Plumtickled

What do you make

a person who has no more room for stuff? 

That's right, something useful and if it just so happens to be something pretty....... it's even better.

 

For my Mom's 70th birthday I made her a fold over bag to hold all of her medications..... mostly for when she travels or goes on little trips to Daytona.

 

I chose a pretty table runner than was in great shape.  I trimmed the sides to make it more even, cut it in half and then sewed it right sides together and along the bottom.  I "paper bagged" the bottom and made a lining out of a sweet reproduction print in pinks and blues. 

 

I sewed in a white pony-tail holder in the center of the bag between the linen and the lining.

 

Then made a button to match the lining.

(I am presently taking donations for a manicure....)

 

Then sewed it to the bag being certain to mark the correct spot first with a mark-b-gone marker.  I love those things!

 

I added a copy of "Dozen's of ways to Repurpose a Pillowcase" to the bag too.  I fit perfectly!

 

I also added a "gift certificate" for a cheesecake made with Splenda for her trip to Daytona with my Aunt Rosemary.

 

I think she liked it!

New book Show & Tell

OH man...... I'll tell y'all what...... it's H.O.T hot here in Georgia today!  Man, it's in the low 100's in my little town and feels even hotter.  Whats up wit dat?  Dunno, but I do know how much I love my new book!

I especially want to give a shout out to my girl Meredith who just started to embroider and began with Sublime Stitcheries patterns........ so awesome for first timers and those with experience.  Anyhoo...... since we are carrying their patterns at our shop I thought I should get busy on some samples and already have some things in mind........ I'll show you soon, hopefully Monday.  Hopefully. 

While out school clothes and new shop clothes shopping with my girl Amelia Claire...... I of course stopped and browsed the aisles of Books-A-Million and found this gem:

I had no idea they put out a book and man what a book!  It's chock full of the sweetest stitchery patterns from fun to funky to rock-n-rolly to yummy patterns of cupcakes and such.  Here are few pages:

Sweet birds that will be blue birds for me!

And these cute puppies!

Amelia seemed interested in these spaceships and the little aliens that were driving them.

And my personal favorite......... I soooo have the itch to stitch now! 

You can find the book here.  It's spiral bound and easy to navigate.  It also has easy to follow diagrams for all the stitches you need to complete each project and also has great pictures.  I really love that it has tons of patterns and such a nice price too!  I'm going to ask about getting a few of them at our shop.... they are just that cool!

On to shop news....... more bolts are arriving almost daily.  We're up to about 140 bolts which may not seem like much to the larger quilt shops but for a town that has to drive for almost an hour to get to look and touch designer fabrics ..... it's alot.  We have also gotten our notions order in which was sooo fun to go through.  Needles, thread, rotary cutters, measuring tapes, scissors and tons of more stuff.  Did I mention that we open September 1st?  You know, just a couple weeks away?  Yup, panic is setting in.

We paint tomorrow, as much as we can anyway.  The walls are going to be turquoise and the shelves are a creamy vanilla color.  Our sign is going to be huge and will have our logo on it as the picture below shows except the red around the logo is red and white polka dots.  We are very happy with it all.

Next week I'll be starting to "go to work".  This is something I haven't done in three years!  You know how when you're like 8 1/2 months pregnant and you feel the need to clean the oven and the dusty spots behind the refrigerator and to get all the laundry in the house clean?  That's how I'm feeling right now..... except I'm not cleaning.  Shock horror, I know.  I think I'll start to get the "need to dos" done Sunday when it all begins to sink in. 

I plan on going to the shop at least three days a week beginning next week, seeing that I have the web-site to complete, Etsy to start and now Ebay too.  It'll be nice getting the new computer with it's 19" flat screen up and going and not have any distractions to stop me every few minutes.  (Fat chance I know but I'm looking at my glass as half full!).

Anyhoo again, I'm off to start supper and to clean up just enough so that my Angel of a Husband thinks I've kept the house like this all day.  Sucka.

Have a great and happy weekend...... I'll hopefully have something crafty finished and ready to show you on Monday! 

Getting & giving....

I can hardly stand the waiting...... look see what I bought yesterday from Manda:

Is this not the most coolest idea ever!  I don't normally buy things I can make myself but this....... I had to have, and the price was perfect!  Do you understand what she's done?  It's ingenious I tell you, brilliant I say!  She has been collecting the selvages of all the fabrics she's used and basically strip worked them together with like colors and viola...... the coolest pincushion ever!  It's traveling all the way from England and will be here not soon enough for my liking! 

Man, I'm feeling so fancy for buying myself something...... all for myself!  You know what I mean?  I think as Mom's we rarely buy things completely for ourselves, to enjoy by ourselves and to be used by ourselves.  It's way overdue I think!  Sigh.

Guess what else I've bought!  I took the plunge and bit off a good ole chunk of Japanese Craft Books!  I did it...... took me a while to get my ISBN's in order but I did it!  It wasn't as difficult as I thought and I'm glad I did it.  Here's what I ordered:

This is full of little embroideries and appliques...... the ISBN is 4529042049.

This is chock full of cute clothes for Mom's and their girls plus bags and stuff.... ISBN 4834724018

Bags, bags, bags....... cool stuff!  ISBN 4277311512

And finally:

Basics for girls..... guess who might be getting some new cute things to wear!  (If I can decipher the language & patterns.... uh, yeah.)  ISBN 4579111478

I must tell you that I ordered these from www.yesasia.com and received their free international shipping.  Not to take away from those on Ebay or Etsy but it's soooo way much cheaper to do it this way.  If you don't mind waiting that is.  I apparently won't be receiving these until later this month but let me tell ya....... I only paid $54.00 for all four books.  This is of course because of their free shipping and I used a coupon for $5.00 off of my first order.  (Just put in a search for Yesasia coupon and you'll find several).  All in all, I'm ecstatic. 

My birthday is later this month, July 18th to be exact, and I'm using that as an excuse for my new pretty pincushion and books.  I also want to do a giveaway in celebration of making it to, gulp, 36 years old.  Can I really be that old?  Round me up and poof....... I'm 40!  Geez Louise!

Anyhoo..... It might be a purse, bag, tote, doll, mini quilt, patchwork scarf, pillow, apron or of the like.  I'll let you know when and where so you can be sure to leave a comment that day and I'll get it sent out!  Fun stuff...... I love it when others do this on their blogs, don't you?