Thursday already

Today I went to lunch with the ladies from our church and we had a great time. WE went to red lobster and I had salmon grilled with veggies and rice and cole slaw. yummy They asked me to give the prayer for the food and that was a real honor forme. I gave away several of my purses and smaller bags today and really enjoyed doing that.
I also mailed some to relatives yesterday. Now I can get busy making more. LOL
WE have had so much rain here it is unbelievable and scarey. Constant flood warnings.
I also gave away most of the leftover chex mix I made to the people in the computer lab tonight where we teach computer skills to senior citizens and some people study genealogy.
I wrote about my babylock and forgot to mention that it tells me when it needs thread or is almost out of thread in the top or the bobbin. It is awesome and so easy to use.
I think I am going to tackle another quilt.

Babylock Espire

I have to tell you about my babylock espire that I got in Texas. This machine practically sews itself.
I am constantly amazed at what it will do, and I don't even know what it will do.
This is the machine on which I sewed with Eleanor Burns at her workshop in Texas. I knew then I loved it, so after the workshop I went down to the floor and tried one out=picking the brain of the wonderful cute little girl who was working representing Babylock. I cannot remember her name, but she sat down with me and showed me everything Babylock would do and I was sold. She said she herself had 16 machines, but they were furnished of course by Babylock. She said she did all the embroidering. I considered an embroidery machine but decided I wanted a top of the line machine that I could make my quilts and bags and then if warranted, next year I would get an embroidery machine.
This machine is AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME.
It threads itself
It cuts the thread
It staystitches at the beginning and end
It has a pivoting feature that is unbelievable
It is all screen fingertip touching
You program the stitch you want and then the other features and push the button for the presser foot to go down and that is it.
When you are sewing and you stop, the presser foot comes up but the needle st ays down in the fabric-wonderful. Then when you s tart sewing again the presser foot automatically goes down and it starts sewing.
When you are finished you push the stay stitch button and it does 3 stitches and cuts the thread.
When you thread the machine it is effortless. I have had other machines that said they were self threading and I never was able to do it.
The bobbin threads so easy and when you get it threaded you push the needle down button and then again and it comes up threaded.
It dings to alert you when the bobbin is getting low and says it on the screen.It dings when the thread comes unthreaded which is not very often and stops.
It tells you on the screen it is unthreaded.
The decorative stitches are amazing. More later.

More about the Sale

Yesterday afternoon George and I went to the sale to check out how things were going and to shop!!! I bought a necklace for my sis in law and a bracelet for friend Linda. I also bought a Santa Claus from Louesa, my friend from PEO.

I couldn't resist Susan's cheese spread and shortbread cookies.

Susan is unbelievable in her talent and creativity. Her home is beautiful and decorated perfectly. All the jewelry she made looks like it came from a jewelry store. And her food items were awesome and everything was "tastefully" packaged and displayed with professional wrapping and labels and stickers etc.

I am so lucky to have the opportunity to sell my things in their sale.

They said about 10 of my bags sold yesterday, so I am hoping a lot more will sell today. I am planning on going to the sale later today and maybe helping or at least packing up my things to bring home. Maybe there won't be anything left to bring home. Wouldn't that be great?????

New tote=pieced and quilted

I bought a pack of charm squares at Texas from Penny Strurges and decided to make a tote yesterday. It is called Cherry Baby from Lakehouse by Robin Palette.

The fabric is gorgeous and for some reason did not show up as pretty in the pictures as in person. Maybe later I will try again when the sun comes out.

Christmas sale this weekend!!!

Monday I turned in all the totes and wristlets and make up bags +++54!!!!!!!!! The lady who is hosting the sale with other ladies loved them all. She displayed them and thinks they will sell. I hope I hope.
It took me 5 hours to inventory them and fill out and attach the tags and business cards. This is the first show or sale I have participated in and I am excited. I have sold several online at ebay in my store and on my husband's site at ebay and in person just a few. The more I make the better I get with them, thank goodness. I love to sew.

new pouch

Yesterday I made a new Christmas design pouch and it has a zipper and a cute little loop handle with an inside small pocket. I boxed the corners and it stands alone. I would use it for a make up bag, but it could be used as a small clutch type instead of a purse if you didn't want to take so much stuff to an event over the holidays. I didn't use a pattern but just started cutting the fabric and then I used iron on interfacing from Pellon and sewed in the zipper.Then I made the pocket and sewed it and my name label in the lining pieces. Then I sewed up the outside pieces and then the inside pieces leaving an opening to turn. Once I had it turned, I sewed up the opening and stuffed the lining inside of the bag and it was finished. So cute.

Most of you know, I have a fabric store on ebay, and last week my husband and I went to Houston to the international quilt market for retailers. It was absolutely awesom. I have never seen such lovely fabrics in my life. I attended several sewing classes-one with Eleanor Burns in her flower and vine technique for applique using a kit she gave us.We sewed on Baby Lock's new espire, and I liked it so much I bought one there.When I got to Eleanor's class I was alittle late, and there was not a seat for me, so she said for me to sit up front with her and we would take turns sewing, which we did, and she was so nice and wonderful.I attended a class taught by Nancy vasilchik a designer for exclusively quilters, and she gave us all kinds of tips for sewing and lots of goodies and a dvd with lessons on how to make a prarie point tote and a purse/tote and applique. We were given charm packs in the posy party and another line, I liked that fabric so much I went and bought 6 bolts from the posy party line.I went to Jinny Byers's class on how to incorporate color brightness in quilts and received another charm pack in bright solids. She was unbelievable in her designs.I went to another class taught by Amy Butler which was truly awesome and her things she brought to show were great. She gave us a brochure book with all her new things in it and signed my copy.I went to the Moda class on charm packs and received lots of goodies there and a dvd with patterns using 8 of the new lines charm packs. We also got a couple charm packs.Lastly, I went to the sulky class on how to make a rag bowl and made a small one, which I thought was so much fun such a great gift idea. I went to lots of other classes and then spent 2 days on the floor seeing over 1,000 vendors showing all their new products, fabrics, patterns etc. It was great not to mention 2 or 3 thousand quilts too, When the market is over the very next day they have the festival which is for sewers. They get to go to classes and walk the floor buying retail.Oh by the way Moda has a new product called layer cakes that is like a charm pack only the squares are 10 inches and there are 40 in each pack.

Halloween quilt more views of blocks

Halloween quilt more views of blocks

My Halloween Quilt

Fabric Store

I forgot to mention that after I had made so many quilts and had no place to store them or the fabrics and was running out of money to buy more... I decided to clean out my closet and sell stuff on ebay. I had such a great time doing it and made more money than I thought I could for used purses and shoes etc., that I decided to sell fabric. I contacted the Moda people and met this wonderful man named Mark and he invited me to their fabric show last summer. I obtained a tax number and started my business. I bought several bolts of fabric and notions, etc, and started selling on ebay again. In October of 06 we went to Houston to the International Quilt Market and bought more and more. Being with others retail sellers and quilters and seeing all the products and vendors was fabulous. I came home with a huge stack of catalogs and order blanks and a trunk full of fabrics. It was an awesome experience. Besides that, I attended seminars and talks and sewing classes. What an education for me.
At some point, last year, I started making tote bags and purses and less quilts.
As you might guess, I had a large stash of purses and totes and George, my husband, said," Honaey, why don't you sell your purses on ebay?" So, I did and have continued to. Now I have a store on ebay and lots of fabrics, purse patterns and notions.
http://stores.ebay.com/Fabric-for-quilts-and-more

Gesika's Wallet

I have a college student working with me in my sewing activities for credit towards her degree. She needs to spend 20 hours with me and so far we have spent about 7. It is refreshing to have someone who is young and brave and without preconceived ideas of how something "should" look. She has a leather sleek looking credit card holder with a strap that buttons to hold the cards in place. In the middle there is a slip in space for bills. Hers has credit cards on both sides. It is really small but compapct. I went straight up over it and she decided to make me one. We decided upon the fabric and I sewed up a rectangle shaped piece for the outside and we decided to fold it, and after we did, it was slightly different than hers. Since she was making it for me, I decided I wanted a coin section and a loop strap for mine.

She obliged and used velcro to make sure the coins wouldn't fall out and the bill part just stayed the same slip in. On the bottom was another slip in compartment and we left it that way for hankies or pad and pen.

Quilts

I finished my table top quilt for Fall yesterday and love it. I love pumpkins and Jack-o-lanterns and leaves, etc. You get the picture?

For one thing, I taught kindergarten for 33 years and really enjoyed the seasons and holidays etc with the kids.

Last year, I made a smaller quilt that is considered a wall hanging but I keep it on my marble t op chest of drawers in my kitchen. Anyway, my son loved it so much, this year I gave it to him and made myself another one.

Tote Bag Purse Tutorial

I got started making purses and tote bags last year and let up on the quilts.Seems like my real passion so far is in making purses, bags and totes. I love to make pouches, wallets and make up bags too.I have sold quite a few on ebay and through people who saw others with my bags.
It seems that I spend the biggest part of my time reading on the internet, sewing books, magazines about sewing and experimenting. When I started on the bags I had no one to help me and everything was trial and error- lots of errors. LOL
I bought a lot of patterns and read them over and over and tried several and finally ended up making one tote bag ( my own pattern) most of the time. I do vary some and enjoy making different ones.
I joined 1 purses Yahoo group and started another one myself and find it wonderful to talk with others who are doing the same things I am.
In my ebay business, I sell mainly fabric and purses notions and needs. I have had sesveral customers ask me how to do different things in sewing and how to use some of the itemsI sell. So lately I have had several people ask me how I make the bags.
I decided to make a tutorial from start to finish. Since I am a teacher and used to going into a lot of detail, it turned out quite long and I had about 30 pictures.
If you want to see it here is the link
http://users.zoominternet.net/~bbcarter/totebag.doc

Where did August and september go??????????????

I spent a lot of time in August being distracted from blogging and then September just kind of took off like a jet. But now, I am ready to do some talking and I would like to post some pictures if I can figure out how to do it here.
I have been making lots and lots of purses and wristlets and make up bags. I am sew crazy it seems and love it love it.
I joined a group of other people who sew (online yahoo group) and it is interesting reading everyone's posts about what they are making and looking at the albums people have created.
Last March I started a purses group but no one responds to my posts or initiates any conversation.

Journey

Hi, I've heard a journey starts with a single step, but mine was more like a crawl.

Sewing for me did not come naturally and came very late in life, although I did take Home Ec., didn't we all??

Two years ago sewing was completely unknown and unthought of to me. I was teaching a basic computer skills class for senior citizens and minding my own business when one of the "sisters" said she thought we should start a sewing-QUILTING- group.

I neglected to mention the computer classes are taught in a lab in a church.

Anyway, we did start the sewing group and thus my journey began...