December 2024

 I've continued to make bags.  I gave ten away, then sold another 9 or 10 with the proceeds going to our local food pantry, Hands of Mercy.  

I love the little backpack purse in the above picture.  I kept it and use it a lot.

After getting my fill of bags, I found a free stocking pattern online by Fancy That Design House.  I loved it when I saw it and decided to make a couple.  Well, two turned to three, then to five, and I stopped at six!  

The kids got to come for a visit the week of Thanksgiving.  We took them to the Comedy Barn, and they loved it!

While they were here we all did a Turkey Trot 5k.  The kids' first one and they did great!

Lots of playing with Puzzle. She adores those children.

                                    Emma and I had matching hairdo's one day.  :)

Lots of playing outside.....every......single.......day.  Very thankful we had good weather the whole week they were here.

Time to get out all the Christmas quilts.

                                                Puzzle with her new toy, and her daddy.......

                                                        Pose for a treat, Puzzle!!

I recently learned how to make cranberry juice. Easy, peasy, and tastes so good with sparkling water.

Today was a busy day, making bread, Christmas Jam, chex mix, and potato soup.

......And I did finish a quilt recently.  This was a memory quilt made for a widow friend, out of her husband's shirts.  He passed in August, and I wanted her to have it before Christmas.  A great, quick pattern for a lap size quilt.  Tried a new quilting pattern and I really like it.

                                                    Merry Christmas from Rachel and Jim

                       

Newest Bag

 Still making bags.  Plains_and_Prairie has put out a new pattern (get it on Etsy) for a crossbody bag.  Just had to make one.  I barely had enough of the last little quilt I cut up, to make one more bag.

It's a fun little bag with two outside pockets.

I've since changed out the black canvas strap for leather, and yes, I realize I put the one of the zippers going the wrong direction.  Guess that means I'll need to make another one, ha!

Seriously, I do want to make at least two more.  Have them as gifts in mind. I've gifted five of the bags I previously made. They seem to make great gifts.  They are definitely one of a kind bags. I do love making things.

By the way, I wanted to post my latest one block wonder quilt.  It is the the fall issue of McCall's Quilting.

It's been four years since I had a quit published so I am excited about it.  I love the quilt and now have it hanging in my quilting/craft room.

It is made using the One Block Wonder process on six of these panels.

We had the little ones here for ten days and boy was it wild and fun.  Not without a few arguments though but such is life.  I pray they remember their times here with Mamaw and Papaw.  After reading JD Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy, I have a new understanding of the value of grandparents in a child's life. Jim and I also watched the movie on Netflix.  A lot of language, beware, but it was the way his Mamaw talked, and others in his life. Still his mamaw was a decidedly good influence in a turbulent world he grew up in.

Excited for fall around here.  We are still having trouble with our upstairs split unit, still waiting on an estimate for some deck work, and I'm still waiting on another business to complete something I've paid for.  I've been very disheartened lately with some business people.  It seems they don't return calls timely, blow off your concerns, and just aren't people of integrity like in the past. Makes me sad.

But I have so much to be thankful for, and these two are some of those blessings.....

Bags, ties, and a skirt!

 The bag obsession has been strong.  I think I've made nine now - five of the large size, and four smaller ones.  A few pics.....

Most were from the one lap size quilt, but the last one I cut up a small table topper I had made from leftover blocks from my White Night's quilt a few years ago. I think I still have enough of it to make at least two more small ones.  But I'm taking a break for a while.  I broke over 10 needles on these 9 bags! They are very hard to sew. I do love the leather work on them. I found leather strips at a leather shop in Knoxville, and that is also where I got the clasps and rivets.  I think real leather on these bags takes them up a notch.  Next up is the ties I made for my grandson.  I made the granddaughter and her mother a bag, so I had to make him and his dad something.

My son used to love wild bowties, and the peacock fabric was perfect for a matching father and son bowtie. I also found a cute dark fat quarter with some pops of color that I made another one out of. I even did one more, not shown, in a little camping themed fabric. Man Sewing had a great video on how to make these. You can make one in about an hour!

I've enjoyed picking zinnias this summer.  I planted seeds in three big pots out near our back deck. So pretty!

We've had some scorcher days lately.  Can't believe inside the screened porch was so hot!

And the back deck! Wowser's The Trex like material on our deck gets so hot, so maybe it was a few degrees hotter than the real temp.  I don't know but this was HOT!

And my latest obsession was making a tiered skirt. I haven't tried to sew clothes since I was about 19 and made a dress, it did not turn out well.  My mom sewed all her clothes, and all the clothes we wore all through our childhood. She was an excellent seamstress - made my prom dress, my brother's tux, my wedding dress, skirts, pants, all kinds of things. She would find a dress or a picture of something she liked, and make her own pattern.  I've never wanted to sew clothes, but this skirt might have changed my mind.  Sydney Graham has a youtube tutorial on how to make this skirt without a pattern, just using your measurements and some simple calculations.

I made lots of mistakes, but learned a lot too.  I plan to make at least one more, and then I'll want to make one for fall/winter. This fabric is a woven by Robert Kaufman and was purchased from Hancock's of Paducah. It is a nice weight and has the feel of linen.  Next I wanted to make a pair of linen look pants.  I found some linen/rayon blend on sale at Joann Fabrics. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, but Sydney Graham had a pattern for her Lane pants, and she had a video tutorial. I purchased it and then I needed to figure out how to adjust the rise (I did not want a high waist) and the length (the pattern was for a 5' 7" height, I'm 5' 4"). I also wanted to narrow the legs, as her pattern was way wider than I wanted.  I printed off the pattern last night, taped it all together, then this afternoon after church I went to work on it.  I did finish the pants about 6 pm this evening, but the waist is still too big. So I will have to take off a bit of the waist band, and pull out the elastic and shorten it. Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow.  Maybe I'll get a final picture on here later. I did manage to get a picture after I had adjusted the pattern and was beginning to lay it out to cut.