no room

I had just purchased some flannel off my friend, who is PCS'ing and when I say some I mean over a 100 yards, crazy I know!!!

I don't even work with flannel often, I am the "Bag Lady" That is what I do the most!! I can't pass up a deal though and not when everything goes together so perfectly. She told me her idea for why she had bought so much and I decided I would give it a try with some of it and then play and make some kid quilts with what is left.

Her idea and my packaging "rolled" into one, pun intended.

I made up several of these for our Upcoming Market Day on Kadena Air Base, where local Crafters and Personal Businesses Can Sell their Products. This is a fun time for us to get out and meet other crafters, some are my friends on www.mypsace.com/sewchic Check them out!!!

I didn't just buy flannel fabric, no I had to get more!!!!

I also purchased from my friend some Large Towels she was making into hooded towels, but just didn't have the time to anymore. She showed me how to make them and that night I went straight to work on them. These by far are the coolest things ever!!!So, As you can imagine with all this buying and crafting I have run out of room for everything...I have no clue where to store the remaining flannel and the projects I have already made. Keeping everything nice and neat and Tidy while storing the finished projects until Market Day which is in a week and a half. Towels are stacked everywhere completed ones and the more I have yet to make. If I can just get it all neat, despite the chaos I think I can make it work to finish the other projects.

I feel this will be my best Market Day for Products if Now I can just get the display to work.

Twilight Freak

Seriously, way over a year ago I purchased the first Twilight book and the encouragement of my good friend, Lisa. I honestly thought I could never be interested in a book about vampires and to begin with I couldn't get into it, that is the first chapter and half. It set still unread on my nightstand. I couldn't understand such a hype about it. To me it was clearly a teenage book and I didn't think it could get any better. Oh was I terribly wrong!!! Once into chapter 3 the book I couldn't put down. & Derek then got me the box set for Christmas!! I finished in time to see the movie which I loved at first, but the more I have read the book over and over again, yes you read right!! I soooo love the books much better, the movies are just nice now to have a face of sorts to put with the characters. I have even bought them on audiobooks so I can listen to them while I sew and in the car. And my three year old daughter sings along to the soundtrack that is repeatidly playing all over the house and car.

So why am I blogging about this in my sewing journal....well the previous blog has my twilight messenger bag. the real reason is pictured below.... I designed it in my EQ6 program which also rocks!!!

This Quilt is going to rock!!! the white spaces will have quotes that are my favorites from the books and in the corner blocks will have the back cover quotes in each square next to their inner blocks. The Book titles will be appliqued using my cricut expression machine for help, and the book cover art is printed onto fabric paper and then sewn into the blocks. The inner blocks will also have the quotes printed onto fabric and then sewn into the finished block. I am just waiting on my fabric to get in from www.equilter.com one of my favorite online fabric shops. They have almost everything imaginable.

Now my husband said to me the other day, that I couldn't ever make fun of him again for playing WOW, b/c I am "in love with a vampire" lol. Also, he told me that one day after it is made that our girls will stumble upon this quilt probably 10-15 years from now and say "mom, what's this about?" and you'll be "well, I was totally obsessed over this book series..." and they will reply..."mom, you are such a dork!" which honestly I know I am.

There are worse things to be addicted to, right? FABRIC, TWILIGHT not so bad!!

Working on new Patterns

It is sometime to find the time to work on something new while I am swamped with custom orders. That is one downside to doing what you love for a business, less time for my own projects and brainstorming and pattern making. But last month I was able to get some ideas together also with the help of a client and will now start offering 2 new patterns for my bags!!

This is the new Tote Style, made completely differently than the classic totes and is wider and shorter. The one shown will be the deluxe model with the exterior side pockets added. It will come in 3 sizes, small, medium and large. This one is the Medium, and Can easily hold a laptop as is. I am working on putting a divider inside to keep it close to one edge and offering it as a laptop case later on. The new details will be on my website soon.

Design number two is a smaller Messenger Tote. This will become the Small Messenger. The one shown is the Deluxe version with exterior pockets. This is my personal Messenger Bag that I absolutely love!!! I love the rock theme and the gothic embroidery. This is also known as my "closet twilight" bag, but seriously I am out in the open now. New blog to follow that obsession next :) Right now I am in love with color way going black, white and red.

More pics of both of these bags can be found on my www.myspace.com/sewchic in my pics folder new designs.

New Adventures

We had our new daughter, Madeline in February and Derek left for a TDY in March and has yet to return, we are hoping for the second week of July. I have to say that the first weeks he was gone it was rough with 3 under 3, but now I have got the hang of it, sorta. I can atleast find time to sew, which really is an awesome outlet for me.

Right before he left I asked him to move my sewing room, yet again!! This time we moved it back to the dining room so I could put baby gates up to keep the little ones out and still be able to see and hear them about the house. My older daughter, Isabella can just climb over it when she needs to be beside me :) I know I said that the last layout was the best, but I am now I know that this is more easier to navigate and more practical to keep little fingers out of my materials.

I have a little island now, which is a kitchen Bar height table I now use as my cutting table. This is such a relief on my back, since I spend so much time standing and cutting and pinning.

The blue paint is also very bright and inspiring.

I love how I can walk all around the room and customers can come right into my work area. It is nice just in case the living room looks like a bomb blew up toys!!

And, So it started with a chair on the side of the road. Perfectly good chair, clean, sturdy and a padded SEAT!!!

So, I took my newly aquired Fabric from Loralie Harris, whom I absolutely adore all of her designs!! and recovered the seat and screwed it back in. Oh the maddness didn't stop there. I ended up making a cover for my serger in another print from the same line, covering the bulletin board, and making a cute cover for my ironing board!!

I just loved the dress forms, I am trying to think up what else I can do with them!!

The ironing cover I have to say is one of my favorites as well, no more boring cover to look at all day!! Now my iron is in the laundry room right next to the sewing room, the dryer and washer sounds lulls Madeline to sleep and I can now pull fabric straight from the dryer to iron. So much eaisier on me!! I used the measuring tape print from the same Loralie fabric line. Oh, how I love ebay!!

Sewing Area

So I don't have the luxury of having my own room for sewing anymore since I keep having babies :) This would be the third time we have relocated me to a different spot in the same house not to mention the numerous times we have re arranged furniture to try to make it more efficient for me. Now I am in the living room since it is the largest room in the house and could easily be split into 2 sections.

My favorite part is looking at the pretty fabric in my hutch and thats just cottons :)

Though the best part is this reason below. I love being in the same room with my kids :) Though the youngest has now fiqured out how to climb up the back of the couch onto my table.

giving blogging a try

Who knows if i can keep up with another online account, but I am going to give this a try as well. At least while I have a little time before our new addition, Madeline gets here. Sew Together, that's kinda funny I think, sometimes on the outside looking in it looks together while actually in the inside I am unravelling at the seams. Placing more on my plate than needed and the constant need to make everyone around me happy and not having the ability to say no to projects and commitments.
Sewing is the only peace I feel sometimes when I sit down and just create something. The year before last I turned my hobby into a job so I could afford my hobby, fabric is not cheap!!! & I have a lot!!!! Last year was a really good year for me I finally made it into the black!!! But i noticed I really didn't make anything for me or my family and that made me sad, also I hadn't made a single quilt, and that is what I love to do. So this year I have decided to continue my business, but just on a much smaller scale and to sew more for me and my enjoyment. Who know how it will go. I have heard that if you want to hear God laugh, Tell Him your plans. I know he has been laughing a lot here lately :)