Lazy Me

My goodness, I have been lazy in the blogging department haven't I?

I have been busy catching up on matters I should have already been caught up on, time just never seems to be enough and one does eventually sleep.

Over the past month I have done not much in the making of bags department, not much in the piecing of quilts either. Been busy clearing up the mess in the Crafters Cottage or The Hut as we tend to call it all of the time.

Our goal is to have had this cottage properly organized.

When we first arrived here from NewBrunswick we had too many totes and cardboard boxes filled with "stuff" and these couldn't be left inside of our small but functional house. These then were stored in all of the cottage rooms, and I might add, these filled it up. Everywhere nook and cranny in that place was filled to it's capacity with little or almost no room to even walk around it. We have been haphazzardly working in there but mother being 86 needs all of her mornings to get up and become mobile, which of course if most understandable. Appointments and visitors also have taken a toll on available time, so not alot has been accomplished.

Now we are in a hurry to complete the junking and the clearing because we have to have this finished before the middle of August and that certainly doesn't leave us much more time to waste or use for other events.

Today I choose to be in the Hut and to get as many hours in there as I possibly can to empty boxes, make decisions as to what we keep and what we give away (I am hoping to have alot of give-aways') but, asking mother to make these decisions on the spot will not be easy as it hasn't been in the past. I believe we have moved the past fifty years of stuff with us, and with my collection of fabrics and her collection of silk flowers we have become quite a joke, leastways I believe it funny.

Off I go, with apologies to those who have been sweet enough to follow this unskilled blogger to THE HUT - wish me luck in that I get more accomplished that I have in the past many days.

I promise to check in later and give you the scoop. I must take a picture of this mess to show you what it is I am describing to you, then, finally if and when we do manage to get organized, you'll see that as well.

Possibly while I am learning the art of organization, I might just well learn to become a better blogger too.

June Already, Can you Believe it?

I have been busy and here are the culprits who have helped me fall behind and ignore my blogging and my quilted totes. These two women are merciless! They have me gardening, taking them for luncheons, ferrying them back and forth to the shops. Terrible and I enjoyed every moment!!!

Finally though I have escaped back into the sewing room where I have been rather busy catching up on the tote bags I need finished before I leave for my quilters' gathering. This year we are going to Zinck's Inn of Berlin, Ohio. Whooppee!!!! Days of maddness loom ahead of me - wild laughter and giggles late into the night with days filled to the brim of eating, shopping for fabrics, sitting in front of the sewing machines, more eating and much more laughter.... I cannot wait. Excitement is beginning to build! Can you fell my excitement?

The spider coming along with me will be my friend Liz, she and her hubby run a Retirement Residence http://seeleysbayretirementhome.com/ and while she has a wonderful time there with all of the residents, she consented to drive along with me and keep me company. We will leave Seeley's Bay and travel west on the 401 Highway for approximately 6.5 hours and stop and stay with Judy and Ted who live in the Windsor, Ontario area. Then the three "kateers" will load up he van and off we will go following the yellow brick road with all of its road works and detours to Berlin, Ohio, where we will meet up with all of the other quilters in my group for a week packed with fun and fellowship.

My quilters internet group is celebrating its' 11th year together this June 7th. Can you believe it? Every year before the gathering takes place, usually in the month of June in a city where one or more of our group lives, which could be anywhere in North America, the hostess chooses a spot and we all gather there for several days and enjoy each others' face to face company. This year our annual quilters' pin was dedicated to the memory of our beloved Katy who was taken from us by breast cancer, one year ago today.

In honor of Katy's memory we will all be lighting our candles at 8:00 p.m. in our different time zones making sure the candle burns all over the world in her memory. Here is a picture of the annual quilting pin we all decided on this year.

This lady was and will remain an inspiration to us all. She was such a brave warrior, she battled and battled, won several rounds but unfortunately lost her valiant fight last year, to breast cancer. Her generous and loving spirit, her wit, her charm, her humanity are so missed, but never forgotten.

Off I go to finish up some projects before I can pack my suitcase, I leave this coming Monday, the 15th and am so far behind.

Until next post, have a wonderful week and please come back soon.

IT'S SATURDAY AGAIN!!!

Here it is again, where has the time flown to? I have spent a busy week both inside and outside of the house. The gardens are finally in wonderful shape, new cedars have been planted, dead bushes have been removed, bushes have been pruned, bulbs have been split and replanted, most of the grass has been moved and all of the weeds that could be found have been plucked up and thrown away.

We've endured several thunder storms and heavy rainfall so inbetween the gardens outside I have spent time with Nessie, my sewing machine and put together more quilted totes.

I sincerely hope your not bored with what has become a passtime for me and hopefully these will all sell and I shall have more money to buy more fabrics to play with. I am showing off these bags which I hope you will find pleasing.

I would publicly like to thank BARBARA for the donations she so generously provided to me this week also, and Barbara if your reading, contact me again, I have lost your e-mail and cannot find you in the phone book. I have been given two almost brand new sewing machines. These will be living in the Craft Cottage Project which is being put together at the Retirement Residence property in our town. Mind you it will still take us time and more money to bring the cottage up to standards whereby people can come and enjoy crafting, or learning to sew or quilt, knit or crochet. There are no real places in my town for people who enjoy crafting to congregate, so my friend and I have been provided with the cottage which is large enough inside for us to house all of the machinery, fabrics, crafting materials, notions, and so very much more. We are anxious to begin, and thanks to our friend Barbara we have received a great start to our collections.

I digress, here they are, Daisies Of The Field, All That Jazz and Up Up and Away totes. I still have a few more to photograph and put up here but you can see I have been putting very good use to the time I was provided with this week.

Since we Canadians are celebrating our Victoria Day long weekend, I wish all Canadians a wonderful weekend and ultimately good weather for the rest of it.

As for our good neighbours in The United States, we wish you a great Memorial Day weekend next weekend and lots of great weather to go along with it.


Daisies Of The Field Interior

Daisies Of The Field Exterior which has 2 nicely divided pockets.

Interior of All That Jazz tote sports one huge pocket for sheet music or magazines, even pattern pages, and two pockets for keys, wallets, or whatever it is you may need to carry about.

All That Jazz also has one exterior pocket sufficient in size to carry magazines, pattern pages, or sheet music. It is a fun and practical tote to be certain.

I enjoyed playing with this fabric and decided to name this tote, Up Up and Away. I outlined many of the Hot Air Balloons and made different pockets for the exterior of the tote.

The totes interior has two pockets but is plenty deep and wide to carry such a variety of good stuff...

This is the back of the exterior of the tote. Don't you just love these fabrics? Their so colourful.

The fabric designers are so creative in their artistic endeavors and the manufacturers who buy these designs and make the fabrics that fabricholics like me just have to have are wonderful. Sometimes it becomes quite the self-dare to actually cut up such beautiful pieces of fabric.

Do come back and visit soon, I know I will have more totes on here to share with you.

It's SATURDAY!!!

A new tote has been completed and here it she is! She has 5 good interior pockets and two exterior pockets. I know her new owner will be naming her soon.

She certainly is vivid and ready to be escorted about town.

Here she is showing off her front, with two neat pockets and long straps for shoulder carrying. This week she's off on a new adventure, she leaves for Newhampshire, where the rolling green hills meet and kiss the sky. I know her colours will fit right in.

My favorite people are away this beautiful spring weekend, and I have decided they need to be introduced, no, not to each other, but to the reader(s). My son and his beautiful, sweet mommy of two are away enjoying a theme park with the children. I realize I am biased, but, don't I have a great looking family?

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY to all of you mothers, and thanks for all you've done for all of the children everywhere. LOVE is the most prescious of commodities and mothers are the keepers and givers of that love and the zillion things that you do for your children. I wish you a most wonderful and exciting day in all that may come your way.

Spring Tulips from Garden to Fabric to Tote

Spring has finally arrived and in my garden are the most exillerating coloured tulips of all varietys and colours. These pinks are so strikingly beautiful I am positive the fabric designer must have seen them and put them on fabric for me to enjoy forever.

Here they are all nicely displayed and into a tote they went. This was such fun to make and the fabric will be a constant reminder of my spring garden.

This bag is large and will hold such a lot.

There are a multitude of florals on fabric out there and they all give pleasure when made up into a garment or a fashion accesory for use. These fabrics keep spring and summer alive all year through.

Enjoy your gardens, it is absolutely wonderful seeing the rebirth of a garden each and every year and you never know what will pop up somewhere other than where you planted the seed or bulb. I have discovered tulips in the middle of the lawn, I guess some thrifty and forward thinking squirrel decided to hide the bulbs he/she found and didn't come back to claim them, now they're sprouting up through the middle of the lawn with the grass. Will have to see if I can move them so they won't be lost to a lawn mower.

Come back and visit soon, I have been busy and will have a lot more to show off.

The Quilted Scrappy Tote

This is the latest tote with matching wallet. Comfy have inside pockets as well as one outside flap closure pocket and a wallet to match.

Wallet which has place sufficient room for credit cards and money, coins can be placed in pockets behind credit cards.

New April Totes

Mother Natures' Spring Collection is finally arriving here in the Bay, she's already showing her Glories of the Snow and Daffodils as well as Narcisis' and crocus the colours are simply amazing and I never fail to marvel at the miracle of colour.

Today though is dreary, raining and windy with a chill to it so no garden photo's today. Soon as the sun makes an appearance I'll get myself out there with the camera and capture as much of those wonderful blooms and their colours as I can.

I admit I have only managed to make two large totes this month, and two tinies which went home with the Easter Bunny to Brampton for Mikayla and Brayden nicley stuffed with goodies.

The other large project I am working on right now is organizing the Craft Cottage which we seem to have named The Hut!

I found an ad from a Retirement Home selling off its gently used furnishings. The residence is getting a facelift and I am one of the lucky shoppers who found several dressers, desks, chairs, easy side chairs and cabinet for the cottage. NOW we are in a position to unpack my mothers' stock of silk slowers, green oasis, saddles for grave stone arrangements, glue, wire, tools, and on and on this is going to go until the last cardboard box hits the recycle bin and the empty totes are sold off or given away. I will be so happy to see the Hut all organized and set up ready to welcome visitors.

TODAY, April 21st is my mothers 86th Birthday. We, that is my family and I had her out for Chinese Food Buffet already, and today she'll erceive our gift of a Digital Picture Frame which we have loaded with lots of interesting pictures for her to remember and talk about for awhile until we change them around for her.

Saves her walking upstairs to see the pictures I get from family and friends on my computer screen.

I haven't done much in the way of sewing so far this month, been so busy doing other necessary chores.

My passport finally arrived and I have gone into town to get my drivers' licence transferred. Since the disasterous 911 the Rules were changed and now it has become a very expensive venture to move around the country from Province to Province, and transferring my licence was expensive. Would you believe I had to get a passport to prove who I was? My current licence from the previous province with picture wasn't acceptable. My citizenship papers never had a photo, it also bore my maiden name, now in order to get my new licence in this province I had to prove how I acquired my "married" name, and they don't accept the Paper Marriage Licence we got over 40 years ago as acceptable name change documentation. SO I had to apply for a new passport to prove who I am. I honestly felt like I had snuck into my own country without proof of citizenship. Youser it was made difficult, but now I have it! Passport that is, next a drive into town to get the licence and then that long awaited end to this chore will be over.

LOOK I did manage to make two larger totes this month inbetween the little time I have spent up here in front of the sewing machine. WELL, Elvis will be finished sometime this week as there simply isn't too much time for me today, maybe tomorrow I will have some time to attach the handles.

I will leave you to view these and get on with the chores today, much tidy up and set a fresh pot of coffee and get mother up and begin the Birthday Celebrations. See you all again soon.

This Prnguin fabric was such fun to work with and lent itself to echo quilting so well that I did just that and nothing more for the entire bag.

The co-ordinating fabric looks much better when seen up close, I am happy this this bag.

I saw this fabric with Elvis images from his army days and as this is how I remembered him I just had to have this fabric.

Just in time for the Easter Bunny. These tiny totes are a hit with the Easter Bunny and more are needed, so the shopkeeper says. Whooppee worth the time and effort and I confess I did enjoy making them.

A New Teeny Girlie Tote

This morning I found this lovely little scrap of fabric. It brought back pleasant memories of my housekeeping days and the family I cared for. This scrap of fabric was given to me from the lady of the house who had chosen this fabric for cookie baking aprons for herself and her lovely little daughter. Isn't it sweet?

Now some other little girl will be enjoying this little snippet of fabric when she totes this about with her personals inside. Oh what fun these tinies are to make.

If you like, visit my webshots albums and you can visit all of my hand made quilted totes and purses which have not made it into the blog. http://community.webshots.com/user/FUNTALKERMITTS

Should you think my bags good enough and wish to order one, you can alway contact me through the comments section of this blog.
Off to find more memorable scraps and make more little tinies.

Large Garden Inspired Quilted Tote

This tote was such fun to make. The fabrics are colourful and the print was garden inspired.

This is the close up and below the interior of the bag can be viewed.

So Much For Sewing Today

This tiny tote is made from the left over fabrics and I had fun making it. I actually began it very early this morning and it was to be one of a dozen.

Today I had planned to sew all day, decided not to walk, decided not to leave the house, but to just sit here and sew and get all of my tiny totes order finished, but as luck would have it, that was not to be the activity of the day! Noooooooo, instead we had a flood of water cascading into the basement and all day was donated to that mess, turns out we had two problems, not bad enough to have had only one mess, but two. The sump pump was pooling the water back into the basement and the bladder went in the pressure tank.....great stuff. I had promised everyone that should another flood happen I would pack my hobo bag and hit the rails, taking the first freight train out of town going anywhere there was a desert. Well, it really was traumatic cause we've lived through major damage cause by flooding into our basement of our last house and I never wanted to see that type of incident again. Now you may think I am being a bit melodramatic, but once you live through that not once but twice and lose every stick of furniture, and personal possessions and deal with the mess and the spraying of chemicals for mold and deal with contractors in the rebuilds, and make decisions on replacing things, and fighting with the insurance company you paid premiums to for umpteen years, only to discover some clever need to show the company how good he is at saving their money denies your claim, or finally paying up but making you wait forever, well, you get my drift I'm sure. I really was thinking I would hit the rails and become a real live hobo... yeah right, can't you just see it now, humping my fabrics and sewing machine around.... Maybe if I go to sleep now and wake fitfully in the morning I may just talk myself into believing it was all a bad dream and I won't have to endure this drama.

Lunch was forgotten, supper was had too early and mother decided to sleep it all off leaving me to clean up the mess, but, surprise, I actually left the supper dishes and will take care of than in the morning, I am just to tired and fed up with water problems and its pervasive mess so I abdicated as general dogsbody for the night and watched a movie instead. IF you want a wonderful movie to watch from the latest new releases, watch Marley and Me - a good movie for a change.

A Teeny Tote

This is the tiniest tote I have made so far. It measures 6" X 4" X 2"...
Inside the teeny tote
Outside front of teeny tote.

Over The Hump I think

This is a tiny girlie tote bag, ready for Easter or summer.

This is also a summery tote, I enjoyed working with the colourful fabrics and the summer insects, dragonflys, ladybugs and butterflys.

I found some Mary Englebright fabric and decided another tiny tote could be made for some little Miss to enjoy.

My Red Hatter tote, much taller than some I have been making with lots of inside pockets.

This has not been as productive a week as I wished it would be. Already I have had three trying days ending with yesterday and two physical mishaps. One when returning from my daily hourly walk, I managed to turn my ankle on a broken sidewalk, wrenching my neck and my back trying to stop the fall, then, just before having my supper I managed to miss the bottom two steps in the basement and went flying into the air and landed on the concrete floor, this time skinning my knee ( a real boo boo) and doing more damage to my hip and my neck. I am now sporting a nice bandaid and smeared with a nasty smelly rub in an attempt to make my neck feel better.

To top it all off the beautiful 55 year old crystal pinwheel bowl got smashed to smithereens by mother wanting something and decided to pick it up and dropped it. (Can you all say Ahhhhhhhhhh for me!!!) I'm still finding shared and bits of glass even though I swept, vacumed, swept again and used a dust mop, glass will be found for the next few weeks to be sure, as glass scatters everywhere.

I feel like an 18 wheeler ran me down, so with two tylenols' ingested and some nasty smelly rub I am back in front of the computer and am ready to start another new day and hopefully my misfortunes of the first part of the week are over and done with and the remainder hopefully will go off without a hitch.

I have managed to complete a few bags, those I posted at the top of this post. I must somehow find that creative point inside of me to develop something more interesting than just making these rather retangular or squared totes. the tinies are for my sister-in-laws' store and she hopes to sell these for Easter along with some pastel coloured easter baskets. I do hope these will sell, I could use the money to buy more fabrics - YIPPEE another excuse to visit a fabric store.

Will have to work on that creating theory next week, I wouldn't want to try something new this week, it may just frustrate me. LOL!!!

A bright spot in my morning was the screaching of a Mama Blue Jay sitting on the rof edge just outside my window arguing with a Red Winged Black bird, who seemingly also wants to nest in the same area of the huge pine tree as the Blue Jays' apartment. She wasn't having any of that. I did try for a picture, but by the time I retreived my camera she'd already flown to the tree and was assaulting the black bird.

Okay, off to see the wizzard right now, too many chores to complete before I can allow myself to get near Nellie - my much loved and used sewing machine.