I finished sewing 10 tote bags for our church project. They were requested by a preschool for children of migrant workers in our area. Big storms are supposed to roll through so I hope I can get to our sewing session this afternoon.
The Swamp Milkweed is blooming now. I always forget what it is when it first comes up. I need to transplant it to a new location because it is right by the sidewalk.
I planted zinnias again and the bed is pretty pathetic. Almost a third of it is bare. I have some seeds I saved from last year's blooms so maybe I'll stick some in there and see if they grow. The tallest ones are almost ready to bloom.
I planned to make this pillowcase last week but somehow never found time to do it. I gave my oldest great-grandson (2 1/2) a travel pillow for Christmas with a pillowcase to match the PJ pants I sent. He is now into Dr. Seuss so I made him a new pillowcase.
I also had a yard of laminated fabric with lots of the characters on it. I made him a little tote bag out of it. He is going to miss being an only child when his new brother comes home.
Yesterday was the twice monthly sewing day. I took my machine and more of the Kaffe strip scraps and pieced 24 blocks. Last night I started trimming them.
I thought they were so pretty for the tote bag and wondered if a bunch of them would be too busy as a quilt.
I worked on the lining of the tote bag (see yesterday's post) both in the morning and after I got home from the sew in. I had forgotten how long it takes to make tote bags. The pocket for the water bottle is a little short for the tall bottle but would be perfect for the little 8 oz. size. I used my favorite Martha Negley fabric for the lining, tree rings. There is some of the same red/orange color in it.
This was a social week, 4 days in a row being with people. I think I'll be a hermit today.
We had a lot of fun yesterday working on tote bags. I decided to make the same one I made as a store sample in 2008. This time I didn't make a crazy pieced block for the back. I still have to finish the lining and sew it in and make a bottom firm piece that will keep the bottom from sagging.
Here is the back. I'm planning on keeping this one. I usually sell or give away all of the tote bags I make. This one just feels like ME.
A friend and I both wanted to make some tote bags so she is coming over today. We will be experimenting with ideas. Last night I pieced these blocks with Kaffe scraps left from die cutting. Click here to go to a post where I made a tote bag with one side made with this type square. I'm not sure if that is what I'm doing this time so I pieced 12 squares so I can experiment.
Yesterday I totally finished 8 of the tote bags for the Presbytery mission project and cut handles for 5 more. I'll work on them a little this morning and what doesn't get done then will be done at the church sew in this afternoon.
Then I sat down and looked through the latest Kaffe book. There are several interesting quilts in it. I rarely use the same selection of fabrics that he used if I make one of them but I really enjoy seeing how he uses his fabrics.
It's that time of year again to bring in cuttings of the Coleus. I'm going to plant them this year after they root. I have too many varieties to fit on the windowsill all winter.
While I was out running errands yesterday morning the 'produce fairy' came by and left me some bounty on the front porch.
That meant I had to have a BLT for lunch. It was yummy!
I spent 4 hours outside digging out at least 2 dozen volunteer Rose of Sharon which my son will plant at his house. I also dug out goldenrod and day lilies and other assorted things. There is a another pile of volunteer trees I cut for pick up the first of Oct. I'm getting some more combination storm and screen windows in a couple weeks and I needed to clear the way for a step stool during installation. I have one more area to clean up today. Last night I started working on the last batch of tote bags for church sewing circle on Monday. I got 8 sets of handles made and will work on the other part today.
Today is church sewing circle so I am finishing up the last 16 tote bags for the migrant workers' children. Most are ready to press down the top edge 1" and do 2 rows of stitching.
The neighbor north of me moved earlier this month so she left her tomato plants with me. That is a 5 oz. paper cup in there so you can see the plum shaped tomatoes are small. There were 2 of the larger ones.
Here is what is left of the second larger tomato. It was really good!
I made a bunch of pieces and parts for the little tote bags before I left for church sewing circle yesterday. We got 5 totally done and 17 to the stage of the last rows of stitching around the top. We will finish those at the next meeting. I will make the last 14 at home and take them to be filled on the 22nd.
Last night I chose some more strips for my 16 patch quilt. I will probably make more blocks than I need this time and eliminate the ones that don't work well. They will become seeds for the next quilt.
I finished 2 more dish cloths with a new color called 'over the rainbow'. All three projects have similar colors, and that wasn't planned.
I proposed the idea of making little tote bags for our local migrant workers' Head Start Program children. Last year we did travel size pillow pillowcases and bought the pillows to put in them. I have a lot of fabric that I consider pants weight from my days of clothing sewing. Some of it is over 40 years old, some newer. It never sells at a garage sale so I wanted to come up with a project for it. The maximum number of children they can have is 36 so that is how many we are making. I made this model to show them. I have the pocket too high on it and the boxing too deep so I'm correcting that now. I cut out 22 of them and did partial sewing on 7 of them. I have fabric for 12 more laid out on the cutting table. I will take all of it this afternoon and see how much we get done. We will be filling them with school supplies.
Here are some more garden shots. The coneflowers are really pretty this year. I guess they like all of the rain.
This is one of my smallest hostas blooming. To the right of it is one of the giant violet plants. To the left of it is Spiderwort and behind it is a coneflower. Nothing is organized in this garden.
The Cup of Gold primroses are at the end of their bloom time. It is too hot and humid to go out and pull weeds right now and the mosquitoes are fierce.
