It's Vacation Time Again!!!

We are headed back up to the cottage early tomorrow morning for a week. I can hardly wait to get there but my "to-do" list just keeps growing and growing!!!! It's going to be super hectic from now until tomorrow morning when we finally get out of here.

I've been a teensy bit crafty the last few days but mostly I've been doing laundry, cleaning the house and packing for the week.

First up are my keychains. This is actually the second revision of the design. The font I used the first time was cute, but terribly hard to read. I'm quite happy with these ones.



They really were super easy and affordable to make. I can provide more details if anyone is interested.

Second up are fabric pendants. I've been trying to figure out how to make these for a while now. All I did was glue a tiny square of fabric to a scrabble tile and I used a clear acrylic top coat to make them durable and shiny. These three are for practice only. I learned that the fabric needs to be applied to the back of the tile, the letters are showing through just a little bit.

In real life the finish on the pendants is much clearer and smooth. The photo seems to exaggerate the flaws which honestly aren't nearly as noticeable in real life. I've ordered some bails for them which haven't yet arrived. I'm looking forward to re-doing them and perhaps adding a decorative button and bail.



I've also been making some Halloween cards.



It's funny, with all the things I need to do and get done before we can leave for the cottage, my craft bag has been packed for days. Priorities I tell you!!!!

Anyways, have a super week. I'll be back after Labour Day!!!!

New Note Cards

Remember this quilt? I've been trying to get up the nerve to cut it. Last night I finally did. When I bought it I had hoped to repair it, but after consulting with several real life quilters it really needed far more work than I was prepared to put into it. Please don't be mad at me for cutting it!!! I've got several projects in mind for it, but just for fun last night I made a couple of note cards. I LOVE them!!!!



I've just got back from the dentist. Did you know that root canal takes THREE appointments?????? I have to go back early September for the final appointment. At least the tooth doesn't hurt anymore!

I'm in full panic mode. I'm not sure how much crafty time I'm going to have in the next few days. I'm getting ready to go away for a week and getting stuff ready to get back to work. It's already starting to feel like fall around here. It's been pleasantly cool the last few days.

Photoshop and keychains

Thanks to Joe, I'm quite involved with the Ontario Geocaching Association. I've been "store manager" handling the ordering of swag to sell up until recently. I've handed the job over to someone else, but I'm still helping out, just not officially.

Anyways, we're making up geocaching keychains to sell. I ordered the keychain blanks through Ebay (quite cheap!!!) and now someone else is going to be designing the keychains.

I purchased a handful of the keychains for my own use. This morning I've been playing with Photoshop and came up with this:



I've sent the image to Walmart for photo processing and when they are done hopefully all I'll need to do is trim the image and insert into the keychain. I'm so excited about these, but I'm not sure if I cropped the image to the correct size. I hope they turn out!!!!

Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I need to come up with an image for the back. Back to Photoshop I go. I also want to make some keychains for Joe and I to use as trade items. Isnt' it funny that this has become the most important thing I need to do today when my "to do" list is a MILE long!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer's almost over...

and I'm freaking out!!!!

Where did the time go????????

I have so many things to cram into the next week, hair appointments, meetings, root canal, etc. My mind is spinning.

We head back up north to the cottage for the last week of the summer. We get back just two days before I have to go back to work. I can hardly believe it. Two more weeks, that's it!!!!!!!

When we went to the cottage in July I had made up little sewing kits which consisted of little change purses ready to embellish. I've already started putting together the kits to take up with us this time.



I spent some time this morning making some more mini wallets for my Etsy Shop.. I think it took me as long to install the snaps as it did to sew up the wallets!!! I was having no luck this morning. For every snap that worked I'm sure I wasted three. Does anyone know the secret to attaching snaps??? I have the right tools. I know I'm doing it right. Maybe I just need more practice.



Have as super weekend, I'm going to continue to freak out and enjoy the last seconds of the summer!!

Make yourself comfy, I have a lot to say

I don't think I've ever gone more than a couple of days without a blog post and I have a lot to catch up on. I tried to update yesterday, but my camera batteries were dead and do you think I could find any that were already charged???? No.

I finally had root canal part I done on Monday. The dentist's office opened at 8:15 on Monday morning after a two week office closure. I was there. Waiting. By 8:30 I was having x-rays taken and by noon I was having root canal. I had no idea that root canal took more than one appointment!! I was so happy when he was done and then he said "we'll do the next part in 10 days". What?????? It wasn't over?????? The pain I had for the past 2.5 weeks is gone. Thank goodness. It's been replace by "I've just had root canal" pain which is easy to tolerate. I go back next Tuesday for part II. Is there a part III??? I sure hope not.

I've done a teensy bit of sewing and crafting, but not nearly as much as I would like.

I made two totes.




I like the button and loop closure on the second one. I think I'll do that more often.

I also made some more fabric buttons. Such a fun little project!!!!





A fun little project until the glue container breaks that is. The glue I'm using comes in tube, kind of like a toothpaste tube. Mid-glueing the bottom of the tube split open. I threw the whole mess in a ziplock bag and drove the glue right back to Canadian Tire where I purchased it. The little girl at the customer service desk didn't really know what to do with me (or the glue). She let me exchange it. I think she was afraid of me.

I gave into peer pressure and I bought Bend the Rules Sewing. I was hesitant because I usually buy these books, flip through them and that's it. Nothing more ever comes of it. But I'm pleasantly surprised with this book. I made a couple of clutches. Quick, easy and fun.





I had some stuff to drop off at Value Village yesterday so I ran in for a quick peek. I saw a bag of fabric. All I could really see was this:



I had no idea what it was and I had no idea what else was in the bag, but for $2.99 I took a chance. I couldn't believe it when I got it home to discover there were SIX patchwork cushion covers and the cutest quilted drawstring Christmas bag!!!









And the bag...



Not sure what I'll do with them. I might chop them up and make pouches. We'll see.

Lastly, I'm freaking out!!!!! In just over a week we are headed to the cottage again and then when we get back from the cottage it's right back to school for me!! I have SO SO SO much to do between now and the cottage. Where did the summer go????????

Wallets and Winners!!

The past few days have been not-so-good for tooth and now MIGRAINE reasons!!!!! I'm so mad that over two weeks of my precious summer holidays feels like it's been wasted (thanks tooth!).

When I've been feeling up to it I've been sewing a little bit. I've finished two more wallets. I'm so relieved to have finally come up with something I'm happy with although I am still perfecting the final design (I have a new idea that might make them better that I haven't tried yet).

Here are the two that I've finished.



I am so overwhelmed by the number of commenters who are interested in my buttons!!!! I seriously considered sending some to EVERYONE who commented but after a quick mathematic calculation I decided I just couldn't afford to do that. I asked my random number generator (Joe) to pick two numbers between 1 and 23. He chose 11 and 16.

So, congratulations to Stephanie and Dana! You will both be receiving a package of buttons from me. If you could e-mail me your mailing addresses, I'll get the buttons in the mail on Monday. (My e-mail address is in my Blogger profile).

Have a super weekend everyone!!!!

Who wants buttons???

I'm in the midst of sorting a zillion buttons. I'm going to put some in my Etsy Shop but I thought it would also be fun to give some away here!!

If you're interested in these,





then simply leave a comment here.

I will pick a name out of a hat in the next day or two and send the winner this collection of new and vintage buttons.

Have a great day!!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Thank you to every single one of you who have left kind comments on my blog lately. I am really trying to keep up on replying to e-mails and commenting on blogs but I'm a teensy bit behind and I'm not sure if I'm going to catch up soon.

Here's the Reader's Digest update on my life at the moment. My FIL is home now and seems to be doing well. My tooth can't be fixed until next week, at the earliest. My dog seems to be doing fine.

A great BIG thank you goes out to Lera who sent me the this incredibly AWESOME package. My apologies, I have no idea how to photograph the BEAUTIFUL apron she made. I squealed when I opened the package and saw the fabric. At that point I had NO IDEA it was such an amazing apron and perfect fat quarters!!



That is my prize for winning the Fat Quarter Challenge. I don't even think I deserved to win because I didn't use up my whole fat quarter, but I'm SOOO glad I did!!!!

Thank you lera, you made my WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And lastly, thank you to the nice person who donated these buttons to Value Village. I had to run out and do some errands this morning and popped in to VV for a quick browse.

When It Rains, It Pours!

I've been a bad blogger and a bad blog reader. I've been thinking about blogging but life around the Trail Mix house has been just a wee bit nuts for the past few days for several reasons.

In no particular order...

1. My tooth. BORING, I know, but it still hurts. I have another appointment tomorrow morning with the evil dentist's replacement. After a phone call with my mother's neighbour who used to work in a dental office, the verdict is most likely going to be root canal.

2. My dog Dolby got sick on Saturday. We were at a picnic when suddenly he became very quiet and docile. He was drooling (he never does that). After a brief exam, it became evident that his throat was tender. He was chewing up sticks like crazy earlier in the day and I'm pretty sure he had a piece lodged in his poor throat. When we got home we took him to the Emergency Vet Clinic and without doing some pretty invasive tests nothing was determined. The vet didn't think he was in distress and we chose to take him home, get some sleep, and see how he was in the morning. He's on the road to recovery. He's practically himself now. I think whatever it was that lodged in his throat unlodged itself leaving his throat tender. It was a scare though.

3. Most importantly, my father-in-law is in the hospital. He has a very serious heart condition and has had this condition for a very long time. He had some troubles a week ago and his been in the hospital ever since. We've been travelling an hour each way to see him almost every day. Everyone is hoping that he can go home tomorrow. We'll see.

When I've had a moment here and there I've been a little crafty, but it's hard to concentrate on anything for long when you have a tooth ache.

I had hoped to sew buttons on hang tags for my Etsy sales but after sewing buttons on a couple of tags I realized what a waste of time that was. I got the glue out and ended up just glueing the buttons on. What a time saver!! For what they are, I think the glue is just fine.



And then there's the wallets. I've been working on these for most of the day today. Here are my first FIVE attempts!!!



I really do like the cherries fabric with the red polka dots but I was starting to get very sick of it by attempt number six.

I got brave. I knew I was close. I broke out some Kaffe Fassett fabric and held my breath.

The front:



The back (not as wonky as it looks in real life, trust me):



And the inside:



I'm pretty happy (FINALLY!!!!) with the last one. What a journey it was to get there. I KNOW it looks like nothing, and for most of you it would have been easy, but boy did I ever struggle before making something that I was satisified with.

We Have Winners!!!

Thanks so much to Katie who co-hosted the "Use What You Have" challenge with me!!

Katie made up a spreadsheet of all the entries and used a random number generator to select two winners.

Before I reveal the winners, just let me say that I am so impressed with all the stash busting that happened in July. We had 250 projects submitted!!!! I can still hardly believe it.

Ok, without further delay, the winners are Chara Michele and cmhall410. Your prizes will be in the mail shortly.

Even though the challenge is officially over, I will be stash busting for a while longer I'm afraid. Please feel free to continue posting photos to the Flickr Group as long as you like.

For those of you who have followed my tooth saga, it continues. My tooth is now past the point where I can ignore it. My stupid dentist is on holidays for two weeks so I broke down today and phoned the dentist who is taking his emergency cases. I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to go and see him. My mouth HURTS and I only find relief while I sleep. I've been sleeping quite a bit the past two days.

In between naps today I did manage to make a little fabric magnet set. I'm quite pleased with the results, but I'm sure there will be several design improvements before I'm completely happy with them.