Scootin' around town tote

I had to sew up another bag - I just love these multi-tasker totes and I thought it would be nice to have a new one for our summer vacation travels.

Here's my Echino version:


I modified this one w/ magnetic snap closures for more travel security and added a zip pocket.

Happy Sewing!

PTS5 Swap pillow has arrived

...So it's the end of a long but routine work day.
I'm tired.
I trudge down to the mailbox to retrieve the days deliveries.
Oh there is a key to the larger box for parcels and this immediately lifts my spirits. Parcels are like Christmas around here.
I open the large box where the parcels are kept.
I glance at the label.
Royal Mail.
Again!
Who doesn't love getting 'royal' mail? That must be extra special mail.
I feel all Queenly.
I contemplate waving to my subjects.
I remember they are all inside playing video games.
I think, "what's this?" Oh it must be my swap pillow!
I immediately shred into the package right there in the street in front of my house.
Eeek!
It IS a pillow. And a lovely pillow to!

Don't you agree?



Yes this lovely pillow plays very well with it's fellow couch mates.


And look a mug rug to boot!!!


My desk at work needs one of these, so this is extra special.

Thank-you Fiona!! These are perfect for our home and will be enjoyed for years to come!

Flowerchild

Remember the 70s? Peace, Love and all that other groovy stuff. As a kid growing up in the 70s, I detested those jeans with the giant white daisies on them. I was pretty glad to give up my bell-bottoms for the much cooler and narrower skinny jeans that were popular in the 80s. Wait wait, what's that you say? Skinny jeans? Sound familiar? Yes, all that's old is new again. The 70s, 80s and probably even the 90s are back again although this time all these decades have been melded into one. And back are peace signs, giant daisies, skinny jeans and even those neon paint splashes on clothes - that was definitely a place I didn't need to revisit. But it's back and it's everything a girl could want - well if you are 8 anyway. So now the next generation gets to 'enjoy' these things again. My daughter is "all over it" as she would say. If she had her way, there would be peace signs on everything.

So here is a little summer tote bag just for her, in her favorite colors and embellished with so many of her favorite things. Yes I live in Oregon. NO, I don't drive a VW Van, nor do I want to - this is as close as she's ever going to get with us. That's Oregonian and you kind of have to live here to appreciate just how hippy this place is.


The bag is a basic Anna Maria Horner Multi-tasker tote - proving just how multi-tasking this tote can be. Really works perfect as a pool/beach tote which is where you'll find my kids most days this summer.


I have made quite a few versions of this tote and it's still a proven winner. This one is embellished with lots of embroidery designs from all over really.
All made by me and patched or directly embroidered onto the bag prior to assembly. I did shorten the straps on her version, since she isn't quite adult size just yet.

A little farbenmix and assorted ribbons for fun and added to the embroidery is some much needed bling - a girl's gotta have her bling, right?


Check out the lining fabric from Michael Miller - how perfect is that? Groovy man!



Embroidery designs include Love/Peace, Mirror Forest, and London Calling from Nic Hildebrandt (Luzia Pimpenella I really love everything she does) and Panda from Mymaki .

Happy Independence Day!!

Hope you are enjoying your holiday if it is a holiday where you are. We are having a lazy and hot day around here. BBQ is already going - dinner is going to be delish!! Meanwhile, lazy for me means free time to sew - yaay!

I have been sewing up more multi-tasker totes. Love this pattern. These are going to be gifts.

More Garden party fabric matched with some Farmer's Market from Sandi Henderson. You might've noticed that I have used this particular print a lot lately - I do love that one and I have it in every colorway. Gotta figure out what to make with the gold version.

I tried a little something different with this version of the tote - I interfaced the lining with decor-bond (heavy weight interfacing) then used a fusible fleece on the front panel. This one can stand up on it's own pretty well even though it is sewn in quilting weight cottons. I cut the interfacing a bit short and left it off the top part of the bag where the handle is attached so that it can still gather up nicely.

The top picture is AMH's Drawing room fabric which is a home dec weight fabric and really works perfectly for this tote bag with minimal interfacing. I simply interfaced the front panel of that one with some fusible fleece. Works perfectly.

Enjoy the fireworks! Happy sewing!

Party on the Porch!

Here's my version of a garden party ~ the chair makeover is complete. Our new front porch complete with cheery, flowery box pillows for the chairs, and some fun throw-pillows for the swing. It needs an icy beverage don't you think?

The pillows were made using Anna Maria's Horner's Garden party fabric which came out last year. I love this colorway on the porch, it's so summery and makes me smile. Not sure how well the white flowers will hold up to 2 kids! or sometimes more - but they are easily removable and can be tossed in the wash.

I followed Beth's tute from Sew Mama Sew to make up the pillows. My chairs are a bit unusually shaped, so I used a paper template made from the chair measurements to start with. Once I knew it would fit, I used the template to cut out the 3" foam and all the fabric pieces. I made my own piping using bias strips cut from Valori Wells Olive Rose fabric which matched nicely. Then I encased some 6/32" cording to make the piping. See Beth's tute on how to do that too.

The throw pillows on the swing are a standard knife-edge pillow and another box pillow made with the leftovers.

I'm pretty happy with this front porch transformation. Now onto the back patio, that one has a few more chairs - 6 to be exact. That's going to be a big job.

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Summer Project ~ sneak peek

One pillow down, seventeen zillion to go.... ok no, not really ~ more like 15 - but it feels like seventeen zillion

Anna Maria's garden party was selected from the stash - I love this large-scale floral print and who doesn't love using up something from the stash?! Piping was made from a bit of Valorie Wells' Olivia Rose as an accent. I followed this handy tute from Beth on SewMamaSew for construction.

I promise to show the final results when they are all done.

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians!!

Back in business.

From Trillium

The sewing room renovation is complete - well really I should say the floors are done. The icky white, or more appropriately, not-so-white carpet is gone in this room along with a few others in our house. Who puts white carpets in a house anyway? People with no children/pets that's who! I never liked them from day one, and they are now happily gone! The lovely wood floors now extend from the front of the house through the kitchen and down the hallways to the bedrooms. I tell ya' people, that was a tough job. Never take a job in flooring, it's backbreaking work crawling around on your knees all the time. But it was worth it as long as I don't ever have to do it again - ha ha.

In truth the room I use as a sewing room, serves many purposes aside from sewing - office/computer space for the kids, reading/relaxation area - oh who am I kidding, we never sit in there and read or relax - but we do store all our books in there - that would be the reading part. Use number one would probably be sewing - since that takes over most of the time.

You know how you never quite finish a renovation? Well, maybe that's just us. But I still have to paint the trim on the windows now that we have painted the trim along the walls/floor white. But I figure I'll get to that eventually. For now the furniture is moved back in and everything is fully functional again. And somehow I even managed to reorganize the fabric storage in such a way that I seem to have more room - I keep telling myself that this must be a mistake and there must be a bin of fabric I've missed somewhere - but until the ball drops I'm gonna roll with it. See that armoire?

From Trillium

That's sewing central when it's all closed up and tidy - not it's usual state. My machines live in there along with my fabric - well some of it ~ I may have taken over the shelves in another room but I'm not telling. err hmm moving right along, the good thing about moving out of a room and then back in again is, it managed to get all nice and organized on the way back in. Which made it super easy to start up on the sewing again. Despite having a long list of to-do's, I decided to rebel and make something just because I wanted to and not because I needed to. I decided to make up Anna Maria's Multi-tasker tote.

I thought this was a fun pattern and definitely very quick to sew. It is constructed kind of unexpectedly I would say, but quite ingenious in design. So I snagged a few yards from my stash and voila!
I am definately making this one again - in fact I see presents on the horizon - who wants one? It's the perfect size and has lots of storage for water bottles, iPod, laptop, knitting or whatever. I liked it so much that I had to use it immediately for work the next day which is why the lining inside is still not completely sewn up ~ I can't seem to take it out of service long enough. Maybe I'll do that when I finish painting the trim! ha!


Happy sewing!

Follow the bouncing baby ball

And now for something completely different. I don't usually pay alot of attention to patterns for baby toys, blankets or layette anymore because both of my "babies" are well past that stage. But as it turns out there are no less than 4 ladies expecting at work right now. And that doesn't include the other 4 that had babies last year alone. It's a veritable hot spot of fertility around work. Hmm not sure what that means exactly, I'll leave that up to you to decide. We are starting to joke about selling the water as a fertility treatment. But seriously, all these little babies and baby showers, call for some baby related sewing.

I needed a quick shower present the other day and true to form, I was trying to come up with something in the eleventh hour. I remembered that there was this cool baby ball pattern inside Anna Maria Horner's "Seams to me" book and after scanning the instructions I got to work. The best part about this project is that you can use up scraps. Most sewists have a huge collection of these. I can never bring myself to just toss them into the trash, so I have a huge bin that threatens to keep overflowing and taking over the rest of the room.

The ball consists of a series of pentagons and hexagons, pretty much soccer ball style as dear hubby pointed out ~ but way more fun than your usual soccer ball I would like to counter. Here's the result. It's soft and fun and was a hit with the new moms. Heck it's so colorful and fun I want one for myself! Well that was one shower down and 3 to go, so I guess I'ld better get busy and make some more of these guys.