Mondo Bag

Hope all of you have had a wonderful July so far, and that everyone from the U.S.A. had a pleasant July 4th celebration.  I would like to express my and my family's sympathies for the families and friends of the 19 firefighters who lost their lives in Arizona.  This is devastating news, and so recently after the 4 firefighters who tragically were lost here in Houston.  These people are our heros and it a huge lost to their communities besides their families.  We thank God  for our firefighters and police officers.  God bless them and protect them.

Now, abrupt change of topic, onto the next bag in my sad attempt to complete 52 "Carriers" in 2013.  I'm not defeated yet, mind you; it is only half way through the year, but it doesn't look good.  I have completed a Mondo Bag by Quiltsmart.  Originally I didn't want to do this bag at all.  I picked up the pattern at, believe it or not, my local cross-stitch store. The owner was crazy about this bag and made dozens of them.  She kept telling me that they were, "So easy.  No problem.  Whip it out in no time."  Lie, Lie, Lie.  First you have to cut out about 70 or more 2.5-inch squares from various different fabrics.  I used some Lakehouse Dry Goods fabric from a UFO project that was never going to be finished, mostly because I was over-thinking the colors.  So I picked out just two colors and used that as a theme -- oranges that ranged from peach to a searing tangerine, and pinks that ranged from a blush to a searing fuchsia.  Orange is not a color I would ever wear, but paired with the coolness of the pinks, I could get away with it.  Orange it the favorite color of several of my friends, who also happen to hate pink.

I didn't have enough of the Lakehouse Dry Goods fabric for the straps, but I had a fuchsia with gold marbling that blended well.

May update on Carrier projects

This post originally appeared on The Dropped Thread on 5/18/13. It has been moved to this blog by the owner.

Gosh, its been a long time since I posted.  Once again I've been busy sewing away. I hope you guys had a good Mother's Day, whether you are a mother or not. There should be a Celebrate Women and All We Do Day. That could cover all we do whether we are mothers, daughters, sisters, wives or girlfriends, employees, bosses, etc. We.Do.A.Lot!

Here's some of what I've been doing:

Christmas Gift Bag - Butterick B3485

Christmas Gift Bag - Butterick B3485

These bag were both in my UFO pile.  I finished them up and now have two reusable Christmas Gift Bags. They hold a pretty good amount and are closed securely using two plastic spring-loaded do-hickeys.  I can't remember the correct name for it right now, but if I remember I'll add it to this post later.

The fabrics were random Christmas-y fabrics from my horde.  The pattern is several years old - Butterick B3485 (Making History).  It is based on a Renaissance pattern.  I wouldn't recommend sewing very many of these bags because each one has 20 buttonholes!  I used to have a home-based business making these in novelty fabrics for sale as dice bags.  They were very popular with the tabletop & D20 gaming community because they hold a tremendous amount of loose dice without any falling out.  But after I made +200 the buttonhole mechanism on my Singer sewing machine broke and never worked right again, even with repairing it twice.

Carrier Challenge Update

This post originally appeared at The Dropped Thread on 4/4/13. It has been moved to this blog by the owner.

Dear Reader,

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Holiday.  I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I'm already behind on the 2013 Carrier Challenge due to various technical and personal mishaps.  But, I'm not giving up!
I did get several carriers done. Here's an update:

Carrier #1 - Indygo Junction's Crossover Carry-All #IJ890

Indygo Junction Crossover Carryall
Exterior fabric - Duck cloth
Interior - 100% cotton bright pink solid

For my first carrier I used a duck cloth that was on clearance at Hobby Lobby for the exterior because that allowed me to eliminate lining the bag with additional stiffening.  I'm for anything that allows an extra step, and it turns out that the sewing machine I was using at the time wasn't made to handle too many layers.  There were issues with the dog feed.  (Have since replaced machine with a Janome Memory Craft 6600 Professional - Yay!)

I used the short handled version included in the pattern (there is a variation with a longer strap for wearing across the body).  The pattern was easy to follow, but I had to cut the strap enclosure wider than called for to allow for the strap to fit.  Also, as I understood the way the side enclosure and strap are finished, the strap is sewn down and not movable.  This does not allow for the sides of the bag to gather as shown in the pattern front photo.  The purse ended up have a wide opening on each side, which I feel makes it easier for someone to stick their hand into the bag and steal something.

For the interior I used 100% cotton quilting fabric in a bright pink solid, which I had in my horde.  I regret using it because it is too flimsy to hold the snaps firmly (even with interfacing) and will eventually tear through the fabric.  I also used a standard snap (for clothing) instead of a magnetic purse snap.  The snap sides fit so tight, it is almost impossible to get the stupid thing open.  Lesson learned.

Changes I would make if using this pattern again are:

Brief update on Completed Projects...While I still have my sanity

This post was originally posted on The Dropped Thread on 1/10/13.  It has been moved to this blog by the owner.

Dear Reader,

I've been so busy the last few weeks cleaning out my house, particularly my fabric, pattern, and notion stash.  I don't know what has gotten into me.  I'm not making much progress on anything because I keep discovering fabric and notions I don't remember buying!  I'm making two piles to give away to YOU, my lovely Readers, one with sewing supplies I know I will never get around to using and another for those who are only interested in needlework items.  I have 3 unopened rolls of Stitch-Witchery -- WHY?  And WHY do I have so many patterns that are not even close to my size -- I KNOW I couldn't have read the sizing that wrong, or er...gained that much weight? Hmm... never-mind.

Meanwhile, I have to make room so I can get organized to complete my task of 52 carriers.  I had planned on starting the year off by finishing two purses that are UFO (unfinished objects) promised to friends.  I found the outside fabric that had already been cut out, but I've managed to loose the lining fabric for BOTH projects.  I know I've cut it out already, but where did it crawl off to?  And yes, in all the cleaning chaos I misplaced my scissors TWICE!

In the meantime, I've given those projects up until I come across the lining fabrics.  I've started my first carrier piece from a new pattern which I will go back to working on as soon as I finishing writing this post.

"Carry On My Wayward Son, There'll Be Peace When You are Done..."

This post originally appeared at The Dropped Thread on 12/26/12.  It has been moved to this blog by the owner.

from by the song "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas

Why I am a singing a song from the 1970's, other than the fact it's a cool song and I'm a fan of the TV show Supernatural that uses this as their theme song for season finales?  It's My New Year's Sewing Resolution to Carry on with Carriers.  I'm setting a goal for myself during 2013 to sewing 52 carriers during the year; I'm using the term carrier as anything that carries an item of any type, not just purses or totes.

A New Hobby Deserves Its Own Blog

The title of this post may be misleading.  I've been sewing most of my life.  In fact, I've often told the story that in my childhood my mother told my sister and I that if we didn't sew our own clothes that summer we would have to go naked.  I don't remember if this is true or one of my Tall Texas Tales, but I wouldn't put it past my mother. She was a determined woman, and hell-bent on her daughters learning how to sew and cook.  Now that we've grown up, I love to sew and despise cooking, and my sister loves to cook and despises sewing.  You can't win them all mother!

The new hobby I've taken up is quilting!  I started in December 2012 and I'm just loving it.  It involves everything I love about sewing; selecting the pattern, looking all the pretty fabric, matching them up, and cutting it out to the finished product.  But, there is none of the negative aspects you when sewing clothing, like finding out the pattern doesn't fit you because because you've gained a few inches between buying the pattern and getting around to sewing it, or because the crotch looks weird and you're too embarrassed to wear it out in front of people.  Been there done that!

When I got into quilting I told my husband that it would be a great way to get rid of all the fabric I have in my house.  Ha, ha, ha!  How many of you are laughing as you read that.  I know the ladies at my local quilt shop are.  They know me by my first name, and if I'm skip a week coming in they ask me if I was out of town.  Yep, the new hobby has just enabled me further, and I'm officially a fabric hoarder.