Ohio Buckeyes Zipper Pouch

My friends are asking me to make zipper pouches for non Texas universities.  Gasp!  I am taking requests and the first request was from a dear friend that wanted Ohio State University Buckeyes. 

 

When I posted the finished zipper pouch on my personal Facebook page, I was surprised how many people came out the woodwork wanting one...  It seems I know more people from Ohio than I thought.

The zipper pouch turned out cute.  We opted for no name embroidery because I thought it would take away from the "look" and I didn't want to cover up the little alien dude that I guess is the mascot.   I used a letter charm for the first name of the recipient and went with a cute dark grey and white dot lining.  I am pleased with how this turned out.  I wish university fabrics were easy to find! 

This pouch and all of the others are available in my Etsy store.    Next up is Auburn University...   Thanks for stopping by!

Busy Sewing

Happy Holidays.  I've been super busy sewing and I haven't posted as much as I would like.  Luckily, I take pictures of everything before it goes out the door.  Here are some of my recent orders.

This order shipped to San Antonio to a friend I have known since Kindergarden! 

This order went to Florida.  Remember the 11, I made back in the fall for a staff appreciation event, well, this was ordered by one of the recipients.   The Paris Zipper Pouch and the Red Apple Teacher ones are new designs, I will share them in the next few weeks. 

 

This order shipped to Garland Texas.  The pink cowgirl zipper pouch and the pink owl ones are new designs, I love how they turned out. 

These shipped to North Carolina.  The floral is a new design using Sassy Fabric by Moda. 

These shipped to Dallas.  The Star & Moon Zipper Pouch is a new design. 

 

This order shipped to Mission Texas.

 

As you can tell, I have been living and breathing zipper bags.  I am thankful for the business and for the opportunity to sew.  Thanks for stopping by!

Baylor University Zipper Pouch

One of my former high school teachers requested a Baylor University Zipper Pouch for her God-daughter.  I love it when I get special requests for something I haven't already made.  It took me a while to find some licensed fabric, but I finally found some.  After receiving the fabric, I played with different fabric combinations and finally after many different fabric combinations, this is what we came up with.

I am so pleased with how this turned out. 

The front is polkadot and the back is BU emblem blocks. 

The bear charm was very hard to find but adds a nice touch to the zipper pull.  Sic'em!

The inside lining is chevron in green and gold, which I forgot to take a picture of. 

This Baylor University pouch along with Texas A&M and the University of Texas Longhorns are available in my Etsy store. 

Mini Quilt Received

Last month I posted the Mini Quilt I sent in the Mini Quilt Swap, I hadn't shared what I received.  Take a look at this adorable mini quilt I got from my new friend Kristen in Ricon, Georgia.  Is this not the most adorable weenie dog item you have ever seen?  She totally took into account everything I love, weenie dogs and red & black. 

She used Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater which is one o my favorite designers and lines.  I could not be more perfect!

I absolutely love it!  Thank you Kristen!

Pure & Simple Zipper Pouch

Made this 'pure and simple' zipper pouch for the Women of St. Francis gift exchange. I chose this fabric because I wanted the charm to be the focal point.

After a very long story of "left and right" for gift travel all over the room with ...40 ladies, the recipient ended up being the lady next to me whom I had never met. Earlier in the evening she told me St. Francis was her favorite saint and that was how she picked our church to attend when she moved here from Germany. How fitting that the gift ended up being hers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gift of Christmas & Christmas Candy Cane Zipper Pouch.

Over the weekend we got together with dear friends for Mommy & Daughter outing.  We went to see the Gift of Christmas at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.  All I can say about the show is that it was absolutely incredible. I left my phone in the car so did not get any pictures but no picture would have done the production justice.  It was fantastic!

Here is a picture of the four of us before we left for the show.  Kristi and I have been friends for more than 25 years (since college) and it's hard to believe our babies are growing up into little young ladies. 

Here's a little Christmas zipper pouch I made for my friend's daughter, Katie.  I love this little whimsical candy cane fabric in cute pastels, Micaela helped pick it out.

I used pink & white dot lining for the inside.  Micaela made a bracelet on the Rainbow Loom to put inside, I wish I had taken a picture. 

Hope your weekend was great!

Ornaments

Here are two ornaments I made for last night's ornament exchange at the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild.  Both are designs from Embroidery Garden.

Joy to the World

I love how the candy cane makes up the J.  

Reindeer

Love how the candy canes make up antlers. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Thanksgiving Day & Dallas Cowboys

My parents came in for the Thanksgiving holiday but we didn't do the usual.  Instead we had TG dinner on Wednesday and attended the Dallas Cowboy game on Thanksgiving Day.

This is something my Dad had wanted to do for a long time, so the five of us went.  My Dad got tickets on the 40 yard line, 2nd row so we had spectacular seats. 

The half time show was Selena Gomez, which our daughter thoroughly enjoyed. 


The Dallas Cowboys won which was the best way to end the evening!  (Wish they could do that more often).  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Paris Mug Rug Set

Here is the second mug rug set I made for my partner, Nancy. I did free motion quilting on the mug rug, made a scrappy pin cushion, a crisscross scrappy tissue holder, and a little hoop art.  I wish I had taken better pictures because you can't really see the detail of ribbon on pin cushion, the cute back and the different fabrics on the crisscross tissue holder.  I was in a rush to get everything mailed.  My partner loves Paris, the Eiffel tower etc.    

Thanks for stopping by!

Wine Mug Rug Set

Here is one of the two Mug Rugs I made for my partner in the Mug Rug Swap hosted by Quilting Gallery.  My partner Nancy makes wine so I thought this wine fabric was appropriate, I guess she can use the mug for wine too...lol.

I made a zipper bag and a mug rug to match.  Here is a close up of the coasters

Here they are all tied together.

Thanks for stopping by. 

My First Mini Quilt

I've been sewing alot just haven't had much time to post.  I joined the Mini Quilt Swap hosted by Kristi at http://www.schnitzelandboo.com/ a couple of months ago .  I have thought about this quilt every day since I got my partner assignment.  The swap is secret so no one knows who is sewing for who. 

One of the reasons I like to do swaps is that it forces me to try new techniques. 

The questionnaire from my partner said she liked mixing vintage and modern and liked a "rainbow" color scheme.  It also said she collected vintage Pyrex bowls.  From that moment, I remembered the bowl fabric from Lori Holt which she happened to list as one of her favorite fabric designers.   

So, the first thing I did was order this fabric.  I love how bright and cheery it is

I decided I wanted to do a Dresden design.  I carried the fabric all over town for weeks to find matching/coordinating fabrics for the petals or blades.  Here is the first Dresden I made.  I used the Stampin' Up! Dresden die to cut everything out...
 

Long story short, this Dresden didn't make it on the quilt.  I started to hand sew and turn all of the petals and give up quickly-- it just wasn't turning out like I wanted.  Then, I decided to make it round.  Well-- then it got wonky and I decided to just start over about 2 o'clock in the morning

I made a whole new Dresden and sewed the blades with points instead so I wouldn't have to deal with the curves.  The second one turned out much better... but somehow I could not get it to lay flat, so I had to add another blade to make it work (17 blades total).

I appliqued the Dresden on white on white dot fabric, did a blanket stich around the points and sewed in the ditch of the blades.  I then added the bowl fabric for a border....  Here it is without the center and binding.

 

I debated about the color for binding and center circle.  Part of me wanted to go with black and white dots but I finally opted for a grey and white dot instead.  I had a difficult time sewing the binding... remember what I said about forcing myself to try new techniques-- well I got a good taste of binding!  I did the whole thing twice and finally got it to look right.  Here it is the finished.
 

Here is the back. 
 

I added one little extra handmade item... one of my zipper pouches.   

Here is the whole package with a few little Texas treats from a few stores in our Historical Square in Downtown McKinney...  Texas Bumpy Road Popcorn from Mom & Pop Popcorn, Goodies Chocolate in the shape of Texas from Goodies, Obleas from Mexico, Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines from our state capital and finally everyone needs a Texas license plate with their name on it! 

I hope she likes everything.  It really was hard to let this go but I hope my partner enjoys it and loves it.  The package is being delivered today and I look forward to hearing from her.  Thanks for stopping by.

Princess Zipper Pouch

Here is a Princess Zipper Pouch I made for a dear friends daughter.  She is totally into princesses and everything pink & purple.  This fabric actually shimmers so I thought it was perfect for her. 

 

I did the lining in white and lavender dots and I think it compliments the bag nicely.

 

I especially love the princess charm.  I loaded up on some fabulous charms last month when I went to my hometown.  I found two stores with every charm under the sun and went bananas, you'll be seeing them for months because I literally got about 100 different kinds.

Thanks for stopping by.

Spoons

We provided snacks for Micaela's class a couple of days ago.  I HAD to provide individually portioned store bought snacks (per school district policy) but reduced the carbon footprint by using real spoons instead of disposable ones. I think a couple of Moms thought I was crazy but it's the green thing to do.

 

 

All in all, I spent 5-10 minutes and less than a gallon of water to hand washing these and now there is 30 less spoons in the landfill. 

Wedding Pillows

Here are a couple of wedding pillows I made this last week for local customers. 
Both weddings were Saturday.  

























I love making these because I know they will be cherished by the couples. 






















Hope you had a great weekend. 

Looks like Autumn

Our region of Texas is in a severe drought.  All the recent rain has our grass green again. We haven't watered since mid August.   Looking forward to more color in the coming weeks.

Busy Weekend

I've been sewing but my time to post has been non existent.  This week I was responsible for our city's Drug Take Back Event.  It was a HUGE success but requires so much preparation. 

Here is a collage with a few pictures. 





























We had 38 bags/boxes of solid drugs. Incredible! We are recycled TEN 95 gallon bins of plastic/paper packaging and a small truckload of boxes. Plus... we managed to have only one half empty container of trash. Eight people really "Making a Difference" in McKinney today--- I couldn't do this without the help of volunteers,  the support of the Public Works Department and the Collin County Sheriff's Office.

Buying Handmade for Staff Appreciation

Last week I got an order for eleven zipper pouches.  Woohoo, it's my biggest order to date. 

Eleven ladies in Ormond Beach Florida have a really fabulous boss --This sweet lady purchased personalized zipper pouches for her entire staff for Staff Appreciation Week.  

The sweet thing was she wrote me describing each person and then I sent-posted pictures of previous pouches I had made for her to choose from. I thought it was thoughtful and the best thing was she didn't try to haggle on price and paid to ship over night!

Halloween Swap Items

Here are a few more items I have made for my partner for the Halloween Swap I am hosting. 

First...  This is tiny but I think they are so cute.  These are Hershey's Nugget candy covers I made out of felt.  This is a design from Embroidery Garden.  I think they can double as finger puppets.

Second...  This is a Halloween Zipper Pouch.  I've made this design before but this time I embroidered the name on the back. 

Third...  This is a bowl and fabric cover.  The bowl is a large melamine mixing bowl (like 12 inches in diameter).  I made a cover for it using some fun Halloween fabric. 

Here is a photo from the top.  Micaela our daughter thought it would work well as an old fashioned  Halloween shower cap too....lol.

So, these three items, plus the Halloween Pillow, the Owl Pin Cushion, and the 3 monster treat bags along with some spools of ribbon and candy went out to my partner who lives Northwest of Dallas yesterday.  I hope she likes everything!

Autumn Be Thankful Sewing Swap

We've had so much fun with the Halloween Swap, the ladies want to do it again.  Opening up a new swap.  This is for one single Autumn item due by November 15.  You can send extras but not necessary.

Use this link to register online.    Closing soon, don't delay.

Autumn at the Dallas Arboretum

Are you ready for some eye candy?  Friday I had a fun work meeting.  The location was the Dallas Arboretum (poor me).    While there I got a behind the scenes tour  and a look at the incredible Autumn display and the new Children's Adventure Garden!  I have been to the Arboretum many times but never during the fall so this was a special treat for me.

The Autumn display has more than 50,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash!  It runs through November 27.  You can visit the Dallas Arboretum website for more information. 

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone (they don't do the place justice, but you'll get the idea).

Isn't that incredible!  I'll share pictures of the Children's Adventure Garden in the next few days.  Hope you are having a great Monday!