More Magenta

 

It all started with a post on Instagram from Blue Nickel Studios. My very favorite ergonomic Olfa rotary cutter has been released in two brand new colors, magenta and blue. I got the magenta one as you can see. I never really liked that bright yellow orange of the original. The non-ergonomic Olfa cutter is my go-bag and I really do not like it much, having to click it open and closed each time is annoying and so I don't do it 100%, which is of course dangerous and a big no-no. I always hear Rosalie Dace in my mind reminding me that it's only important for the fingers I want to keep.

While I was shopping for the rotary cutter I picked up some very on sale fabrics as well.

Plans for this rather odd assortment of fabrics are as follows: 

The Christmas panel is by the same designer of another Christmas panel that I bought and started up a quilt design for a while ago. I think I'll figure out how to use them both together in one. 

The blue fabric with Christmas tree lights is for making new gift bags. 

The two colors of cool beans fabric is to make another one of those mini drawstring bags that I made for friend Jaye's birthday. 

The two scissors fabrics are also going to be paired up for mini drawstring bags, maybe for BAMQG? 

And the two bark cloth mod prints? Heck if I know. I honestly am struggling with that one.  I like the fabric design, and I do like bark cloth, but what did I have in mind for these two? Not enough yardage for clothes, or a quilt really, maybe a reversible bag or something like that? Or I was just in a mood because I was in the sale section. That's probably closer to the truth.

I  also picked up some really cute quilt block illustration washi tape, and some new glass head pins. You can tell this is an order from Sewtopia because of the Hi-Chew candy they always include, and that I always immediately enjoy, yum.

Drawing Strings

Check it out, I actually made a bag, just a small one for a birthday gift for a friend. I used a recently bought Mini Drawstring Gift Bag pattern from A Spoonful of Sugar Designs.  Hooray for me using a pattern and not forgetting that I have it to use...

I found that the directions were fairly clear with good clear photos that you can really zoom in on to make sure you're understanding the details of the trickier part of the directions. That's one of the nice thing about digital patterns to me, it's a lot harder to zoom in on a printed pattern!

Box corners are always so nice on the finished bag, but sometimes I have trouble figuring that out, but following the directions worked.

Adding in the lining was really easy, I was wondering about the order of steps when I first read the pattern, but then it made sense once I did it. 3-D is so challenging for me sometimes.

The pattern called for using a bodkin to thread the drawstring. and I had to made do with a safety pin, but I've got a bodkin on order for next time.

I think it turned out so cute, and I hope my gift-ee enjoys using it along with the present inside.

I used some of the scraps to sew up a little card.

And I found a stash of glassine envelopes to use. Oooh fancy.

Sunset Stitching

 

There and back again to Tucson for the medical study. One more visit in February and then I'm done with the to-ing and fro-ing. I brought along a little hand stitching to work on while my DH was taking all his video calls. 

The awesome project bag that friend Jaye gifted me worked very well for my purposes. Packed nice and flat in the suit case and the zipper kept everything contained. How do you like the intense yellow chair that was in our hotel room, along with that modern print pillow? It was a nice pop of color in a sort of dark room.

We took off at sunset from SFO and I of course had to take pictures. This made it through the Percolator app very nicely.

Glad to be home, phew.

Bag O' Goodies

All kinds of goodies were inside the wonderful bag I showed you yesterday, as seen above in this group photo. What a generous gift from friend Jaye. First is a very cute pair of socks that actually fit pretty well, a new to me tarot deck that has lovely illustrations. True Grips to make my rulers less slippery, Bohin chalk marker, pins, lighted needle threader, scissorFobz to protect the tips of scissors in bags.

A very lovely smudge stick, sage and wildflowers, which I will use on a nice day when I can open windows and doors.

A new to me sort of pen, Lamy, the barrel is a nice size for my hand, it writes super smooth and easy.  I really love the big clip on the lid and the intense color.

A SumoGrip eraser, it goes with my favorite mechanical pencil as seen above. That bigger barrel size really works well for me, and wow does this eraser work really well. I like the unique plunger style too.

And finally, two really cool enamel pins by The Gray Muse, very inspirational!