Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along - Week 4 - Home stretch!

If you've made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back!  Now it's time to make the magic happen and put it all together. (Sorry, no pics since I'm trying to get this up and I'm still swamped trying to catch up on my orders!)

Hey look, a new pic...of the same wallet.  :p

Monday, February 27, 2017

Magnolia Mini Messenger Madness - #1 Stormtrooper Style

When I joined the swap in the Blue Calla Sewing group, I was looking for an excuse to try some of her the other patterns and also, I love swaps!  Originally I was going to try the Snowdrop, but when I saw the Magnolia on my swapee's list of wants, I decided to try it instead!  Picking a fabric for someone you don't really know and can't directly ask if they like something (secret swap!) makes it more challenging, but also a bit more fun!  Since I hadn't done this pattern before, I wanted to do a practice one first.  Not that I usually do practice ones, but it was a good excuse to make an extra one.  ;)  Instead of just one 'practice' bag, I kept pulling out more fabric combos and ended up making 4!
Sugar skull style!

Friday, February 24, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along - Week 3 continued! (and a quick zipper tape tutorial)

I apologize to anyone that likes to work at a nice steady pace, I seem to start out like that, have great plans, procrastinate (or take on more than I should), then do a mad rush to finish stuff in time.  Since it's almost mad rush time, we need to use the rest of this week to get a little further along!


Step 12 - More card pockets!

Did I mention that this wallet has a million card slots?  Ok, not quite that many, but it's a LOT.  Now that you are an expert from making the first set of card slots, time to make more!  And just to make sure you are an expert, you're going to do the same exact set of card slots twice, one with a back and one without!

Step 13 - Zipper Pockets!

It's very important to have the top marked correctly on this piece, otherwise you're going to end up with some odd pockets!  If you are using zipper tape instead of the pre-made zippers, you can cut it to the exact length needed, but make sure your pull is on first.  I seem to always end up with one end shorter when I add on a zipper pull, so I started putting them on before I do the final cut for size.

Step 14 - Two more zipper pockets!

Maybe it's time to buy stock in a zipper company!

If you are interested in using zipper tape, here's a quick picture guide of how to get the slider on!  There are tons of videos, so be sure to look for those if you need more help.

Step 1 - Get out your roll of tape, and a zipper slider.  Find the end.
Keep an eye on your zipper pulls, they like to wander off.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

WIP Wednesday - Last One for February!

When I was trying to figure out what today was (Holidays always throw me off...but I was really hoping it was already Friday), I have to say I was quite amazed that this is the last Wednesday in February!  I am NOT ready for March!!  The long weekend was really nice, but it flew by!  No time to stop and rest, need to get everything done!
More pictures of the awesome fabric. 

Monday, February 20, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along - Week 3

Now it's time to get into the magic of this pattern.  If you've never made it before, you need to pay close attention when it tells you to sew to a specific spot, and this is the perfect time to pull out the disappearing markers/Frixion pens, or tailor's chalk.
These are a few of my favorite marking items!
This week, we need to work on finishing the outside, plus getting started on the inside.  There are 9 major sections left, so we're going to go for broke and get this done in the next 2 weeks!

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

WIP Wednesday - Stay on Target!

Well, at least I didn't add anything new to my list last week...except for the Valentine's treats I procrastinated on...but other than those 56 items, nothing else new was added!
Just made the exact number of Eevee and bookmarks, but I have extra Mudkips!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Sparkly Princess Emma Bags

Once again the Emma by ChrisW has proven to be the perfect purse for little girls!  This time I was commissioned to make some for sisters, and since they are little girls that love all things sparkly, I broke into my stash of pre-glittered Disney princess fabrics.

Monday, February 13, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along Week 2!

It's finally time to start sewing!  If you are still cutting out the pieces (like me!) don't worry, it's all going to come together like a miracle at the end and we still have the second half of the sew along to play catch up!
Dug out the pictures of the other flap I made....
For the first part of this week, we are doing steps 4-7.  If you are not doing any straps, you can skip steps 5 and 6 and be that much closer to finished!  ;)  If' you haven't done it yet, cut out the fabric and fuse the interfacing as directed in the instructions.  You shouldn't have the decovil fused yet, or the interfacing for card pockets A and B.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

WIP Wednesday - Productive Procrastination

Once again my productive procrastination skills are in effect...instead of working on finishing up the UFO's on my list or prepping for the sew along that started Monday, I started new projects...but they are orders, so it's all good.  Last weekend I finished up the last of the Magnolia Mini Messenger then started 2 new rush order purses for little girls...  Fortunately the Emma purses are pretty fast to sew, already over halfway done with the first one and the second one is also prepped!
Outside is all together, just needs the inside finished!

Monday, February 6, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along - Getting Started! - Week 1

(Just a reminder, the Penny Inn has been a sew along before, and you can find all the guidelines and steps HERE on Christine's blog!  I'm sure my instructions will be very similar, but if you are getting confused or want to work ahead, feel free to jump over there and see if that makes more sense!)

Sorry, this is the only one I have pictures of for now!
Everybody ready??  It's time to get started!  If you want to see a few more shots of my last Penny Inn, here's the blog post!

Friday, February 3, 2017

Penny Inn Sew Along! It's coming!

Just a quick note to let you know that we'll be starting a sew along for the Penny Inn by ChrisW on Monday!  Join the event  and the FaceBook group for a discount code (only available until Midnight on Monday in Australia)

Hope to see you in the group!!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

WIP Wednesday - February!!!

Well, January certainly was in a rush to leave!  I swear the year just started a few days ago and now we're starting February.  Next thing I know, it will be December again and I'll be wondering where another year went...
My swap Magnolia, all done!  Ahead of schedule even!