Some March Break Sewing

After a whirlwind weekend with my Mother I finally got to spend some quality time with my sewing machine.

I made these:



I wanted a new Springy purse. I love the orange and blue together.

Off to start my next March Break project.

My new banner

A great big thank you to Jessica for making me a ton of new banners and avatars for my blog and my Etsy shop.

I was so afraid to ask Jessica for her help, but she came through, BIG TIME!!!!!!!

Thanks Jessica!!!!!!

Now I just have to figure out how to change my banner again.

As promised....

As promised here are two more totes, one has already been given away (the pink one) and the recipient was quite thrilled.





I've gotten a little carried away with making tags:



I think my favourites are the stripey ones.

And....I'm grumpy. I just finished a tote that I love and I sewed one of the handles on with a twist. I HATE ripping out stitches. Blah!

Thank You Lera

My birthday was last weekend and to my HUGE shock and surprise, Lera told me she had sent me a birthday present.

She was hoping it would arrive late last week (so was I) but it didn't come. I dashed home super-quick today at lunch, and, ta-da!!!! it was waiting for me. I was like a kid at Christmas, I quickly opened the package to find all these treats!!!



The package contained a super-awesome tote bag (my new work tote) made with the greatest Little Red Riding Hood fabric and a matching tissue holder. I LOVE THEM BOTH. It also contained some buttons (I almost fainted, I LOVE buttons) AND some of Lera's super-yummy home-made soap.

That woman has six kids. I have NO IDEA how she does it, but I am so appreciative.

Thank you Lera. Look out at your birthday (now that I know when it is).

I'm so dumb

I have spent a TON Of money and time in the last few months trying to find the perfect tag for my bags/purses. I can't even begin to tell you how much energy I've put into this.

The very first tags I ever made were using this Craftster tutorial. The tutorial suggests ironing the transfers onto ribbon. I used these tags for a long time but I didn't like the satin ribbon. I also had it in my mind that the background of the iron-on transfers was white, limiting what I could iron it on.

I did a little surfing today (still trying to find the perfect tag) and I finally decided to check if the background of the transfers I was using was white or clear.



The background of the iron-on transfer is clear. I could iron the transfer onto anything. I feel dumb now. All my hunting for the perfect tag and I almost had it on my first try. What I was unhappy with in the first place was the ribbon I was using, NOT the transfer. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

I love Saturdays

I woke up early this morning, had a cup of coffee and sewed a tote bag that I had cut out the other night. I used some embroidered denim I got on sale earlier this week along with a pillowcase that I thrifted a while back. I am thrilled with the way it turned out! I actually think it looks better in real life than in the photo and that doesn't happen often for me.





After the tote was done and I got Joe out the door (he went Geocaching) I headed out to run some errands. The first place I went was Value Village. I picked up three pillowcases to use for lining tote bags. I got two beigey ones and that crazy map print Chevrolet fabric one. I just thought it would make a good Geocaching tote for someone. Oh...how could I forget, I also managed to find a little bag of buttons. Finding buttons at Value Village is like the Holy Grail to me. It just makes me happy.

My last stop was another little thrift store where I bought some cordoroy and some cotton fabric. There is three yards of the cotton print but it's not a continuous piece. It seems to be a bunch of little pieces pieced together. I'm sure I'll find some use for it, I love the colours.



I've spent the rest of the day doing laundry and working on some more tote bags. In true Karyn style, I can't make just one of something I like, I have to make 50. So...in the next few days prepared to be bombarded with tote bag posts.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned before that I have a small crush on Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in 24. For Valentine's Day Joe gave me Season 4. I'm almost half-way through it. I think I'm going to snuggle up on the couch now and watch a few more episodes before Joe comes home.

Have a great weekend!

I can't wait until March Break!

It's been a crappy week. Right now it's freezing rain outside and it doesn't seem like Spring will ever come.

I've been making more note cards this week. I find I use a lot of them and I had just about run out (believe it or not).



I have also been going crazy trying to find affordable tags for my bags, etc. I had ordered some iron-on tags and I just wasn't happy with them. I have found a couple of places online that make woven tags at an affordable price (kind of) but I'm having trouble finding out if they deliver to Canada.

In the meantime I've had a new stamp made up, bought some fabric ink and made these:



And of course I had to see what they looked like on a change purse. I would put them on the inside next time, but I just wanted to get a feel for them.



After stamping the tape, I ironed the ink to set it and tried washing one. The ink is very stable, thank goodness. I think I'll try these for a while while I continue my search for the perfect tag.

Six school days until the March Break. Thank goodness!!!!

My VERY talented Mother

My Mother spent the day today with her friend sewing pillowcases for a quilting retreat they are going on in April. When they signed up for the retreat they were given the fabric to make up pillowcases which will be donated to a women's shelter. Ummmm...my Mother doesn't quilt, she's just along for the fun weekend.

When I was little, my Mother used to sew Barbie clothes for me (I can't even remember that) and she used to get very upset when I would trade her beautiful sewn Barbie clothes for the store bought clothes my friends had (I don't remember that either). I guess I don't blame her.

Anyways, here are the beautiful pillowcases my Mother made today (thanks Dianne for e-mailing me the pictures!!)




I'm thinking I might need some of these beautiful pillowcases. Apparently they have French seams which took a while to figure out. My Mother is coming for a visit next weekend, I'm thinking I'll get a lesson on pillowcases from her.

Edit: My Mother isn't quite as talented as I thought. She only made one of the pillowecases (the bottom one). Her friend Dianne made the other.

Happy Birthdays

Friday was Joe's birthday, yesterday was mine. On Friday I arranged for about 20 of his favourite people in the world to meet us at a restaurant for dinner. It was a complete surprise for him. Actually the biggest surprise of the whole night was that I didn't blab about it ahead of time. We had a GREAT night. We spent 4 hours laughing and chatting in the restaurant. I bet the waitresses were sooo glad to see us leave, but it was sooo much fun!!!

Yesterday was my birthday. I woke up in the morning to some really neat goodies (new scissors, a yarn holder, some yummy cookies and some new shears). After I opened my goodies there was a card (he told me to open it last) and 4 other notes taped to some really pretty silk flowers. I think you can read the notes from the picture, but it essentially outlined the day. Oh, and he had printer issues, that's why the colours are so odd.



Essentially the day went like this:
1. Breakfast at the Canadian casino buffet.
2. Gambling at the American casino (way better than the Canadian).
3. Shopping.
4. Dinner out. We didn't actually make it to dinner because at dinnertime we were STILL full from breakfast. We'll do that later this week.

It was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now here's the crafty part of it. I woke up at 6:00 am which is when Joe gave me the stuff, but he had hardly slept so he went back to sleep until 8:45. While he was sleeping I made these:



A new wristlet and change purse. The change purse is a little different than the zillions I've been making, it has a zipper on the outside as well. I love it!!! The wristlet, well, that's another story. I think my pattern has shrunk a little every time I've made one and it was really too small. But still cute.

Unfortunately the fact that it was my birthday and the fact that I was toting a cute little wristlet didn't make me lucky. But I didn't spend much money at the casino and we had a TON of fun!!!!!!!

Thanks Joe xoxoxo

And then there were three...

...pairs of PJ bottoms.




I LIVE in PJ's when I'm at home. I couldn't resist the sale at JoAnn's earlier this week and bought flannel to make two more yummy pairs of PJ bottoms. I love love love them!!! They are right up my ally. They take about an hour to whip up satisfying my need for instant gratification.

Both pairs are coffee themed......I'm wearing the blue ones right now. I think I need to go and make a pot of coffee and continue watching my hero, Jack Bauer, in Season 4 of 24 (my Valentine's gift).

Have a great weekend!!

Not Much New

I've felt icky all week and haven't spent much time doing much of anything, let alone sewing. I did drag out a little throw that I started to knit last winter and abandoned when it got too hot to work on it. What was I thinking??????? It seems like the never-ending project. I have decided to do at least one pattern repeat (only 4 rows) per night. That happened twice and I haven't picked it up since, but I really want to get it done before the spring.




Hopefully I'll get some time to sew this weekend now that I'm starting to feel human again!

Broken Promise

I promised a while back that I would stop blogging about the change purses I've been making. I'm about to break that promise. I was fortunate enough to get an order for what seems like a zillion change purses. I've spent the last three days attempting to fill the order, it's almost done.



I've been using some of the fabrics that I bought on my little road trip on Friday. I'm in love with the Kaffe Fassett prints. I think I need more!

I'm looking forward to actually shipping these purses so that I can move on to other things, but I still have fun making them. I won't promise again not to blog about them. :)

A little catching up

It's been a busy few days.

Here's are the beautiful flowers that were delivered to me on Valentine's Day.



Here's the beatiful snow that arrived on Valentine's Day allowing me to stay home!



Thanks to Linda for finding a Canadian fabric store for me to investigate. I will admit, it wasn't quite as good as I was hoping, but I did certianly manage to put a slight dent in my wallet (it was slighter than it would have been after having some VERY COSTLY work done on my car on Thrusday). Here are my purchases.

This is the best day EVER

Reason Number 1: A Snow Day

Reason Number 2:



Right there, smack dab in the middle of the screen shot (kind of) is the little change purse that I made this morning! he he he Oh, that's a screen shot of the Etsy front page.

Thanks to Mary for letting me know it was featured!

A Very Happy Valentine's Day

Not only is it Valentine's Day....but it's a SNOW day today!!!!!!! No work for me!!! Yippee!!!



The only problem is, although I have a couple of things I want to try in mind, I didn't get a chance to pick the stuff up that I need...had I known today would be a sewing crafty day, I'd have made sure I was all stocked up.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

What I did this weekend

I sewed a whole bunch of change purses for my Etsy Shop. I'm not sick of them yet, in fact, I keep thinking of little ways to make them better.



On Sunday, Joe and I and a bunch of other geocachers were interviewed for an upcoming episode on Live Bait TV. I don't know what I was thinking, it was far more professional than I thought. It was fun, but COLD!!!!!!

Tonight I have a sewing lesson after work, I can't wait!

My $3.00 PJ's!

Well, here are my jammie bottoms.



I didn't love them at first, but I'm wearing them right now and I gotta say that I think they are a "good thing". The fabric was on sale at Jo-Ann's for $1.00/yard and I'm such a fan of orange. I'm sporting them right now with a t-shirt I had to buy to match them.

Also...I had a somewhat successful Value Village trip yesterday. I bought these pillowcases imagining them as great lining fabrics for future bags.

Bingo Bags...Take I

I scanned and printed the bingo cards that Lera so kindly sent me. I had used the printable fabric before so who needs to read the instructions again? Right? WRONG. I didn't iron the fabric to set the ink. It is after ironing that you are supposed to remove the paper backing, I guess it's supposed to peel off at that point. I skipped the ironing and went straight to the rinsing. Rinsing the fabric WITH the paper backing turned the adhesive into a very cement-like substance that I could NOT remove for the life of me. So....I proceeeded to trim the bingo boards and sew them on to the fabric. I carefully selected the buttons that I was going to sew on and when I tried to sew them there was NO WAY that I could get the needle through the cement-like backing of the cards. DRAT!!! So...I did what any good crafter would do, I glued them on. he he he

Why was I in such a rush??? I'm going to Bingo tonight with my neighbour and I HAD to have the change purse to show off. The buttons are much more secure than I thought they would be, maybe it wasn't QUITE the disaster I had thought, although next time I will remove the paper backing properly and sew the buttons on.



I will re-print the boards and try again, follwing manufacturer's instructions next time.

Thanks again Lera!!!!!!!!!

I'm completely spoiled!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been expecting two packages in the mail and neither had arrived as of yesterday. I didn't have anything to do today at lunch so I zipped home to check and see if the mail had arrived yet.....and it had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lera found these PERFECT vintage bingo cards for me at her "swap shop". She knew I was looking for a bingo card so that I can make a bingo purse that I've been dreaming about. They are EXCACTLY what I was looking for....I can't believe how awesome you are Lera!!!!!!!



Secondly, Feli sent me an e-mail last week telling me to keep an eye on my mail, she had sent me something. I was so excited. Well, it arrived today too!!! Feli sent me some BEAUTIFUL vintage buttons (apparently she is aware of my button addiction) and a FANTASTIC wallet that she made herself!!! Thank you ever-so-much Feli!!!!!



I just want to go home now and play with my new "toys". I have so much to do tonight now!!!!!! They don't need me here!!!! he he he

I am completely overwhelmed with the generosity of all my new blogging friends. When I started this blog last summer, I had no idea what it would become or how much it would grow. I also had no idea how much I would grow as a result of it.

Fittingly, this is my 100th post. I guess I would just like to extend a big hug and thank you to the whole blogging world. It really has changed my life and the way I look at things.

Thanks!!!!

What I did this weekend...

I had an Etsy order that I shipped before Christmas and it never arrived. The buyer was soooo awesome and was very very very patient with Canada Post. Eventually it became obvious that the order wasn't going to arrive, so as promised I had to get to work to duplicate the wristlet that she ordered. I then realized that I had run out of one of the fabrics that the original wristlet was made with. A quick run over the border to Jo-Ann's (thanks for coming with me Joe!) quickly fixed that. Then the buyer decided she wanted to upgrade to a purse instead of the wristlet, no problem!

So....I spent the better part of yesterday making these:





I love both the zippered pouches. I had originally thought that they would go into my Etsy shop, but I'm going to re-think that decision. I think I need to keep one of them for me!!