Baby Stars~

In February I finished a pattern test for Bea, who blogs at beaquilter.

Baby Stars Quilt

These cute stars were really fun to sew and I will tell you why... :-)

Her pattern is written for a rotary cutting & ruler, or using an Accuquilt GO! machine and dies.

My friend recently purchased a new Go! and I got to play with her and cut out this quilt top. :-)

It went so fast!  And with all the little dog ears trimmed off of all the triangles~ sewing it went really fast too.

If I could only win the lottery, I think the first thing on my list would be a GO! and dies. ;-)  I was that impressed.

Be sure you read all the way to the bottom of Bea's blog post and you will find a coupon code to use in her SHOP. ;-) 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Really FUN Sewing!

Hi everyone!

How are you doing with the stay home rules?

I have been enjoying free time in my sewing room and I have rediscovered my love of cooking/baking.  Some shall we say 'unusual' meals have come out of the freezer, but it is all good!  I took out a pkg that I thought was cooked chicken or turkey- turns out it was mini ribs. LOL  I think I found turkey for tonight. ;-)

Amy from Amy Reber Designs is one of Clothworks newest designers and she came out with a wonderful group of fabrics called  Ivory Woods. 

There are flowers and feathers & leaves- oh my!

And she sent me some half yards to play with!!!!!!!!!!  :-)

I was so excited I didn't even sleep when she asked for my address. :) LOL

And this is what I did~

 notebook covers

 a quilted pouch with a laminate lining

 outside of above pouch

 a quilted pouch with a vinyl window

projects together

But wait! There's more! :-)

Another quilted zipper pouch and a quilted pillow using all the scraps. :-)

I had so much fun! 

What are you doing to keep boredom at bay? 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Friday the 13th~

I thought this might be a fitting day to get back to blogging. :-)

Thirteens don't scare me, I was born on one. LOL

Where have I been? Well, CoVID 19 has not slowed me down...yet. ;-)

I was busily quilting some of my many tops on the longarm when I ran out of thread. Luckily the Sewing & Stitchery Expo was the end of February and I always go and stock up.  This year did not disappoint! 

Two very large buildings of vendors on the fairgrounds, a free stage with speakers, and demos. I loved listening to Annie Unrein of By Annie. Her booth display was so tempting!  I would love to make every bag in it! Since I did come home with a few patterns, I have a start. LOL

Then I spent a long weekend in Vancouver, WA at a retreat. One day I taught a couple classes in the retreat center classroom. That was fun!  I also got a lot of small projects finished.... more on that soon. ;-)

And finally I have not stopped pattern testing and this is the newest bag hot off my sewing machine~

The Suburbanite Handbag by Tori James of Toriska patterns.

This was a fun sew and has so many great details!

 You can't really see it, but it has pockets on both sides on the outside.

 There is a shoulder/crossbody strap

 A really cool inside pocket.

And options for a zipper closure or snaps.

And feet!

 

The pattern comes in three sizes. This is the medium and makes a nice handbag size.

This one is definitely mine!

I used cork for the top and handle, and some decorator weight

fabric (that I found at Expo) for the bottom.

I need to get back to my machine~ more fun stuff coming soon!

 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Unicorns!

When Erica @kitchentablequilting sent me the pattern test for her newest pattern~ 

 

The Delilah Quilt

I immediately knew what I wanted to do. That doesn't happen often! LOL

I thought the large squares would be perfect for a little machine embroidery and I had this unicorn CD, and...well....

Once again, my photos really don't do this top justice, but if you click on them

they will get bigger. ;-)  I already have it quilted and in my 'needs binding' pile. Unfortunately, the pile will have to wait a bit as i have lots of other things going on right now. ;)

The large squares give you so many options! Fussy cutting, applique, or embroidery!

The quilt was designed with a layer cake in mind, which would make it a really fast sew. 

You can find the link to the pattern and the other tester versions HERE

But hurry because I'm not sure how long it will be on sale. ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Reveals~~~

Sara @SewSweetness has recently released a 'His, Hers & Furs' pattern bundle. Or each pattern can be purchased separately. 

I had the pleasure of testing 3 of the patterns in the new bundle. For the 4th one, I was traveling, Dad's funeral, etc and just didn't get to it, but Sara really is a sweetheart and said 'family first'. 

That is one of the many reasons I love to test for her. :-) 

So here is my Sheffield Tool Bag~

I made it for me and all the 'tools' we need when sewing bags. It has frames in it to hold it open, lots of pockets and is very sturdy.

 I also tested the Triple Threat Briefcase~

I made it in world traveler fabric and gifted it to my DD. :)

And last I made the Best Friend Pet Carrier~

I will admit this one was a bit of a challenge on my little domestic machine, but I stuck with it and am so happy I did!  Since we don't have kitties, the baby shark is my stand in (now do you have the Baby Shark song stuck in your head? LOL)  It also has frames in it to keep the sides firm.

I will be back with more reveals soon!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Back in the Sewing Chair Again!

I have been sewing like crazy the last week and a half!

I caught up on pattern tests I had committed to doing, and made a few things for myself. :-)

The little pink bag is a free pattern from By Annies. I love it~ and fear my DD will too. LOL

And the Betty Boop bag with the clear vinyl is a pattern by a friend of mine.  I was her pattern tester. Unfortunately she doesn't blog or have a website, she just made it for fun. I see more in my future. ;-)

What have you been working on?

I have much more work ahead of me! So many things I want to make, and it seems like 'sew' little time!

Until next time,

Happy Stitchin'!

Time

Time has flown for me since my last post, but not in a very 

good way. My Dad passed away on the evening of December 30th.

He had been slowly fading from us, but I didn't realize he was so close to his last day on Earth. 

We quickly got new tires on our car, bought chains and took off on a 1500 mile road trip through 4 passes to make it back for his services.

It was a pretty cold trip, but the snow stayed at bay for most of the trip. 

The day we laid him to rest was freezing and windy, he had a 21 gun salute; he was a Korean Veteran. 

At the end, when they presented my oldest brother with the flag, & the sun came out. 

To me, it was Dad smiling at us.  

Life is bittersweet like that.

The road trip back home was a little more harrowing. We woke to snow & ice, dodged more snow, decided to keep driving while the passes were good and made it home before the snow really flew and the pass in WA was closed.  Whew!

We had an angel guiding us home. 

Goodbye Dad.