Professional Tote 2

Here is one of the Professional Totes that Joy ordered to give to a kindergarten teacher the year that I had the cottage license from Laura Martell of The Creative Thimble. The fabric is Tidings and Tales by Janet Wecker-Frisch for Wilmington Prints.

This fabric was also very fun to play with the placement on this Professional Tote! Here's the front:



I do not remember what font I used for the machine embroidery, but I love how it looks on the fabric. Here's the back:



And the two sides:




Inside views:




This last inside photo shows both the included message required under the cottage license, as well as how I modified the business card holder. That took some fiddling to do with the clear vinyl, but I'm really happy with the result.



I can't say enough how much I love these bags!

Studio Reorganization

In my last big reorganization, I opted to take off the hallway door and the closet doors. That really opened up my small space. The tiny room was packed full, but very efficient for working. Even when my sister Kay was out here and the two of us spent a lot of time in there playing, we had enough room to work.

Now, it's a mess. I refuse to do any 'before' pictures at this point: I'm so embarrassed! I've started some simple things that will be both useful and pretty, one of which is rolling my ribbon on clothespins and putting them in glass jars. Ummm, I bought a package of 50 clothespins, and will need to buy more to finish. I had no idea I had that many spools of ribbon! I also find it a boring task, so I'm only about half finished. On the bright side, I'm using pins that I do not like to sew with to anchor the ribbons, so at least those pins are finding a good use.

The biggest issue in completing my cleanup and reorganization will be Jacie.

She's such a happy little thief! Although she's starting to learn the command of "drop," it takes a doggie treat and a few laps around the house or yard for us humans to retrieve the stolen goods.

The weekend after we got her, we put up a kiddie gate on my studio entrance. That's working well, but we're figuring that she could easily jump it, so now if I'm in there, I leave the gate open. So far so good, but where do I put all the piles of sewing items as I'm reorganizing??? I'm sure I'll come up with something out of necessity.

I really, really, really NEED to clean up my studio, since I can only sew small items now. My work space is cluttered, as is even the floor. I think I'm in for a real challenge next week, so that my fabric does not end up like my yarn, compliments of my furry little girl.

Yes, I woke up to this one morning at about 2:00 am when I went to check on her during the first week she was home. My little herding dog must have really been excited that she came to a home where dog toys were made out of SHEEP!

Flickr Favorites: Summer's Coming!

Here are some images that are really getting me in the mood for summer break! I have a LOT of things I want to accomplish, but there must be some relaxation after a fabulous, yet long, school year.




1. Summer's Here, 2. Best wishes for the summer season !!, 3. The summer wind came blowing in..., 4. day 141_summer sundays, 5. Minestrone of summer fruit and basil sorbet, 6. Summer Feet, 7. summer greens 11712, 8. ~ Summer Sweetness ~, 9. Summer summer summertime,

My students made me cry yesterday. In art, the teacher had them make cards for me, which I read when we got back to our classroom. Then today, as I was dismissing them, I commented on how fast this week was flying by, and I got teary again. This will be one of those years that dismissal on the last day will be extremely emotional. I will really miss seeing these kiddos every day.

Now, go check out some of the other cool mosaics at ArtMind!

Professional Tote

Posting about the oven mitts and the fabrics that I used reminded me of the most fun thing I've ever made.

About 2 1/2 years ago I bought the pattern for the Professional Tote, by Laura Martell of The Creative Thimble. Having seen the Dick & Jane fabric line by Michael Miller Fabrics, I knew I HAD to make a teacher tote. In playing around with the fabrics, it evolved into a gift for my co-worker. I think I started in January and was planning on giving it to her for her birthday in May. That in itself was a joke...I seem to never get gifts done early. Shortly after I started making the Professional Tote, Joy's step-father passed away. I finished it up quickly and sat it on her desk the morning she was back to work after the funeral. When she saw it, from my adjoining classroom I heard, "OH MY GOD!"





In two of the following photos, I've blacked out the embroidery showing her last name.







She loves it. She carries to work every day. She shows it off to colleages at workshops/meetings. She became my customer. I purchased a one year cottage license from Laura and made teacher Professional Totes for Joy's sons' teachers for end-of-the-year gifts. We joked that I was going to have to make my own end-of-the-year gift last year when I had one of her sons in my classroom.

No matter how hard I try lately, my thoughts keep coming back to my day job and all that needs to get done. Guess it's time to do some dreaded paperwork and gear up for the exhausing last week of school.

Oven Mitts and Towel

Early this year I discovered The Idea Room. I probably spent the better part of a Saturday going through posts. Amy has wonderful ideas! From her tutorial, here is my spin on her oven mitts, using Michael Miller Fabrics.



I machine quilted the pieces before binding the edges. LOVE them! These were a gift for a co-worker, and at the last moment I decided to add a towel.

It was dark, but I managed to remember to take a picture that morning before heading to work.


Since then, I've made new kitchen curtains and have a bunch of fabric to play around with making pretty kitchen things for myself.


Summer...bring it on!

Toys for My Studio

Between dogs, I've actually gotten quite a few things done. My sister Kay and I both loved these Stack & Nest Quilted Blocks and talked about making them. One Saturday I made one, and have most of two more cut out...one bigger and one smaller.



I LOVE how this turned out and can't wait for summer to have more time to play. One more week!

Back to Blogging...AGAIN!

It’s been almost a year…a long, yet short, year of ups and downs. I guess that’s called life.

Shortly after my previous post, our 14 year old lab/pointer mix, Macy, had a stroke. While she could still get around well in her old-girl way, she seemed depressed for a couple of weeks. Then, she seemed to snap out of it, accepting herself as she was, and life went on. I pretty much quit sewing, because she would either get agitated when I was in my small sewing room, or lay at my feet where there was no room for me to move. I humored her and gave her no reason for me to say ‘no.’ She made it past her 15th birthday in November, and I then spent my last winter break with her. On Sunday, the day before I went back to school, she climbed up in bed and enthusiastically licked me awake. Shortly after that, she had what appeared to be a seizure, which we’ve lived with for many years, so we didn’t think too much about it. After a nap, it was clear that the end was near. We kept her as comfortable as we could that day and she slept in her own bed all throughout the night. The next morning we took that one-way trip to the vet.

Here’s a picture that was taken about a week before that. She really was a smiley-girl! As the meds kicked in on that sunny Monday morning, we saw her smile for the last time.



After a couple of months, we talked about the possibility of getting another furry girl when I was home for the summer. I’d periodically look at puppy ads online, as I did one fateful Friday evening after work. The next day, May 1, we went to look at a specific girl and brought her home…



Jacie! (JC for Jan & Conrad) Good thing it rhymes with Macy, for all of the times that we’ve called her that in that past two weeks. She’s a 13 month old border collie mix. She has a LOT of wonderful qualities and she is adapting well to her new home. And adapting to new rules! She’s smart, sassy, and a perfect fit for us.

Welcome home, Jacie!