My First Bow Tucks Tote/Purse

I was wanting to make a new purse for myself and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I drove over to Joanne’s to look at patterns and as I was walking into the store, I noticed a lady’s purse in her cart. It was very bright and I could tell right away that the style was what I was looking for. I asked her if she made it and she said yes, but she didn’t know anything more about the pattern other than it was “Bow Tie Tucks” or some thing like that. A friend had given her the pattern, so she couldn’t even tell me where it came from. She did let me look at it, even to see what the inside looked like and I knew that was the pattern I wanted.
As soon as I got home, I googled “Bow Tie Tucks” and very soon I found that the pattern I was looking for was actually called “Bow Tucks” and learned that I could probably find it at a quilt shop. Needless to say, I immediately went to the nearest quilt shop, which was going to close in one hour and bought the very last one they had in stock.
I also found a tutorial for assembeling it since there are no photos in the instructions.

The embroidery design on the front pocket is from Embroidery Library and is called Scrolling Stargazers.

The purse measures aproximately  11″ tall x 13″ wide x 5″ deep.  Ties on each end form a bow that causes a tuck that adds a nice shape to the bag.   I was able to personalize the size of the inside pockets to fit the items I carry regularly.

Here Is One I Completely Forgot To Tell You About~

This is a project I did this past June. It is called “Seeing Double” and it is an In The Hoop Project by Anita-Goodesign.   The flowers in the center were from another design set called “Sketchy Florals” available from Betty’s Original Embroideries .  This was a fun project, it is done mostly in the hoop with the exception of the center portion which is attached with your regular sewing machine.  The flowers in the center are not part of the project, I added them in along the way, but forget exactly how I did it.

My Gifts for a Baby “Sprinkling”

My friend is expecting her second child soon, a girl this time. Since she already had a baby shower when she was expecting her son, she did not want to have another baby shower.  So…. her sister is having a Surprise Baby “Sprinkling” for her.  The sister sent out a letter to the expectant parents’ friends and family asking those who wish to participate to send a small card, book unwrapped gift, etc. to the her.  Later this week, while the new mom is taking a nap, the sister and the baby’s dad will arrange the gifts in the baby’s room and surprise mom when she gets up from her nap. 

 Here is a photo of what I am sending. I made a personalized, flannel, rag quilt style of burp cloth and a personalized door pillow to let visitors know when they arrive to visit that the baby is sleeping.

Originally uploaded by MyToothFairyPillow

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I took photos of each stage while I was making the burp cloth and plan to make a tutorial of how it is made. Hopefully I will get it posted in the next week or so.

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Rag Style Burp Cloth and Baby is Sleeping Door Pillow

Phoenix Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival

The Phoenix Quilt, Craft & Sewing Festival was this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I was only able to attend on Saturday. I sat in on a couple of classes and learned a few new tips and techniques. Unfortunately, the time I spent sitting in the classes took away from time to walk around to see all of the beautiful quilts, sewing and crafted items. I did get to stop by a few of the booths in the smaller of the two buildings that housed the festival. It is probably a good thing that I didn’t get to see too much more than I did ~ I made a rather large purchase while I was there. As I noted in an earlier post, I have the Brother Duetta 4500D sewing/embroidery machine and I have been hoping to eventually get the Hoop-it-all for it I figured I would get it someday, but had no plans to buy it anytime soon. Well….. I wandered by a booth that had several embroidery machines set up with various sizes and shapes of the Hoop-it-all. So I stopped and listened in on a conversation between the sales lady and a customer. I ended up talking to the husband of the sales lady. As it turned out, they were the owners (he is the inventor) of the Hoop-it-all. They were the nicest people. They were offering a show discount along with free shipping. To top it off, I could do a lay-away type of payment on it to spread the payments over a few months with no interest or finance charges, but that means that I won’t get it until it is paid for. I really couldn’t pass up the discount, plus they are increasing their prices soon. I am hoping to have it by summer.

My Sewing/Embroidery/Crafting/Computer Room

Last summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to upgrade to the Brother Duetta 4500D.  My old machine (which still works perfectly) only has a 4×4″ embroidery area.  This one has a much larger 7×11″ area.  I can also transfer the designs to it either directly from my computer, with a USB thumb drive,  from a purchased card or one that I write the files to.  Shortly after I bought this one, Brother came out with an even bigger and better (and WAY more costlier) machine.  I am happy with this one, I just wish I had more time to play on it.

 

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Another toy of mine is my serger.  It is a Babylock Evolve.  I have had it for atleast 5 years and still need to use the quick guide every time I want to use it because it has SO many stitch options available. 

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This one is just a basic sewing machine.  I don’t want to have to change the Duetta from embroidery to sewing and back, so I usually leave it set up for embroidery and use this one for sewing.  There are times that I want to use stitches or options that this one isn’t capable of, so then I do have to change the Duetta, but it is nice to not have to for all sewing.   I ran out of space for this one on the table top where the Serger and Embroidery machine sit, so I decided to use this odd shaped nook for additional sewing space.

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My threads used to be in several different containers, drawers and racks.  I would always forget what I did or didn’t have and didn’t always take time to put the spools back into their place when I was finished with them.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a custom rack to fit behind the door.  It is out of the way and usually the door is open, so the rack is out of sight. 

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 I do still have 2 pullout  drawers in a rolling cart for smaller spools of embroidery thread and for my sewing thread.

Rolling storage cart with removable lidded drawers.

Storage for my sewing threads.

Some of my sewing threads.

 

I am hoping this new storage method will make it easier for me to put my threads back when  I am done with them.