Ripping Sheets and other strange events

Do you think these are finished?

Are they done? Have they had their day? Just for the record this was on the honeys side of the bed at his feet...maybe he runs in his sleep.  He rolled over {wasn't making any moves--come on girls} and R IIII P!! we were like--what?  Then he said --do you think you can patch that? hee hee. I got the best giggles!  So newer sheets have been put on and i better pay attention to the thinning this time.

And since we are on strange events -let me tell you another.....
Last tuesday we needed a sub for the soccer team. So i say to the neighbors daughter who plays {wonderful keeper by the way} you wanna come and play? She says sure! Now, i should have known something was going to happen...every time we have asked a sub to come they have gotten hurt! Wracked wrist, gotten screamed at, ...you know. So anyways. She comes. She plays wonderfully and then......pop.  yup, i heard it, the people on the bleachers heard it....um, i think i just broke my ancle was her first words as she is laying on the ground. what?

Long story- sorry. She goes to the doctor the next day- yup BOTH BONES!!! what the?  and a spiral crack on the ancle. What? oh, my!! So one surgery, 2 pins, and 1 plate later she is better. As better as can be. sitting in the recliner watching t.v. and crocheting for the next 6 weeks!  She has been a good sport and hasn't rubbed my nose in the mess i made :) thanks amber.

So, would everyone go on over to her etsy shop

---aggieamber---

and take a look at her crocheted items. She has VERY CUTE headbands!  They are very reasonably priced- so you could buy one or two, because really---- what will she do with that big pile of headbands while she is sitting there recovering and crochetting, crochetting and recovering?

thanks girls- i know i can count on you. :)

Just since i'm sharing wierd anomolies......i had to drive down to the corner to pick up someone because their tire fell off!!! i mean really. all lug nuts- gone. what? in fact the tire had rolled itself across the street into the gutter. poor sister-in-law.  it just isn't fair that car things happen to girls is it? why does it then? Her husband came and i ran up the street {to my home} and got a no work jack-sweet! and he jacked it up and then put the tire back on {there were some definite flats spots on the rotor--like when big wheels skid too much} and then we had to use a coat hanger to keep the rubber flap from catching the tire because it got all twisted up weird like. 

What do you think? Anything weird like happening around you? Maybe it is 'in the air'. Share it!! I wanna know if you can beat those. :)

Winner #19 and Aprons

Hey Katie----yes, you Katie, hop on over here and pick up your prize will ya? You won the giveaway!!! yay. So you are receiving 1 free Membership to Patchwork Posse sewing group and 2 patterns from the shop!!!!

Now are you all dying? Trying to figure out how to peek inside the little bags? Well, grab no longer- here it is.

Along with the bags filled with little bits of wool there were tea cups and plates. Each one of us got to choose from the misc. pile a pair, and take a bag home!  They are the little house on the hill pin cushions in teacups of course! I worked on mine last night and once i get it glued down and secured i will show it off! They are so quick and fun to make! Love it!!

We met at Marilyn's home. She always has it decorated to cute for Christmas! she has a wonderful collection of hand-made Stockings. They are hung throughout her home and i thought i would share. Some day i would love to have a collection like this. Just Cute!

These are her wonderul Shephards Bush x-stitched stockings.

We picked names earlier and made our gal partner an apron! oh, i love aprons don't you? I constantly wipe my hands on the pants...so i always need them covered. :)

This one i made for Marilyn. Funny with chocolate cupcake pocket of course. Used the tutorial over on the side but made it larger for an adult. Not hard.

This one was made by Janis--Amy wasn't there to recieve it so it isn't in the picture below.

Here we all together......wendy, me, karen {my mom}, Marilyn, Julie, Angie,

and Janis {she got a pillow-bonus}-missing amy.

We also are doing a round robin. So here is my block made cute by Julie!! love it so far!!

Thanks to everyone for playing along in the giveaway and congrats to the winner! Stick with me and i will have some more giveaways!

Oh, and just because I am the shop owner----All the Patterns will stay $4.00 until Christmas!!! I know how it is...put it off, want to make it myself....so come on by and pick it up so you can--MAKE IT YOURSELF!!

Stuffing the Bags

Tomorrow is 'the other quilt group' Christmas Party!! Lunch, chatting, fun and a little project to take home.
The bags are stuffed with their very own kit to make ...i can't reveal, there are watchers among us!  oh, i am sooo excited! This will require a bit of hand sewing and i am hoping to get mine done for show off---sometimes you need to see it to love it, don't ya?  You will see it and love it....but later. Can't let the kit out of the bag. hee hee

hey now--

Don't forget the

Giveaway

 + I added a few patterns from the shop too!

Plenty of time to make a comment here.....but don't wait too long- it makes me nervous. :)

AND

---Make it yourself ----

Sale at the SHOP!!

ALL PATTERNS ARE $4.00

Vinyl Notebook Cover Tutorial

I have been working on some extra little presents here and there and thought i would tell you all about the vinyl notebook cover!  They turn out cute and are sort of cheap and really don't take much time to make. Perfect for a quick and useful/reusable present all year long.

First lets talk vinyl. I got mine at Joannes.  They were around $6.00/yard. That is a bit much, but you only need a 12" cut. They come in 50-60" wide too so you get a lot for a little bit of purchase.  After sewing a few different kinds of vinyl I will say that the semi-thick ones are the best.  They have just a bit of padding on the backside making them a bit stiffer. They hold their stiffness better and won't bunch when sewing as much as the thin ones do.

So now we have the background, let's sew shall we?!

Materials needed for 1 book cover {these measurements are for composition books}:
* 10 1/2" X 16 1/2"  background for the cover
* 10 1/2" X 6"   inside sleeves
* misc. colored pieces for the picture you are putting on the front cover
* pinking shears or rotary cutter with pinking edge

* I would recommend using a larger stitch with these. Around a 3-4 or so. It feeds it a lot easier.

1) Cut all the materials needed for the book cover background and inside sleeves {in this pic below it shows all the edges are pink sheared. I did this for the first one, but it was too hard to keep lined up. I recommend waiting until the cover is sewn together and then pink shear them. Cut cut them straight with a rotary. Works perfect.
----you do need to pink shear one long edge of the inside sleeves as you won't beable to after it is sewn to the cover.

This is the pinking rotary cutter. Love it. Use it on the edge of fleece fabric for blankets and such. quick easy, wonderful!

2)  Find your pattern and copy/trace or make your own.  I used the discovery cards from the shape game--you know-- have a bunch of hard foam shapes, but them inside the card shapes and make what is on the card. They are very simple and straight forward. You can tell what they are. Perfect patterns.

3) Cut the shapes out of the vinyl.

4)  Place the larges piece on the front cover away from all edges and sew into place.

I sewed 1/8th inch from the edge. Now if they are thinner vinyl then they do have a tendancy to shift/pucker a bit...see the moon? and the smoke? Makes things interesting. live and learn.

5) Lay one inside panel on the backside of the front cover piece. Wrong sides should be together. Sew all the way around the edge- lining up the outside edge.  Continue around slipping the other inside panel in when you get to that point.  no pic on this, but it is easy. No turning out, trimming or anything! the outside raw egde is finished. You can trim this edge with the pinking shears and rotary at this point so they are cute.

6) Slip book inside the cover. You will need to bend it back a bit to get it in. Will fit just perfectly snug.

I made a total of 4. Here are the covers i did:

They are so not perfect! see the crooked cupcake, the lumpy moon and the sort of puckered truck? Well, that stuff is shifty and a bit sticky to the feet. So it does take some getting used to.

I homeschool and the kids use composition books for their handwriting, spelling and anything written. They can go through them so it will be nice to have a re-usable cover that they can just put onto their new book!

GIVEAWAY!!!

FREE Membership to

Patchwork Posse

anystitch, anytime, anywhere
+ 2 patterns from the shop--you choose.

Leave a comment on this here post and i will choose a winner on Monday!!!

Don't forget:

 ---Make it yourself ----

Sale at the SHOP!!

ALL PATTERNS ARE $4.00

Random

Bunch of randomness today :

A quick peek at the doll refashion swap i just did....I love her....I will show all of her when she arrives at her new home.

See how she smiles now?

I'll show her before and after later.

Went to Joannes and found---buttonhole elastic

wooohoo!!!!  Now i can fix all the pants {already did a few for the winter coming for the kids}

and have them adjustable. yes.   click here for the end bum crack tutorial. Great stuff girls.

Speaking of tutorials. How about one tomorrow!

Vinyl Composition Book Covers

They are cute and e a s y    p e a s y

pudd'n pie.

+ how about another give away!

you're coming back now aren't you? that's what i thought.

Winner!!

Did ya think i forgot? Did ya think i was going to run off with that cute baby quilt and never come back? I was almost to that point, but then reality and the Christmas Spirit came back and i picked some winners!!! yay!! so how about it......

Will inthepeppermintwind.  please come to the front. Let's wait shall we? ..hhhmmmmm.. ok here we go. oh, nice hair-  :)
You have won the big grand prize of Baby Quilt and FREE Membership to Patchwork Posse!!


Now,    woolybooger.  Please join us in the front. Another short wait. Ok. oooo look at those cute shoes!  You have won the big second grand prize of Free Membership to Patchwork Posse and 2 patterns from the shop!!!

i will be emailing you both with the details and will require a response so i can get those winning goodies to you!!


Don't forget----- there is still a sale going on at the shop!

**MAKE IT YOURSELF***

*** ALL PATTERNS ARE $4.00***

Make it yourself- gosh

I have decided that Starting today and for one week there will be a sale!!!!

All the patterns in the shop will be discounted to ........

$ 4.00

  I figured that it is getting a little bit close to Christmas and to make things a little more affordable to others and to help them use up those fabric scraps/pieces I have made the patterns cheap! That way you can

'make it yourself----gosh'  
All the patterns are e-patterns. So they come right to your email! Isn't that handy like?  They will arrive there after payment and within a few hours of payment! Plenty of time to get that extra bit of sewing done.

So click on over to the shop and see what there is.....there might even be another surprise when you get there.
Want some teasers? --just in case i don't pump enough of all of my stuff your way--here is some extras!

Give me a bit of time to pick the winner and announce it! Check back later on today for the big reveal. I got stuff to do and it will just have to wait--- oh, stop complaining. you can do it. :)

oh, and thanks!

Thanks for playing along. There was a lot of good stuff out there to try and win--i appreciate you coming by and checking in on the goods and being supportive of Patchwork Posse. 

Quilt Group

Last night was quilt group. Love it. Love going, good friends.....lovely evening with prizes, food and of course show and tell and a little tea-towel Christmas swap!

These are the goodies i left with......little baggie of choc dipped pretzels and caremels, quilt note cards {that is definitly planned for another day-i will share it----so cute} and chocolate.

I won!! Everyone brought their cranky and mystery quilt and they took a little note/vote and i won for the cranky quilt {i am not going to tell you that there were only 3 crankies there and 2 were mine.....} I still won though :)

We did a bit of a tea towell exchange. Everyone dropped theirs on the table and then we drew names and picked up a new one.

This is what i brought:

This is what i picked:

so cute huh?! yes.

 Chocolate Quilt.....Take a closer look at the blocks:

Embroidery yuminess

ruffled edging on the pie--So cute!

the cutest little crochet cherries.

and the back:

extra blocks.  so cute and wonderful!!!

Isn't this the best stitched quilt pattern ever? I have always loved this pattern and when i see it i just stand and stare.  Love it--

Take a closer look at the stitchery! wonderfully done.

And here is Angie---and her charm quilt with the scalloped edge. Hand quilted of course ;)

oh, and yes she is the designer of the Chocolate Bliss quilt Pattern and is also one of the designers for Patchwork Posse!

Lots of good stuff at quilt group. huh?! oh, yea.

Next week:  Sale at the Store.....+ another Membership Give away!

****pst.  on the right there is:  Get whosies in the mail---enter in your email address and the post will be sent directly to you! no wondering where i am again. :) Wouldn't want you to miss out on all the good stuff....and i have good stuff. hee hee

Don't worry about missing the Give Away. Still open till Monday Morning.......Scroll down or click here to go to the post. I don't want you to miss out on reading all of those presents everyone is buying themselves! I have had such a kick out of reading them.  There are some goodies in there...i saw a pattern---{no pun intended :)}  there was a lot of chocolate, fabric and a few sewing machines going on. We do love to help the honey's out don't we?! hee hee

Give Away Day

I love give away day...don't you? Sew mama Sew is having another one today for of course Christmas time...so why not? I love to play along don't i? I am always in. Of course i over acheive things too and so we have a few things to give away!
So let's get things started with just a bit of background to the items that are up for grabs, why don't we......
For the past few months i have been continplating the life....meanings, hobbies, money....and the whole perfect circle of life that each of these parts contributes too.  I have come up with something that fits me to a T.  Girls- i might have found my little 'niche'.  I have been feaverishly working late, early, weekly or whenever.  I have discovered and developed:

Patchwork Posse

AnyStitch, Anytime, Anwhere

{an online sewing group}

This group is availabe 24/7 and for anyone who has a computer and want to join.  I have 12 months of great stuff planned!!! Check out the project page to read about each month and who is joining in and contributing.  There will be over 14 patterns for the year that are exclusive to the group! Many are designed by some great quilters/sewers who designed them for Patchwork Posse and are sharing them months before they are released to the public! Lucky us!!  Yearly membership is $55.00 starting on January 1st.  Until then I wil be giving away memberships weekly!! So come back often to win, win, win!!  Included in the membership there is also be a forum for everyone to keep together and help each other out...and a flickr group for posting project pictures...and all of those exclusive projects!

So Give away #1: 

Free Membership

& Baby Quilt!!!!

size: 30"X31"

Kauffe Faucet fabrics...used up all those leftovers!! Made the perfect little snuggly for some little guy or gal.

A peek at the back--top left corner.

Give Away #2:

Free Membership to Patchwork Posse

& 2 Free Patterns from the shop!!!

So how about it?! Leave me a message --open till th 6th.  Why don't you say --hhmmmm  what are you buying yourself for christmas. Oh, come on. We all know we buy ourselves stuff- {wish the honeys would too}  maybe by sharing we will give each others some great ideas!! So spill it girls and win something fantastic--for yourselves-- too!!!

for more giveaways go to SewMamaSew.

**Leave an email so i can contact you**

****Wanna Cute Pin Cushion All for yourself?  Quilting Melodies has the perfect one up for grab!! Go Grab it!!****

3 Pixies and a Pea

I have finished!!! the 3 little pixies girls!

They are for 3 little girls who will be loving them with a bunch of matteresses and one green pea. -at Christmas time. Amy is the best customer EVER!!    {Isn't that the best idea ever?}

They each come with 2 little dresses and one skirt--for extra fluff if needed. They are girls, they need that kind of stuff. You know it!

Want your very own for the Christmas Season?  Check out the store--there are only 3...so don't put it off for too long. Plus, they need their dresses made. {pick the colors yourself}

Don't forget tomorrow----Give Away Day!!! + Reveal of something wonderful!!