Getting Around To It...Looking Forward

 

Halloween is fast approaching & I made these 'mason jar lid' jack-o-lanterns from the rusty lids.

I painted the lids black with the Fusion paint I purchased from Candle In The Window Primitives & just love this paint product! It is a made in Canada product from Etobicoke ON.

The pumpkin faces were hand-stitched as they are no very big.

 I was gifted charm squares from my girlfriend Elizabeth & just loved the fabric collection but never had a pattern that spoke to me to use it until now!

 Susie's Scraps blog from Australia did a hobo bag that was done with 5" squares & I'm so pleased with the outcome!

 The inside has two big 10" x 10" pockets & I lined the inside with a light Laura Ashley plaid fabric.

 The shoulder strap is long enough for using as an across the body bag, freeing the use of both hands.

Each charm square is quilted giving the bag a soft puffy look & will be comfortable next to the body.

I had put aside the Christmasy coloured blocks to make a Christmas shopping bag in the hobo style too! Four of the squares will have applique on them. I'll show in the next post.
Check Susie's site out for really good free scrappy patterns & tutorials  susies-scraps.com  you will find the Japanese Knot Bag there too!

 Mr. Snowman is done with just the Christmas tree to do & embellish.

The fourth block to The Little Red Hen's mystery BOW is now done, it was the one with the most work so far.

 I get the pattern in place & to transferring any other positioning in place, I use parchment paper which works well when the heat fusing as parchment can take the heat!
I cut slits through the paper for the mouth lines & just push a micro pen through to show dots for buttons or eyes. So easy to use if it is in with your kitchen supplies! I use it in the kitchen to line pans & baking sheets as I don't like cleaning messy pans/sheets from the oven.

With a few pins & painters tape to hold the parchment paper in place, you can lift & adjust as needed.

 Love this trick with the Sharpie permanent markers. I used the red one to cover over the white threads on the candy cane striped areas.

Here you can see two areas that I had no coloured in to should you how well it covers the thread!

 I dug my snakeskin cowboy boots out of storage to see what shape they were in & if I could still wear them comfortably.
They needed a good drink of Huberd's shoe oil & what a difference that made to these 1990 boots!

I will blacken the soles & polish them with oil again & they will be as good as new!
Back in the day, I enjoyed these boots so much that they were reheeled from the shoe cobbler from wear & tear of enjoying the use of them. Now I will wear them as part of my outfit as mother-of-the-groom next year at Nicole & Mitchell's wedding in Alberta.

And I have my pattern for the dress I will be making for that special day. The boots will be perfect!

We are having rain & wind today & the lovely fall colours are all on the ground now.
Soon we will be turning our clocks back to gain just a bit more daylight in the evening, it's dark at 6:30pm now making my bedtime earlier as I tire sooner in the dark.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit, come back again to see what I've been up to & I'll add the furbabies in too!

Take care, stay warm.
Cynthia

Wonderful Fall

The weather has been either gorgeous with the sun or wet with the rain & now a nor'easter storm is going to be upon us Thursday & Friday. I can handle the rain & wind as I know what is going to be blowing in soon, the west coast already has that four-letter word 'SNOW'.
At least with the rain, you don't have to shovel it!

Nicholas & Leslie were here for a holiday visit & he is so into taking photos with his new camera, these are really great shots that I wanted to share with you.

The moon photo he took when he was here. The moon tonight looks quite bright & full, rather eerie.

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 Nick would sneak out to the backyard shoreline, without the Boston terriers & quickly take a photo of the neighbourhood heron.

 I loved the way Nick captured the horizontal blues of the water.

 Just a gorgeous fall day when he took these pics.

I found this fabric in my stash, cut up into squares it will make a nice lap quilt or maybe PJ bottoms?

Christmas Count Down

 With Christmas just weeks away now I thought I best get busy with some projects for the season. My girlfriend Lyn gave me this pattern for Christmas several years ago & every year I look at it & think I don't have the time to fuss over all the small pieces.  It finishes at 26" round & every time I would look at it I would laugh at the Santa Claus laundry hanging on the line & him in his onesie.
So I started it & I'm hand stitching the whole scene too & I'm enjoying the process.

 So many details to finish like the clothesline, Rudolph's eyes & nose, letters need tiny writing, north pole sign, Santa's eyeglasses, I'll post the finish Christmas mat when I get it finished but isn't it so cute!

 I used a navy wool background & all the colours show up beautifully, even dark brown slippers!

Block Of The Week

 I'm working on a block-of-the-week with The Little Red Hen & the first block I did not reverse it so I made it into a small quilt hanging.

 The block was not long enough so I added the trio of snowmen from Art to Heart from the mug cozies & added some snowflake buttons.

 I had beads that looked like coal so I used them instead of buttons.

I'm working on block/week 4 & here's what I've done so far...

 Week One

 Week Two

 Week Three

 I'm doing a quilt as I go as I know it will be a wallhanging. Each week is a free mystery & you can join on Facebook anytime.

 I've been playing with making this reindeer & now he's finished! It's from the Tilda collection.

 I added glass beads to the eyes rather than paint & the scarf is the Buchanan plaid that the Richardson's are part of that clan. Don't you just love the rustic branch antlers, that is what caught my eye when I first saw the pattern!

 I'm going to make a larger one that will fit in the Alberta crockpot for Christmas & hang Christmas cards from the antlers with clothespins!

Japanese Knot Bag

A blog I follow called Susie's Scraps made a Japanese Knot bag & I really liked the ease & size of the bag. I made one today for a 3-year-old for trick or treat, I shortened the handle to the size of a small Halloween shopping bag.

 I did it with a little boy in mind that likes the race track & inside there's eight pockets that will fit Hot Wheel size cars in it.

 That's the treat he will get from me this year, I found a Mustang Cobra for him & several outer race cars for him to play with. This bag will just make carrying them around easier for him until his birthday next month when we'll get him a Hot Wheel carrying case.
With having three sons those were a very popular playtime & I remember making them nutcrackers at Christmas that the hat had a zipper that would open & the cars were put inside, it too had a handle for the ease of carrying from place to place & playing in the car seats with them.

 I hope he likes his trick or treats bag! I liked working with the design & will be making one for me!

The bag has a flat bottom when you sit it down & with a longer strap for me, it can be an across the body bag. The handle goes through the knot & you pull the strap up to close the bag, very easy with no clasps to aline.

 I've had this panel for at least a decade & when I looked at it, it made me think of Jim Shore products!

 This is the snowman's body scene, so wintery!

 I cut him out & started to put this fellow together, he has walnut shells weighing him down.
The arms, hat, vest, & scarf still need to be done. Everything slowed down when I ran out of stuffing!

Bill needs his PJ bottoms made for the Texas NASCAR trip with the three sons, so I'll move my sewing focus onto those.

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I hope you are enjoying the fall & looking forward to the joys of the next season that is just around the corner, for now, I'll take & savour the season of colour!

Have a great week & take the time to use your privilege to vote. 

Health & Happiness.
Cynthia