Scrap Happy Purse

I have wanted to make one of these for a long time. The pattern has been in my Craftsy wishlist for months. If you would like to purchase a copy of the pattern for yourself, click here to purchase it directly from the pattern designer or search for it as "Scrap Happy Purse" on Craftsy. The pattern is by Amanda Jean who blogs at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Here is my Scrap Happy Purse.

This is my first time using pre-made handles. They were pretty easy to hand sew on. The pattern also has instructions for fabric handles in case you don't have or don't want to use pre-made handles.

There are two pockets on the inside.

You could very easily add more pockets to the inside. There is a magnetic closure at the top. I used a new-to-me version of these that get sewn in on the wrong side of the lining so they are hidden. They are called invisible sew-in magnetic snaps. The link will take you to Nancy's Notions where I purchased mine.

These were interesting to sew on since the stitch plate on my machine is metal. Every time the magnet got close to the stitch plate it would jump. I ended up glueing the magnet to the wrong side of the lining and then placing a scrap of batting, folded over so it was doubled, underneath the magnet so I could sew it on. My machine had no problem sewing it on after that.

Pattern details: The pattern is well-written and easy to follow. There are good diagrams where needed. The finished bag is 9" wide by 11" tall by 5" deep. It is a great way to use up every last bit of your favorite fabrics!

I purchased this pattern. The above review is voluntary. I am not benefitting in any way by giving it a good review. I simply like the pattern and am happy with how my bag turned out. 

2014 Ornaments

I decided to do something simple this year. My family had a reunion at the beach in July so this years ornament commemorates that week.

The sand dollar fabric was given to me by a friend who went to the opposite coast this summer and bought it there.

Over the River and Through the Woods

I finished the embroidering the last panel!

What a great feeling! Below is the fabric I have been saving for the piecing.

Sheesh! You think I have enough? LOL! This is probably enough fabric for at least two of these quilts!

I'm not sure when I will start working on the piecing. I need to get ready for my Sue Spargo class since it is next week. I also have some tops I'd like to quilt before starting on something else that will need quilting. I was just glad to be able to find the stack of fabric I'm saving for this! Now I can put the embroidered panels with the fabric and pattern. Hopefully I won't put these in too safe of a place so that I will be able to find it again once I'm ready to work on it some more.

Mom's Yellow Brick Road, Part 2

I originally posted about this project on August 12th. If you are interested, click here to read that very brief post. I said in that post that I hoped to get it basted that week. It didn't happen. I got it ironed and laid out on my basting tables on Thursday, August 21st. Then it got "catted."

For those of you who need a translation, this look says, "You need to go do something else because I am not going to willing get off this quilt!" I have learned to pick my battles carefully. Miss Spooky won this one. I didn't get it basted until later that evening after she had her nap and willing moved.

I'm happy to report that it is now quilted and ready to be mailed back to my mom.

I didn't do fancy quilting, just an all-over meander. I love the backing fabric she chose!

In other news, Friday was somebody's first day in 7th grade.

He grudgingly allowed me to snap a few photos before he left for school. He is almost as tall as me now!

August Scrap Group

I had 9 ladies attend my scrap group yesterday! I was worried that we wouldn't be able to fit that many in our small classroom, but we all fit just fine.

The project for this month was Half Square Triangle blocks. I posted photos of my two sample quilts previously. Click on these links to see photos: Half Square Triangle Sampler and Chevron.

Here are a couple of blocks that were finished yesterday.

Mary Ann also brought some of her completed Bird Dance blocks to show.

I had a second class yesterday afternoon - a free motion quilting class. We worked on practicing designs and coming up with specific ideas for how to quilt a paper pieced star quilt she has made. We were both so excited with what we came up with for her quilt! I can't wait to see how it turns out. She promised to bring it in to show me when it is finished. I'll be sure to take some photos when she does.

It probably goes without saying, but I didn't get to do any sewing yesterday. But it was a fun day at work!

Stash Shopping

It has been a while since I have purchased any fabric "just because." When I saw this Charley Harper line on the Fabricworm Facebook page, I purchased the half yard bundle within minutes. It was also on sale when I bought it, 25% off! Double score!

I love Charley Harper's style and art work. I have no idea what I will do with these fabrics other than pet them. This was a "I just have to have some of that" purchase.

P.S. While finding the link for the fabric line on the Fabricworm website I noticed that these fabrics also come in flannel, canvas and knits. I'm not tempted by the knits. Flannel would be nice but the cotton will work just fine for most things I will make with it. However, CANVAS - I might not be strong enough to resist getting some canvas to make myself a bag.

Saturday Sewing

After my guild meeting on Saturday a few ladies stayed to sew bags for our Quilts for Oncology project. I wrote a simple pattern - click here for the tutorial - that everyone followed.

Below are some of the bags I made as well as one donated by my mom.

A few of ladies also brought finished quilts to go in their bags. Below are the four I brought home to deliver to the hospital this week.

I put them all on my clothesline this morning and had to stand in the furtherest corner of the yard to get them all in one shot.

This and That

First, we got a good report from the doctor yesterday about my husband's recent foot surgery. Everything is looking good. He does not need to use crutches any more. He can walk, just not far or for very long. And he can drive. So we can resume some semblance of normalcy!

Second, I finished the Chevron quilt top.

I used 3" finished size half square triangles. Thus, this top measures 48" by 60".

Third, I finished block 7 of the Christmas Quilt.

The tree is suppose to have some buttons on it, ornaments I suppose. I will wait until I quilt it before adding those. The strip pieced tree looks great, but all those seams made the hand applique "interesting." Not something I'd like to tackle again any time soon. Luckily, block 8 does not have any pieced appliques.

WIP

I'm making progress on my second HST scrap project.

It will hopefully be a completed top by the end of the day!

Mom's Yellow Brick Road

This is my mom's Yellow Brick Road top.

I brought it home with me from our trip. It is a bit wrinkled because I haven't had a chance to iron it yet. I will be quilting it for her. I got it out last week thinking I could at least get it basted. Nope! I only got it photographed. It still isn't even ironed. My goal is to get it basted this week.

A Little Saturday Sewing

My husband is still recovering from foot surgery. His next appointment is Thursday afternoon. Hopefully he will be able to walk on the foot after the appointment and then be more independent.

So ... still not much sewing going on over here.

I was able to sew most of the afternoon on Friday while at work at my LQS. Not so good for business (since the reason I got to sew for so long is because we didn't have any customers) but good for me. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture. I guess I'm out of practice at sewing and then photographing. I left the project at work so I'll photograph it next time I work.

On Saturday I was determined to make some progress on a sewing project - ANY project. I chose to work on the next block of the Christmas Quilt I'm finishing for my friends. If you want to see my previous posts on this quilt, click on this link.

The next block is the seventh of twelve. It has only a few pieces to be appliqued, but the main one is a large tree that required some machine piecing before cutting out the applique.

Above you can see the pieced applique background and the section of pieced strips that will become the appliqued tree. All those seams are making it interesting (read "interesting" as "difficult") to hand applique the tree. Never having done this before I thought I'd try it. I'm not sure I will do it again. At least not anytime soon.

There is some other machine piecing for this block. I went ahead and did what I could of that before starting the applique.

The rest of the machine piecing will have to wait until I finish the applique and square up that section.

It was nice to spend a good chunk of time in my sewing room on Saturday!

Moving Slow

The only time I was able to sew last week was at work. Below is why.

This is a photo of my husband's right foot. He had toe surgery on Tuesday morning. This involved two trips to Salida, CO (about a 3.5 hour round trip) last week, one being an overnight since we had to be at the hospital for his surgery at 6:30 am.

He is not allowed to put any weight on the foot for two weeks. He does a lot to help out around the house and he hasn't been able to do anything. Thus I have not had any free time to sew. And things don't look promising for me getting to sew very much for the next two weeks. So if I'm not posting very much, this is why - I don't have anything to show!

I do however have something to show you today. I finished the second of three embroidery panels for my Over the River and Through the Woods quilt.

The bottom one is the one I just finished. I got worried about where I had put the first one so I did some looking. Luckily it was right where I thought it was. Now they are together. I did a lot of work on this in the car on our recent trip. I've started on the third panel which is not as involved as either of these. Hopefully I will be able to finish it up quickly. Embroidery is a great work project since I can stitch a little in between helping customers.

Lastly, check out this huge dragonfly.

This guy was about 4 inches long! He was taking a nap on my son's bike. At first we thought he was dead since he didn't respond to our shaking the bike. We poked him gently with a stick and he took off.

Flying Geese Block Challenge

My LQS, Heartstrings and Heirlooms, is hosting another block challenge. This time you purchase a fabric kit and must use all four of the included fabrics to make any 12.5" square unfinished size block that contains at least 3 flying geese. Below is my entry.

The print fabrics are the ones included in the kit. I added the solid Kona Ash from my stash. I used this free circle of geese paper piecing pattern. I changed the pattern to make the star in the center by using a fabric other than the background for that piece. The pattern was very accurate once I figured out how to make my printer print the pattern full size. (This was not a problem with the pattern but with my computer and printer)

It was fun to make but did take a while as all paper piecing does for me.

If you are local and want to participate the kits are available in the store near the register. They are $2.50 each. As with our previous block challenges, there are prizes.