Santa brought Sarah this e-reader for Christmas - which has barely left her hands - and I made this little padded cover to protect the screen when she throws it in one of the many bags I have made her. Sarah bought the fabric a while ago and we were looking for a project to use it on. She felt the look of the castles had a fairy tale look and made a perfect book cover! Fast and easy.

My sister and sister-in-laws loved these embroidered aprons I made for them for Christmas. I had a lot of fun making all these presents and everyone enjoyed receiving them. Now I have to find new projects since the holidays are over. Oh yeah - first grandchild on the way in March. That should keep me busy.

These are more Christmas presents for my son-in-laws. Towels for my popcorn making/eating Derric and the apron and hot pads for barbecuing Rob. All designs from Embroidery Library.

I love making this octagon table mat. It is so simple and fast. I made 6 matching placemats for the holiday season. These were shipped as a Christmas present for my brother and sister-in-law in Las Vegas.

How cute is this. This snowman is an applique banner from the Hanging on a Star collection at http://www.joinedatthehip.com/ It is a pretty easy banner to stitch.

This is another bag for my knitting daughter made from this great neon on black fabric with a knitting needles design. The fabric for the front pocket which is a holder for knitting needles and supplies is from a cool Spirograph collection. I found this fabric at
Pucky Huddle Delight in Candor, NY. A great quilting shop! The pattern by Wired up Designs is a large bag with a drawstring top that can be folded down inside if you don't want to close the top.

These are a couple of bags that I made a while ago for my knitting/yarn spinning daughter. The first one is a McCall's pattern made with material we bought at Hobby Lobby. I made a matching needle roll which is not pictured. The second bag is a grocery style shopping bag with and applique/embroidery from A Bit of Stitch Designing Girls collection to use when she goes on her yarn/fiber shopping trips.

Everytime I make something for my daughter her cats try to take it over. They lay on it, climb in it if it's a bag and leave hair all over it. I had some of these blocks from a quilt in a hoop class made from left over scarps. I probably would never use them for a larger project so I made a few more, stitched them together and made Bobby and Hank their own cat mats. And it worked. Bobby loves the green one and Hank likes the blue one. I wonder if it is the 100% cotton fabric that they like. Also, I know the blue one should have had two more blocks - but hey - it's for the cats!

Thanksgiving time! On our shop hop I found this fabulous fabric at Sew Nice in Norwich, NY. I love this octagon table piece because it is fast and easy! I made a pattern for place mats to match.

I love this banner. It is from the Hanging on a Star collection from joinedatthehip.com. I haven't done this type of applique in quite awhile but I really enjoyed doing it. My sewing buddies and I went on our own "shop hop" a few weeks ago and found the pattern and kit at Patchwork Angels shop in Endicott.

Happy Halloween. I embroidered these aprons with these cute Halloween motifs. I found the aprons at Sam' s Club - 3 for about $11.00 and they are very good quality. The designs are from the Dakota collections. They each took about 2 1/2 hours to embroider but well worth it. I used the 5D Software to pull one of the candy corn out of the design and place them so that they look like they are falling into the pocket of the apron. So cute!

Is this bag big enough? It's called the Flea Market Bag and I made it last night in a few hours. It was really easy and FAST. It was made of an old piece of stone washed denim that I had in my stash and lined with another stash piece of striped home dec fabric. Sarah is going to love this for her trips to flea markets, antique shows and fiber shows.

Time for fall sewing! I went on a "shop hop" on Monday to some fabric/quilt shops down Binghamton way with some of my sewing buddies. We had a great time dispite the torrential rain on the way there. I bought this fabric at the Churn Dash Shop in Owego, NY. I love this fabric and the pattern is fast and easy! I actually made this as a donation for a raffle for a cancer patient whose insurance is not paying all the bills. I also made these little bags once again from scraps. The one little scrap came from a breast cancer collection and has little words of encouragement on them.

Once again, this is the Professional Tote that I love so much. This one was made for an associate of Kristin's. With the scraps, I made the wallet with a monogram and the Clutter bag. The little bag is nice to hold the essentials and keep in the big bag. Hope you're happy with it Mary. I had fun making it.

Towels for Kristin

Kristin has joined a gym and is doing spinning classes. She called me and said - Mom their towels are gross - can you make me some that I can take so they'll know they are mine? Right on it Kris. I was at Sam's club and found this white towels - not great towels but a dozen for about $13.00. Great - cheap and if I make mistakes - and I did - no big loss. Good practice for the nice towels I bought to embroider for myself. I had a lot of fun learning how to monogram/embroider on towels and combining parts from different programs in the 4D software. My favorite - of course - Think Pink! Now, Kris can perspire - ladies perspire - they don't sweat - in style!

Erin's Dresser Scarf

I've always been interested in vintage linens and have loved- as did our Mother - the Madeira style dresser scarves and dollies. In the sewing world - this is Heirloom sewing. This is my first attempt at making a cut work dresser scarf or currently called a runner. Each design is a separate unit and with the use of 4D software you can combine the designs to make a mulitude of different designs. This scarf was done in five separate hoopings on a linen blend fabric. I made this for Erin to put on an antique oak dresser she bought at a garage sale for $10.00! We stripped it and refinished the dresser. They will be a great combination.

Derric's Laptop bag

Derric has been after me to make something for him. He has been feeling left out because everyone was getting bags, but not him. So he said make me a laptop bag. I found a pattern by Indigo Designs and Derric came up with the idea of using one of his old suits for the material. What a cool idea - a business laptop bag made from a business suit. He wanted to be able to put two laptops in it so I added an inch to the depth of the bag and also made a padded divider with pockets to hold cords and separate the computers. I also added a padded shoulder piece for the strap to slide through. Of course, he insisted on a personalized label. It came out pretty cool.

I took a class today at Knecht's Sewing with Deb Yedziniak who is a National Sewing Ambassador for Pfaff. We made this piece that could be used for a pillow top and learned new techniques using a ruffler foot, cording foot, and a three hole couching foot. Also created some stitches to use on the project. It was a most enjoyable class and I learned many new techniques. Thanks Deb. Look forward to more classes with you!

I was asked to make an adult bib - we'll all be there one day - . I've made other ones but red sauce stains the material or it may soak through and not do it's job. I was looking for the new laminated fabrics but couldn't find a design that I liked - and it's $20.00 a yard. I was at JoAnn's and the ladies there told me about a vinyl Heat and Bond. It is so cool! The vinyl has a paper backing that you peel off. The vinyl is lightly tacky. Lay the tacky side on the fabric, cover with the paper you peeled off and lightly iron with a medium iron. It came out really nice. It's a pretty light vinyl so that the finished item is still pretty soft - not stiff and hard. I put a self bias binding around the neck to make it more comfortable. I also put a pocket along the bottom of the bib to catch anything that might slide down the vinyl. The vinyl was about $10.00 for 2 yards - 17" wide. I was able to make 2 bibs from one package. It is lined with the same fabric but you could mix it up. This bib used 1/2 yard of fabric for one side. I loved this fabric. It's a black and white gingham with red cherries. It reminded me of a 50's tablecloth and thought that it was perfect for a bib. This would be a great way to make baby bibs in any material!

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I love this octagonal table runner/centerpiece. It's extremely easy to make and adds some nice color to the room. I made this one for my sisters kitchen table because - she has a yellow kitchen! Hope she likes it.

Here's another example of the professional tote that I made for a friend as a thank you for a thoughtful gesture. I'm always amazed that even though it is the same pattern they all look different with different style fabrics. I really enjoy making this pattern. It is pretty tedious but I love the finished product. I also made the wallet out of left over scraps. I used a Kona Bay fabric which I'm beginning to love. It is a nice weight 100% cotton fabric available at most quilt shops. The designs are beautiful. This one has a bit of gold in it that gives it a bit of an elegant look.

My husband just installed a window air conditioner - the last one on the self at Walmart - in my sewing room - so now even with this unbelievable heat I can go upstairs and do my sewing! YEAH!

I finally got around to making my own Professional Tote. I found this great sewing theme fabric and made it to carry all my tools to the sewing classes.

I made this little insulated bag to hold my mini iron and accessories.

Being a breast cancer survivor, I was asked to make this small quilt/wall handing piece for an auction piece at a fund raiser. The event was for a lady/survivor that needed funds to participate in the Avon Walk for Life in Boston.

This is my first embroidery on a garment - a nitie for my daughter. I'm having so much fun surfing the embroidery sites and finding wonderful designs to use.

This was my first monogram and my first label. I designed this bag for my sister-in-law that needs to use a wheelchair and needs to keep soda and candy handy because of diabetes. It fits between the handles on the back of the chair and is insulated with Insu-brite to keep the soda cold. Have to - she's in Las Vegas and it gets pretty hot out there! It has pockets inside and a change purse for all the change from the slot machines! I'm still working on using the software and have to learn more on the sizing but not bad for my first use of the 4D software.