Two Southwest Zippered Pouches

I made some more zippered bags. One I appliqued some "Christmas Chiles" on the front of the bag. If you are from New Mexico, then you know that when you say Christmas, you get both green & red chile. The other bag is a smaller one using a Kokopelli print and a plaid print.

Appliqued Chiles.

Inside the bag has some slip pockets.

Bottom of bag.

Plaid lining too.

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Happy 9 Year Blog Anniversary to Me!

As they say time flies and holy cow it's been exactly 9 years ago today that I began this journey sharing my creations through this blog of mine. I learned a lot about writing, photography and creating and I am still learning. My goal was to document what I created, since a lot of what I do was given away as gifts and some things later I sold or gave away to charities or thrift shops. All those years before this blog I had taken some photographs, but then that was before I owned a digital camera and before digital cameras had even been invented!

I have had followers come and go over the years, but I have also made a lot of blog friends and enjoy so much having a little chat now and then through email. A lot of bloggers I had followed left blogging for Facebook and Instagram, etc. and I understand that is much faster way of showing their creations and communicating, but I still find it less personal. If you have a bazillion friends on Facebook, you cannot have enough time to keep up with it all either. I only browse on there once in a while. I too have slowed down with visiting blogs I follow. I still might take a peek, but don't always take the time to comment. I know how valuable time is and trying to keep up with everything is impossible. I do need and want time to create after all. :0)

I want to say thank you to everyone who continues to follow my little blog and thank you to anyone who has been a follower in the past (there must have been something here you liked to give following a try), and thank you to my new followers and thank you to those of you who pop in just to take a peek at my blog too. Thank you to those lurkers out there as well, lol!!! I know a lot of you do not follow in any official way and just pop in from time-to-time to see what's new.

I hope I can continue this blog for a few more years. As long as I can still create I would like this blog to continue. It takes time here to post as well as time to create and photograph what I create and as long as I am able to do all that I would like to keep this little old blog going. Thanks for all the lovely comments and encouragement these past 9 years. Cheers! And please have a slice of virtual cake on me! It's fat-free, calorie-free, sugar-free, guilt-free, so go right ahead and indulge!

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The Geometry Bag

I made the small version of the Geometry Bag by ImazzPatterns. It is a cross body bag with an adjustable buckle, so that you can carry the bag across your body allowing your hands to be free, or shorten the strap and wear it on your shoulder. Both sizes have some interesting pockets on the front of the bag. I found the bag to be easy enough to sew, that is until I got to the gusset. I don't know why but sewing the gusset gave me fits and puckers! I had to rip it out twice. I decided I would sew my gusset differently or else all my work so far might end up trashed and it was looking nice up to this point, so I really wanted to finish this bag. It looks better now, although not perfect. How do you sew your gusset so nicely Rahimah? I think I learned something about myself and bag making and that is I prefer rounded/curved bag bottoms when sewing a gusset or boxed corners when the bag bottom is a rectangle.

Okay the rest of the bag sewed very nicely and I love my fabric choice. I am pretty good at choosing colors if I do say so myself, lol!!! That's my favorite part, choosing the fabrics for quilts and bags. Here is my version The Geometry Bag~

Here is the front of the bag with a zippered pocket and a pocket with a snap flap. I hooked a lip balm holder on because it happened to match.

Side view.

The back view where my keys are hanging out of the pocket to show you that you can use this  pocket for easy access to keys or a cell phone.

Top of bag with a zippered closure. I added zipper tab ends on both sides of the zipper. The instructions show you to sew a zipper tab on the end opposite where the pull is, but I like to grab onto either end, so I made a little change here.

I attached my felt lip balm holder on the side of the bag. It just happened to match this bag. 

Inside there is a slip pocket, so there are 4 pockets in all.

Oh yeah and here is all the crap I put inside the bag. I wanted to see what would fit and the only thing that wouldn't fit was my large sunglasses case. It holds quite a bit for a smaller bag.

I am selling this Geometry Bag for $48 + $15 shipping. Email me and I will invoice through PayPal. SOLD!

For sale is the Bag only, contents not included. Does not include the lip balm holder, unless you want it and I will gladly include it for no extra charge, just let me know. Pin It Now!

More Knit Owls on a String

I knit 3 owl puffs and hung them on a string with beads. I made a few of these owls on a string several years ago, using branches and leaves. I wanted to use up some yarn and these use a small amount of yarn and are easy and fun to make. The owl puff pattern is free on Ravelry and Craftsy.

I used felt for their faces.

I hung the top with a cork and key ring.

The bottom has a jingle bell attached.

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Strawberry Tote Bags

I sell this pattern on Craftsy for making this Strawberry (fold-up) tote bag. I had a lot of this home decor weight floral fabric and wanted to use it up, so I decided I would make several of my Strawberry Tote Bags. Then I found some other fabric to use up too, so I got busy making even more bags. These bags fold or more accurately scrunch up into the strawberry part of the bag, so that you can easily keep a bag in your purse or car for when you go shopping. Why use plastic bags from the store when you can use a prettier and more practical bag? I always keep on in my purse and use it all the time.

I used different reds and greens for these bags for the strawberry part, so that's why I took so many photos, because the strawberry part is different.

I made several more bags with this floral print that I am not showing if the strawberry fabric was a duplicate. I think I made 18 bags in all, including the other prints below too.

The bag is stuffed into the strawberry here.

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Let it Snow Quilt

I finished my Let it Snow quilt, which was a mystery Block-of-the-Month from Buttermilk Basin last year. I had started out using white background fabric that had silver glitter in it, but in the end there was too much white with the background and snowmen. I wanted it to look like a snowy scene, but with so much white, you couldn't see some things from a distance. So I painted the background a blue sky color so that the snowmen would pop more and that made it look better. I had posted the first few blocks on this blog as I finished them with the white background. You can do a search for them to compare, if you are interested, by using my search feature on the right side of this blog.

This was the last block which is larger than the rest.

I used faux wool (flannel) for the applique and the border and  binding too. I added a few snowflake buttons and I left off the bottom row of the quilt that called for pieced trees as I didn't care for that. I  really enjoyed appliqueing these blocks by hand with a blanket stitch. Even with my poor choice of white for a background color, the painted background saved this quilt and I am satisfied with the result.

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Tip of the Morning Tuesday: Using Transparent Tape on Rulers

Hello tipsters! I have a great tip to share with you. I cannot take credit for this tip though. My good friend Bobbie shared this tip with me. I am not sure if she read it on another blog or not, but hey we all don't read the same blogs so this one is certainly worth sharing again!

Buy a roll of transparent tape in the bandage isle of your favorite store. Bobbie bought Curad brand and hers cost less than $2. I bought the same thing only at a different store and mine was the store brand and mine cost just over $4 with sales tax. Still this stuff is cheap and will last you a long time.

Okay you are now wondering so what do I do with this tape? Well you tear off a small piece of it (it tears so easily with your fingers) and place it on the back side of your quilt rulers in each corner and you can add some more tape in more places on your rulers if you like. It's clear so you can read the numbers and lines still and it helps to keep your ruler in place and not slip as you cut your fabric. The tape is 1" x 10 yards and one roll should last you a long time even if you have a bazillion rulers! It's easy to remove and add more tape as needed too. Isn't that a great idea? I love it!

Believe me I have tried every type of ruler gripper in the past from sand paper dots, to clear dots (those were thick so the ruler sat up a bit too much), to that clear plastic cling stuff (which eventually would curl and pull away from the corners). All those grippers would only last so long and each package would only have enough to do a few rulers. So this tape is cheap and while I don't know how long it will last on my rulers, it is cheap enough and I have enough yardage to add more tape as needed.

I plan on using this on my plastic templates too, even the templates I make and cut out myself.

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More Wine Cork Key Rings

I made one wine cork key ring and knew I would make some more, so here they are. I am selling these for $5 each plus shipping. Contact me if you would like to purchase one or more and I will invoice you through PayPal. Thanks.

Peace sign charms. Top row: the 2nd from the left has sold & last one on right has sold. Bottom row the 2nd from left & 3rd from the left has sold. 

Peace sign charms.

Mostly sewing machine charms here, and one butterfly.

Sewing machine charms and one butterfly charm. Second key ring from the left has sold. The 3rd from the left has sold. The 4th from the left has sold.

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