrap bin.  The binding is some fabric I had purchased when I was making this quilt.  The binding was a bit of a pain to make, since I made enough to bind all three towels, but I had enough left that I might be able to bind a mug rug or a baby bib or something.

I had been thinking that these would make a nice Christmas gift.  However, I decided that I'm going to keep them for myself.  I love the colorful scrappiness and sometimes we just need to make and keep things for ourselves.

Posting from my phone

I'm posting this from my phone...because I'm too settled in my chair to get up and get the computer. I know, it's the height of laziness. 

I have some Lilly of the Valley that grow outside my front door. I was able to pick a small bundle to make a teeny bouquet. Yes, that is a tiny Coke glass that I am using for a vase. Now, the little glass has a purpose.

I made this bag for myself, but I haven't started using it yet because I've been wanting to make a little matching wallet or pouch. I love how the bag turned out. The pattern is the Pretty Pleats Reversible Tote.  I'll definitely make this pattern again, and the next time I will modify the bag to have some inside pockets. 

I just made this little pouch tonight. I made it following a tutorial that Emily wrote over at Mommy's Nap Time. This pouch seriously took 10 minutes at the most!  The fabric is some kind of laminate   or something of that nature that Samantha (At Home with Mrs. H) sent to me in a bundle of scraps and other goodies. It was just the perfect size for making this pouch. 

I have 4 more work days until summer break!  After that, you can expect to see a lot more activity in the blog. 

Crossing a Few Things Off My List

Tonight, I can cross several things off of my list.

This is the quilt I donated for Project Night Night.  The Chicago Modern Quilt Guild just finished a service project to benefit PNN.  I also made a matching turtle, but I forgot to snap a photo.   I started this quilt over 3 years ago before I bought my new sewing machine.  It was supposed to be for a friend's grandson.  Yeah, it became a UFO....  I'm happy that I finished it up and it will be going to someone who can really use it and take comfort from it.  

I also finished two of these little red vests.   One for my nephew and one for his friend (the son of a guy I my brothers and I grew up with).... for their patches from Cub Scouts.  The parents had bought some vests, from someone, I'm not really sure who... but the were very poorly constructed!  They were made of felt, which wouldn't be a problem but they weren't even cut straight!  So, Aunt Sally to the very slow rescue.  I think they asked me about doing these sometime around Thanksgiving :(    Anyway, they are done now!

It's nice to cross a few lingering items off of my list so that I can move on to a few others.

Up next.... I need to work on a project that I am testing.  I haven't even taken it out of the package yet, so I'm not totally sure what it is, to be honest!  

It's Been a While....

I don't know that I've been so busy, but I sure haven't posted for a while!

I went on spring break.  We visited California... my SIL lives outside of San Diego and my aunt lives near Disneyland.

I went on a Segway tour of San Diego:

It really was a lot of fun and no one wrecked, either!  I decided that if I lived in a metro area, I'd have a Segway to ride around :)

I also went to a discount fabric shop by my aunt's house.  I had gone there two years ago, also.  I went a bit crazy....

Some of these pieces,  I already have a plan for and some I don't.... I've been wanting to get them organized with my other fabrics, but I wanted to take photos and share them, first.  Mainly, I just couldn't resist.  I think I ended up paying an average of about $4/yd for the fabrics and there are a few pieces that are even organic cotton.

What else have I been doing?  hmmm...  Well, I went on a quilt retreat weekend with the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild.  We went to a place in Racine, Wisconsin called the Siena Center.  I had a good time getting to know a bunch of the other guild members.  My friend, Emily, was kind enough to let me pick her up and ride along with me.  She thought that I was doing her a favor by giving her a ride to the retreat.  Really,  I was delighted because then I didn't have to arrive all by myself, especially since I've never been there before and didn't know the routine.  

I know there is so much more to tell, but I'm getting a bit foggy (it being all of 9:30 pm and all....).  I am counting down the days until the end of the school year, and I'm getting ready to write along list of all the things I would love to accomplish over the summer!  I probably won't get even half of them done, but it will at least give me some direction.

Bloglovin'

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Sew Thinky Thursday: Bad Sewing Habits....

I'm linking up to Sew Thinky Thursdays @ Mommy's Nap Time

Bad sewing habits. Do you have them? Share with us, what are your worst habits when it comes to sewing?

I'm sure I do have those bad sewing habits, but I'm not sure I know what they even are (I had to go read through some of the posts to get an idea....)...

• I could probably change my rotary blades a little more often
• I definitely don't have a cover for my machine....and I should, considering the amount of money I invested in my machine
• I'm not the best at pressing.... I have a great iron, but I'm mostly too lazy to actually pick it up and press it back down.  I'm getting better at this, at times.
• I leave my sewing things out everywhere.  I typically sew at the kitchen table, so the table almost always looks like a tornado blew through.  Luckily, we have snack trays to eat our dinner on (It's just my husband and I)....  Organization is NOT my strength!

I'm sure there are lots of others, I just can't think of them right now!

I Really Thought....

...that once I had a laptop, I would be typing up so many more blog posts.  FAIL!

I really don't have any valid excuses, not that I suppose I have anything to apologize for, but you know how it goes.

Things I've been up to lately:

• made a divided basket for my brother and SIL, to go in their nursery (I'm not sure why I didn't take a photo of this!)  {my baby nephew should be making his entrance into this world in the next week or so}
• made two mitered corner baby blankets to stuff in the basket before I sent it 
• had a snow day:  According to the National Weather Service, the snowfall for my area was just over 7.5 inches.  I was grateful to have an extra day off of school.  Almost all of this snow is gone already, too, as it warmed up yesterday and today.  

• I went into Chicago and went to The Needle Shop.  I didn't make the trip by myself.  I stopped and picked up Emily and Emily.  It's a good thing they were monitoring my parking, or else I would have definitely parked in some sort of no parking area.  I didn't get us in any wrecks, so I guess it wasn't that bad.   We also went to a place called the Textile Discount Outlet.  That place was crazy!  I didn't take any photos, though.  It was a warehouse type building of multiple levels that was full of fabric (not quilting cottons, though) and all sorts of things.  We explored all of the levels, even the basement....    The printed fabrics below, I purchased at The Needle Shop, but the brown fabric on the left (Irish linen, according to the bolt label... although, who knows if that was accurate or not...) I purchased at TDO.  I think they charged me $7 for the whole yard of linen.  

• I made some pillowcases, just for fun.  The fabric is Bento Box by Illustration Ink for Robert Kaufman 

• Cooked these Crispy Parmesan Potato Puffs.  These turned out really tasty.  They are a bit time consuming, but it's easy work, so I'll definitely make them again.  

• Today, I wanted to do something simple... So, I made some mitered corner cloth napkins from a piece of fabric that I kept from all of the fabric I was given.  I threw them in the wash already, so I don't have a photo of the napkins, either.  I looked at a bunch of tutorials for making the mitered corner napkins, and tried to follow one of them, but ended up making up my own mash-up version.  They turned out nicely, so I may even write up a tutorial for what I ended up doing.  

What have you been up doing lately?

Sorting a Stash.....

       

(Here, I was sitting on the living room floor, sorting around me.)

I've spent some time over the weekend, sorting through some stash fabric.... but not my stash.  Via some of my husband's extended family, I was recently gifted with the stash from a deceased woman (elderly).  I couldn't bear the thought of them possibly just tossing the fabric, so I said I would take it and go through it to see what I would like to keep and pass along the rest to others or to charitable organizations.

I really didn't think to ask how much they thought it might be.  People, it filled the back of our mid 1990's SUBURBAN (This thing can comfortably fit 7 people and there is still the "trunk" area").  The first night I picked it up, our nephew stopped by (he was in town from Oregon) and packed up an old suitcase that we had acquired for just this purpose and packed up some material from one or two bags we had brought in.  His wife has recently joined a quilt guild in their new town, but he doesn't want her spending money on fabric (Their financial circumstances are pretty limited, I think).  These photos are what I sorted out AFTER he was here.

Oh, and there is still stuff in the Suburban... a whole basket of patterns/books and some boxes of I don't know what....

Honestly, most of this will be heading its way to Goodwill or wherever.  I have come across a few cool vintage type prints that I can bear to part with, some big pieces of muslin and a few cute cheater prints. There were a bunch of solids, but they didn't seem to feel like 100% cotton to me and they also seemed pretty thin, so I just packed them in a bag to go.  A lot of the fabrics seem to be really thin and I'd hate to give them to anyone I know, for fear they would wear out really quickly.  I also tossed a bunch of cut pieces that I have no clue what they were for.  I should have kept them to cut up for pet beds, but I didn't know when I would find the time to do that and I don't have enough space to store them.

I have contacted a couple bloggers that I thought about when I was going through the fabrics and saw something that made me think of them.  I'm going to send them boxes of fabric and one to the nephew's wife, too.  I just know my husband won't let me keep this stuff around forever, plus it's taking up my kitchen table which is my sewing area...so I can't sew until this is taken care of!

*********************************************************************************

Sorting through this much fabric has really made me think about my stash, too.  I've been trying to get my fabric organized and also to finish up WIP's, too, and this just emphasizes to me that I need to continue to work on this effort.  Heaven forbid anything should happen to me anytime soon, I wouldn't want my husband or any of my other family to have to deal with that.  I'd at least want it organized so that things would be easier.

I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few months or so (I'm a slow organizer!).  Plus, I have some projects in the works and other things that I've committed to.

Sew Thinky Thursday -

My friend, Emily is hosting a new linky party over at her blog: Mommy's Nap Time  (take a minute to go see what Sew Thinky Thursday is all about...)

These were Emily's questions:
When did you start sewing? Tell us a bit about your sewing history. When did you realize you were really hooked? 

I think that I have been sewing forever, or so it seems.  Sewing has definitely always been in my life.  My mom has sewn, still does, and so does my aunt.  I have a photo of my cousin and I in matching dresses made by my mom.... let me go see if I can find it....  Apparently, I do not have the photo.... 

As I was thinking about these questions, I remembered as a teenager, buying little "kits" of already cut up squares, probably similar to a charm pack. I'm not sure what I was going to make with them, but I do know I never finished anything.  I seem to have a problem with finishing things and have to be very careful to try to complete one project before I start another.

We were able to do a bit of sewing when I was in school, too... I made some sort of stuffed pillow and a duffel bag. Then, in high school, I took a clothing class.  I managed to get an A on my projects, although I'm pretty sure that I never wore any of them (not sure why...)

In college, there was a period where flannel shirts were the "in" thing.  I made myself several flannel shirts.  They turned out nice... I wonder if either of those are lurking in the back of my closet... (score!)  For your viewing pleasure:

I remember buying a bunch of fabric when I was doing my student teaching, too.  I bet that's in a box somewhere..

Sometime after college, I inherited my grandma's sewing machine after she passed away.  It's a great 1960's Singer machine that still works remarkably well.

I go through crafty phases, so I didn't really do much sewing for a while... I was doing scrap booking, some crochet, and some knitting.  Maybe 4 years ago, I started back in with a bit of sewing and started thinking about buying a new machine.  Once I bought my new machine, that's when I started sewing a lot more.

I like all crafts, but sewing seems to be the "easiest" for me.  I can't do knitting or crochet for extended periods of time due to some issues with my hands. So, sewing seems to be the best long term craft choice for me :)

Plus, I really enjoy doing a good job when I sew my projects.  I'm a bit particular, especially for things I'm giving to other people.

I know this is a bit of a rambling post, sorry for being so scattered... I'm a bit ill with a cold/fever thing...  is that considered the flu?  I don't know, but I sure feel crummy!  As much as I don't like cold weather, I'm really wishing that it would get really cold and stay really cold for a while to kill off all the germs going around.  *sigh*

Dot Dot Dash Bag

Somehow, I've lucked out several times now and have gotten to be a bag tester for several pattern designers.  This time I was able to test the Dot Dot Dash Bag for Sara at Sew Sweetness.

There were lots of zippers to put in this bag, but I love how it turned out.   I also like that I can fit my Macbook Air in this bag, too.

Once I finished making it, it immediately went on a trip to Las Vegas with me.  If you take a look at Sara's post on her blog, you'll see all of the cool versions that everyone made!  It makes me want to make another.

So Many Things...

Do you ever have so much going on, so many lists, or so (sew?) much to do that you're not even sure where to start?  That's how I'm feeling...

School starts back up tomorrow... ugh!  I'll be happy to see my students, but not so happy to be back to the daily grind (especially since I have a busy month or two ahead....).

I have so many projects and things to finish in the next month!  I'm going to be very busy.  However, these are all things I WANT to do.

• I started a new quilt the other day...  Really?  I already have 2 quilts waiting to be finished (both of them just need to have pieced backs and then one will go to the quilter and I will quilt one...)  Plus, I have a baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law in a month, and I need to make a baby quilt for that, too.  The good news on that one is that I already have most of the fabric and I already have a design in my head... the quilt just needs to get made.
• I volunteered to do some semi-"secret" sewing that needs to be finished by @ the end of the month  - orders have been placed for some necessary supplies before I can proceed any further...
• DQS13 - Doll Quilt Swap 13.... I have to make the quilt for my secret partner.... I've have an idea in my head, but I'm thinking it over to decide if I want to modify the idea a bit.  I've started collecting fabrics for this
• 2 Open Wide Zippered Pouches - I was over at my friend Emily's the other day, and she was showing me some fabrics that she had, and I admired a print that she had... so she gave it to me!  Actually, she gave me several pieces of fabric that I admired and a couple of them are pretty hard to come by... wasn't that so sweet of Emily?  Anyway, one of the pieces,  I knew just the fabric that would coordinate with it, so I am all set to make it into a couple zippered pouches.  Oh, and that quilt I started the other day... I cut all the fabrics for it when I was over at Emily's....

..... this is just a small portion of the list... the items that are most prominent in my mind... I could keep going, but then I'd just be really tired and crabby tomorrow :(