Thursday, May 31, 2012

Little Sue and a little progress...

I wanted to share a picture of the little towel I embroidered at the retreat I went to a few weeks ago.  I finished it up last week but forgot to post a picture.  My buddy, Angela shared a few embroidery patterns with me since I was travelling light and didn't take very many projects with me.  I used variegated DMC floss (also from Angie).  These are two different patterns I put together so Sue wasn't all by herself.  :o)  You wouldn't know it to look at this towel but I "DID" iron it!  lol  Angela had the patterns copied on transfer-eze (or a similar product) and you have to rinse the pattern off when your done the the stitching.  It works great but I guess I wrung it out too hard!  Besides BusyLiz, another nickname would be "bull-dozer"!  Don't turn me loose in a china shop!!!  :o)


Last night, even though I was feeling pretty sluggish, I fought the urge to be a couch potato and forced myself into the sewing room.  I finished cutting the parts out for the craft show bags.  My back was bothering me quite a bit so I lowered the ironing board and sat and ironed the fusible fleece to the parts that get it.  I think I have 15 bags cut out.  I had some fabric left over that wasn't quite the size the pattern calls for but I adjusted the pieces for a shorter bag and cut them out.  It's a children's western print so maybe some little 'cowpoke' will like it and can have a smaller version of the regular size bags.


Hoping to get some sewing done tonight.  These will be done by chain sewing so I probably won't have any done for a few days.  I can't wait to see some of the finished bags though cuz I found some cute prints.  I might have to sneak one or two bags to the finished stage for motivation.  hehe

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Little outside time, little sewin'.

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  I have not lost anyone directly from serving in the military if you live in this country, we have lost too many.  I hope you had a chance to stop and thank our soldiers for our freedom.

I spent some time outside this weekend and a big ol' butterfly was flying around the garden.  it was so nice that he or 'she' stopped long enough for me to snap a quick picture.


My daughters and I are going to do another craft show in June so I wanted to pick up some kid prints for some bags like the cherry one I posted about here.  One of the ladies at the retreat made one out of Hot Wheel fabric and I thought that might be a good thing to sell.  I went to M&L Fabrics in Anaheim and though I didn't buy any Disney prints, I found some pretty cute stuff.


So, off I go to do some cutting.  Those bags won't make themselves.  Darn it!

Blog Background

I logged in to post a few pics on my blog and what the heck, my background was gone.  Off to the freebie design peeps, "The Cutest Blog on the Block".  I'm trying a few out....we'll see what sticks.  :o)

Then......the update.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Camp Camby Retreat

I went to the 10 Year Anniversary of the Backporch Friends retreat last Wednesday and got home on Sunday.  Me and another retreater, Conni, took a walk, me to stretch my legs and Conni to try and wake up!  :o)  I took a picture of the camp sign along the path.  Conni said there was a nicer sign at the main entrance but it was getting warm and I had gone far enough.  This will have to do for the scrapbook!


I took my Scrappity Do Dah blocks and got them stitched together.  The top measured approximately 68 x 70.  I think I used 230 blocks or so.  It will make a nice lap quilt.


Some of the ladies were going to the local quilt shop so I went along.  Going from CA to IN and trying to take one suitcase, (because of dumb luggage charges!), I didn't pack too much to work on.  I bought a kit at the quilt shop for this cute little drawstring bag.

When that was done, I dug into a box of scraps Peggy shared to make a Trip Around the World block.  The girls were making the block for an online challenge and they shared the pattern with the rest of us.  I put a bigger border on mine so it would be a good sized little topper for my coffee table.


Here are some of the blocks we all made.  They were all so pretty and no matter the fabric combination, they were all winners.  We left them up on the design wall and I couldn't help but to keep looking at them.  So pretty.


One day when we were walking back to the sewing room after having lunch, the ladies at Camp Camby were planting flowers in the big pots on the premises.  We had such nice sunshiny days and it took no time at all for the flowers to bloom and fill in.  I love this double blooming azalea and the little white blossoms.  I've not seen those in CA.  Anyone know what they're called?


After four and a half days of sewing, it was back on the plane for home.  It's always so sad to leave your sewing buddies but nice to get back home too.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.  My daughters all came over with food in hand and my hubby did the barbecuing.  Everything was delicious of course, because I didn't have to do any of the cooking.  Yum.


I may not get back here to post until next week some time.  I am heading to Indiana for a quilting retreat with the Backporch Friends group.  I'll leave at o'dark thirty in the morning Wednesday and will get back home on Sunday.  My husband won't stop dancing around the house knowing he'll have the house and "remote" to himself!  :o)

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Craft Show

We survived it!  The craft show at The Quilt Bee was pretty good.  The crowd was pretty consistent, which always makes the day go by faster.  Here are my two daughters at the table.  Kelley is on the left.  She is our oldest and the art major.  Stephanie is on the right and she likes everything crafty but focused on hair accessories and cards for this show.


Here are a few samples of Kelley's artwork.  She sold sets of cards, two of the Jelly Bean design...


...and two like this of Coffee Beans.  I thought they were a great idea and so cute.


She made some little framed prints with button accents.


And in this photo, you can see the 'flower girl' pictures but what I loved was the print that she made behind it.  It's the popular saying, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream".  Oh my gosh, the little drawings are so cute.  I told Kelley I wanted one so when I get it, I'll post a better picture.  :o)


The weekend wiped me out!  We had the craft show Saturday, a dinner for Kelley's birthday afterward, a car show AND bridal shower on Sunday.  Stephanie was hosting the bridal shower with some co-worker friends so I helped clean up a bit and went to the car show to hang out with my hubby.  Whew!  I think I "might" be recuperated....maybe! 

Friday, May 4, 2012

Jello Mold Pincushions

Even though I'm working at a snails pace, I did finish a few more things for the craft show tomorrow.  I saw a tutorial for making Jello Mold pincushions.  It looked fairly easy so I got out my stash of jello molds and some scrap fabric and gave it a shot.  The tutorial was pretty easy to follow.  If you like making pincushions, give it a try.

I didn't have a doily like the one in the tutorial so I gathered up flat lace to make a little embellishment.  I added a button from my stash and wrinkled up some basting ribbon from Stampin' Up!

I printed the little labels in a Word document and punched them with my label punch.  All in all, I think they turned out pretty cute.  My wire was a little tweaked but I just couldn't get it smooth.  Hopefully, people will think it adds to the vintage feel.  :o)

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Make-up bags, check!


Hi there.  Got some of my little make-up bags done for the craft show on Saturday.  I finished 14 so that should be a nice contribution to my daughters' table.  They asked me to pitch in with a few items to fill in empty space and offer a little variety from what they make.  Stephanie does hair bows, headbands and handcrafted cards and Kelley sells framed illustrations and various things like postcards and patterns. 

I love the pattern I used, Little Glam Bag by Pink Sands Beach Designs.  It is so easy.  My only problem is I bought my zippers online in bulk and not all of them measured 7".  So....that means some of them have a cute little accent piece on each end of the zipper and on some bags, I went through all that work for nothing.  The zippers were a bit longer so the accent piece is hidden.  Sigh....


You use such a small amount of fabric, it's a great way to use up pieces from your scrap basket.


I used some "freebie" fabrics too.  My sister gave me a bunch of scraps from a little boutique that makes bags and kids clothes.  The pink car fabric in the back corner was from that bunch.


I love the bra and panty fabric too.  I've had it for a long time and used it for a few bags for the bridesmaid gifts for my daughter's wedding last year.  You can see the big bag on this post.

The only other thing I was going to try to get done, was to make some pin cushions.  The craft show is at a quilt shop, Orange Quilt Bee in Orange, CA.