Another bag/purse

I'm loving this one. In fact, I think I might just keep it for myself. :)

I've been busy! I finished sils diaper bag, but decided that it needs to be seam ripped open and I need to add some interfacing to the lining to give it some more stiffness. That shouldn't take too long - I hope! I also need to run back and buy some more of the lining fabric so that I can make a changing pad to go with it.

I'm definitely seeing the end in sight though! I have just a few more gifts that I need to make. And good thing, too, since Christmas Eve (when we swap with DHs family) is a week away!

The reversible Apron

This is for my mom for Christmas. It was more challenging than I thought it was going to be - getting the corners turned (especially on the straps) proved very challenging for me today.

I really think it would have gone quicker if I had a nice sized table set up just for cutting, but since I don't, I make due with a small desk. My husband has promised to build me a table, but for now, I haven't seen it!

Mom's kitchen is done in blues and greens - I hope she likes it. :) It's important to note that my mom is just a hair shy of six feet tall, while I'm five inches shorter than that - so if it looks a bit wonky that's why.

Without further ado, here is the reversible apron.

A new bag

I don't know why, but I've been afraid to make a bag. I tried once and it didn't go too well. This time, I thought it out. Then, I started cutting fabric. In a little under two hours, I cut, pondered (is this really going to work the way that I think it will) and sewed this little number:

picture coasters

I'm making sets of these for each set of Grandparents (three - since I have step parents). They're a very, very simple craft to make and are super cheap to make as well.

The coasters can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowe's or your favorite home improvement store. They're actually white tiles and are about 16 cents each. Luckily, I had an entire box of them just sitting in the garage. After buying some mod podge, I went in search of some pictures! I already had developed a number of pictures from our cruise, so these will make great gifts for mil/fil. So, I found a paint brush (we have these in abundance around our house) and a few paper bags (I have no idea why I had these, but I was thankful to find them when I was looking for paint brushes. I'm fortunate to have a paper cutter, so it was really easy to cut a straight line, but if you don't have one don't worry, scissors will work just fine. :)

So, I set myself some room on the dining room table and set to work. You can see my set up here:



Each coat takes about 15 minutes to dry, so I did them one at a time. I'd cut a picture and then glue it on the tile. Then, I'd cut another picture and glue it. After a few of these, I was ready to start my first coat. So, I just cycled through like this. All told, I spent less than an hour on 11 of them (I ran out of room on my paper bags!). After they finish drying, I'll glue some felt to the bottom so that they don't scratch the surface of anything that they set on. You can buy felt at any fabric store for fairly cheap, but I recommend looking in the remnant bins at JoAnn's as anything less than a yard is half price (at least at my local store). Because I won't be using a ton, this is a good solution.

Don't think I thought this up myself, I found this on a message board - (www.sewingmommas.com ). A woman there had made them - she didn't give a ton of details, but the mod podge, felt and small tiles was enough information for me. :)

Christmas - Sewing projects

I've been itching to make something new - and to sew - for a few weeks now. I've set up a decent little (but very cold) area in the basement for all my sewing. So, tonight, I went to JoAnn Fabric and bought some cool fabric and some bias tape to make some pot holders.

I started out okay, but when it was time to attach the plain reddish bias tape, I realized that I didn't buy the bigger bias tape, which I really needed. Sucky. So, I decided I'd just make my own out of the fabric that I was using anyways. This would have worked out okay, except for the fact that I couldn't find my iron. So, alas, it looks a bit wonky. I love, love, love the fabrics though. And, I've got plenty more of each fabric to make more. I'll likely give someone a set for Christmas and keep the rest for me. :) And, I'll keep the wonky one, despite my hubby urging me to give that one away. ;)

Christmas projects - crochet!

I know that I need to update and post pictures of the finished tile, and I have every intention of doing so.

Right now, though, I've been working on Christmas gifts. I've recently crocheted three scarves. One was for me, just to get back into it. It's not yummy yarn, just the cheap stuff. Still, it's very warm and serves it's purpose.





After that, I got to work on two scarves for my sister. Both very yummy, fluffy soft yarns:

You can see how thick they are in this photo:

It's been awhile....

We're working on tiling the kitchen right now.

Here it is ungrouted and edges not done:
You can probably notice the tile differences? Yeah, well, we originally bought the tile like five years ago, tiled half the kitchen and never got back to it. So, we broke it out last night and were shocked that we only had 60 pieces left. We needed 82 more just for solid pieces. So, we picked the one that matched the best. Eh well, it'll be a rental eventually. The important part is that five and a half years later my floor completely matches again, yay!

As an aside, it's amazing how large my kitchen looks without any appliances. :p