I Won!! I Won!!

I'm so excited and honored.. I won a blog giveaway.

It is beautiful. The giveaway was from Jen at "Little Scraps of Happiness" and I couldn't be more pleased.

It is a crocheted baby blanket.. super soft and so sweet.

I'm so jealous of people that have this talent.. My Mom (and her Mom) were big into knitting and crocheting.. but my Grandma is now gone and my Mom can't do it much anymore because of arthritis. I tried to learn from her when I was younger - but I'm a lefty and it was frustrating for me. I eventually gave up. She used to make us some really cool things.. even little tiny outfits and dresses for our barbies. The most recent thing she made me was some new potholders - my relatives will tell you, they are the BEST potholders around.

Maybe someday I'll try and learn again.. my Mom would like that. But for now.. I will just admire the beautiful work of others.

Thank you again Jennifer! I love it.

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Saving the World.. one night at a time..

Funny kid story before I show you something I made.

So we have this standing family joke that our dog, Biscuit, puts on a Power Rangers costume at night and "Saves the World" while we sleep. Well, or 5 yr old has started to question whether this is actually true.

Well, last night - he "wrote" the dog a note and put it in front of her as she was sleeping next to the bed. According to him, the note said "Biscuit - wake me up tonight to help you save the World".. Here she is with the note..

And here is what we saw this morning.. he was ALLLL ready.. but she never woke him.

So this morning he says to me "Mom.. she doesn't really save the World - does she?" and I had to confess.. "No.. she doesn't.. " - What's next.. Santa? the Tooth Fairy?

And - now for something I made and I am so proud of it. I TOTALLY love this! It is a gift for some friends of ours that just had their 3rd child.. a little boy.

It's a soft basket...
8 embelished burp bloths..
and put it all together.. looks like this....

How ADORABLE is that!!! I am going to be making some more and selling them - what an awesome gift for a baby shower! Pin It

Where do I begin... so much to share

Well, first I have to share something I made tonight with dinner.

It was out of this world GOOD!!!.. Found the recipe here. It is a chicken enchilada dip.. so so good. Even my husband said "Yep.. file that recipe under 'keeper' for sure". And my niece is here now and she loved it as well. I made this along side tacos.. and for the first time in a long time.. we had leftover tacos.

Speaking of my niece - she is our psuedo nanny until school starts for the boys in 3 weeks. She's having a good time so far (from what I can tell anyway). We've been doing a lot of this...

And not much sewing since she got here - although I do have a project I need to work on tonight after this post.

And her and I have some projects to make while she's here. Her older brother recently became a parent and she wants to make a few things for her new little nephew.

I also got a new pattern in the mail a few days ago..

My cousin from Missoula MT made this bag recently and I fell in LOVE with it. I will we working on this over the weekend hopefully. It's been so busy around here lately that I'm thinking I'm going to need to start sacrificing sleep to sew. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Some day I will have an empty nest with loads of time to sew.. rather than loads of laundry. But for now, I'll enjoy the organized chaos.. meals to plan and cook.. school schedules to stay on top of.. sibling rivalry.. and never enough groceries in the house. Pin It

One Giant Leap...

Ok.. this post has nothing to do with landing on the Moon. But I feel like I have taken a big step in a new direction.

I have been sewing the bags for about 1 1/2 years now. They are fun and give a quick sense of accomplishment because some of them go together so fast. And since I have self diagnosed myself with adult ADD.. ooooh.. something shiny..

wait.. where was I again? Oh yeah.. sorry.

Trust me - I'm no where near being bored with making bags. I am always in search of new and more challenging patterns.

But as I have been searching the web for ideas, patterns and inspiration - I can't help but notice all the beautiful quilts people make. Things that will be in their families for years to come. And this makes me want to do a full quilt.. bigger than a baby quilt. I've dabbled in baby size quilts for quite some time now and feel it's time to venture out into something bigger.

And since I am the only female in the house.. well, except for the loyal family dog, Biscuit.. the floral fabric pretty much guarantee's that no one else will claim it as their own.

Isn't she cute.. I'm so attached to her. She was our first 'kid'. (see.. ADD kicking in again)

I want to make quilts for my boys for Christmas - but before I do that I need some practice. So I've decided to start with this simple quilt. All the top takes is a pack of charm squares and a jelly roll. I'm using Soiree by Moda.


I think I have all the tools I need to do this right.

- sewing machine.. check
- fabric stash.. check
- thread.. check
- darning foot.. check
- free motion quilting tutorial.. check
- binding tutorial.. check
- motivation.. double check

If nothing else.. it will be good practice. But I have a feeling I'm gonna love this when it's done.

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My basket runneth over...

If you live in Arizona (or Utah) and don't participate in this produce co-op, you are crazy!

I recently started getting baskets from Bountiful Baskets. I am so impressed I just had to share. Here is a picture of everything that was in my basket yesterday.
Are you amazed? No.. well you will be when I tell you it was all for $15. Yeah.. you read that right. Ok, I'm stretching it a bit.. the items on the top there were part of an add on pack that I purchased. It was the "italian" pack. It included the eggplant, mushrooms, italian parsley, garlic, fresh basil and rosemary. That was an additional $7.

If you go to their site and register - it's totally free - and you'll start receiving the newsletters telling you about any additional specials that they are offering that week. They always have bread add ons that you can buy.. sometimes the Italian and I've also seen a Mexican add on. All the add on's are optional. You have to purchase your basket by 10pm on Wednesday for pickup Saturday morning.

This is a phenominal program - run by members of the co-op who all volunteer. I have already been cooking with it this weekend. And we are going to be grilling some of those veggies tonight!! YUMM

Ok.. and now to share something that I actually made since that is the reason for this blog right?!
I made these super cute purses.. already sold one of them (the leopard) last night.


Well, we are off now to a b'day party. Have a great week! Pin It

Super cute basket.. Oh the possibilities

Last night I was feeling lazy even though I had so much to get done. I told myself that I would go into my sewing room and just cut out the fabrics for this super cute basket.. then I could go to bed. I love to get up early and sew in the morning when the house is quiet.. just me, the dog and a cup of coffee.

Well, like many other things.. once I started, I couldn't stop.

This basket was so easy to make. The lining gave me a little trouble - I had to adjust it a few times to get it right. But the rest was so simple.

I found this tutorial online a few months back. And since my neice is coming to hang out with her cousins this summer - I thought we would make her a basket of goodies. We are going to get her some cute tanks, some hair clips.. maybe some shower gel and lotions.. and have it waiting for her when she arrives next Saturday.

She's 16 and we are going to make some fun projects together while she is here. She is going to make some things for her new little nephew that was born in May. It will be fun for me to have a girl in the house to share things with for once. And it also gives my sister, Carmen, a break from having a teenage girl to watch like a hawk.

aahhh.. to be 16 again.. good times..

Anyway.. back to the basket. After I made it - I fell in love with it. I'm going to make one for my bathroom in some browns/cream colors.

But wouldn't this be cute in some fun baby/kid fabrics. You could fill it with rolled up burp cloths for the baby.

Or you could keep your current knitting project in there. Or a spa basket for some deserving Mom's b'day.. filled with soft slippers.. body scrub.. eye mask.. etc.

Any other ideas? Pin It

The Bag Ladies

So my friend Heather is having an awesome B'day party this year.. In Las Vegas. I should be going - but my niece is flying in that weekend and I can't go.

There are 3 girls going and they all wanted a bag for the trip. They all picked the same style and let me know what kinds of fabrics/colors they liked. I made the handles a little longer so they could wear them across their chests when they are shaking it on the dance floor. I will try and get a picture from them in Vegas and post it later.

Anyway, here are the bags..

Closeup of linings..

Isn't it amazing how the different fabrics can totally change the look of the bag? Which one do you like the best?


I hope they like these!!!

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Friday Night Sew-In

Well - we had our 2nd Friday night sew in. This time we had a simple project that didn't take long to complete - which was perfect because we both had a lot going on and struggled with fitting this in. That's were the little extra push and accountability from having a sewing buddy comes in handy.

We made these zipper pouches - thanks to my sewing buddy. She spent 5 days here with me over the 4th of July and brought this little project. She had the fabrics all precut and packaged with the pattern for each of us. She even had the little ties and charms in there to add as zipper pulls!
We had fully intended to make it while she was here - but we were so busy having fun with all our family and kids (3 different generations) that we never even took the sewing machines out. Although we did spend a good amount of time in my sewing room talking about projects.. and sharing ideas.. and fabrics.. Whew.. I get a little high all over again just thinking about it.
Anyway - back to the zipper pouch. The pattern is by Lazy Girl Designs and was so super simple. The pattern gives dimensions for 3 different sizes. As we made these Friday night - 260 miles away from each other - we shared our pictures (thank you blackberry messenger) and we also shared so many ideas. Like making these pouches in cute school fabric and give as teacher gifts - could even add a little giftcard. Or make them for Christmas gifts - adding a giftcard again. Or.. fun kid fabrics as a custom pencil pouch for back-to-school.. and maybe put a special message from Mom in there.

So many projects.. so little time... Pin It

Showing off the bags...

I am going to be showing some of my bags at a friends house on the 18th of July. In the sidebar on the right is a small sample of bags that I have made. I have made so many that I can't even count and this is truly a very small sample.

Also - the fabric options are endless. And many of these bags look totally different with a few minor changes.

Can't wait to see some of you at the party!!!

Heidi

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