A Little Family Time

As I mentioned in my last post, I came home from StashBash to find these two young people waiting for me.  It was a super homecoming!  Arielle wrote a couple of fun posts on her blog here and here describing what we were up to...  Shopping was high on the list.  We hit the outlet mall and every discount store in town, I think.

We had record rains - rains that certainly fit the description "torrential" - while they were here.  Next time, I think they need to moderate their prayers for rain, as they were entirely too effective.  (Apparently there isn't much rainfall on their Caribbean island paradise, and they were kinda missing the wet stuff.)  I am grateful that our neighborhood didn't suffer any damage.  Sadly, many others weren't as fortunate.

My sweet daughter wanted a few items to make her rental condo seem a bit homier.  When I visited her in her island paradise last February, I took a few items that I thought might help make their space feel more like home.  But while I was making a last minute bee block, she saw this Soul Blossoms Peony fabric by Amy Butler in my stash and requested pillows.  She loves Peonies - so much so that she would have had them at her wedding if they had been available (sadly, they weren't - maybe this is the next best thing.)

So, while she and the mister were out running errands one day, I made these pillows - the churn dash one (above), this 9-patch...

and a pinwheel.  Classic blocks make great pillows, don't you think?

Hopefully they will look great on her couch and bring a touch of hominess to their space.

After all the rain earlier in the week, Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful, so we made a trip to the Farmer's Market.

I loved seeing all the flowers in bloom.  Such a perfect piece of springtime!

And I really loved this little planter made from a twin headboard, painted my {current} favorite color.  (I wonder if I can get the husband to make me one if I find a cute headboard at a garage sale or something???)

Their visit seemed all-too-short, and when I left them at the airport Saturday afternoon to make their almost-24-hour trip back to their island paradise the house seemed way too quiet.

Sure do miss them.

Lark Weekender Bag - Take 2

I finally got the room in some kind of useable shape, and since I was so behind, I decided to delay the "decorating" and get to work.  This is the second Weekender Travel Bag made with the bonus HSTs from the Lark Swoon quilt I made for my daughter - and I still have enough HST's to make a couple more bags - or something else (which is more likely!)

I decided on chevrons and pinwheels this time, with echo quilting on the chevrons and straight line quilting everywhere else.  The piping is the black texty print from Madrona Road.  Love that fabric - will probably cry when it is gone.

 Pinwheels on the pockets - green on one side...

Blue on the other...  And lots of dots.

 One of the things about making a bag for yourself is that you can add all the little features you want to suit your needs.  One of mine was to add a strap so that the bag will fit over the handle of my roll on when I travel.  Hated covering up the cute little pinwheel, but the pinwheel was done and quilted before I remembered I wanted to add the strap and I

wasn't. 

ripping. 

it.  

out.  

Sorry little pinwheel.  The good news is that it was my least favorite one...

I added a zipper pocket to the outside in addition to the pocket on the pattern to stash stuff I need to have handy, but don't want to lose.  I'm thinking maybe cell phone and wallet here.

I chose some Denyse Schmidt fabric I found on sale at Joann's for the lining, which was great because since I had surgery on Thursday, I didn't feel like driving across town to the drug store.    Then, I added an elastic strap to keep my computer case corralled inside.  Still need some wide velcro to make this work, but the guts are there.

So that's my new bag!  It will be my sample for the class I'm teaching at Derrel's in August - the 15th and 22nd.  If you want to do a whole cloth Weekender as shown in the pattern, you can just come to the second session.  For a quilted bag, you will want to come to both sessions.

And then I think it may become my favorite travel bag.

"W" is for WINNER of the WEEKENDER

Well, it's a good thing that SMS Giveaway Day lasts a whole week, or I would be in a pickle, wouldn't I?  When I got up last Monday morning, I had no idea what I was going to do for a giveaway prize, and being that I hadn't yet started sewing on Monday morning, I'm glad I had a few days to finish it.

Overall it was a really fun project and not at all the nightmare I had been led to expect.  I pretty much followed Elizabeth Hartmann's suggestions and took it slow and easy, and used a large (size 18) needle.  Since WH was out of town, I had lots of time to play on the sewing machine, so when I got bogged down with it, I worked on another project.  Consequently, I have made progress on several other projects in the process of making the bag that undoubtedly will become topics of future blog posts.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments.  If I didn't respond to your comment, it was because I was something of a ditz - I got so excited reading them that I forgot to respond, and once they were read, I couldn't figure out who I had responded to and who I had missed.   Thank you all for the kind words, for following the blog, and for following me on FB and Pinterest.  I hope that we can become good online friends.  Maybe I'll even get to meet some of you in person one day.

But now it's time to choose a winner.  I have to admit that I'm having a little trouble letting go of this bag.  This is the third or fourth time I have sat down to write this post, and each time I have gotten interrupted sidetracked.

But this time, I am going to succeed in posting a winner.  I asked Mr. Random, and he chose

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

84

Timestamp: 2013-05-12 20:09:29 UTC

Who is my friend and former swap partner, Mary,  and who writes one of the very first blogs I ever started following.

 84 Mary on Lake Pulaski  May 6, 2013 at 2:23 PM

I "like" you on Facebook.

Again, thanks to everyone who entered.  Mary, I'm off to email you right now.

Weekender Travel Bag #Sew Mama Sew Giveaway - FINISHED!

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I couldn't wait for "sweet light" to introduce you the Weekender Travel Bag I made for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway.  (If you are entering the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post - comments left anywhere else, while oh-so-welcome, will not count as entries for the giveaway.)

As you can see, I used mostly Amy Butler Lark for the quilted outside panels of the bag.  I am actually really excited about these chevrons, you know - these were some of the "bonus HSTs" (I made the HSTs as I was making the flying geese - a suggestion I read somewhere - Flickr, maybe?)  I had left over from all those flying geese in Amanda's Swoon Quilt that I made her for Christmas.  You can read about the Swoon quilt here and here.   I really love creating things out of scraps.  It makes me feel so thrifty!  And I really had a blast creating this bag.  (And now that I've re-read the Swoon posts, I think I'm going to have a really hard time giving this baby away.  Luckily, there are lots more HSTs if I decide to make another bag.)  If you'd like to make one, I think Amanda still has some Lark in her shop.

Here's the other side.  While the color combinations are basically the same, the fabrics on both sides are different, partly because I didn't have enough of any one fabric, and partly because I thought it was a fun way to create the bag.  Making the bag wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  The most time consuming part was quilting the outside.

Not a single wordy-dirty on this project, can you believe it?  A bunch of bent pins, but that was to be expected (I really have to get some of those quilting binder clips.)  And only two broken needles - one because I didn't screw the needle in tight enough and it came loose while I was sewing - oops!  The other because the needle I was using was too small.  In the instructions, Amy recommends a size 16 needle and sewing s-l-o-w-l-y.  I think she means it!  I didn't have any 16's, but I did use an 18 for most of the bag construction (after I broke the size 12 needle, of course), and it worked perfectly.  I used most of Elizabeth Hartmann's suggestions for the bag, including using cotton duck instead of peltex, and I really like the sturdiness and heft of the bag.  If I do make this bag again, I'll use this same idea. 

I decided to vary my chevrons a bit for the end pockets.  I kinda wish I'd thought of that sooner.  It's really fun!

I used texty prints as filler - and also because I thought it was really fun.  And the piping is a texty print I stole scavenged from Amanda when she made her Weekender last fall.

It has a double zipper...

And my favorite divided pocket inside - perfect for cell phone, keys, and other small objects you don't want to lose in the bottom of the bag.

I'm so excited about this project!  I sure hope the winner likes it!

Weekender Giveaway!

It's that time again and once again {what's new?} I'm running late.  I really struggled with what to do for this year's spring Giveaway Day.  It's always such an exciting time and I always have a blast seeing what everyone else is giving away (and entering the giveaways, of course - occasionally I have even won something!)  In the past I've picked favorite fabrics that I've been excited about to give away.

This year I decided to actually create something for Giveaway Day.  I've been going to do this for awhile, and what better time?  I'm creating a Weekender Travel Bag which I will give to one lucky winner.

Here is the front pocket of the bag you will receive.  Chevrons (mostly Amy Butler's Lark and texty prints).  I really think you will like it.  I think I will really like it when it is finished.  (Actually, I think I'm going to have a hard time giving it away.)

So, what do you need to do?  Here's the scoop:  each person can have up to three entries.
1.  Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite Sew Mama Sew Giveaway this spring.  That's it!  You're entered in the giveaway.

2.  If you are a follower of my blog, you receive a second entry.  That's it.  Just a leave a comment and let me know.  If you want to become a follower today, that counts too.  In either case, leave me a comment and tell me so.

3.  For a third entry, Like my PressedForTime2 Facebook page and leave me a comment on this blog post to tell me you did .  If you already Like my page, just leave me a comment and say so.  (I'm sorry to say that comments left on FB will not count as entries - I'm just not that nimble to be able to figure out how to mesh them together.)

In accordance with the rules of SMS Giveaway Day, this giveaway will close May 10 at 5:00 pm PST.  

Anyone, anywhere in the whole wide world can enter - I am more than willing to ship internationally.

Please, please, please check to be sure you are NOT a no-reply blogger.  It is so discouraging to choose a winner only to find out that I have no way to notify them that they won.  I will pick another winner immediately if this is the case.

So, I'm back to work on your bag...  I'll post progress pictures in future posts if you want to see more of what it will look like.  I think you'll really like it!

This giveaway is now closed to new entries!  Thanks everyone!