WIP Wednesday

Everything is pretty much the same as last week, except that I got 2 WIPs done this week. I completed the Cosmo Bag, which took most of the week to finish. I also finished half of the "secret project." Which is an apron for my boss. The other half of that picture from last week is an apron for the other cook.

The Birdie Big Blocks and Cottage Apron still have not moved from where they were stashed last week.

I do have some upcoming projects that need to be started before we move at the end of the month, but they are still in my head for the time being. Hopefully I'll have more to show you next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabric Tuesday

Go on over to Quilt Story to see everyone's fabric creations for Fabric Tuesday!

Here's what I got done this week:

Cosmo Bag

First bag of Amy Butler's Style Stitches Sew Along over at My Crafty Crap.

Close-up of button closure

This bag took up most of my weekend. It took me a good part of a day to cut all the pieces and iron on the fusible interfacing. Constructing the bag took a couple days, and it's absolutely worth the time that it took. It's a great bag and it's going to be my bag for carrying all my sewing things when I go to quilt guild meetings. The pockets on the side are tall and skinny and hold my good scissors perfectly. The inside pockets are very large and fits my 8 1/2" square and idea book. There's plenty of room for whatever project I'm working on and all the extras I need.

My other project for the week was an apron for my boss, who is the cook at the bar/cafe where I work part time. She loves purple so when I found this fabric at the op shop in town I knew it would be perfect for her. The main body of the apron is canvas. I split each pocket (upper and lower) into three sections. The upper pocket has a section that's the perfect size for a lighter since she always seems to be losing her lighter.

This is the fourth canvas apron that I've made. It's a very easy, quick project and looks great (in my opinion). :)

Thanks for visiting!

WIP Wednesday

This is my first week of joining in on WIP Wednesday. Go on over to freshly pieced to check out all the other cool WIPs going on.

I've decided that I need to enjoy the process more. I like to work on projects, but I'm always looking towards the final product. What's the point in creating these things if I'm not having fun the whole time? I think posting my progress will help. Sometimes I feel like I haven't gotten anything done because I don't have that final product yet.

So, here's what I've been up to this week...

Squares, circles, and binding cut for Birdie Big Blocks quilt, previously mentioned in this post.

Cottage Apron (from "One-Yard Wonders") pieces cut.

Secret project

Pieces cut for Amy Butler Cosmo Bag for ABSS Sew Along.

Now to start putting things together. :)

Christmas Gifts for Jake's Family

Here's what Jake's family got for Christmas.

Miss Madeline dress for our niece. I call it a prairie dress.

I had so much fun putting this dress together. It's fast and easy and just so darn cute!!!

Father, son, and son BBQ aprons for Jake's brother (Ben) and our nephews.

These were also fast and easy to make and I absolutely love how they turned out.

Necklace with cream-colored glass pearls and red beads for Ben's wife, Serenity.

White glass pearls on red wire necklace for Jake's mom.

Now it's off to go make the final Christmas presents of 2010 for my co-workers. They'll be getting them New Year's Eve, as long as we can get off the ranch. We're supposed to get a good snow storm over the next few days, but we haven't seen much yet.

Christmas For the Family

Since Christmas is over I can now share the gifts that I made this year.

Hand quilted picnic covers for my mom.

Every summer my hometown does a Concert in the Park series and my parents spend their Friday nights in the local park with their friends and a picnic dinner. I thought these would be fun little covers to keep the bugs out of their food. Here's the tutorial I used.

Travel money/passport pouch for my dad.

Now that all of us kids are out of the house and my parents are closer to retirement age they've been doing a lot of traveling. Over the past few years they've been to Great Britain, have visited us twice in Wyoming and once now that we're in Montana, went on a fall foliage tour in New England, and visited family in Denver a few times. Their next trip they plan to take is to New Zealand. Dad mentioned that he wanted a neck money pouch so this is what I made. This is my own design. It has a clear front pouch which, as you can see, is large enough for his passport. It also has a second pocket for money, other papers, whatever. It has a button closure.

Green glass pearl elephant necklace for my sister.

She loves elephants. Enough said. :)

Friday Night Apron for my sister.

When I was living in Paso Robles, California (actually I was on a vineyard outside of Paso) my mom discovered a great little fabric store in town and decided that I needed to take a sewing class. She signed me up for an apron making class and got me all the materials. (Thanks Mom!) For some reason I missed the second part of the class so I never got it finished because I didn't have my own sewing machine. Fast forward to this summer, my parents came up to visit and I decided that it was time for me to learn to sew. I had a sewing machine now (Thanks Sally!) and I was ready to learn. Mom helped me make a cute top that I wore out to dinner that night. After my folks left I figured I should finish the apron I started a few years ago. I had a few mishaps, but I got 'er done. I think it's very cute, but it's not really my style. My sister doesn't cook, but she makes candles so I thought she might like something cute to cover up her clothes while she's working on her candles.

Tea light candle sets for my mom and sister.

Jake also make candles (well candle holders), and he made a few sets of these tea light candle holders for my family. He made a set of three, that are from the bottom of our Christmas tree, like the ones above. He also made four sets of two from an old cedar fence post he found on the ranch. They smell wonderful and look nice even without the candles.

My brother got a gift certificate from me and my sister to our family's favorite restaurant, Domenico's. Yum! We thought he might like a nice date night with his girlfriend.

Well, that's what my family got this year. Tomorrow I'll share what my In-laws, nephews, and niece got. For now I'm off to finish my first ever attempt at sourdough bread. So far it's looking good. :)

Busy Day

Jake and I have been busy working on Christmas presents today. Here are a few things that we've been making.

BBQ Apron for Jake's brother. His boys are each going to get matching ones.

Action shot.

Except that it's way too cold to actually cook outside, that's way there's nothing on the grill. :)

Sneak peak at something for our friends. I finished binding the last one today.

These go with the picture above. Any guesses of what this used to be before Jake sliced it up for me?

Gorgeous candle holders Jake made for me.