Mixed Bag

This holiday has been a mixed bag of birthdays, anniversaries, shopping, cooking, cleaning, taking care of grandkids, movies, wedding receptions, a big dental procedure on me, and several doctor visits for my husband. I'm exhausted and have to apologize for my inability to respond to all of your wonderful comments. The response to my giveaway has been amazing and I want you all to know that I've read every single comment in between all of the chaos in my life plus my carpal tunnel has been acting up quite a bit.

I really appreciate all of the wonderful birthday greetings and comments you left on my blog and at Moda's Bake Shop. It's brightened each day as I read your comments. Thank you too, to all of my new followers and I hope you've enjoyed your time here and will stop back in from time to time.

I had every intention of picking a winner today but alas, it hasn't happened and I'm going to fall in to bed after I publish this post. I've been at the insta-care with my husband who has another kidney stone causing him grief while trying to drop in on my dad's 80th birthday dinner during our wait at insta-care.

The GIVEAWAY is NOW CLOSED.

I will pick a winner hopefully tomorrow at some point but with church and a big extended family party for my dad's 80th it may have to wait for Monday after work before I can pick a winner. Keep an eye out for the winner announcement post.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

50th Birthday & Moda Giveaway!

Well, the time has finally come to. . .

CELEBRATE my 50th Birthday

And what better way to celebrate than to have a. . .

GIVEAWAY!!!

I will be giving away quite a few things, so scroll on down, have a look see, and enter the giveaway.

PRIZE ONE:

Here's the first thing that I will be giving away. It's a Handmade By Me Sewing/Makeup Bag with matching tissue holder, sewing scissors, and matching pins. This is my newest favorite fabric, too! I made 12 of these bags for several of my sewing friends and while I was at it I made sure to keep one for this giveaway.

Prize TWO:

In addition to the sewing bag I will be giving away ONE Layer Cake of Fruitcake by Basic Grey in celebration of my newest Moda Bake Shop Project which you can see HERE.

PRIZE THREE:

I'm also giving away 4 tissue holders to 4 lucky winners.

Tutorial for tissue holders is located HERE.

It's Christmas time so, I'm going to keep it simple...

Enter Giveaway up to 4 times by doing the following:

• Leave a comment on this post for one chance to win.
• Post about the Giveaway on your blog then come back and leave me another comment for another chance to win.
• Be or become a follower then leave me another comment for another chance to win.
• Jump over to the Bakeshop and leave me another comment for another chance to win.
• I will pick 6 names and the first two names will have a choice of the two top prizes and the other four names will win the 4 tissue holders.

The deadline for entering this giveaway

is January 1st 2011.

Quick & Easy Tissue Holder Tutorial

This quick and easy tutorial makes 6 Kleenex Tissue Holders out of a small amount of three different fabrics. I love making these for friends and neighbors as little thank you gifts or to add to a bigger gift. I have one in my purse and one in my church bag.

What You Will Need:

• 7" of fabric for outside of tissue holder
• 7" of fabric for inside of tissue holder
• 6" of fabric for binding on tissue holder

Cutting Instructions:

• Cut one strip of outside fabric measuring 6" x width of fabric
• Cut one strip of inside fabric measuring 6" x width of fabric
• Cut two strips of binding fabric measuring 2 1/2" x width of fabric

Sub-Cutting Instructions:

• Sub-cut outside fabric into 6 rectangles measuring 6" x 6 1/2"
• Sub-cut inside fabric into 6 rectangles measuring 6" x 6 1/2"
• Sub-cut binding fabric into 12 rectangles measuring 2 1/2" x 6"

Sewing Instructions:

1. Take one inside fabric and one outside fabric measuring 6" x 6 1/2" and place them with the wrong sides together.

2. Repeat process for the remaining 6" x 6 1/2" rectangles making a total of 6 sets.

3. Take the twelve 2 1/2" x 6" strips fold in half and press with wrong sides together.

4. Using a 3/8" seam allowance sew two binding strips with one on each 6" side of the tissue holder.

5. Press binding fabric outward on both sides of tissue holder.

6. Fold the binding up and over to the back of each tissue holder and stitch in the ditch.

7. Repeat on the opposite sides of each tissue holder.

8. Fold tissue holder in half with the right sides together.

9. Press the corners. This is the center.

10. Fold binding edges into the pressed center mark and pin in place. Make sure the outside fabric is in the inside as seen in the picture below.

11. Using a 1/4" seam allowance sew both sides of the Tissue Holder closed. I like to backstitch at the beginning, the end, and over the opening to make sure it's really secure.

12. Finish the inside seams with a serger. If you don't have a serger that's okay. Just use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.

13. Turn the tissue holders right side out making sure to push out the corners.

14. Press the tissue holders and you are done!

Kleenex Tissue Holders

~1 for you and 5 friends~

Can You Believe it?

It's my 50th Birthday today and it's been so crazy that I didn't even get to make the post I had planned, but, I have something big coming on the 22nd so be sure to check back in a couple days.

Remember my daughter who went to New Zealand for 4months? Well, she flew in late this afternoon and we picked her up at the airport and then went out to dinner at the Outback Restaurant. What a perfect birthday. I had every one of my kids together after four long months of separation. I sure missed my daughter.

Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations.

Blessings Banner

Today, I am especially mindful of the abundant blessings I have in my life and the wonderful friends and family that have shared their lives with me. I want to thank my blogging friends, too. I really appreciate the time you take out of your busy lives to visit me here on my blog and for all of the kind words you leave in my comment box. Your comments are always appreciated.

Here's a little something I made yesterday. . . It's a Thanksgiving BANNER.

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up really early and all was quiet around the house. . . So. . . I quietly tiptoed downstairs to my sewing room hoping no one would find me for a few hours so I could focus on a few projects.

I was thinking, "What should I be working on today? I only have a short window of time before the final preparations begin. So, I better decide now and get working."

Well, as I was sitting there thinking I got side tracked from my multiple existing projects and decided to start a new project that's been brewing in the back of my head.

Here's the argument that went on in my head . . .

First off, I thought, "You've got to be crazy starting something new."

Then I thought,

"I can whip this out, it won't take long."

"You really need to do this, it's going to be really cute."

"But, I don't have time. . ."

"You can do this. . . you know you want to."

So, I got out my measuring tape and measured the mantel over my fire place and then pulled out my civil war prints and started picking out some of my favorite fabrics.

I decided on the word "Blessings" and figured out the math. You should've seen the frenzy. It's really satisfying for me to create something in my head and then create it. It's really a bonus to see that what you've made matches the vision in your head. It took me a total of 2.5 hours from thought to finish.

I will be posting a tutorial for this banner and the other one's I have floating around in my head sometime in the New Year. I will definitely let you know when I post it.

Halloween Apron Finish

I finished my apron a week before Halloween and it was so fun to wear at school. What an easy costume and so comfortable to wear. I really like this pattern and blogged about it HERE. If you go to this post you will find the information about the pattern and the apron bib which I changed. This particular apron bib is a 9" spider web block with a 1" finished border all around the block.

To make my apron I used Riley Blake's "Boo to You" collection by Mind's Eye for Riley Blake. You can see the whole fabric line HERE on Riley Blake's Website. If you hurry you may still be able to find some of this fabric online. It will probably be on sale too. I found some of it HERE and HERE and HERE. You may still be able to find some in your Local Quilt Shops too.

I almost forgot. I also used a Moda Bella Solid Black in the block and the border around the block too .

This apron is reversible which I really like.

Can you see the back fabric of the skirt?

Here's a closer look.

The day before Halloween my friend Candice (at work) wore this black spider ring made out of black beads. I had been looking for a spider and thinking about maybe having to make one when my eye saw this spider on Candice's hand. It was the perfect size and look that I wanted.

At lunchtime, I ran to the store where she got it and bought two of the last 3 spider's they had left. She thought they were gone and we started looking. I was so excited when we found a few hiding amongst the Halloween fare. The spider was the perfect finishing touch and the other spider ring I wore on my hand. So cool!!!

I hope you all had a great time giving out or collecting candy!!!

Costume Wrap Up

I finished Kenna's costume just in time for her Class Party. It took a lot longer to make than I projected because I got such a late start in the day. I finally sat down at my sewing machine at 10:30pm. I was already tired so I wasn't sewing very fast because I didn't want to have to unpick anything. I still made a mistake that didn't look like a mistake until it was finished and I thought "Oh Well, I don't even care. It's okay and no one will notice." and they didn't. I fell into bed at 3:30am and got up at 7:00am to get ready for work. It was a crazy night. I felt like a Zombie (Hi Monica!) the next day. lol.

Anyway, I'm just happy to mark that one off my list.

My current "To Do List" is quite LONG but, I'm ALWAYS juggling things around to suit my needs and to help others when called upon. But you know, I like it that way....

My sweet Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

What kid doesn't like donuts?

Hip Ruby Slippers.

Because Kenna wears a women's size 8 we couldn't find any sparkly glittery ruby slippers plus there was no time to make them nor did I want to deal with the mess so, we decided to buy cute red converse shoes that she could wear afterwards. They looked really cute on her.