New Bag

There is no doubt that my taste is bigger then my wallet. I was recently looking for a carryon bag for a trip and of course the VeraBradley big duffle bag caught my eye. There is just no way I can spend that amount of money on one bag. So I had to come up with an alternative. I went to Hancock Fabrics and got the Butterick Weverly pattern number B5581 when it was on sell for $1.99. Seemed doable I thought.

Now finding a fabric that I liked enough to but all this hard working into and that I could afford was not going to be easy. Last month I went to the All About Fabric sale in Williamston and they had these Roman shades on sale for $5.00 each. Amazing. I found one that I loved for a bag but not a shade. I ripped all the lining out and the little plastic circles and began my project.

So basically by huge duffle bag (22x12) cost a total of $6.99. I think it turned out pretty great and was fairly easy. I call it the Oval Office bag. lol. I started yesterday and finished it today. I would say about 3 to 4 hours total.

First Quilt Finished

My first quilt! I have finally completed my very first quilt. And boy was the finishing harder then I thought. Even though this quilt is not perfect I learned a ton from it.

I loved picking out the fabric and designing the pattern (even though it was simple). Even sewing the blocks was fun. I enjoyed seeing the different colors come together.

Then it was like coming to a railroad crossing. I was terrified to take the next step, basting, and for good reason. I waited and waited and stared at my finished top hoping it would finish itself. But no such luck. So finally yesterday at 10:30am I decided it’s live or die and this quilt was going to live. Three hours and two attempts later my quilt was basted. (and finding otu that my back was smaller then my top).

I just didn’t see any reason to quit then. I grabbed my quilt and off to the sewing machine we went. My first line down was as crooked as the Hamburglar. I soon discovered what those chalky pencils are for. I used my ruler and drew some guide lines for me to follow.

Oh I forgot to mention that I basted my quilt upside down so my pins were on the bottom. Not on purpose. So this caused a huge problem. My big ole basting pins kept getting caught on my table while I was sewing and that in turn caused my stitches to get tight here and there.

As I look at my very first quilt I realize it is all worth it. Now time to start on another one.

WIP it. WIP it real good!

WIP – Work In Process. The Lord knows I love to collect those WIPs. I get so excited about making something, buy the fabric and half the time even cut the material and for some crazy reason that is as far as I get. I think I have a short attention span.

I have decided I am going to complete all my WIPs before I continue on with my quilt; which by the way is going awesomely. I have my top completed and the next step is basting.

I completed one yesterday. Back in like October I made five pot holders and did everything except the binding. (I hate binding) I’m just really no good at it. So this is my finished product. I love them and I got some good binding practice.

Here is a list of the rest of my WIPs I have to complete.

• Two jackets
• Owl PJs
• Christmas Apron for me (little late on that one – good for next year)
• Summer shirt from last summer

Tonight I will be working on my PJs.

Quilting…..and loving it.

I have decided to make a quilt along with Vicki and my dear friend Amy M. We decided to go by several different tutorials on the internet. So far it seems really easy to me.

First you have to pick out your fabric. I choose 4 different mellow prints. Amy M. bought a layered cake pack (42 pieces of 10 inch by 10 inch fabric all different) off the internet and Vicki selected 1 large bold print with 3 coordinating colors.  

Next is the design. I personally designed my own and Vicki is kinda following my design. Amy M is following a design from here.

The hardest part to me was cutting the fabric. You use a rotary cutter and a self healing mat. (This blew Hayden’s mind). And this part takes quite a long time to do.

I have started sewing my blocks together and that’s where we are today. I will keep you updated.

Homemade Christmas 2011

Homemade Christmas 2011

This year we decided to hand make everything we gifted to our family. It was the most fun we have ever had together. I thought I would share the ideas we made for family members and the gifts we received from our friends and family.

For my husband’s parents, his sister and Renee and Jim we made Bird houses. I search the internet for ideas and Scott (my husband) did the wood work. I painted and decorated the bird houses.

 For my sister, brother in law and friends Kelly and Shambra we made South Carolina shaped rocks with the SC state flag symbol. This was all me. I had to chisel the flagstone into the closes shape I could. I then spray painted them SC blue and stenciled the palmetto tree with the moon on it in white. I added the year that they married on the bottom to personalize it. I’m pretty sure they loved it. And I did too.

 I sewed all my little nieces an animal pillow. I’m going to be honest; this was a challenge and took quite some time. But of course those cuties are worth it. Esme’ ended up getting Scrappy the dog made out of the scrap fabric from the animal pillows.

We made my parents the cornhole game. Scott once again did the wood work and we both helped stain and poly the boards. I then sewed the bags.

 I made Sarah a laptop desk and she requested. I’m gonna make me one too.

I made Christine an apron that I loved and it looks just right on her.

 Rachel has a photography site called sitting duck and I knew she was getting a camera from our parents so I made her this over the shoulder camera bag.

I made my nephews wreaths out of dollar bills. They were slightly confused when they opened it because it really didn’t look like money. LOL. They thought I gave them an ornament for Christmas. And Zach thought it looked more like a Chinese star weapon. I have to agree.

I made these really cute ornaments from several family members and canned apple butter. 

I also made this cute owl for Austin’s girlfriend Amanda.

 Now for what we received. WOW was our family creative.

 This is what I received.

 Earrings from Christine.

Wallet from Sarah.

Bath soap from Rebecca and Richie.

 A nest necklace from Kelly and Shambra.

 Kim made me this sooo cute hat and scarf PLUS this freakin awesome throw she crocheted.

 Amy M. made me this tooo cute hooded scarf.

 And Hannah Mae made me my favorite owl blankie.

This is what Scott received.

This awesome ashtray from Christine. It is a set of lungs that turn black as you use the ashtray.

Sarah made him this creative tool chest set.

All the boys received baked goods from Rebecca and Richie and lotion from Kelly and Shambra.

Here are a few other creative gifts that were made by my family members.

Christine made this serving tray for mom.

 Christine made this for Sarah. It is fire and ice.

Sarah made this book of coupons for the little girls.

 Scott's cousin Lisa knitted these slippers for Melissa.

Sarah made this wallet for Austin.

Homemade Christmas rocks. It really got everyone's minds thinking. And of course who doesn't love to do crafts.

Live forever.... No thank you but I will feel good now.

He said I would live forever! I’m not sure that’s what I was looking for. I was discussing my digestion issues with a friend of mine at work and she suggested a smoothie recipe that she eats every morning.

 She wrote the recipe down and off I went to Whole Foods to buy my ingredients. Fish Oil 3.6.9, green super food and milled flax seed. I felt a little lost when shopping for these things. But soon was approached by the super food expert of Whole Foods. I was real close. Everything I need was in the same isle. Then I needed was a few frozen strawberries, blueberries, half banana and OJ. He helped me collect my ingredients and told me “You’re going to live forever”.

 This recipe was slightly expensive. But can you really put a price on how you feel and I’m sure you can find it a little cheaper else where.

 This was my first morning eating my smoothie. To be honest was a little scared about the taste. So the threw in my ingredients in the blender and hit start. This stuff looks nasty. I mean real nasty. Like something on fear factor. But I am committed to having less gas and more energy. I stuck my straw in a put it as far back in my mouth as I could to prevent tasting it but it filled my mouth anyways. I was shocked. It tastes fine. I can totally do this every morning.

Fall Pillows

We do a hayride every year at our fall party. And every year all the guest go searching my house for blankets and pillows. I then spend the next week picking straw off everything. So, this year I decided to make some inexpensive pillows for the hayride. I had a lot of fun doing this and personally thought they came out pretty cute.

I bought:

1 yard of brown fleece for $2.97

1 yard of copper fleece for the same

4 standard size pillows from Target for $2.50 each

Felt for a craft store for $.20 each

For the little pillows I cut a standard pillow in half and sewed the opening shut. This was the least expensive way to do it.

I basically made some pillow cases out of the fleece. I cut the yard in half and the cut one of those halves in half again for the two little ones. This gave me one large pillow case that I inserted on whole standard size pillow in and two small pillow cases that I inserted the halved pillows in.

I then cut out various fall shapes out of the felt. This is where you get to use your creativity. Some of the felt I sewed on and some of it I hot glued on the pillow cases. If you choose to sew you need to do this before you sew the case together.

To keep the cases closed I used Velcro. This way I can just store the cases with my fall décor and make Christmas pillow cases to insert the pillows in.