Uh oh...

I discovered another tote bag pattern. This one is also designed by Penny Sturgis (Quiltillustrated) and I LOVE her patterns. It is from a McCall's magazine issue and I absolutely love this bag! It is HUGE and would be perfect for a fabric shopping spree 'cause you can get a lot of fabric in this baby. I am thinking I will use mine when I go to the quilt show in Hershey this year. I am putting inside pockets in it to hold my wallet, cell phone, etc. so they don't get lost in the bag. You could use this as an overnight bag or carry-on bag or even throw groceries in it. Having said all of that, I found some errors in the pattern from the article. If you have done other of Penny's patterns, you will quickly discover that you don't need 6 identical pieces of fusible fleece. It should be 4. One for each piece of the outer bag and one for each piece of the lining. I think there was also an error in the bag handle information but I make my handles the way I like them just 'cause that's how I roll...

My charm pack didn't have enough squares but I had purchased some coordinating fabric so I just cut a couple of strips to size for the bottom. As soon as it it finished (I just need to put the lining into the bag) I will post a photo. I am seriously in love with this one.

Memorial Day isn't just the day the pool opens

Remembering today those who have served and are serving in the defense of our country and our freedom.

Birthday greetings

Today is my quilty sister's birthday. It is a BIG birthday. Today she gets to start using the senior discount at the Bon-Ton.

Happy Birthday, Sissy Wickins. I love you!!

This is for Sara

Thanks for leaving your comment, Sara, however the email address I had for you won't connect and you are listed as "no reply" when you leave a comment.

About the fabric basket - I started with a tutorial on Pink Penguin. The first ones I made (about a year ago) I didn't patchwork the bottom. I just used whole cloth for the bottom and sides and made several small baskets. Once you have made the first one to get the hang of it, you can just change dimensions and do whatever size you like. I started doing the patchwork bottoms because I have all these lovely home dec sample fabrics and I wanted to make something with them. It would also be a great way to use up orphan quilt blocks or any scrap fabric. Just start sewing strips or squares together until you have created the dimension of fabric that you need and go from there.

Now I am thinking about making some for my linen closet to organize my sheets and towels. Wouldn't it be a treat to open the closet and see something pretty?! I am also going to make some for the top shelf in my bedroom closet where I keep my sweaters. Right now they are stacked on the wire shelving but it would be nice to have them enclosed in the fabric baskets. You can really just let your imagination run wild and get really creative!

Very little sleep = getting lots of stuff done!

Though I think I could really use a good night's sleep, I am managing on a little over 5 hours. The plus side is that I am getting lots of projects completed.

I had to go to Joann's and get some fabric for the latest basket project. I picked that up on Tuesday during my lunch break and then early yesterday morning finished this

From Quilty stuff

This fabric basket is really big - about 13"x13". Another container to hide my fabric!!

This past weekend I started this purse and finished it early Monday morning

From Quilty stuff

I used fat quarters that I have had forever and leftover fabric from another quilt. The colors are a little dark but I think it would be a great bag for fall.

This one I started early Tuesday morning and finished up yesterday.

From Quilty stuff

Last summer I bought some fabric that I thought would look great in a couple of blocks that I was contributing to a healing quilt project with my S4 group. The fabric didn't work so it has been in my stash drawer since then. All that is leftover is some scraps that I will use in the next scrap quilt for my guest room. I love using up what I have!!

I need to go on a button hunt. I don't have any buttons for the purses I have been making. The fabric outlet in Sinking Spring used to have boxes of buttons but those are gone. (I love that store because you never know what you are going to find. They frequently run a $2 special - all the fabric in the store is $2 a yard!) They rarely have any quilt fabric unless they buy out a quilt shop that has closed. That is a good thing since otherwise I would probably camp out in their parking lot!! I will surely end up back at Joann's looking for buttons.

I have fabric on hand and stacked up under my ironing board to make at least 6 more purses. Can you tell that I am trying to build up some inventory? Can you guess what I am going to do next?

Scary wake up!

OK - so I wasn't really asleep. I had just gotten back into bed after a bathroom trip and grabbed a book to help me drift back off to sleep. Three pages later the smoke alarm started screaming. Now, when I say screaming, I am not just kidding around. It has the most obnoxious screech imaginable. I jumped up in a total panic and started looking for my glasses. (I don't wear glasses to read in bed.) I ran downstairs and it stopped. OK, so I ran back upstairs and it started again briefly and stopped. I saw the little red light on the one in my bedroom was flashing so I knew it was the culprit. I noticed that my ceiling fan was on. I don't know when that happened. Maybe I turned it on when I went into the bathroom. At any rate, I turned it off and the alarm stopped sounding. Here's the dilemma - is it just dust on the ceiling fan or is there something wrong with the motor on the ceiling fan and I just can't smell anything because it is a 12' foot ceiling and heat and stuff like that rises?

My next thought was that if I had to call the fire department, I needed to straighten up my bedroom. It wasn't disgusting but I had not put away my clean clothing and just plopped them down on top of my blanket chest. And I needed to empty the little waste basket. And I really could stand to dust. And shouldn't I make up the bed? So, at 3am, I did all of that. Then I thought, what if the firemen have to come and then they search the whole house just to be sure everything is ok? This means they would have to go up into the studio.

I have told y'all that I have been sewing like a crazy woman. That means that the studio looks like bomb went off in there. Seriously.

I worked on it for an hour and I made a dent. Most of the yardage is back where it belongs. You can actually see the carpet now under my chair. The cutting table is now stacked with bits and pieces of fabric and interfacing. I have a stack of patterns and instructions on a corner of my other sewing table. It is still a disaster area but I am hoping my call to FEMA for funds to have someone come in here and give it a good cleaning works out.

Somebody stop me!!

I started another fabric basket. Is there a 12 Step program for this?!!? The real problem is that I have all of this free fabric that coordinates but there isn't enough to make a real bag or grocery tote. Maybe I can make a few pillow tops. The fabric baskets sew up so quickly and look so cute - I just can't help myself!

Lookee!

As promised, some photos! These are a couple other things I have sewn in the past week or so. I am totally in love with fabric baskets. This one is different 'cause I made it really tall. I have a couple of collections of fabric that I am now storing inside it.

From Quilty stuff

I made this large tote from a Quilts Illustrated pattern. I can't find the pattern at the moment to give any additional information but the designer is Penny Sturges and her patterns are clear, concise and so easy to follow. I love this bag! I used some Wuthering Heights (3 Sisters for Moda) charm squares and yardage that I have been hoarding.

From Quilty stuff

I really do want to sew this weekend but I also have a huge number of plants that I need to get into the ground...and I need to cut grass...and I need to bring in about 12 bags of mulch. Maybe I will sew in the early morning and then work in the yard later. Thankfully we are going to have very pleasant weather (in the 70s).

I am posting photos of my yard sale purchases from a couple of weeks ago on "My Little Nest" site. Oh, that's something else I wanted to do this weekend - hit a few yard sales. There just are not enough hours in the day!!

Back in the day

I did a much better job of posting on a regular basis! For those of you loyal followers, thanks so much for reading me even with these l-o-n-g breaks in postings. Sadly, I don't have as much time to be creative as I wish. I am trying a new sleep schedule and attempting to stay in bed until 5am which doesn't leave too much time for sewing in the morning! Hopefully, I will come up with a method to balance that which I need to get done and that which I want to get done.

Mother's Day weekend was spent in Virginia with my sons and their families. I had a wonderful time. My birthday was on the 11th so the boys (just my guys) took me out to dinner on Saturday night. Bless their wives for understanding that sometimes it is so nice to be just the 3 of us.

I have tons of photos to show but no way to download them here at the office. So, back to work and I will post again either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Only one photo...

to show but I had a GREAT weekend! Saturday was the annual community yard sale in my sister's little town. Julie and I hit the road early and did not let the spritzing rain deter us in our mission. We bought books, jewelry, old suitcases, pewter serving pieces, lamps, furniture, an antique scale (for a $1!!), an antique wicker chair ($5!) and vintage linens. I was looking for damask tablecloths and napkins and I scored in a big way. I can't wait to show you the vintage (maybe 50's) tablecloth that I know I will resell. My big score was a Thomasville recliner in perfect condition that the owners just could not fit in their small living room. They have the couch and love seat to match and the recliner was just too large. The colors are perfect for me. As soon as I know we will have some extended dry weather I will pick it up and bring it home. I can barely wait!

Sunday was a sewing day with my sister and best quilty friend, Pam. My sister is making props for a post-graduation party so she worked on those. Ms. Pam worked on some applique'. I worked on a couple of things and then finished quilting a table runner for my DIL. I am really pleased with it.



I have been sewing like a crazy woman the past couple of days so I will have more to show with my next post. My house needs to be cleaned, I need to eat some real food and at some point when the rain stops I need to mow my yard but all I want to do is sew. Don't you just hate when work gets in the way of sewing?!!