Busy Month!

These little Plume lovelies came last week... For now they will remain in my hoard and pet stash. I was also thinking that I should start saving some packs for my daughter Marisol in case she wants to sew one day... What a great addition to a hope chest!

I'm so in love with TULA PINK fabrics. I bought some Neptune before I even knew her designs and now that her fabric is hard to find once its out of print, I am collecting what I can now. I have not found one store in Canada that carries her fabric. Hopefully now that she's with FreeSpirit, that changes. I'm so sick of all the blah we get here. I love Hancock's of Paducah and Pink Chalk Fabrics because shipping from the US to Canada is so easy!

Flutterby and Nest finds...



Mid month my sister Ari came to visit. Here she is with my little Marisol just before we took her and Antonio to get their once a year photos taken.



I was determined not to pay the 230.00 I paid last time for too many photos I did not need like last year. They sent me a coupon for a 9.99 photo package and a free 10x13 photo. If you've ever been to SEARS Photo, you know how difficult it can be to use a coupon AND sit though their sales pitch for 45 minutes. Literally she was quoting me packages for 514.00, 415.00, 425.00, and 445.00. UMMM No! And then I gave her my coupon and she said wow that's a good deal. In the beginning of "negotiations" she offered me the smile club membership for 50.00 then at the end when I only spent 9.99, she offered it to me for 10.00. Seriously, nothing has a price. So I feel I chalked one up for my team when I only spent 30.00.

This is what my sister delivered from my mom... Pillowcase tops. She cut and ironed all of them so they are ready to embroider. It literally weighs about 50lbs. My husband took one look and said, "You guys are hoarders." He just doesn't understand!



I sent off two of the fat quarter parcels for the GenX HO HO HO Swap, the link is to the right... I still have to finish my ornament for my other swap partner asap!

The whole other part of this month has been spent making a bag from Amy Butler's new bag book...Sew Mama Sew Blog organized a bag swap. My partner and I decided to make each other the cosmo shoulder bag... I hope she likes hers! I can't post any pictures because I'm just about to send it to her and I want it to be a surprise....

Halloween costume and other projects...

This is my little baby Antonio trying on his halloween costume. This year he is going to be the late professional boxer Arturo Gatti, who sadly passed away earlier this year. I needed to have him try on the robe for placement of the front patch and also for the arm and hem lengths. But everytime I needed him to take it off, the waterworks started. I'm so happy that he loves it, but I really need to work on it!



Here is a photo of the back, all the embroidery is done, and I'm about 90% done with the matching trunks. I'm really happy with the results so far! An almost exact replica of Gatti's fight wear.

And a peek at the bottoms...



For a change of pace, I decided to sew some scraps together... now to press and sew...





And they turned into these round wheels. Pretty scraps!



Then I got to work on one of the elements of my Flickr group, Modern Swap's Swap. My secret partner loves Tula Pink, sadly my Tula supplies are low but I found some Neptune to add to the pillowcase edging. LOVE NEPTUNE!

I pulled some fabric from my closet...



And ended up with this...



Then I decided to take a stab at Amy Butler's Weekender Tote Bag... Cut all my fabric and stabilizer. I'm going to use the fuse route on the piping so I don't have to resew any seams due to stitches poking through between seams. Wish me luck!



Bias strips for the bag piping...



And I couldn't finish the week without a little time with my cricut. This is a picture of Marisol and Antonio from May. They have grown so much since then!