Doing the boring stuff - Cosmo Bag Part #1 (oh, and home made dog treats)

I bought Amy Butler's Style Stitches at Joann fabrics for half price at the end of last winter. I've spent all this time looking at the beautiful bags and wondering when I would have the courage to try one. At my Heather Ross weekend, I bought some Echo by Lotta Jansdotter at Purl Soho to make a Cosmo Bag, but then I got sidetracked by the blouse that never was.

So, since I had a three day weekend, I decided to dive in. WHEW! Was that a lot of cutting to do! Every piece needing a matching piece of fusible interfacing. Then I had to actually FUSE them. That's taken all of my sewing time this weekend...but now, my pleats are pinned and I'm read to start sewing.

It looks like it might be pretty freakin' gorgeous when I'm done! (Sorry for the cruddy iPhone picture). The orange will be the lining. LOVE IT.



I also took a detour from sewing to make our puppies some peanut butter treats. THEY LOVE THEM. And I got the recipe here at Dog Treat Recipes dot org. I chose this one because I had the stuff on hand. There are so many other recipe sites, I'm sure I'll try others.

Christmas Jammies - and it's only mid-January!

I love the idea of making special pajamas for Christmas Eve. So when Melanie (Above All Fabric) offered kits last year I jumped on them. They used Carla Crim's (aka The Scientific Seamstress) super easy pattern for Easy Fit Pants and the fabrics were flannel and super cute.

Of course the fabric sat on my cutting table for a good 3 months, but I finally made the pants. Thankfully the kids don't seem to care that Christmas has come and gone.




I made two pair in an hour. Not a bad return for your time!

WELCOME 2012 - Tula Pink "Field Study"

Happy New Year everyone! I've had a wonderful 10 days off from work and it's going to be tough to get back into the swing of things tomorrow.

I am thrilled that I can start the year off with a blog post of a FINISHED UFO so soon. Both of the kids had friends over today so I got time by myself to sew and finish up this quilt top.

It's Tula Pink's Field Study pattern.

A few quick observations...I actually seem to cut smaller pieces much more exactly than I do large pieces. These blocks are 12 1/2" and my squares were not so square.

The pattern was well written, clear, and I LOVE that it's color on glossy paper. I'm rough with patterns and this will last well, and I will certainly be able to use it again. It went together quickly, when I actually WORKED on it.

(Clearly, one of my goals for 2012 needs to be improved picture taking!!)


This is the first quilt that I made entirely from my own stash. It was actually really satisfying to buy the pattern and "shop" on my shelves for what I was looking for.



I also am hopeful that this size quilt will be good practice for my very so-so quilting skills. I'll be sure to post when it's all made up. I truly love how it came out, so I'm motivated to get it done.

Do you make up entire tops from your stash?