My daughter and her friends LOVE a game called "Cards Against Humanity." It can be politically incorrect and a little bawdy and raw, but it is HILARIOUS and the proceeds of the game are gifted to schools. My husband and I love to cross generational lines and play with them as well, when allowed (grin). Riley has the "bigger, blacker box," which contains the original game cards and several expansion packs...it is long, heavy. and awkward to try and put in a normal tote bag and run out the door. Today I took an old pair of my husband's jeans, no pattern or plan, and made her a "hillbilly bag" in which to tote the game around when she goes to friends' houses.
Maybe I should call it an "overall bag" because it sort of looks like pants with suspenders or a bib... I basically cut off one pants leg and added some length to it by piecing some of the pocket sections together and adding them to the top. It is funky! It would benefit from some embellishing, but I am sure that it will get used and abused.
It's probably too tall for the game, but she can stuff some personal items on top if she is spending the night, or take a snack to share. She doesn't carry a purse all the time, so I attached the pocket sections so she would have a place for her ID, car keys, and phone.
The straps are long (from the other pants leg) so that she can sling it from her shoulder (she is always carrying something else...book bag, French horn...she's a little beast of burden). I did a bag pleat at the bottom to fit the end of the box. The finished product is goofy as Hell, but now I am justified in saving all the old denim that gets worn out or outgrown in this house.
The jeans are like ties to me...I save them, but I am too chicken to use them...afraid that I will waste them on lesser efforts. Doing this little project today makes me want to make some more bags, but take the time to line them and embellish them with yo-yo's, buttons, prairie points, etc. Today's effort was pretty primitive. I've also seen people use the legs of jeans as gift bags for wine or to make a storage place for recycled plastic grocery bags. Hmmm... And I thought that I wasn't going to get anything made for Christmas this year... In stitches, Teresa :o)
Look what the mailman brought...hmmm... Thank you for all the well wishes on my birthday! I'm going to send out TENQuiltmaker 100 Block, Volume 10 instead of FIVE. I'm sorry I don't have one for everyone! I sent out emails in case there is confusion from multiple people with the same name...) Linda kt Tspoon Quiltnonnie June D Julee Vicki W Karen B Carolyn (from Texas) Maxine Congratulations and thanks to everyone for brightening my day! In stitches, Teresa :o)
The above picture is what you hope you look like when you turn 54 years old... The following is closer to the truth...
It's my birthday and I still have 5 copies of the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks, No. 10...let's do a give away! My apologies to those who already have a copy... I will choose tomorrow (Friday) at noon by random number generator. If you have a funny birthday story, joke, or phrase, please include if you have the time! (Please no "no-reply" or "anonymous" comments and domestic mail only for the give-away...still eating canned beans from the last give-aways, LOL!!) In stitches, Teresa :o)
The four outer borders for Lori Smith's "Miss Emilie's Garden" are glue-prepped and awaiting hand applique stitching. They are hanging out on my design wall, yelling at me every time I go down to the quilt cave to deal with the cat box or move laundry around. They may wait and yell at me for a while...my FIL fell and broke his hip early last Saturday morning and Steve flew to Philadelphia immediately to take care of his mom and monitor the hip replacement surgery. I am here to watch over looming college and scholarship deadlines and watch my daughter Riley's directorial debut with her school drama club, of which she is the president. I guess you can say I am the president of our family drama club, which has been a little busy and over produced this year... On a lighter note, my "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony" showed up in two quilt publications this month...first in the Dec/Jan edition of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine...
And then in the most recent American Quilter magazine...
My thanks to the editors...I sure needed the little boost. What was going to be a difficult holiday season just got more challenging. It is unlikely the three of us will be together for Christmas...Steve is needed in Pennsylvania and I am needed in Alabama. I have great hope for 2015! In stitches, Teresa :o)
I love the outer borders that Lori Smith designed for her "Miss Emilie's Garden" wall quilt, but I have to admit that I am having to make more of an effort to make them than I spent on making the twenty-five tiny applique blocks for the center of the quilt! One problem that I encountered was making sure my sawtooth bits were completely straight along their edges. I lined up my longer rulers, weighted them down so they would not move, then carefully pressed down my freezer paper patterns up against them.
I use the straight edge of my ruler to line up the edge of my pattern.
So that I wouldn't touch my plastic rulers with the edge of my sizzling iron sole plate, I first carefully "spot pressed" the "pointy" side of the pattern strip, then I moved my beloved rulers out of danger and thoroughly pressed the freezer paper pattern to the right side of the fabric.
I am leaving quite a big margin of extra fabric on the straight-edged side of my pattern. I will trim away what I don't need later. The black drawn line is my cutting line.
Now to glue my edges under...
Points first...
I am trying out a new iron. I have heard a lot of hoopla about the cordless ones on the market. I purchased a Panasonic.
I hate dealing with the electrical cord while pressing tops and backings. The cord is retractable into the base, and the base can be somewhere other than in my way on the ironing board. Yippee!
It is pointy on both ends...so far I have tried to set it down like my old iron, on it's end, only once. That doesn't work too well, LOL! Duh!
Only one end slips into the charging area. I have not tried steam yet. I'm still not sure if it is hot enough, but I have not used it much yet. I will let you know.
I've been sewing props for my daughter's play...most recently, eleven huge "bags representing love"...
...and one really small bag of love. The big bags are temporarily storing my fiber-fil and batting scraps!
I had such good intentions for Thanksgiving weekend...even though we were driving to the Philadelphia area to spend the weekend with Steve's parents, sister, and nephews, I prepared a little box of applique pieces to take with me. I stupidly thought I might have a sliver of time when Steve's family would be watching TV that I might be able to sit with them and prep a few applique pieces. First I would trim around the freezer paper patterns and then glue stick and turn the edges in preparation for some December applique stitching.
HA! What was I thinking? There is my little packed work container complete with tools and glue sticks...and there it stayed in the bottom of my little tote bag, UNTOUCHED, all weekend...oh well. If I had not prepped my little travel container, Murphy's Law dictates that I would have had a little time to work...and had nothing to do! I simply can't watch TV without something to do with my hands!
We drove to Philadelphia on Wednesday, then drove home to southeast Michigan on Sunday. On Monday, I decided to treat myself to "catch up" Monday...I caught up on laundry and completely prepped all the pieces that I meant to prep over the holiday weekend.
Between moving loads of laundry around and folding, I emptied my little container and trimmed my pieces.
Then I glued and folded back the scant little edges, stopping to rinse and dry off my odd, little acrylic rulers a couple of times when they got too sticky to proceed...
As I worked, I refilled my empty little box with prepped pieces...
Then I removed my freezer paper patterns...
Now I am ready to continue working on "Miss Emilie's Garden" by Lori Smith. The outer borders are a bit work intensive...I fought the urge to invent something quicker and easier, then sighed and decided to be a good girl and finish the little quilt top as God (and Lori Smith) intended.
The inside of the little quilt has been taking up space on my design wall...
I don't expect to have a lot of stitching time in December, but when I do, I will be working on these festive red and green borders. Ho-ho-ho! In stitches, Teresa :o)
