Quilted Tote Bag

Phew! It's finished. I've never done anything like it before. I got inspired by the "freebies" I won in the quilt shop drawings. I decided to make a quilted tote bag. It sounded so easy, but I can admit now that it was pretty hard, and much more time consuming than I ever imagined.






Now for some nitty-gritty. The body and inside are made of Moda Cranberry Wishes charm squares. They are pre-cut 5 inch squares of various coordinating fabrics. They're wonderful for people like me that have difficulty choosing fabrics that "go together" nicely. I had to cut all those squares down to 4 7/8 inches, so I don't know why I didn't find a pattern for straight 5 inch squares. I will next time!

The bag inside and out is quilt "as you go" patchwork. I used an internal stiff interfacing. I think the interfacing was a little too stiff. Next time, I'll choose one that's a little lighter.

All in all, I think I've learned a few things through this sewing process. (I've been denying that I've been sewing these past few months. Quilting is easier if you ask me!) My son H thinks that I should make these bags to sell. I don't think that's an option, given how long it took me to make it!

Something to Brighten My Day

I have been hit with a cold. It started Mon. night when I was at the quilting club, which I have attended for about 6 mos. now. It meets monthly, and works on various projects for charity. I should have skipped this month's meeting, coming down with a cold, but I so enjoy sewing for charity groups. I took my little girl with me this time, and she was an angel. The other ladies really enjoyed her, and were pleased to find her so well-behaved. They invited her back next time.

Anyway, I've been muddling through the last couple days with this cold, trying to maintain my sanity with all 3 kids underfoot, without as much direction/school activity from Mom to keep them busy, and it's hard. My other HS friends know what it's like. : ) Well, today I got notice that I won (2) drawings for quilt shop merchandise from a recent Shop Hop that I participated in. I am so excited, because I never win anything! I won $100.00 store credit to a local shop for anything I want. Second, I won a $75.00 gift basket to another local store. This surely brightened my day.

Little Girl B's Birthday Quilt Finished (Late Post)

You all may remember I was working on a quilt for B's birthday. I did actually finish it just a few days after her B/day, the 4th of July. I have been informed, however, that I never posted pictures of it! So, here it is. She is pleased with it, and it is on her bed to cover her every night when she's sleeping. She doesn't seem to pack it around the house as much as C does with his, but she still tells me thank you frequently for her birthday present.

Some specifics about the quilt: B picked out several fabric prints, and I had to find something "to go" with them to finish it with. It is narrower than C's quilt, but still pretty big. There are 5 applique blocks on the front, and each of them are different. I pieced the back of the quilt with all manner of leftovers I had from the front, so I didn't have to buy more fabric. It's a hodge podge back, but functional. I wish the pictures showed their true colors. They don't look near as nice in these pictures.

Son C's Quilt Finished

I made a pretty big quilt for our middle son. It has duck fabrics, feathers, etc. He's just thrilled with it. Of course he hasn't told me so, but his actions speak louder than words. In this picture, I laid it out on a double-bed, and it's hanging over all the sides. That will give you an idea how big it is. I am glad, because it needs to be big enough for a tall boy/teenager. These kids just keep growing, and C is bound to be our tallest child. I'm glad he can grow into it. Oh, he sleeps with it every night, and brings it downstairs every morning. He's not carrying it around like a blankie, or anything, but he's using it for our story time each day during school, and also snuggling with it when we watch TV or something. For those of you interested in such things, the pattern uses (5) 1 yard cuts of fabric for the front, with hardly any waste. Don't make a mistake cutting it out, or you'll probably be headed back to the fabric store for more fabric.

I'm working on H's quilt now. 2 kids down, 1 to go!

Pain in the Eye

Hubby Ch got a metal shaving embedded in his eye. He woke up Thurs. night/Fri. morn. with pain. He didn't think too much about it, so went to work. When he got home, he worked on stuff around the house. Then he mentioned he wished he knew what he had done to his eye because it hurt. He's asked me before to look in his eye to see if I can see anything. Well, this time I did! Of course, everything like this happens on the weekend. We waited until after 9 a.m. to start calling around for an eye Dr. open on Sat. I finally found one, at the local Wal-mart. We took him in, and the doc proceeded to scrape the metal out. It was no easy feat. Evidently, the longer metal sits in the eyeball, the more it starts to spread out, molecularly! So, he waited about 32 hrs. to have it taken out, and it made it much worse. This is a picture of the metal fragment "before" it was removed. It's the small black speck below the pupil. He's feeling better now. And I am hounding him with taking the eye drops as prescribed.

Too Much to Write About

I will attempt to catch you up on our recent happenings. I can hardly believe I didn't write one blog post during October, but I did have a lot going on. This post will give you some of the goings-on, while keeping it a brief summary.

• Brooke started speech therapy at the local public school. It was a major pain getting her set up. In fact, it simply cements my belief in homeschool. I cannot believe the disorganization and hassles that went on just getting her started, and I am not exaggerating. In fact, today, when I took her over to the school for her scheduled session, (and it's a solid 17 min. drive one way), they made us wait 25 min. before they finally told me (after I asked them again, where the teacher was!), that she was sick today. She was sick yest. and called in again today. Hello!! Why didn't anybody call to tell me? We had to turn around and drive home with no session for our efforts. So, though it's a royal pain in the neck, we're going faithfully 2 times a week for 20 min. a session. Our drive time almost doubles her treatment time.
  
• I have been attending a women's seminar at church. It's about every 3 weeks. It is by a well-recognized local homeschool leader in our community, actually, and the meetings are very good. I've been to 4 meetings now, and there is one or two left. They have been very inspiring, and are helping me to think about how I can be a more Excellent Woman, able to influence and nurture my family for the good.
  
• The economy is hurting our construction related business pretty badly. This has been a major stressor. Trying to figure out what to do to help, I have sought part-time work that won't require me to put the kids into school. Also, hubby has a hard time getting home at a "set" time since he's running our business in town. He can't simply punch a clock and leave stuff for the next day. I had 2 solid job possibilities, but they both fell through.
  
• Another option for making some money, and certainly hubby's idea was selling stuff on ebay. I got it all set up, and sold 3 things, but the time involved, and the hassles of not getting paid, then the fees for listing the stuff, cement my distaste for the value of making any appreciable money on ebay. If it works for you, I tip my hat to you.
• Quilting--I have been quilting. I've finished 2 quilts since my MIL's quilt, and have 2 more half done, with one more started. I'll show you pictures in separate blog posts soon. Not only have I been quilting, but I've got 2 neighbors hooked as well. They are quilting away, and bring me their quilts to show me. It's neat to see them so excited about it, and it's neat to have some quilting friends to share with. My one neighbor L hadn't used a sewing machine since 7th grade in home-ec. She's about 7 yrs. older than me, so it's been a long time. But I love to see her having so much fun with it.
• Our homeschooling endeavors are going pretty well, though. We are finding much more consistency and less resistance this year. It's kind of nice to see the kids growing up in a lot of areas. Are they perfect kids? Certainly not. But we see progress in certain areas. This has not been easy either, when our school time has been cut into so much with the speech therapy.
• And finally, we have been very involved in following politics and the economy. It's pretty comical to see our kids "talk" politics and issues with people they meet when we go into town to run our errands. Even the little one can tell you what she thinks about what's been going on. All three of them are full of opinions. : )
  

Well, it doesn't look like much when I put it all down on "paper".

Our Eldest is 11 Yrs. Old Today

Happy Birthday, H! Our oldest son was born 11 yrs. ago today. I can't believe that much time has elapsed since I became a mother. He was born in a little community hospital south of here. He has kept us on our toes since day one. He walks to the beat of a different drum, and is definitely a non-conformist, though not for the sake of rocking the boat. He continues to make us smile with his quirky sense of humor. We are so blessed to call him ours.

Here is a picture of him at 2 1/2 mos.