Christmas Bag for ME!!

Even though I've been busy chipping away at my custom order list, and I still have lots to do, I decided to squeeze in a project for myself. My yellow and blue rag-style purse is pretty, but just totally out of season. So I decided to make a new rag-style bag with Christmas fabric. These fabrics came from a fat-quarter bundle I bought years ago and never used. It was nice to have a set of fabrics that went well together. Since I didn't have yardage of any of these prints, I couldn't easily make handles. I purchased some green webbing to use instead. That sure saved time!


A customer has asked me about putting a zipper in a rag-style bag. I told her I would experiment before committing to it. I spent a couple weeks brainstorming how to make it work and didn't come up with a good solution. This weekend when I was talking about it with Valerie, she suggested making a top panel the same size as the base and put the zipper down the middle. What a genius! It worked perfectly! This will especially make Carlin happy -- he complains about how stuff spills out of my bag if it tips over in the car.


And here's a look inside a filled purse. My wallet and another little zippered bag sit in the middle.

Personalized Rag-Style Bag

A friend (whom I will allow to remain anonymous) requested an orange and blue rag-style bag for her Gator sister-in-law as a birthday gift. One of the benefits of being from another state is that I don't have any strong allegiances around these parts, so it didn't pain me to make it as much as it did her to order it. I think it turned out really cute. Fortunately it is the wrong orange and blue, so I wasn't tempted to keep it as an Illini purse for myself.
I made the tab closure wider than my previous purses and put the monogram on it (using Embird Alphabet #33).


The inside features several pockets. Each bag I've made is an improvement on the last, and I think I've finally settled on a standard set of pockets. One side has a 4" and an 8" pocket (the 8" is perfect for a checkbook, 4" can hold a cell phone, sunglasses case or keys). The other side has two 6" pockets (for wallet or whatever else fits). Both ends have a pocket as well, and for one of them I added two lines of stitching to create a place to store pens/pencils.

I've got another bag cut out to make for myself. Hopefully I'll have that done in the next couple of days.

Hooded Towels for more grandkids!

Jan ordered two more hooded towels to give as Christmas presents to the rest of her grandkids. I got them done today so I can deliver them to Jan while she's in town visiting family instead of shipping them down to her home. Saves time and money for all!
I used Embird Alphabet #33 for the text. The crown is the same one I've used several times. The pirate hat came from Sew Forum.

Bibs for Sophia

My friend Tiffany will be visiting family this weekend. Her niece's first birthday is in a week, so Tiffany requested a couple bibs to take her as a gift. The first is one with her name (Embird Alphabet #17)

The second requires a bit of explanation: "Tater is our pug and hangs out under her high chair for dropped goodies." Hee hee... The text is Embird Alphabet #18, and the paw prints came from Sew Forum.


Like my model?? Annaliese wasn't too sure about me putting bibs on her bear...

Tackling Custom Orders

The last few days I have been working my way through some custom orders (in addition to hemming a choir dress -- my first time tackling a project like that!).
First up is a "Special Delivery" onesie that Michelle ordered for a new arrival. The design is from Sew Terific and I added all of the birth details with Embird Alphabet #2.


Next is a burp cloth that Kristen ordered for yet another new arrival. She requested one like I had made for Hudson. The applique football is from Embroidery Garden (off of a freebie football sucker holder available on her yahoo group). I added the name with Embird Alphabet #2.

And finally I made a crayon purse and a crayon roll, both personalized. The design for the crayon holders came from Sewing For Sarah. I added the names with the Tinker Toy font, posted on Sew Forum.

Madison Cheers on the Noles!

Here's a picture of Madison in her FSU Bandana dress that we gave her for her birthday. Looks like it fits now with room for growth next spring. Whew!
What a cutie...

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Annaliese's preschool. I tried to snap a picture of her in her new turkey shirt before the festivities began... she was over-posing, so I'll try for a better shot on Sunday or Thanksgiving day. (see below)
Here's a picture of my Indian Princess, and you can see my shirt pretty well here:

And Daddy was a surprise visitor at the feast -- you should have seen the delight in Annaliese's eyes when she saw him sitting by her place mat (which is a precious turkey made with her handprints!)


UPDATE:
Here's a better picture of Annaliese on Thanksgiving Day. Note that I tried to pick colors for the feathers in the applique so it would match these cute capris we had received as a hand-me-down:

Turkey Shirts

Our Thanksgiving Feast at Preschool is this Friday. Today made turkey shirts for Annaliese and myself to wear. I decided against making identical ones like I did for our pumpkin tops. Here's a sneak peak... better pictures (like after they dry!) will be forthcoming.

I made my shirt first. The design is from the San Francisco Design Co. and is actually free right now. It stitched out pretty well. There are a couple of stitching errors, but no complaints from a free design!

The design on Annaliese's shirt came from the Embroidery Market.

Now that I have those out of the way, I need to focus on several orders... special delivery onesie, personalized burpcloth, crayon holders, bibs, a rag-style bag... hopefully I'll have lots of pictures to post over the next few days.

Happy Birthday Roberta, Jesse and Jake!

WOW! It seems like half of Annaliese's friends were born within the first 5 days of November! That makes for lots of birthday gifts!

Roberta turned 3 and loves princesses, so I made her a crayon purse and put Princess Aurora on the pocket. It was so fun to watch her open it in person -- she liked her name and the crayons, but when she flipped it over and saw Aurora, she was ecstatic! It was precious.


Both Jesse (church friend) and Jake (preschool friend) turned 4 this year. I made them each a pair of crayon and pencil rolls.


Jake, his brother Brodie and mom loved them so much that they ordered a set for Brodie, too! I got those done this weekend and will deliver them tomorrow.