Monday, February 23, 2009

Pretty Pretty Pretty!!!!!!

Yesterday I decided to sew a few more cosmetic bags. I used the upholstery fabric books that I got from Kinsey Interiors. The large book gives me just enough fabric to make one bag out of each large page. I used interfacing and muslin for the lining. These are listed on my etsy shop for $7.00 each if you are interested.

Green Floral
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Navy floral
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Navy/Maroon/Green Floral (This is no longer available, I gave it to my friend who works at Kinsey Interiors - she gave me a BUNCH of zippers and the fabric sample books that I used to make them.)
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Blue/Green/Yellow Floral
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I decided to take a day of vacation today, so I'm enjoying my quiet home. (Listening to Dave Ramsey's radio show via the internet.) I have a couple more cosmetic bags I'm working on, and I also want to do another one for me to take to work. Also, I need to print off more labels since I'm almost out of them. I wish that meant I sold a bunch of items, but that's not the case :-(

I'll post more tomorrow if I have time to get the photos taken.

Have a great Monday (if there is such a thing...) LOL

Saturday, February 21, 2009

ITEMS I HAVE FOR SALE!!!!!!

I'm finally taking the time to update my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5902297, so thought I'd update here that all I have for sale, so if you are intersted, just e-mail me at: jylslife (at) gmail (dot) com.

1) $40.00
The latest purse I made -
This Beautiful Brown handbag (my "Samantha" Design) is made out of upholstery fabric, so it's very sturdy. Lining is beautiful gold shimmery fabric. All four sides have pockets on the outside, the longer ones also have velcro for closure. Magnetic snap on flap for closure. Inside, there are six pockets of various sizes and attached D-Ring to hang keys or sunglasses on. Pockets are top-sticked with decorative stitch for accent.11" x 8" x 4". Handle has 17" fall.
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2) Purse/Tote with matching wristlet $40.00
This red and white purse or tote bag was made with heavy Ikea fabic and interfacing was added to make it extra sturdy. The lining is red fabric with tiny white hearts (also interfaced). The bag stands 12 1/2 inches tall, the opening is 16 inches wide and the bottom measures 11 1/2 by 6 inches. The inside has 12 deep pockets of various sizes and a hanging d-ring for keys or glasses. Great for anyone who needs organization in their life! There is also plenty of room to carry wallets, books or could also be used as a diaper bag.The handle has a 20 inch fall and is 1 1/4 inch wide. A cute red heart button is used to close the bag.Also included is a matching zippered wristlet. Wristlet is 3 1/2 inches tall, 6 3/4 inches wide and 2 3/4 inches deep. The handle is 7 1/2 inches long.Spot cleaning is recommended for both items.
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3) FUNKY FLOWER Purse $15.00
This purse has colorful flowers with a black background and white lining. Two large pockets on each side of the purse (with velcro closure), one side has an attached d-ring to hang keys on. All the fabric Is interfaced so stands up easily. Magnetic snap closureThe White inside has five pockets of various size, and the pockets are top-stiched for accent. I used variagated thread, so it changes color and matches the flowers on the outside. This is a deep purse - it is 11" tall and the bottom is 9" wide. Handles have 16" fall. This purse come with a matching 7" x 4.5" wristlet!!!!!
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4) Lime Green Handbag $15.00
This cute Lime Green Handbag (my "Samantha" Design) measures 11 by 8 inches with handles that have a 16 inch fall. Pockets on each side on the outside (velcro closures on the large pockets) and also pockets on the inside to keep you very organized. There is also a d-ring to hang keys on and it closes with a magentic snap.Lots of heavy interfacing so the bag stands up very well.
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Lime Purse
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5) Oriental Messenger bag with matching cosmetic bag $50.00
This is my "Tabitha" design bag - classy messenger bag with matching cosmetic bag.Made with heavy interfacing, beautiful oriental fabric with matching cream interior, accented with red satin.The messenger bag:Height 9 inchesWidth 12 1/2 inchesGussett 4 inches4 outside pockets accented with red satin - side pockets are 4 inches tall, front and back pockets are 5 inches tall with velcro closureStrap has a fall of 15 1/2 inches (from shoulder to top of bag)5 inside pocketsD-ring on frontThe matching zippered cosmetic bag is 7 inches wide and 4 inches tall.
Oriental "Tabitha" bag
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I have a few other items on my etsy shop - cosmetic bags and diaper/tote bags, also. Please let me know if you are interested in anything! I'll also make custom items!!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Another new sewing machine foot

This is is a "Darning" or "Quilting" foot. Jean (the lady teaching our Quilt class) had a few of them last night that we could purchase for $10, and it just happens that I had that much cash on me. :D I used it last night at class and it works very well! I may try to video sewing with them and see if I can post.
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Jean also had some very pretty stencils, so I used one to make this:
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I'm home at lunch (late again today), so better get back to work. I'll try to work on some more and post more pictures soon!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Quilting Class tonight

We have another quilting class tonight. The instructor is going to show us how to quilt our quilts - both by machine and by hand. All the other quilts I've made have been hand quilted, so I'm excited to learn how to machine quilt.

Of course, you need more equipment to do that, so I went down to JoAnn's Fabrics in Austin on Sunday to purchase a walking foot for my sewing machine. This is what it looks like:
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Of course, once I get a new "toy", I have to play with it a little bit. I had some left over fabric that was already sewn together that I used for my latest quilt, so made a square and tried machine quilting a little bit on it. (First I basted all three layers together, that's what the yellow thread is you see.) Mom had given me some templates for Christmas two years ago (when I started quilting), so I used one of them to mark a design, then quilted it. This is the result:
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That's hard to see, so I also took a picture of the back:
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It was pretty easy! It worked better without the embroadery hoop. It will be interesting to see what she says tonight.

This is what I'm taking for the class tonight. I had some squares left over from the quilt, so just sewed them together and made borders. It's also basted. I've marked it a little bit with the templates, but it's hard to see. I just used some white muslin I had around, for the real quilt, I'll use some off-white muslin so it matches better.
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Oh yeah, notice how it's not completely square? The right side is one inch longer than the left side - this is what happens when you don't square up your blocks before sewing them into rows and sewing the rows together!!!!!

Anyway, it will be a fun class. We have to take our sewing machines, so I've got everything packed up already.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Monday Morning

What a great weekend we had!!!! Alyssa, our oldest granddaughter, turned 6 last week, so we had her birthday party on Saturday. (Not much of a party, really, just cake and open presents, but it was fun.) She LOVES getting her picture taken!!!! Here are some of her opening her presents:
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And her cake....
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She's such a sweetie!!!!! I can't believe she's 6 already! Granna loves you, Alyssa!!!!!!

I got everyone else outside so I could get some updated pictures. Sam wouldn't pose for any pictures, but I snapped a few, anyway. So here they are!!! LOL
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Tab and her family cooperated much better!
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Valentine's Day we finally went to Tokoyo Steakhouse to celebrate being DEBT-FREE!!! They had a special menu for the day, and it was a lot of fun.

Sunday Todd and I got up to go to early church, then I headed down to Austin to go to JoAnn's Fabrics. I have my church quilt class on Wednesday and the teacher is going to show us how to machine and hand quilt. I already know how to hand quilt, but not machine, so I wanted to get a "walking foot" for my sewing machine. If found one and played around with it a little after I got home. I need to get a bigger embroadery hoop, but it worked pretty well. I also basted the small quilt I'm taking to work on Wednesday night. Then we made supper and went to the gym.

I didn't get up early this morning to go to the gym since we went last night. Tomorrow and hopefully the rest of the week I will.

Have a great President's Day, everyone!!!!!!