These sets will soon be mailed to their new home in Arizona.

I have one more custom order in the works, but I’ve given myself the day off today. I’ve had a sore throat for the last couple days. It feels like I’m moving in slow motion.

If I don’t go to bed early tonight, I may work on this quick project. I volunteered to fix our friends Sam and David’s advent calendar. This morning I went over to Joann Fabrics and bought some metallic green floss.

Can you spot what needs to be fixed?
(You can click on the photo to zoom.)

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Here are two recent purchases of mine:

The first is this cute sheep fabric from Superbuzzy.

Don’t know what I’ll use it for yet. But how could I resist getting two yards of it?
I couldn’t!

And, looking over my small purse collection I noticed that I have several pretty springtime purses, about three different little black purses and a few tote bags. But no fall/winter handbag. So, when I saw Maia’s newest handbag, made of brown corduroy (oh, I love corduroy!)… I had to have it!

This bag is so nice! I love the loop and button on the front, and it’s one of those bags that you can just keep putting stuff in and it never seems to get too full. It has three pockets inside and still holds my wallet, misc stuff AND my umbrella. If you need a new bag or wallet - I highly recommend checking out Maia’s Etsy shop, Glass Beach. She is very nice and her craftsmanship is excellent : )

And last, but not least…

A few weeks ago I was reading Rebecca’s blog Thrifty Goodness, and spotted a book in one of her photos, that made me chuckle. Being a fabulous pal, Rebecca has sent me that very book! So I present to you: Lake Resort Nurse by Arlene Hale, (published in 1966 and retailing at $.40).

I am seriously considering sharing this book with you, my blog readers. There are 15 chapters total, so I’m thinking of offering a 2 chapter synopsis once a week, complete with my own observations and…. quite possibly, re-enactments of major plot points. I’m not sure if I’ll draw the characters, or re-create them in felt or just raid Josh’s action figure collection. That part remains to be seen.

What do you think?
Is anyone out there interested in the saucy tale of Reba the lake resort nurse?
Her rocky relationship with Skip, owner of a boat rental business?
Or Lee, the mysterious stranger who has recently come to town?
Sure you are….. ; )

Hope you are all doing well!

I didn’t realize I’d be filling it up so quickly. I’m doing a little swap with my friend Katie, and while I was going through my fabric stash I decided to separate out all my 30’s reproduction fabrics. They just fit into the basket.

And here is another Target find - and my first fashion shot (ha!) for the blog:
this cute polo shirt that I found in the girls section.

(That dark object on the bed is Lucy… somehow there’s always a cat in my photos!)

The shirt is super soft and has a cute pink embroidered owl detail. I didn’t want to try it on at the store and I wasn’t sure if “the girls” were going to fit… but I’m delighted to report that a girl’s size XL is a winner - and only cost $9.99!

I’m off to the post office - hope to have a true crafty post soon!

I used to think that making pasta from scratch would be very difficult - but it’s not. I have a nifty little attachment for my KitchenAid mixer that rolls the pasta out in different thicknesses. And a wonderful (and easy!) recipe from Jamie Oliver’s: The Naked Chef Takes Off (which now that I’m getting the link, appears to be in paperback on Amazon at a really good price!) I made his recipe:
Stracci with gorgonzola, mascarpone, marjoram and walnuts.
Delish!

We had creme brulee for dessert. I had to try making that because I have a little kitchen torch that I hadn’t used yet and wanted to try out. This is a great dessert to make if you want a fun activity that your dinner guests can participate in. Each person can carmelize the sugar on their own dessert. With a torch.
Trust me on this one - the guys loved it!

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Sewing wise, I want to get some more ornaments made for the fast approaching holiday season - so a few days ago I made this little tree ornament mock-up.
(It’s just a trial run - so please excuse the wanky off center tree trunk there.)

I’m going to make as many sets as I can in different color combinations
from the above sets of fabrics.

Today Pacific Fabrics is having a Labor Day sale of 25% off all of their fabrics. I got ribbon and fabric for the tree ornament project, a fuzzy orange to make plushies out of, more wool for sewing books and the dot fabric is a linen remnant… I’m thinking that may become little pouches at some point.

Now I’m off to order some yellow felt online and then get back to sewing!

Enjoy the day -

** Hey guys - would you like to help me decide something? Which way should I have this fabric facing on the front of the checkbooks (in the above photo) - the way I have it at the top or the way I have it at the bottom? I could really use your suggestions!

These are some of the buttons I’m thinking of using.
Something about the pale orange with the green and brown (the top one) intrigues me right now… is that a goofy color combination?

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I was at JoAnn’s today to buy bias tape and (surprise!) they had buttons on sale! Yay!
And alot of these are favorites of mine. They will surely be used in the near future : )

They also had these cute Halloween bells - I’ve got to figure out a way to combine them with the beautiful pumpkin colored wool I found at Pacific Fabrics.

I’m off to work on the remainder of my list.
Let me know what ‘cha think of the checkbook fabric - top or bottom?

(Don’t make any assumptions here - we have only just started doing this. We run for 10 minutes. Five minutes out and then five back to the house. And if you reside in the Ballard/Phinney area I sincerely apologize for the wheezing and gasping you’ve had to endure as we lurch past your home in the wee hours...)

Then he walked over to the post office with me (and more on that in a minute!)
And then, we walked further to a new quilt shop that Josh told me he saw on the way home one night. My man spotted a quilt shop for me! I love this guy!

The shop was smallish - but very nice.
They had alot of fabrics that aren’t at Joann’s - so I’m very happy to have found them. And they are in walking distance of the house. (Oh dear.)

At the post office I had two packages waiting.
The first was this lovely Hanky Sachet that I ordered from Primrose Design.
I could smell it before I even opened the box.
It is quite large: about 6″ x 6″ and it smells divine.
I could really carry this around with me all day…..
(your can click on the photos to see them larger.)

And then my first purchase from Chet and Dot: this little Tissue Pouch. Adorable!

In other news…

I think I’ve finally found a source for good quality felt. And that would be A Child’s Dream Come True. I’ve known about them for some time, but I was under the (mistaken) impression that they only took fax/phone or mail orders. Wrong.
They are completely internet accessible, the quality of the felt is fabulous and they ship very quickly. If you are looking for good felt - I highly recommend them.
They have different kinds of felt, in various weights.
For what I make - I’ve chosen the Holland wool felt.

Epilogue II:

For those of you who read this post and wondered what would happen to a package sent to England for all of $2.00….. I am happy to say my buyer received her sewing book already! It all worked out very well. I am so pleased!
And I apologize, postal clerk guy, for doubting you.

We don’t have any major plans for the long weekend. Hopefully getting together with our friend John tonight. And I’d like to buy a walking foot for my sewing machine on Monday… and how convenient that Pacific Fabrics is almost next door to the Bernina shop… and having a 25% off sale on all their fabric?

Other than that - I have many projects to finish up. My goal is to have new things to list in the shop on Monday & Tuesday, including new sewing books, new taskets and checkbook covers.

Have a wonderful, safe long weekend.
Hope you have good weather and lots of fun where you are!