Out to Lunch Bag

I recently tested 3 patterns for Annie (of byAnnie.com). 2 were lunch bags. This one is called the Out to Lunch Bag. I chose a vegetable fabric for this bag and used Soft and Stable, a stabilizer for bag making that makes the bag stand up nicely on it's own. Soft and Stable is a product created and sold at byAnnie.com and of course she uses this product in all of her patterns. The instructions are great and this bag looks stylish enough to use for more than lunch if you use a pretty fabric. I love this bag!

I quilted this on the diagonal. Soft and Stable is so easy to sew and quilt through. The binding and handles are royal purple, but that color tends to photograph bluer. There is a slip pocket on both the front and the back of the bag. Both sides look the same.

The pattern calls for using a double pull zipper, which makes sense, but I didn't have one on hand so I used what I had which was a white metal teeth zipper. Yes I said white. I however painted my zipper with purple watercolor paint and heat set it. It turned out just fine. I used a ribbon for the zipper pull even though the instructions have you make a fabric zipper pull. The problem was that the opening to my zipper was too small for the fabric to fit through and the ribbon was even a struggle to get it in the opening pull of the zipper.

Inside the bag are 2 mesh pockets which are perfect for holding one of those frozen packs to keep your lunch cold. Or you could also place a napkin in one of the mesh pockets too. The gussets bellow out and keep your lunch from tumbling out of the bag.

I stacked 4 small containers inside the bag to show the space inside. There is still plenty of room to add a few more items.

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Yellow Chrysanthemums

A neighbor of ours brought us over 2 huge gorgeous yellow mum plants as a thank you. My husband likes to help our neighbors doing some yard work for them when they aren't able to do it themselves. It's good exercise for hubby and he truly enjoys it. He never expects anything in return. Our neighbor brought these by our house in her car because they were so heavy she couldn't lift them. This was her way of thanking my hubby. How sweet of her. I love them! Chrysanthemums are my birth flower too!

You can barely see the second pot of mums behind this one. These are huge and beautiful!

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Weekend Link Party # 23

Welcome to Weekend Link Party #23. Link up anything you would like to share. And help spread the word by adding my button on your blog. Thank you! I encourage those of you who link up here to write a really good descriptive title so that we know what you are linking, since there are no thumbnail photos. If it is a quilt, please use quilt in the title. If it is a bag, use bag in the title and so on. That might help those who are looking to click on the titles that might interest them. Thank you so much!

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<a href="http://www.patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com" title="Patchouli Moon Studio's Weekend Link Party" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s362/PatchouliMoonStudio/6fa4ed6c-636e-4287-adae-f51b08e9553a_zpsbac2a9c4.jpg" alt="Patchouli Moon Studio's Weekend Link Party" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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September Good Vibrations Quilt Blocks

I joined a BOM and Swap called the Quilter's Garden. The blocks for September are called Good Vibrations. I just posted them to DOD Mystery Blog. Go here to see my blocks: Daryl's September Good Vibration Quilt Blocks. To find out more about this BOM/Swap click on the sewing machine similar to this one on the sidebar.

This is the block I made to swap. I made 2 other blocks too, and plan on making more in other sewing machine styles. You can click on the link above to see my other 2 blocks and read my blurb about making them.

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Tip of the Morning Tuesday~Scissors Stand

 It's been a long time since I have posted a tip on Tip-of-the-Morning Tuesday, so I thought I would share this one with you today. I had recently finished using the rest of the thread that was on a cone and I was looking at the empty cone wondering what I could do with it. I use small empty thread spools to wrap my embroidery floss around, but the cones are too large for doing that. Then I sat it down next to my sewing machine and I got an idea to put my little Fiskars scissors in it. They fit perfectly and the top of the cone holds the scissors, while the scissors points are suspended up above the table so I don't have to worry about the points hitting the table. I had some leftover yarn from various projects I had been working on, so I glued some of the yarn around the cone. There are several other ideas you could do like gluing fabric instead of the yarn, or making a little quilted cozy or a knit or crocheted cozy to fit around the cone. Not all cones are the same, nor are all scissors, so before decorating a thread cone to hold your scissors, make sure your scissors tips don't hit the table. If the thread cone needs some weight to keep it from falling over, you could glue a rock or flat marble to a piece of cardboard or foam core board and glue it the the bottom of the cone, but before gluing it in place, put your scissors in the cone with the marble or rock on the bottom and make sure that your scissors will not hit against the marble or rock.

Another idea for using an empty thread cone is to place a bottle of glue in it upside down when your glue is getting low. Of course you would have to have a cone with a large enough opening to the size of your glue bottle. But there are yarn cones, and other cones out there that might be just the right size. Before tossing out those cones, think of what you might be able to use it for first.

Yarn wrapped around an empty thread cone.

Holds my scissors perfectly.

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Hand Dyed Yarn

I dyed several skeins of fingering (sock weight) yarn. One skein was 100% wool, the rest were 75% wool 25% nylon. 3 of the skeins were superwash, meaning you can machine wash the yarn without it felting and shrinking, 5 skeins were not superwash. It was interesting to see how the different yarns took the dye. I added yellow dye first, then turquoise dye, next magenta dye and finally royal blue. I used a squirt bottle to squirt each dye in random places over the skeins of yarn that were lined up inside a plastic tub. As each dye was applied the colors combined to also create some purple color, green and orange. Most of the yellow disappeared as the other colors were added. I should have made sure the dye absorbed all the way through the skeins, because I ended up with quite a bit of white yarn that the dye didn't reach. Overall I am pleased with how the yarn dyed. It's always a gamble when dyeing yarn or fabric. The yarn really drank up the dye very quickly too. I see a sweater, some socks and a scarf in my knitting future using these yarns.

This yarn is 75% wool 25% nylon. It is not superwash.

All 8 skeins of yarn that I dyed.

This yarn is 100% wool and not superwash. I don't remember if this skein was on the far end of the plastic tub that I used when dyeing the yarn and took the dye differently because of how I applied the dyed or if it's the fact that it is all wool?

I dyed 2 of these skeins. It's a superwash 75% wool 25% nylon blend and there are little flecks in the yarn.

This is 75% wool 25% nylon superwash yarn. It's like the one above only no flecks.

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Weekend Link Party # 22

Welcome to Weekend Link Party #22. Link up anything you would like to share. And help spread the word by adding my button on your blog. Thank you! I encourage those of you who link up here to write a really good descriptive title so that we know what you are linking, since there are no thumbnail photos. If it is a quilt, please use quilt in the title. If it is a bag, use bag in the title and so on. That might help those who are looking to click on the titles that might interest them. Thank you so much!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com" title="Patchouli Moon Studio's Weekend Link Party" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s362/PatchouliMoonStudio/6fa4ed6c-636e-4287-adae-f51b08e9553a_zpsbac2a9c4.jpg" alt="Patchouli Moon Studio's Weekend Link Party" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

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