While the winds blew and the rain pounded down

I didn't lose power except for 4-1/2 hours in wee, wee hours of the morning.  I had an entire day up in the studio.  By 6pm my back was killing me but I managed to get a lot finished!

This is sort of a "standard" bag for me.  See the little leaves on the red band near the bottom?

While I was pressing the seams, my iron gicked up some black crystal looking stuff on the fabricso I did a little raw edge appliqued and then some thread painting.  The fabric was already fused to the fleece so there was no way to take it apart!



This one is has a gorgeous chocolate brown background.  I love the fabric.

This one is cross body.  I think it is very "young" looking.

This is another cross body style just much smaller and with a zip top.  It needs "something" so I am thinking about making some sort of 3D leaf embellishment.  My mom has a birthday on Saturday and I am pretty sure this one will end up at her house!

I am nearly out of fusible fleece so I am excited that it is half price at Joann's during the Labor Day sale.  I also saw some fabric at Burkholder's last weekend that I am pretty sure I will pick up on Saturday.  I just received two orders for baby quilts and I need fabric for those as well.  Thank goodness for sales...and a three day weekend!

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Guessed who missed her blog anniversary?

I knew it was coming up because I have a counter thing on my sidebar.  So, what should I do to celebrate?  I know - how about a giveaway?

Here's what I am giving away

It's a flip quilted table runner..  The colors in the picture are true and it is perfect for your fall table setting.  It is 19" wide and 30" long. 

Just leave a comment on the blog and I will let the computer choose the winner on Friday.  For a second chance, post something on your blog and leave another comment letting me know that you have done just that.  I am feeling a little giddy so I think I will throw in something else as a surprise for the winner!

I love surprises.  Don't you?

I love Burkholder's!

I hit Burkholder's Fabrics early this morning.  Mostly I picked up fabrics that I will use for bags.  They are all rich and pretty and I love them.

I also picked up the fabric for the borders of the red and white quilt.

The color is not right in the photo but I cannot get Picnik to adjust the color correctly.  It is a deep cherry red.  I was going to use a red tonal but fell in love with this piece.  I found a true white to use for the outer border.  Unfortunately, this quilt has to move to the back burner.  I received some unexpected bag orders and I need to get cracking on them.

Thankfully Hurricane Irene has been downgraded and lost a lot of energy.  We have had a very wet August in Southeast Pennsylvania and there is still a lot of concern that trees will fall during this storm.  I guess that means I need to sew as much as I can before the electricity (possibly) goes out.  I have to sew.  Darn the bad luck!!

Hope you are safe and dry wherever you are...

Curious...

I have one of  those tracking thingies on my blog.  It gives me general information about the location of my readers.  Someone who reads my blog regularly is from the Port Angeles area of Washington.  I have gone through my followers list and cannot figure this out.  I would love to know who you are!  I am very familiar with the area and spent many, many weekends there when I lived in Washington.

Quilting update - all the rows are sewn together on the zig zag quilt.  All those point were hard to smash down when I pressed but I used my Mary Ellen's Best Press and ironed them into submission!  I don't have any fabric for the back.  I am giving serious thought to just getting some bleached muslin and using that for  the back.  Thoughts?

What's red and white all over?

Here's what I am working on this weekend

I am trying to use as many of the red & white squares that I received in the swap.  All of the rows are sewn so now it is time to put the rows together.  Once the borders are on it, the quilt will be about the size of a twin.  I think this quilt will spend the winter thrown over the sofa in the living room.  I am going to quilt this on my big Janome using the walking foot.  I will stitch in the ditch and then sew a line of supplemental stitching mid-way through the zig-zag.  I will have to purchase additional fabric for the borders and binding.  Someone suggested that I do an inner border in black.  Though I think it would be striking, I really want to keep this bi-colored.  My plan is to use a red tonal for the inner border, white for the outer border and then bind in the red.  I am definitely going to have to throw a "Color Catcher" into the washer when I launder this one!

Recovering nicely

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes.  I am walking like a normal person now and the pain is mostly in my upper shoulder and neck area.  It strangely feels as though my head is too big for my neck to support.  Isn't that weird?!  I spent yesterday lying about with a heating pad and a gel pack. This morning I woke up feeling good enough to venture into the studio to sew so I whipped up this bag

 

This afternoon quilty sister Julie picked me up in her hot rod truck and took me for lunch and up over the mountain to Burkholder's Fabrics.  We had those terrific 30% off coupons.  I had to go.  My intention was to purchase a jelly roll but I decided that I really don't have time to make something else for me right now.  I have bags that need to be made for the open house and I already have several partially finished holiday gifts that I need to complete.  So...I used the 20% discount coupon and bought fabrics for to make bags.

I used my 30% coupon to purchase a bottle of Mary Ellen's Best Press.  I got the Citrus Grove scent and it smells delish.  I also picked up a few 99 cent remnant pieces.  Any day that involves eating out and shopping for fabric is a good day!

Tomorrow will be an all day sew if my body is up to it.  I know the spirit is willing even if the flesh is a little weak!

Ouch!

I was backing out of a doorway yesterday at the office and caught the heel of my shoe on one of the carpets that a cleaning supply service provides for our tiled floors.  There was no way to stop my fall so I toppled over backwards.  Thankfully, my bum hit the floor first before the rest of me went over so I barely hit my head. Someone heard me yelp as I was falling and helped me back to my desk.  I had to fill out an accident report for  OSHA and then off to the doctor's office.  Diagnosis?  I broke my bum...or at least I badly bruised my coccyx.  I also jarred every muscle up my back and shoulders.  I feel like I was in a car wreck as my neck is really aching.  I will be sitting on a pillow for a while and am taking the day off today because I need a heating pad.  I am taking  an anti-inflammatory for the pain and swelling and at night I am taking a lovely muscle relaxer.  I have to say that in this instance I am happy I don't weigh what I did when I moved to Berks County.  Those extra pounds on my backside helped protect the rest of me!

I think my base camp today will be in the studio.  I have everything I need up here (except a potty) and when I get tired of laying around I can sit and sew for a bit.  My sister found this for me in a remnant bin and it will be a weekender tote.

I already have the exterior and interior cut and quilted.  I am changing my design just a little bit on this.  I like to do a tie closure just because you can easily stuff these bags and it really puts a strain on a button.  I am now adding a flap of fabric that will go over everything in the bag and then it can be tied.  This will make it much nicer as a carry-on bag when flying.  No worries about unmentionables falling out in the overhead bin!

A couple of finishes

I have been busy in the studio since Emily left.  I finished two commissioned bags (and totally forgot to take photos) and then made a quilt for a co-worker (and also didn't take a photo of that!)  I made these two since the weekend.

The large bag is a variation of my "Bella" bag.

The smaller bag was for a co-worker.  She wanted something to take her lotions and goggles when she goes to tan. 

Everyone is happy with their bag and that makes ME happy!  This weekend I am going to stitch more of my red & white blocks and may actually be ready to assemble the quilt.  Burkholder's has 30% off jelly rolls right now (in store only with a coupon) and I am so tempted to go pick up 3 Sister's "Grace".  They also have a sale online so if you are looking for some fabric at great prices check them out!

The weekend

I was in the mountains of Pennsylvania this weekend.  I went up to my sister's farm so that we could complete the quilt top for our nephew's wedding quilt.  He got married a little over a year ago but we like to make sure the wedding is going to "take" before we give the quilt!  I took my camera but left the memory card stuck in the side of my laptop.  I do that so often you would think I would have a method for remembering to put the card back in the camera as soon as I finish downloading pictures.  Obviously, I do not!

So - I was here

and I did some of this

 and went to a quilt shop and bought this.

It was a lovely relaxing weekend spent with two of my favorite people.

This week it is back to reality - the office and sewing in the "hot box".  I have 48 red and white blocks finished and I am anxious to get them all completed so that I can start making rows.  Because the reds are not all the same I think I need to lay them all out in order to place them so that the red hues run through out the quilt.  It will be a challenge but I think I am up for it!