The creativity returns...

So last time I mentioned my creativity has returned with renewed vigor.  Over the holiday break, I had a sewing day with my peep, Evie.  We took over my dining room with all our sewing stuff and went to town.  We were actually secretly going to stitch a birthday present for our peep, Linda who is going on a once in a lifetime trip to Paris and London this spring!  Since I didn't have the foresight to snap a picture myself, I asked Linda if she'd send me a picture.  Thanks, Girlie!

Here's the bag I sewed for her!  Our friend, Evie found the fabric at a local shop called Silk Road Textiles and brought it along.  Isn't it just the cutest?!  It wasn't a quilting cotton but felt more like a poplin.  It stitched up beautifully.  We decided to go with a zipper style bag so Linda wouldn't have to worry about any of her stitchy things escaping when stitching on that long plane ride there or back. 

Here's a close-up of the cute zipper pull Evie put on it.  It's a little hard to make out but it says "London" on it in script letters.  It's just the perfect addition to the bag and really finishes it off! 

This is the bag Evie and I each made after we finished Linda's.  We used the same fabric and the same pattern.  Her's has the fabric print centered differently on the flap.  We modified the "Vonna Bag" pattern I'd previously used to be two colored rather than all one.  Here's the link to Vonna's video and here's the link to her finishing page.  She really does have some awesome tutorials if you've never checked her out.  And no, she didn't pay me to say this either!  I'm just a fan!

Since I had my sewing stuff still strewn all over the dining room, I decided to make another bag on New Year's Day.  I've had this fabric for quite a while.  It came from JoAnn's.  I decided to morph two different project bag styles into one.  It took some fiddling to figure out the sizing but I got it pretty close to what I was hoping for.  I took notes so if I want to do this again I'll not have to use so much brain power to do it.  LOL!

Speaking of project bags, I received this lovely one from Robin in Virginia!  She really knows me well.  I had been watching this one on the Sew Much 2 Luv Etsy site for a while and then it was gone.  Much to my surprise, it came to my house for my birthday!  Love the super cute matching pink scissors and I had to do a double take on those note cards.  I could have sworn they were my Shelby!  Thank you again, Robin!  You really made my day and I think of you every time I use this bag which is now housing my "Chocolate Box" project!

While we are talking birthday, I also received this lovely sign and birthday cake minder from Needle Attractions!  I had heard that she does something special each month for her "birthday babies" and this is what she sent.  I ordered the Brit Kitty as a present to myself because you know, I love Hello Kitty.

So as I mentioned previously, I decided I wanted to learn to knit.  So I treated myself to a knitting lesson at the LYS.  I started out knitting dishcloths and made two back to back.  Then Margaret encouraged me to try a cowl aka neck warmer.  So this is my start on my third ever project and first ever cowl.  There's no pattern for it but the nice lady at the knitting store kindly wrote the instructions down for me and got me started.  Needless to say I've made a ton of progress sine this picture was taken.  I'll show more next time.

Well folks, there you have it, all the stuff I've been up to lately.  My new mantra is "I want to make ALL the things!"  Now if only I didn't have to work to pay for all the things.  LOL!  I'll be back again soon to share with you all the goodness from the getaway I went on last weekend.  I can hardly wait.  Gotta go work on editing the pictures!  Thanks for stopping by!

More soon,
The Inspired Stitcher

Russellville Recap part 2

Well folks yesterday got away from me and I didn't get my post up.  I underestimated how many pictures I had to edit.  So go grab a cuppa something, we are going to be here for a while.  I've got a whole lot to share with you today!

After we did our exchange at the hotel, we called one of our peeps for directions to the new hive at the county extension office.  We changed locations this year as the previous one was falling into disrepair.  This new hive was the "bee's knees" as they say and yes, I meant that pun too!  Here's a look at the hive set up.  This new place had a gourmet kitchen and we had our meals catered by a Mennonite lady who was an awesome cook!  This allowed the Queen Bee to participate more in the fun.  I think I worked out really well!

Once everyone was there and settled we were given our getaway project.  As you all know, I do love BBD!  I've wanted to stitch this one for quite sometime.  We got to pick out our floss color. All the floss was by GAST.  I chose Geranium.  It's a bright pinkish red.  The little purple things are Jordan almonds.  Yum!  In the US you see them a lot at weddings and celebrations.

This is what it looked like by the end of the night Friday.  I'm thinking I want to put some beads on it in place of the charted confetti "x" and I've got some button trim in the stash heap somewhere that would be nice around the edge of a pillow finish.

Design: Getaway Girls Count

Designer: Rose Sartore

Fabric:  28 ct.  White

Floss:  WDW Confetti and DMC

Started:  3/22/15

Finished:  3/28/15

Completed:  By the Queen Bee

Also, when we were given our kits we got this project bag.  We had stitched the fronts and sent them in with our registration and the Queen Bee made them all into bags for us.  It was designed by one of our getaway bees, Rose.  We all picked our own colors.  Too cute!

In between stitching and visiting, I shopped the boutique the Queen Bee set up for us.  Just look at all this goodness.  Yes, I found things I couldn't live without.

Hands On Design was one of the biggies this year.  You all know how much I adore her things.  I couldn't help myself.  I was so happy to see the "Pin Feathers" chart there too.  I had passed it by at Finishing Touch and it was haunting me.  Yay!  The little square of fabric is what I'll use for it.  The bees, well they speak for themselves.  The bigger piece of fabric is just because.  I'm sure I'll come up with something to use it.

While we were stitching on Friday, we had a four legged visitor.  Do you see it in the middle of the picture?  Everyone got a sniff and she got an ear scratch.  She came in with the warden and the inmates who fixed the folding door in the upper right corner of the picture.  Yes, you read that correctly!  I didn't initially notice that until I read the one guy's vest.  Um...yeah!  Never a dull moment...no siree!

Okay, so yeah, back to stitchy things.  This was our show and tell table.  The bags in the back contained our exchange gifts.  We did that on Saturday.  Let's have a closer look at these pretties!

Lots of pretty things to share and admire!  We really are a talented group.  I actually have a couple of these charts in my stash and now after seeing them stitched up, I'm tempted.  If only I could live forever to be able to stitch all I'd like to.  I bet you all feel the same way too!

 

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Well folks, this post has gotten longer than I'd intended so I think I'll leave you here and resume the recap tomorrow with the exchange and a peek at some goodies I picked up in town.  I hope you are enjoying the grand adventure so far!

More soon,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hands on Design Project Bag...Done!

Folks, we have a finish!  I put the last stitch in this one on Sunday.  I had gotten a good go at it last week since I was so close to a finish and stitching with the peeps last Friday gave me the push I needed to actually make it to the finish line!

But that isn't the best part!  Oh no, I actually completed it into it's bag form.  Now I can use it!!  More on that in a minute.  First, I have to tell you how I solved my dilemma about the motif I mentioned on TUSAL day.

I wasn't wild about the motif between the words "sampler" and "motif" as it was charted.  Something about it just didn't strike my fancy.  I tried to chart my initials and even another spool of thread for that spot.  As I was sitting there pondering what to do, I looked at my latest SANQ issue sitting beside me and noticed the motif between the arrows above.  Jackpot!  It fit perfectly.  I ended up putting my initials on the lower right corner so they are still on it just not in a prominent spot as I'd first envisioned.  That's the beauty of stitching, you can change anything you want because it's yours!

Design:  Love My Stitching

Designer: Hands on Design

Fabric: 28 ct. white Monaco

Floss:  DMC as charted

Started: 4/6/15

Finished: 5/31/15

Completed: 6/3/15

Here's the finished bag!  I really like these finishing fabrics.  I still can't believe I got so lucky to find the actual fabric the designer used for the outside.  In case you are interested, the outside fabric is by Riley Blake Designs' line called Polka Dot Stitches in the print called Polka Dot Doily Blue.  I lined it in a polka dot print by Mary Koval from the line called Cat in the Manor that has an aqua and white dot on red.  A perfect match!

The finished size of the bag ended up being 10.5" wide by 12.5" high.  It's a little bit bigger than the ones I've made before.  It is also padded on all sides and has a chart pocket inside that runs lengthwise across the back of the bag.  The finishing instructions are by Sew Much 2 Luv and came with the chart which I thought was really nice.  They were pretty easy to follow too.


I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to Stasi from Bee Mused and Bee Stitching who inspired me to pull this chart out and actually stitch it!  I saw hers a while back and just had to do it too.  I also wanted to be able to take this with me to Russellville next month since I bought the chart there last year at retreat.  I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy using this bag!

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So there we are friends!  Thanks for stopping in today and sharing my happy dance.  As always, I appreciate your visits and kind words.  It's so fun to share my stitching with you all.


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

New Start Progress - Hands on Design

Last night was our guild's monthly stitch-in.  It was fun to get together with the peeps for the evening to sit and stitch.  Since I'd worked all day and was pretty tired, I decided to work on my new start I mentioned in the TUSAL post the other day.  I knew stitching on 40ct. was not happening.  Oh the hazards of banging away on a keyboard all day long staring at a computer screen.  LOL!

Here's a progress picture taken at the end of the night.  This was the perfect stitch for me since my eyes were already tired.  It's worked on 28ct. even weave with three colors of DMC.  It was such a change only working with a small selection of colors.

Here a link to Hands on Design's blog.  I just love her stuff!

 
This is what it will look like when it's all stitched.  I was even lucky enough to find that actual aqua print!  In case you are on the hunt, it's by Riley Blake Designs.  The fabric line is Polka Dot Stitches and this particular print is called Polka Dot Doily Blue.  If you type in any of that into a Google search you should come up with something.

I will say a lesson I learned from my quilting days, if you don't buy a fabric shortly after it comes out you may not ever see it again.  Knowing this, I feel extremely lucky to have found the aqua fabric.  I'm less concerned about the lining fabric but am leaning toward a small red and white polka dot or maybe a gingham.  We'll see what I can find.

There's an element of this particular bag's construction that I really like.  It has an interior pocket that runs the entire width of the bag on the inside back for your chart!  How stinkin' cool is that?!

This bag is also going to be a bit wider than the bags I've made in the past.  It will be closer to 14" wide.  I'm thinking I may try to make it a bit taller too to accommodate my 11" q-snaps.  As you can tell, I'm already getting excited to finish this one so I can actually use it!

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Well folks, that's all I have today.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  I can see it from here!  Thanks for stopping by today!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher