My Friends 'Get' Me!

LOL Isn't it a great feeling when your friends get you? :-)

Yesterday was my birthday and I got some amazing mail!

One of my girlfriends (no blog) and I always gush over the Buttermilk Basin and Primitive Gatherings designs. She is a great cross-stitcher, and I have convinced her that hand embroidery is pretty fun too. ;-)

She sent me this wonderful mini hanging, and ornament along with honey from her own bees!

Yes, she is also a bee keeper. :-)

My photo really doesn't do either of them justice! It is a gray and rainy day here. 

The hanging pattern is from Buttermilk Basin and the ornament from Prim. Gatherings.  Just last week we had been talking about all the Ball jars you now see with mini scenes in them. LOL

Another friend who doesn't blog knows my love of scraps. ;-)  She found a great little bag of Ricky Tims hand dyed fabrics  and sent it to me. The colors are really intense, again my fault for the bad photo! ;-)

I have started pressing them and they are all a nice size~ 10" x 10" or larger. Now to decide what to do with them!! :-)

I have been working on a few things I still can't show you, and just today I realized Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!! :-o  How did that happen??!! I really need to buckle down and work on my Christmas sewing!  How about you?  Are you Christmas sewing too?

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Happy November!

We are well into my favorite time of the year!

Lots of 'secret' sewing of gifts for family & friends, cooler days, colorful leaves,

hot chocolate! Love it!! :-)

I have been doing a bit of Christmas sewing, and since most everyone on my list reads my blog (Hi Mom!), I won't be able to show you those projects.  Luckily, I do have a few other things in the works.

I am making the 12 Minikin patterns by Sara of Sew Sweetness and gearing them toward certain recipients. We have two Harry Potter fans in our family, so this could go a couple places. ;-)

This is the medium size Cotton Candy Pouch. (the pattern comes with small, med & large sizes).

You can find the patterns here~

Minikins!

Yes, there are a set of 12 and it may seem a bit pricey, until you divide it out.  Also factor in that Sara is making free videos to those who purchase the patterns, so if a step or technique is new to you, she walks you through it.

 

I don't have them all printed out yet, but when I do I plan to make a booklet so they are easy to reference and use.  Last year my DH purchased a binding machine for me to store my patterns.  I love it! I can put all the patterns I plan to take to retreat, in one little booklet.  I went to the dollar store and purchased a bunch of index dividers to separate patterns.  The nifty thing is that I can also remove them without hurting the binder comb or the patterns and switch them around if I want to take others the next time. ;-)  I use a heavy card stock for the back cover. (from my scrapbooking supplies)

That is all for today~

I am knee deep in making binding for 2 quilts I hope to share with you in the future. 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Winner! Winner!

Actually, I feel like just as big a winner as the real winner because I got so many blocks sewn at retreat!

 

First I did 6 blocks for the Las Vegas Modern Quilt guild-- they are collecting blocks to make quilts for victims of the terrible shooting there on October first.

Next I did 36 blocks for a string block swap I am participating in~

6 blocks for each swapper. :-)

And finally I used two oversized jelly rolls plus some yardage and made 124- 7½ inch strip blocks! These are going into a quilt for my DBIL, and I can't wait to start playing with them!

Making the grand total 166 blocks!!  :-) In addition to all the retreat sewing I did!

I was so happy with myself! LOL

And Dortha  you should be pretty happy with yourself because you picked up on my clue of 'over 100 blocks' in a previous post and guessed 110~ making you the winner!  Congratulations! :-)

I am sending you an email for your snail mail address.

Thank you everyone for playing along!  

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

The Minikins Are Out!

The secret sewing is revealed! LOL

I had the pleasure of testing a couple of the 12 Minikin patterns by Sara of Sew Sweetness.

I did the Jetset Cinched Bag~

I used it for my toiletries at retreat and it was just perfect!

And the Desktop Cubes~

Mine sit on my cutting table, the largest holds a box of tissues perfectly!

You can find the patterns here~

https://sewsweetness.com/products/minikins/?wpam_id=113

The price is reduced for a limited time only.

Yes, this is an affiliate link and if you use it to purchase the patterns,I will receive a small credit.

Sara will be releasing videos to go with each pattern monthly. 

There is still time to guess for my giveaway on the previous post. 

I will be announcing the winner tomorrow. Until then,

Happy stitchin'!

Guessing Game --Giveaway

I told you yesterday that I sewed a lot of blocks at retreat--

 I may have even given a hint. ;-)

Sorry the photo is a little dark~ it is dark and rainy here!

Anyway, guess how many blocks I  finished, and I'll send a little prize to the

person who comes the closest without going over. :-)

The game will end on the 22nd and I'll post the winner on the 23rd.  

Have a great week and

until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

After Retreat~

I am post-retreat dragging today.  ;-) The lack of sleep has caught up with me. LOL

But! I had a wonderful 4 day sewing/quilting retreat this past weekend and got so much accomplished!  I am going to break my posts into two~ first the bag and pouches and tomorrow the quilt blocks. :-) (just a little teaser~ I sewed over 100 quilt blocks!!) 

First up is this Rylee tote bag pattern by Nancy Stroop of Nancy Stroop Designz

The pattern comes in two sizes, and three options for the front of the bag.

I chose option 3 and rather than do machine embroidery I used this~

It was originally a long denim duster-type jacket that belongs to a friend of my Mom's. (I wish I had taken a photo before I cut into it!)  The owner had the floral design hand painted on it and she wished to re-purpose that lovely painting.  

I used the side seam in this option to add a zippered outside pocket--

 The top has a recessed zipper closure and inside there is a large zippered pocket--

 

I am going to have a hard time mailing this off!! :-)

I also made two smaller zippered pouches (no pattern)

A friend gifted me the Moda panels, so I made a pouch for each of us.

For the back I used some red dots--

This was just a fun little nighttime sewing when your brain is too tired to do much else. LOL

Did you get to sew over the weekend? What did you make?

I will be back tomorrow with blocks galore! ;-)

Until next time~

happy stitchin'!

Sewing~ Sewing~ Sewing!

In about another week I will be able to show you some of the fun things I have been sewing. :-)  In the meantime let me show you another little project I did up for my LQS.

We are having 'Fun'tastic Fridays, where we have a little class and the customer goes away with a fun project that would make a wonderful gift~ especially with the holidays fast approaching!

This time I made a 'Take A Quick Note' notepad and pen holder.

I drew out the pattern myself and after making one too small, and the next one too big, I got it just right! LOL My friend said I should have called it the 'Goldilocks Notepad Holder'. ;-)

We had a lot of fun making them last Friday.~

And I feel so much better about the approaching holiday season as I have something for my gift box! ;-)  Have you started holiday sewing? There is so much I want to make/do that I feel like the sooner I get started the better I will feel when December rolls around.

Have a great weekend!

Until next time~

happy stitchin'!!