Superstorm Sandy

Well, my blogging got derailed by a little storm named Sandy.  We lost power on Monday evening, October 29th.  Our house had no power until Saturday, November 10th around noon.  Fortunately, we only lost lots of trees, and there was no damage to life or property.  Also fortunately, we had a wedding to attend in Louisville, KY, so we left our cold, powerless house after 2 days, and didn't return until we were sure we had power.  We're still cleaning up trees, etc.  I did get down to my sewing room yesterday for the first time and tried to get inspired. It's very difficult to think about down or leisure time, when there's still so much yard mess and debris to clean up.

I'll get there, and post new pictures soon.  I promise.

These were beautiful 45 - 50 foot blue spruce and fir trees.  Now they're firewood.

Fortunately, all the trees that fell in back missed the shed.  But one of these fallen trees was an anchor for my hammock!

Until then, Happy Sewing and also Happy Thanksgiving!

Sneak Peek of wedding quilt

My niece, Jennifer, asked all of her female family members and friends to make a crazy quilt square for her, to be sewn together and quilted, for her wedding.  Jennifer chose the color palette and size of the squares, and I'm in charge of the final layout and quilting. I've collected all the squares, and I'm working through sewing them all together.  Each quilt square will have the name of the person who sewed it, embroidered on a label in the corner (Jennifer's Aunt Barbara was in charge of the embroidered labels; I'm just attaching them).  I thought I would tease you what the quilt will look like:

I still need to get 7 more squares to make one more column, but this is a potential final layout.

Here is one square with the embroidered label and frame sewn on.  Each square will have the light blue frame, and then the rows and columns will be separated by a white border.

I will be able to get the quilt top finished by the time of the wedding, so all family members can see it.  This is a really fun, family project, and I can't wait to get it all quilted!

Enjoy the day, and Happy Sewing!

Quick Jewelry Bag project

I recently found a pattern from The Plaid Scottie for this adorable jewelry pouch. This was the weekend I had a few spare minutes to whip one up.  It was very easy, and the results are great.

The Weekender Drawstring Jewelry Pouch by The Plaid Scottie

Fabric is Andalucia by Michael Miller

I added the drawstring stopper, to keep the pouch completely closed without having to tie the drawstring.

There are small pockets around the inside circle, and the large pouch in the middle.  It can hold lots of small items.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Happy Sewing!

Linking back to Sew Modern Mondays at Canoe Ridge Creations 

Busy with Wedding Stuff

I haven't posted for a while -- My nephew, Patrick, is marrying a wonderful girl, Jennifer, in November.  They are having a handmade wedding.  Which means all the family members are busy, busy making things handmade.  My job was the aprons for the rehearsal dinner servers.  I've been busy making 8 full aprons, and 1 half apron.  Here are the results.  My sister-in-law picked out the fabrics and they are wonderful.  The ticking stripe for the 7 full aprons below looks like it's moldy and dirty, but it's new and washed.  So Cute!

     One of these:

     One of these:  (This burlap was impossible! to work with, but so cute)

     And, 7 of these:

Here's a sneak peak at the (Noodlehead) 241 Totes I'm making for the bride and my sister-in-law.  (Of course, there will also be one for me!)

Enjoy the wonderful cool fall weather!
Happy Sewing!

A Flannel Ending

I finally got around to making my flannel pj's.  Now I remember why I stopped sewing clothing.  It's so hard to fit properly.  I thought it would be easy to make a pajama top fit.  Nope.  I had no trouble with the sewing:  collar, interfacing, buttonholes -- No Problems.  I even made french seams so the flannel wouldn't fray.  But Fitting - ehh.  I got lucky with my tailoring on the pants.  They fit really well.  But something about the underarm seams got wonky on me.  It still fits, but I'm going to take in the pattern before I cut the fabric on the next one, and see how it goes.  Anyway, here are the results:

Comfy!

Now I'm ready for fall!
Happy Sewing.

Craft Book Month

I have been enjoying the blogs for Craft Book month, sponsored by Craft Buds.
I have already bought one book that was reviewed in this series, "Modern Patch Work" by Elizabeth Hartman.  It has inspired me to put a quilt on my soon to do list.  There are several other books that are now on my radar for future purchase.

I looked through my own books and found one at the end of the shelf.  It's called "Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Boxes" by Linda Johansen.  Linda has an interesting way of putting the boxes together.  She uses stiff interfacing, sandwiched between two fabric layers.  Then the sides are folded up, wrapped across each other, and finished with a satin stitch.  Here's my attempt at a recipe box for my niece, Jennifer.

This satin stitching around the edges was a little tricky, but not too hard.  I think the hardest part will be filling in the Recipe cards for Jennifer's bridal shower.  (I'm not a great cook.)

I love boxes of all kinds, and now I'm going to have to make one for myself.
Happy Sewing!

Digital Messenger bag

I've been trying to find the perfect bag for this fabulous fabric.  It's Flower Doodle by Kim Schaefer.  I love the bright colors and I wanted to make a bag I would use.  I bought the Media Frenzy pamphlet from Serendipity Studios and have been waiting to make one of the bags.  This weekend the fabric and pattern came together and I'm really pleased with the results:

There are many times I have to wait for my children at appointments, etc., and I might want to have my iPad with me, but not walk into the office with it.  This bag solves that problem.  The bag is divided into two sections; the back section for a reader, and the front for wallet, keys, etc.  This bag is for an advanced sewist, since the interfacing makes it a little stiff.

The pattern is available here.
The fabric is available here.

Have a great week.  Happy Sewing.

Catching Up with this 'n that

I've finished several projects recently that I wanted to share with you.  Although I don't have a picture of them, I finished a quick pair of the pajama bottoms in a practice flannel to check the fitting.  I'm happy with the way they came out, and now I'm ready to cut into the flannel that's just waiting to be pajamas.

I finally finished the September half-square triangle block of the month from In Color Order's sew along.  I'm caught up now and can't wait to finish.  I'm not as happy with this one; the inner pieces had that stripey look, which didn't line up very well.  Oh well.

I tried foundation paper piecing for the first time.  I watched You Tube tutorials, and read lots of blog entries.  I got an "Add-a-quarter" ruler from Amazon.com.  I really enjoyed it.  It's very tedious, but I think I love the challenge of small details.  (Some of my favorite projects so far have been the fussy-cut kaleidoscope quilt, and the purple stuffed dragon.)

Lastly, I needed to make lavender sachets for my relatives in Louisville, KY.  There is a wedding shower for my niece this weekend that I'm missing, but I'm sending along these sachets for the ladies.  Pssst, don't tell them they're on the way!

They smell wonderful, and I'm finding uses for all the lavender I harvested this year.  I made muslin linings to hold the rice and lavender, then used up some charm squares I had sitting around for the covers.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Sewing!

Upscaled 3-pocket bag

I recently made a bag I loved -- the 3-pocket bag from a pattern by NapkittenPattern.  It turned out smaller than I thought, so I decided to try upscaling the PDF file.  After several tries at different percentages, I printed out and used the pieces at 170%.  There are several issues that come up when changing the scale of something.  I had to calculate by hand some pieces that were dimensions only, such as the bottom piece.  I also had to change the handle design, because the smaller version didn't work at the larger size.

This picture shows the difference in the size of the pattern pieces:

Here's my final version.  The bag is large enough to be a weekender tote.  I Love It!

The difference in size:

The inside still has a huge zippered pocket and 2 large side pockets.

I covered the bottom piece with iron-on vinyl (my new favorite product).  The sewing of this larger bag was actually easier than the smaller one, especially the bias binding around the side pockets.  I like the handles on the smaller bag more, but I found some cool black buttons to accent the larger bag's handles.

This project definitely took more work, starting with having to piece the patterns together with tape, and adjust other measurements, but it was definitely "do-able" for an advanced sewist.

Do you have a favorite pattern that you would like larger or smaller?  Give this method a try.  You might surprise yourself.

Happy Sewing!

Festival of Hexagons Entry -- Too Late

I tried getting another project ready for the Festival of Hexagons over at a.squared.w.  I didn't quite make it, but here's my hexie version of Lisa Lam's Tri-Fold Wallet from her fantastic book, A Bag For All Reasons.

 The hexie fabric, all interfaced and ready to be cut.

 Lining and flap started.

 Card slots and coin pouch.

 The final product.

I like all the space on the inside.  There are 8 slots for cards, a small pouch for coins, and the slot is divided up into 2/3 for bills, and 1/3 for receipts or other small paper items.

Very nice result.

Happy Sewing!

Finally Finishing

While looking through my cabinets for fabric to use for the half-square triangle block of the month(s) that I've finally started, I found several half-finished projects.  These 3 christmas placemats are from several years ago.  I'm using them to practice my free-motion quilting.  (I have a very important quilt project coming up for the November 3 wedding of my nephew.)  It's been so long since I've used the darning foot on my Pfaff sewing machine that I had to find the manual and remember all the steps.  It didn't take long, though, and I was done with one.
This is how I found the placemats; pinned and ready to be quilted.

Ta Da!  The fabric is Figgy Pudding by moda.

Happy Sewing!

Too Soon Pumpkins

Last year, I planted pumpkins too late and they were almost not ready for Halloween.  This year I planted them too soon, and the hot dry weather killed the vines.  I harvested my 4 pumpkins.  One vine is holding out, and has 2 more smaller pumpkins on it.

I love the grey ghost pumpkins, and will plant more next year!
Have a great day!

Flannel PJ Project Beginning

I love, love, love, mens-style flannel pajamas.  The flannel is all washed and ready to sew!  I'm looking forward to cooler weather so I can justify starting this project.  I haven't made any clothes in decades (!) and I'm excited to start again.  I'm linking this to the "from blank pages... a linky party ... A celebration of beginnings!"
Happy sewing!

Sewing Room organization

I was inspired by Jeni of "In Color Order" to organize my stash.  I love it.  What you can't see here are the cabinets of other fabrics that don't fit in the collection.  Hehehe.

We finally got our cave-like basement in living condition.  I nabbed the largest part for my sewing room. It has everything I need, and more.  My favorite piece is the antique Ethan Allen sewing table from Joe's grandma, on the back wall.

Happy Sewing!

Zinnias!

Fall gardening in northern New Jersey

Bottle gourds

Gray Ghost pumpkins

Ornamental corn

Too many green tomatoes.  Will they ripen before our first frost?

Bottle gourds growing up a cedar tree.

At least some daylillies are still blooming!

We woke up this morning to Fall.  Cool breezes, the sun is lower in the sky.  Summer gardening is over.  Let's move on to Fall.
Have a great day!

Purse Palooza 2012

I started this blog to share some thoughts that others probably don't care about.  More like a diary, than a blog.  But it doesn't feel right, now.  I'd rather focus on the positive things in my life and the fun I'm having right now.  I'm really enjoying sewing again.  It's been ages since I made any clothes, and I'm still not good at tailoring, so I'm making bags and purses instead (along with the quilts I make regularly).  I've started a Flickr page in order to follow the wonderful people making purses for Purse Palooza 2012.  (Cool name, by the way).

www.flickr.com/toohey sews

Enjoy the heat today.