He knows when you're awake...

Have you been bad or good?  I don't know if I've necessarily been bad or good but I do know that I gave myself a pretty cool gift for my recent birthday. <go with it for me ok? I somehow feel better with an assigned justification>

As a quilter it is pretty hard to pass up a tote pattern and one can truly never (ever) have enough totes.  Love 'em.  Well, have you ever been to Lisa Lam's blog?  She has some really great tips and tricks on bags and purse construction not to mention a great online store with goodies. 

I totally fell in love with the Graceful Kelly bag and frame and she published a fabulous tutorial to make your own.  Couldn't wait but at the same time I was a teensy bit anxious about metal frames and glue.



I used wool suiting and a stash cotton for my bag.




The construction of the bag is slick and all directions are super clear

I couldn't let glue stop me now!  I got virtual support (*pom poms*) from Katy on frame bags (thanks Katy!) since she has made some metal frame bags..that helped get me started....so I did it


End result?  I adore this bag!  I cannot say enough good things about it at all.  I am glad I went ahead and pushed '2' on my order for the frame too as I now want a summer version.  *Love*

OK, now that I have that off my chest and have properly thanked myself for my own gift - let me wish you all a Happy Holiday season! 

and be good <for goodness sake>!  Take care!!

Winners are Grinners - SMS winner!

Wowee wasn't the SMS giveaway just about so much fun!?  There are so many talented people right?  I entered oh about a ka-jillion of the giveaways myself, but I loved seeing the blogs and sites more.  Inspiration overload.

The responses I got (69!) were so much fun to read!  I laughed until I snorted and even got a little sniffly with some of the cute memories and ideas.  Really entertaining to read!

We have a winner (by the way I totally swiped my post headline from this lovely lady - makes me giggle every.single.time).  I am not awake yet to be technically adept at screen capture so - here is a screenshot of the random.org winning number - 31!

Sistermoon is #31 and she won the book and pipe cleaners - woo hoo!!!

Here is her comment:

Sistermoon has left a new comment on your post "Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!":

I love this! I'm always looking for crafts to do with my little ones.

 

ENJOY!  I sent you an email and will mail your book/supplies as soon as I get your address.

 

On other fronts I finally sewed up some holiday gift bags for giving.  There are a bunch of great tutorials for gift bags but I love Jeni's version the best that I've tried so far.  <Jeni's pictures are far superior for these bags too...Santa, are you listening?  New camera would be oh so appreciated!>  These bags are super fun to make and a quick finish!  

 

I'll be back soon ~ everyone have a great weekend! 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

It's a giveaway!  Welcome to you first time visitors and welcome back to my followers.  I hope you are having fun with the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day!  

I don't know about you all but I think my holiday gift making list is getting smaller by the second.  Less that 2 weeks?!  How does it sneak up like that?  Oh, I have plenty of stuff going on but not anything that would be considered a non-me gift at this point.  If you want to stop back and visit again some time you can see how I am progressing on this little beauty:

I am participating in a 'row a month' club locally and we are all making this lovely house quilt from Friendship Strips & Scraps by Edyta Sitar.  I just started and love this already, we'll see about the hand sewn applique'....eep.

Anyway, enough with it! What is the giveaway??  Well, you could win this great book Make and Takes for Kids by Marie LeBaron.   

This book is so dang cute!!  There are some fantastic ideas for kids to make 50 crafts and many of these would be fun for the whole gang at kids birthday parties:



bug hat







clothespin butterfly

So, leave me a comment between now and 5:00PM PST December 16 ~ AND let me know a memorable kids birthday party you either had or went to or put on and why....can't remember any?  Then tell me a great idea you have for one!

<make sure your email displays for me via blogger, or include it in your comment!>

  I will pick the winner December 17 (via random number generator), email the big winner by December 18 and ship as soon as possible - I will even brave the postal crowds and ship before December 24 if I get your address quick enough!!  YES, I will ship internationally!!!

I will also include the pictured chenille pipe cleaners so you can get started on your cute kids projects right away!  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out everyone else's giveaway - there is some great stuff out there!

Happy Holidays!

Squishy Winter Wonderland

I got another squishy package from a swap :)  I spied this runner in the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Flickr group and loved it instantly. 

(I'm stealing the photo from Sarah because of the crappy overcast weather that has been abundantly available lately) * I want her table too, wonder if she can ship this from Ireland?

I am a fan of many quilters and Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs is one of the top on my list.  When I read the card before opening her beautifully wrapped gift I knew exactly which runner I received!  (admittedly I got a little weepy)

Here is a great picture of the goodies + I got a chocolate bar that was enjoyed almost immediately by me.  Besides this fabulous runner, isn't that hoop and ornament so.dang.cute?!?



Picture by Sarah @ FairyFace Designs

I absolutely adore this runner!  She also won a prize for this design, which is so well-deserved and I am so thrilled for her (and me!)!  Thank you Sarah!

Besides my near inability to tear my eyes off my new runner, I spent much of Saturday on a winter wonderland tour - and finished this:


crappy pic isn't it?

So cute and SO much fun to do!  While this looks complicated with foundation piecing, it went together so amazingly well.  I used the patterns designed by Sonja Callaghan/Artisania  and published in Quiltmaker over the past 2 issues.  <go ahead, stalk Sonja's blog, I do and it is so worth it for cute stuff!> 

And, to continue, I have been on a run with paper piecing constantly lately.  Here is another project I did for a mugrug swap (sorry no close up photo) <Edit, found a pic>:

I saw this one and thought I'd try to do 'my own' version by drawing it and paper-piecing...ya, didn't go as well as I wanted, but it worked eventually. 

Think I may leave the designing aspect of paper-piecing to the designers or I need a WHOLE lot more experience. 

Since I struggled with 'my version' of the snowman I threw in 'my' (not!) snowflake in her favorite fabric, batik to my partner.  I think she digs it :)

Now I wonder if I will wait until say Dec. 22 before I start my holiday sewing list....always better under pressure right?  Have a great day!