Evening Bag

So, I know a girl who is graduating from high school this month. She forwarded me a picture of her graduation dress and I knew I had to make her a purse to match. It was a dress I would have chosen myself and I think that's why it resonated with me. And, I like her. ;)

I created the pattern myself, but had a seriously good guide with a tutorial by U-Handbag. Bless you, Lisa Lam. I found the hardware on Etsy through While Baby Naps and it is AWESOME. I haven't seen stuff like this available in the US before and the prices are great. So, if you are interested in making your own one of these, between these two resources you should be all set.

Here is a pic of the original inspiration:

I think she will like it. :)

Winner!

I had a couple exciting wins this week that I wanted to share.

First, I won a Sunkissed by Moda Charm Pack from This N That Fabrics. They were holding a giveaway on their blog about what is your favorite upcoming fabrics. I mentioned that I was reeeaally looking forward to Sarah Jane's Children At Play line. It is SO cute and I know I could make some darling stuff for my nieces and nephews from this. >:D And lo and behold, I won. Love that. ;)

Second, I won the drawing this month for the Style Stitches bag of the month project! Woohoo! There was another winner as well and I think she responded first and would therefore be able to choose the $50 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop. But I am very happy with the second prize of a $25 gift certificate to Above All Fabric. I haven't heard back from the coordinator yet, so I'm not for sure, but who cares! I won! And just when I was swearing off buying any fabric for the next month, too. ;)

Hope everyone has been having a great weekend.

Style Stitches Monthly Challenge - Month 5

This month our challenge was for the Perfectly Pleated Clutch. Available in 3 sizes. So far I'm the only one who has made all three sizes. Doh! It was a lot of work, I can tell you that. But I wanted to do all three because I knew that I would need at least one practice run. And sure enough, that small one did not come out as planned. But, I was able to get some help from a friend on installing my zippers and once I was able to observe my mistake, I went back and read the instructions with news eyes and figured out how to correct it.
And it worked! The next two came out great! I was pretty excited. My first 'perfect' zipper installation.

These were made with fabric from the Ty Pennington Impressions fabric line, in quilting weight. I just looooove the coral color. So summery. :)

At the beginning of the year I signed up to participate in a Pay It Forward challenge for crafty items and I will be giving the large two bags to others as part of that. The small one will probably go to my niece to play with. ;)

It was a great challenge this month, for sure!

Visit from Jenn

Well, so I'm only a month late. ;)
Here, finally, are pics of what I received from Jenn during her visit and our swap.
It is a book with pages to hold this, that and the other of small sewing things, and places to hold needles and threads and anything else I might need a place for. It is AMAZING. See if you can recognize any of my previously used fabrics and embellishments. ;)

Here is the front

.

And the Back

That was my brooch. And big, red Rose. And bat. etc, etc. :)

Front Dedication Page. The polka dot fabric is fuzzy to hold needles.

The plastic pages are zip locked and reinforced with red and zebra duct tape. !! 

Embellishment on the side. Signature Jenn with the fabric and ribbon scraps. 

She also loves keys and hid one in there. 

                       Those red blocks were not mine, but the little black and white button was.

Is she amazing, or what?? 

Style Stitches Monthly Challenge - Month 4

This month's bag challenge is actually a checkbook cover. Once again, I am not happy with the results. I'm using it, but it's not as nice as it could have been. I think I just get impatient and don't bother with exact measurements and seams. This gets me in trouble.  I mean, I do try...but I'm not there with the microscope making exaaaactly sure I've made a 1/2 in seam or cut on the 1/4 inch. So. My stuff comes out crooked. *shrug* I have a choice. Take the time to make sure my measurements are exact or be happy with non-perfect results.

I should take the time. If I do, I know that I will get better at it and it will go quicker.

Without further ado:

Style Stitches Monthly Challenge - Month 3

Well...this was a very challenging month for me in regard to my Style Stitches project.
I had decided to kill two birds with one stone on this.
I have a cyber friend coming into town on business and we are going to meet and hang out for the day, for the first time!!
We are both crafty types and we agreed that we wanted to make each other something. Jenn suggested a 'swap' and I was very excited to participate. The rules were, we swap some of our favorite fabrics and notions and the other person had to use those materials to make 'Something That Holds Stuff'. :) Soooo, since she is traveling for business quite a bit lately I decided to make her some travel bags that could be used to hold little essentials.

THEN I got her bag. I already pretty much knew what I was in for because I have seen her quilts and art and HOUSE, but..when actually confronted with the explosion of color and texture and 'Jenn-ness' of it all..I freaked. It is just so NOT ME. How the heck am I going to create something that she would like?? Nothing I do will be cool enough or beautiful enough or worthy enough of her items.

Then I got annoyed with myself and said, 'Just do it. It will work out'.

And here are the results:

  

All five bags 

Front of Xtra Small Bag. 

 Back.

 Front of Mini Bag

Back

Front of Small Bag (the bag has the same prints)

Butterfly on the zipper..also provided by Jenn. 

Front of Medium Bag

 Back

Front of Xtra Large Bag. Prints the same for the back, minus the fiber art.

*sigh* I dunno. Nothing that I would carry, just because it screams sensory over-load to me. It's too much. I need clean lines and matching prints and colors. But will Jenn like it??? Time will tell. She gets here next Monday. Will let you know! ;)

Modern Relief Quilt Raffle for Japan

I wanted to help spread the word about the Modern Relief Quilt Raffle to help Japan.






You can check out their web site HERE

• Every Monday, (April 4th -May 16th, 2011) a new group of quilts will be featured on ModernRelief.com
• To enter for a chance to win one of the quilts featured, you will click on the PayPal button that will be located on the top right column of their blog or at the bottom of any featured-quilts post. This will bring you to the Modern Relief PayPal account.
• Donations are unlimited, so please feel free to give till your heart's content.
• Every $10.00 donation gives you one chance to win any of the quilts featured during the ENTIRE raffle period (April 4th - May 16th, 2011)
• Multiple wins by a single person will be allowed, so you do have the chance to win more than one quilt
• Winners of the quilt raffle will be chosen by a random number generator after May 16th, 2011, and the list of winners will be posted here. We will also contact the winners at the email address listed on the PayPal account.
• All donations received will be donated to Mercy Corps

There are going to be at least 75 quilts up for raffle. Wow!! This is really cool. I think I have a spare $10 or so....how about you? Feel free to spread the word and good luck!

Fancy Pants

I have a new fancy phone that allows me to update Blogger on the go! I know this technology is not news, but it is to me! Having fun with it.

The picture is of Chewie spying on our painters, making sure they are doing it right. :)

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Quilts of Valor

I just stumbled upon a home for my new quilting skills.

Quilts of Valor
They give quilts to service men and women who have been mentally and physically affected by their service, in a negative way. This goes for current and past service people!
I know I could *never* and I mean NEVER be in the armed forces. So I am truly grateful for those who can and do join up. This program gives me an opportunity to say Thank You.

I am so excited to start working on my first quilt!! Actually..just my first block.
I've joined the online quilting bee   (see widget to the right) that will take just blocks and then put them together to make whole quilts if you haven't got the time (or...skills?) to make a whole one.
I just love this!!

My brother is in the Army stationed in Korea. He is an Apache Helicopter pilot and has done two tours in Iraq. I originally wanted to find a patriotic quilt pattern and fabric to make him a quilt (which I will stilll be doing), but then I stumbled on Quilts of Valor. What an awesome national service project.

Go check it out!!

Outfit for my Niece

Soooo....I got the urge to create some baby clothes. My little niece is so dang cute (I'm biased, but she is) and I needed to make something just as cute as her.

I have a ton of pretty, rose themed fabric. I just absolutely love Shabby Chic and have visions of beautiful baby clothes in my head. Alas, it never turns out that way for me. lol

Here is the finished outfit. The bloomers are jumbo size, as is the hat. The hat did not come out right, so I had to fudge it with a ribbon and a bow. My blog is my confessional or something...I always have to come clean with my snafu's. ;)

AND, I did not have enough fabric of either print to make the dress one color, so I had to split it up, and the bloomers too. That was NOT in the original pattern design. haha...But hey, it makes this particular outfit all ME from top to bottom. ;)

Someday she will be able to fit in it, and it has a tag in the bloomers 'Handmade by Aunt Jan'.  <3

New Beginnings: Feast of St. Patrick Part Four: A Gift for Mr. Tic...

Here is my sister blogging about the Sock Monkey and blanket I made my nephew Francis for his 3rd birthday, using the 5 Funky Monkey's fabric by Erin Michael. She's a much better blogger than me, I have to say. :)

New Beginnings: Feast of St. Patrick Part Four: A Gift for Mr. Tic...: "I love how even though my sister lives on the opposite side of the States, she still finds a way to pop up during our celebrations! In this ..."

Valentine's Treats

I know I am seriously late in posting this, but I still wanted to share.
My sister sent me a super sweet Valentine's package that just made my month. >:D

This is a picture she made with all the kids handing me a lollipop. And there was a bag of candy goodies attached to the back. 

This is another hand made card she did, with a picture of the two us in the center from when she was a baby and I was 9. Also some more candy. :) We have big sweet tooths in my family.

There was also a card made by Malia and the other kids, and some treats for Chewie and Bella too!

The main card - stationary that I had given Jodi a couple years ago, and a handmade pin cushion from Malia. She had seen the idea in a library book and wanted to make it for me. Is that not the sweetest thing??!!

I love it and have been using it for my pretty decorative pins. 

And finally, a book about the Beatles that had made it's way through the fam. We are all Beatles fans as well. But, I told her the buck stopped with me. This baby is not going anywhere!! I'm keeping it, forever. ;) 

Here is Chewie enjoying his treat from Aunt Jodi.

And Bella doing the same. I had, coincidentally, gotten them the same treats for V-Day (great minds think alike) so they were very spoiled this year.

And that's it! I have an amazing sister and nieces and nephews, whom I love very much. Thanks Jo and kiddies!