So when I got home Monday night, there was a package waiting for me. It came all the way from England and had multiple surprises in it! I opened it with care, (more like ripped into that thing like a dog with a stuffed squeaky toy!) Inside I found a postcard that had sticky notes on it- I had to wait to read it until after I opened my gifts. Yes- multiple gifts!

The first gift I opened was an awesome First Aid wrap kit. It’s the perfect gift- my husband is a klutz and I usually have to patch him up every once in awhile. I know, I’m an angel. (Yeah, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face…)

The

The second gift I opened was this awesome blue leopard print round pouch. Inside of it was yet another gift! It was this awesome yellow ring pincushion with three leaf pins.

Lastly, there was even a present for my son, Jackson. Needless to say he ripped that paper off and was super excited- stickers and candy!!

How cute is he?! I can’t stand how freaking awesome this lady is- she thought of everything and totally made cool gifts! I do love swaps and hope I will get to do more of them…

If you’re curious as to who this amazing lady is- head over to Amy’s Crafty Shenanigans! Thanks Amy- you’re a peach!

I finally did it! I finished my gift for the Covert Robin Swap! I really hope that my recipient likes what I made for her. I did quite a bit of snooping through her blog, looked through photos and even found her bio. After learning all the information on her I could, I created not one, but two gifts for her. She and I happen to share the same passion. (Umm, I can’t say what that is since it might give away who my recipient is.) Hopefully, once she receives it, I’ll be able to spill the beans!!!

Ok- so here’s what I made…

The drawstring bag was made from a tutorial on Jeni Baker’s blog- In Color Order. It was super easy and fast. The fabric choices were a bit wild, but sometimes you have to go big or go home. I even incorporated some decorative stitching along the edges for a nice effect, (dear God I love my new Elna!!!).

The tote bag was created from looking at a variety of pictures on Google Images and just “winging” it. I think it turned out pretty cute. I really love the exterior fabric. Being a musician myself, it was hard for me to let that finished product go. The bag was so much easier to put together now that I have my new sewing machine with a free arm and an extension table. (Lena, my Elna, sure makes sewing easier!)

Once my recipient gets her package, I’ll have to share a surprise that occurred when I went to ship it. I might have to rethink some things when it comes to doing a swap even though I really enjoyed this one. If you’ve never done a swap before- I highly recommend it.

Now, I just have to figure out how to link this up to Imagine Gnats Blog…

So, I had a fantastic time at the Quilt show and wanted to show you the fabric I got.

Some was purchased at the show and most of it was purchased at the PA Fabric Outlet. I can’t wait to make some bags!

Back in February I decided to enter the Covert Robin hosted by quite a few bloggers. The idea is to make a gift for around $30 and send it off to the recipient without them having any idea of what they’re getting. I’ll be mailing mine this weekend once I get paid. (Funds are a little low right now.) I can’t wait to show you what I created! But I don’t want to spoil it for the recipient, so I’ll be waiting a little bit.

After the weekend from hell in Philly, my sister Jenn and I decided to go to the Lancaster Quilt Show. Lancaster is down near my old stomping grounds in college. I attended Kutztown University and performed a lot in the Reading area. I also took clarinet lessons in Lancaster every summer with Janine Thomas, so you could say I’m familiar with the area and lots of places to eat.

The show was amazing! It was my first real quilt show I attended and I was just overwhelmed by everything. There were four floors with tons of vendors and quilts. It was neat to look at quilts I had only seen in magazines. I was able to see the “Beneath the Southern Sky” traveling quilt show and “The Tentmakers of Cairo.”

The two men of the tentmakers from Cairo were amazing. I have never seen someone sew on appliqué by hand so fast!! They had no pattern to look at, nor did they have any pictures to reference for their beautiful work. The best part, was that you could see hundreds of little scraps of fabric all over the floor. Its nice to see they’re just as messy as most of us are.

Oh, and the best part of the show? I bought a new sewing machine! I wasn’t planning on buying a new one- but the gentleman I worked with at the Janome and Elna booth sold me on an Elna eXcellence 730 with a cover and clear extension table. I was able to buy a show sale machine and saved about 50%!!!! Yeah- I named her Lena- an anagram of Elna, lol. So if you know of anyone who wants to buy an older sewing machine that’s been kept in great condition- has tons of feet and has a case and cover- let me know.

So, without further ado- here are my photos…

Oh- the last two photos- that’s all our crap for one overnight trip, hehee!

Oh dear God, you know how people say, “Don’t say what else could go wrong?” Well, My husband and I screwed up and asked that….

What started out as a desire to get away to Philly for a few nights without the kiddo and be a couple again turned out to be an utter disaster with major financial repercussions for us. Our first day there was great- went to Ikea, bought some cool stuff- (fabric, of course, some pillows and covers for pillows, and some other knick nacks for the house). We had dinner at the Cheescake Factory and then spent the night at the Hyatt- in King of Prussia. Beautiful hotel, wonderful bed and a decent breakfast- except I came down with a nasty cold. The next morning we got up and started driving into Philly to visit Fabric Row I thought it would be this nice easy drive- yeah right. I ended up having to take all these back roads to get there and avoid the parking lot on route 76. The whole way there my car started making this banging noise. But I kept driving and eventually got us into the Headhouse District. At one point a guy riding a bicycle hit my side view mirror and almost broke it off. That should have been my sign…

We parked our car in a park and lock and proceeded to tour Fabric Row- yikes! Most of the stores were cramped, outdated, overpriced and in poor condition. Many of the floors were literally squishy and unsafe to walk on.

The picture above says it all. My poor husband spent all morning on his phone as I squeezed myself in between all the racks of fabric. I did find some interesting things to buy- more on that in a later post. I even found a store that supplies quite a bit of trims to the people who make the Mummer’s costumes- (check ‘em out- they’re pretty wild!) eventually we had some lunch- I emptied my pockets of the thousand tissues I used, and we made our way back to the car. At that point, our misery began.

I found my car parked and blocking several cars. I put the key in the ignition, and it wouldn’t start. I knew at that point that things were about to get very, very bad. We ended calling a tow truck, (Mike’s Towing Service) and they came and picked us up.

After dropping us off at a Firestone Automotive Shop on a Saturday evening no less, the manager of the store promised to help us out. He thought it might be a bad alternator. Ok, I can deal with that, I thought. The manager took pity on us and drove us to a local hotel- a nasty Hilton in Bala Cynwyd- yuck, and overpriced. We walked around, had dinner at the Olive Garden and bought more cold meds and tissues. Trevor now had my cold at this point to make matters worse.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and got the awful news that there was more wrong with the car then Firestone could fix. At this point I called Mike’s towing again and got my car towed to Wilkes Barre from Philly. The Firestone Manager picked us up and took us back to Firestone. Fyi- a tow from Philly to Wilkes Barre cost over $500. Then I scrambled and got a cab to the Philly airport so we could get a rental car- that cab trip was $70. The rental car was $200. Let’s just say we couldn’t get out of Philly fast enough…

Once we got home and everything settled, it turned out that the previous owner never did any of the scheduled maintenance on the car- like change the timing belt. So the timing belt blew and burned out my engine. The entire head had to be machined and replaced. It wasn’t cheap- over $2000 to get it fixed. Moral of the story- don’t buy a used car and don’t go to Philly’s Fabric Row!

The only good thing to come out of that trip was this picture of my three handmade bags…

So, things have been a little bad for us. Oh yeah- my Ipad doesn’t work anymore either. That’s why I haven’t been posting to my blog for the month- that and trying to hustle money.

Oy!

Ahhh, things have settled down a little bit, although we’ve had some interesting new developments in our house lately. First, let me introduce the newest member of our household- Minuet!

She’s a cross between a Yorkshire terror, (I mean terrier, haha) and a Maltese. So, she’s a Morkie! (Cue the image of Robin Williams as Mork…) She’s my husband’s dog. I have Wolfie, and he now has Min. The two dogs are hilarious together; they couldn’t get along any better. I will definitely have to post more photos of them as they get used to each other.

Sew, a quilt for my sewing machine I say? Yup. Over the last two months I have been trying to make myself an actual sewing area in a corner of our living room. I’ve been working on this little area- adding lighting, a table, a new chair, and storage, as often as I could. The nice thing is that I can set up a folding table behind me for cutting and ironing. All I have to do is roll my chair over and grab what I need. I love it! I’m not quite done setting things up and decorating, so as things progress, I’ll add more photos and posts.

I pulled together some fabric by Tula Pink and made a froggy mat for my sewing machine. I do “seam” to do a lot of froggy sewing- “rip it, rip it, rip it.” (Ok, I couldn’t resist the pun…) I needed something to help protect the finish on the antique table my Dad refinished for me. A towel really wasn’t the nicest thing a modern sewist could use to protect her table. Here’s what I came up with.

The fabric is Froggy Prince Charming and the binding is from her Birds and the Bees line. The back of the mat is some generic blue fabric I had leftover from a chair I recovered for my son’s bedroom 4 years ago.

I even glanced through an Angela Walter’s book and came up with some organic line quilting to complete the mat.

Of course, I also added my own tag to the front of the mat!

Lastly, here’s a few close ups of the front of the mat…

Rip-it Rip-it!

MMMMM- I bought something from the inimitable Ms. Pink- some of her Saltwater collection…

Oh, and I bought some owl fabric too, (I found it at Joann Fabrics). I do think I keep them in business. Also, the ladies at the cutting table hate it when I come around since I usually have a million cuts of fabric. Seriously, the other day I ended up creating a line of 15 people at the cutting table since I had so much to get cut…

I found a great tutorial for a handbag on OCD: Obsessive Crafting Disorder. Click on the link here. I’ve been looking for a new handbag for some time, but I haven’t been able to find anything I like, or could afford. My hus-beast and I will be going away for the weekend in the beginning of March and I would love to travel handmade!

The bag has some great details- pockets on the inside and on the outside, a two button closure, and an adjustable strap. I did make some modifications, swapping out the buttons for magnetic snaps and adding two swivel hooks on the strap. I also chose to add some appliquéd leaves and decorative stitching to “jazz” it up a bit.

Overall, the tutorial was very easy to follow and it gives you a choice of two sizes- a regular messenger bag and the mini, which is what I chose to make. The instructions were clear, except for two areas. The first area was in how to make the pockets- the writer tells you to fold 1/4″, then a 1/2″. I wondered if the 1/2″ was a total amount to be turned into a french seam, but I did eventually figure out what I was supposed to do. The other issue was in the directions for creating the strap for the bag with the slider. I had to consult Lisa Lam’s book, The Bag Making Bible in order to put the whole thing together with the swivel hooks. I did get the bag finished and I think it turned out great. Check out the photos below.

Oh dear, its been a month since I last posted- I apologize. I guess I could give you the usual excuses, but to be honest, I just didn’t have the time with everything going on. All three of us got sick, there were a couple of birthdays, some really awful weeks of work and some tough days for my husband and I. We’re just starting to get ourselves back on track.

I do have some projects to show you, so keep an eye out in the next couple of days…