Big Weekend

The show is tomorrow and Sunday afternoon.  I have no idea how many bags I finally have finished.  Actually, "finished"' is still a word I am throwing around rather loosely.  My mother will be sewing buttons on bags while I drive.  She will also be hanging care instruction cards on the bags and putting price tags on them.  She doesn't know this yet.  Don't you just LOVE surprises!!

By the way, I have updated the slideshow at http://hazelnuthill.blogspot.com/.  I keep throwing new photos on when I remember to take a couple of bags to the office to photograph.  Hopefully all that you see (plus another 60 or so) will be GONE by Sunday afternoon!

I am working from home for a few hours before we leave.  Remote access to the computer on my desk at work makes my life so much easier.  (If I could only convince upper level management to let me work from home 2 or 3 days a week!)  I will still be tied to the office via my cell for the rest of the day but my mom will also be playing secretary for me today while I am driving.  (I think I am going to owe her big time after this trip is over!!)

Y'all have a good weekend!

Early November Update

Since my posts have been few and far between, I thought a quick update the best thing to post this morning. 

Just got back from Virginia and my son’s award presentation.  I took my parents and we drove down on Friday afternoon and returned to Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon.  I think I am getting too old for these fast trips!  Chad actually received two awards and it was a delight to be able to share the moments with him. 

I have been back to the “cheap” fabric store and they still haven’t finished bringing up everything from the basement.  They were also offering a 10% discount coupon if you spent $25.  When the salesperson cut my fabric and started totaling my bill she told me if I spent $50 I could get a 20% discount.  What do you think I did?!?  I found enough of one piece of “Chocolat” to make the bed skirt for my bed and an additional border for the quilt.  I also picked up another piece that will be used for pillow cases.  So many women in home decorating blog land are using canvas drop cloths for drapery fabric so I have decided to take the plunge.  I will use the drop cloths for the basis of my bedroom drapes and add some of my “Chocolat” collection to embellish them.  This is going to be a project for after the big craft show and Thanksgiving. 

While at the fabric store I picked up a few more pieces of fabric for purses and purse linings.  That project continues and I find little time for anything else.  Next weekend is “crunch time” and I am calling in all my favors to get finishing work done.  I think that selling some of the bags will be difficult.  I am really in love with several and have had to restrain myself from snatching out of the collection to use for myself.  Some of the really large print bags are stunning…if I DO say so myself!

Did everyone take advantage of the sales at Joann’s this weekend and the extra 20% off coupon on your total bill?  I picked up Warm and Natural Queen sized batting that was pre-packaged.  The usual price is $19.99 but it was on sale for $9.99 and then the extra 20% off – SCORE!  I also picked up some harvest themed goodies that were discounted 70% so I felt like quite the shopper.  We stopped in Maryland on the way home from Virginia.  My father wanted to wait in the car.  Silly man.  He finally called my mom’s cell phone to see how much longer we were going to be.  Thankfully we were in line at that point so we didn’t make the poor man sit too much longer.  (I probably should have given him the keys so that he could get out and walk around a bit!)

We have an official due date for the new grandbaby…May 20th.  Next ultrasound may show the gender.  I found the most fabulous fabric for a baby girl quilt.  Of course, I can always find something wonderful for a boy…but another baby girl would be lovely.  (Bella said she already has a baby brother and she would like a little sister this time.)

I discovered just last week that all of my business cards and my purse/tote tags have the wrong web address on them.  You know, if it isn’t one thing… 

Happy Halloween

About 2 weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to "Gourd Gathering" at my sister's house.  This is what I painted.

I think it is a dipping gourd.  I cut out a circle of black felt to make her hat.  She isn't exactly scary but you gotta love her "blind" eye!

Sick children update

Fevers have broken evidence that the Tamaflu has kicked in.  Both of the children have congested breathing but my granddaughter is starting to feel a lot better.  Alex is still about a day behind her but not having the fever surely makes a difference.  My son has disinfected everything he could, did many, many loads of laundry and last I heard was making up a bleach bath for Alex's toy cars. 

Thank you all for your comments, prayers and good thoughts.  Now, back to purses!

Sick grandbabies...

My oldest son just called.  His two children have come down with H1N1.  They just got vaccinated yesterday and apparently were already infected.  My granddaughter was spiking a fever of 105 and my grandson at 103.  Since their momma is in her first trimester of pregnancy, she has left the house for a few days and is starting on a pro-active course of Tamaflu.  The children are both taking it along with ibuprophen to bring down their fevers.  Alex has asthma so he is in a high risk catagory.  Grammy's heart hurts because she can't be there to help care for the children.

Please add them to your prayers.

Thank you,

In case you were wondering...

No, I was not taken in the night by a band of marauding pirates! I haven't posted in over a week because I have a case of the "blue funk", purses are now the bane of my existence and I am surrounded by half-finished projects. I have less than 4 weeks before the show and 35 bags more to make. I have to take a weekend off and go to Virginia for my son's award (Virginia Teacher of the Year for Physical Education...have I mentioned that before?!?) so I will miss one weekend of serious bag making. My dear mother has offered to come and iron and fuse for me. I will be dragging her into my pit of despair (also known as the studio) on Saturday. It will take her a while to climb the 2 flights of stairs so she better be committed before she makes the ascent!


So...I did get the "Hazelnut Hill" site up on blogger with a slide show of about 8 or 9 bags. There are more that I will add when the weather clears and I can get outside to take photos. As I have mentioned before, no two are alike. I only buy enough fabric usually to make 2 bags and each of those would be from a different design or the color placements are different. At some point I have to throw a couple of diaper bags into the mix. I have designed one that I think is terrific but it is still on paper with no prototype.

That's the update, folks. Here's hoping I get a whole lot done this weekend!!

Productive Day

I came down with a cold in the middle of the night but I still managed to be productive today – even if it meant a tissue stuck in the sleeve of my sweatshirt all day!  The weather here is awful – cold, rainy and gray.  I was supposed to be sewing at my sister’s house but several of our friends were going to be there and I didn’t want to drag my nasty germs over and infect others.  Truth be told, I really didn’t want to get out of my sloppy sweats, either!

I have spent the entire day in the studio.  I have 8 bags cut and pieced.  I cut all the fusible interfacing so that is next.  I find that if I do them in sort of an assembly line fashion they go faster.  The worst part is constantly changing thread color.  I try to group fabrics by color so there isn’t quite as much of that.

My big accomplishment is this

I didn’t have anywhere to hang it it the studio so this is the best photo I could take.  Here are some close ups of the quilting

I love this tail!  This quilt is complete down to the label.  

Monofilament is not easy to use. However, if you use a top stitch needle, loosen your tension and don’t go too fast, it works out fine.  I did not have any thread breaks from start to finish.  I finally think I know how to use this thread!  I have also been practicing a lot of the stitches that Leah Day demonstrates in her tutorials and I find that my free motion quilting is improving every time I quilt.

Hope your day was productive and you were warm and dry wherever you are!