Monday, July 13, 2009

Newest Creation

I'm SO excited!! I went to Ikea on Sunday, July 5th, and then I went to Fabric Depot...
I went to Ikea because I remember seeing fabric there in the past and I wanted to check it out to see if it was quilt-worthy! Well, it seemed to either be too thin, or too thick. Not for quilting, but I could think of other things - like shopping bags or something! While at the counter, these 3 young ladies were also fabri-shopping and one of them had THE-CUTEST-PURSE! I asked her about it and it turned out to be a pattern by Amy Butler called the "Frenchy Purse." CUTE CUTE CUTE!!! I figured that I'd NEVER remember the name of it. Oh well..... So anyway, I chose a few yards of fabric that I thought I may be able to find a use for at some point. Very cool. Very excited!

Next stop: Fabric Depot! Woo-Hoooo!!! I always manage to spend WAY too much time in this store, whether I'm actually buying stuff, or not! So anyway, I was nearly done when guess what I found..... Yep - you guessed it! The Amy Butler Frenchy Purse pattern!! Woo-HOOOOOOOOO! And guess what else..... the lady who rang me up gave me a 40% off coupon for it! WOWZERS! So, I was going to Seattle yesterday (Sunday the 12th) to futz around with my sister, and I decided that I wanted to make the purse - and I did! I finished it in like.... 6 hours! And it is CUTE and turned out GREAT! My sister even said it doesn't look home-made!









I feel really proud of myself. Not only for starting and finishing the project I set out to finish, but also for doing a good job while having to add linking, interfacing, and... magnets! haha!

There were 2 designs. One was a larger bag with a shoulder strap ("shoulder bag"), one was smaller with shorter straps ("handbag"). Of course, now I would like to make the smaller bag, but still with the longer straps, and maybe no interfacing - or a lighter weight interfacing, maybe. Not because I think this one is "wrong," but just to make it that much different.

Yippee!!! :~)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Ugly Blog

PS - I have no idea WHAT to do, but my blog is UGLY.... Shouldn't quilty blogs be really COLORFUL and stuff?

I NEED HELP!!!!!! What can I do to make my blog pretty??

:~)

Back into the Grind - the GOOD Grind!

WOW! I can't believe I haven't posted since December! Ummmm... didn't I say something similar in December when I posted? "I can't believe I haven't posted since last May...." or something like that.... hahah!

Oh well... I am happy to say that I am FINALLY done with Nursing School and can actually sit down and sew some! Yay!

I have been working on a couple of things.... One is a HOB (Home of the Brave) quilt. Normally, we do these quilts for the family of people who have died in Iraq. We don't normally KNOW the family... However, in my case, I'm working on the HOB quilt that will benefit the family of my cousin, Jerry Palinsky, who died in Iraq on 5-3-2006. Ok, so I didn't know Jerry really well - we had seen each other at several family events over the 5 years prior to is passing. But it is still special to be making this quilt for his family.

Another quilt I'm working on is this cheezy BOM from JoAnn's - it was one of the 2001 BOM's! haha - am I late, or what!? I think I have 3 months of blocks to go, then of course the finishing kit. I'm very glad I bought that, because otherwise, I'd be lost as to how to put the various-sized blocks together. The fabric is definitely NOT "top quality," but I do love the colors and will enjoy having it done. I think it's called "Welcome to My Garden" or something. Ummm, I guess I should look at it before posting this, but... I won't. haha!

While in school, I really didn't have the time, nor the energy to do anything "quilty." I'm excited to say that this past weekend, I did something very quilty! I participated in the Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop. I visited 28 of the 57 participating stores! Woo-Hooo!!! I went to the first 6 shops on Wednesday (June 24th), thinking those would be the only ones I'd be going to. Then, since I had to go to Everett for a job thing on Monday, I decided to make it a weekend! I left my house a little after 7am on Saturday, went to 13 shops, and stayed with our friend Kim. Then Sunday, I left early and got to the last 9 shops on my "plan." So I hopped from Vancovuer, all the way up to Anacortes! And now I can't wait to put these 28 blocks together!!!

Ok, now that I've "re-started" my blog, I'll try to keep it more up-to-date....

Happy July, Everyone!