My Summer Break

This summer has been crazy.

I am sure we would all say that.

I mean really, it is August already.

One would think that I would be blogging more than I have.

I mean it is summer, and we really don't have a pressing scheduled.

This is what happened to me over summer break.

I got a job.

I worked up until the day before Baubi was born,

and she was ten days late.

After that being a mom was my job. 

it has been my full time crazy job for almost 15 years.

I was not looking for this job,

it came and found me.

I used to work for a friend who made coats.

She had a store at one of the ski resorts and her company made coats.

When Baubi was a baby I would sew her hats.

She had matching hats for her coats, 

and that is what I would sew for her while Baubi would be 

sleeping an playing in her crib. 

I did it for several years and then stopped about six years ago. 

In June I got a call from her.

I saw her name on my phone and thought...

Does she need hats?

Nope she was working for another company, and they needed a part time seamstress.

their full time one wanted to stay home with her son during summer break,

they needed someone to fill in for her three days a week.

I was honestly flabbergasted. 

I told her that I had to talk to Good Looking about it.

Now as some of you may know being a stay at home mom is not a lucrative position.

We have been trying to get out of debt and this little part time job would certainly help on that front.

I went in for the interview my first in over seventeen years.

I am sure I must have sounded like a dork.

When I heard that other people were coming in for the position,

I got competitive about it.

Now I am normally not a very competitive person.

When it comes to my sewing ability, I guess I get a little defensive about it.

I sent her an email and apologized for being a dork,

and telling her again how awesome I am.

Well you already know the rest of the story because I told you.

I got the job.

I work for this company, I get to make dress ups all day long.

I get to be covered in sequins, and sparkles.

I get to make all the cute fluffy things and get paid for it.

The only bad thing is I had to sign a 

non-compete, nondisclosure.

Oh the things I could be putting on this blog, you would die 

from cuteness, and I am not even lying. 

As you can tell from my posting, 

I have not conquered the world of a working mom.

I am tired and grouchy.

I feel like the girls are losing a little bit of their innocence, and it is my fault.

I guess that is the quandary of all working moms.

How to make it all work.

I do have somethings to show,

 and I still have openings in my swap if you want to play.

I want to say that I will be back tomorrow with a new post and a tutorial.

But part of me thinks their will be a breakdown somewhere in the day,

 and that plan will be for naught.

We will see how that goes.

I am Trying

I was going to write a new post for today...

and then life happened and the camera died.

It is hard to write a tutorial with out a camera.

My camera forgot that and decided it was done before I was.

I was going to show you another project to do with your 

Christmas Swap fabrics.

It is turning out pretty cute but it will have to wait for another day.

In other news I messed up my swap.

I know you may not be surprised about it.

While copying and pasting,

 I pasted when I was suppose to copy.

In doing so I lost Virginia, and Jessisca's email addresses.

I would have told you personally, but it is hard with out an email.

If you could so kindly click back over, and reenter it I will try not to loose it again.

I still need five more people to complete my swap.

If you thought about it and were wavering,

it is still open and you can still play.

If you know someone who might want to play please, send them my way.

I will try to get my pictures all done and edited for you tomorrow.

I really think you are going to like it.

I thought you might like a little inspiration on this fine summer day.

Yes I know that they are Christmas stockings, and that the need for super cute

Christmas stockings is months away. 

I did make this very nice tutorial for you to make some of your own.

I am also currently having a Christmas fabric swap going on right now.

That way you can make these very cute stockings.

I had so much fun with this swap last year, and I know you would too.

At the present moment I have a grand total of

 three people signed up for my swap. 

I need at least twenty people to have a swap.

So that means that I need to have seventeen more people to sign up.

Here is the link to the sign up page.

Click there, put in your name, and go shopping.

I promise you will not regret it.

Have a fabulous weekend.

Christmas in July

Have you heard about this party going on?

I thought it would be so much fun to play along.

You may remember this post.

I did have my swap, and I did get my fabrics.

 They were adorable and just what I needed.

The only problem was that it was only 200 fabrics.

I know one would think that would be enough.

For a normal person that would be enough.

My quilt however requires 525 circles.

I really wanted 525 different circles.

I did finally start making my circles.

Aren't they adorable.

I made them this past week while on vacation.

They were used as the poker chips.

I hear that the red ones were worth the least, and the blue the most.

I finished the last of the circles last night.

I was at the hospital with Good Looking.

He thought it might be fun to throw out his back 10 days ago.

Since it wasn't getting any better we spent eight hours at the ER.

Good times....good times.

He has two, not one but two blown disks.

The good news is that the last of the circles are done.

They are air drying on the deck.

It shouldn't take long since it is 95 degrees outside.

I sprayed them with the homemade starch

It was faster then painting them with the starch, and worked fabulous.

One of my favorites, because with a name like Robyn...

I know you want some for yourself.

You may not have a need for 525 circles but you know you want

at least 200 4" squares.

The rules are as follows

Go to the store, or to your stash and get 10 Christmas fabrics

You will need 1/4 yard or a fat quarter of each one.

Cut them up into 20 4" squares.

I provided you with a tutorial here.

Show your love for me by sorting them into twenty separate piles.

Although I love doing these swaps, I do not love touching 2,000 separate pieces of fabric.

Place your precious cargo into a self addressed stamped envelope.

Send it to me, I will shuffle them around, 

and send you back 200 different fabrics for all of your Christmas crafting needs.

I know you want to do it.

Here is the link to the sign up page.

Click on it, leave your name and email, and I will send you more detailed info.

I am hoping that we can have more then one swap, so tell your friends and family.

I hope you have a great day.

Giving Away My Best Stuff?

Over a month ago I guest posted over at Sew Bitter Sweet Designs.
I was glad to help out Melisa in her time of need.
She asked for volunteers, and I volunteered.
I had been meaning to put together a tutorial for my new stitching bag.
I thought I could do that for her.

Then I started thinking about it when I saw that someone had pinned it.
It is so exciting when you are on the everything board minding your own business
and see something you made (and it is not even your sister who pinned it).


This is what I started thinking...
Melisa was getting traffic for my bag. 
I am glad to help but did I just give away my stuff?


What if everyone started pinning my bag,
and then everyone started making my bag.
And the whole time Melisa is getting the credit.
I realize that that is probably not going to happen.


I am new to this whole blogging thing and didn't know,
is it OK to recycle when guest posting?
Did I do the right thing, in doing it the way I did?
I don't know.


I thought about it a while and decided to just go ahead and re-post it here. 
I worked hard on it, and it took awhile.
I should get something from it right?

If you want to "pin" it, I did take new pictures, 
You could totally "pin" the new picture it is pretty cute.
I mean look at how much it can hold.
And the lined drawstring parts, adorable.
Also you can't go wrong with a little Happy Zombie in your life.
Speaking of which and this is no lie, while I was making this bag I was watching.
Zombieland, it was on TV and how could I not.

Cardio!!!

So now that I have gone on far to long,

here you go all the instruction on how to make one for yourself.

Please feel free to pin it and share with your friends.

And just because it is nice, to be nice, to the nice.

Don't leave me any sassy comments like the lady did when I was guest hosting.

I would really appreciate it.

I would like to think that I am tough but I am not.

Robyn's Patchy Stitching Bag

There is always some stitching project following me around.

I used to take it with me in a Ziploc bag, not cute.

Then I used a bag that my daughter's doll came in.

Still not cute.

Now I have this super cute patchey bag.

I am going to give you a for warning, there are a lot of pictures, 

but I don't want you to get lost along the way.

Also I was making two bags at the same time so some of the pictures don't match up

Are you ready? Here we go.

You will need.                                                            

Bag                             56 - 2 1/2" squares.

                                                 Lining (2)                           10 1/2" x 12 1/2"

                                                 Brim (4)                             2 1/2" x 12 1/2"

                                                 Handles (4)                        2 1/4" x 12"

                                                 Drawstring closer (4)          8 1/2" x 12 1/2"
                                                 Interfacing

Start with your 2 1/2" squares. 

I was lucky enough to get these super cute Happy Zombie ones. 

2 1/2" square

Sew them together, I chained them, and then sewed the two together,

 and so on until you have something like this.

Four rows of six and one row of four.

Then sew them together.

Do it twice, so that you have a front and a back.

Then sew them together.

Iron what will be your bottom seam open.

Next iron it on to some interfacing.

You can use what ever is your favorite. 

Fusible fleece is nice and soft.

I would like to take a minute to talk about what I used.

My sister gave this to me.

You can only get it at Joann's in the sewing center.

If you sew bags you know that the best thing to use is fusible fleece.

If you use fusible fleece then you know that it is $7.00 a yard. 

This is a little lighter weight then the fusible fleece but is only...

brace your self...

.99 cents a yard.

You can buy a whole bolt for $10.00 the same price as 1 1/2 yards of the fleece stuff.

Your welcome.

Moving on... 

Sew your lining pieces together 

then press that bottom seam (12 1/2") open.

Iron your lining, brim, and handle pieces to the interfacing. 

All of your prep work is done, now is a good time to take a break.

I am going to pick up my daughter from preschool I will be right back.

OK I 'm back, 

trim all of your pieces from the interfacing.

Let's sew the whole thing together shall we.

Sew down the sides.

Press the seam open.

Now you have this funny little chunk missing, this is how we are going to fix it.

Line up the bottom seam with the side seam,

sew it together keeping the seams together.

Turn it inside out and voila a square bottom bag.

Shall we do the lining next, lets go.

Sew the side seams

Line up the side seam with the bottom seam pin (on the other side)

Measure four inches across, like this.

Mark it with a line.

Sew on the line.

Now if you want you can trim off the excess, I didn't.

Fold the extra toward the center, and put inside the bag,

lining up the side seams.

Baste together.

You are doing great, we are half way.

Now we are going to do the handles and the brim.

Ready or not here we go.

This is a trick I learned and when I first saw it I was like

"How did I not know this!"

Maybe you will be the same, or you will think I am a dork for not knowing.

Anyway put in a safety pin like this with the head pointed in.

Sew down either side.

Start pushing the pin through.

Look at that totally turned inside out.

Awesome!!

Topstitch on both sides. 

I like to use my open toe foot for this, it is a nice guide.

For the brim sew all the sides together.

Make a mark four inches from the side, on both sides.

Yes I do do this with a razor blade. 

Be careful not to go beyond your seam allowance. 

See look at that nice little mark.

Center your handle on the mark, pin in place.

Sew the top closed.

Turn inside out and topstitch the edge, again with the open toe foot.

Look how cute it is.

Now with right sides together, place it on the bag.

Almost done now we just need to make the drawstring closer.

Layer all your drawstring pieces together and on the 8 1/2" side 

make a mark that is 1 1/2" down from the top. 

Cute little mark, that is where we are going to start sewing.

Sew your side seam.

Press this seam open, if you hold the unsewn ends just right

They will lay open and let you press them down.  

Topstitch down either side of the seam.

Once again using the open toe foot, start where the seam is split open.

Do both sides of both the front and the lining.

With right sides together, sew the two pieces together.

Turn inside out and topstitch around the top.

Beginning at the point where the slit stops, 

topstitch around the top again, making a casing.

We are almost done I promise.

Now we are going to make a sandwich.

Like this bag, brim, and the drawstring top.

Make sure you have the right sides together.

Sew around the top keeping shy of the basting stitches.

All sewn together.

Trim off the excess seam allowance. 

Pull up on the draw string part..

and tuck it inside the bag.

Lift up on the brim....

and topstitch with your quilting foot around the bag

make sure to keep it all taut, pull out on the brim and pull back 

on the drawstring part as you feed it through.  

Look how nice that finishes, the outside...

the inside.

The very last step. 

Thread ribbon through the casing on one side...

and then on the other side.

Tie a knot in the ends and burn the edges so that they won't fray.

Pull them tight and,

You

Are 

DONE!!!

I knew we could do it. 

I hope you like it and I can't wait to see if you make one.