Monday Makers! #32 :)

I'm not starting something new for this week's Monday Makers! - I still need to start (and finish!) the basket set I've been planning for 2+ weeks to get cracking on. The fabric is still hanging, untouched, on a ruler on my sewing table, lol. I did finish all the bunny treat bags I started last week - they're filled and tucked in a basket ready to be gifted :)  Easter sewing is DONE :)  I didn't do all the projects I wanted to do, though.  I Amazon'd 2 of the kids an Easter book (plus I mailed them an Easter card) instead of sewing and mailing them a gift - at this late stage of the game, I can't trust Canada Post to deliver on time.  For the handmade items I did smaller, simpler projects than I originally planned, but reality -- "done and ready" trumps "bigger, better but incomplete or late".  I'm sure all sewers and crafters know THAT feeling :)

 Posted to Monday Makers! #32 :)

Monday Makers! #31 :)

Well - I was 50% successful at completing the projects I picked last week to do for this week - I give myself a 50/100, LOL.  I didn't even touch the roadway fabric that I want to use for a basket set :/  Oh wait - I lie - I moved it out of the way so I could do other things on the table - I think right now it's hanging over top of a big ruler, LOL!  I did get the bib 'n taggy set done, and it is CUTE :)

There are 4 meters of ribbon in that set!  Each bib has 3 pieces 11" long, and there are 20 X 3" pieces in the taggy :D  Good thing I have a few more yards to use up - right, Baye?  ;)  BTW - this bib set hasn't been washed yet - after I wash/dry it the quilting will shrink up a bit and it'll get that soft, lovely crinkled look :)

Last night I kitted up projects to work on this week - I want to get the rest of the little bunny Easter bags finished for the kids.  I have 8 done so far more are kitted ready to stitch.  These are my Monday Makers! project for this week :D

4 bunny bags for the girls ...

2 more bunny bags for the boys :D

I have one more piece of fabric picked out for another bag, but I need to dig around for a piece of fabric I think I have somewhere that will be perfect for the lining :D  I'm pretty sure I can get these bags finished this week, and hopefully I can get to work on the baskets from last week :)

Posting to Monday Makers! #31 :)

Monday Makers! #30 :)

For Monday Makers #29 I posted 2 projects I had started, with plans of getting them done last week.  Happily I got both items completed, YAY :)

Dinosaur themed fabric baskets (7", 6" and 5" size from this pattern)

Easter bunny pouches from this tutorial :)

 I really like the bunny pouches so I made another set of them, and have several more cut out to make for this coming Easter :D  I'm going to tuck a little Easter chocolate inside, and give them to the greats when we see them for Easter dinner :D  I may even make some for the neighbour  kids because they're so quick and easy - and CUTE :D  I did modify the pattern a bit - I increased the fabric to 6.5" squares to make them easier to stitch, and I added a pompom tail for extra bunny-ness ;)  Oh - I also used rattail for the drawstring instead of fabric ties - rattail is slippery so it's much easier to thread through that tiny little casing :D

For the coming week here are the projects I've started and would like to complete:

Future bib and taggy set :)

Future fabric basket set :)

Close-up of the cool road/town fabric I chose for this project :D

Posted to Monday Makers! #30 :)

Monday Makers! #29 :)

Here's the project I started for MM #28 ... and here's the completed project :)  This was a new to me project from Fast Fun & Easy Critter Bags (NAYY) - next time around I'll rejig his face a bit - this looks more like a zombie duck than a cute Easter duck - his eyes need to be closer together, and his face needs to move down his body a bit, LOLOL.  He's cute - but he can be cuter!  ;) 

For Monday Makers! #29 I actually started 2 projects - that's just how I rock ;)  I'm sure I'm not the only one that sometimes just wants to start something new rather than finishing something UFO! 

This is the beginning of a set of 3 stacking baskets from the Nesting Fabric Bowls pattern (NAYY) from Nova @ a cuppa and a catch up :)  The pattern has multiple sizes and designs - it's quite thorough!  I cut out the 7", 6" and 5" baskets to work on.  I have more dinosaur fabric (which I believe is still available @ Joanns, as is the green polka dot fabric from their Christmas line, that I chose to go with it).  This basket set is destined for a little one for Christmas ;)

Once I got Christmas cut out, I decided to cut out Easter as well!  :D  These pretty in pink fabrics will hopefully morph into 2 little bunny treat bags - the multi-coloured poms at the top are just for show.  I'm fancy that way, when I remember to attempt to be so :D 

I had some more pictures to post but the colours went REALLY badly in the basement - the white background turned blue, and the yellow caught on fire and melted - it was pretty ugly.  Will see if I can get outside tomorrow to take some photos - I want to show you what I did with a bunch of ribbon I received recently from Ebay - it took weeks to arrive from China and arrived sporting a disgusting and strong petrochemical smell.  I hung a bunch outside to see if I could destink them - they look pretty cute out there, truth be told, lol!  Maybe the snow (of which we have MUCH!) will absorb the stinkies :D

Posted to Monday Makers! #29 :)

Monday Makers #28 :)

I forgot to post this yesterday for Monday Makers! #28 but fortunately Nurdan lets us link on Tuesdays - very helpful for people who have memory lapses - like me :D

Yesterday I cut out another bag to try - this is from the Fast Fun & Easy Critter Bags book that my pig zipper pouch is from :)  It's certainly a book with many fun ideas in it, although it's not a book I would recommend for new sewers - it's not exactly big on instructions or details :D  I mainly go by the pictures and the pattern pieces, lol.  I'm doing the bag the way I normally do drawstring gift bags - fully lined, with no raw edges - the one in the book isn't lined, and I prefer a more finished look most of the time ;)

A couple of days ago I posted a picture of some bib and taggy sets I had completed for Blue Hills.  I washed the sets after taking pictures - most of them came out fine, of course, but one set - OOPS!  I noticed the velcro seemed
"off" when I was attaching it, but I had no idea it would do this!  I'll remove the velcro from all 3 bibs and redo it with different velcro - I guess I got a bad batch.  I'm glad I caught it before sending the goodies to BH!

I found something in stash this morning that I forgot I had - a while ago I bought some ceramic beads from ebay, with the intent of using them as zipper pulls.  Here's one I found that can now be put to good use - it's perfect for the project, lol!


Posted to Monday Makers #28 :)

I made a very special zipper bag today :)

I'd like to show you some pictures of the bag I made today - see if you can spot why it's so special!  ;)  I've been making denim + batik zipper pouches to use up a bunch of pendants I bought a while ago to use for zipper pulls - I didn't even have a chance to put the zipper pull on this particular bag, lol.  Notice the pretty variegated thread stitching and the studs on the front - so pretty!

Front :)

Back :)

Lining fabric - isn't it gorgeous?

Wait ... what??!!!

Something doesn't look quite right here!

If you guessed that I somehow, in my infinite non-wisdom, managed to trim down the wrong end of the zipper, leaving me with a lovely zipperless zipper bag, you would be right - imagine my surprise when I realized what I had done, LOL!!!  Perfectly beautiful bag - big handicap!  I'm still laughing - it's probably among the top 2 stupidest things I've ever done at the sewing machine :D

Here are a few finishes that turned out better than the previous one - all of these are going to Blue Hills :)

4 seahorse bibs (completed in January) :)

3 Oriental boxy bags :)

3 upcycled denim bibs from worn out work jeans from one of my guys - I don't even remember whose jeans they were, lol :)

4 denim and batik zipper bags - these ones DID work out and include an actual working zipper ;)

Doggy bib and taggy set completed in January :)

One last bib+taggy set from January, featuring a pretty doggy print from Joanns :)  Close-up shows the ribbon I found to go with it, and the quilting on the center of the taggy :)

Bibs and Taggies :)

Here are a few of the bib and taggy sets I got finished in February - all of these are going to Blue Hills :) Note the frequent use of the white and pink flamingo fabric - I bought a LOT of it years ago and am still plowing through it, lol.

This last set was made to use up some pink scraps - these quilt as you go bibs were done on Warm and Natural batting for extra body :)

I have 2 more sets to photograph but I need to run them through the washer/dryer first - I like to wash everything before I donate it (except zipper bags, haha) - to make sure that there are no loose seams that might fray/wobble after washing ;)  I'm working on boy sets in March - I have some pretty blue flannels from Joanns that I want to cut into :)

Ho Ho Ho and On I Sewed :D

These 8 earbud pouches have been completed just in time for the February Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew linky party :)  As soon as I took the picture they went right into my Christmas 2015 box, ready for whenever they might be needed come the holiday season :D  They measure about 5" wide and are just the right size for a mini candy cane, a bit of $$, or a lovely little box of chocolates :) Christmas prep is ON!  Right, Pam?  Pam is February's hostess for the party, and posted a tutorial for adorable drawstring gift bags :)  Yours truly will be co-hostessing in October - I'm already biting my nails about it, lol!  There's a very small large chance that my tutorial will involve a zipper, but you just.  never.  know ;)

Posted to Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for February 2015 :)

This little piggy went to market ... in my basement dungeon :D

I posted my start to this project on Monday, and got it finished yesterday. Despite one booboo that resulted in me needing to remove her snout and tail, then recut and reattach them (while cursing grumbling loudly :D) she worked out beautifully :D

She measures about 7.5"w (not counting her lil piggy feet) and 10.5"t ... and she'll be going to Blue Hills :)  I have another pink one cut out, and am planning on a blue one as well :D  She's from the book Fast Fun & Easy Fabric Critter Bags (NAYY) - there are lots of other fun designs in the book that I want to play with as well :)

Her little ears are a bit dimensional - I stitched the ears on so they'd be raised a bit - I thought it would be a cute touch :D




If I do say so myself, she's a pretty cute zipper pouch - I think someone will be very happy to receive her :)  

Posted to Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me for Feb. 2015 :)

NOT posted to the Sew the Library linky party for February - I like to follow along, do my own thing and check out what others have done, without actually posting to it - I'm lazy that way, lol.

Monday Makers #27 :)

I didn't get a chance to post to last week's Monday Makers - I was working on a project for a neighbour and haven't had much blogging time.  I'm mostly caught up on reading, but haven't been able to comment like I normally do.  I hate getting behind! 

I did get a birthday gift done in time to deliver yesterday :)  I bought the TMNT fabric last year at the Ogdensburg, NY Joanns.  The set includes an earbud pouch with $$ tucked inside, a zippered pouch for books etc., turtle stickers (wasn't able to find TMNT stickers) and a set of bark coloured pencils :)  Happy 7th birthday tomorrow, Matteo :)

Today I started a new little project in time for Monday Makers #27 - it's a zipper pouch that has a bit of embellishing on it - I had enough of the fabrics to cut out 2, so both will likely go to Blue Hills :)  This will count as a new-to-me project (hi, Pam!) and as an unofficial non-entry to the
Sew Your Library linky party :D  I already participate in several linky parties so I just follow along some other ones and don't actually post to them.  There isn't enough time to do them all, and I'm not one of those people that can take on dozens of challenges and remain unstressed and sane :D

I went out with my friend Nancy this morning to Aquafitness.  While we were sitting in her car waiting for the ice on the windshield to defrost, we noticed the temperature was -33C with the windchill.  That's a bit nippy - hopefully it warms up soon!

ETA:  I just realized something - according to Nurdan's MM guidelines, my Monday aquafitness class counts as a Monday Maker as it's something that I do on Monday that makes me move and be active and creative (I'm very creative at getting out of some of the harder stretches, LOL) :D  Gotta tell Nancy that she's been participating as well ;)

Thank you, TD Direct Investing!

Thank you, for single-handedly trying to keep Canada Post afloat - you rock!  TD Bank and their investing department are apparently doing their damndest to send as much business as they can, to our lovely postal system.  Need proof?  I aim to please!  :)

You know it's from me when it has a can of Diet Dr. Pepper incorporated, LOL!!  Nectar of the gods!  ;)  Count the envelopes - there are TWELVE OF THEM!

I wonder if Canada Post owns stock in the TD group of companies?  :D

 My son will recycle the envelopes except for the plastic window, which goes in the garbage.  The contents, however, will get shredded, which means they go in the garbage as well.  The majority of his banking statements are sent online, so I don't know if there's a reason TD keeps sending this stuff by snail mail.  A stamp in Canada costs 85 cents.  Maybe they get a bulk discount - I don't know.  But this sure does seem like a waste of time, money and resources!

My mailbox also contained something fun for old mom - there was a silver Tyvek-type envelope tucked in there as well - I brought it in and ripped it open, only to find ...

TA DA!!  Grosgrain ribbon from Ebay!

Pretty pretty ribbon ;)

 I haven't opened up the bundles yet to check the ribbons, but let me tell you - that was one awesomely pretty envelope to open up!  I think this is 100 yards of ribbon, if I'm not mistaken - I won 2 x 50 yard lots for $3.25US each - with free shipping.  I now have ribbon comin out the wazoo.  So.  Much.  FUN.  :)  Better than the 12 banking statements - LOLOL!

Hey Baye - I think you should get some ribbon too!!!  ;)

Loins girded, and big girl panties on :D

I pulled this long-planned project out on Monday to post to Monday Makers! - I started stitching it Monday or Tuesday, and got the piecing/QAYG'ing finished on Wednesday.  Then I got nervous about the binding (those are quite acute curves!) so I didn't even turn my sewing machine on on Thursday or Friday!  Today - as per post title - loins were girded, big girl panties were thrown on, and project was COMPLETED :)  I got one tiny tuck on the bottom curve - that's far better than I was expecting :D  It's done, and it's CUTE!!  It measures 34" long including the carrot tops ... 29" long without them, and 15" wide at the widest point.  It actually worked out well enough that I can do what I had hoped, which is to gift it as a surprise Easter gift :)  I'm so glad I got off my duff and got working on this!  I think I need to make more of them, lol!  Free tutorial and pattern here, if anyone else wants to try it :)

I think I need to make some prettier tablecloths :D

Posting this to Monday Makers! #25  and Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me for Feb. 2015 :)

Carrots are good for you :D

I started stitching this puppy today - if the phone and the doorbell hadn't kept interrupting me I probably could have gotten this done today, lol.  Am going out with the neighbour tomorrow but I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow night or Friday :D

Monday Makers! #24 :)

Here I am, posting MM on a Monday for the 2nd time in a row - my efficiency is starting to scare me :D  I'll be up @ 6:30 a.m. to get ready for Aquafitness, so my butt should already be in bed, lol.  OOPs! :)

Here's the project I started today - it's a carrot tablerunner, free tutorial here.  You do need to sign up to allpeoplequilt.com but it's free and I haven't noticed any spam from them.  I think I'm going to use green ribbon for the carrot top instead of cutting it from fabric - I think loops of pretty grosgrain would be really nice :)

From Monday Makers #23 I started 2 heart zipper pouches and 2 boxy bags.  I didn't get them all done ... I did 3 heart pouches as I didn't like the "scale" (zipper placement) or tag on the first one (the one on the bottom) so I finished it but made 2 more that worked out much better.  I got one of the oriental bags done, and will post it later.

Posting to Monday Makers! #24 :)

Hey Pam - this one's for you ;)

My bloggy buddy Pam and I recently gave each other a challenge to complete some specific projects each month - it's a very informal agreement, and we email back and forth with reminders and ideas :)  My goal is to sew 2 gifts and 2 new-to-me projects per month, and hers is to sew 2 gifts and a robot block :)  January is now completed - this is a good time to be in a later time zone - HA!!!!  *winks @ Pam* :)

My gifts were done a few weeks ago - two penguin bags :)  I had trouble with the new-to-me section of the challenge - suffice it to say I need to work on my grommet and paper piecing skills, LOL.  Since I was running out of time I decided to go with a tried and true project to donate to Blue Hills - but I would do them in new-to-me designs.  Somewhat of a cop-out, but the rules aren't written in stone ;) 

The flamingo penguin bib on the left is made with the bib pattern from stubbornlycrafty.  I modified the penguin applique from her zipper bag pattern (which I bought last year) to fit the bib.  I love how it turned out :)   The blue shark bib is a scrap buster - I have enough of all of the fabrics to make several bibs in each of the designs - I'll add a taggy blanket to each set and shoot them off to Blue Hills for the mom/kid reading program :)  I get to post this to Celtic Stitches "New to Me" linky party as well - I'm on a roll!

[X] January challenge with Pam completed ;)

[X] New to Me in January completed :)

Monday Makers! #23 :)

And posting on Monday - aren't I just the fancy one!  ;)

Hubby and I went on a Joanns run this past weekend - he offered, I accepted, we had a lovely time :)  I managed to pick up about 25 yards of fabrics on sale, and thanks to a couple of discount coupons from a lovely niece (thanks, Cassendra!) I got an even further discount on quite a few of them - SCORE!  Colour me happy :D

2 yard cuts of these prints - I bought them to make donation tote bags :)  My favourite is the pink elephants!

2 yard cuts (plus about 1/2 yard of each that was an end of bolt remnant) of a couple of my favourite Joanns fabrics - sharks and lime green polka dots - you can never have enough of these in stash, as far as I'm concerned ;)

More stash fabrics I always have on hand - red, and black, tone on tone prints :)

These Halloween prints were on sale for half price, so I picked up 3 yards of the bats and a yard of the dots - enough for 3 pillowcases for next Halloween :)

4 of 5 sub-sections :)

Here are a few things I've started or that I've been working on :D  This free paper pieced block caught my eye so I decided to make one to embellish a tote.  I had forgotten how much fabric gets wasted on these acute angles - it drives me crazy as I really REALLY hate wasting fabric :D   The pattern is very cute though, so if I must waste, I do, after all, have enough fabric for all those angles ;)

 Here are the projects I started for Monday Makers! #23 :)  At the top are 2 heart shaped zipper pouches that I'm making for my little neighbour girls for Valentine's Day.  Bottom row are the pieces all cut out for 2 Oriental boxy bags - the Oriental print and the green batik print, were remnants from a local quilt store - I was able to cut 3 boxy bags from the fabrics (one is already completed).

 Here's a close-up of the threads I used for the first Oriental bag - gold for the (very simple) quilting, green for the rest of the bag.  I have gold dragon charms picked out for zipper pulls for these bags :)

For fun, I'm adding jingle bell zipper pulls to the heart pouches - I have lots in stash, and I found several that had pink in them to match the fabrics I picked :)  These should be fun for the young girls!

 The pink monkey jingle bell I found in stash - I need to get more of these - they're quite adorable :D





I got my Monday Makers! #22 project finished - it was a set of 3 bibs and a taggy.  I just have to throw the pieces in the washing machine before taking a picture - I want to make sure all the seams and ribbons are secure :D  I melted a couple of the ribbons on the taggy when I was finishing it - I had to do a lot of froggy stitching, cut the bad ones out, and add new ones!  Lesson learned - I'll be more careful next time, lol!

Posted to Monday Makers! #23 :)