More Purses!

Above is my decorator Singer, I call it my Egyptian, because of the Sphinx decals. I purchased it at a junk store, covered in dirt and grim and grease (sorry no before pic), just to have something to sit in my sewing room and look pretty. Well one of my sewing friends is "into" refurbishing , or at least cleaning up old machines, so she asked if she cold take it home and work on it. Ta Da!!! Isn't it a beauty? No, it still doesn't sew (I never thought it would) but it does look oh so much better. THANK YOU Susan!!

Well, last week I showed you some new fabrics recently purchased so I can make some Fall purses (yes, I said purses - plural). So, here is the first one, made with a tan/beige faux suede. I found these perfect buttons in my stash and used a fat quarter + for the lining and small pyramid bag I always make to match the purse!

Here's the first purse cover, and the fabric which inspired this whole purse making adventure ... a lovely blue with Canadian Maple leaves. Why do I say Canadian ? take a closer look .... I'll wait while you do. The reverse cover is a lovely Burberry plaid which will also work with the black bags I made last year. And just when you think summer is over - think again! I made a new reversible cover for my white summer purse!

Blue & White ticking (love, love, love it!) and my favourite fabric Cabbage Roses! I'm on a roll now ladies, and have a brown bag almost ready and more Fall leaves for one cover and some lovely batik for the reverse side. Stay tuned,those will be ready for next week's post!
TTFN

Guess What's round the corner!

My Rose of Sharon/Hibiscus bushes are in full bloom and I am enjoying their show for as long as it lasts. The purple one at the back has been in bloom since late July, while the white one, located behind my Japanese Maple is slower to blossom, but that's OK as it's just as beautiful. For someone who didn't plant flowers I certainly have enjoyed my bushes and their flowers oh so much!
My favourite aunt sent a package down for my birthday .... and guess what was in it! A pair of handmade, hand beaded deer skin mocassins, OH MY Aren't these gorgeous, I'm so looking forward to tucking my feet into these beauties

 

THANK YOU AUNT DOROTHY!

I'm back to work now, and guess what's round the corner - the school year is looming! and after that my guild's quilt show. So, I have been busy sewing each night to get another quilt top together. Yup, it's another spinning four-patch. This one is going out to be machine quilted, so I can spend my time on another project

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Remember the purses? Well,our local fabric store has their seasonal sale on and I've been inspired to make some "Fall" purses!I plan on making a new "purse" out of the beige faux velvet, and new reversible covers out of the Burberry twill and Blue Fall print or Black & Beige print. Then I'm hoping to make a brown purse and make a reversible cover from the gorgeous Batik ($5.00/meter Ladies!!) and brown leaves print. I'm not sure what I'll do with the cream - maybe another purse for someone ? I'm hoping they look as lovely in reality as they do in my head. The buttons I need for these purses were on sale for 50% off. Everything was going great until the total was rung up at the till. Imagine my surprise when it said $1016.67!!!!! Well, myself, the clerk and the whole lineup had a great laugh over that shopping spree ;) ,luckily it was easily corrected! Wish me luck with the purses!!

TTFN

Summer vacation with Maxine ;)

 

Ok, not really, this is me with my step mother and father on our mini vacation to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but honestly, doesn't she look like Maxine to you?? Not bad for 90 and 85 respectively (no I won't tell you how old I am!). It was an enjoyable trip, visits to a couple of winerys, a couple of plays (Come Back Little Sheba and Present Laughter), eating out and visiting. I even got to do some of the driving!

When I returned I spent some time organizing my house in prep for the ladies. Here's my table all set and ready for the quilt group. I made a Banana, Pineapple, Pecan coffee cake, and served a Cinamon coffee cake and fresh fruit. We had an enjoyable social evening and lots of laughs. To make room for all my plants I brought home from work, I had to move the cat tree to the living room window. On the right is a pic showing my new cellular blind (behind the star). This took a whole morning to install, but I'm happy with it and now all my windows have either a roman shade or a blind. Hopefully this should help cut the sun during those hot humid days.

 

Of course there was some shopping, err I mean antiquing during my vacation. And, yes, I managed to find some pieces of my china - 2 coffee "Cans". I think it's too weird that I always find these pieces in pairs ...Happy Birthday to me !!

 I also picked up a couple of crystal glasses - why ? to make tiered cake plates of course! Here you see my choice of plates, some are Czechoslavkian, some are Limoges, and some are English china.

Here they are all done! I'm happy with the gold one, but am thinking I might just add one more smaller plate to the blue one. Nothing to it ladies, just a wee bit of Gorilla glue, some candle holders or small wine glasses from the Goodwill and voila!

And finally, I finished a project!! I started to hand quilt it, doing X's in each block, then decided to finish it off with machine quilting around each block and free motion around the florals in borders. Got the binding all done last night, one spinning 4-patch down, another on the design wall now!

TTFN

Summer Vacation

I am on summer vacation. A shorter one than usual, my life calendar challenges struck again and for many stupid reasons - too many to go into - I only have 2 weeks this year ;(. None-the-less I m making the best of it and filling up my time creatively and productively. The first 2 days were eaten up taking care of life necessities, renewing car license, passport, oil change for the car, cat to the vet (YEAH - Simone got to the vet finally!), prescription renewals, house cleaning (not enough ...) etc. Thursday I finally had some time in my "studio" and created a bunch of "artsy" photos (see above) for the blog. I have been blog surfing over the last few weeks and admiring other people's creative talents soooo much. My camera talents run along side my calendar/scheduling abilities - poor to none However, with the power of a good digital camera and Picassa , well, you can see for yourself :)
I must admit it was an interesting and fun afternoon, digging through my collections of vintage linen & doilies & sewing accessories, then trying to stage them artistically. Next time I have more ideas and will branch out .

Took an afternoon and did "lunch" with a couple of quilting girlfriends. Drove out of town to a local 50's diner and flea market. We stopped at an antique store where I managed to break the lid on this Nippon sugar bowl. It was in the $5 bin and I honestly thought the lid was taped on (like they always are!). My mistake. Anyway, while we finished shopping the old gent glued the lid back together for me and then they knocked it down to $2 (probably because it was broken before me - er- the big chip on the inside!) None-the-less I am happy as it matches the three Nippon pieces my mother gave me - what's left of the tea/berry set she inherited from her mother. I have always loved this Nippon pattern, probably because mother always treasured it. So, broken or not, I will treasure this beauty as a memento of a lovely afternoon.
Yesterday I dragged the Husky downstairs to the dining room table and machine quilted (GASP) yes, I said machine quilted around each block and one border of my burgandy spinning 4 patch. Hopefully I will finish the other side today and get the binding on tomorrow. Next week will be another busy one as I am traveling to Niagara-on-the-lake with Father & step Mother to see 2 plays, and Thursday the quilt ladies are coming to my house. By Friday I'll be gearing up to go back to work (wahhhhh).
TTFN