My Tammy Bag is my....

Dorothy Bag!

Wizard of Oz is such a fun movie although when I was little it scared the bejeezers out of me, flying monkey, OhMy!  But a lot of the time I find myself saying "There is no place like home", but what is home?  I love the Greek countryside, I love my children and husband and they live in Greece and it ends there, so it that home?  Or is America home or maybe even Australia?

 click, click, click, I wish I had magic shoes.

The kids had a blast going on our "photo shoot" here are some photos.

Nik dressed himself and this is what happened

 We are at the yellow train station, the workers are on strike again, another reason to dislike Greece.  Hello Public workers?

I filled my bag with sewing goodies, so I can take it to the park and do some hand sewing while the kids play.  Some of the neighbor kids are very very bad, yesterday an 8 year old boy pushed Katerina to the ground, I don't think he saw me watching, so he was a little surprised when I yelled at him.  But they also say some pretty nasty things and the kids come home saying these bad words.

 And of course no Dorothy bag would be complete with out Toto, he is a pincushion/ felt needle pad/belly magnet pin picker upper.

Make sure you go visit all of the other ladies making their version of the Tammy bag, if you don't have the pattern and would like to make one (and really you should) you are in luck, Madame Samm the cheerleader and pattern writer has the pattern available on Craftsy.

June 13 - Today 

Tina

Melinda 

Mary

Frederika

Thearica

Liz 

Grethe

Daryl

Patty

Inga

June 13 - Thursday

Les

Marlene

Lisa

Anjeanette

Kristen

Marica

Lynn

Gingini

Linda J

Nicole

Judith

June 14th - Friday

 Bente

Jane

Wendy

Geta

Julia

Jan

Loralynn

Selina

Joan

Mara

Jan 

June 17th - Monday

  Rosemary

Pauline

Kris

Karen

Pauline

Roxanne

 Vickie

Cherry 

Martina 

Jane

June 18th - Tuesday

Felicia

Dawn

Carol

Britt-Inger

Kiera

Sharon

Jeanie

Mandy

Theresa

Mdm Samm - Our fabulous Cheerleader !

The Tammy Project Bag that became the.......

Dorothy Bag!

Click, Click, Click, there is no place like home!

I picked up the really cute frame from  BagsPurseFrames Etsy Shop, way back when I did the UR Priceless blog hop.  Another one of Madame Samm's wonderful and easy to follow patterns.  The red Gingham was actually a piece of fabric covering a jar of honey.  The red Presencia thread is from the lovely Jane of Janesfabrics Etsy store.  I did a little bit of chicken scratch embroidery stitch (the best embroidery stitch resource you will find, click on the link it will take you to a new window) on the shoes and also used the thread for threading on the handle, it really does make a difference using this thread, so easy.  The wool felt is from MaureenCracknell Etsy shop, she is very sweet and I made the bow kind of using this tutorial but making it way, way smaller.

The front pocket holds my precious 1 roll of Aurifil Thread

The back pocket is kind of hidden, no extra doodads, because it holds

my 1 pair of scissors (kids nails scissors w/curved ends, perfect for EPP Hexies)

There are 2 pockets here, but I did the stitching down the middle before I put the top pocket on, does that make sense, I wanted it to look kind of seamless.

I need to buy the red/white and blue tailer's shears from DOVO, they would be perfect for my "There's no place like home" Dorothy Bag.
The inside became a way to organize this mess.

my poor cake tin, haven't been able to make a cake for a few months.

Some fabric pens and all of the thread my MIL has given to me.
I have plenty of room to put more in, and will use it to put my current hexie projects in, so I can take it to the park and watch the kids play.

Do you see that little guy in there?

No Dorothy would be complete with out her trusty and very hard working Toto.

He's a good dog, he acts as a pin cushion and then has a felt pad at his feet for needles and a place to hold my clips and if you rub his belly he will pick up all of your pins, I hope it tickles and doesn't give him belly "pins".

I put a magnet inside on the underside.

He mostly stays inside of the bag, just in case there are any more Tornadoes.

This is the first time I have finished a project and said, there's not a thing I want to change, I LOVE THIS BAG!  Normally I always want to make something or change it some way, not this one, this is a keeper and all for me!

I must admit I miss the States, okay some people say I am living the dream life in Greece and it is a beautiful country, very safe, no worries about my children being kidnapped.  But I worry about their future in a different way, education is horrible and even after they are educated then they can not find a job.  So I would like them to take my Dorothy Bag and click, click, click their way to a safer future.

It looks like he is throwing the bag at me, but he's not, he's showing the bottom

Follow the Yellow Brick.....

.... Train Station?

Kalampaka is the last stop for this train, so it makes it easy to get here, wish I could say the same about getting away.
Make sure you visit these other fine ladies working on their Tammy Project Bags and give a big cheer to our lovely cheerleader and fabulous Pattern designer Madame Samm!

June 14th - Friday

 Bente

Jane

Wendy

Geta

Julia

Jan

Loralynn

Selina

Joan

Mara (you are here)

Jan 

Don't forget to enter in the Birthday Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Smocking Tutorial

I recently made a dress for my daughter and used some smocking on top.  There aren't many tutorials out there on how to do it, so I thought I would show you how I did it.

First you need to know the size, for every inch of smocking you want 3 inches of fabric, but stop half way through smocking to see where you are at and if you need less, I did.
I made a grid of 1 inch squares with a water soluble fabric marker from Clover.

Mark on the back of your fabric, and add these dash lines through, this is the direction your needle will go through.  I did 30 inches from left to right and 9 inches down.

Thread needle and knot only 1 end

go from 1 corner to the other following the direction of the line inside the box

I went 1 row up and then the next row done, and so forth.  Make sure you use thread that closely matches your fabric.

Pull through, squishing the ends to meet and forcing the middle outwards.

Start to tie the knot

I pinched my fingers together to make sure the knot was tight

The fabric is nice and tight

Now clip (cut) AND Repeat.

and slowly

The back starts to look like this.

And the front looks like this!

Don't forget to enter in the birthday party giveaway, if you haven't already.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Tammy Blog Hop Starts This Week

Here is the schedule for the Tammy blog hop!

June 12th  ( wednesday)

Tina

Melinda 

Mary

Frederika

Thearica 

Liz

Grethe

Daryl

Patty

Inga 

                                                           

                                              

June 13th ( thursday)

Les

Marlene

Lisa

Anjeanette

Kristen

Marica

Lynn

Gingini

Linda J 

Nicole

June 14th ( friday)

 Bente

Jane

Wendy

Geta

Julia

Jan

Loralynn

Selina

Joan

Mara

Jan 

 June 17th (monday)

  Rosemary

Pauline

Kris

Karen

Pauline

Roxanne

 Vickie

Cherry 

  Martina  

Jane

June 18th (tuesday)

Felicia

Dawn

Carol

Britt-Inger

Kiera

Sharon

Jeanie

Mandy

Theresa

Mdm Samm

Katerina's Birthday Fun!

Kat turned 3 today!  My little girl is getting bigger, in fact she weighs a ton, like a bag of cement.  She weighs the same as Nik and he is 2 1/2 years older.

I made a cheesecake, lucky for me they don't like it so much, and are only eating the cherries that ΓιαΓια made.  This time Nik waited and they blew out the candles together.

I made Katerina a dress, it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted it too, but it's not to bad.  Yesterday when I was finishing it up, Arthur was watching the kids at the tree and I went outside to find her doing this.

Playing with mud!

I had wanted to try the dress on her but we had to do it later after a bath and her she is dancing in her new dress.

Birthday Giveaway!

It's my daughters 3rd Birthday (my little ladybug is getting bigger) and we want to celebrate by giving away 3 of her favorite things, well it could have been 4 if you want a Barbie, but I figured most people would rather not have a Barbie.

3 FQ's from dresses I have made for her.

 I have made my daughter 3 dresses and a new one that you will see later.  My first one used the pink fabric, the second the ladybug fabric and the 3rd the butterfly fabric.

I couldn't find the first dress I made, it's somewhere.

Her other 2 loves in life are Chocolate and Music, we can be walking down the street and she starts dancing, it is so cute.  So I am also including in your little package some Greek Chocolate and some Greek Music that is from this area with the Klarino playing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

June's Goals, Challenges and A Friends Giveaway!

I love making goals and really like it when I can incorporate a challenge into it.

First:  Finish my daughter's birthday dress

That's some smocking going on, I am going to write a tutorial for the dress I am making, it is uber cute and super easy to make, about 3 nap times.

Second:
I need to finish my "I love Tammy bag"  I am kind of waiting on some fabric that should have been here over a month ago, hoping it comes here by this Friday, if not I will have to use some other fabrics.  Look for the blog hop so you can enjoy seeing all of the wonderful Tammy bags.  My day is June 17th, oh %$#@ I just looked and my day changed to the 14th, forget about waiting for fabric, I need to start today!

Third:
3 Challenges this month, the mid month "Le Challenge" is anything about MARITIME, got that one covered and almost finished, hint: a birthday suit.

Then there is the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge going on over at Ellison Lane, the due date for that is June 16th.

And another awesome blog hop, happening all month over at Blossom Heart Quilts the "Kate Spain blog hop".   She is having 2 linky parties, if you have previously made something using Kate Spain fabric then there is a mid month linky party or if you would like to make something this month there is a linky and prize party at the end of the month.  Now I don't own any Kate Spain fabric, but I have admired it, so I went out and ordered some Terrain, really cheap!  You can order some too and make something, go to Tipsy Quilters Etsy shop, she is selling Terrain for $4.20 a YARD!

If you are still here, there is a giveaway going on over at a friends blog SimpleSew, she entered her to cute quilt into a Pinterest contest, go check it out.

Shirley's use of Umbrella Prints Trimmings, made into a baby quilt.

June's Goals and Challenges and a friends giveaway.

I love making goals and really like it when I can incorporate a challenge into it.

First:  Finish my daughter's birthday dress

That's some smocking going on, I am going to write a tutorial for the dress I am making, it is uber cute and super easy to make, about 3 nap times.

Second:
I need to finish my "I love Tammy bag"  I am kind of waiting on some fabric that should have been here over a month ago, hoping it comes here by this Friday, if not I will have to use some other fabrics.  Look for the blog hop so you can enjoy seeing all of the wonderful Tammy bags.  My day is June 17th, oh %$#@ I just looked and my day changed to the 14th, forget about waiting for fabric, I need to start today!

Third:
3 Challenges this month, the mid month "Le Challenge" is anything about MARITIME, got that one covered and almost finished, hint: a birthday suit.

Then there is the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge going on over at Ellison Lane, the due date for that is June 16th.

And another awesome blog hop, happening all month over at Blossom Heart Quilts the "Kate Spain blog hop".   She is having 2 linky parties, if you have previously made something using Kate Spain fabric then there is a mid month linky party or if you would like to make something this month there is a linky and prize party at the end of the month.  Now I don't own any Kate Spain fabric, but I have admired it, so I went out and ordered some Terrain, really cheap!  You can order some too and make something, go to Tipsy Quilters Etsy shop, she is selling Terrain for $4.20 a YARD!

Those are my goals and Challenges for the month of June, Linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes June Goal Setting Party.

If you are still here, there is a giveaway going on over at a friends blog SimpleSew, she entered her to cute quilt into a Pinterest contest, go check it out.

Shirley's use of Umbrella Prints Trimmings, made into a baby quilt.