A reusable snack bag

2011 maybe the year of of my sewing addiction.

I consistently look for ideas, new projects and techniques. It has started to expand past quilts as I test my skills out on other little projects I find. I was stuck this past week on what to get/make my mom for her birthday when and idea of a reusable snack bag to take to work. Honestly the idea started with a lunch sack, but my mom usually goes home for lunch but I figured she would love to have a bag for fruit or nuts, or what ever else she takes with her to work. So I started searching google. (if you haven't heard of google i highly recommend it) and I found TONS of lunch bag type designs from the blogging world of stay-at-home moms. So i combined a few different ideas and came up with this gift for my mommy.

These are the fabrics I went with. The fruit pattern is a quilting cotton and the mustard is actually duck cloth. It is very sturdy and forms well. I figured it a smart choice because I want my bag to stand up and hold shape. :)

Next I cut out the front and the back. I only did two panels. Cutting the two layers together so they would line up perfectly. To get the rounded closure flap I traced with my disappearing fabric ink pen one of my fiesta bowls. It was just the perfect roundness.

Before I sewed the two fabrics together I put on my tag and the velcro for the closure.

 Than I sewed the two layers of each section together at 1/4 seams.

the second one!

Next thing I did was put in guide lines for the folds. I did this on the sides, and bottom. It created 2 by 2 squares in the corner bottoms that I used as my guides to flatten the bottom of my bag.

After that I sewed the two side together and made the the cuts and seems to flatten the bottom. ( I should have taken a pic of the step. It was super easy and worked great)

So here is my bag all together. The duck cloth is really working to keep it formed and in the shape I was going for.

After looking at it for a few minutes I decided to make some trimmings to give it a finished look. Luckily I had this olive green strip of a jelly roll left over from another project. I made a bias tape similar to how I i finish a quilt. First I ironed the edges to meet in the middle..

Than I ironed it in half. This way it naturally fits over the the raw edges. After it was ironed, and cooled (always so hot on the fingers as I make those strips) I sewed on the trim to give it a finished look. This ended up being the trickiest part of the whole bag. But it worked!

and here it is!

Looks pretty good I think. I just love the fabric and the trim does give it a more finished look Also loving that poodle tag! Now I am off to the store to fill it with goodies before I give it to her!

Meet Clark

Clark was found at the Tacoma Pierce Country Humane Society yesterday online via a coworker who was just looking around. Jason and I have been randomly talking about getting another dog for sometime now and just figured if one came up we would give it a home. Well one came up.

 Clark was a stray. Had been at the shelter for 10 days already and was in need of a loving home. He is a purebred poodle approx 4, and the exact same size as Lewie. When I first saw the picture I couldn't help but think he looked like Lewie's long lost brother. I didn't hesitate to call the shelter or Jason. Got the ok's from both and went on my way with my filled out application to see if Clark would be a great fit for our family. Turn out he was!

Instantly warming up to me and wanting cuddles the little guy just couldn't be left in the shelter any longer! So he got to come home. Great in the car, we went to petco and he got his own leash and collar. He will be wearing teal from now on since Lewie loves to wear blue.

We did the recommended introduction on natural territory out in the back field. There was never any growls, barks or hesitations on Lewie's part or either dogs part for that matter. Which, to be honest shocked me. After a while of hanging out in the back yard both dogs came in the house, and since than there have been no problems. It seems Lewie is welcoming Clark to the family perfectly.

 So far Clark is quieter than Lewie. He is more calm, and he doesn't like noisy toys. He loves to be close to people, and is so good on a leash! It seems too that he is house broken. He goes right away when we have gone on walks.  He does however need a real poodle hair cut. His top hair is out of control. He was fixed at the shelter so we have to wait for the wound from that to heal before he can go get his hair do. When that happens I am sure they will look like twins. :) I just couldn't be happier with how the adjustment is going.

Let the Adventures of Lewie and Clark begin....

Found My Colors

I have decided to take a leap of faith and do a quilt-a-long (QAL) out here in the blogging world before seeing the end design. I have done them before, but when I can reach each step and understand before taking my rotary cutter to the fabric. So really I have just used QAL's as tutorials, not really Quilting Along at the same pace. But now..I am going to do it! This QAL is called the Dead Simple QAL.

Dead Simple, I think I can do that! The idea is that everyone must pick a pallet of color from a website like design seeds and use the pallet for fabric selection. After some debate this is the pallet I have selected.

I don't think it could be any more me! I had been sure about another until I found this today. Pretty much perfect!

Anyway, I am told that in this Dead Simple Quilt A Long the colors will be the stars of the show instead of the cuts and layout. So we will see. I will keep you posted. But for now, I am just going to enjoy staring at my lucky colors!

Trish's Wedding Quilt

I knew you needed a quilt as a wedding present...but well..I wasn't sure what design I wanted to do. Most traditional quilters give and make a wedding ring design for wedding gifts..well I wanted something a little more special...and a little more Trish. So I started the concept to have others in the wedding help me to create the perfect quilt to represent your special day. Here is the story of your wedding quilt...

The fabric for the squares I bought the floral print about a month after you got engaged Trish. Knew I had to use it for something for you. :) The other fabrics are mostly Micheal Miller and I think really have a cheery modern-retro look to them.

After I got all the fabric cut I began the fun part of matching up the squares. My living room carpet looks so bright and cheery as I did this! After they were all matched I sewed and trimmed each square.

One of the most unique and special elements of this quilt is that I asked each bridesmaid to make a square. I mailed them a few chunks of yellow fabric and the flower print and told them to be creative just have it represent Alex and Trish and their love/wedding ... here is what the girls came up with..

This one is Dana's..I love the little blossoms!

This one is from Kailie(not sure how to spell her name) two love birds kissing.

This one is by Ashley who also designed the wedding invites. This is the design on the invites!

This sprinkler of love was maid by Melissa.

Now after planning this quilt for so long. You would think i would have a grand idea for my square. I didn't. I knew I wanted wedding theme but was not sure what to do...so here is my process

I think it came out pretty cute.. Anyway, so than I had to do the layout...

Then it got a boarder. I just love the way the yellow patterns warmed the quilt up.

 (Notice I have taught lewie he can't lay on quilts while I am making them. He is pouting..)

Now every quilt needs a back. But who wants a boring back...

I used scrapes to outline the hearts:)

After the back was done it was time to make a sandwich...a quilt sandwich..

I taped the bottom layer..aka the back to the carpet than placed the filling and the top in place and started pinning....

After all the pins were in I began to quilt it together. Due to the personalized squares I decided to do hearts randomly on the quilt.

To do the hearts I made a cardboard stencil and than used my handy dandy disappearing ink pen to sketch a few on at a time. Than just followed the pattern.

After all the hearts were on...and I bound the quilt with white..I put on my quilt label which luckily came in the mail just in time!

Love the label!

Now here is the finished quilt!

Front...

Back...

And all wrapped up for Mrs. Jones to open :)

The HUGE MONDO white wall

If you have been to my house you know that there is a HUGE MONDO white wall in the middle of everything. The wall extends from the first floor living open space, up over the balcony in to the family loft and all the way down the hall on the second floor. Maybe you remember the wall from our Christmas card last year. I had purchased a huge vinyl cling on the wall for the holidays.

Needless to say with the vaulted ceiling going on in this house its been hard to decide what to do with it.

For a long time now I have toyed with the idea of a gallery wall. But in my true fashion I have felt very indecisive on what to put on it. Do I do black and whites, a mix of art and photography, just photography, just natural photos of nature, maybe a collection of my favorite parks. Yeah I couldn't decide. About the only thing I had decided is that the frames needed to be different. So ...after 1 year and 3 weeks of living here I etsy searched gallery wall...and so the transformation was inspired.

and here it goes....

 than a few more...

 and another...

 and a rectangle white...

 and the cool oval one...

 the biggest of the bunch...a black rectangle...

  and last but not least..a while little slight oval. :)

 So what do you think? Does the HUGE MONDO wall look better now! (well except for the pillows, I am ready for something new and already purchased the best new fabric from Michel miller)

From the entry way... ahh my house is finally coming together :) already have my next project planned.

and yes..that is a gray poodle whisky decanter.. :)

5 ways to make your dress not fit

Here are my five ways to ensure your dress will not fit you. This is meant to be light hearted and ease your worries… your dress is gonna look perfect!

1. Decide you want to be like Dolly! Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? And if you love Dolly you probably also love her blessings from the plastic surgeon. Now if you go visit that man who gave her those blessings, in hope to look as great as her… your dress wont fit…

2. Get an all back tattoo - Ok now I will admit you will still probably fit in to your dress if you do this. But lets be honest, a back piece freshly done is not the most flattering thing to be seen on the bride, it will make it look like you don’t fit in your dress....

3. Eat the entire old country buffet. They claim to have the best buffet food in America. With a wide variety of food stations, and five ways of cooking just shrimp they are sure to have plenty of food for your belly. But if you eat a something of everything, just a warning, YOU WON’T FIT. There is just no way. Your belly will become Santa clause immediately and we will have to get you a red coat to wear next Friday.

4. Be a tester for the new reality series “honey we shrunk the bride.” I know that it probably sounds tempting to try since as a child you probably always wanted to spend a day discovering nature from the size of an ant. But let me warn you. Your dress wont shrink with you, just you. So your dress won’t fit.

5. Take your dress to a seamstress who’s main job is fitting midgets. Now the top will probably still look stunning if you do this, but the bottom portion…well..it will vanish before it is return to you. The manikin your dress is being placed on is only about 2.5 feet shorter than you, so your booty will not be showing thanks to your discount midget seamstress. So in other words…your dress won’t fit.


Now...go try on your dress and realize it fits perfectly!!

End Table-tastic!

I have been living without end tables now for quite a long time and for a while now I have been waiting for just the right set of old ones I could refinish exactly the way I wanted to. Well....I found them!!! for $20 for the both of them I got two of these beauties at an Enumclaw garage sale....

Yeah they are pretty aren't they!!! Well they didn't exactly fit in my car. The legs are built in to the side walls and drawer construction. (very stable built pieces) So I had to barrow a neighbor of the garage sales truck to get them home. Good thing I was in Enumclaw and I knew the neighbors!

So to start the transformation I had to get the thick stain glossy brown finish off the tables...so i sanded...

I sanded the tops with the palm sander and the rest by hand. Lots of sanding.

You can see in this next picture how pretty the wood was under that ugly dark stain.

Getting the edges were a little more tricky than the tops with the curves and details in the wood.

 

There we are! All three sanded! Next step was a sealing primer. I used a sealing primer because I didn't get all the stain off the wood on the sides and the legs and i wanted to make sure it did not come through.

 

There we are. All primed. This last picture above of the drawer is with two coats of primer. I did two primer coats on the entire thing. Next up I started painting, my color choice. Snowflake!!

I painted..waited for layers to dry

 

And I painted again. The top got two more thick coats as did the front of the drawer.

 

See now doesn't it look SOOOO much better! Almost there! Next up I decided to add some silver glaze to the details. In the groves of the legs, drawer and lip of the top I added a silver glaze.

I know its kind of hard to see in pictures. I made my own glaze by adding water to a metallic acrylic paint I had in my craft supplies. It was way cheaper than buying an expensive glaze in the hardware store. Now after this step dried I sprayed clear protective layers over the furniture. Than..after they tried i put on my adorable new knobs!

Two knobs on each!!!

I just ADORE these knobs! I got them at Home Depot for $3.97 each. They are actually plastic!

ALL DONE!!!

One more time...

 BEFORE

AFTER

Not to bad for my first refurbish project! :)

next project...the large wall above the couch!