Hellloooo!!!!

Honestly~ I did not plan to be gone the whole of August!  And I planned to have another giveaway so you could guess where I was for half the month, but... the day before I was scheduled to leave I was checking out my 'travel' camera. A little Fuji that I loved. The motor had died! :-o So I went in search of a new 'travel' camera and found a little Canon I liked. I took a lot of photos! BUT! They did not include a cord with the camera! When I called they told me it was an accessory I had to purchase! :-(  Not happy.  So, no photos from that trip. Yet. In the meantime, I will be going on another next week and I plan to take my camera that is bigger, but I can get the photos off of it, so stay tuned for that guessing game/giveaway. ;-)

I got back from my trip, tired but very happy.  I had to get right to work on two pattern tests that I accepted. The first was a breeze and I will show you as soon as the pattern is released.  I finished up the second one today and absolutely love my bag! But this pattern is not for the faint of heart... and especially not really suited for a little home sewing machine. My Pfaff steamed through most parts, I had to hand crank some, and hand sew when the machine just couldn't do it. :-o  I can't wait to show you my bag though!   Stay tuned! :-)

I also had a block swap to get swapped and sent back out.  I love doing string block swaps! The blocks are so happy, and it does help control my scraps.  This time I chose a B&W center with brights for the strings. I was thinking a donation quilt down the line.  Not sure where it will go yet.  Aren't my blocks happy?  There are 6 blocks in each stack~ different centers and fabrics in them.  It should make a wonderful child's quilt.

So what have you been up to? Can you believe it is September 1st???!!!

Have you started thinking about Christmas gifts?  What are you making?

I need ideas! LOL

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

Drawstring Bags and Other Stuff

I don't like drawstring bags. :-o

I don't know why, but they just bug me.  ;-)

But I wanted to make DGD a little bag for her little toys~

no zippers, just something simple.

So I googled, and went through Pintrest and~~

then I saw this post~

 Storage Solutions

And my little light bulb started flashing!! LOL

Did you ever make bound buttonholes for a garment?

Did you ever make 'cheater' buttonholes with bias tape?

I did! I did! 

And I remembered how easy the bias tape ones were! LOL

I didn't follow her tutorial to make my little bag~ I wanted it double sided, so the Hello Kitty print would show through in the back of the bag. I didn't want exposed seams, so I used more bias tape, and I didn't need it so large.

I had a remnant of the Hello Kitty fabric, pink parachute cord and an idea.

I love how it all came together!

Did you know WalMart sells the parachute cord in all sorts of fun colors? 

I'm getting a little collection. :o

I was quite busy this past week making baby items.  A new grand is due any day now. :-)

I made a diaper bag a while back~

Pattern is the Nappy Bag from Sewing Patterns by Mrs H

Now I added a quilt~

all various flannels

And burp cloths~

I didn't have any pattern for the quilt or burp cloths, just playing around.

I am working on getting the binding on a quilt for DGD too.  So hopefully pix of that soon!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Crater Lake, Oregon

If you guessed Crater Lake, you were absolutely right!  :-)

And yes, that is snow that you see in the photos!

Thank you so much for stopping by to comment! You didn't know it, but I was doing a little giveaway. :-) 

Shelley  was my first winner because she guessed first. :-) 

 But then I put all the comments into a hat and DH drew another name~

Mom Quilter!  :-)

I will be mailing off a little something to both of you on Friday.  

Ok, if you didn't win~ no worries. I will be traveling again real soon and will have another photo for you.

Stay tuned. LOL

We stayed at a lovely campsite, tucked into the woods. It was so relaxing!

I enjoyed sitting and stitching at night and completed my first two blocks in the 

Bee-utiful Summer Quilt Along on Moda Bake Shop

The quilt along started in June, and blocks are being released every week, so I am behind.

But I don't mind one bit as the stitching is fun!  I haven't trimmed my blocks down yet~ when I do the second one will be centered a bit better. ;-)

I hope you have been taking some time to enjoy the summer too!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Where in the World...?

Feeling like Carmen Sandiego lately!

Where have I been? :-)

~A Tortoise~

Not the 4 legged ones that are a favorite of mine, but rather a new bag~

The Tortoise Bag, a new release from Sara of Sew Sweetness.

I was lucky enough to be able to test this wonderful bag and enjoyed it immensely!

It has a really unique top opening with two zippers.

I chose to make my handles out of Kraft-Tex and fabric. They will soften up with use.

I also added piping to the sides for a little more red. ;-)

 And a side slip pocket.

Inside there is a zipper pocket, and of course I needed a red lining! LOL

The pattern comes in three sizes and has directions for both cotton and vinyl straps.

Also, there is no hand sewing! Not one stitch!  That is a real plus for me. ;-)

Sara has some great tips spread throughout the pattern too.

Go check out all the different tester versions on Sara's blog~~

Tortoise Bag Blog post

There are so many awesome bags~ even one with turtles!! :-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

~Happy Tuesday!~

Did you have a good weekend?  We had a very quiet one, but it was nice.

Our whole neighborhood had fireworks last night, so we didn't have to go far to hear the booms and see the lights. LOL

I did sneak in some sewing too!  I am doing a BOM with some of my former HGTV message board friends and I got myself all caught up...again! ;-)

 These blocks are each 10 inches and came from Quilters Cache.

I am doing them in my CW scraps. 

I also got last Friday's Circa 2016 blocks done. Really easy, and since I already had CW scraps out, even easier! LOL

 

Now I am off to clear off the CW scraps and get back to making a baby quilt.

I hope you have a productive week too!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Catching Up with Circa 2016

I got behind on my Temecula Quilt Co mini blocks for the Circa 2016 sew along, so I took them along to my retreat and got myself caught up~

 

Only to get home and realize, I needed to now catch up with the 

June blocks I missed while traveling~

I finished the above on Saturday afternoon and then remembered (!)

A new block came out on Friday! :-o

I am now totally caught up! Yay!! :-)

Are you sewing along?  keeping up?  They really are fun little blocks, 

but my hubby thinks I am insane. LOL

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!