Everyone should have a friend who sews

I play Bunco.  There, now you know.  One of my Bunco Babes (friend who plays with me) is helping to organize a big craft fair at her church.  She asked me to have a table at the fair to sell my bags.  It didn't take me but a second to say "yes"!  Now I have to get busy.  I created this fun little pattern with a ruler and a pen.  These quilted totes are so much fun to make.  I think  I will put together a tutorial on it.  But not today.  I have to go vote.  Women in America are allowed to vote, I would never miss.  Then I will make a few more of these.

 I used two jelly rolls.  Only a little of each.  They are just the most fun way to buy fabric.  They really are yummy.  One is Batik Jelly Aqua made in India.  I think it is actually batik and not printed. It feels like there was once wax on the fabric.  How cool is that?  The other is Fabric Central's Paisley Pop Jelly  collection from Joann.com.  I have enough to make two more from each collection.  Hmmmm, maybe I'll mix them together and call it Paisley Batik!

 I used a light weight cotton batting and did a quilt-as-you-go method.  It was so fast.  I love instant gratification.  Each bag took me about an hour and a half including letting the goofy lab out twice.

I even added a zipper inside the top.  I always wanted to try this inset method.  It was so easy!

Gift To The Bride And Groom

Here is the completed Purple Sampler Quilt.  I chose the blocks from http://www.jinnybeyer.com.  They have a huge collection of historical blocks in several sizes…all FREE.  Love that.  I used the 12" blocks.  I also added my own little house, a log cabin block, a paper pieced Chinese Lantern block and a bird house block.  I just really wanted to make all of those.  It fished at a generous twin size.  The back is solid dark purple.  When I asked my niece-to-be what colors she would like in her quilt she lit up and said "purple" with all the love in her heart.

The hardest part wasn't cutting, piecing, choosing fabrics (though I bought about every deep purple on the market), it was wrapping it up and giving it away.  While I love my nephew and his sweetie so much, this was a real work of heart.  I'm glad they have it though.  Now I can work on one for another niece.  Guess what colors she asked for….PURPLE.  Again!  She's getting some prints.  Photos soon.

Pin Cushions

While resting in bed with a nasty cold, I spent a few hours on Pinterest.  I never thought I would do that but now I'm hooked.  I discovered that I can be a hoarder without any guilt.  I discovered pin cushions. Yes, I have several that I use everyday, but I never thought that they could be darling little bits of art.  

So I pinned, and pinned and pinned.  Then I got over the cold and dug around for my box of felt and my box of fancy beads and my beading needle and the stash of empty and very clean tuna cans and my embroidery threads that I haven't used in over 20 years.  Well, I can see many a late dinner coming to my table.  This is so much fun and I have hundreds of ideas to create.  Here are the ones I've completed so far.  Now I really do need to make some dinner.

 No, I do not know what I'm going to do with them all, thank you for asking.  I have already given four away…not shown, because they are no longer with me.

 Maybe I will put them on Etsy.

 Maybe I will give them as Christmas gifts.

 Maybe I will make a tutorial and put it on YouTube.

 Probably I will make lots more.

 In team colors or holiday themes.

 But one thing is for certain…..

 I'm going to put them on Pinterest!