Winslow Market Tote

I made this bag for my daughter-in-law for Christmas.  The pattern is called "Winslow Market Tote"...also by my boss, Kathy Mack.   :)     This bag went together so fast and is pretty big.   That black and white Paris fabric is a pocket and there is one on the other side too.   I used mostly fabrics from the "Matisse" line by Alexander Henry.....I wanted a french themed bag and those worked well.  

Crochet Hook Holder

Now that Christmas is over I can share some of the things I made.  For my daughter I crocheted a lovely lace scarf....but forgot to take pics!   Oops.   But I did remember to take pics of the crochet hook holder I made her.  I used the Pencil Roll pattern by Kathy Mack and adapted it a teeny bit for the hooks (just made it shorter in height).   Easy and fun.....just like I like.

Here it is all rolled up:

This is the outside of it...such cute fabric:

This is the inside with the flap down....covering the hooks:

This is it all opened up...I left room for her to add more hooks:

I think this pattern works well for any straight items.  And its easy to adjust the height and width if needed.   It sewed up pretty fast so would be a great pattern to have on hand for a quick gift. 

Fabric Wrapped Rope Basket

I made a fabric wrapped basket for the first time for a friend a while ago.  I wasn't able to blog about it until her birthday....which was this month.  :)   It turned out really cute.    These baskets are super easy....and easy is what I like!!!  

I didn't take pictures of the wrapping part but it wasn't complicated.  I bought 100% cotton clothesline cord that was 3/16 inch.   I cut my fabric strips one inch wide, no need to be exact.  Then I started wrapping at an angle....gluing at the start of a strip and every 5 inches or so.  I only wrapped a couple feet at a time.  Then sewed around and around and around and......!

I sewed with a wide zig-zag stitch. (4.5 width and 2.5 length on my machine)

To make the sides, I just tipped the piece up like this:

And there it is all finished and filled with pretty goodies for my friend.  Can you see guess the color theme of her gift?  Hee, hee.  

I have lots more cord so will definitely be making myself one.  

String Snowmen

I just saw these on Spidatter's Blog.....LOVE them!   So simple and so cute.  Thought I'd share.   :)

Odds-n-ends

Since I can't seem to motivate myself to think of blog post ideas, I thought I'd post some random pics I've taken lately.

This one is indicative of what we find after the grand kids have been over for a visit:

Surprises behind doors!   This was a Beanie Baby that was hiding...and a rat of all things!   :)



Miss Heidi with one of her precious smiles.  Mommy and daughter are beautiful, if I say so myself.

And this frequent visitor to our suet feeder - a Pileated Woodpecker.  

 The pic is blurry cuz I have to take them from inside the house...through the window.  

Portable Changing Pad

I bought some laminated cotton for a project and my boss at Pink Chalk asked me if I wanted to take extra and test a pattern for her.  I said ok.  :)      It's called "Time for a Change" by Melanie Hurlston of Melly & Me and is a really cute portable changing station.

This is the one I made.   I had some trouble with the laminated cotton.  I was sewing with it on top with a regular foot and it just didn't want to move.  I turned it over and it worked better.   A friend told me she uses a Teflon foot with laminates....gonna have to check into that.   Also the pattern had a teeny boo-boo...the directions for putting in the flaps are opposite of how the pattern front picture shows it.  Not a big deal but it really needs to be like the picture so that the wipes & diaper can't fall out the sides.

 
And this is mine all closed up.    See those puckers along the curved edge?  That's my mistake.  I made regular straight grain binding instead of bias.  Not sure where my head was!   Doesn't look too good but I wasn't about to rip it out. 

Pretty cute, huh?  

What you can learn at the gas station

Color

I love color!    It energizes me.  Makes me happy.  Lifts my mood.

Aren't these pretty?   I have a yellow one....so much happier than boring old kitchen white.

How about these colorful bowls?  I gotta get some of those!

Or maybe some of these?   They would go great with my Fiesta dinnerware.

Yesterday I was at the mall looking for some new tops.  And this girl wanted COLOR!  What I saw was noticeably low on color.  I saw loads of black, gray, browns and olive drab......but not much of this:

That rainbow display of tank tops was just this last July.  Why oh why is it absent from the mall 3 months later?   Sigh.    Maybe it's time for a trip to Hawaii......the land of gorgeous color.   :)

Blankets

I always crochet a new blanket for the grand babies.  I finished Heidi's a while back but didn't want to post a picture of it, as it's a nice surprise for Jenn when she gets to see it.   We never know gender so I have to pick colors not knowing.  For Liam I did a white with some variegated colors.....for David I did purple.  This time I chose this rich yummy blue.   Its gorgeous and looks great even for a girl.    :)

Here's Miss Heidi with the blanket and big ole' yawn!

I also make a baby quilt which I can now show.  I don't do anything fancy since they get washed a ton.  The four patches use flannels that are in all three of the grand kid blankets.   The other print is new to this baby.  Again I was forced to pick a color........unfortunately I didn't find a neutral pastel in flannels locally and went with blue.....thinking we'd be welcoming a Peter and not Heidi.   Oh well.   Quilts for her from now on will be definitely feminine. 

My latest distraction

Heidi Anne and Nana.   Sweet love.

New job

I started my new job today!   I am working for Pink Chalk Fabrics....an online fabric store.   Check out the web site to see all the gorgeous fabrics I get to cut up!   :)    Kathy Mack is the owner and she also has a nice blog that you want to be sure to visit cuz she gives away fat quarter packs every Tuesday!  There are only a few employees and no customers so it was quiet, much different than a "brick & mortar" quilt store.  I enjoyed processing orders and imaging what the buyer was gonna make with the fabrics! 
 I didn't want to spend my first day taking pictures....wanted to make a good impression.....hee, hee.  But maybe next week I'll bring in my camera and get a few to show you the company.

Just for Laughs

Gathered Clutch

I sewed this clutch yesterday at Yaya day.   Directions are at this blog and looked really good and thorough. There were lots of pictures so I felt safe in trying it.   Unfortunately sewing experience is assumed in the tutorial.  Some times the pictures didn't match the text and I didn't know which to follow and some times the directions didn't make sense.  Thanks to my uber experienced Yaya Melissa!   She knew exactly what the gal wanted and I was able to make the clutch....which is so cute.   Now that I've made one, I feel confident in making more....which I'm definitely gonna do!   :)

Fun with Glass

I took a glass class a little while ago with some other gals.  We went to Calypso Glass Studio in Bremerton for a few hours of fun.  This was a first for me...I've never worked with glass before.   After spending a little time on learning to score and cut the glass we were set free to create.   I created like a quilter!  Hee, hee.   I had my scraps of glass just like my scraps of fabric....cut and designed till I had some thing I liked.   We left our creations to be fused in the kiln and picked up later.

Practicing; Bins of scraps in the colors I was using; Fellow creators

Final creation.

My finished plate after fusing....too many bubbles means I didn't clean & dry well enough, I think.  Boo hoo.  My son likes the bubbles, though.  Maybe he should get this for Christmas?   :)

Put your smile on

I saw this on a friends Facebook wall and loved it....had to share the laugh.
Ignore the lousy job I did of embedding the video from You Tube....it's my first time.   :)

Living My Memories

My Dad's side of the family has owned a camp on Indian Lake in upstate New York for about 100 years.  It started as a hunting cabin.  Not exactly sure when it became the family residence during the summer but I know that's how it was for my Dad growing up.  I was lucky enough to get to go for a vacation most years growing up...though never for an entire summer.  I LOVED my time on the lake.  "Camp", as we have always called it, holds fond memories for me...all happy ones. 

Here is Camp as it was in 1988:

Time stood still on vacation. My brother and I played from the time we woke up to the time we were sent to bed. We played in the woods, swam, canoed, water skied, caught frogs, worked on puzzles, visited at neighboring camps, cards & board games, read in the hammock, fed the chipmunks....so simple but unforgettable.

Me with our dog Charlie out for a canoe ride:

Me water skiing for the first time at age 11....still "got it" many years later as an adult:

My last visit to Camp as a child was at age 14.  My parents divorced and we never went again.  That is until I was married with kids of my own.  1988 was when we had a small family reunion at Camp with my Dad, Edie and my brothers family.   I was thrilled to introduce my kids to what was my favorite place on earth.

Here they enjoy canoeing (same canoe) with their grandparents:

We were able to take them back to Camp two more times after that trip.   Flying across the country was much harder to accomplish than a drive.   Who knows if my grand kids will ever get to go.  I hope so.

For now, hubby and I rent a house on Lake Cavanaugh here in WA and invite our family to come spend time at the lake.  The area is different, the "cabin" is a huge modern home, the lake is more crowded....but the lake is still a lake.  Our grand kids might not get to experience canoe riding on the same lake as their ancestors have but they CAN experience it.   And I get to live my memories all over again.  

A few pics from this years lake visit.

Jenn, Faith and David learning the fine art of summer relaxation:

David and Liam playing with dominoes:

Puzzles...gotta complete a puzzle:

Thank you Lord, for happy memories past, present and future.   :)

30 Years

Then:

Now:

Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Super Easy Receiving Blanket

I put together this cute little blanket in less than an hour.  I already had the pieced top done.  The pattern is for two pieces of flannel so there'd be no piecing involved anyway. 
So nice to have a pattern that is quick and easy. 

Close up of the mitered corners:

Weekend with the Grands

Jenn and the grandsons came over this last weekend.   The weather was nice so we had lots of outdoor time.   Hubby had found a wooden mailbox at Joann's that he painted a few weeks ago.  We thought it'd be fun to put it on our property with "mail" inside for the boys.  We put it in plain sight for this visit but will hide it more as they grow older.

Here it is under the tree...waiting for the boys to collect their mail:

Close up:

This time we put some cars inside.  Who knows what it'll be next time.  
Barely got this picture taken before they were up and running!

They also love playing in the back of the truck. 

And we topped the night off with a marshmallow roast.  :)

Fun visit!

Quilt Closet Organized

I'm one of those people who can't deal with clutter once it happens!  In my head I want everything to be all nice and orderly but in practice....well, you know how it is.   Once my quilt closet got cluttered it became a spot of overwhelmingness (yes, I made that word up!)...so I'd just flip open the curtain and throw in whatever needed to be "put away".   Ugh.   It finally got to a point where I couldn't remember what was in there....and that's bad.  That's when you start re-buying what you already own cuz you forgot you had it....and I didn't want to go there.   It was time to dig in and organize.

Here's my closet before:

And here it is after:

Much better.  :) 

There are shelves off to either side too...and they are all pretty now.    I didn't really purge much but now I know what I have and where it all is.