February Strut Your Stuff Is Here!

Yep, four days til the end of the month, you have until midnight on the 28th to link up and show off a Christmas gift you made for 2011 to be entered in the draw.  Remember our gift this month is this gorgeous mug rug made by the wonderful Caroll at Attic Window Quilt Shop, and the darling fat quarters donated by the awesome Chris, owner of the shop.



I finished my gift tonight, a make-up bag for my aunt using the tutorial from Up The Rainbow Creek.



Please forgive the yellow pics, it was dark out and I'm too lazy to re-do the pics.




My fingers are NOT as nimble as they used to be!  I tried it using my own method, which failed miserably, and ended up following the directions exactly.  The only problem I had was the flap - you have to insert it between the outer bag and lining, and I couldn't get it lined up right on both sides.  In the end, I basted it to the lining, then stitched it together.  That worked great, but I still missed some of the lining during the topstitching, and had to do another line of stitching.  The gorgeous fabric [which doesn't show well due to the yellowy nighttime pic] was from the lovely Cyndi.   Thanks hon, my aunt is going to love it!

It feels really, really good to have made my aunt something, every year I want to make her stuff and I run out of time.  Have you finished your gift yet?  You can either link up to this post where you show off your gift on your blog, or you can email me a pic of the gift you made if you don't have a blog or don't want to post the pic.  You can also upload to the flickr group - oh the gorgeous pics there!!!

If you upload your pic to the flickr group because you don't want it seen on your blog, please let me know.

So get your pictures in before midnight on the 28th, I'll do the give-away on March first - good luck and happy sewing!

*Gasp * Thud*

The postman came today.  Have you ever been to Cyndi's blog, and seen her gorgeous purses? [I will not be held responsible for out of control coveting when you go there.] She is the Queen Of Purses.

Well, Cyndi blessed my socks off today.





You see that Believe journal?  It's my new prayer journal.  It's staying open next to my computer and phone so I can write down prayer requests.  Page one is half full and I've only started.  The Reese's is gone, [Reese's HEARTS, no less, they were delish] and the charm packs are perfect for a new quilt design I want to try.  But oh....

oh....

oh.....

the PURSE.

Front.



Back.



Inside.





I told Cyndi I'm throwing out all my other purses.  I've tried my hand at making them myself, and I don't have a hope of coming within miles of this.  This is called The Dottie Bag, it's her own design, and it is brilliant.  The strap is long enough to cross over my body [my favorite way to carry a purse], it's the perfect size, the pockets are fabulous - and of course, the fabrics are too, too sweet.  Cyndi has thought of everything with this purse, her work is meticulous and her design sense inspired.  Thank you SO much darling girl, I don't think the thrill of owning this beauty will ever fade!  Even my boys loved it, I didn't think they would, but they do!  Pretty good when you can impress boys!

I'm off to sew some velcro on my make-up bag, I'll be back tonight or tomorrow with the Mr. Linky post so you can show off what you've made.  In the meantime, go visit Cyndi and wear a bib.  You've been warned! 

Tickled Pink Tuesday, Blogger, And More

Coming out of hibernation to post today, it wasn't all I thought it would be - my youngest, Sam, has been sick since Friday and I've got it too.  Which means not a lot got done!

But hey, it's

so I had to post.  What's tickling me today - the postman came with a sweet little package from Midge!  The prettiest Christmas panel;




I think it might become a pair of sweet pillows for Christmas, but I'm hanging it on the design wall in case of further inspiration!  Thank you darling Midge, I LOVE it!  What's tickling you today?  Join Cheryl and I for some fun!

Last week, my friend Nikki came from London Ontario with her boys for a visit.  It had been a very long time since we'd seen them, but as with good friends, felt like yesterday once they got here.  Nikki loves scrapbooking as much as I love sewing [she also sews!] and she had made me the prettiest gift, a bookmark and little book with index cards...



Thank you darling Nikki!  The bookmark has really been put to good use since I've been sick, all I want to do is read.  And with 10 inches of new snow, that's about all there is to do, lol.  This is the view from my window yesterday.



I have been working on my February Christmas Through The Year gift.  Not done yet, although I did make a muslin of it, doing it MY way.  It didn't work, so now I'm doing it the right way.  I'll show you when I'm done.  How are you going on your gifts?  Carmen sent me some pics of her finish, and a couple others.  Here's her finish, a gorgeous mug rug....



A close-up of her beautiful stitching.



And then this.



My birdcage design - oh how I love it!  But wait, look at THIS!



Oh my word, she took the Castle Doors Needlebook design and combined it with the birdcage design!  Carmen, that's brilliant!

Carmen also sent me a link to a lovely tutorial, a doily table runner....I have to make this!  And I found a great tutorial on Made By Rae for a boy's Scavenger Bag.  You can get the tutorial at Sew Grown.  It would make a great book bag too!

One thing I wanted to talk about today was Blogger's Spam Detection.  You may have noticed that I removed the word verification from the comments.  I no longer use it, and I don't moderate comments.  The spam detection is great - I have had some spam, but blogger picks them up and keeps them off the blog.  Yay for easier commenting!

And finally, I would like to ask you all to join me in prayer for the people of New Zealand.  I'm sure you've heard by now that Christchurch has been hit by a truly horrific earthquake.  There is great loss of life and terrible devastation.  My heart goes out to all those affected by this tragedy. 

Today is the 22nd, I will be back tomorrow or the next day to put up the Mr. Linky post so you can all show off the gifts you've made, and be entered in the give-away.  Not sure how much visiting of blogs I'll be doing in the next couple of days, I have to finish my own gift!  Thank goodness for you all keeping me accountable in doing this!  See you soon.

MIA

Missing In Action....that's me this last week.  Probably for at least another week.  Nothing drastic, just busy and slightly overwhelmed.  And in a bit of pain - today I made an emergency visit to my WONDERFUL dentist of 30 years - a cracked tooth.  There's a crown in my future.

I've decided on what I'm going to make for my February Christmas gift.  An envelope style make-up bag, tutorial here.  I'm going to do mine a bit different though, if it works I'll take pics and show how I did it.  How many of you are done already?    Honestly, if I wasn't the hostess for this, I'd probably not do it!  But thanks to you, and your wonderful encouragement, I am.

I have a very large number of projects in the works, nothing that I can show you, which makes for a boring blog.  I haven't had time to troll around looking for tutorials, either.   Bad, bad blogger, that's me.  I'm going to take a week or so and just concentrate on sewing, and leave the computer off as much as possible - it's a magnet, drawing me in, you know I love to visit you and comment on your blogs; well, I've been doing a bit too much of that.  It's such a pleasant, relaxing thing to do, but if I get any more relaxed I'll go into a coma.  And then nothing would get done for sure.

I'll see you next week for Tickled Pink Tuesday.  Not before then, I'm laying down the law for myself.  Must. Create. SOMETHING.  Before I go, Hermoine wanted to say hi and show you one of her custom made beds....



She knows which hat to lay on, the one belonging to the child who's allergic to her.  See you soon!

Tickled Pink Tuesday

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

What's tickling you today?  Join me and Cheryl with some fun!

I'm a bit MIA right now - sorry - back soon!

Winner!

Top o' the morning to you all!  I did my give-away the same way I did the last one;  put the names into the give-away jar -



shook them all up and pulled out a name.



Congratulations to  Sharon from Dancing Thru Threads -  I've emailed you!

I also received a give-away win myself this week, the lovely Shari from Mumsyblossom's World was giving away a fat quarter of gorgeous fabric to celebrate Australia Day.  The fireworks fabric looks just like the pic of fireworks she posted, so cool!  Love the other fabric too, so very Australian - thank you Shari!



Then yesterday, I went to the thrift store to pick up some more sweat pants for the gym, and found this:



Be still my heart.  My grandma had one just like it.  *I* had one just like it, only black.  How I love these old phones!  I do believe this is the best design for a phone ever.  It's so comfortable, and you can hold it between your ear and shoulder without cramping.  It needs a bit of work but I've found the schematics for it online, and I'm confident I can get it working.  I also found out people repair these for a living!  Apparently I'm not the only one who loves them.  Made by Western Electric - the first real company I worked for.  How I loved that job!  I did data entry with a card punch machine, lol!  Oh am I dating myself.

I hope you all have a lovely day, I'm going to be busy busy - not sewing unfortunately, just cleaning and laundry.  But that's a good thing too.  No gym today, so I need to burn some calories!  Have a great weekend!

Almost Midnight

That means the give-away is now closed!  I'll be picking a winner in the morning!

No-Reply Bloggers And Give Aways

Happy Wednesday, everybody!  Here in the bitterly cold north country, the sun is shining brightly although it's doing nothing to warm the air.  But that's ok, because spring is on the way, it will get here, the weatherman assures me this is so.

On my give-away post, I've received many lovely comments from you all.  However, some of you are no-reply bloggers, and have your profiles set so I can't view them.  Which means I have no way of contacting you.  How do you know if you're a no-reply blogger?  Well, I do respond to each and every comment on my posts - if you've not had an email from me, that's one way to know I can't reach you.

The other way is to follow the instructions below, to change it.  Make sure your settings on your blog are correct.  If you prefer to stay private, then you'll have to include your email in your comment, otherwise you can't be entered in the give-away.

Here's how you change a no-reply. Go to your blog, sign in, and go to your dashboard. Over on the left, click on "edit profile". There are two things where you show your email addy, and I'm not sure if you need both of them or just one of them checked, so we'll do both. Under where it says Privacy, make sure 'show my email address' has a check mark in the box, then scroll down to Identity and make sure your email addy is in the box for Email Address. SAVE your changes.

I really do appreciate your comments, and don't want anyone left out who wants to be in the give-away..  If you make the changes, or want to be entered in the give-away and haven't heard from me, please go back to the post and leave another comment with your email.  Thanks, and have a great [warm] day!

Tickled Pink Tuesday

Yep, it's Tuesday already - what's tickling you today??  Join Cheryl and I in playing!

What's tickling me today is a gift I received from Fiona at Bubz Rugz.  The sweetest little owl, and a gorgeous luggage tag!



I've named him Oliver - probably not real original, but he looks like an Oliver to me.  He's my buddy.  The luggage tag is going on my library book bag; it's on wheels, like luggage.  Now it won't get lost!  Thank you Fiona, I love them both!

Let us know what's tickling you today!

Castle Doors Needlebook Tutorial And Give Away

 I'm going to warn you right from the start - I had a horrid time with this.  Not with making it - that was easy!  What was difficult was trying to put the pattern onto a word document, and have it print out at the proper size.  I finally left it as a .jpeg, and uploaded it to my flickr.



So - click on the picture to go to flickr.  Click on "actions" just above the picture, then "view all sizes".  You can download from there, at whichever size you prefer.  I did put a chart on the side of the design, so you can get close to the proper size.  I just can't tell you what a headache this was.  If anyone has any tricks or tips, I would really appreciate them.  I've done it before, but it takes me days and reams of paper to get them right.  If you have any trouble downloading, please email me!

And now onto the tutorial.  Are you ready?  I hope so - it's easy and you know that's what I like.  I got this idea after I'd seen Angela's Hexagon Needlebook Tutorial over at My Three Sons.  I loved the idea of having it on a ring.

Castle Doors Needle Book Tutorial
For this project, you'll need:

red fabric [or color of your choice]

white felt [or color of your choice]

ribbon to match your doors

key ring

Trace your doors onto your fabric [one piece only with the design].  You're going to trace both the cutting and stitching line.  Trace the cutting line onto two pieces of felt, and cut out.  Trace the stitching line onto another piece of felt, and cut out.  The smaller one will be the inside of your needlebook.

Stitch the front door using two strands of black floss.  There's no stitching on the back piece.

After you've stitched the doors, cut them out on the cutting line.



Lay the fabric door on top of the bigger piece of felt, lining up all sides, and stitch just outside the black floss for the front door, and on the stitching line for the back piece.




This is what it will look like.




Once both doors are machine stitched, you're going to get your pinking shears and trim them all the way around, being careful not to cut through the stitched line.



Next, take your smaller piece felt, the length of ribbon you want, and your key chain ring.  Put the ribbon through the key ring, and sandwich the ribbon on both sides of the small piece of felt,  putting that between the doors.





I used a glue stick to hold my ribbon in place.  Make sure your small piece of felt on the inside is to the very top of the doors - you're going to want to catch it in your seam.



Now you're going to stitch carefully around the top of the front door.  At this point, I changed the thread in my bobbin to red.   Double check that your inside piece of felt is getting caught in your seam, otherwise you'll have to do it again.  Listen to the voice of experience here.  And make sure the key ring is not going to go under your needle.



When you open your needlebook, you'll probably have to trim the ribbon a bit.  I left mine a bit long inside to make sure I caught it all.



And then you're done.



Now, because my day looks like this



[although it's a lot deeper now], and because I love ya, I'm giving this needlebook away.  Just leave a comment here on this post, and I'll put your name in the hat.   International comments welcomed!
Edit: Sorry, forgot to say give-away will close Friday, February 11th!

Oh My!

I'm so honored - I'm the featured blogger over at Amy's Creative Side today!  Her blog is SO fun, and I'm already looking forward to the next Blogger's Quilt Festival...do you love those as much as I do?  I'll probably never get to Houston and Amy is the next best thing!  Or maybe the BEST thing, since I can browse in my jammies....yes, I'd live in my jammies if I could.  I don't think they'd let me in Houston in them, though.

I'm getting everything together tonight so I can take pics of my tutorial tomorrow.  It's a very simple thing to make.  Would you like a peek?

February Christmas Club Give-Away Gift

Heads up Christmas crafters - our lovely give-away gift this month is brought to us courtesy of Caroll, from Attic Window Quilt Shop, and Chris, the shop owner! 



Caroll made the gorgeous mug rug, and Chris, bless her, threw in a couple of gorgeous fat quarters!  This is the back: I love these fabrics!  They remind me that spring isn't too far away!



A big thank you to Caroll and Chris!  They live in my state and I'm so hoping to meet them in person one of these days.  Probably this summer....it's just too cold to leave the house right now.  Remember, all you have to do to be in the give-away is make one Christmas gift this month for your 2011 stash, and link up back here at the end of the month!

Did I mention it's cold?  Although, the sun WAS shining today....I stuck my head out the front door and took this pic, so I'd remember what it looks like.



It's not a very good pic, sorry.  I was in a hurry.  And I was embarrassing my oldest son, who thought the neighbors might see me in my jammies, sticking my head out the door taking a picture of nothing.  My mom didn't tell me parenting would be so fun!

  Hermoine, my kitty, was following the sunbeam all over the house.  She finally ended up on my bed.



She loves that pink rug that's on my pillow.  I had just washed it, and wanted to vacuum before putting it back.  It stays under my sewing table, and keeps my foot pedal from scooting across the floor.  She thinks it's hers. There isn't much that she doesn't think is hers.  She even eats the dog's food, as you can probably tell.


Tomorrow I'm going to try to remember to take pics for my needlebook tutorial.  I keep forgetting until after it's dark.  I seem to be in a winter slump - forgetful, no energy, just wanting to hibernate.  I feel like I'm not fully waking up each day.  I know I should put on my big girl panties and go for a brisk walk....hmmmmm....

Yeah, right.