Wrap Along

  I participated in a wrap along the few weeks leading up to Christmas. I must say it was pretty inspiring. I had a lot of fun and it challenged me to think even more outside the box.
The book I was working from was Ruby Star Wrapping by Melody Miller and Allison Tannery.
 Right before I started this endeavor a friend of mine gave me this old suitcase full of interesting things. It had mat board, ribbons, scrap booking paper,tape and lots of other fun stuff. I ending up using a lot of the supplies out of this suitcase for the projects I did.
Probably my favorite project from this book (I could make all day and all night) was the newspaper flower. In the box of goodies I found old maps, lots of them, and I cut up all these maps to make the beautiful flowers that eventually ended up on at least 9 Christmas packages. Boy did they get rave reviews from the recipients. I started thinking that if I made enough of these map flowers I could display them on a wall in my home. Wouldn't that be cute?
The ones in this picture are the ones I made for the packages and the leafless bush outside my house held them for this picture.

Zakka Style Sew Along weeks 23 and 24

Live United

I completely forgot to post about a project I  worked on over a month ago. I made the dress and applique bag out of a pair of t shirts. They were then donated for a Live United fashion fund raiser.

                                                Zakka Style Sew Along weeks 21 and 22

Ok, so I have decided to not wait till the last 2 projects are done to make this post. I am so sad that the zakka sew-along is coming to an end.
week # 21 was this gorgeous picture frame. Again, I get to use all those scraps that I have that I  can't throw away. This project was really more about construction than sewing but I still had fun and learned a few new things along the way. The pic is a pic of me and my girls on our vacation  at the beach a few weeks ago.
week #22 is the pleated coin purse. At first I was intimidated by the metal frame but this project came together so easily. I think it may have been one of the easier projects in the book.
I have 2 projects to go but they are good ones. Then I will have 24 Christmas projects complete!

                                                      Texting While Sewing

So........ Amy from duringquiettime.blogspot.com is hosting this 

Texting while Sewing contest and I thought I would give it a whirl. I fell in love with the little colorful hearts fabric and I had to go from there. I have always loved black/hot pink and grey/hot pink combos (I know, showing my age, I am an 80's girl).  I am so pleased by the way it turned out and I think it will make a great gift for someone special.

Zakka Style Sew Along weeks 16 thru 20

The Zakka sew-a-long is almost done and I haven't even posted a blog about 16-20. So here I am playing catch up, YIKES!!!!!!!

#16 was this fun handmade ribbon made from all those little scraps you hate to throw away. So this is a dream come true for me. I got to use all those precious japanese fabric scraps paired with a little vintage flair.

#17 was this delightful linen bag. As you can see I didn't use linen but I used some more scraps.I did it log cabin style and I LOVE the way it turned out.

#18 was a stylish bread bag. While I am happy that the directions were easy to follow and it turned out super cute, I think that it needed to be a bit more sturdy.

#19 was supposed to be a sack full of playtime cookies. I went for a more healthy alternative with the kawaii fruit.

and last in this wonderful group of zakka is #20,

 this adorable sleepytime pillow with a cute little bear to put in it's own little pocket. this turned out too cute for words and I think this one is mine forever.

The next blog post on the zakka sew-a-long will be the last, #21-24. My daughter asked me today what I will do  with my life once this ends and I said, " I really don't know".

Zakka Style Sew Along weeks 11 thru 15

Hello I am back from vacation and I can finally post 11-15 of the Zakka sew-a-long

#11 was the little zipper pouch with hexies. This project was fun and I changed it up a little to fit my style. The original one was made with tweed.

#12 was the happy couple hand warmers . They have small pouches of rice inside so you can nuke them in the microwave and have handwarmers inside your pockets on a cold winters day.

#13 was a pot holder. I have to say that this is one of my favorite projects. The directions were well written, easy to follow and the project came together nicely.

#14 was the water bottle holder . This wasn't my favorite project but it turned out cute anyways.

#15 was an "elephant never forgets" bookmark. Obviously I had fun with this one. I could make these all day everyda. They are so darn cute and oh the possiblilties with all those fabric scraps I have. I absolutely LOVE this project and a few lucky people got one of these darlings in the mail :)