A last finish for the month :)

Two lined, two unlined, right into the gift box :)

Actually I finished another gift bag but it's for someone who reads my blog and will have a parcel enroute by CP tomorrow, so I can't post it yet :D

PhD #3 of 7 completed :)

 3 down, 4 to go!  Here's quilt #3 of my PhD (projects half done) completion request - being modelled by DS1 (he apparently needed a nap after a hard day @ tradeschool, LOL).

A close-up of the baseball fabric in the alternate blocks - you can't tell from the picture, but the lump is the cat ... HA!!  He loves my quilts, lol.


The blocks are mile-a-minute scrap blocks - they measure 9" finished, and the quilt is birthed with a "Berber" type fleecy backing in denim blue.  The quilt measures 54" x 72" :)

Happy birthday Brian :)

Happy birthday to our late brother Brian - Feb. 25/64 - Dec. 31/98.  Hard to imagine that the baby of the family would have been 47 today! 

Here's a gift bag I made tonight - hubby was watching a dreadful show on TV (1000 Ways to Die, or something like that) - when it looked like a guy was going to cut off his arm cast with a damn circular saw I left the room.  Couldn't figure out how to turn the sound on on Chris' "fancy" tv, so in frustration I went down to the basement to sew :D  At least I'm productive when I'm frustrated, LOL!!

Pink Penguin fabric basket :)

I want to make a few Pink Penguin fabric baskets, so I made this one first to refamiliarize myself with the project, and to use up a few little pink scraps, lol.  This basket measures about 8" x 3.5" x 3.5" :)  The "real" baskets will be pieced and patchworked and blinged out - this one was just a quicky! :)

Try something new today :)

I came across some thin yarn today when I was looking for something, and it matched the piece of scrap jungle print fabric I had sitting on my cutting table, so I decided to try out the cording foot I had purchased on ebay a long short time ago :)  This is basically what it looks like, but I can't get a good close-up with my camera.

Here's my second attempt at using this foot.  The first attempt was so puckery and laughable that I gave it a quick and painless death in my garbage can without a second thought :)  Even with it's imperfections I could tell that this technique had promise...

A closer view of attempt #2 ... ooOOOO looking good!  Curves = check ... angles = check ... this has possibilities!  I'll go for broke and try it on a real project *biting my nails* :D

IT WORKED!  HOLY CRAP IT WORKED!  I actually squealed out loud when I saw the completed project.  Scary, eh? LOL! 

Hopefully this gives you a clearer view of what the couching looks like - I do like this ... A LOT!!  I'm so glad I tried this out instead of being too nervous to give it a shot :)  (Buttonholes are coming up, Wendy, LOL!) :)

BTW - I wasn't entirely successful with my "firsts" today - I also tried dying the cord pink!! for the drawstring ... using beet juice from the can of beets I had opened in the kitchen.  The drawstring didn't soak up even a millilitre of the juice, so it remained off white, LOL.  Will try it again later with egg dye that Nancy gave me last year :D

What rhymes with orange?

A bit of a joke my dad told me when I was a wee one:  What's the only word that rhymes with orange?  Door hinge :D  (I was too young to point out that door hinge is two words, LOL).  He also taught me:
Scintillate scintillate globule vovific
Fain would I know thy nature specific
Loftily poised amidst ether capacious
Somewhat resembling the gem carbonacious :)
(Think ... twinkle twinkle little star :D)

Here are the 4 oranges book thongs (bookmarks) I finished tonight.  The oranges beads are from a seller on etsy, and the little orange voile bags are from an ebay seller in (Hong Kong, I think).  The set of bags included ORANGE bags - could that be more perfect? NO! LOL!! 

Here's a close-up of the fancy beads :)

Here are 3 of the book thongs in their little gift bags --- the 4th one has already been packed up ready for mailing to it's recipient, lol.  These little guys will go as a set with the oranges zipper bags I posted the other day :)

Cinderella :)

Here's a Cinderella pouch I made today, to use up a small piece of Cinderella fabric and some leftover pink TOT (for the lining).  It measures 10" wide x 8" tall x 4" deep - this will go to Blue Hills for one of the girls :)

My first coffee cozy, from Quilts & More Fall 2010.  Not a great success, so I'm thankful I used scrap fabric.  It's a little too big - it keeps sliding down the cup, and I left the elastic too long, so it doesn't snug up on the cup.  I'll trim the pattern down a bit before trying again, and will be more careful with my elastic placement! ;) 

Got the batteries charged ...

Here are last night's FNSI projects, hooked up with their zipper pulls ;) 

I do have to admit that the Patchyapple boxy bag is my favourite :D

I think next time I'll put pull tabs on BOTH ends of the boxy bag, instead of just the one end :)

FNSI - final report ;)

I finished my zipper pulls, but was unable to get a photo of the bags WITH pulls, as my camera batteries died.  I hate rechargeables - they sure don't last very long *pfft*.   I had a rough time with these little beaded guys - my manual dexterity isn't what it used to be (between P and arthritis and old age and who knows what else) - it took me almost as long to make these guys as it did to sew the bags, LOL.  Oh well - it could be worse - a LOT worse!  :)

My first FNSI was a complete and total success - I can't wait for the next one!!

FNSI - first report ;)

Here's my first FNSI post - I've finished "Part A" of my goals (making the 5 oranges zipper bags) - I needed to stretch a bit so I came up to post this to my blog - soon I'm headed back downstairs to make the beaded zipper pulls for the bags :)

I hope everyone else that's participating is having a fun time - I'm looking forward to seeing what projects have been completed!

I found a tip today that I was able to try out tonight while making my bags - actually I tried it out 5 times, LOL!  Here's a "turning trick" for when you leave an opening in a project so you can turn it right sides out - it isn't always easy to turn under the raw edges and have it look nice.  This tip WORKS! 

Here's a photo of what you do - just add a couple of tiny seams at the beginning and end of the stitching - when you turn, you'll have lovely seam allowances to press under.  FABULOUS!  Thank you to Sunni for posting such a great tip!

OK - back to the quilt cave with me ... as soon as The Closer is over on TV, lol.  Love Kyra Sedgewick!!  ;)

Tomorrow night = FNSI :)

Tomorrow night is the February Friday Night Sew-In (see link on my sidebar) - I'm ready with several sewing projects to work on :)  I'm all out of gold lobster claws so I don't think I'll be able to finish the zipper pulls I want to make for the bags, but at least I can get them strung :)  As you can see by the photo I now have lots of orange zippers to use on the oranges bags, lol.  You can see some strung beads in the middle of the photo - those are for book thongs - I have beads shaped like oranges to use as the focal beads, but I'm waiting for an Etsy order to arrive with the rest of the beads I need :) 

I caught the premier of a new television show last night - Criminal Minds:  Suspect Behaviour - with Forest Whitaker and Janeane Garofalo - great show - I'll be watching that one on a regular basis!

PhD #3 under construction :)

Here's the PhD (project half done) that I'm currently working on - this is #3 of 7 for me - I call it the baseball quilt because the alternate blocks are golf fabric! ;) 

 Here's a snowman book thong I made today - you'd think that a snowman bead would be orange/black/white but no - these snowman beads have yellow noses, lol.  So - I used yellow/black/white beads to match :)

 A close-up of the snowman beads :)

30's print gift bag - made to use up this scrap of fabric that was given to me by a friend :)

It's fun to turn 3 (not that I remember back that far, LOL!)

 Here's as much of a close-up as I could do of the zipper pull (thanks Nancy for the all the zipper pull ingredients!) ...

and here's the box bag (Patchyapple pattern) - it measures 13" x 3" x 4", is batted with warm and natural, and is lined with a red TOT print. 

The other part of this gift is one of the little denim wallets with his name on the front (a cross-stitch tag I added) - I'll tuck a few uncharged gift cards and some play money into it :) 

Tagging the bears in Algonquin Park - magnificent!

"My shovel is ready in case she tries to come out.  I hit you and run!" ... ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The bear in the cave is just gorgeous, and probably can't figure out what the hell is going on, and why someone disturbed her peaceful sleep!  The cubs eyes aren't even open yet, the wee babes!  I love the way Rick is handling the bear pups - so gentle and kind :)  When momma wakes up in the spring she's going to think she had a really weird dream, LOL!

Lighthouses, denim and pups :)

I believe this is the last of the lighthouse fabric I was gifted (except for a boxy bag I have kitted up to work on later).  These bags utilize the last of the "boy" caribiners I have, and more "electricians denim" (aka old jeans my husband and sons have worn out, lol), and will be going to some boys @ Blue Hills :)  I need to find and buy more carabiners - I love adding them to these bags!

My next project is for a special little boy who has a 3rd birthday coming up ;)  The outer fabric (the white print) is doggy themed, the ribbon spool has dog paw prints on it, and the charm (under the red gingham ribbon - silver, and very tiny) is a dog :)   As soon as I get this finished I can can get it mailed out to the recipient as a surprise (more of a surprise that it will be on time ... ROTFL!).

Strings and lighthouses :)

 Completion #2 (of 7) for the PhD Challenge @ Myra's blog - Nick is holding it up for me, lol.

Here's Nick posing under the quilt for a "reality shot" - you can see the turquoisey blue fleece backing just behind his head :)  I see Zoomer also decided he should be in both photos, LOL!  This quilt measures 54 x 72", and will be donated to a local shelter.

Last finish of the day - a couple of lighthouse zipper bags (thanks Susan in KC for the fabric!) that will go to Blue Hills for a couple of the boys :)  I'm finally using up my small stash of carabiners - soon I'll need to find and buy more of them - I love adding them to the bags for a bit of bling!

Some littlies and a biggy :)

Here are 2 more rainbow gift bags made for my favourite customer ;)  I'm now out of the royal blue rattail cording so I'm going to try a Pink Penguin fabric basket with the same fabrics - I think they'd make really cute gift baskets :)

And here we have a pencil case from stash leftovers, and a flannel zippy bag also from stash leftovers - these will go to Blue Hills for the kids. 

The big news is that I finished my second PHD quilt tonight - it's in the washer right now but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get a picture - it's just too dark at this time of the night - I'd like one of the kids to hold it for me outside in the sunshine :D  The first person to comment and pick a number from 1-5 will decide which PHD I'm working on next :D 

Many things - many many things :D

These zipper bags were already completed, but tonight I made beaded zipper pulls for them.

Ladybug book thong with the new ladybug beads I bought in Newmarket :)

Close-up of the bigger beads :)

Small elephant stuffy made from minky-ish fabric left over from a previous project :) 

Here are a couple of pictures for Miz Wonky Girl who sews with a gorgeous 1948 FW (as opposed to my much newer and modern 1953 201, LOL!) - here's one of my 3 string quilts under construction - I always have string blocks on the go to use up scraps, so when I get enough blocks I make a quilt.  Here's one row + the next blocks that are under construction :D

A pink string quilt under construction - years ago I picked out all my pink strings and put them in a box, then started making blocks to use up all the pink.  I finally got enough blocks made a few weeks ago, and started assembling Pinky :)

I'll post a photo of string quilt #3 tomorrow - the it's my second (of 7) projects for Myra's PHD Challenge - the top is done and I'll be birthing it with a polar fleece backing :)

Burgundy day :D

Today's finishes - the last of the projects I had kitted up a while back - I'm glad to be finished using that red brocadey type fabric (the bottom bags) as it shreds like crazy, and I don't have a serger! 

I also got a bit more work done on my current PhD (a string quilt), kitted up more projects, and made half a dozen string blocks for yet another scrap-buster string quilt - I usually have at least one of these underway, lol.  I managed to kill my second Shark iron - the first one, a really fancy one bought for me by my oldest son, lasted a year, and this one, a mid-line Shark, also only lasted a year.  I iron a LOT!  I guess I just wear them out - imagine!

I did it! And I did it perfectly!! :)

I've been eying this zipper installation tutorial for a while now, meaning to try it.  Tonight was the night, and I'm ever so glad I did, as it turned out PERFECTLY.  So perfect it surprised me, LOL!!  I'm used to installing zippers, but not zippers with fabric tabbed ends.  I prefer to sandwich my zippers between the front/lining so there are no raw edges inside, so that's what I did - I combined my usual installation technique with her tabbed ends techniques - with total success ;)  LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY! 

A closer view of the end ...

Another angle :)

Another finish for today - a pretty girly bib for an expectant momma (this will go with the theme bibs I've already made) :)

And - last but not least - two more finishes from today - BOY themed zipper bags for the local counselling centre - I've sent them lots of girl zippies so I'm concentrating on boy ones to even things out ;)  This fabric was given to me by my friend Nancy the Tavern Wench - thanks Nanc!

Canada Day :)

Very patriotic bibs, lol!  The little one at the bottom is for a friend's grandchild, due at the beginning of June - she (they think she's a she!) will be properly outfitted for Canada's birthday! ;)

I sewed during the football game ;)

 Nick was watching the game in one room downstairs, so I supported him in the next room by sewing up some projects that had nothing to do with him, and that he wouldn't be remotely interested in.  Aren't I a wonderful mommy?  ;)

These are all for my favourite customer :D  The fabric for the wine bottle bags was given to me by my SIL, who bought it to recover a chair!  I also used it to make a very elegant kitty quilt for our niece's beautiful (but miserable!) kitty cat Diablo Lucifer Satan Beelzebub The Antichrist Flower :)  I have just enough scraps left to make 2 zipper bags - they're already kitted and ready to sew :D