Gathered Clutch

One of the projects that I completed was this cute gathered clutch from Noodlehead. I just can't get over the cuteness of these gathered clutches - I feel that I need one for everyday of the week, or every outfit, or every everything!



It's got two pockets on the inside for cards and another divider pocket, stick your cash behind it, or your lipstick :-)


The instructions that Noodlehead gave we clear and easy to follow. This zipper went in quite slick following her instructions. I can't wait to make more!

Winnings!

I recently won two give-a-ways, here's what I won...

From Katie's Nesting Spot I won a BusyBodyBook Calendar. Check out Katie's post to see what she likes about the BusyBodyBook Calendar.


I chose the summer pattern, there are four cover patterns to choose from.

I like:

• The pockets in the front and back covers for notes, mail, receipts, etc.
• The laminated covers
• Moveable bookmark to mark the week you are on
• Space for to-do lists
• Space for 5 different people or subjects, I am using one for personal stuff, one for each of my jobs (2) and one for the ministry team that I lead.
• I also like the perpetual calendar for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and the month at a glance section.

From Fitness for the Rest of Us I won two 4 packs of SKOY Cloths. Pictures from the SKOY Cloths website. Skoy cloths are re-usable cloths, designed to replace paper towels and other cleaning, dishwashing cloths. We opened the package right away, and I really like these. We have been using some cheap (disposable) dishclothes. These are good for about a week and then we toss them. I like the SKOY cloths because they are thicker than the cheapies we've been using and I love that they can be washed in the washing machine, or you can wet them and put them in the microwave to kill the germs.

So many thanks to Katie and BusyBodyBooks and to LindseyLu and SKOY!!

Pattern Test...Diaper Bag

No, not for me. Sew4Home offers lots of great patterns, including this diaper bag. I thought this might make a good shower/baby gift, so I decided to try out the pattern. It was not terribly difficult, but I don't love the pattern. I'm not so sure it is the great gift I was hoping for. Oh well.

I do have a nice big tote bag...overnight bag...not sure what bag. I think it's quite large 15"x15"x7". Sew4Home says this is a small diaper bag! If I have to carry a diaper bag bigger than this when I have a kid, I don't think I'll be able to carry the bag and the kid!

I modified that patter slightly to fit my needs. I left off the front pocket and side gathered pocket, for 2 reasons. I didn't have enough fabric and I didn't think I needed them, although I think I would have liked the flat pocket on the front, but I couldn't leave off just the gathered pocket because of the design of the bag. I also left off the gathered pockets on the inside of the bag, again I didn't think I would need them and I didn't have enough fabric. I used 4 different fabrics to complete this bag, I wanted to use only fabrics that I had on hand, so I used a fabric with a light blue background with apples, pears, leaves and puppies on it for the outside of the bag and the front side of the strap. I used a plain black on the inside of the strap and the bottom of the bag (so the bottom wouldn't show the dirt and because I didn't have enough of the blue fabric), the facings are black with multicolored dots and finally the inside is a red nylon.

I think that it turned out nicely overall. I did break a needle sewing the final pieces together, but that was my fault, I thought that I had changed to a bigger needle, but I hadn't.

Ladder ball

My husband really wanted a ladderball set for our backyard. After pricing them, we decided that we could make our own pretty easily and less expensively. I think we spend around $15. And ours looks something like this...(picture from Target.com)

We used 3/4" PVC and from the measurements off a ladderball package at the store, I figure out the lengths we needed to cut.

Here's what we purchased:
40 ft 3/4" PVC
4 3/4" elbows
12 3/4" T-joints
8 3/4" end caps
12 cheap golfballs
2 cans of spray paint (red & blue)
We had on hand: thin nylon rope, saw

Here's what we cut:
8 35" pieces (for the bottom)
12 18" pieces (to make the sides)
6 24" pieces for the cross bars

I don't have the length on the rope we cut, we just eyeballed it. Then we drilled one hole in each of the golf balls and used E600 glue to attach the rope. Each rope has 2 golf balls attached. We made 6 sets. We painted them after we had assembled them. 3 blue sets and 3 red sets.

Hubby also taped and spray painted designs on the cross bars of our ladderball set.

Once we had the set completed, Hubby wanted a bag to put the ladderball in. So we found some cheap outdoor fabric at Handcock Fabrics ($2.99/yard) and I whipped up a bag using a modified version of this yoga bag tutorial from Sew4Home. The only thing I changed was the length of the bag (mine is 37")and the length of the strap (mine is 44"), and I added a second pocket, but left off the flaps and just attached the velcro to the backside of the pocket and the bag. I also made my pockets pleated for a little extra room for the balls.

Here you can see the pockets on the front of the bag.
Here you can see the side of the bag and the strap. Sorry the pics are dark, I had to snap them quick while it was storming outside.

V-A-C-A-T-T-I-O-N, Spell it with me folks!

Yay! I'm so excited. I am leaving this morning for a whole week of vacation! Don't worry, I've got more posts scheduled for you, so you won't miss out on any bloggity fun while I'm gone :-)

We are headed on vacation to our annual timeshare destination. My parents have owned this timeshare since I was about 3, so I've only missed a few years in my whole life. My sister will be joining us for the weekend and my brother and sister-in-law will come early next week. It'll be great!

I'm a compulsive list maker, I LOVE to make lists. So I've been making vacation lists for a week now. I always write a packing list for myself to help me remember everything. My hubby is notorious for forgetting to pack things, so he requested that I also make him a list :-)

Sierra is going to stay with friends, so she got a list too. I have a list for my plant water-er/mail picker-upper. I have lists for everything :-) I'm only slightly embarrassed by this.

So later today, I'll be relaxing outside our cabin with a drink in my hand...maybe one of these...

These are top the list for favorite Root Beers at our house! They are so smooth and yummy and must be bought at the liquor store, as no one else carries them.

Gifts for Hubby!

I love to make stuff for everyone, so my hubby is on the top of my list to make stuff for (okay, maybe not the top top of the list, my cute new niece and my dog might have higher billing :-)

Any-who, I decided that in my frantic rush to make things before vacation, I needed to make him a new toiletry bag. He loves this fish fabric, which I've used for several other projects for him. But since he loves it so much, I decided to use it for the toiletry bag.


I used this tutorial from The Purl Bee. I had a little bit of trouble with it, but overall, I think it turned out nicely. Most of my trouble was that I needed to S-L-O-W down and R-E-A-D the directions. This was actually one of the easiest zippers I have attempted!

Sew Busy!

I know that I've been neglecting ya'll, but I've been so busy sewing! Last weekend, I completed 4 projects, Monday evening I completed another. I have two more that I am really hoping to finish before I leave for vacation on Friday morning! YIKES! I intended to spend yesterday afternoon sewing, but I ended up at my mom's house packing boxes! And since I haven't been sleeping well, I was too tired to sew anything after that. I tried, I really did.

I'm going to feature each completed project in a separate post. I'll start with a simple project, one for my doggie :-) Our cute as can be female cocker spaniel is in heat. Her previous owners bred her :-( And we just haven't quite gotten it worked out to get her spade yet. So anyway, she's been wearing little boys underpants turned backward (so her tail can stick out) while she is in heat. But I decided that she needed something cuter, that was easier on her tail. So I whipped up a couple of pairs of B!tch pants. I didn't take any pictures of my process, but here's a pic of Sierra in her cute heart panties.


Can ya tell she just loves them?