TA DAH!!! All FOUR Halloween Bags are D-O-N-E!

Breathless! That's what I am. I have been scurrying about from room to room sewing and pressing like a mad-woman making sure I finished the Halloween Bags for 3 DGC and one DGGC. Whew!

They are done. Packed into their little packages; postage printed and applied; and we will all go to the postoffice together tomorrow morning at 0700! Sending them Express Mail to guarantee they will arrive by Mon the 31st.

A wonderful friend -- Joyce M. -- shared some extra Halloween blocks with me, so turning the blocks into bags was pretty quick and easy. THANK YOU, JOYCE! The kids are going to love their bags!

Our LQS didn't have any Halloween fabrics, so a quick trip to JoAnn's was in order.  The fabrics are fun and look good with the blocks, eh?!

My house is a total wreck and poor Missy is feeling a bit neglected, . . but mission accomplished! I sure wish I could learn NOT to procrastinate. I wonder if there is a 'pill' for that? There is for everything else! lol.

Ok... that's enough nonsence from me today -- lol -- thank you so much for dropping by for a visit. I hope you will come back. Until then, be happy... it sure beats the alternative!
Hugs,

SUPER QUICK PILLOWs. . . In about 15 Min! ;-)

Need some pillows super-fast? No problem. If you can be happy with 'covers' and not anything fancy-smancy, then this method will work for you. My DD has a beach/ocean theme in her new apartment, so this pretty shell fabric will look nice on her new white couch.

Process:
I am making 4 pillows. Two 16 inch, & two 18 inch square [pillow forms from JoAnn's].

CUT fabric: two strips WOF x 16" and two strips WOF x 18 inches [or whatever size your pillows are].
Fold fabric exactly in half [long-wise, two short ends meet] and press. Fold over double a nice hem on each short end. Stitch. I stitched both the edge and the fold for extra durability and it looks nice that way. Press.

Line ruler up on FOLD side at one-half the size of pillow [remember, it's folded in half]. Here it is at 8 inches.

Flip the hemmed edge over the ruler [this marks the size of pillow]. Pull ruler away from the fold you just made and press this new fold in place. Stay with me; you'll see how this little trick works so fast to 'mark' the edges and size of your pillow.

Open up and re-fold using the pressed-fold line you just made... where my scrubby finger is pointing.

Now a couple of pins to hold edges in place; stitch the two short sides; press seams; turn, and voila! Stuff your pillow form inside and TaDah, you're done!

No kidding. . . each pillow will take less than 15 minutes to make.

That's all for today. Thank you so much for dropping by to visit. I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something for yourself or someone you love.

Hugs,

Small QUICK Bag. . . and Keeping Me Honest

Tuesday's Friendship Circle was a blast! Several members shared some cute and quick projects. The one I made is a small bag to corral essentials in my purse. Hopefully, keeping things neat, easy to find, and quick and easy to change to another purse. I made mine in pink!

This bag is soooo easy to make: Use pre-quilted fabric [or make your own... I used a few Charm Squares & machine quilted]. The size isn't important. Mine was "almost" 9 inches square, but rectangles are good, too. Install a zipper on two opposing edges. Fold and center the zipper and stitch a seam; then refold opposite direction and create last seam. Make sure your zipper is halfway open when sewing the last seam so you have space to 'turn' it right side out. The s.a. are zigzaged as I didn't want to drag out my serger. A zipper fob is just for fun. Next time I will add a 'tab' at top/bottom of zipper for a better finish! Live n learn, ya?! These make super gifts! See Jill's bag [below]... she used 'tabs' at both ends of the zipper and I think her's has a cleaner finish. Jill started with a rectangle, so her finished bag would be just right for cutting tools.

"Keeping Me Honest": Some of you know that I have been diagnosed with Type-II Diabetes. Now I am making a lot of life-style changes, not the least of which is dietary modifications. I thought I could keep myself 'honest' if I started posting about this... so, if you aren't interested just skip over this part. lol. Yesterday's lunch was:
A salad concoction that I arrived at mostly based on what was in my frig and the leftover Butternut Squash from the night before. Here are the salad ingredients: 2 handfuls of mixed greens [baby spinach, romaine, arugula, endive, radicchio, etc.], 1 Roma Tomato, 1 Cup baked Butternut Squash/cubed, 1 Persian Cuke, 2 Oz water-packed Albacore Tuna, 1/4 C low fat Cottage Cheese, 2 Tblsp Salsa [the last two are my "dressing"]. A sprinkle of mixed herbs on top with a dusting of Garlic Powder. It was VERY tasty! Filling and satisfying, too. If you choose to try it, please let me know how you like it.

Along with better food choices also comes the dedication to move more. Last night I walked for 1.5 hours at the Street Faire. Yippee for me! If YOU are making life-style changes, too, perhaps you will add a comment to this post -- I would love all the support I can garner to stay on track. And, if you have a blog, please leave your blog addy as part of your signature line in your comment. That way I can visit you and give you support, too. It's always easier to do this kind of thing with friends! Do you agree?

I can't resist sharing this picture of Missy. . . she has found a new place to explore and "hide" in. There is a very small space under the sewing machine cabinet, behind the small chest and where two FeatherWeights are stored. I don't know what she thinks is so interesting in the trash bin! lol. . . . kitties are so much fun!

Thank you for stopping by. I hope where ever you are, you have time to create something that makes you happy! Sew, Quilt, Knit, Tat, Crochet, occasional Cooking. . . Life Is GOOD!

Hugs,

Monday AGAIN Already???

Hello Friends in BlogLand. . .
This is just a quickie post to say "Hi" and leave you with a chuckle -- Monday's need all the help they can get! lol

After I hit the market for some produce, and then JoAnn's for some supplies for tomorrow's project at Friendship Circle, I plan to sit on my tushie and crochet on Laura's soon-to-be Granny Gone Wild afghan.  What are all of you up to today???

Thank you for stopping by. I hope where ever you are, you have time to create something that makes you happy! Sew, Quilt, Knit, Tat, Crochet, occasional Cooking. . . Life Is GOOD!

Hugs,

GRANNY GONE WILD CAL: My Rectangle Granny

Grannies, grannies, every where grannies! LuAnn of Loose Threads has just launched a new Crochet-A-Long.  LuAnn is making a multi color square granny. I am making a rectangle shape in Blue, White, & Yellow for my DD's new apartment. This is where I am as of yesterday:

Making a square into a rectangle didn't go as smoothly as I hoped it would. lol. First, I tried making a chain, joining into a ring... nope, don't like it.

Second attempt: I made some "eyelets" and crocheted clusters from the eyelets... nope, don't like this either.

Third try: after some discussion with crochet friends and some trial and error, LuAnn suggested a regular chain, BUT put some clusters down the chain without crocheting on both sides of the beginning chain! YES! Success... it works fine and lays well with no ruffling of edges! Thank you, LuAnn for the suggestion... aren't friends great?!

FINALLY, I begin: Because grannies have 3 double crochets in each cluster with a chain-1 in between, we can proceed with a chain of any number as long as it is a multiple of FOUR.  Because I wanted a specific width-to-length ratio, I chose to Chain16. From there it is easy:

The rectangle beginning: Ch16, DblCr in 4th Ch from hook [this creates an 'end' loop], DblCr in next Ch [2 times- this completes the first 'cluster']; Ch1. Now, *Skip next Ch, DblCr in each of the next 3 Ch, then Ch1* rep betwn ** until two Ch from end. Skip 1 Ch and DblCr in last Ch [this forms the end loop for the other end].  Proceed as for Granny, changing colors on successive rounds [if that is your plan]. A granny is made by Crocheting 3 DblCr in each Ch1 Space [cluster made], Ch1. In the corners: Cluster, Ch 1, Cluster; Ch1. That's all there is to it.

I hope you will join in so we can keep each other motivated! If you just want to root us on, that is great too! Click here to go to the Flicker site to see more pictures.

That's all for today... thank you for stopping by to visit. Until next time, I hope you will create something that makes you happy!

Hugs,