You Go Girl!

This, That, and the Other

I have a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a little bit of the other to share with you.

First the this:

Did you notice that I've gone back to my old blog banner and colors.  I'm still on an orange bender, but everytime I opened my blog to check something, the orange overwhelmed me.  I got to thinking that if it overwhelmed an anaranjado (I love to say orange in spanish) junkie like me, it must be gagging an orange-a-phobe. (I made that word up.  What do you think?)  Besides, I was missing that little doodle bird that Melissa drew for me.  When I first started this blogging thing, I commissioned her to create a banner for me.  I think she did a pretty fine job.

Now the that:

Wylde Women Award

 
To send love and acknowledgement to women

who brighten your day, teach you new things and

live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

A while back Robyn at Daisy Quilts gave me an award.  It is the Wylde Women Award. Tammy is the artistic genious behind this award.  I love the mission of this award.  When I set out to blog I hoped I would brighten someone's day, teach someone something new, and reflect the life I'm trying to live with generosity and joy.  It was very heartening to have someone tell me that I was doing this for them.  Thanks, Robyn.

I could pass this award to so many people.  There's a lot of inspiration and bloggy goodness out there. Today I choose to pass the award to these four girlfriends.

Jody at Gumbo Lily--Your posts always remind me of what really counts in life.  Thanks.

Julie at Joy's Hope--Your blog is a breath of fresh air to me.  Always brings a smile to my face. Thanks.

Lisa at A Spoonful of Sugar--You have more good ideas in you pinky than I have in my whole being.  You go girl!

Jona at Stop Staring and Start Sewing--I so get you.  A house full of kids, a husband that lets you be you, a terrific sense of humor, a heart to sew, and an amazing fabric collection.

There's so many more I could mention like Gemma, and Randi, and Terri, and Anna, and Nanette, and Tonya, and Marie, and Marisa, and Jenny, and...  The list could go on and on. Oh, I wish you were all my neighbors!   

Anyhoo, back to the award.  This award is yours to do what you want with.  If you decide to pass it on, here are the rules:

    1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

    2. Link back to this blogsite as well (http://www.TammyVitale.com) so that Tammy (the originator) can go and visit all these Wylde Women. Tammy would love to see this travel around the world.

 

And finally the other:

I have two new items in my Etsy store.  I doodled up some covered buttons.  Yes, I have other things I should be doing, but this button thing is very gratifying.  There's something about popping the back on the button and then seeing a perfect little button come dancing out of the plastic sleeve.  It so easy a caveman could do it!

 

 

I also put this in the store. 

If you'll recall the swing top was originally going to be a bag.  Well, the girls were sure that the mommy and new baby I was sewing for really needed a bag.  So I stitched up a bag.  Now I have this little set of clothes that don't have a home.  I wish one of my girls could wear it.  But size 6-9 months doesn't work at this house any more.

Well, that's all for now. 

Toodles,

Cassie 

Up Next--I've completed my very first item from an Ottobre pattern.  I will post it soon.  I can't write about it until I let my brain relax from the eye-crossing pattern tracing gig.  WOWZER!

Knittin' Up a Wonder

Name:  Chloe Ann

Birtdate:  October 10th, 2008

Weight:  8 pounds, 12 ounces (Wow!)

Welcome to the world, little one. 

This is my new neice Chloe.  There's nothing quite like a new baby.  So soft, sweet, and innocent.  Who else, but a baby, can hurl on your brand new jeans and get a "wow" and cuddle for doing it?  (Yes, that really happened to me this weekend.)

Before Chloe was born I spankied-up some jeans, a shirt, and a sweater for her.  I used some of Amy Butler's new fabric.  Love it!

   

 

 

 

While I was loving on little Chloe I got to thinking about THE Creator, about how he knit us together. I like that picture.  God himself knitting each one of us together.  I bet he takes the same kind of pleasure in creating us that we get when we have something really good going on.  I bet He never has to rip out stitches or put his pieces in the repurpose-it-later pile.  The Author of Life has it all planned out before he even starts.   And His creativity...well, it's downright amazing. Sometimes I think my works start to look all the same.  But there are a kabillion people in this world, all created by His hand, and none of them are the same.  Even my two identical triplets have traits that set them apart from each other.  They are subtle, but they are there.  Yep...I like that image.  God the Creator knitting up something special.  Something beautifully and wonderfully made.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  Psalm 139:13-14

Whirlwind Weekend and a Little Bag Mojo

 

I had a whirlwind weekend.  My little sister had a baby on Friday. (This deserves a post of its own.  I will share pictures and more info later. Just know that my new neice is all sweetness and love.  I have a crush on her, for sure!)  My older sister and I made plans months ago, before we knew the baby was going to be a C-section scheduled for Friday, to see Phantom of the Opera in Spokane, WA on Saturday.  So I left home on Friday, traveled to the lake to stay with my parents and visit my little sister and her new baby in the hospital, got up on Saturday and traveled with my big sister to Spokane, watched the Phantom (amazing!), stayed Saturday night in Spokane at the historic Davenport Hotel (beautiful!), shopped a little on Sunday before driving three hours to home.  I got home Sunday evening just in time to wolf down a little pizza, correct homework, listen to piano practice, and tuck the girls in bed.  Whew, I'm tired just writing about it!

It takes a while to recover from a weekend away.  It is already Wednesday. I haven't been down to visit my sewing machine even once this week!  Before I left for my whirlwind weekend, I stitched up this bag using some of Heather Ross' dog fabric from her Lightning Bugs collection.   I love this fabric, especially the little chihuahua in the teacup.

I was sure I had lost my bag mojo after my last bag making attempt. I am pleased to report that everything seems to be fine.

Last week I also discovered Ottobre.  I know.  I'm always a little late to the party.  Oh, well.  I've never claimed to be cutting edge.  LOL!  Anyway, back to Ottobre.  I'm dying to try some of the patterns in this magazine.  The pattern sheet is a little intimidating...the measurements are all metric and there are lots of pattern pieces overlapping each other and confusing my simple mind. I think I can do it, though. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Happy Day,

Cassie

Snip, Snip, Snip...

I fought the bag and the bag won.  Or did it? 

The problem started when I tried to use a sew-in interfacing instead of a fusible.  Actually the problem started when Pellon Decorbond changed its formula.  It went from being a soft facing that was the perfect weight, to being a crinkly facing that wrinkled when scrunched.  So the search for new facing was on.  After alot of trial and error, I decided my new favorite facing was plain old flannel.  The down side to facing with flannel is that it has to be fused to the bag using Wonder-Under. Short story long, the Wonder-Under means an additional ironing step.  Booooo! I don't like ironing!  On this bag, I tried to take a short cut. The results put me in a snit.  What's a girl to do?

Well, I decided the responsible thing to do would be to repurpose the bag fabric into something else. Oh, who am I kidding? I was mad at the bag, and I cut it up!  There's some kind of therapy in that!  I cut purposefully with glee.  Soon that nasty bag was reduced to pieces of fabric that were little bundles of potential.  I took those pieces and turned them into this.

 I used the big pieces from the bag and some fabric from my stash to make this little top.

 

 

The little bag pieces were used to "snaz" up a pair of bitty jeans that I bought at Penney's for $4.99.  What a steal!

It has been a long time since I have used a pattern to create clothing.  Fourteen years, in fact.  I am proud to report that my skills have improved.  All that home-dec and bag sewing has paid off.  I am smitten.  I can't wait to create something else for someone small.

So as you can see, the bag didn't actually win.  I did.  And speaking of winners, it's time to announce the winner of my giddy giveaway.  The random number generator chose number 21.  If I counted correctly, Rachel left comment twenty-one.  Today is her birthday.  Can you believe it?  Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Rachel! 

Pincushion Party

Is two a party?  I guess it depends on who the two are.  I remember when Mr. Handsome and I first started dating.  Anytime he was around, it was a party for me.  Sweet like cake and bubbly like punch.  Ahhh, young love.  But I digress.  I have two pincushions that would like to be part of a party.  And what's a party without a gift?

This little pincushion's for you (Leave a comment.  I will randomly pick a winner on Wednesday, October 8th):

This one's for the Etsy store:

 

  

 

These are the two pincushions I made last week when I was off-task.  I used Heather Bailey's pattern.  You can find it here.  I am happy to report that I seem to be doing a little better with my focus this week. All six pairs of jeans are hemmed.  I am currently working on the baby gifts.  One of the bags I am making for a gift is trying to get the best of me.  We'll see who wins this battle.  I hope that bags knows I am a woman armed with scissors.  I'm not afraid to use them. Snip, snip, snip little bag.  I just might cut you up.  Whew. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.  I feel so much better.   (Disclaimer:  I am not a violent person, but I think I might be caught in a snit.  Gnashing of teeth.  Snatching of hair.  White knuckles gripping the scissors.  It's not pretty.  But I'm over it.  Really.) 

Thanks for being a part of my give-away.  And before I forget, Lisa and her daughter are have a giveaway at Spoonful of Sugar.  But hurry.  Midday on Saturday is your last chance to leave a comment.

Toodles,

Cassie