Fall Back Fun

Happy Fall Back Day!  This is probably my favorite day of the year.  Usually, sometime during this day, I will think that is it an hour later, realize I was looking at a clock that has not been set back, and....I have an extra hour!!!  A gift of time.  It is a nice day here, finally, after a week of clouds and a bit of rain.  I helped Carl rake a little until the neighbor came over with his gigantic leaf vacuum and helped Carl finish the job.  Another gift of time for me!!  I decided to take that found time and finish a quilt-as-you-go Big Bottom Bonnie Bag that I had started a few days ago.  I increased the size of the bag until it was about 9"x12", a good size to hold a lot of stuff.  The method I used was the one I learned in a Craftsy class taught by Tara Rebman (I highly recommend that class).  It is a quilting style that can be applied to all sorts of projects and is a good one to use up snippets of fabrics.  I love all the colors of fabrics that I used...I just pulled out my bin of tiny fabric scraps and mostly picked from there.  I think my hour is up, but I do still have that found don't-have-to-help-rake time, so maybe I can find something else quick and fun to tackle.  I have a pretty good list of things that need to be done, but I think Fall Back Day is for kicking back, relaxing, settling in for those early dark evenings and starting the lake freeze watch.  What did you spend your extra hour on today?  Jerilynn

A Cute Bag and A Cute Grandson

Finished a bag I have been working on.  It is A Cute Bag by Ginnie Kelly of Wonder Woman Quilts.  It is A Much Cuter Bag in person.  Color is off in the photo and I had a hard time getting it corrected.  Anyway, the fabric is a heavier home-dec fabric.  The stripey side is one side of the fabric, and the little square dots is the other side.  The reverse of the bag looks just like this side with the rounded pocket.  The two big outer pockets are closed with magnets, then there are two outside zipped pockets, one inside pocket for the cell phone, and one inside zipped pocket for treasures.  I added a zipper to close the top instead of the magnet in the instructions.  I also made the strap different.  I ran out of fabric - I used almost every bit of the fabric I had on hand - and didn't have enough for the wider strap which is supposed to attach to the top of the rounded pocket.  The fabric I used was just a bit too thick, but I managed to sew through all of the millions of layers just fine.  Trick is to use a very heavy needle - in this case it was a 110 topstitch needle, the kind I use to hem jeans.  I have been upstairs in the studio most of the day, while the electric stuff is being finished in the porch.  Our oldest grandson, Nick, has been working with his father, a commercial electrician, all summer.  Carl called Nick a couple of days ago and asked for help with finishing the electrical stuff.  Carl couldn't do it with his current finger mishap, but knew that Nick could do it.  Lucky us, Nick was able to come up today to help.  We now have working plugs, an outdoor light, a ceiling fan/light, and a hanging lantern light for over a table.  Carl is working on finishing the window and door trim before we put in the modular carpet.  It will be a race to see if it can be finished in time to use it a couple of times before the long winter freeze.  Happy hour will be under the lights on the screen porch tonight!  Woo hoo! Jerilynn

These Shoes Are Made For Storing

The picture in the middle is from ShelleyGerber.com, and it is a shot of part of her studio.  She is a multi-talented knitter, sewer, jewelry-maker, graphic designer, and so on and so on.  Her studio was shown in the Spring 2012 issue of Studios by Cloth.Paper.Scissors.  My friend Bonnie, of the Big Bottom Bonnie Bag fame, came up for a lesson on her new sewing machine.  She needed a little one-on-one instruction and I was happy to help.  She picked up this Studios issue and thumbed through and spied the pink shoes on the wall in Shelley's studio and said that is something I should do.  I agreed!  I was in the shoe business for many years and had some fun shoes that were just being stored in a box.  I couldn't get rid of them...they were just too cute.  I remembered the Zalo needlepoint ladybug flats that I purchased in New York for a ridiculous amount of money.  I wore them a few times, but, though cute, were a bit uncomfortable, and maybe just a tad quirky.  They remind me of my career days, and, because of the ladybugs, I just cannot send them to another home.  Carl, with his finger still bandaged, helped me pound in hangers in the heels, and the shoes now hang on my studio wall, in the "ladybug" corner.  I don't know what they are going to hold yet, but they look pretty darn perfect.  Much better than being in the box in the storage room.   Then I spied my old ladybug rain boots that haven't been used in quite a while.  They wanted to be part of the party, too, so now they are holding  yardsticks.  When we moved from our condo to the lake, I got rid of tons of stuff, but there were a few things that were just too dear or sentimental that I couldn't part with.  I wonder what else I could rescue from a box and give it new purpose?  Jerilynn  P.S.  We saw Carl's finger for the first time yesterday at the doctor's office.  Somewhat shocking.  He is back to his building project today, of course, not letting a shorter finger slow him down much. 

There Will Be a Slight Construction Delay....

What a crazy few weeks!  I gave a talk/trunk show/demo at Sew Complete the first part of October.  Prior to that I sewed and created for hours a day to finish up some projects to show.  At the same time I sent off to Indygo Junction another Modern America quilt, this time an applique version for Fall Market. That was followed by a request for pillows to match.  I was keeping my nose slightly above water when I got the phone call that you don't want to get...."Jer, there has been an accident."  I was having lunch with my mom on the way home from the last lecture.  Carl was working with our builder on our new screen porch room and he was doing the sawing while Joe was doing the nailing.  Carl got distracted and ran his right pointer finger into the table saw.  Two ER trips, one reconstructive surgery, and two weeks later, Carl is doing good.  We go in tomorrow to take off the original surgery bandages.  He should have good use of the finger and joints, once the broken bones heal.  The finger will be shorter, part of the top bone was too crushed to save.  We are lucky that a hand reconstruction specialist happened to be coming to the hospital here the day after the accident.  We are lucky that Joe was here with Carl to take him to the ER.  I am lucky that Carl is the best-natured guy in the world and has been the best patient ever.  The first couple of days were rocky for him, but, other than a huge bandage on his right hand, he is back doing most everything.  I spent the last few days digging out my studio from the sewing frenzy/drop everything from the lecture.  I did find some time, however, to make a blanket for a doll for our youngest granddaughter, Addy.  Addy and her parents are going to Costa Rica for a couple of weeks on a sabbatical.  The doll, with extra clothes, will be an airplane toy.  I thought the baby could use a blanket, and had a few scraps left of Addy's first year clothes.  You may remember the blanket I made for Addy's first birthday.  Anyway, the little squares are 2.5" and are serged together then stitched to a soft blanket and bound.  The doll may not appreciate the softness, but I think Addy will like her baby having a blanket like hers.  The construction of the screen porch is still coming along.  Carl figured out he could use his nail gun with his left hand.  He is slowly sawing boards for the interior finish, but with much attention.  Whew.  Jerilynn

Red Love

I may have mentioned at some point that I like the color red.  My Pinterest boards are full of Red Ideas...the top two photos are images that I have pinned.  The first is a tutorial from Purl Soho.  I simply took a pre-made white tea towel and did three lines of decorative stitching with a deep red thread.  Modern and vintage at the same time!  The second photo is from http://lilliathome.blogspot.com/search/label/Jul and is in Norwegian, so I am not sure what it all says, but I took the cross-stitch pillow idea and designed my version in Bernina V6 Embroidery Software in the cross-stitch program.  It was quite easy:  just click in a square that you want a stitch.  I made a towel out of a deep red Osnaburg fabric.  Love that fabric and color, don't you?  I used a wash-away stabilizer and stitched away.  I threw the towel in the washer and dryer to remove any stabilizer and this is how it looks - straight out of the dryer, no ironing.  Red and white Heaven!  Jerilynn 

Name Coasters

Remember the snowflake name coasters I  made last Christmas?  I though I would come up with another name idea for this year.  I made the snowflake by digitizing a name (Lori in the snowflake picture), mirror-imaging it and wreathing it 6 times in a snowflake pattern.   Hmmm, what else could I make by wreathing a name.....duh!  A wreath!  I added some hot-fix crystals just for a bit of holiday sparkle.  Any week now Bernina Embroidery Software Version 7 is coming out.  I can easily say that I am just more than a little excited about learning all the new stuff it can do.  I hope the wreathing tool is still there.  I  need to make a bunch of name wreaths.  Jerilynn  P.S.  Can you tell what the two names are in the new coasters?

Going in Circles

Circular embroidery attachments for sewing machines are so much fun.  Pfaff has one for their  machines now and it is very sturdy and easy to use.  I also have an attachment for my Bernina and my Brother.  I guess you could say I really like using them - and each machine has their own unique stitches, so I have been having a great time thinking of new projects to make with them.  I came up with a good idea!  I thought it would be fun to try to put in a zipper with the circular attachment and make a half-circle bag.  The idea worked great!  I  made a jewelry pouch, a sewing kit pouch, and a smaller pouch to stick in a bag for money, etc.  They are lined and have an inner layer of Soft and Stable for padding.  I will probably write a pattern for this technique.  I will keep you posted when this is done.  In the meantime, I am preparing for the Sew Club lecture at Sew Complete in October. Of course I have too many projects I want to finish and too little time.  Some days I feel as if I am just going in circles.  Jerilynn