The hustle and bustle of December is definitely here, and so is the need to do it all – Shopping, decorating, baking, annual parties and – not to mention the “normal”  happenings of daily life……… I don’t know about you, but the clock seems to be short a few hours every day……….I barely manage to get most things done in a timely manner………..I’ve had to use this word a lot “NO” …………

I’ve been working on a lot of projects

some for family,  a lot for other people and the blog well it just had to take a step aside.

I’ve been snapping pictures along the way so well see what I can get posted……..until next time………………

I can’t believe that it’s December already…….. I’m not even sure that I remember that November was even here….WOW time sure is flying by……….I didn’t get into to much sewing while my Sister was here but, did manage to get a little bit of things started…….She left on Saturday morning so I went into the sewing room and finished up on the things that I did start……..Well this one is not finished because now that I see it I’m not to sure that I like it very much….it’s a Sindy Rodenmeyer pattern and I’m sure that it would look great with some other fabrics……..maybe just not these fabrics……

…  I might like it better if I get it quilted, maybe a few embellishments……..I was trying to use flowers as the theme here………

Here is another mini that I made ………   ……….I’m sending this one to my Mom……..I made one for myself also……….and here is a little sneak peak at my next project……..it’s going to be really sweet so you’ll have to stay tuned

polka dots, stripes and rick rac it just sounds cute………..

until next time………

Well here is the center of my quilt………I finished it up this morning……..I’ll start making the borders tonight…….

Here is another finish – Pot Holders……these were really easy…….only problem is that I have about 10 or so more to make…..until next time…….

I decided that this week is going to be all about finishes……So here is the first finish of the week…………..It’s so sweet………………I started this one in “June 09″…………..I put a hanging sleeve on it so,  it will hang it in my sewing room……….I’m not going to show you my pile of unfinished projects……just take my word for it…… the pile is BIG………

These are the items that I sent to my swap partner in the Stitchers’ Angel Swap……..It went to Gina Koston ……….It put a great big smile on her face at a time when she needed it the most……..until next time……….

I was able to get into the sewing room yesterday between cleaning the house, laundry, and cooking to get myself all caught up with the Patchwork Times quilt along…….…………This was step seven…. it’s missing the purple and black triangles …………but I had them finished, because they were used in ………..step eight…….………these are the sides of the quilt………I just couldn’t resist laying the center of the quilt pattern out  to see how it’s going to look……I personally think that it’s lookin’…….     …………..”really good”……..okay,  I’m off to finish cleaning the house…….My sister and nephew will be here on Saturday……..they are staying for the week……..I also have  (my favorite)  sister-in-law that is coming in for the Thanksgiving holiday…….. it’s going to be, really busy around here in about a week………..until next time……..

Hey everybody how cool is this……..the designer of the purse I made stopped by my blog and left me a comment……..now that’s what I call customer service…….I’m going to take her advice  for the one I’m making for my mom and use the D-rings on the handles……Thanks so much Linda…..

 

Linda Rauld
November 11, 2009 at 5:37 am · Edit

Hi Kristi,

You did an absolutely beautiful job with my pattern. I love your fabric choices and you did a great job of stitchin’.

As for the handles – I do agree the method I used at the time is a bit difficult and takes some patience. I have tried several ways of attaching the handles to the exterior bag and found one that works well for me. When you are working on the exterior purse (joining the outside, fleece/batting, and lining with fabrics face-to-face) turn the top 1/4″ of each handle extension to the outside, pin, and sew it into place as you stitch along the sides. This way when you turn the exterior bag right side out, the tops of each handle extension will already be turned to the inside and stitched into place and you won’t have to fuss to try to push them back down. Make sure if you trim the fabric along the extensions, leave the 1/4″ seam allowance at the top openings intact so that when you do insert the handles, you can push the seam allowance back down into the inside of the handle extension and none of the raw edges or loose threads will be visible on the outside. Having the tops already turned in will make the insertion of the actual handles so much easier and it will look more professional.

Another thing that may help with the handles “sitting” right is to make sure you clip along all curved areas (snip from the raw edge in to come close to the actual stitching lines without cutting the seams) every 1/2″ or so. This will relieve the top of the purse along the curved areas of the top front and back and allow those areas to flex and lay flat.

And, another trick you can use is to cut each of the handle extensions approx. 2″ – 3″ longer and, instead of inserting the handles into the handle extensions, join them via regular metal D-rings or metal or plastic O-rings. Just fold the top of each extension over the rings and stitch in place and then stitch each end of the handles to each respective ring. These notions are now so popular that you’ll really be styling!

So, that brings me to thank you for purchasing my pattern and thank you for making it look so very pretty. And, I put my address, e-mail address, and phone number on the pattern for a reason. I’ve taught many classes and I don’t mind answering questions. We all have different approaches and someone can read something one way and the next person will read the same thing and get a whole different meaning. I want people to enjoy my patterns and absolutely never struggle with them. I really enjoy hearing if they love the pattern but I also want to hear if they have problems and I can do something better in the future. My motto is “if you don’t tell me, I probably won’t guess it.”

Again, thanks so much for the great job and feel free to contact me if you need help (and even if you don’t need help).

You have a great blog and it was so much fun to read!
Linda

Patchwork Times One Hour Quilt – Morning Splash

I’ve been moving right along with my project…..these pieces turned

into this……………………………..I’m a couple of days behind but will get caught up this weekend……At least I’ve got the fabric cut for the next step……until next time……..

These are my gifts from Teresa Sako of “patchwork no-muchi” blog…….She is from Spain…….I have to tell ya, she really spoiled me……she sent me sweets ……yummy, yummy sweets ……and can you see the little pinchusion it’s a hexagon …….I think that it was designed by using this “English paper pieced Pincushion” pattern from Sue Daily…… Here is the first gift, it’s the notebook cover that May Britt designed….. only Teresa made it into and appointment calendar……..she has beautiful stitching and she even quilted it by hand……I couldn’t be happier about this gift…..I love the buttons by the way………. next up is this gorgeous bag designed by Helen Stubbings of Hugs ‘ n Kisses…..side note:(Helen is the host of this swap….this is the second year I’ve been in it…….Thanks for hosting such a fun swap Helen, you have brought many new friendship together along the way.) ………This bag so pretty and don’t you just love the beads…… my third gift is this beautiful zippered pouch/cosmetic bag …..I think this must be one of her designs……..again it is hand quilted by Teresa…..she has  1/2 inch hexagon appliqued down ……(Ican’t even she the stitches)……with very pretty embroidery on them….it’s really nice………. ……..there was also this bag…….again noticed the bead work…..the beads really add a nice touch to the bag……..don’t you just love the little clothes pins………..I really have to say it again……..Teresa spoiled me with this package……….Thank You so much!! ……until next time…..

I managed to get finally get Dakota’s purse completed this weekend………The pattern is “A Tote – All Purse-O-Nalities by: Linda R. Rauld” ……...Dakota has been waiting for this since August……”sorry Chica”………When I was home this past summer Dakota was on the MN Shophop with me and picked out this pattern…….we found the polka dot fabric in a shop and then the search was on for a coordinating fabric ……we looked at quite a few shops for a fabric that would go with the blue polka dots…….we finally found the perfect fabric………It was a lot of fun………But, I’ll tell  ya ….I really struggled with the directions for the handles …….. I’m still not happy with the way they turned out …..I should have taken a picture……….maybe someone has a suggestion…….other than the handles the purse turned out great………now I have one to finish for my mom……until next time…….

Well this is what I got done last night……..I wasn’t even able to start on last nights assignment……….It’s good thing that we have the weekend to catch up……although I have a bunch of other “works in progress” that need finishing…….oh and by the way there were six of these blocks that were completed……until next time…………

I started a new quilt it called “Morning Splash”…….it is designed by Judy Laquidara……..I’ve frequently been visiting her blog Patchwork Times for a while now and have been watching fellow quilters  make her quilts and thought “why not try one yourself”…..how hard can it be to fit an hour each day into quilting………while I don’t know about anybody else but,…….It’s been more than an hour each night,  in fact I spent about 3 hours last night working on this project…….maybe I’m just slow,  I still have to cut just a little bit more fabric and I will be all caught up…..well,  I still have tonight’s project…….there won’t be another part of this  project until Monday so everyone can get caught up…………I’m just trying to stay on task….I have other things that need to get finished like this table runner……..

………I tried really hard to make the perfect points  but, it was really hard…..I had to unsew a few times……I think that I didn’t iron all the fabric in the right directions or something…..Will have to see how I do on the left over pieces from this project…..I’ll make sure that I pay better attention to the ironing…….until next time…….