Pretty Floral Purse

This weekend we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday. We had a nice dinner at our house...and I baked a homemade lemon cake (which turned out so fabulous - I wish I would have taken a photo). I also made her a quilted purse, which I filled with several other gifts. This purse is an adaptation of "Bow Tucks Tote" (ps008) by Quilts Illustrated...I have made several of these and decided to try one with a bit of a different shape (more of a purse than a tote) and an additional pocket on the back side - I finally feel comfortable enough with my sewing skills to make changes and try new things. I love the adjustable ties on either side...and the inside is filled with pockets. My version has a pocket on the front and one on the back...and it has very sturdy handles. I used a vintage floral button I found at a local shop for the closure, which I thought matched the fabric perfectly. The original designs is 13" x 11" x 5", where mine measures approximately 14 1/2" L x 7" H x 4" D. I was quite pleased with how this bag turned out! After completing the purse, I wrapped several smaller presents to place inside...including a matching tissue holder (this was made using the Thimbleberries pattern "Quilter's Carry-All & Accessories"). My mother-in-law seemed to really like her new purse and definitely appreciated the time and work that I spent creating it...

Sunday Sewing

This morning I found a little "me" time with a quiet house...time to play with some machine embroidery and do a tiny bit of sewing. I started out working on a new zippered cosmetic bag for my purse...and enjoyed it so much, I decided to make a second little envelope-style pouch. The digitized embroidery came from "Pretty Purses in the Hoop" by Anna Haraldsson for Husqvarna Viking. The embroidery is done first - I used rayon threads (black and charcoal), along with a black metallic thread for the circle centers (a little bit of sparkle)...all on a silk fabric base. After the embroidery is complete, there is a small amount of sewing to finish off the pouches. A nice Sunday morning project...before getting back to work...

The last couple days I have been busy rearranging my design warehouse, bagging charts, packing and shipping automatic shop orders, and working on some new charting for releases in 2010. It is a crazy, hectic time. Since I have all my designs professionally printed, I keep stock of each piece in what my husband and I affectionately call the "warehouse"...every several months, I have to condense/organize the warehouse for the new designs. I thought you might appreciate seeing a couple photos of this special room (while it is under "under control")...one wall is shelving, ceiling to floor, with bagged charts in numerical release order...one wall has shelving (more bagged charts) with a counter-top for packaging and weighing...the closet is filled with organized packing materials. The angle of the room and the height of the shelving makes it hard to get good images, but you get the idea! It is now time to get back to bagging charts...only twenty plus boxes to go...

Sweet Little Projects

Today I took a couple hours "off" in the afternoon to "play". I worked on two more purse accessories to match the three I posted the other day...a key ring with a tiny pocket and a cell phone holder (both by The Purple Hat). Then, I worked on the sweetest little project...a sewing case that I personalized. The digitized design is from Too Cute Embroidery and is called a "Travel Sewing Kit". I decided to do it in Redwork style on red and white paisley fabric and add my name in embroidery. The inside has a pin cushion on the left and two pockets on the right....I just love this....I may have to do a couple more! A girl can NEVER have too many stitching/sewing accessories...



It feels great to have some time to blog today! The reason I have been absent for a few days?...I have been frantically bagging charts and shipping orders to shops and distributors, so you can add the new designs to your stitching stash! The automatic shops are already receiving their orders. Several were curious about the piles of charts....I didn't have time to take a photo before orders started shipping, so this is a little more than half of the printing...packages contain 50 charts each for quick counting and shipping. If you want to see more details/photos of the new charts, visit the "Designs" page on my website.

Small Sewing Treats

Over the last couple days, I have been longing for time to sew....yesterday before my printing was ready to pick up, I had time to work on a set of purse accessories: a zippered tissue case, an eyeglass case, and a cosmetic case. I used a great grey fabric with black paisley designs on it...picked to match my favorite Vera Bradley black purse perfectly. I also found time (a couple nights ago) to work on some assorted zippered box bags - using some sewing notion fabric from my stash. Thanks again to The Purple Hat for all the quality digitized designs (not any affiliation, just a very happy customer)! If I am lucky, after all the charts are bagged and ready to ship, I will find more sewing time....