Valentine Tussy Mussy

Creative girl sent me a facebook link to make Valentine Tussy Mussy's.
Tussy Mussy refers to a tiny bouquet of flowers or a nosegay given to a sweetheart. 

Also called Penny Pockets in the tutorial. In any case, these little tussy mussy's can hold a few treats  - just perfect for Valentine's Day.
The Sweet Treat Pocket Tutorial is here.

I made four, lost interest by the third one and finished the fourth one a day later - just to clear my cutting counter. They use scrap pieces of fabric and some buttons and beads from stash.
The tutorial is all about buying layer cakes (10" squares of a fabric line) and a fabric roll (?). But stash is good. You just need some 10" squares to cut diagonally in half, ribbon, buttons and some decorative beads.

I used ribbons for the handle instead of fabric because, why not? Why cut and stitch a handle when the ribbon drawer yields much faster results?

Laundry day went fairly well Sunday. After a late start, trying to surf over all the sick peoples around me, I made some fresh green juice, prepared breakfast and made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Then I sewed the above Tussy Mussy's, packed up DD & DS's valentine care packages. 

I finished an  entire Julie Garwood novel too.

And worked outside pruning overgrown - we've been here for thirty years - shrubs for an hour. I can already see about 20 hours in my future - just pruning for the spring which we have started here. We may get a late freeze - in fact  - we had one Sunday morning but the days will become warmer and the flowers have already started their spring blooming marathon here in the Willamette Valley.

First crocus  - ignore the slug snack on the left

Snowdrops

Sunday was a very productive day with me getting around to not only chores but some of the fun stuff.
Not me below - DS sent me photos of his recent hike this weekend.

Glowing Sun sighting.

Mt. Jefferson with Three Sisters in the far background. Sisters are named imaginatively: North Sister, Middle Sister, South Sister.







 


 







 









 

Boring Sewing

On Sunday, I surprised myself with energy to complete several "must do" projects around the house. Usually, on laundry day, I spend some much needed time recovering from the work week, getting myself in shape to go another week at work.
Especially after the last two weeks of copious amounts of overtime.

I finished voting (Oregon is a  Vote-By-Mail state ). Wrote four thank-you letters, readied my Halloween care packages, paid bills - cleaning off my kitchen island counter in the process.

I re-strung my Duette honeycomb blind (hunter douglas) - Thank You Youtube! After 26 years, the strings are starting to give up the ghost due to reefing on the strings and the dratted UV sunlight.

 I couldn't find the 9mm cord locally. I had to order online - found a seller in Florida who included a recipe for Pumpkin bread staple to her packing slip (sweet).


I then made chocolate chip cookies on my cleared off island. I wrapped several bundles for the freezer to go into the aforesaid care packages.

And I sewed.

I did some fun sewing right off the bat - playing with black & white patchwork to make some boring hotpads be spectacular. Then I did the chore sewing.

No photos because swearing was involved. I sewed together some 1/2 inch felt strips to go under the windshield of the Piper J-5. Didn't have to be awesome sewing because a flange seal goes over the top.

The problem lay with the copious amount of spary adhesive used by the hubby and the hissy fit  my sewing machine pitched. That adhesive gummed up everything,. The needle, the thread, me.

My intention was to sew two parallel lines for durability but my sanity won out when I told my hubs that one line of stitching was all he was gonna get.

I printed shipping labels for my packages (four!) and also wrote some other letters (8!).

Between  my split shift on Monday, I finished putting together my care packages.
I was sending trail mix to the nephews and needed halloween chocolate eyeballs to make eyeball stew.


DS camped near Mt. Jefferson this weekend and got these photos for me.

Fresh snow on Mt. Jefferson

Mt. Jefferson

DD is now in Latvia, having given Estonia her best. This is The Armoury Bar.

SewMamaSew Giveaway Day Spring 2015

 Welcome to SewMamaSew's Giveaway Day.

 
***GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED - Monday May 11, 2015

CONGRATS!!! to LEO of STRANDKORBTRAUM who said:

"hmmm not white - that's so hard to keep clean when it comes to bags - or mabye it's just me shleppign my bags along everywhere ...
hmmm dark green, may green and some sunflower yellow .."

I agree - the white would be a bear to keep clean. I already have plans to make this with different fabrics. -- Kathy

Thank you to everyone who entered. Its amazing to me that many bloggers who host giveaways have been harping on 'no-reply' commenters for the last couple of years and still - I had over 30. There is no way to contact you based on your blogger profile. Please google No-reply to find easy to understand fixes.  If you are reading this and you commented, please click on your name - which is highlighted - to see what I mean. You have to enable your email address to show.

This was another fun giveaway day with SewMamaSew and I loved all the comments.


I've participated since SMS started coordinating these awesome giveaways and I'm proud to offer up my recent sew. 

SMS is from my neck of the woods, here in Oregon.

 Marni Weaver of HaberdasheryFun recently posted an asymetrical bag tute on SMS.


I was drawn to the color blocking but not so in love with the white. Which you need to make those colors pop. I challenged myself to make the bag as directed and not deviate.

Those who know me are probably laughing in the aisles right now. I am an intermediate sewist and I always have to change something up. This took me about 2 1/2 hours to complete on Tuesday morning. It's a pretty fast sew.

Nice, clean color-blocking.

With very cool handles. I like this tote a lot. 
It's the perfect size for carrying library books, beach towels, stuff.
With stuff inside, it's around 12" high by 12" long x 5"wide.


A little about me: I've been blogging for a while now. I still  get a thrill when anyone comments and I've made some wonderful online friendships via blogging as well as physically met up with blogging friends. I was recently in Japan living it up in all the wonderful fabric shops (so cheap!)
I love to sew and I've mostly condensed my 'stash' into one room. I'll sew just about anything.

I live on an airpark. We keep our planes in a hangar on the property and can fly whenever the weather is nice. I've made the cockpit cover for our biplane as well as the luggage bin in both planes. You can get extra points in the giveaway by saying which planes my hubby and I own.

You can find me on Instagram (RocketGirl50), Pinterest (Katydid), Facebook (RunningWithNeedles). I'm even on Twitter (via etsy).    I don't require you to follow me or whatever - unless you want to. Then I'd probably do some weird happy dance.

I have an Etsy shop - RunningWithNeedles - where I hope to clear 1000 sales this year.

My giveaway is open to anyone in the world. International comments are welcome. All you have to do is answer my question.

***What color fabrics would you use?
 
I plan on doing some prints next time, adding pockets and doing the handles a little differently. Maybe some of those Cotton & Steel fabrics. If you happened to make one, maybe a link to yours.

Giveaway open from Wednesday,May 6 - Mother's Day, 2015.
I will choose the winner very randomly and post this bag to it's new home next week.



To see more giveaways, return to SMS for:

Handmade Items.
Fabric & Supplies.

May Day Flowers

Long post today 'cuz it's MAY DAY!

Here, we celebrate by placing a bouquet of flowers on our neighbor's doorstep, ringing the bell, and running away as fast as we can.




I forget what this little white flower is. It's mxed in with some dianthus Pinks and the spittlebugs are already busy spitting.

Tri-color Japanese Dogwood. This is my second one in over twenty years of gardening this acre.
The first one succumbed to a very hot August Day with dry winds.

Lovely Hostas - not too much slug damage yet and the bed just got weeded.

Kousa Dogwood

Peonies budding - about to burst open in our very warm weather this week.

I've gardened on this acre for over twenty years. At one time, this bed was a perennial bed under giant fir trees. This bed is now being groomed for less-labor intensive gardening. That means taking out the perennials and leaving more space between neighboring plants with more bark dust to keep weeds down. These rhodies were tossed out of a friends' garden and promptly thrown into the back of my car and here they are blooming their heads off.

My favorite dwarf Iris - only about a foot tall.

Growing next to the Pulmanaria - which is awesome but really needs to be moved.

Golden Marjoram - less 'creepy' than it's greener cousin.

These are my fovorite columbine - Nora Barlow. They were supposed to be ruthlessly weeded out of this bed but someone keeps letting a few grow.

This Columbine is a mutation of Nora Barlow.

Valerian - Jupiter's Beard - full on bloom this weekend with our warm weather.

Bleeding Heart

Coral Bells

Lily of the Valley - May's Birthday Flower.
This is my birthday flower - which one needs to grow, but man, its a creeper with underground rhizomes. Anyone need some?


Clematis (Montana) climbing our Pergola with our Stearman Weathervane.
Someone needs to grab the ladder and tuck the tendrils which are growing a foot a day back in and away from the spinning prop.

Leopard's Bane.
This is planted in every corner of my yard.
Which means there are no leopards in my yard.




Pretty Bearded Iris's are not going to last long in our very warm weather this week.

Bed at side of house.

My favorite Iris. Actually, I've only met one Iris I did not like.

White Lilacs

Weigelia

This was an accidental bed that never ceases to amaze me. It is a succession of purples and magentas that go together perfectly. I did not plan this.

Rusty - giving me the eye.


He's old now - past 11 years. Even he knows he cant fetch now with his bum arthritic legs.
He helped prune this bed many times. There used to be Everest - Snow white - Azaleas at the end but he kept leaping tall buildings and eventually the azaleas kicked up their toes at the abuse.

I could replant now because Rusty cannot leap  anymore but somehow, it seems wrong to replant while he's alive.

Our other lab, Rocket, and Rusty used to wallow under the Japanese Maple, scratching their backs with the branches. Dogs are such great pruners.





Walkway with my favorite bed on left, looking towards our back patio underneath the Pergola.


Happy May Day!

Dont forget the Master Gardener Plant Show this weekend at the Canby Fairgrounds.