Friday Night Sew In Across the Pond

As I mentioned in my post the other day,

Friday Night Sew In was last night.

It was hosted by the lovely Wendy of

Sugarlane Quilts.

You can take a peak at her fun blog

HERE.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone,

as the saying goes,

and also complete this month's 

Across the Pond

item.

This month we were to do a key ring zippey pouch.

We used Erin Erickson's free tutorial, which you can find

HERE,

or you could use any pattern for that matter.

(or create your own!)

Here's mine.

lol....I must be tired....I see I spelled 'singing' wrong in my watermark

These little pouches go together very quickly.

I loved it!

When I got done, I also decided to make a matching 

phone sleeve.  

You can find that tutorial, also by Erin,

HERE

And here they are together,

so you get the 'cool' affect.

I always love how Amy has her labels 

applied to the goodies she makes. 

I don't have any labels with my logo yet, (first I have to design a logo!)

but I do have these cute labels I purchased from Etsy

(and for the life of me, I can't remember which store!)

So, I ironed one on the inside. 

Only to have my iron leave a mark as well!

Darn it.

I also made up a thread catcher,

just for fun.

I wanted to experiment a little more with my Sizzix dies

and free motion applique,

so I came up with this.

Over all, not too shabby!

So THANK YOU, Wendy, for hosting FNSI,

and thank you, Amy, Susie and Amanda

for another month of goodies to create!

PS....I have it on good authority that it's someone's birthday today.

If you have a moment, pop over to Shay at Quilting in My Pyjamas

and wish her a fabulous day!

Enjoy!

xoxo

Cindy

Goodies in the Mail!

Do you ever have days 

where you feel like the luckiest person in the world?

Well, that pretty much sums up how I've been 

feeling this week.

And just to give you fair warning,

this is a long post.

:)

You may remember the post I did

on the items I made for the Sewing Room Swap.

I was lucky enough to get this AWESOME 

Social Tote

(which is all the rage on Flickr at the moment),

made with fabric by Bonnie & Camille, from Sue.

You can view her Flickr photos HERE.

Do you not just love this fabric tape for the handles??

Look at all the amazing goodies that came with it!

That mini lint roller has gotten lots of use already.

She must have stalked me quite well

and knew that my girls Sadie and Oreo hang out in my 

sewing room with me.

The straight pins have also been put to good use.

They are GREAT for marking your rows and/or blocks

so you can keep them in order.

She made those too!

I felt very spoiled after I got this!

Just when I thought it couldn't get better,

I got this amazing Artist Tote in the mail from Karen.

You can see her Flickr photo stream HERE.

This was from the Sew Sew Modern 3 Swap.

Look at all that Heather Ross goodness!!

And let me tell you,

this bag is HUGE!

I'm going on a bus trip soon for a quilt shop hop,

and this bad boy is coming with me.

We are going to do some serious damage!

Woo Hoo!

Well....I guess we'll do serious damage 

until my debit card gets declined. 

:)

And check out this sweet back side

I love the bag...a LOT.

I almost feel guilty to tell you what my favorite part of this package was.

(Seriously...I'm not taking away from this kick a__ bag,

because Karen did an awesome job and I LOVE it!)

But...............................................

OK...seriously?

Seriously.

I do have Scottish blood runnin' thru me vains.

So loving Gerard Butler, well,

that just seems like the natural thing to do.

And if you've been with me a while,

you KNOW I have the hots for him.

:o)

OH YEAH!!

Did you see the rest of the goodies she sent me?

wink wink

I can't WAIT to hang that fall bunting up this weekend!

I'll be dipped.

She also sent me the CUTEST cards.

I forgot to add them to the photo!

And, um, Karen....

I have a little question for you.

As I was setting everything out to do my 'brag' photo,

I started to notice a trend.

Gerard Butler.

Zipper.

Tape.

Ribbon.

This little Scottish lass may detect a bit of bondage taking place.

hee hee

But in all seriousness,

Sue & Karen spoiled me rotten!!

Thank you  both so much!

OH!

And what did I send for the SSM3 swap?

A Super Tote and a couple pouches.

The Super Tote pattern, by Noodlehead, can be found HERE.

I made the owl using my Sizzix die.

You can find the die HERE.

Also, tonight is Friday Night Sew In!

Make sure to go HERE

and sign up!

Sending you all lots of love

and Gerard Butler hugs!!!!

xoxoxo

Cindy

Outside My Kitchen Window

Hello World!

I'm still here, 

but have been locked in my sewing room.

When I haven't been at work,

I've been sewing.

More to come on that!

For now, I just wanted to let you know I was still around,

and share some photo's I've taken.

I have two bird feeders right outside my kitchen window.

I love it because while I'm cooking and/or doing dishes,

I get to see all kinds of cute little, feathered angels.

Like a chickadee.

Or a Wren

Or our state bird, the Gold Finch

Or how about the finch from 'the other side of the tracks,

the House Finch

:)

And saving the best for last,

my absolute favorite,

the Hummingbird

I could seriously watch them for hours.

They are on a feeding frenzy now,

gearing up to head to their winter homes.

My son gave me a new hummingbird feeder.

It's BEAUTIFUL!

I will get a picture of that soon,

before they leave.

A little off subject,

but just in case you are looking for a quick & easy project

for a gift, or just for yourself,

how about a cute little box pouch?

You can find the tutorial HERE.

I added the decorative stitch with a variegated yellow thread.

Have I told you I'm so happy to have my Josie back?

And to leave you on a peaceful note,

here's a photo I took before work the other morning.

I love walking around our property

(we don't have much...just 3 acres),

but surrounding the 3 acres is just beautiful country.

I have to say I think this is my favorite photo ever.

I love Iowa.

I love my life.

And I love fall!

Stay tuned, because I'll be doing a blog post on the most

incredible swap item I received over the weekend.

I seriously about fainted.

Make it a good one folks!!

xoxo

Cindy

Sewing Room Swap

I hope all is going well in your world!

I won't even tell you how crazy busy I've been.

I did get something checked off my list.

I signed up for the Sewing Room Swap on Flickr.

My partner wanted a sewing machine cover,

so I made her one using this pattern.

It's called Just Swell by Thimble Blossoms.

(I am in love with Camile Roskelley)

This is a great pattern.

Very easy to follow

and a very quick and adorable cover!

So here is my version,

hopefully to my swap partner's liking!

I am a little sick though.

My machine had a bit of a hiccup and I didn't notice it until all was said and done.

Apparently the thread came out from that little area right above the needle,

and it cause a couple skipped stitches in my zigzag quilting.

UGH!

I used a couple different embroidery stitches to add a little 'cuteness' to the cover.

I have to say, 

I am very happy to my Josie back!

She does great work!

(when I have her threaded right)

The little basket setting beside the machine

is a matching thread catcher.

The fabric I used for this thread catcher is 

Vintage notions by Amy Barickman.

I just love it!

I have one more swap I'm sewing for to get started and finished by Sept 13th,

one emergency quilt (more to come on that for a later post),

quilt my mother-in-law's quilt,

and in between all this, I'll be canning.

All this AFTER I've worked all day at my 'real job'.

So I will be out of commission yet for the next couple weeks,

but I cannot complain for all this fun stuff I get to do.

As far as canning,

so far I've done 5 pints of pizza sauce and 14 quarts 

of tomato juice.  

The Tomato God's are watching over me,

because the tomatoes are ready in perfect size

batches so I can work on a batch every couple days.

That way it isn't so overwhelming.

Today it's spaghetti sauce. 

I'm hoping for at least 7 quarts of that today!

I'll send you all the dinner invite this winter when we pop those 

jars open for a meal!

I hope your world has been full of creative journey's!

xoxo

Cindy