FNSI - A Late Valentine

Linking with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs for Friday Night Sew-In!! 

Didn't get as much done as I had wanted this time, but did get a late little Valentine project finished off. This was a fun little stitching project by Heartstrings Samplery called 'Handprint on my Heart'. I did it over one on 32 ct linen with the called-for CC Cherry Cobbler.                               

I finished it into a little pillow hanger for a china hutch in our living room.

I had this stitched in time to get it all finished up before Valentine's day, but didn't get to it until last night. I had hoped to also make a grime (or crud) guard for another q-snap frame I just bought, but hubby wanted to go out for dinner when he got home last night, and who am I to say that I'd really rather cook dinner myself? :) So we went out and then rented a movie, so that took the rest of the evening. 

The rest of this weekend will be spent doing as much stitching as possible! Well, I may need to do a little cleaning and cooking too as my mother-in-law is coming over tomorrow:) But this weekend is IHSW - International Hermit and Stitching Weekend!! This is a stitch-a-long I participated in some a little over a year ago, and it kind of fell apart for a while, but it is back!! And I'm pretty happy about it. You are welcome to join in as well, if you'd like:) 

So now I'm off to look a bit at what others worked on last night, and then do some stitching:) 

Friday Night Sew-In

Joining in on Friday Night Sew-In with Wendy from Sugarlane Designs.

I'm pretty excited to be getting back to a couple sew/knit/stitch blog hops. Helps to keep me motivated:) 

I started a big stitching project for the beginning of the year, 'The Way Things Used to Be' from Artecy designs. It is so big that I can't fold up the fabric on one side of the q-snap to hold it in place. I don't usually use a q-snap or frame/holder of any kind, but this one is a must. My sister-in-law suggested that I make a grime/crud guard for it as it would keep me from getting the fabric dirty and help hold in the fabric..

  Look at all that extra fabric!!

 

 So much better!!

I showed my sister-in-law that I had figured out how to make one (loosely following THESE instructions) and she asked if I could make her one with the coordinating fabric I used when making her a stitching bag and I decided I needed one more for another semi-big project I'm working on, so...

 This stitching project is 'Winter Snapperland' from Bent Creek.

And now I have another request from a friend for one or two for her. Thankfully they are super simple to make so I don't mind:)

I have yet to actually use them as I needed to get a scarf done that I was working on, but that is done now so it's time for some stitching!!

Off to see what others got done last night as well!!

Sewing Finishes

and the beginning of a new project!!

Two weeks ago I did a little sewing for Friday Night Sew-In (hosted by Wendy of Sugarlane Designs on the 3rd Friday of each month), but I didn't get as much done on my projects as I would have liked. So I worked a bit more this past week and finished those projects up!!

The first project is a stitching piece I did for my mother-in-law. This is 'August WordPlay' by With Thy Needle and Thread, but I changed it to 'Summer' instead. I sewed on a backing, put tabs on so it can be hung and filled it with 5 layers of quilt batting to give it a little depth. I made the tabs just a little too small this time. I didn't have the 'Spring' one I made for her so I couldn't remember how long I left the tabs for it. This still works as I hung it on the rod she has, but it was a bit tight. I will have to remember that for the 'Autumn' one that I will be starting to stitch soon:)

This is 'Market Bag' from the Sewing To Sell book by Virginia Lindsey. I made one for myself last month and then my sister-in-law saw it and wanted one as well. I ended up giving her the first one I made because this one wasn't ready last week when I went to visit her. I made one change on this bag that I didn't make on the first one. The bags are to have a 7in boxed bottom, but I felt that took too much of the height away from the bag, so this bag has a 4 in deep boxed bottom. I've already used it once at out farmer's market and I really love this fabric!!

After my sister-in-law decided she wanted a market bag she started talking about wanting a Halloween themed stitching/zipper bag as well. So when I met with her last week we went to a fabric/quilting store and she picked out the cutest fabric!!! I'll make a large zipper project bag and a small zipper notions bag from these fabrics:) I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out!!

Next post *should* be about stitching, and I'm really excited to show off a couple new projects I'm getting ready to start stitching!!

Have a great day!!

FNSI

Linking with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs and her Friday Night Sew In!!

I made a tiny bit of progress for this month's Friday Night Sew In. Usually I sew a little earlier than 'Friday Night' but this week my hubby had all of Friday off of work, and we had some appointments in the morning. So I did a bit here and there on Friday and a little on Saturday morning too. Here is what I got done...

BTW - the Coffee M&M's are gone now:) They are SOOO good!!!

Pattern for a market bag cut out, sides sewn together, and handles pinned and sewn together. If this looks JUST like the one I did last month, that's because it is:) I showed my market bag to my sister in law and she wanted one as well:)

I also cut my 'Summer' Wordplay (With Thy Needle and Thread) stitched piece to size, ironed on the interfacing and went through my fabric stash to find a suitable backing fabric...

A good start for these two projects anyway. I was hoping to get both done this weekend but I think I'll have time to pull them back out this week and finish them up. Maybe I'll have finished projects for a 'Finish It Friday' post:)

Off to see what everyone else was working on!!

FNSI - Running Behind

Linking up with at Sunshine Quilting and her Friday Night Sew In party.

And yes, It's Monday now, but I did sew on Friday this time:) I just haven't had a chance to sit down at the computer since then to blog about it. It's county fair week for us, and this year our daughter needed to be at the fairgrounds every day. She didn't even enter that many things, and she doesn't do any animals (except for helping her friend with the horse show), it just worked out that way this year. More about the fair later this week..

As for my sewing, I worked on a market bag (from the book - Sewing to Sell by Virginia Lindsay) that I started last month, but made a mistake on it and didn't get it fixed until now...

The mistake was that those flowers should be facing up. I cut the fabric as directed, but it was printed in such a way that the flowers would have been sideways on the bag once finished. The pattern calls for you to measure a rectangle of fabric, fold it several times and then all you need to cut out is the handles. That means less sewing, but I don't think they meant for you to use a direction-ally printed fabric. So I needed to cut it out a different way, which required sewing along the bottom seam instead of having a fold there, but after that it worked just fine.

The lighting in my kitchen is bad, so the coloring is a bit off, but can you see the heart shaped mess in the pattern directions? Yeah, this one stretched my sewing abilities a bit, but ended up not being so bad. I had one point that I didn't quite understand what they were talking about, but once I figured that out, it was pretty easy.

And I love how it turned out. I didn't quite get the bottom of the bag in the picture, but it has a flat bottom that should work really well for a farmer's market bag!! I'm super excited to use it this weekend:)

Friday Night Sew In

Linking up with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs and FNSI.

I'm a bit late this time (again) as Friday nights tend to be hard to find time to sew. I planned well this time and started on Thursday, but then I melted a zipper to the fabric (OOPS!!) and needed to run to the store. That's okay though, lesson learned:)

I had planned to work on a hanging 'tuck' finish for a spring design I stitched, but I then I started working on a zipper bag that my sister in law wanted for a friend, and well, that's when the zipper accident happened. I persevered, and now have a matching set all ready to go...

And I'm SUPER excited about my new labels!!! I'm getting so close to being able to open up an Etsy store:) 

I do, however need to work a bit more on sizing. I'm going to have a few people look at the sizes of these with their stitching projects (my sister-in-law uses her bags for stitching). I'm sure this would work well for larger knitting/crochet projects, but I think the big bag is too tall for stitching. We will see what they think:)

Off to see what everyone else was sewing:)

March FNSI

I'm joining in with Wendy @ Sugar Lane Designs with this month's Friday Night Sew-In!!!

I started off with finishing a small zipper pouch. I made one last month that was a bit bigger, and I wanted to play around with making one a bit smaller. This one is just the right size for a small pair of embroidery scissors, a tape measure, some extra needles and any other odds and ends you may need. I just love it!!  

After I finished it, I decided to play around with some other fabrics and see if I could come up with a good size for a larger zipper bag. I'd like one that would hold a med/large-ish size knitting or stitching project. Since I keep my stitching projects in ziplock bags, I want to make sure that will fit in the bags I'm making. I purchased a 14in zipper and after cutting fabric, I realized just how big that is. I think I need to find 12 in zippers and see how that goes. That notebook ↓ has a bunch of notes for different types of bags in different sizes. Lots of ideas going on!!

I picked up some Paris themed fabric the last time I was at the store as my sister in law has always dreamed of going to Paris and I thought she might like a bag made out of this. Also a new friend that my sister in law and I made while stitching at a coffee shop used to be a French teacher -
pre-children, and taught for a while in Paris, so maybe one for her as well? We will see:)

FNSI - Bags and More Bags!!

This sew-a-long is hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. It's just a time to sit down and sew up some projects, knowing that others are doing the same thing at the same time. I actually started working on Thursday since my hubby was home and doing home repair projects and I didn't know how much I would be helping, thus interrupting my sewing time. It turns out it was good I started on Thursday because that was the only time I was able to sit down and sew at all. 

I only got one of the bags done that I had wanted to work on...

This is the one I tried to work on last month, but had a zipper/dimensions problem. As in I bought the size of zipper the pattern called for and cut the fabric to the width that it called for, but then the two did not line up. So I cut new fabric and this time it worked just fine. I love how this turned out and the zipper wasn't as hard to put in as I thought it might be. However the size isn't very useful for me. It's a bit too big to use as a 'tool' pouch - as in to hold embroidery scissors, tape measure, etc. But it's too small for a stitching or knitting project. So my plan is to take the other fabric I had cut for this a couple months ago and size it down - using a 7 in zipper instead of a 9in and seeing if that works better for a tool pouch. Then I want to make a larger one to for a project bag.

I also cut up some fabric for the next bags I want to work on...

I ran out of the red/flower print fabric so I needed to go to Hobby Lobby when I was in town and pick up some more. While I was there I found MORE fabric that was screaming at me to bring home as well...

This picture shows it a little more dull than it actually is. I love the teal/gray combo!!

I have a couple loads of regular laundry that needs doing before I can throw the fabric in. Not sure if all this fabric is going to make it to the next FNSI or if I'll have to get started on it before that!! :) We'll see.

Question for you all - I know many of you use project bags for various crafts. So far I've only used mine for knitting/crochet projects and I've liked the draw string bags since the yarn can't get caught in anything. But I know many project bags are made with zippers. If you use the ones with zippers (which I think look a bit better), does your yarn or other parts of your project get caught in the zipper? Do you prefer one to the other?

Okay, time to go help hubby. He is replacing a sliding door - that was put in wrong years ago - with a big window and there is still a big gaping hole in the back of our house! Thankfully it's been really nice outside during the day!!

FNSI

Last night was the first Friday Night Sew-In of the year!! This sew-a-long is hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. I will state right here, I'm not much of a sew-er. At least not with a sewing machine. I have lots and lots to learn, first off patience. ;-)  But I figure if I keep trying and working on it, I'll get better with time.

I had posted earlier this week that my hubby had gotten himself a food dehydrator for Christmas. He asked if I could make a simple cover for it to keep it from getting dust inside of it as it is sitting right next to our pellet stove/heater. So I bought a big piece of fake leather...

cut it up and sewed it together. This was a bit difficult as I didn't want to pin it together in order to avoid any extra holes in the material, but it came together okay. I'm not super happy with the corners, but I did get them better than my first attempt. Also I haven't put a back on this yet as I wasn't sure if my hubby wanted to cover where the cord comes out or not. He said to go ahead and make the back a bit shorter to keep from pinching the cord area, so I will work on that today.

Next I decided that I would try and finish the zipper pouches I started a couple months ago. But as I sat down to work on it, the next instruction seemed off. They said to place the zipper along the top edge of the exterior fabric, making sure the start and stop points were 1/4 on the inside of it. But my zipper is a 9 inch (I checked and that's what they called for) and my exterior bag dimensions were 8 1/2 inches (again I checked to make sure I made it correctly), leaving me with this...

This clearly hangs over by about 1/2 inch - and yes, I checked AGAIN to make sure my measurements were what the instructions said. Not having much experience with zippers, I didn't know if I could sew over the back side of the zipper (before the stop point) and only have it open so far, or if I needed to make a wider bag. I decided to try a wider bag.

I got the material all cut out and the interfacing cut and fused on before it was time to make dinner. I'll get back to it soon and hope that this solves my zipper problems. If you know what I could have done different, please let me know:)

I have some fabric I bought last month that I really want to play with for our next FNSI!! I can't wait to turn it into some more project bags:)

FNSI - December

Last night was Friday Night Sew In hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. I had big plans for this month. And I am happy with what I did get done, but it had nothing to do with the plans that I had :) I had planned on finishing up the zipper bags I started last month and sewing up a couple ornaments that I need to get done for Christmas. Instead I dug through my fabric stash and found some cute fabric...

The fabric wanted to become a project bag!! This bag is about 13x11 inch and is bigger than the drawstring bag I made last month. It's just about perfect for a shawl sized project. This is actually the second one of these I made in the last two days. You see, I started my sewing on Thursday because I knew Friday was going to be a bit busy. But I used heavyweight interfacing and that made it too stiff to be able to close with the drawstring:( Never fear, I had plenty of fabric. So while I was in town on Friday I bought some medium weight interfacing and used that. It is a little stiff, but it closes and I think with some use it will loosen up. I like the durability that using the interfacing gives the bag. I already have my Project Peace cowl sitting pretty in it:) 

AND while I was at the store getting interfacing I found some more pretty fabrics that think they'd like to become project bags as well. We will see next month what I get around to!!

Heading off to see what everyone else working on last night (and then straight to finishing up the Christmas gifts - I promise!!!).

FNSI - A Bit Late

I joined in on Friday night, for the Friday Night Sew In, hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. Our internet out here in the country is iffy at best, and I haven't been able to get on to blog about my progress this weekend, but it looks like it's working now!! Thank goodness we can get mobile coverage out here so I can still get on the internet on my phone:)

Last month I finished a bag I had been working on for over a year and this month I decided that I wanted to work on a couple smaller project bags for my knitting/crocheting projects. I started off with some fabric and got it all cut up, I even coffee dyed some of the fabric to match better...

I wanted some grey and white fabric as a liner for the red bird fabric, so I 'HAD' to go into town to pick some up!! :) I got the exterior pieces sewn together that will make up a couple zipper pouch bags, but that's as far as I got with those.

I still had the panel that I messed up on with the last bag I had made, so I cut it in half, loosely following directions from two different bags and made a small drawstring bag out of it...

I even crocheted some DMC thread to match the green for the drawstring. The bag is pretty small, but already has a knitted hat project I'm working on in it and I think it'll work well for other small projects like socks - when I finally learn to knit them!! :)

That was about all the sewing I could take for one day, so I called it an evening. Hope to get the other two bags done for next month's FNSI!! :)

October FNSI

Friday was FNSI hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. It is night (or day, or weekend as it was in my case) to sit down and finish up a sewing project or two, knowing you are in good compan with others doing the same thing:) This month I DID sew on Friday night, but that was because I found a mistake I made in my project and ended up needing more time to work on it. I actually needed more time than I thought since I just finished it up this morning:) I started this project long, long ago...

This picture is from over a year and a half ago!! This design is from Gail Pan and can be found in her book Patchwork Loves Embroidery as can the pattern for the bag that it was designed for. THAT is what really took me forever. I love to embroider, but don't love the sewing bit quite as much. Add to that my missing bits of the instruction along the way (the instructions are wonderfully detailed and easy to follow, if only you actually follow them!!).

One mistake made the back of the bag 1/2 inch shorter than the front. This, thankfully, was an easy fix!! 

All-in-all if I had only just sat down and worked on this, it wouldn't have taken nearly so long, and I would have had this beautiful bag to carry around with me all this time...

I LOVE it!!! This is going to get so much use:)

Off to see what others worked on!!

Friday Night Sew In - September

It's been a long while since I've participated in a FNSI hosted by Wendy over at Sugarlane Designs. And true to most FNSI I didn't actually sew on Friday night, but rather during the day. My sewing area is also my dining room table, which isn't actually in a dining room as we don't have one, but in the middle of our kitchen. Since we have very little counter space our table gets used just about every day so it needs to stay somewhat cleared off. This means I have to put the sewing machine away when I'm done with it, and sewing while everyone is home does not work very well. So I sew while hubby is off to work and dd is either at work or busy with her own thing:)

This week I needed to make dd a new bag. A couple summers ago she worked as a camp councilor and got used to carrying around a draw-string bag. But over time it got to looking like this...

There are several holes in it, and it is super dirty and since the fabric is almost paper thin, I'm not sure how many more washings it can stand up to. So she asked me to find her a new one, but I haven't been able to find any. I did find instructions on how to make them in the book Sewing to Sell by Virginia Lindsay. I had dd pick out some fabric...

Yes, that is My Little Pony and yes my daughter is 17. What can I say? The 4-6 year old girls in her MOPs class love it!! :)

And here are my progress pics..

And it's done!! It was a really quick and easy project. It seems that the nylon string I got for this is a bit too thin, and cuts in to her shoulders when it's loaded down, so I will need to pick up some thicker string and redo that part, but that's not a big deal.

Now I'm off to see what others worked on last night:)