Lots o pics :)

Tough week between health issues, visit to the naturopath, new diet regime - no dairy, no sugar, no wheat, no caffeine, no red meat ... not much left to eat except vegetables and frigging BROWN RICE! ARGH!! And don't get me started on the supplements they have me taking - eeeeeeeeuuuwwwwwww!!! 'nuff about that :D

Hubby and I got in a day trip to New York last weekend - I wasn't up to a weekend visit like we originally planned, but I did manage to visit a few Joanns stores :) I picked up some fabric and notions (pics 1-3) - gotta love the 50% off coupons :D






I did get some sewing done in between whining about my ugly new dietary restrictions - I finished another baby quilt for Malawi (36 x 36), made another cage quilt (18 X 24) and made 6 zipper bags - not bad considering how crappy my hands have been!

UFO Challenge - week 5 update :)

My goal for week #5 was to sew on border #2 and to make and sew on border #3. I got those done, and have most of the last border sewn as well. I like the way the cornerstones look - I've never done them before, but I'll definitely use that technique again - it does a really nice job of separating the border strips! My goal for week #6 is to get the last border sewn on, and then start removing the paper from the blocks. That's definitely not my favorite job, as I think most paper piecers will agree, lol. BLAH!

While I was down in the studio I got some other sewing done too - I fixed 3 pairs of jeans for hubby and DS1 (they're going to $hit when they see I actually DID the mending, lol), made another zipper bag (meow!) and put together another shelter quilt. It just needs a bit of freemo quilting on it and it'll be finished - I think it measures 18" X 24" - it's backed with part of an NHL fleece blanket (from the thrift store) :D

Tomorrow - if nothing bad happens to my feet - hubby and I head to Niagara Falls (stateside) for a quilt show and some Joanns shopping - I can't wait! If I'm up to it we'll spend the night so I can do more shopping on Sunday, but if my feet are bothering me we'll come home tomorrow. My fingers are crossed for an overnighter :D

OOPS forgot to post this on Friday ...

My week #4 UFO Challenge photo - my goal was to get two borders sewn and attached, but I came up a little bit short - I got them both sewn, but only one got added :D Here's the photo - you can see the unattached border hanging on the left.

My goal for week #5 is to get border #2 attached, and border #3 sewn and attached. I think I'm going to do cornerstones to separate the borders at the corners - that should look pretty :) Hubby and I are going to Buffalo this weekend if my feet are up to it (Quilt show in North Tonawanda) - of course I'll be hitting several Joanns stores, so I'm going to look for some beachy seaside embellishments for my project :D

A little bit of sewing ...

The snails bag is lined with hot pink gingham fabric (I have to get more of that - it's gorgeous, lol) - the yellow bag is self lined, with a beaded pull. I didn't have any hardware to make the pull so I just threaded some beads onto fishing line - it's really cute!

I seem to be getting a lot of sewing done!

Baby quilt is finished and ready to go ... plus I used up a piece of stash fabric making the make-up bags - with all the sewing I've been getting done my stash should be shrinking ... but ... well ... does anybody's stash actually shrink? LOL NO it doesn't, and we know why!!

Sugar and spice, ribbons and lace :)

I have a couple of little boy quilts ready for Malawi, so now it's time to cover the girls - pun intended ;) I found a bunch of pink string blocks in the studio from a couple of projects that weren't going as intended. The blocks got tucked away until the right project could be found. And now they can come out of hiding and become several pretty little quilts for some sweet little girls who could probably use a bit of a boost :) This set of blocks was made to use up stash ribbons and lace - the rest of the blocks are laceless, but still pink. Two different + similar sets of blocks will become two different but similar quilts - hopefully in very short order! I just have to check my flannel stash for backing fabric! These are 9 1/2" unfinished blocks, so the quilts will be 36" finished. My favorite size to make :)

Bugs for Malawi :)

I finished this little guy up tonight to send to Malawi (a local nurse is going to spend time in the hospital there, so she's gathering quilts and receiving blankets to take for the wee ones). I now have 3 boy quilts done - I need to make a girl one next!! This one measures 36" square - the backing is the same yellow print as the binding. It's freemo quilted all over, but I also did a tiny zigzag in all the seams for extra strength. The batting is a warm and natural type batting. The quilt is very soft, very sweet, and I'm very happy with it :)

Book bag for Matteo :)

I finished this little bag just in time for Matteo (great nephew, 14 months old, adorable as hell!) for Easter - I like how it turned out, although my kids laughed at it and called it a "murse" (man purse), the brats, LOL. Matteo seemed to like it, as did his momma - so that makes me very happy! It measures 10" X 8" X 2.5", has a pocket on the inside, and is lined with a turquoisey blue fabric.

Spring, anyone?

Quicky post while I wait for hubby to get home with propane for the BBQ -- I found a pretty remnant at the fabric store on Thursday and made some springy make-up sized bags with it - each one is decorated differently :)

While most of our snow is gone, it's still somewhat chilly - currently 7C/44F - it'll be in the low 50's next week, but by the weekend we're expecting a rain/snow mix - Mother Nature is really messing with us !!! I doubt we'll get much more snow tho, and certainly none that stays!!! *said with fingers crossed* :D

UFO Challenge - week 3 update :D

I got the first border attached, and started piecing the outer border with batiks - the project is looking really good (albeit still TOO DAMN BIG!) - I'm sure I'll get this finished and ready to hang by the time summer rolls around!

Easter Keester!

I just got this in an email ... ROTFL!!!

Got an ouchie?

Then get a bandaid and some antibiotic cream - from a zippered FIRST AID BAG!!! Isn't this a cutie? I got the sweet fabric (Funky Munky bandages by Moda) from Special Stitches - excellent service, and Deb is a dear to deal with - she went out of her way to get me an excellent shipping price to Canada, for which I'm thankful! And my order came with a sweet little bonus - thanks Deb!

The bag measures 9.5" X 9" - I'll be making more of these and will likely line them with a creamy TOT to match the bandages, but I didn't have any handy so I "splurged" and self-lined it :) Zippered bag is from Corinne's tutorial :) I have an idea in mind for a funky little embellishment - cross your fingers that I'm able to make what I can picture so clearly in my mind :D


Here's a shelter quilt I finished last night - it's pieced onto used dryer sheets, and is backed with part of a fleece blanket I got at the thrift store for $4 - it was big enough to make at least 8 shelter quilts! This guy measures 23" X 26" - doggy sized :D

More goodies :)

Sore feet + crap weather (snowing) = Sandra gets more sewing done :D

Ok, let's see what we have here --- a lined tote (15 x 13 x 4) and matching make-up bag (7 x 9) (donation items) made from stash ... a bug quilt top (36 x 36) for Malawi ... and the piece de resistance ... a mouse bag (6 x 7) - aka a bag to hold my cordless mouse in my laptop bag when I go away :D Check out the sexaaaaaaaay lining!!! It was a lot of fun to work with this cute fabric, LOL.

What a productive day! This psoriasis crap has one good side effect - I can't get out much because sometimes it's just too hard to walk for any distance, which means I'm stuck here at home ... with my laptop for ideas and my sewing machine for productivity ;) Not a bad way to spend a day, tho!!

OOOoOOO Baby!

I finished this little treasure last night - the top was an oldish (more than a year, I think) UFO ... I got some great fabric on sale at Fabricland for the backing/binding, and got working :) It measures 36" square, and has SITD + freemo quilting. It's batted with a warm 'n natural type batting - that stuff is really nice to work with. I'm very happy with how it turned out, although the colors don't look very true on my monitor - they're a bit crisper and fresher than they appear. This quilt will be off to Malawi later this month!

P.S. The appliqued heart near the top/right covers up a white selvage spot where I was running short on fabric and had to include the selvage to get the block cut to the right size, lol.

The last of the pre-packaged projects :D

I got a couple more make-up/zipper bags finished - these were the last of the projects I had bagged up to work on :) One of the bags is made with fabric to co-ordinate with a tote I made last month - isn't that a pretty set?

After I finished the last make-up bag I pulled out a baby quilt UFO - I got it sandwiched today, and got about 1/2 of the quilting done (stitch in the ditch) - it's just a small quilt - 36 X 36 (finished), but it's cute :) It's going to Malawi with a load of other baby items that a local nurse is taking with her when she goes to work in a hospital there! Malawi - can you imagine??!! I hope to get this quilt finished and if I have time, will make one more. I already have a bunch of bibs to send as well ... and I'd like to make some receiving blankets too, for the little ones :)

Fugitive Bags :)

Hubby and both boys were working today, so I got the housework done and then went down to the studio to play. I whipped up 4 zippered bags (Heart of Mary tutorial, of course) - these range in size from 5 X 8 to 9 X 9 - all are embellished with rick rack or trim, and they're all self-lined with whatever fabric is closest to the zipper :D Aren't they cute? Oh yes - I call them Fugitive bags because while I was sewing, I was watching the ever-so-delicious Harrison Ford (along with the equally delicious Tommy Lee Jones) in The Fugitive ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm they are DREAMY!

I was surfing around the web last night when I couldn't sleep - I came across this blog - Projects by Jane - this girl likes making bags and pouches, and likes posting tutorials for them!! I'm having a great time poking around your blog, Jane - your projects are very sweet!

Flowers and spice and everything nice :)

My girlfriend gave me some scraps a few weeks ago - one of the scraps was about a foot X WOF of a very pretty pink/black floral -- these are what I made from the fabric :) The little one measures about 5" X 5", the bigger ones are 5 1/2" X 7". I folded the top down of one of them so you could see that they're self-lined. The black rick rack was a thrift store find! Thanks for the fabric, Chris!! Tutorial by Corinne @ Heart of Mary :)

UFO Challenge - week 2 update :D

Photo 1 - I frog'd the row I did incorrectly and redid it with the sashes, then added the sand row.

Photo 2 - I sewed together the waves, added the water, then sewed that section to the sand.


I am NEVER doing a paper pieced project this big again - what a pain in the ass! It is HUGE! Gorgeous, but huge (46" X 55", without borders!) - and I still have to add the borders! I'm going to have to figure out where on earth I can hang this thing when it's finished, lol. The only reason I'm still working on it is the UFO Challenge (with my spicy girls) - they're the ones keeping me going! Check out my partner in crime's Cabana project - it's spectacular!!