M and M Bags

 I've made several of these lately. All scrap except for the zipper. I've made them with straight sides and a logo (bottom panel) stitched to the lining. I've boxed the corners for a softer, rounder, coin purse shape. This time, I kept my bag intact at the middle and did some fiddly zipper sewing. These lie flatter. Overall, I'm liking the resulting shape.

The candy people have encased their M&M's in plastic. I suppose it keeps the candy fresher - longer. I saw a tutorial about re-purposing these bags years ago but it involved iron-on vinyl to give strength to the paper/plastic bag. The plastic nowadays is pretty tough - especially for a novelty purse. Who wants to deal with possible melted plastic on their iron - glad to have skipped straight past a vinyl overlay.

That's my cut basil as a backdrop. We won't get a freeze until November so I'll probably get one more cutting in before the basil dissolves into mush.

 I am supposed to be finishing these lipsense bags with the cute hedgehog. But I hit a zipper end roadblock. I don't like how they appear, how they came together - at all. I think I have figured out what to do to make them work, but it involves seam ripping and a few choice words.

This is my first end. It disappears into the side seam, but could flip up raw if you were, somehow, to push up into that corner.

 My second end - I sewed a fabric tab onto the end of the zipper. It's all bulky and bunches up there.
Don't like that one neither.

 I'm gonna try my third thing to remove some fabric bulk and then just get on with my life.

These bags are for Lipsense Lipsticks and will be sold in my etsy shop. That's why I'm making my sewing life miserable. I want these to look awesome - like the first one I sold. I'm over-thinking these zipper ends - that's for sure. Why I derailed for sewing candy bags.

Some fall garden photos.

Volunteer Putunia

 My exciting still life of fresh tomatoes and purple grapes nestled on a bed of basil. yep.

Ice Cream sundae Hydrangea

Cosmo plus some awesome raspberries

We've had some recent rains which helps to throw everything onto the ground.
Most of the sunflowers are in resistance.  This dahlia is so much fun. It has been my favorite this year.

  I had a chance to attend my local library book sale and really hit the jackpot. This is my first haul. Some are destined to be Christmas presents, Some will wing their way over to Japan. Some will be read. And one will be sold on Amazon to pay for the lot.

I actually went back when I had to return to work in the afternoon and got a second (and much bigger) haul. It was a really good sale.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts - 2017 bag competition.

My Friend In Kyoto Is Having A Sale

I met my friend in Kyoto via the SewMamaSew Blog.
We have so much in common with her growing up near where I live now. Her family lives in Oregon but she met and married a Japanese dude man over 25 years ago.

She has lived in Tokyo as well as other cities in Japan. She now makes her home in Kyoto which I visited a year ago in March of 2015.

She is in the process of building a house in Kyoto which is seriously different than building a house in Oregon. She blogs about it occasionally - the frustration of wanting a bathroom counter at "high" american standards instead of the lower japanese standard.

We both like to sew. And any other handcraft, for that matter. We love nature. When she travels back to the states to see her family, they make a beeline to camp out at Detroit Lake and make a family reunion of it.

She's having a sale in her etsy store this August of 20% off. Which is a really good deal.

Featuring many items made of Japanese fabrics, she can make you anything. She's that amazing. She usually adds something special to the package and will add Japanese stamps (better variety than in the states) to reflect your interests. I often see airplane stamps on my envelopes.  Packaging is definitely an awesome superpower of hers.

The sale code is AUGUST20. Her store is called CraftyTokyoMama on etsy.

One item she makes is well-made shopping totes - Tight 'n Tidy Totes. I have two and they have lasted quite well. I keep one rolled up in my purse for amazing garage sale luck. Some of the people running sales are so amazed at my tote bag filled with goodies that they start offering me discounts right and left. lol


I notice her store is at 883 sales today. I had a goal of 1000 sales by Christmas last year and reached it in January 2016. I am passing this goal along to her.




Janine makes and sews Japanese Notebooks, book covers, shopping totes, handbags, etc.
She also knits and crochets.



I bought this adorable hedgehog fabric from her.
She also sells some of the amazing japanese fabrics she finds.

 Here is my garage sale bag I keep rolled up in my purse.
It easily unfolds to a large size tote.
I get the best deals when I use this bag.

Even if you can't make up your mind what to buy, could you show Janine some etsy "Heart" love? Just hover over the heart on each photo in her etsy shop and tap on it. This "hearting" really helps move things up the queue in the etsy algorythms. (thanks!)

CraftyTokyoMama on etsy. Use Coupon code AUGUST20 throughout the month of August to get 20% off your purchase.

I would like to see her get to  1000 sales too.

Biking For Fabric

 Jackpot.
What can I say?
The gods of garage sales smiled at me once again.

This was the fabric sale advertised in the church parking lot on a Sunday.

 And it did fit into my tiny biking backpack.  Well - my plastic grocery bags hung off the handlebars without getting caught into the spokes....

$19 for almost 7 pounds of fabric. The little old lady was selling fabric by the pound!

$7 was for two Gutermann Toldi serger cones of thread - 2500m in off white. Sewing rope bowls used up all of my little stash of off white and here I find some more - full cones, mind you, both for less than half of what one cone would have cost new.

She had it all laid out neatly, fabrics separated by color and type. Lots of vintage cottons, from small pieces to large pieces.

See that aqua blue 1/2" stripe at front right. Yards and yards. (5?). And on top of that, the aqua and brown possibly Pendleton plaid wool. Also yards and yards.

So the airplane print is not a favorite. Obviously a juvenile home decorator print for a nursery.
There are multiple pieces in various sizes and I will list this one first. I'll keep some of the smaller bits so I can add to my collection.

I will sell the big pieces in my etsy shop and recoup my costs several times over and have loads of thread to make more rope bowls.....

Just a wee bit more than six miles on my bike today! Yay.

 I tried on my new sewing shirt and find it fits on top but is too snug at tummy.

I like the color so I'll need to think of a hack to open the width on this tshirt up a bit. Maybe with some lace. It's too long, so maybe I can cut off the bottom few inches to add them in somewhere else.... I'm going to send this project into dreamland for a while. Maybe do some pinning (Pinterest) to gather ideas.

Random Notes On A Sunday

I found Lance. Fifty cents worth of make-me-smile.

I went to a church rummage sale Friday morning and found treasures!

Wooden thread spools, Cath Kidston pencil pouch, Star Wars fabric, quilt batting.
Patterns, fabric, trims. A Bear with an airplane.

I've had great success separating the wooden spools by color and selling them as a grouping.

I give out stickers to kids at work and made a super deal of a giant handful of sticker sheets for two bucks. I may have whined.

Trivia cards about Oregon.
Various sewing trims. Embroidery cloth.

I threw this into the wash and it came out like new. All the pencil dust washed out.
Twenty five cents. Cute retro alarm clocks

Adjacent to the church is a cemetery and this headstone stopped my car.
I may re-think my cremation plans. Love this memorial. The beads around the base are from University of Oregon Ducks.

It was such a gorgeous morning. As I drove to the sale, I passed new lambs gamboling in the green fields and a beautifully clear Mt. Hood in the distance. I thought about stopping to take photos but I know my phone camera isn't up to far-away shots.

Last week, I pruned my grapes and raspberries. These are ever-bearing raspberries. I get the first crop on last years canes in July and another crop on the new canes in September.

Very easy to start canes. If you live close by, I'd be happy to dig you some. These make awesome raspberry jelly.

The burn pile in the background where my garden 'gnome' hustles the detritus over when burning is allowed. The old canes magically disappear....

This morning, I captured Mr. Hummingbird.
These are my best photos so far.
Inside, at the kitchen window.

If I go outside, they will only buzz me and make angry chirpy noises telling me to go back inside and make more sugar juice.

(btw: 1:4 ratio of sugar to water. or. 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water. Boil. Let cool)

My front door. Spring blooming primroses.

I sent my first birthday cake.
Cupcakes to be honest.

Unfrosted.

Everything to frost them was inside as well.

It arrived intact and much appreciated by the birthday boy.

Estate Sale Bonanza

 A week ago, I went to an estate sale just out of town about three miles or so.
I hit the crafter's bonanza.

This top photo is three Hawaiian Prints (says so on the selvedge!) in beautiful rayon cotton. The fabric that drapes wonderfully.

The next photo is one of several lengths of Pendleton Wool. One is tagged Pendleton. These were all stored in a cedar chest. Lucky me. Cuz the rest of the fabrics were stored willy-nilly and I will have to double-check them for whatever lurks within.

Pendleton $6.00/yard!

 A buttload of zippers. 10 cents each or 'Let's Make A Deal'. I came back on Sunday (Half-price day) and found the rest of the zippers.

There were a lot of laces and trims but there were also a lot of musty mousiness. I left those.
A house, outbuildings, shop, barn. Filled with vintage loveliness.

 This pattern goes with the Hawaiian prints above. This is a well-known Muu-Muu designer.

 My co-worker and I both write a ton of letters. Fun critter-shaped letters. She loved these!

Vintage novelty prints.

 A stack of Hawaiian, Wools, pretty striped Swedish blue and yellow stripe.

 The orange and black is a stunning authentic batik.

 This is a Japanese style Tricot.
Yes, tricot knit. The kind you make slips out of.
I just love the colors and the japanese pictorial. Eagles, cranes, Swordfish, 60's mod water.

 What a fab haul.

I had an phone emergency last week. My barely three-month old phone slipped off the couch arm and hit the rug in just the right spot. The screen didn't break but the LCD thingy came loose and the screen is all wacky-doodle. I managed to retrieve these photos and thank god I had moved the Japan photos to my laptop a month ago.

I had finally got the new phone all set up just the way I wanted and BAM! -- dead in the water. It will cost too much to repair. I'm using the old Samsung S2 for now. My new blogging app - Blogaway - won't work on the older phone. I had gotten used to it's photo loading capabilities.

 Come to find out, a lot of the newer Samsungs: S4, S4 Mini (me), S5 all have this problem of not taking any guff. Reports of sticking it in your pocket causing the LCD to break loose, Hitting it against your keys in your purse, dropping just one time....

yeah.

I might switch to an I-Phone next time I  have spare money. Although, I will be selling the pendleton wool as well as all of the above estate goodies, so maybe some spare change will make its way to me by Christmas.

Catching up on some planned blog posts - three to go, -- now that I retrieved the photos off the S4 Mini by way of the Samsung Kies program.