HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY!

Happy 60th Birthday to my darling sister Kay. You are loved by so many. Through good and bad times, happy and sad, drunk and sober, angry and chilled, agreeing and disagreeing…..you have always been there for me. So many memories – a lifetime of memories. The fabric of our lives will never unravel. Love you sis. I’ll deliver this present to you once it’s safe to travel. In the meantime, you’ll have to just enjoy the pictures.

An old journal (of sorts)….

Today while chatting with mom she told me about a pink box of ‘pages’ she found while doing a clean and organize. As she told me about them, the penny dropped. It was a project that Sista2 had us participate in 20+ years ago.

There were 10 of us (Peg, Karen, Mom, Rita, Sherie, Cindy, Chris, Cleo & Sara). We each had to make a page for the others using their color palette. I don’t remember the details but I do remember that I didn’t actually make my base pages. Sista2 was determined for me to participate (I might have been traveling at the time? my memory is vague). I think she probably even made the pages I was supposed to make for others….I really cannot remember making any pages for anyone else. I did embellish my blank pages though and add grommets and rings to finish it up.

I’m not sure when I completed mine…….15 years ago? And I’m not sure if anyone else finished theirs. It was fun thinking of old friends and wondering what they are up to. I’m looking forward to seeing mom’s finished!

Rabbits

ok, I’ve been reminded that I’m not very good at blogging. Here’s a glimpse of what I’m working on. More later.

First picture….sweet little rabbits. Second picture….after Mr. W had his way with them. 🙂 Third picture – with their party dresses. Next up….overalls. And shoes. Perhaps we have COVID-19 fever????

Favorite words

This pieced started with the center panel given to me by my friend Candy. When she sent it to me, she said she couldn’t wait to see what I did with it. I think she was expecting me to free motion quilt it. I hope she isn’t disapointed!

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I started by embroidering the circle. The mandala. Then I did a radiating outward circle of my favorite words. Then some motifs. And squiggles. I needed more words so I sent out a couple emails to friends and family asking for their favorite words and added them.

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On Instagram, I saw these really cool blocks and a tutorial by Evquilts of Durham, NC so that was the inspiration for the border blocks. (Hers fit together much nicer than mine.)

It’s about 60″ square. I used Quilters Lite for the batting and hand quilted it. Both the embroidery and the quilting are done with Cottage Garden threads.

So, another isolation finish.

By Annie Bags

A couple years ago, a friend and I took a 2 day workshop down at Steph’s in Moruya (now in Broulee) with Annie – designer of ByAnnie bags. Although Annie was under the weather, it was an excellent workshop. We walked away with (almost) finished professional looking bags. We jokingly said they were the most expensive bags we’d ever had.

Fast forward a couple years and I’ve made several ByAnnie bags – as has my friend. Not only are the bags great, but the patterns are wonderful. Out of the 6 or so patterns I’ve made, I’ve only found one typo. They are step by step and supplemented by online videos if you are confused.

Below is the laptop bag. It was very convenient for solo coffee dates to lug my computer. It also was very handy when I had in person piano lessons. (Now I stay home and the bag sits on a shelf waiting for the days when I feel comfortable going out in public for frivolous adventures.)

Above is the Ultimate Travel Bag 2.0 and below is Take a Stand and Running with Scissors. The Ultimate travel bag is perfect for weekend get aways. Now it stores fabric scraps. The Take A Stand and Running with Scissors will be perfect for loading my sewing supplies in and then heading out for sewing days at the ANU.

The three little beauties above are called Clam Up. Perfect for gifts. I use mine for a make-up bag as they are washable. AND, you could put plastic in the inside if you wanted.

These were made with some beautiful Tilda fabric which is available from my sister Kay Michelle. She can’t sell to anyone in Australia but if you are in the USA, be sure and check her out. Her monthly Tilda boxes are the bomb! It’s a present to give ourselves. Kay also does a Facebook Live most weeks which is fun to watch. (ok…ok….some may think I’m biased….who ME???)

Above is my first bag, using the pattern Get Out of Town Duffle. And below is one made by my friend Annabelle for my birthday called Catch All Caddy 2.0. This caddy sits by the couch in the TV room and holds all my embroidery supplies.

So, that’s it. My ByAnnie collection. I had left over supplies so I’m sure I’ll be making something else or if nothing else, more Clam Up bags. I encourage you to give her patterns a try. Who knows, you may become hooked too!