Bowl Cozies

My latest undertaking, bowl cozies. Made like potholders to keep your fingers from getting too hot or too cold. Those pictured above are unfinished, but on their way to completion. I've read that this is a "30 minute" craft, but I find that's not true. Anything worth making is worth making well, goes the old axiom. Though, they probably take an hour and a half to complete, you could take longer on them, to make them perfect. I was having sewing machine troubles, and was ripping a lot. Getting the final top stitching straight lost me some time, and I add a 'do not microwave' message, for safety's sake. Click through to my tutorial in the 'How To' section, should you want to make them yourself.

Toys in the Attic - Update

Finally finished this set of bags. As with all the items I make, each is a one-of-a-kind bag, each special and unique, and most of all Fun! There's been lots going on. Some family time, fixing and fixing again a water problem in the fridge, dogs, yardwork, housework... It's an even dozen bags, with very little in scraps left. Lets hope that these grab folks by the imagination, and they need to include one or two in their own collections!

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  Bigger Doll and Cats Squared
  These two are bigger than the others, big enough to carry small electronics, as the image shows
  
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  For Comparison
  At set of Purses with an iPad Air
  

Toys in the Attic

My latest creation, this is heavy woven Teddy Bear fabric, and it makes a very cute bag. In the photo on the left it looks a bit smaller than the other bags I have made, because I brought the sides in a little, to be closer to the handles.  I bought this fabric about 15 years ago, with a couple of similar pieces. I haven't been able to find anything like it since then.

Important to note: It's lined, and will have a velcro 'snap' closure. I will make more of these, using all the fabric that I have available to me. I plan to make several different styles, in each of the three fabrics I have here, some a bit bigger, some with longer handles, some maybe a bit squarer. Lots more coming up, this is just the beginning! I'm calling it Toys In the Attic, because the other pieces are an antique doll print and a multiple cat print. Stay tuned to see where I go with this!

Busy with Something Different

It's been awhile since I made any clothing, but I am back at it this week. I needed some freshening up of the wardrobe, dug into my stash of fabrics and found lots of clothing fabric that I had purchased in the past, and never got around to. I'm loving the snowman fabric I bought to make a shirt for a Christmas party at work, that was cancelled - to never be revived again. It will make a beautiful holiday addition.

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  A Vest for casual times

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  Beautiful, Icy-colored Snowman Fabric

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  '40's style robe, and shirts

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  Another view of shirts.

Another Busy Week

Got lots done this week, found and tweaked a set of social sharing icons for my pages (Thanks to simplesharingbuttons.com) that work in mobile and desktop. Changed some of the items out that are no longer available, added new items, added anchor tags to my 'for sale' page, moved content around to make the pages easier to use.

Reversible bags, halloween, holidays and more.

PLUS, Made these six reversible bags, including buttons and a free floating lining, to keep the side that's inside the purse clean and ready to turn out when it's time to change. Added more data and distant cousins to my family tree, breakfasted and lunched with family, started planning my next quilt, discussed life goals with the dogs. Didn't do so well on the laundry, dishes, yard work... got to knuckle down on those things, and find time to do them.

Getting Things Done

Well, I finally finished with adding closures and doing other hand sewing on the all of the bags I posted about here, and got my PayPal account set up, and re-worked all the images of sale items so that they would fit nicely on my 'What's For Sale' page. I've also started on some new bags, and tried to keep up with all the other things in life, you know, laundry, dogs, yard work, social media, eating, sleeping, this blog... It's not easy doing it all.

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  Blue Sparkle Trees reversible bag

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  Rudolph reversible Halloween bag

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  Rudolph raw edge applique reversible bag

Bags and Bags

 This week is was no less busy than last! These are just some of the bags I have been working on. They all still need a bit of hand sewing to finish them off. I have a set of Alaskan prints, Halloween/Christmas reversible's in what I have put together.

Tomorrow, I will start the 'finishing' on all the bags I have made, get them all finished, and then, get my paypal account set up, and on this site. I have decided to move on from Etsy, it feels like the right decision, now I just have to make the time to do it!

I also have to send out a very big Thank You to Georgia Lou Studios and Pedro for putting together the code and tools to create gallery's in blogger! I still have to resize all my images, but I am much farther along thanks to them.

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  Just a selection of the six I worked on today

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  Reversible Halloween / Christmas

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have been working, working working on building up my 'stash' of bags, and adding new styles into the mix. I am considering a craft fair, and am awaiting information about one taking place not far away, in November and December, and I want to be ready. 

I am also moving from Etsy to just offering an option to use paypal on this site, to streamline the process of making and updating you with what I am doing.

Working on some new bags! They're beautiful, if I do say so myself.

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  Green and Pink 2-strapped

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  Round Wine Bag

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  Green and Pink 1-strap 

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  Halloween Dogs

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  Halloween Cats

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  Making Bags and bags and bags

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  Donatello change container

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  Raphael change holder

Getting Started on Christmas

It's never too early to get started on Christmas presents, especially if they are going to take a long time to complete. These are extra special, as they have two different functions. First, they are couch quilts, with a silky, velour like backing. But more important, they are giant game boards! Each has a 'start' square, specific goals to achieve, miss a turn blocks, and a 'win' space. Many of the quilts have more than one game 'baked in', and those will go to the oldest of my receivers. Using simple balsa like shaped pieces, squares, circles and ovals, and a myriad of stickers and glued fabric imagery, I have created pieces to collect while playing each game. Using people shaped wood and different colored heart stickers, I have created individual players, who can be further decorated by the folks playing with them. The point of using wood and stickers is that they can be easily replaced when lost.

 These are four tops I have now completed that I am making as Christmas gifts. There's lots of work still to do, making sandwiches, pinning/basting, and then top-stitching and binding. I think these will be very special when done. I also have 3 other throw tops sitting waiting to be completed. And some other projects, not necessarily quilts, to be made.

I created a kind of 'shell pattern' for these, as I knew what I wanted to achieve, and while very different, these are all very similar. There are sections that I can see, now that it's done to this point that I may have to rip out and start over with. Lots to think about, wonder if it's ok this way, or if I should rework it...

Want to know more, see the post in How I did it, with steps that I followed to create these quilts.