Bags, Bags and More Bags

I keep meaning to share another project with you, but life gets in the way.  There has been so much going on during the holidays and having my daughter home from college.  Her college marching band took a New Year’s trip to Rome, Italy so there was a lot of preparation for that in the days leading up to Christmas.  What an experience of a lifetime though.  My only regret is not getting to go with her.  Since I seem to be so slow in sharing, I’m going to combine a few items in this post.  Buckle your seat belts!

First was a purse that I had bought a kit for a few years back.  I kept getting the instructions out and then putting them back.  This year my goal was to sew up a lot of the purse/bag kits that I’ve bought at quilt shows over the years.  The first bag is the Manhattan bag made out of fun watermelon and strawberry fabrics.  This was a great purse to carry in those warm summer months we only dream about now in cold January.

Here are some photos.  Between the panels I did some decorative stitching with variegated thread which was a lot of fun.

 

Next on the list was the “Mondo Bag” which was a fusible square kit.  This bag was really huge and I used half of a jelly roll to make all the squares for the bag.  This bag would make a good weekend or overnight bag.

Next bag kit to finish was this quilter’s tote.  The kit included pre-printed quilt related sayings.  I love this bag and use it to tote my projects and show n’tell to my quilt guild meetings.  Love the sewing theme fabric in this one.

Last, but not least is another purse kit I bought on a quilt tour.  Love the purple colors of this bag and am using it now for fall and winter.

I’ll try not to go so long between posts next time, until then…

Happy sewing & quilting!

Melinda

College Bound

Just a quick note (yes I promised to post about my latest quilt frame adventure but just haven’t gotten it all together yet) to say congratulations to my daughter for getting accepted early action to James Madison University.  We’re very proud of her.  Next step she auditions for the music school in February.   In honor of her acceptance, I’ve started knitting scarves in purple and gold her soon to be school colors.  I have always wanted to try knitting the ruffled yarn, but haven’t had the nerve.  I watched a couple tutorials on YouTube and started.  Here’s my second one in JMU colors for my daughter.

Then I knit one with acrylic “team spirit” yarn.  This one was neat, but not quite so fun.  I hated knitting with the ruffle yarn at first, but now I’m addicted.  Guess quilting will take a back seat for a little bit until I get tired of knitting.  Thankfully my two kitties haven’t tried to get involved in the knitting.  They seem fascinated watching the yarn move, but have yet to introduce claws yet.  Thank goodness!  Here’s the second scarf.

Until next time, happy sewing, quilting (yes and even knitting),

Melinda

50th Anniversary Cake – 2nd Round

Life has been a bit busy, so I’m falling behind on sharing with you all.  Abby and Casey created a 2nd 50th anniversary cake for my in-laws and did a great job.  This cake was also three layers and had two yellow layers and a french vanilla layer.  It was iced with chocolate decorator icing and white accent icing.  It was quite tasty as you’ll see below.  Here’s the cake before the cake topper was added.

The 2nd 50th Anniversary Cake before topper is added

My sister-in-law had the 50th wedding anniversary topper that one of her aunts had made for my husband’s grandparent’s 50th anniversary.  We used this topper on Abby’s cake for the celebration.  Here’s a photo of the finished cake ready for enjoying!

50th Anniversary Cake with Handmade Topper

As usual, Abby and Casey made a very tasty cake.  It was enjoyed by all.  If you’d like to see more anniversary photos, check out my Flikr  photo stream on this page.  We had a great time and my in-laws liked their anniversary quilt.  Yea!  Another celebration quilt success!

Just to show you how much the cake was enjoyed…here’s another of our half eaten cake photos.  Wish I had a piece now…

Half Eaten Smith 50th Anniversary Cake

Until next time, happy sewing, quilting & eating!

Happy 14th Birthday, Abby

I had to take a moment today to wish my sweet daughter, Abby a Happy 14th Birthday.  The time has flown by so fast and she has gone from my little baby to a sweet young lady.  I have been so proud of her accomplishments and wish her many, many more happy birthdays.

Abby's First Dress - She did a great job!

I am proud that she has decided to keep the sewing tradition alive in our family and can’t wait to see her next project and creation.  In addition, she is a talented saxophonist and artist.  She has drawn some really great outfits that I wish I had the skills to turn into finished clothing.  Maybe that is a new skill we can learn together.

Until next time, happy sewing & quilting!

I Have to Brag A Little

My daughter, Abby is a budding pastry chef.  She has been considering this career for many years now.  She is almost 14 and has made some wonderful confections in the last few years.  She, with the help of her best friend Casey, made this wonderful cake for my parent’s 50th anniversary.  Didn’t she do a wonderful job?  Each of the cake’s layers was a different flavor, yellow, white & lemon (my personal favorite) and was iced with white decorator icing.  There are gold gel icing accents on the cake.

The cake Abby and Casey made for her grandparents 50th wedding anniversary

After the party there was only half the cake left.  My dad took this great photo of the “insides” of the cake.  We had a wonderful time celebrating the marriage of my wonderful parents.  We ate at the Log House in Wytheville, Virginia.

It was so good, we polished off half just after dinner

Although this isn’t sewing or quilting, I thought I’d brag a little about my talented daughter and the great cake she made.  Until next time, happy sewing & quilting….