Bags and Clutches

It doesn't take much to make me happy when it comes to some quality time spent crafting. Even a little bag or clutch makes me smile.

I used some of the scraps I had leftover from my last quilt and sewed up another gathered clutch using Noodlehead's tutorial. So easy and cute!

I even got brave this time and made two pockets to go on the inside lining. I need to go to Walmart or Joann's and stock up on zippers now. Everyone I know will be getting one of these for their birthdays over the next few months. Hum . . . that plan might just call for another quick trip to one of my favorite fabric stores, just so I have a variety of colors to give away.
Whether I'm really qualified or not (and believe me, I'm definitely NOT qualified!), I have taken the "opportunity" to cut my boys' hair instead of paying to have someone else do it. (All the haircutting budget dollars go to my hair - somehow that seems fair.) We finally broke down and bought a really nice set of clippers last month and I wanted to make a bag to hold the clippers, and all the other accessories that go with them. I found this great tutorial over at Skip to my Lou and after looking all over for oilcloth that doesn't have pictures of fruit (for tablecloths I'm assuming) I finally procured all the supplies to make this cute Boxy Bag.
I used some heavy home dec fabric that I found at Joann's and ordered in some plain black oilcloth. The bag was incredibly easy to make and it fits all my supplies . . . . it all makes me feel very professional - as if I actually knew what I was doing when it comes to cutting hair. I guess cutting hair is just like parenting . . . . I make it up as I go along!

The Finished Quilt

A little time at the machine quilter's and a few minutes putting the binding on . . . . and at last, I have a finished Going-to-College quilt to give to my friend Madi. I hope she enjoys it . . . .

. . . . And that this quilt has a lot of stories to tell one day like mine does. Study hard and play hard, Madi!

Quick Trip to San Francisco

I had to make a short trip to San Francisco earlier this week for work. I love working with this group because even though we work really hard, we always make time to have great meals (and do a little shopping). On night #1, we ate at Fisherman's Wharf at the Crab House. This is a picture of the sunset out of the window we were seated next. The bridge out in the distance is the Golden Gate Bridge. Very beautiful!

And just to put in a quick shout-out for the restaraunt we ate dinner at on night #2 . . . Chinatown . . . House of Nanking. Ultra incredible!! Of course I am a little partial to Chinese food after my trip to China this summer.

I Made a Flower!

Well I did it! The girl who doesn't wear many flowers actually made her first zipper flower. Very easy - I followed Craftaholics Anonymous' tutorial here and with a little more practice on my part, it will be perfect. My center "bling" wasn't exactly what it could have been . . . . . . . but even my first one is cute enough to wear on my plain white sweater that just needs a little something to perk it up. I found a variety of lengths of metal zippers at Joann's. Now I'm off to cut the binding to finish up Madi's Going-to-College quilt.

The Leaving-For-College Quilt

Many, many, many years ago when I left home for college, I brought with me a quilt that my grandmother had made for me. That quilt went everywhere with me . . . . my dorm room, picnics, camping, movies, sleepovers . . . literally everywhere! I loved that quilt . . . almost to the point that it is now unusable. The batting has started to peek through in spots. The edges are tattered and torn. The squares are coming undone. I really have loved that quilt.

I have a really great friend whose daughter is leaving for college this week. She's not going too far from home, but she is moving in to an apartment and starting her own life. I wanted to make a quilt for her to take with her. Of course I didn't have this idea until Tuesday night. I sat up for a few late hours drawing out my quilt idea on graph paper. The "quilt math" was pretty intense for a while - and then I had my yardage and layout ready to go. I was at the store the next afternoon picking up fabric in her favorite colors - orange and lime green. By Wednesday night I had everything cut and the first four rows sewn. Thursday night my friend and I went up to Park City for the night and I didn't sew at all. Friday night we came back to my house and sewed until about 1 a.m. By Saturday morning, the quilt top and a really fun pieced back was dropped off to the machine-quilter. It should be ready to pick up this week - a little bit of binding added and Madi should be ready to take it off to college with her this weekend. How's that for a quilt!

This is the quilt my Grandmother made for me. Some of the fabric was leftover from projects and clothes she sewed for us growing up. If this quilt could talk - I know it would have some stories to tell!
Here's the fabric I chose for Madi's quilt.

And here is the quilt top all pieced and ready to go. (The lighting wasn't very good in my family room at 1:00 a.m. on my phone camera.) It's a queen size quilt, so I kept the squares large. Some simple strip sewing and it came together just as I imagined. I'll post a picture after it is all bound and ready to give away.

Things to Do

I have a list that is at least a mile long of things I want to work on. I have an almost equally long list of projects that I have started that need to be finished. There is also a huge pile of mending covering my sewing machine that needs to be taken care of. But I seem to be slacking a little in the "finding time to do it" area. Work is crazy, home is crazy . . . the kids are needy (love, time, meals . . . you know, the basics) and I just can't seem to make myself stay up late these last few weeks to work on any of my own projects. So instead I've been keeping up on some blogs written by people with slightly more energy than me and added a few more fun things to my list of projects to work on.

I'm not a girly-girl - - - and I am the only female in my household (including the dog). So girly things are cute to look at, but usually not something I even think about creating. I did come across this fun tutorial today - - and I'm not even a girly flowerly type girl. But I've seen lots of flower embellishments out in blog-land and this is definitely one of the cutest. So in case I ever need to make a girly gift, I'm linking to this cute tutorial . . . How to make a zipper flower from Infarrantly Creative. She did a pink one and a blue one - - very cute!

And here is one more tutorial that I actually really love from Craftaholics Anonymous I would probably wear this one as a bracelet. In fact I think I might make this one for a few of my friends for upcoming birthday presents. Hum - me and flowers . . . who would've thunk it?

And hopefully this week a package I've been waiting for will be arriving so that I can work on a fun new project.