What’s on my Design Wall – 11/23/09

While on on Holiday Quilt Shop Hop on Friday, I was able to show of my “Letty’s Bag” pattern and as a result received orders.  Calico House had contacted me prior to the Hop about carrying my patterns.  While there I agreed to make a shop sample for them. 

The bag goes together very fast (especially after making quite a few).  So I was happy to volunteer to make their sample.  Here are the fabrics they chose.

The fun part of this is that I’ll be making it out of fabrics that I wouldn’t typically work with. 

Unfortunately, I hurt my back on Saturday so that’s put a kink in my sewing but hopefully I’ll be able to make the bag tomorrow.  I’ll post a picture when it’s completed. 

For other “What’s on my Design Wall” postings, head on of to Judy’s Blog Patchwork Times.

Enjoy,

Kathy and Charlie are Hooked

So my friend Kathy is on a roll.  She has made her second “Letty’s Bag” for her daughter Charlie for her dance stuff.  Charlie is the cutest thing, you’ve got to go to the Blog, and see the new bag but even better, see Charlie in photos and a darling video. 

If you’re thinking about gobbling this little girl up, forget it.  I’ve already got first dibs on her. 

Check it out, you’ll love the video.

Thanks Kathy for sharing.

Enjoy,

Wait Until You See This

Kathy Cina, is a friend of my daughter-in-law Maureen and Kathy and I have become Blogging friends.  She has a Blog called All About Charlie Cina.  Charlie is Kathy’s daughter and is one of the cutest little girls you’ve seen. 

When I was in Oregon a while back I gave Maureen a copy of my “Letty’s Bag” pattern.  We also showed my sample to the local quilt shop, Sharon’s Attic in Hillsboro, OR.  Sharon ordered a supply of my patterns, made a sample and is now teaching a “Letty’s Bag” class.  When Kathy saw Maureen’s completed bag she decided to take the class at Sharon’s. 

Yesterday Kathy posted pictures of her completed bag.  Here’s just one picture I borrowed from her blog but you can see the rest of the pictures at http://charliecinasplace.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-first-lettys-bag.html

Isn’t it wonderful?  I just love it! 

Thank you Kathy for sharing your pictures.  I’m glad you had fun and like the pattern.

Enjoy,

Holiday Shop Hop

For those of you that don’t know, I am lucky enough to live in Southern California.  This weekend many of the quilt stores in the Orange County area are having a mini Holiday Shop Hop.  Now for some of you this may not sound mini but in our case mini is 9, count them 9, quilt stores. 

Marilyn and I head out when the first one opened this morning at 10:00 am. 

First stop – The Quilt Cupboard, right around the corner from my house.

Followed by Bear’s Quilt Shop

Then on to one of the newer shops, Orange Quilt Bee

back on the freeway and down to Tustin to Flying Geese

Then we headed north for lunch at Esther’s and our next stop, Quilter’s Garden.

Cranberry Quilts has added a quilt store, Fresh Picked Fabrics

 

and then right around the corner The Calico House

Back on the road and headed to Cozy Cottage

and then last but not least Timeless Quilts.  I forgot to take a picture of the outside but here’s a picture of Marilyn and me at our last stop. 

Notice the “Letty’s Bag” sample growing out of my right ear? 

We arrived back home around 5:00 pm.  I didn’t go too crazy buying but I have stuff to show you, but for now it will wait until tomorrow.

Enjoy,

Another LLB or Letty’s Little Bag

While going through the TWW inventory this week, I decided to make another “Letty’s Little Bag”.  This one was completely made out of fabric that we have in stock. 

I decide to make this one slightly bigger.  The pattern is designed to be fat quarter friendly so the main pieces are cut so that you can use a fat quarter for the outside and a fat quarter for the inside.  This time I decided to make the bag 2” wider and taller.  I moved the pockets a little lower but other than that it is made exactly like the original pattern.

Here’s the fabrics I started with.

Here’s the finished purse.

I’ve been wanting to use this fun fabric as a lining for a long time.  This was the perfect opportunity.

Here’s the inside cell phone pocket.  That red sure makes it pop!

I also used the red on the inside of the outside pocket to add a splash of color.

Don’t you love the button I found in my button box.  Part of it is clear so you can see the red peeking through.

If you’re interested in the pattern, it can be purchased at the Two Wacky Women website or ask your local quilt shop to order it.  If you’re interested in a kit or any of the fabrics just leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll contact you.

Enjoy,

Spring Cleaning in November

It’s the end of the year for Two Wacky Women and it is time to regroup and get ready for a busy 2010. 

Last weekend we had a yard sale and sold lots and lots of  fabric, kits and miscellaneous other things. It was extremely successful but alas we still have a whole bunch left. 

This week has been a week of cleaning, cutting, re-organizing and throwing out Two Wacky Women inventory.  Marilyn and I have a storage room for all of our “stuff” and it had gotten out of control.  We went through every bin, box and bag so that we end the year knowing exactly what we still have. 

Most of our fabric is cut and sold as 1 yard pieces.  We spent time today organizing the fabric by color so that we can assess where there are holes and what we need to stock up on. 

This is the only fabric we have left on bolts.

Most of this is earmarked for kits and and future projects. 

The good news is we now get to go shopping.  By the way, shopping is what we do best.

Enjoy,

Design Wall Monday – 11/16/09

Sad, but true, there is absolutely nothing on my design wall this morning.  I have however started sewing my blocks together from last weeks Design Wall post.  I hope to have time and will keep plugging away so that I can get the new sample made.

Head on over to Patchwork Times if you’d like to participate with others in showing what’s on your design wall.

Enjoy,

A Wedding, Anniversary, Two Quilts and an Afghan 28 Years and Counting

Today is my husbands and my 28th wedding anniversary. 

Here we are on our wedding day in Hawaii.

That’s my sister Melinda on the left, then me, my husband John and our friend David Lee.  It was a very small wedding but beautiful.  It was raining that day but we were assured that that was very lucky.  I think they were right.

So over the years, like many of you I have had many crafty hobbies.  For a while I crocheted and one year, a long, long time ago, for our anniversary or John’s birthday (for the life of me I don’t remember which) I made John an Afghan.  To this day it lays folded at the foot of our bed and he still occasionally uses it when he takes a nap.  After taking this picture I also realize the cats love it (it’s covered with cat hair, yuk), I guess I better wash it before I put it back.

Next I made him a quilt. 

If you’ve seen me lecture you’ve heard this story but bear with me for just a minute.  First I must tell you I love this quilt.  I honestly think it’s one of the prettiest quilts I’ve made.  It is called Sunshine and Shadows and it was made as a result of a pattern shared on a yahoogroup, Quiltingsisters.  I pieced it and then sent it to Ohio (I think Ohio) to be quilted.  She did a lovely job by quilting feathers in the black.  BTW, that’s Pepper the Cat in the corner of the picture.

Well, I gave it to John and he said he liked it but I noticed he never used it.  Finally one day he told me it was a “hard” quilt.  It took me a long time to figure out what in the world he as talking about.  It certainly wasn’t hard, in fact it is very soft with a very nice hand to it. 

Much later it finally dawned on me.  Several years ago we were all making rag quilts.  I made rag quilts for everyone.  All the grandkids, my daughter, my step-daughter, my son-in-law, you name them I made them a rag quilt.  A light bulb finally came on and bingo I figured out what he was talking about.  He wanted a RAG QUILT.  So I made him one of the ugliest rag quilts.  Have you figured it out?  He loves it.  Here it is, in all it’s glory.

Yup, that’s were it lives.  Right on the back of his very worn and well used Lazy Boy.  Now when he’s cold and wants to get warm and comfy he pull his “ugly, soft” quilt off the back of his chair and snuggles.

The Sunshine and Shadows quilt?  Its folded up on a shelf so that I can pull it out every once and a while to admire.

Oh well 28 years later, we’re still going strong. 

Happy Anniversary Hon!

Enjoy,

It’s My Sister’s Birthday – Yea!

I have the best sister in the entire world.  Her name is Melinda and today is her birthday.

Happy Birthday Melinda!

I thought I’d share a few pictures of her.

Wasn’t she a cutie?  She was probably about 5 or 6 in this picture.

Here we are in our matching dresses that our Mother made for us.  I think I must of had an itch, sorry about that.

I’m guessing she’s about 8 or 9 in this pictures.  That’s our Mother, Melinda and me. 

I didn’t have time to dig for more picture so we’re skipping until many years later.  If you know Melinda this is a very typical pose.  She loves to read and always has.

Love the socks.  She still loves to wear different and unusual socks but then again so do I so I guess it’s normal.

Here she is this last summer having a good time with her friend Elvis.

My sister is the reason that I started quilting and for that and many other things, I am grateful.

Please take a minute and visit her Blog and leave her a comment wishing her Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Melinda.  I love you!

Enjoy,

Mission Accomplished

As I told you in my last post, I finished the “Letty’s Bag” for my friend Rob.  Today I met Marilyn and Rob for lunch at our local Pei Wei.  Of course I had the lettuce wraps as usual.  Pei Wei is owned by the same people that own P. F. Chang’s and their lettuce wraps are absolutely just as good and I love them both.  But I digress………

Here Rob is modeling her new bag.  Isn’t she just the cutest thing?  Rob is the youngest member of my friendship group the “Wednesday Wacko’s”.  Unfortunately she’s currently living about 60+ miles away (for her husband’s job) so I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like, but it’s not forever.  Hopefully just a couple of years and then she’ll be back nice and close. 

BTW, Rob crocheted me a hat.  I’ll model it for all of you at a later date.

Enjoy,

“A” is for Amy Butler

Back on October 30th, I Blogged about my friendship group and our Christmas in July, August, September and finally October.  And then on November 2nd I Blogged about my To-Do List.   The idea was to give a gift spelling out Christmas. 

I drew my friend Rob’s name and she is a huge Amy Butler fan.  For the “A” I gave her 4 half yards of Amy Butler fabric and a “Letty’s Bag” pattern.  Rob is a young, active, mother of 2 children under the age of 3 so the chances of her finding time to make the bag within the next 10 – 15 years was slim to none.  I told her if she left the fabric, I’d make the bag for her.  Well it took her all of about 1 second to put the fabric on my mantle so that I would make her bag.

So here’s the end result.

And the inside with all it’s pockets.

I love the light colors on the inside so that you can find things. 

Today I’m “doing” lunch with Rob and Marilyn (two of my favorite peeps).  I’ll get Rob to pose for a picture with her new bag.

Enjoy,

Design Wall Monday – 11/9/09

Over the weekend I worked on a few different things but this is what is on my design wall this morning.

This is the beginning of a new “Magical Slice and Dice” quilt.  When completed it will be a sample and Two Wacky Women will have kits available.  Actually the kits and are patters are available now.  If you’re interested, please contact me. 

Enjoy,