Snack Bags...

are fun! I spent all day in my sewing room trying to figure out what to make and trying out different things. I am trying to get some Christmas inspiration, which is proving difficult since it is still in the 90's here.

Here are two more snack bags that will get sent off tomorrow. These little things are rewarding to create and cute!
Here are two appliques that I tried out today too. I'm thinking ornaments, napkins, place mats, any ideas?

I'm also almost finished with my pinwheel quilt. I need to go to the fabric store to purchase some batting for it...or as my husband insists it is called "padding."

I visited my friend in Atlanta on Tuesday. We went to a mall in the Buckhead area. OMG! It was the nicest mall I have been to in a long time. It was quite a change from what was available in Texas or here in Augusta. I look forward to go back to Atlanta and explore more malls. I will need to do a lot of sewing to afford anything, but I am happy looking and wishing too. :-)

We are also waiting to hear about our next duty station!! We are hoping to go overseas next. The wait is pulling out all sorts of emotions. We are excited, nervous, anxious... We can only wait (insert Jeopardy song).

Snack Bags

After a visit from my friend this week she stated her two boys were in need of new snack bags, so I put my sewing skills to work. I created these two little snack bags with their initials on them. They are easy to close with a drawstring and can be machine washed when they get dirty. I look forward to delivering to them next week.

Lil Miss P

I've been trying out some different appliques the past couple of days. I downloaded some different applique fonts to tryout on my embroidery machine. I'm really like the applique effect and. The machine makes it so easy and gives it a clean look.






I made this cute little purse for a friend of my husband and I from High School. They have a little girl that is about 18 months old and is a girlie girl. I really wanted to try some of my new fonts and motifs, so she will be the lucky recipient of this tiny purse.

I am excited to continue with even more designs. This could get dangerous. LOL.

Pencil Roll Part 2

I finished the final version of my colored pencil roll. Each colored pencil has its own slot designated by color. There is also a little slot for a small notebook. I see this being used while waiting for dinner at a restaurant, in the car, or at home coloring at the dining table. I'm sure the recipient will be happy to receive this as a gift for his birthday. I am also proud of myself for having it done weeks before the Birthday! I am thinking of adding this item to my Bags From The Heart website as things that can be customized. Let me know what you think!


Isn't it just delightful?!

Pencil Roll

Back in July I made a crayon roll for my friend's son's birthday. He loves to draw and color, but with a family that is always on the go it was difficult for him to not drop his crayons everywhere. Here he is in the car with the crayon roll balancing on his feet.

The crayon roll was my first attempt at something like this (it was pretty easy to make), but I wanted to try to make it even better. The roll was a little wrinkled with the crayons in it, so I tried making another roll with little compartments for each colored pencil and a small spot for paper...all the more practical and portable.



I used fabric that I just had lying around, so now I will need to figure out who to send this to. I have a little girl in mind, so once I'm done awing over it, I will put it in the mail.

I have one more type I am going to try. You will have to wait to see!

New Ironing Board Cover

I was sick of looking at my very cheap and stained ironing board cover, so I made a new cover today. It is full of personality and makes me smile to look at it. The dingy is gone and my sewing room has some added color. I used a U-Handbag's tutorial and it was done in no time.


On the other hand, the water was off for some time today. It's back on now, so hopefully it will stay that way. It was annoying to find it was off because I was about to start my workout and then I had to postpone it for fear I wouldn't be able to shower. I am going to go workout now, so I hope the water is still on once I am done!

Cool Flickr Widget

I was looking at another blog today and found this really neat widget for flickr. I like how it rotates the photos through. I guess I will need to upload some more photos.

Get this widget at roytanck.com

This has been a pretty busy weekend. I visited my sister yesterday and we went shopping at a local outlet shopping center. It was tax free weekend, so the stores were little crowded when we left. I enjoyed spending time with my sister and catching up.

I have also been busy creating different projects, but I haven't taken photos yet. I guess it's good I found the new widget to make the photos I do have up all the more pleasing!

Pinwheels

I decided to try out a new quilt block today - pinwheels. I think they are a fun looking block, so I figured I would try it out. It's super easy...another thing I like. I don't know if I will make anything with this block yet, but I just wanted to try it out. I used a 6" square to start. and then made my pinwheel from there. The blog I Have To Say... has a nice tutorial for making pinwheels.

I also did some organization of my sewing room, so I will include pictures of all the angles of my sewing room. From the pictures it looks really bland...maybe I will need to do something to spruce it up. Although I really do like all the light that comes into the room. I am loving my sewing room because it is allowing me to be slightly obsessive compulsive about putting things in order (LOL).

My sewing table (Wall 1). It has a 60" x 33" cutting mat on the top of it. This is ample space for me to cut, sew and quilt.


Corner 1/ Wall 2 - The big white chair is a pottery barn grand chair. It is very comfortable. It's usually what I sit in to read, hand sew, cross stitch, and recently...write my blog.

The nine-cube shelf stores the larger pieces of my stash, books, photo albums, scrapbooks, my sewing case and my embroidery machine. The purple cloth drawers are designated 1 - cross stitch 2 - scraps 3 - sewing notions (bag handles, sewing patterns, velcro, etc.).

Corner 2 - This book shelf holds tons of stuff. The bottom two shelves have pieces of my stash that are under 1 yard. The middle shelf holds all my scrapbooking inks and more photo albums. The top shelf has business materials (business cards, post cards), some thread, and tools for my sewing machines. On the very top there are photos and other random crafty things.
Wall 3/ Corner 4 - Scrapbooking Mecca - these cubes hold all of my scrapbooking stuff. I think I have enough stuff to scrapbook for life! Two of the drawers hold thread. One drawer for regular thread and one drawer for embroidery thread. All of my scrapbooking papers are sorted by the seasons designated by the company they are from. I use Close to My Heart scrapbooking materials. The closed door opens to a full size bathroom. You can see the open door leading to the rest of the upstairs of my house.
Wall 4 - pretty simple. The ironing board stands here and the door to the closet. The closet is used mostly by my husband for his work attire. It is nicely organized, but I just didn't take pictures of it...its not that exciting. I will often put on the hanging red apron for when I have my "serious" sewing days. For some strange reason I think it helps me focus.
Off to try more pinwheels!

What to Do?

This is a question that goes through my mind about a million times a day. I am currently on a working hiatus due to military relocation, so the "What do do?" question occurs frequently. It is difficult for me to enjoy the free time because I have always worked. My husband is enjoying me not working because dinners have been ornate, laundry complete, folded and put away, and the house is super clean. I like doing things around the house, but it is difficult to be completely dependent on someone else.

I have been looking for jobs -- roughly an hour or two daily. BUT...the job market here isn't too easy to tap into. I am trying to get away from teaching, so that is narrowing my searching scope. Also, our time here is short and I don't want to get linked in to a job that I won't be able to easily escape. I would feel wrong committing to a company and then departing (99% certain of this) quickly. Plus, I'm enjoying getting to spend extra time with Dan. He has been done with class before 4 and has been having long lunch breaks, so I would hate to miss an opportunity to spend time together. I guess that's what a 16month deployment does to you! We have definitely gotten a lot closer since his return and we love each other even more.

On another note, I have been sewing! I just don't have any pictures because I'm experimenting with things for Christmas gifts and I wouldn't want to reveal possible gifts. So to add a little visual to this post...I will add one of Kim and I from the Holiday Bazaar. I wish they had something like this here, but so far I haven't found anything. I will keep looking because if I could just sew...I would be *sew* happy!