sewinsight

and a few more...

Sick of the bags yet?  I hope not - here are a few more.  It is late, I am pooped, so I will be short on words and let the photos speak for themselves.  Trunk Show is this Saturday, I figured out how to do that logo link on the right, impressed - aren't you?

Kids totes in Heather Ross

Kids totes in some of Leslie's goodness

More of my new style of handbag, using the 24" square pieces of discontinued designer fabric.  

Each bag is different because I only have one square of each fabric.

I am hoping to whip a couple more out, but may run out of time.

and a few headbands, reversible none the less!

weekend progress was made...

 

So I hunkered down, Daddy and B got a lot of quality time together, and I managed to turn out 10 purses for the upcoming Trunk Show.  One of them didn't make the cut, the fabric I am working with for the triangular purses is another batch of discontinued fabric that I got from a showroom I work with, and is generally upholstery weight and harder to work with.  I was certainly challenging my machine, getting error messages and all as I tried to cram the thick pads of fabric through it.  So one of the bags just didn't work in the final edge stitch, live and learn.  I guess it will make a nice bag for the dress up bin at B's kindergarten.  Here is what I completed, there are 9 in all, only 8 are pictured (two are the same).  

 

 

Happy Halloween!

First off though, a sewing project.  A couple of weeks ago I scored another stash of free discontinued fabrics from a showroom I go to for work.  These are all really nice expensive fabrics, but tend to be more upholstery weight and I have had trouble figuring out to do with them since the fabric is heavier.  The last stash was really heavy weight, but this one more workable.  

The goal - to find a quick handbag I could whip up in a short amount of time for the upcoming Trunk Show, using two of the 23" x 23" squares of the discontinued fabric.  I have one square of each color/pattern so plan to use in different combos.  I looked at bags I have done in the past, other patterns and came up with this.  

The fabric is so heavy (but not overly so) that I didn't need interfacing, and they handle went together without ironing.  I cut the two sides at once, then the two sides of the lining together, quick and dirty.  Sewed the whole thing together, and I believe designed and finished the bag in an hour and a half.  In an effort to keep it quick I did not do a closure which is fine for me, but I may put a closure on some and not others.  This weekend should be nice and quiet, and I hope to get a lot of bags sewed, I will post on Monday my progress.

On the Halloween front we carved pumpkins a few days ago, I got the mouse hole pumpkin idea from Sunset Magazine (I believe), love it!

 

an adventure

A couple of weeks back, Leslie asked if I had seen the movie the Bucket List.  I haven't (but will) and I was thinking about it as I took my first ever seaplane trip last Friday.  I was nervous and excited before we left, but really enjoyed the trip.  Some clients were kind enough to fly me up to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands to do a site walk through of a project and save me the long drive and ferry ride.  I have never made a "bucket list", except that I plan to get to Japan some day, but a seaplane ride should have been on there.  It was so fun (and yes a little scary) but so cool, to see everything so small and yet so much closer than on a standard plane.

It was so interesting to see the topography of the neighborhoods in Seattle I know so well, but they seem so different from the air.  B was so very sad he couldn't come with me, but I went up in the morning (he and Daddy came to drop me off and watch me take off from Lake Union) and picked me up at 5:30pm that night.  

Yes I was in the back row, just 6 seats in all, about the size of a car inside with lots of hand cranks and manual controls, but it was a nice smooth flight.  I keep myself occupied by working on my (now belated since it is still not done) birthday scarf for Royal who celebrated the big 4-0 this last weekend.  We went to Portland, OR for that, but I will post that another night.  What's on your "bucket list"?

radio three sixty

As I have been working today from home, and enjoying the great tunes on the free podcast I subscribe to, I wanted to share it with all of you.  In case you haven't already discovered it, it is Radio Three Sixty and is a great collection of music.  Really good for parties, or working, or whatever.  Check it out and let me know what you think.  I subscribe to it through iTunes, and went into the iTunes store, did a search for Radio Three Sixty ACC and clicked to subscribe, it is free.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin patch

Professor Pumpkin's Boo Bus - a cut out from a print out available here, fun afternoon Halloween activity. They have a number of Halloween theme activities to print out, fun and easy.

I also finished my "toasty" wrist warmers started in my last post, they are so warm and fuzzy, there is some angora in there.  Great for working on the computer in my cold basement, as I can still type without them getting in the way.  Fun to practice working on double point needles, felt like I really got the hang of it - on to some socks next?  We'll see - socks and sweaters still seem so daunting.

I chaperoned B's kindergarten class to the pumpkin patch today - wow that was a loud bus ride.  About an hour drive each way, but it was fun, nice to get to be a mommy for a day instead of having to work. The kids had fun in the hay bale maze, petting farm, tractor ride to the pumpkin patch to pick our their pumpkins, then back for lunch, and my favorite - the duck race - pretty funny those ducks.

I am just back tonight from a card night with my buddy, we deciphered Canasta tonight which was fun.  I played a lot with my brother when I was young but haven't played in a long time.  We decided we are beginning to feel like old ladies, but I love the mental game of playing cards.  

slow but sure

I am getting it done.  Here is what I have accomplished so far for the Trunk Show that will be happening on November 15th.  

Coasters - they were about the first thing to sell out last year, so I figured a safe bet again for this year.  All are cotton fabrics, some incorporating the Heather Bailey fabrics that are so fun.  All have cotton batting inside.  I will package most as a set of 4, but have 3 pairs which may go as a mix-and-match set of 6, or sell in pairs, or I could keep.  Any thoughts?

Love the ones with the gnomes, may have to keep that set.

Tea towels - another big seller last year, adapted them a little this year and put the fabric strip down at the bottom.  A little harder when sewing all around, but I like the look.  I made them from three colors of linen - a light cream, light brown and a darker khaki.

I have been knitting too when I only have a smaller chunk of time to work.  I have decided I have a bit of ADD when it comes to knitting projects, is that a common thing?  I think I want to work on something, start it, get bored, see something that totally excites me, and move on.  In an effort to work on this affliction, I will admit here, I have 5 projects on the needles (how embarrassing).  One is a hat, will finish sometime, but not an exiting one.  A scarf for me, a scarf for Royal's birthday (in 2 weeks), a start on my first sweater vest, but I fear I will need to pull it out since I am knitting a little big (loose, whatever) and I don't feel like dealing with it now.  But then I saw these so cool wrist warmers over here and had to make them.  

This was the first one, which I have now finished while watching the M. Night Shyamalan movie last night - The Happening - eek that was creepy.  Made it nice to watch while knitting so I had a good excuse to hide my eyes (but oh those sound effects).  So one wrist is done, the other is in the works.  The yarn is so soft, has some angora in it.

Had a lovely outing with some friends to Seattle Center the other day - I love fall.

hey there - quick post

I just couldn't ignore my little space any longer, sorry for the silence.  No photos, just a quick hello.  I had company last weekend, one of my best buds and his 4 year old son came up for our 20th High School reunion.  Yes I know, I feel the shudders coming my way, but it actually was fun.  Somehow most (but not all, I did go to Mercer Island High School after all) of the clicky crap was gone, a big change from the 10th reunion. Everyone was really friendly and lots of this going on:

Hello, (insert name here)...

(and in response).. Hi, I'm Kirsten (insert last name here)

Followed by the standard, where are you living, are you married, kids?  etc.  Then lots of reminiscing of pranks, parties and teachers.  Everyone had such a good time there is talk of doing it again sooner rather than later.

My good buddy was a little more notorious in high school (in the best way) and his the response to his introducing himself was usually followed with an expletive as people couldn't believe it was him.  It was fun to catch up, reconnect, most of which was done before hand through Facebook.  Well that's sure a strange place, I am finding all sorts of old friends over there.  Traded some posts with the first boy (we were 12 I believe) I ever kissed today, the internet sure is a funny place to be.

I have been doing some sewing and knitting, just not doing such a good job of photographing, but will soon.  I have finished a big batch of coasters for the upcoming Trunk Show and am started on some dish towels in a nice cotton/linen.  I have been simultaneously knitting a scarf for Royal's birthday, a scarf for me, and beginning my first sweater (a vest) though after getting a bit done, I decided to go back and do the gauge swatch (yes, I know) and now am finding it is a little loose, so I may have to pull it out (frogging, I am learning) and start over.  I'll let you know what I decide.  Part of me things it might not be too bad if it's a little loose, since I read a lot about people finishing sweaters and finding them too tight.

It's gocco, baby

 

So I have finally gone over to the Gocco side and had so much fun.  Daria was kind enough to come over today and give me a little tutorial on how to use the machine, saving me the trouble of learning Japanese to decipher the manual (or read the English one).  I find I do much better when I can learn something new like this - with someone showing me vs reading a manual.  I have so many ideas floating in my head now, can't wait to try them out.  

 

For the first run I tried a number of sketches using the pen that came with the set, and settled on this one and printed about 30.  I then tried another design, a tree with leaves, but something didn't work right (we weren't sure exactly what, but it wasn't dark enough in some areas.  I think I will try redrawing it with a Sharpie, scanning it in the computer, then printing it out on my laser printer.  It is a bummer to lose a screen and bulbs but it is all a learning process.

On another note, we sold our old digital Nikon and just got the new D90 and are really happy with it.  I don't know much from the technical end (that is Royal's job) but I will say that it seems hard to take a bad shot with it, does such a great job with low light and the flash looks great, just in case any of you out there were considering it.  We bought ours at Adorama (free shipping), we got the kit with the lens and did buy the Nikon extended 2 year warranty.  

knitting and chocolate, a good combo

I found these delicious and sinfully easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups here with the recipe over here. (their photos are much better than mine)  We whipped them up one afternoon and have been enjoying (and sharing) them all week.  Mine weren't as pretty as her's but tasted great.  

I have finished a few more of the Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, all done in the Manos del Uruguay wool.  I am finding the colors I bought more recently (same stuff) to be not as soft and have more variation in the thickness of the strand than the batch I originally bought. 

Exploring my Swedish roots with this one.

This was my attempt at learning colorwork.  I had three balls I was working with the whole time.  Good in theory, but it was a pain to execute.  Think I might wait on trying something like this again anytime soon.

These may be my last hats (phew you say?) for a little while, I have decided to do the Trunk Show again this year and need to get the sewing machine humming again.  Started work on some coasters last night.  I have lots of ideas for bags and purses, should be fun.  Wish me luck, I will need it.