Whooo Hoo! this purse has been in the making since October. I bought a simlicity pattern (2251) when they were on sale, with intentions to make this purse from the leftover jellyroll fabric from my quilted scarf . To make up for the $$ spent on the pattern (yes, I'm that cheap) I decided to make use of some old curtains.

Yep! these fit the bill, r-i-p. FYI, I once spent an entire 8 hour day ripping seams when I was working at the clothing factory. Anyways the print became the quilted backing (never to be seen again) and the loverly tan fabric became the base for my birdy design.

And I completely pimped out the inside, no more messy purse.

Serging

I found this book at my local library and its chuck full of ways I can have fun/damage my serger . Actually I am thinking about writing my own book..............fer real! I am going to call it "101 ways to ruin you serger" I'm already on damage #2. I am making myself a new purse from some old curtains and my serger vomited it back at me, broke a needle, and now skips a thread. So I put it in the naughty chair till I feel like dealing with it!

Mr. Incredible's Laundry

Mr. Incredible needs a laundry bag for his travels, so I whipped this puppy up this morning. I've been hoping to try stenciling on fabric, perfect opportunity :) And just incase you wonder why I call him Mr. Incredible? ( see below) thats him, personality and all! only minus the spandex and a little hairier (okay ALOT hairier) but a good likeness all the same. When we watched the movie the kids and I were giggling the whole way through " thats Dad! its his double, his twin" especially the part where he is crammed into that little car. So he's been Mr. Incredible ever since.

Surviving January

Besides drinking my coffee stronger and spending way to much time on the computer (this is how Northerner's survive January) I've been experimenting with softies - Formerly known as stuffed animals to some of us. It is way too time consuming and tedious but they are darling. Oh and I made my first label (above) with iron on transfer that I ran thru the computer.

of Rants and Re-makes

Okay, the T-shirt remake first. I am totally in love with the idea of making things from old t-shirts, so when my friend Mira from our daily minutiae posted a pair of yoga pants on her blog I had to give it a try. It was soooo easy and took less than 15 minutes*. I used a size 3x mens shirt and it fits my size 14 kaboose with lots of room to spare. clip off sleeves and top of shirt. Clip down the sides of the shirt, so the front and the back are separate.

Fold each piece in half and stitch up from what would have been the bottom of the shirt to the armpit. Then stitch both armholes together to make the crotch seam, add a waist band and you have a comfy pair of sleep pants.

* NOW about the rant. Remember when I said that it only took me 15 minutes to make these? thats because I was careless and stupid and impatient and unkind to my new serger, I had assumed it was a beast and would cut through all of the old seams and junk and crammed the thing through in a hurry and and *sniffle* I broke-dulled-ruined-??? my blades *sniffle*. TOTALLY my fault, not the machines or the fabrics or the dogs. all mine. BUT and here is the rant. Sewing Machine Manufacturers PLEASE take note: I will pay an extra $1.00 or 2 or 5 or whatever if you would P-l-e-a-s-e give me a separate manual in English! Its not that I dont apprieciate Spanish or French or Slavic. I love them all but NOT when I am mad and doing stupid things to my machine and I live in an English speaking country where I paid English speaking dollars$$ for a machine that I could curse to in English. K? good, now I am off to find out how much extra blades are for my machine :(

Seeing Spots

this is the layout so far of the quilt I am making from my "full moon forest" charm packs. I layed it out on the floor and left it there for a couple of hours so that I could walk by with a fresh look to make sure I had the spots exactly where I wanted them. When the time was right, I pin them down and woo hoo off to the machine. And then can you guess what happened?.............you know Murphy's Law does not allow anything to happen so easily. I pinned them precisely, perfectly, exactly where I wanted them ON THE WWRONG SIDE OF THE FABRIC! Oy Vey!

Truth be Told!

(Note-to-self )when I look back and see how much sewing I was doing over the winter of 2009-2010 and wonder how I did it all? Truth be told ...... Stress Relief! I'm looking around at all of the projects I have going and want to start and think... Wait? What? Who? Me? Yes! Me sewing obsessively to avoid the reality of the major changes in my life right now. Child No. 1 has all but left the nest throwing me into fits of identity crisis. The reality of leaving my home of nearly 20 years for a different one. Mr. Incredible in the midst of a job change. AND I like the color Pink! (I believe this falls in the identity crisis category) I never, never, ever liked the color pink in my whole tom-boyish-dirt-lovin-hammer-swingin'-manure-flingin life! The world as I know it is no more. On the brighter side, there is alot of pink fabric in the world, So I am going to stress on.

I'm turning the charm packs I won from D is for Dovey into circles, which will turn into a loverly spotted quilt. Serger! Serger! Serger! I got one for Christmas! and I would hyperventilate if I said anymore about that

I made this great pillow from a pattern in this book I checked out at the library. Two-Hour Mini Quilt Projects - by Mackenzie Kate

Finishing up 09'

This is the last Christmas gift I made in 09'. Child #1 is taking Chinese so I gifted her a challenging present. Known as "Go" in the U.S. and Wei-qi in the orient and normally played on a wooden board with stones. I decided to make it out of fabric after seeing how expensive a set was, and used buttons in place of stones. It has matching button bags and a shoulder sling to carry/store it in.