Bags!

The latest batch of Pop Open Pouch bags is done and (mostly) gifted. 

This one went to my quilting pal, for her birthday. 

I forgot to take beauty shots, so I’m making do with my crummy ironing board as the background. Which is a shame; I think this is my favorite bag of all. So far, anyway. 

This one is on its way to a friend. It’s similar to the one I made Wenona, but with a different lining. Hope she likes it!

Addy turns 13(!) on Thursday and will be allowed to wear makeup, for reals rather than just for play. Isn’t this fabric perfect for a cosmetics bag?

And I couldn’t resist this lining for our newly minted teenager. 😜

Last but not least - Mary and I took a Bento bag class. Mary’s has brown dragons and mine is a favorite Laurel Burch print. 

The class was sew fun. And a great warmup for the Redwood Tote class we are doing in December. One can never have too many bags, right??

Turkey Day Prep

One of the things I miss most, from when my mom cooked holiday dinners, is yeast rolls. She’d have cookie sheets on radiators all over the house, trying to ensure the rolls rose on cold Tennessee (then Georgia and not so cold California) days. Such a great smell and so yummy when they were fresh from the oven.

I’ve tried making rolls off and on over the years, without much success. But this year, I was determined to have yeast rolls on turkey day. So I found a few recipes to try beforehand . . . and had success on my first batch! Pretty sure it was the accompanying video that got me through.  

 Fresh, hot roll, avocado and feta cheese. Yummmmm

Winner, winner, bread for dinner! (Still planning to try a few more recipes . . . )

Next Phase

Finished hand piecing my Tula Nova before we left for Quebec but I’m just now getting it pin basted to the backing.

I thought it was going to be a big hassle . . .  but it was relatively quick and easy, especially with Jac entertaining me as I worked. 

 

Can’t say it was painless though - I stabbed myself several times paying more attention to Jac than the pins. 

 Ping pong table, aka my favorite basting spot

After reading up on appliqué methods, I decided to leave the last round of EPP papers in place, which has made stitching this down much faster than I expected. Three hours in and I’m just 2” shy of the halfway point. Yay! Guess I better start worrying thinking about what comes next. 

Getting Ready For Turkey Day

Holiday quilt hung.  ✅

 From 2013

Feast food ordered. ✅ (from Mimi’s this year since Marie Callendar’s is no more.)

Tickets to fly for Addy’s birthday. ✅ (and home again before turkey day)

Happy November, y’all!

Concentration

Leia gave us a short concert today,

“helped” by brother Donovan

until Leanne distracted him. 

Jackie would have "helped" too but she was busy climbing on my back while I tried to video. 

Leia’s been playing for less than a month, taking a class at her school. I’m thinking she’ll be a pro by May. Right?? #proudbiasedgrandma

Gifted And Gone

I purchased this Grinch panel in August, 

planning ahead(!) for a November birthday present. 

But did I start sewing it in August? Of course not. 

I needed it today so I started it Sunday . . . plenty of time, right? 

 Backing, purchased Saturday 

It is if you hand-stitch the binding and sleeve in one 6-hour marathon. Ouch!

The second gift for the birthday girl, 

finished last week (yay me!), 

was this Pop Open Pouch - my current very favorite bag pattern - 

in a blue mermaid batik. 

I love how the purple zip brings out the secondary colors. I’ve made 5 of these to date and plan at least a few more. Such a fun design.

 Also celebrating 31 years of craziness friendship 

And the birthday girl liked it, so that makes it perfect. 

 

Halloween 2019

This was Donovan’s first trick or treating and he *loved* it.

 My favorite NASCAR driver

It took him only a couple of houses 

to figure out that all he had to do was knock and look cute 

for people to give him goodies. He was so excited!

 My little firefighter

Jac was last out - she was slow finishing her dinner - and first back home. She wanted to help me give out candy, so we were both happy. 

Leanne’s official costume was a unicorn 

and she looked super cute heading out with Pop and Donovan. 

I also liked her Leanne Van Gogh look from earlier in the day. 

Addy and her bestie were a devil and a giraffe. 

Notice who’s missing? Leia’s away at science camp with her school and didn’t get to go trick or treating. She made me promise to save her some lots of the good candy . . . 

Arrgghh, Pirates!

I love it when a plan comes together. 

Hubby bought this pirate ship backdrop months ago, planning to get pics with the baby grands over the summer. 

 Lady pirates with attitude

But we got busy, and the idea languished, 

until this week 

when he spotted a full-size talking pirate on sale (half price!) at a local store. 

Marie went costume shopping yesterday and voila - 

cutest photo shoot we’ve had yet. 

Donovan was napping for the first photo session -

plus wrangling him and Jaclyn at the same time would probably not have gone well - 

so he had his own session afterward. 

My favorite pic of the day is this one - 

Jac, standing just off camera and trying to comfort Donovan, saying, "Don’t cry Donvey, I right here."

Awwwwwwwww.