Wine Bag

We are headed to a friends tonight and I remembered we still don't have any wine bags. I made this in about 10 minutes and I love it. Super easy and I didn't measure anything just wrapped it around the bottle, made a few cuts and sewed it all together.

February Block Swap

Another completed block for my block swap group.
This is definitely not a pattern of choice, some swappers have special requests and this was one. Although it wasn't my preference it gives me a chance to use up some of my fabric stash and continue to perfect my skills.

My First Stained Glass Piece

This is my first stained glass piece! It took me all day long but was well worth the time. I forgot to take pictures during the entire process but here is one:

At this stage I had already cut and sanded all of my glass and was beginning to wrap the edges with the copper foil. Once all of the copper is on, you solder and it's pretty much done. The longest part was cutting and sanding the glass. I really enjoyed making this piece and plan to make a larger piece soon.

Sew Simple Blocks

These photos are so bad! I took them with my ipad because the battery on my camera wasn't charged. Ehhh, maybe I will take more later. I really like the orange block.I started this quilt in 2009. My mom asked about it last month and I was inspired to pull it back out. I forgot how much I liked these blocks, maybe I will finish it this year.

January Block of the Month

I have started the Block of the Month club once again. I love the idea of the club but I got to busy for it before so I had to quit. Now I don't have time to quilt much at all so the monthly block forces me into my sewing room. I hope to start incorporating Nepali fabrics into these blocks soon but I haven't found any that I just love yet. This block is going to Terry in San Larenzo, California who requested pinks, blacks and greys. I will share what I receive when it arrives :-).

I'm inspired

Yesterday, the kids and I went to AWON, Kathmandu's big Christmas bazaar. So many crafty things and beautiful scarves. I didn't feel the need to buy much but I did feel inspired to pull my creativity back out. It's amazing how creatively talented some Nepali's are.

So here is what I did buy. The baskets are made from old potato chip bags - how cool is that!
I think I will own 100 scarves by the time we leave. And I bought lots of ornaments for our Nepali Christmas :-).

I plan to buy some Tibetan fabric soon to make some wall hangings. Many more projects to come.....

Recent Projects

Somewhere along the way I picked up this book, no telling where or how long ago but I found it when I was unpacking my sewing room. It looked really interesting and since I have never taken an official sewing class I decided to do the projects in order and learn all of the little tricks to sewing that I never learned. It has been great. Sometimes in life we all should slow down and go back to the basics. I've learned things about my machine that I probably should have known long ago and I'm only on the 4th project.

So Project 1 was to create a stitch sampler. I won't bore you with that, it was a little tedious but I'm glad I finished it. Since I am mainly a quilter I have little use for special stitches. I was pretty surprised by all the stitches my machine produces. There was also an applique project.

Project #3 was a free hand stitch. The purpose is showing you how to release the foot and self guide. I never knew this was possible....

Project #4
A simple napkin with pretty corners. This is another thing I never would have thought to make, especially since they are so cheap these days but I enjoyed making it and plan to make many more since we are a place mat and napkin fam.

Next project is a placemat - not sure when I will get to that. But I will try to remember to post.

Almost settled.....

It's been forever again! I kind of forgot about my blog but I woke up this morning with that crafty bug and decided to finish organizing my craft room - and it's done! Finally! It took a minute, especially since our landlord had to repaint our entire house last month.

My craft room is no where near as fabulous as the one in Georgia, but I like it. It's on the third floor and has a ton of windows bringing in lots of natural light. Unfortunately I don't have Himalayan mountain views, but I can see the foothills. The room is very white - a little hospital-ish. Slowly I am adding color.

Greg decided this room needed a sitting area so we could enjoy the room together :-).

And of course Jojo is always close by.
The room is huge. Unfortunately, I won't be able to put up a design wall because Nepal has a monsoon season and the houses are made of concrete so they are moist half the year.