Fabric Nesting Dolls and Gift Bag

Hello All! and Happy New Year!

My last day of the "old" year ends with a celebration...NO, not that kind. ;-) But a celebration of birthday for my friend's child. Today is the beginning of those so-called "terrible twos!" And I procrastinated (as usual) in making or buying a gift. BUT WAIT...

A perfect solution by Made by Joel! This dude is awesomely creative! It's like he reads my mind, but the difference is HE DOES IT...not like me and procrastinate or not write or create the ideas...boring me.
Aaaannnyyyways.........here is the link to make your own fabric nesting dolls if you so desire!

Take a look at mine:

Now I need a gift bag...AHA! Why not make a fabric produce bag so Mommy can use it later? I don't know! Why not!? Okay I will. Super easy and practical pattern created by Jan DiCintio of Daisy Janie in support of the Green Grocery Bag Challenge. All you need is at least an 18" square piece of fabric! Ta-da!

Here is mine:

Holiday Wishes...

Merry Christmas to All! May Joy and Peace be with you!

Unfinished Quilt #1

I must confess. I have NO idea how long this has been in my stash! I think I participated in a Block of the Month at a local quilt shop. It's not necessarily my preferred design and it is quite traditional in style; nonetheless, I like it because I did it all by myself! SOO...I need to finish it. Correction: I need to GET it finished (quilted) somewhere. Any comments are welcome on where to get that done for a reasonable price in the Beaverton/Metro area!

This is my favorite block in the quilt.

Not your Grandma's Dolls

You MUST meet my talented friend and visit her new blog where she will soon (at least I hope so) be posting lovely pictures of the most UNIQUE and EXCEPTIONAL handmade items. Regularly, you will find Dolls such as this Raggedy-style shown above; but also for the Holiday Season you will find Snowmen, ornaments, Santas, and more! She does quality work--no joke.

If you are in her area, go by Sisters Christmas Tree Farm (Deming,WA) and you will find her goodies in Sisters Shoppe for sale! Tell her I sent you! Hopefully she will soon have the ability to sell to you online as well. In the meantime, send me a note and I will see what I can do for you! Or write a note to her!

Gnomes need Homes...

I have crafted some Christmas Santa-like Gnomes in sets of three. They are based on the pattern for Jumbleberry Santas by Simone Gooding. Her's are created from wool felt...very cute! I made a few adjustments to accommodate sewing with cotton and other fabric on hand. They are about 4, 6, and 9 ish inches tall.

ANYWAY, I am posting here to see if any family members want first grabs at a set. These are what I have completed but have about 5 more sets ready to stitch up....let me know SOON. :)

The Peppermint Guys have been taken by my daughter!

Quilting to Go Bag

I finally just did it. Well actually...I said "screw it" and just did it. The following bag has been sitting unfinished with just the binding left to do since..um...June I think(?). The pattern called for hand-stitching it on after a stitch and fold scenario and I said NO. So...I stitched, turned, and zigzagged it on. DONE. It's mine and that's that.

Now I can take my rulers, cutters and small mat along with my fabric or whatever if I want to go to Modern Domestic Sew Night! **Sorry the pictures are so bad; we got a new camera though so as soon as I learn how to use it and download/upload from it they will be better! Anyway, take a look..........

Bag Back has 3 pockets: 1 for Ruler, 1 for Rotary
Cutter, and 1 for Whatever.

Bag Front has an awesome Big Pocket. I can
put my 12 1/2" square ruler in it with room to spare.

My FAVORITE of it all. I stitched a posie-like flower on the
rotary pocket.

My 6x24 ruler fits. Yay! The gussets are shown here too.

A Weekend Trip...

...requires a weekend bag! Even Callie knows that! Using a pattern found on the Weekend designer web site, I fashioned an awesome bag from a stash of outdoor (very slippery) fabric I've had for several years.

I REALLY like the web site because you have to draft your own pattern templates based on measurements given. It offers great practice and more experience in this aspect of sewing to me!

I added a loop&hook closure to the cool, big pockets on
both sides of the bag.

And I used a double zipper too.

All Set!

Since I now have the pattern pieces made and I had enough of this fabric, I will be making another one for my daughter. (Which is who I went to visit for this bag's first weekend trip!)