Pretty little purses

Once again, in my journeys on the Purl Soho site, I spotted an absolutely gorgeous Japanese handbag. But there was no way in tarnation that I was spending $36 for the frame in their shop. So I moseyed on over to etsy, and along with the bobble frames I used for my coin purses, I found iDENTical frames for...drum roll.....$5.80. See? I am a freakin' economic genius. You gotta spend money to save money, as my BFF Samantha says ;)

Did I NEED another purse? Well, that is an entirely different question in the economics department....

Anyways, back to the crafty stuff. The frames I bought came with no instructions, so I popped back to the Purl Soho tutorial and just eyeballed a pattern, based on what they showed there. It's a wrinkly bag, so I figured exact dimensions were not critical, and that turned out to be true. Sew sew sew, and here you have it:

Aren't they cute? I used some home deco weight Joel Dewberry from his Ginseng collection that I la-la-love, happened to find on clearance at a local fabric shop, and have been waiting for the right project to put to use. I think they are perfect here.

Now, I want you all to remain impressed with my crafty prowess and all, but I have to say- these were quite easy. And super elegant. So cute dangling over the wrist just so. I highly recommend giving these a try!

For lining, I used some sweet soft Rowan shot cotton. Made use of my labels once again.



What's that inside the bags? Well, I thought it would be nice to have a coordinating wallet that fit nicely in the bags, so I whipped up a couple of those as well, incorporating a third fabric from the same line.



This was just a pattern I made up, inspired by this clutch at Keyka Lou (though not nearly as cute), smaller in size and with a full fold over.

I used a magnet snap closure for the flap (also bought on etsy here), which was an interesting experience as when I was doing my top stitching, the magnet would stick to the metal base plate by my bobbin at the most unexpected times and make my lines all wonky. Doh! How very Me of me.


As you can see, I made 2 sets- one for me and one for Samantha, who lives in Toronto :-) I am super stoked as I am heading out to T.O. for the weekend with my hubby. He has a conference and it is our anniversary so I am tagging along (maybe some romance??? nudge wink) and while he is occupied by day, I get to hang out with Sam, who I never get to see often enough!! You can bet she and I will find equal doses of shopping, chocolate and trouble! I promise a full report when I get back!

When I say crazy....

....this is a prime example!

Winnipeg was given 3 weeks to sell 13,000 season tickets for our proposed NHL hockey team in order to secure their arrival. Season tickets are between $2000-6000 per seat and are a 3-5 year commitment, depending on the section, to show that we are committed to the team long term.

They sold out in 17 minutes. And there are 7000 people on the waiting list.

Go Jets Go! Man, I love this town :-) And yes, I will be one of the lucky ones there, cheering!

Making fabric out of string and other projects

Working on a new knitting project here and there, verrrrry slowly. Sorry folks, this one will be rated G unlike my last knit finish ;)

Picked up this gorgeous yarn to make The Middle Child a sweater. I think this is my favorite color in the entire universe. I almost wept for joy when she picked this over More Pink. It's next in the knitting queue!

As for sewing, my vintage quilt is on hold...I partly done the quilting and am not loving it, but am too lazy to pick it all out. So, it is shelved for the moment! Also need to start up the birthday quilt for The Middle Child, who will be six in July. Time to pull out the Far Far Away 2!!

I am also working on a few {secret} projects for swaps and birthdays...will reveal soon!

Good news, Bad news: Updated

The Good News:

The NHL is back in Winnipeg!! Woo hoooo!!

First off, I should explain that I am Canadian, and up North, we tend to be a little Hockey Nuts. It is a part of our blood, our culture. Second, we WERE home to the Winnipeg Jets, but back in 1996, the team was moved to Phoenix. Seriously, I am sure a day does not go by without someone in the city crying in their beer about that. We have been trying for years to get a team back; yesterday it was announced that the Atlanta Thrashers will be relocating to our fine city. I hope they are paying those boys enough to buy some parkas ;) And some earplugs, because their new adoring fans are gonna raise the roof!

There has been speculation about the move for weeks, and the city has been whipped into a frenzy. Much of the city was shut down once the announcement was made yesterday morning. Portage and Main, our main downtown intersection, was immediately bombarded with happy, happy (drunk) fans. The big party then moved to The Forks. I pulled my 7 year old son out of school for the occasion to take in the festivities. Yessir, I did! Though I had him prepare a presentation on this "historical event" for class today :-)

I wasn't the only one, apparently. Here he is with a buddy and hockey teammate. These are the faces they made when asked, "Shouldn't you be in school???"

Here with Thomas Steen, former captain of the Winnipeg Jets.

A big old street hockey game broke out, for big kids and little kids!


Plenty of crazy fans (including "Auntie" and "Unkie"):



Dignitaries came and said their speeches, but basically they would get two words in and then the chanting would start.....Go Jets Go!

A very exciting day for our city, much pride and anticipation of the upcoming hockey season. And, a wonderful day of bonding for me and my son :-)


But, the very same evening......

The Bad News:

Massive flooding to Twin Lake Beaches, where we have our cottage.

Winds of 100km/hr created 8 foot waves on Lake Manitoba, which was used by the government as a dumping ground to divert flood waters from the Assiniboine River in Western Manitoba. Water levels in this large lake, which measures 125 miles long by 28 miles wide, are already at record levels and are not expected to crest for several weeks to come. Add wind to this, and it was pure disaster. In the course of an hour, a partial evacuation notice evolved into full immediate evacuation and then a helicopter rescue mission. Waters rose quickly, swamping roads and destroying cottages and homes, as well as the sandbag dikes meant to protect them. People had minutes to grab what they could and flee.

The press videos are devastating. We are not allowed to go and see our cottage for ourselves as the area is still restricted. We are hoping we have something left to salvage, though we fear that even if our cottage survived this storm intact, it may not the next as the waters continue to rise.

So, tonight I sit, and drink a beer.....

UPDATE: Some pictures taken after the waters receded. More pictures of the destruction here.

Japanese change purses

I have been crushing on coin purses ever since seeing a tutorial on the Purl Bee. While I splurged and bought some Liberty fabric, I could not bring myself to spend the $20-25 per frame to make their coin purse! Instead, I found some frames (with extra large colored bobbles) on etsy for under $3 a piece. Much better, thanks!

I also have been sitting on a set of Japanese charms for some time, waiting for the right project. When I saw the frames, I knew I had my match. A perfect pairing! There is a Cinderella, a Princess and the Frog, and my favorite childhood story, The Wizard of Oz :-)





Cute little linings from my stash:


But why stop there? Of course my daughters were all over this project. They are age 5 and 4, and nothing thrills them like a shiny penny! Could I make one for them? For their friend? Sure, why not?
For The Middle Child, who adores pink, I used some pre-made felt flowers and polka dots from Stampin' Up, and stitched them (with a ribbon stem) to linen. And of course a coordinating one for her BFF.

Polka dots on the back:Pretty pink floral lining:

I also hand embroidered her friend's name at my daughter's request- it will be filled with coins and given as a gift at her upcoming birthday party.

For Last But Not Least, orange is the go-to color, so orange bobbles and some sweet little Heather Ross goldfish where paired with some blue corduroy from my stash.

Some Amy Butler orange and blue Love dots for lining, and she was wearing one heck of a big smile!


I think these will be perfect for the little girls in my life. May need to make some more for the big girls? ;)

Linking up at Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

Denyse Schmidt clutches

My quilting "to-do" list is looooong, but I just had to crack into some of that gorgeous new Denyse Schmidt fabric from JoAnn's. Couple that with my new obsession with framed purses, and here you have it:

I used the tutorial at U-handbag to make my own pattern, using these cute frames- love the aqua bobbles! In typical OCD style, I bought a mother-load of various frames on etsy here and here, so be prepared to be bombarded over the next weeks until I get this out of my system ;) Remember my embroidery hoops phase?? (here here here here here and here)

I simply love how these framed bags look, and the endless possibilities! These ones are 8 inches wide, the perfect clutch size, or can be thrown like a pouch into a bigger tote.


I lined each with coordinating fabrics from my stash, and included my new labels bought from Mommie Made It.


Not sure yet how I will slice the rest of these babies up, but Denyse did it again- these are truly pretty prints :-)

Lining up at Sew Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

A winner, a win and an ethical question....

First off, thanks to everyone who took the time to enter my Sew Mama Sew giveaway and for your lovely comments. I especially appreciate those of you who took the time to poke around my site and comment on my projects! Sorry I couldn't reply to all of you, but the numbers were a wee bit prohibitive for that, I would say!

Which got me to thinking. Now this thinking process may make me unpopular, but bear with me.

I recently entered, and was lucky to win, a giveaway (not part of SMS) by Alison at Little Island Quilting for this gorgeous handmade quilt AND a jelly roll of Moda fabric:

Here is the "catch"- it was a fundraiser for Japan earthquake victims, and her only requirement to enter was to make a donation of an amount of your choice to a Japanese relief organization. Additional entries were granted if you were to blog about the giveaway.

She only received 19 entries.

So, it seems a bit ridiculous to me that here I have almost 800 entries for a few measly fat quarters of fabric. And it made me wonder...what if I had asked for something small in return for an entry? Say $1 in aide to one of the many earthquake/flood/fire/tornado affected areas out there? How many fewer entries would I have received?

Now, I am not trying to make you feel bad about yourself on this fine Thursday morning. Giveaway Day is a fun event and I personally enjoy it as much as the next person. And I know, with all the crazy tragedies happening in the world along with unstable economic times, it is hard to give to them all. But, would a dollar be so much? Or maybe $5?

Another fellow blogger, Dana at Old Red Barn Co., is hosting a similar quilt giveaway to help tornado victims in her husband's hometown of Joplin. Maybe you could pop by and help?

So, that said, on with the Dream On winner :-) I am too technically challenged to figure out how to cut and paste this so it looks all pretty, but here is who Random.org chose:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 796
Result: 166
Powered by RANDOM.ORG


And the winner is...... Lee :)

Lee said...

Lovely giveaway, thank you! : )
May 23, 2011 9:38 AM

Congratulations, Lee, I will be emailing you!