Wine Bag

I made this wine bag last week. Our upstairs neighbors fed our cats while we were on vacation, so we got them a bottle of wine and I made a cute bag to put it in.

I used a tutorial, but I can't find the link right now. I will link to it later when I find it.

But I'm thinking these would be cute for Christmas presents or a hostess gift. Since Josh and I have been talking about having an "imaginary Christmas" between ourselves, this would be something easy and cheap to make for others. Oh, but I'd have to buy the wine. Hmmm...

Don't mind the crumbs on the counter.

Another wristlet

I made this wristlet for my sister-in-law Chrissy's birthday last week.

I really like this wristlet. It's the perfect size for my phone, camera, small wallet, and a lip gloss.

However, you can tell in the picture above that I really need to work on my pattern. It's very lopsided. That's just good ol' me again, rushing through the pattern making. I told Chrissy that it has several flaws, but she didn't seem to mind!

OBX vacation

Sorry about the lack of postings. I was on vacation last week and had every intention of doing a few blog posts, but alas, did not get around to it. So... here are a few pictures from our week in the Outer Banks, NC! We went with Josh's family.

Beautiful BIG beaches


Our house


On the ferry to Ocracoke, a small island with a cute town and great beaches


Ocracoke Lighthouse


Josh and his brothers- Mike on left, Matt on right


The "kids"


We climbed the Hatteras light house- 248 steps or some thing like that, about equal to a 12 story building. Realized I am very out of shape!


Getting into position for this picture almost ended our marriage. "Go right, go left, more, other left, OTHER left..." Josh's head explodes. You know the rest.


But we made it, marriage AND lungs still intact.


Josh heading back down. My legs were about to fall off at this point.

I realized I didn't take any pictures with Josh's parents, but they were there too. It was a great week, and I finally got my summer tan on (the most important part of vacation, obv). All this sewing this summer has left Abby inside and very pasty.

More sewing projects to come! As for today, Hurricane Bill seems to have swept through my house, so I've got some cleaning to do.

Excited about...

This!

Over at one of my favorite blogs, My Mama Made It, Alexis is hosting this gift exchange. Basically, you just sign up and send a gift pertaining to sewing to whoever signs up right underneath you. Just for fun! I can't wait. If you want to participate, there is still time! You have until Monday. Who doesn't like getting presents in the mail??

Confession time

Well dear bloggy friends, there are a few things I need to get off my chest. A few confessions, shall we say, that I need to get out in the open. I don't want you to have the wrong image of me, so I will lay it all out for you, and after this post you can decide if you still want to be my friend. Here goes:

1. I used to iron on my kitchen counter. Yes, amidst the crumbs, butter dish, and, apparently, the booze.

But no, I don't sip on the Malibu rum while I sew, in case you were wondering.

2. I recently upgraded to a better ironing station: my floor. I just about burn the sides of my calves now instead of the linoleum counter top (*crossing my fingers on getting that security deposit back*). WHY didn't I just buy a tall, standing ironing board? The good Lord only knows. Ok, actually I do know- the small one was cheaper.

3. I use wrapping paper to make patterns. Christmas wrapping paper, mind you. It actually seems to work quite well, except it rolls up a lot from being on the roll.

4. I stay up til all hours of the night sewing sometimes. I hope I don't keep my upstairs neighbors up. It's not like I am ever really pressed for time unless I am making someone a gift (but let's face it, most things I make are for myself!), but I just keep saying to myself, "I'll go to bed after I do this." And then I do it and forget and just keep going.

5. I throw my extra threads right on the floor. Sometimes when I am done a project, I just leave the mounds of thread and scraps there on the floor for a few days and allow and my cats, hubby and myself to continue to track it all over the house. I find threads in my bed, on my husband, in the shower, and on the cats. A simple trash can would really solve that problem.

Ok, phew, I'm glad I got those off my chest. There's no going back, you know all my secrets. Do you still love me?? Now it's your turn- 'fess up!! It doesn't have to be about sewing, but could be about blah household chores or other crafty things.

Wristlet

I went to the library the other week and picked up a few sewing books. (Yes, you may call me a dork.) Most of the sewing books at the library are pretty outdated, but I guess sewing techniques never go out of style. One of the books I picked up was called "Bag Bazaar." There were a couple of cute patterns in this book. Here is one of them that I made last week:

One of the things I need to work on is being more careful when I make patterns. I am always just so anxious to get the actual sewing part started that I rush through cutting out the pattern, and I don't double check my measurements, etc. Tisk tisk on me.

The irony is that if you rush through the pattern making/measurements, you'll spend a LOT more time trying to fix it all later than you will on the front end. That's what happened with this bag. You'd think I would have learned that lesson by now. Humph.

Next time I will do better. I promise.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my last post one other thing that makes me happy. Scroll up. All the way to the top. See my followers? 8! Eight! Wahoo! And I think only one of them is related to me :) That makes me happy, and so do your comments, so keep 'em coming dear bloggy friends.

Things that make me happy

1. I am ALL about breaking up the monotony of housework. I found these free lists from one of my favorite crafty blogs, How About Orange. Just download, print, cut, punch, and tie with cute ribbon. Walah! Now you will whistle while you work because of these happy lists. At least I will. Here are mine:

2. I haven't done this yet, but I am going to because just the picture of this makes me happy. Print your own free bookmarks! And they're cute. From this cute blog.

3. I made this iPhone/iPod pouch. It was my first time doing an applique. It wasn't too hard.

I love birds. Did I ever tell you I had a bird when I was little? Yeah well, my sister's cat ate it while we were on vacation. It was a sad, sad day. This little pouch is dedicated to you, Sunny. **tear**

4. My cats. I KNOW how crazy of a cat lady I am. So we don't need to dwell on that. But seriously, I love my kitties.

5. Cucumbers galore!! From our community garden.

Josh thinks this one should win an award. He is embarrassed because he knew when I took this picture that it would end up on my blog :) **Love ya honey bunny**

6. I've been making LOTS of pizzas recently... like, once a week. And they're yummy!

7. This sexy man makes me happiest of all.