June Goals and a Giveaway!

I'm a Procrastinator, are you a Procrastinator, please tell me you are? 
I finished my last months Goals exactly on the 30th with just time to spare to take them to the post office, my friend had been expecting them for over a month.

3 Little Boy Suitcases

So as an apology for being so late and such a procrastinator I am making her a little something with my embroidered feather and also some luggage tags to go with the suitcases.  Those will be in the mail this month too, as long as I don't do anymore procrastinating :)

Then on top of that, I lost a clutch I had made and didn't like so I wanted to give it away, I found someone willing to take it and then had the great idea to box the corners and asked her if it was okay, she said sure, well I put it aside to do and then LOST IT!  I couldn't find it anywhere, where in the world did I put that darn clutch, well it was so flat, I had put it away with some fabric and didn't see it.  I finally found it while searching for some fabric for my charity quilt.

It looks so much cuter all boxed up.  First Finish of the Month.

I boxed the corners and can now finally after 2 months send it off to the wonderful gal who will give it some love.  I hope she enjoys it.
Now I NEED to finish 2 Charity quilts in 2 weeks, as part of the European Sibling Together bee, I really am not good at the whole getting the quilt top quilted part, so this should be fun.

I made a quilted bag for the girls charity quilt and I would like to do the same for the boys, so that maybe they can go to a brother and sister.  I made a tutorial for the bag above if you are interested, you can find it here.
I bet you are waiting for the giveaway, here I am all Procrastinating again, lol, just kidding my big Birthday Bash Giveaway starts on Thursday June 5th.  But today you can go and enter in my friends giveaway that she is having over on her blog and it ends June 5th, so hurry up and check it out, plus check out her procrastination project that she finished up lickety split.  Go visit Shirley Tener at SimpleSew and see what she is sewing up.

Linking up to a Lovely Year of Finishes June Goals.

May Finishes

Here are the pictures as promised.

3 Suitcases, made out of 3 different colored canvases with Jeans used for the sides, Oakshott cotton and Motorbike fabric for the inside.

 The pockets are all labeled socks and underwear, the littleest one got pictures of a sock and underwear also, since I doubt he can read.

The pattern is Sidekick Suitcase by SewFearless and it really was the hardest pattern to understand and read.  It was written in a bubble speech pattern who does that?  If I wanted my best friend to tell me how to make the suitcase I wouldn't have paid for the pattern.

I did so much of ripping out of seams and I wasted a ton of my precious Aurifil thread and broke 2 needles, I miss my wasted Aurifil the most.

This is his "See Mom, I'm Smiling"

Here's my son showing you the size, it is a fairly good size for a kid, could easily fit in a week worth of clothes.  As you can see the Canvas didn't take to kindly to having iron on Interfacing the whole thing is kind of wrinkly, no matter how much I iron, it didn't stick very well.

I added a divider since my friend said she wanted it easy for the kids to keep things separate.

If you are wondering how I am feeling SOOOO Much better.  Like back to 90%, this morning I was at 70% but after taking a bath in Pink Himalayan Salt I felt like Wonderwomen!  Okay not well enough to clean the house after being MIA for 3 days.

And even though my husband was unwilling to clean house or do the dishes, since that is "women's work", He did massage my back, which after the first day of absolute pain felt really nice.
And right now I am feeling so great I am outside on the Veranda enjoying a Strawberry Mojito (haven't taken any medication pills since this morning so I figure it's a okay) and watching the kids play outside.

 While I catch up on all of my internet going ons.  Gotta Go, Thanks for all of the kind wishes. Hugs!

I don't have pictures of my finish since my camera is downstairs and I dare not ask my husband to look for it.  You see yesterday at lunch time I put my back out getting off of the Vespa, I didn't think it was to bad at first but I couldn't move for the last 24 hours, the husband is mad that I didn't do the dishes before my back went out, lol.  I have a few pre-finished pictures and as soon as I am well enough to go downstairs to grab the camera, I will put up new pictures.
These suitcases were a pain in the a.... to make, I will write more later also, my back is killing me sitting here.
But must enter since I missed last month.

The before pictures, linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, really gotta go lay down again.

WIP and May Goals

So last month I was feeling a little depressed and didn't get much done except some blocks for various things. 
I think if the sun comes out more I will get my needed Vitamin D and can sew more, it has been so rainy and cold here, we turned off the heating and for a while we didn't even have hot water (we use solar for our hot water, so there was like a week were I didn't get to take a shower).
But this month I need to get in action, and the last 2 days I have seen sunshine, yippee...
I still need to make 4 suitcases, the first 1 is still in this stage.

upcycling an old pair of pregnancy over-alls

Then I have decided to tackle a quilt that has over 280 HST's (Half Square Triangles), I got 80 of them done yesterday.

I am using Triangles on a Roll method, have you heard of this?  I am only using 4 fabrics so it made more sense to go this route and I love it so far, you can watch my first experience here.  Now that I have the proper size, Thanks Pat!  I am going to put them out like gangbusters and come back on Monday and I will be giving some of the Triangles on a Roll papers away.
I am going to keep this month simple and try to finish just these 5 things, wish me happiness and also that my son will want to willingly go to Kindergarten so mommy can sew.
Linking to WIP at Freshly Pieced
and A Lovely Year of Finishes May Goals. 
And I just heard about HSTeria, this is awesome, I need the help in making my goals!

April Goals

Sorry 2 blog post in one day, I didn't realize it was the 7th of April already, ouch!  1/4 of the month already gone: Let's get sewing!

Monthly goals:
1.        Every month I plan on following along with  

The "Classic meets Modern QAL"  this month is the The Double Z Block
2.       Every month I plan on making a block for the

 Aurifil Designer of the Month   Angela Yosten block.
3.       Every month I plan on making something from a

 Craft book Sew Along.  maybe I will do something this month, maybe not.
4.       Every mid-month I plan on meeting the challenge over 

at Le Challenge. Bright, this month, I've got that covered.
5.       Every month make a bag from

"Big City Bags" also a Sew Along. Got the fabrics cut, just need to sew.
6.       I want to make 4 Quilts this year, I made the Pantone Challenge quilt top last month and have the back almost pieced together and just got my batting in today, so perhaps a quilt will be finished this month.

This months specific goals:

I am in the SuperPower Blog Hop that starts this Friday, the list of bloggers are in the post below, and I have my Secret Super Power to reveal, stay tuned.
 
I need to make 4 Fabric suitcases, the first one is a test run and the other 3 I have sold to a friend of mine for her nephews.  I have cut and interfaced my test run bag and now I am just nervous to do the sewing part.

  I am up-cycling some Maternity Over-alls I had and the inside fabric will be American flags and of course this too cute Metal Label from Emmaline Bags.

 The boys fabric's will be the bright colors below with the motor cross fabric for the inside.

 This is all I am going to try to do this month, it is enough I think.

Linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes.

March Finishes

I got all of the things I wanted to get done for me, well done :)  Except the quilt, But I did get the backing fabric in for it and the batting should be here soon.  Which by the way if you want to learn more about batting you should read my blog post here and my March Goals are here.

Here are my completions for the month.

Star Light Star Bright Pillow

The Parade for all of the Star Light Star Bright projects starts tomorrow on April 1st if you want to get some inspiration.

Hexagon Bee Tote Complete

I made a Quilt Top

and my Collage Sound Check Bag for the Pantone Challenge, didn't win, but that's okay, I love purple anyways!

Last me project was my Meringue Clutch

that I ended up not liking but I found someone who will like it, so I am sending it on to a new home, there is also a small handmade gift giveaway going on if you are interested and have not entered yet.
I want to learn how to make fabric postcards so put your name in the hat with your birthdate and you just might get a birthday present from me.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes March
and the final linky for The 30/30 Challenge 

March Goal 30/30 Sewing Challenge

Carving out 30 minutes of me time sewing time for 30 days of March, are you ready?  I hope I can meet this Challenge, one thing about sewing is that it relaxes me, so any type of sewing is relaxing even if it is making something for someone else.

I have my every month monthly goals:
1.        Every month I plan on following along with  

The "Classic meets Modern QAL" this month is the Drunkard's Path (first time doing that block)  Lots of different block inspiration can be found here.
2.       Every month I plan on making a block for the

 Aurifil Designer of the Month  This months designer is Emily Herrick a very easy borders block
3.       Every month I plan on making something from a

 Craft book Sew Along.  I haven't decided what yet, I am getting some new books in that I won.
4.       Every month I plan on meeting the challenge over 

at Le Challenge.  This months theme is "Order"
5.       Every month make a bag from

"Big City Bags" also a Sew Along.This months bag is the Meringue Clutch.
6.       I want to make 4 Quilts this year, mmm... should be interesting, maybe one will be from the Feathers QAL  I am going to try to finish the Feathers Quilt, I finally got in my orchid colors.

If I get this quilt done it will be for me, also the Meringue Clutch will be for me and I am also making another bag called the Wonderland this month that will be FOR ME!  So lot's of sewing just for me.
I am making another bag for a swap partner, so if you are counting that is 3 bags!
And one last item that I need to do in the next 2 days is quilt and do the backing for my pillow FOR ME, or actually for my husband, but they do say that husbands and wives are 1 unit, right!

If I do get it quilted in time I will enter it in the Pillow Collective Challenge. going on over at Amy's Creative Side.

I will be linking to these great linky parties this month with my finishes.
A Lovely Year of Finishes
Celtic Thistle Stitches for the Christmas Ho, Ho, Ho and So We Sew and also the New to Me 2014
And a Stitch in Time over at Such a Sew and Sew.

February Finishes

Monthly finishes:

1.        Every month I plan on following along with  

The "Classic meets Modern QAL"  this month is the Amethyst block.

2.       Every month I plan on making a block for the

 Aurifil Designer of the Month   Amy Gibson's block.

                 Loving my Kona box and all of it's deliciousness! 
3.       Every month I plan on making something from a

 Craft book Sew Along.  Started on this in January but I still need a certain embroidery thread color.
I made a hoop wall art based kind of off of a pattern that is in the book "Hoop-La", this will be a Christmas present for my niece and I will also be linking it to this linky party over at Sew Cal Gal. and also

More photos available on Flickr

The cool thing is I entered this in the Sew Mama Sew Little Gifts of Love Challenge and I WON 2 books, so excited about having some more books to look at and create things for the Craft Book Sew Along.

4.       Every month I plan on meeting the challenge over 

at Le Challenge. Finished that you can see it below, March's challenge is "Order"

Specific February Goals:

I need to finish 2 swaps this month, one is a wall quilt Finished! and the other a tote (working on it).
Here's my mini quilt that was what I also entered in the  Challenge at Le Challenge "Rising Sun"

You can find more pictures here.

My most important goal for this month was a new body for this little baby doll

This is TukTuk, 1 of 4 dolls with that name, her arm fell off and she has a whole in the butt and her head is about ready to fall out too.  So I thought she should get a new body, I have already sewn her neck and crotch together a few times.  It should be fun, I am thinking of making the body look like it already has clothes on, because my daughter has the tendency to take the clothes off of all of her dolls.

This was so hard, you would think that such small pieces would be easy, but I did my first curve seam.

Then I had to figure out how to keep the arms, legs and head on, originally they were on with zip ties (I think that is what they are called) but I had to cut them off, so instead I had to tighten it with embroidery thread, I hope it will stay and that it works.

The leg ties are hidden inside but the arm ties are outside and the head one looks like the back of a bathing suit tied at the neck.

Skip to the bottom if you want to leave a message, the rest is heavy picture uploading :)

A headless doll kinda scary, wink.

Little hands helping stuff her baby, ps, "babies don't have boobies, mommy"

Very happy little girl!

TukTuk was feeling so good she decided to go out shopping and came back with a package all the way from New Zealand!

 A New Zealand pin, 6 FQ's (will share on Sunday Stash) a notecard and

some special ONLY FROM New Zealand candies!
I would say that was a great first day out on the town for little dolly.
Thanks to Jenny over at Jen's Crafts and Quilts in New Zealand and her 100th blogpost giveaway!

Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, 
and also to New to Me February Linky Party - for my curved seam and for making a doll's body (harder than you think, I need to win a book on how to do it, phew) and the first time doing Y-seams, the Amethyst block above, if you would like to make this block, Erin has great directions
And Linking to A Stitch in Time for the baby doll
 

February Goals

A short month and lots of goals/plans.

Monthly plans:


1.        Every month I plan on following along with  

The "Classic meets Modern QAL"  this month is the Amethyst block.
2.       Every month I plan on making a block for the

 Aurifil Designer of the Month   Amy Gibson's block.
3.       Every month I plan on making something from a

 Craft book Sew Along.  Started on this in January but I still need a certain embroidery thread color.
4.       Every month I plan on meeting the challenge over 

at Le Challenge. Almost done.
5.       Every month make a bag from

"Big City Bags" also a Sew Along. Not going to happen this month, I don't have the tools.
6.       I want to make 4 Quilts this year, mmm... should be interesting, maybe one will be from the Feathers QAL, only made 1 feather, got lots more to work on.

Specific February Goals:

I need to finish 2 swaps this month, one is a wall quilt and the other a tote.

But most importantly I need to make a new body for this 

This is TukTuk, 1 of 4 dolls with that name, her arm fell off and she has a whole in the butt and her head is about ready to fall out too.  So I thought she should get a new body, I have already sewn her neck and crotch together a few times.  It should be fun, I am thinking of making the body look like it already has clothes on, because my daughter has the tendency to take the clothes off of all of her dolls.

Also not sewing goals but sewing related, I would like to write up 2 tutorials, one for my messenger bags and the other for the quilt bag.

Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, I woke up in the middle of the night, "I forgot to do something", well here I am it is only 2:45 in the morning here and 5pm State side, thank goodness I am in Europe.

January Finishes

I am super proud of myself this month, I did an amazing job at finishing up on all of my projects!
Plus I got my first commission, well I begged a friend to let me make something for her and she has to pay me, hehehe, but still so excited, I will be making 3 suitcases for her little nephews who go to visit her.

My every month plans:


1.        Every month I plan on following along with  

The "Classic meets Modern QAL"

this month was the Polar Bear Claw

2.       Every month I plan on making a block for the

 Aurifil Designer of the Month

This months design was from Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic, so I thought I would make it out of my favorite Aurifil thread colors, the grey fabrics turned out darker in the photos, they are AGF fabrics, the grey variegated fabric is Rod & Reel Grey/White Plaid and the green is Kona Olive (my fav. green color) Aurifil 2600,2625,4670,and5016
3.       Every month I plan on making something from a

 Craft book Sew Along., that was my project from the book "Modern Bee" it is showed below,
I had another project from a different book also, but it didn't get finished.
4.       Every month I plan on meeting the challenge over 

at Le Challenge.  I still have 15 more days left, this months theme "The Rising Sun"
5.       Every month make a bag from

"Big City Bags" also a Sew Along.

The Fireside Bowl Bag that I finished in December.

6.       I want to make 4 Quilts this year, mmm... should be interesting, maybe one will be from the Feathers QAL  

started working on the feathers, lol

Specific January Goals:

I finished my 3 messenger bags for my nephews, Andrew, Owen and Caleb.

Also including my sons Nik.

And I made this cute little Table Runner.

All the letters are courtesy of Alyce over at Blossom Heart Quilts, they are easy and fun to make.

The center heart is made of hexagons a design from Stacey at The Tilted Quilt.

This was the first time trying out the binding from this tutorial.  I like it, but I think on a quilt I would be kind of bummed about the waste of the flange fabric that you don't really see.
I also finished my "Modern Bee" Mosaic Tiles Quilt Along project, a bag for the Mosaic Tiles quilt that is being made by my Sibling Together Bee.  I finished it tonight so I don't have good photos and I plan on doing a tutorial for how to make the quilt bag, here's a sneaky peaky.

Linking up to a Lovely Year of Finishes 2014 January.