Thursday, August 29, 2013

An August Finish~

Yay!!

I am so glad to finish
and have this stocking ready for hand-delivery.

Maybe I am more excited about seeing 
Miss Sweetness and her parents in person?

I hope she enjoys it for years and years!


All tied up in flannels.....


I am linking up here.....


 and


Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Quilt Photography Workshop~


My camera takes wonderful pictures.
I set it on auto, point, shoot,
and usually I am lucky to have a good one!

But.....
I really want to learn to take better pictures,
with a little more control of how they turn out.

Plum and June

So, I am working on a little bit each month...

August's theme:  Fabric ~

I chose to take them outside near a friend's flowers.
All are the same 55mm lens and 100 ISO.  
The clouds kept alternating with sunshine, which changed things a bit.


All Auto f/5.6 1/125 sec
Then I tried the camera in manual options with auto focus..

f/3.2 1/320
fading out with too much exposure

f/2.5 1/400
even more faded..


f/4 1/125
Better?

Up close f/2.8 1/250

 f/2.8 1/250
Added a little manual focus here..


A view from the top f/5.6 1/125

These fabrics are all from IKEA.  
I had no idea they had such fun ones!
Still need to work on the shooting though.

Twenty-one photos.....

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Wednesday Making Progress~

I am happy to be making progress on this little piece.


I have known what pattern I wanted to use for a while,
but picking out fabric was a challenge.
I do like it so far!
Back to work.....

I am linking up at Freshly Pieced 
where you can lots of ideas!


Monday, August 19, 2013

For the Love of Hand Embroidery~


Check out the cute owls and quilt
Bea made!
Bea is the guest on Jane's Fabrics and Quilts today!
Every Monday she will have a new guest.


And,
I forgot to add all of the quilt last week,
so here is the rest of it.  
How many of these quotes do you remember hearing..... 



Saturday, August 17, 2013

All Bagged Out~


This summer the Nursing Daughter celebrated her
21st birthday at home.


In an effort to avoid thinking about her leaving,
I immersed myself in creative bag making!
I may have gotten carried away, but it was SO much fun!!

.  
At first I was going to make just The Locked and Loaded bag by Sew Sweetness
In February I had a lot of fun testing this pattern and my daughter,
had requested one of her own.
Sara makes great patterns if you are interested in trying one of her cute bags.  
She also has a book coming out, Big City Bags.


Inside I added a second zippered pocket, flannel lining and a D-ring.


Then I made MichellePatterns "Harder" Dumpling Bag 
and my smaller mini with hooks to hang inside.


She will be doing 12-hr rotations at school as part of her training,
and that means packing a breakfast/lunch.
So..... a girl needs a stylin' lunch bag to carry it all in!
I again used ripstop for easy cleaning,  but added loops on this one--
one inside and another on the outside.
The little hexagon bag is for keys....or milk money ;o)


This was first attempt at a paper-piecing.  
It is hard to tell, but it is a cupcake.
Above it there are 21 candles-sort of...
It didn't quite turn out like I envisioned, but it was fun to try
and she understood the gist of it.


The other side was her Alaska view.
It is lined with a pretty purple and gold stars cotton.


Shoes are a big part of her day because she runs for her school.
Keeping them organized by miles, purpose, etc., can be a challenge,
sew I decided to try a shoe bag.
The laminates were really easy to work with
for the shoe bag and mini dumpling spike bag.
Now she can keep her racing shoes and spikes together
to grab as she runs out the door.


She was ready to hit the ground running 
when she went back to school.....


Monday, August 12, 2013

For The Love of Hand Embroidery~

Jane came up with a fun idea this summer
and I asked if I could join the party.

I enjoy a good time, and think this will be one! 

Each Monday there will be someone sharing 
hand embroidery.

Today is Kris T 's turn.
Please hop over to her blog to take a look!

This is the bottom half of a vintage quilt I rescued from a under a pile at
an antique store.
Someone spent a lot of time lovingly working on the stitches..
quilting and embroidery.
I think the embroidered quotes were free-hand, 
but the entire piece is hand-worked.


My photographer just returned to school (sad face),
so when I saw how she caught both her and I in this sunny day picture
I kept us together.....



Friday, August 9, 2013

Wrap Up Day For the Ho-Ho-Ho Blog Hop~

Today is the final day of the wonderful Ho-Ho-Ho Blog Hop!

I hope you have found lots of inspiration to kick-start your
holiday creations!

Thanks to Carol and Madame Samm
for pulling us all together as we hop along!!

You can go back and look at the beautiful works by clicking on the Hop Buttons!
Since today, the last day, is my turn, 
I thought...
Let's Wrap It Up!!
Everyone loves a pretty package,
and a smart, useful, pretty package is a gift that 
keeps on giving...
A pillowcase is perfect for those larger or odd-shaped gifts,
and it is something that everyone uses.
Tie it up with a pretty ribbon and it is ready to go under the tree!

A gift bag with a sewn casing and drawstring could hold smaller items,
although they can be made any size.
The bags work great for traveling, holding shoes or storage...

You can decorate the bag with a simple holiday motif,
make it scrappy, or from bleached muslin to store a stocking or quilt.


Or, how about a festive little zippered bag?
You can never have too many bags with zippers..
fabulous organizational tools!
Noodlehead has directions for some spiffy open-wide zippered pouches.

Zippered bags can come in all sizes and shapes.
Michelle Patterns has wonderfully simple directions for the two larger


Wouldn't it be sweet to find them nestled in the branches,
filled with treats or little poems?
They are easy to make...the tiny one is 1" smaller than her smallest pattern.


How about a basket to fill with goodies?
A Spoonful of Sugar has a great tutorial for gathered baskets.
She also has directions for three different sizes!


Thanks to this hop I have some wrappings ready...


Now this elf needs to get working on their stuffings, 
because, although it was an amazing 70' F when I took these photos
at 9PM
(in August near Nome that is qUiTe a surprise),
we know that white stuff will be flying before we are ready for it!!

Happy Holidays to all and to all a good night.....


Please hop to these other blogs too
 and find out what they have to share with you~

August 9
Thanks for stopping by Forget-Me-Not Stitches!

Ho-Ho-Ho.....


Thursday, August 8, 2013

August Eighth and Only One More Ho~


There is only today and tomorrow to get your elfee inspiration!

A Dressing WIP~



I don't sew clothes very often.
They never seem to turn out like I envision them..
or maybe the vision is on another body?
And the dreadful zippers...argh!

But, the Nursing Daughter found some fabric...
 and a pattern...
and she is tall and a better clothes hanger, so I am giving it a try,
again.

This is my Work in Progress.....



I am linking up here~




Friday, August 2, 2013

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Ho-Ho-Ho Blog Hop Day Two is Happening~


Today is the second day of the Ho-Ho-Ho Blog Hop!!

Please click the button on
the sidebar to see the entire list.

You are sure to find a lot of holiday inspiration!!

Today we have:
August 1

Happy Stitching.....