My Fabric Stash

is overtaking our office/sewing room!!!! My friend Karen, from Kinsey Interiors, was very generous and gave me TONS of fabric last Saturday. She wouldn't let me pay for it, so I'll repay her by making a duvet cover and possibly a purse for her. She was contacted by a gentleman in town who's wife was a seamstress, and he wanted to get rid of a bunch of her sewing stuff, so he gave her fabric, buttons and zippers - lots of everything! She also gave me a bunch of the zippers a few weeks ago and I used them in the last cosmetic bags I made.

Anyway, most of the fabric she gave me on Saturday was on the long rolls and I don't have any where to store them in the house, so I decided to re-organize. First I started taking the fabric off the rolls, and while I was at it, I measured the width and length and pinned a note on each one so I know at a glance how much there is. I think the longest piece is 18 yards!!!!! My brilliant idea was to make small bolts that would fit in the armoire that I currently keep most of my stash in. My hubby doesn't let me throw away boxes, so I found some of items that we no longer had (stereos the kids bought and old computers), and cut them up in to 19 x 6 inch pieces and started wrapping the fabric around them.

Here is a picture BEFORE:



And AFTER (I'm not done yet, but I can fit two rows of fabric, so it will hold a lot):


Right now I'm just working on the top part, I can adjust the shelves on the rest of it, so I should be able to get most of my fabric in there. I cut up another box last night, so I'll have more to work with. I just want to get it all wrapped on the bolts, then I can work on organizing by type and color.

I'm going to use a bunch of the new fabric to make re-usable grocery bags to list on my etsy shop. I'll post pictures when they are done!

I FINALLY put my latest purse in the mail to Todd's grandma. It took me a while to get pictures off our computer and printed at WalMart. We each sat down to write a letter to her and I also sent some envelopes with our name and address on them for when she wants to send us stuff. She has a hard time seeing and writing, so that will be easier for her. :D

Todd pulled a muscle in his back last week, so he's been nursing that (and begging for sympathy - you know how men are when they are sick!). It seems to be better now, so we are planning to go to the gym tonight. I'm ready for a new workout; it's been three months and I need to change some things up, so I'll try Todd's workout and see how I like it.

We are finally getting some much-needed rain today!!! ::happy dance:: Yesterday it was 84 outside, this morning it was 69 and fell to 47 in one hour! We also had close to an inch of rain before 8:00 am. It's still raining off and on and is supposed to for the next few days. I really hope the bluebonnets are pretty this year!

That's it for now. Nothing much else exciting going on.....

Pictures finally!!!

Todd's Grandma REALLY liked the last purse I made for her friend, and when we spoke to her Saturday she said she has another friend that really liked it, too, so could I make one for her? OF COURSE!!!! :D (She's my best customer!!)

I thought about sending her the other brown one (that has one handle), but she didn't know if her friend would like just one handle. So I had some more fabric left that I made my sister's purse out of and used that instead. I have a "vague" pattern that I use for this design ("Samantha"), but something is different about each bag. [I hate to harp on it, but please don't steal my designs!!]

Anyway, this is the finished bag - the flap for the snap is larger than Jerolyn's purse:

Inside:

Corner:

Opposite Corner:

I also decided to use different lining for the pockets:


I briefly thought about using the red fabric for the lining inside the purse, but I've found that when you have a light-colored lining, it's easier to find things in it, so decided to use the same lining as Jerolyn's purse.

This week I went shopping at http://www.kinseyinteriors.com/ and found some more fabric that will be great for lining purses. Soon I'll need to get some more fabric for the outsides......

In other news, our computer is acting up. Suddenly Monday morning I went to put in a CD to make a card and it no longer sees our CD Drive. We are trying to figure out if it can be fixed or if we need to get another one. If we get another one, I'm hoping it will be a laptop. I did go buy a USB Storage stick and put all 1254 photos on it so in case Todd totally trashes it, I'll still have my pictures.

That's all for now! I hope you like the new purse!!! Feek free to leave comments! :D

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




Navy floral





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.)



Blue/Green/Yellow Floral





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

Two more commissioned purses!

I've been busy this weekend! After going to the craft show yesterday, I came home to get a couple purses done. The first one is for one of Sam's friends. I also made a matching wristlet for her. I think they turned out very cute! I finished these yesterday evening.









So after I got the other one done, I started on this one. It's from some of the fabric I got from the interior design shop in our shopping center. LOVE IT!!!! Although I think I broke two needles while making it. It took me all Sunday morning to finish it, but it turned out really good! This is my "Megan" bag. It's identical to the other one that was made out of the dark brown fabric with circles on - which is the purse that I use!






The back has a large pocket and I FINALLY found some sew-in velcro so I added that along with the D-ring.


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