Best/Worse & What did I learn today..visit with friends

(((Debbie and girls))) take care and try to get some rest, you are in my prayers.

Judy, be safe, have fun.

Got a package of Spice Cake Mix and made Spice cookies with nuts and raisins tonight. DH says I have to give them all away before we sit here and eat all of them! I hate to say it but I think it is even better than the chocolate! Oh my.... now I want to try out other flavors! White cake with crushed peppermint....Lemon cake with grated citrus rind....Cherry cake with dried cranberries....German Chocolate with Coconut.....and then I won't have to walk, they can just roll me around.....sigh!!

LOL, Trisha, know the feeling, several friends gave me homemade goodies, cakes etc...trying to be a good girl and keeping to my diet...doesn't take much to put on a pound..think I'd best call Melanie/Greg today and have them pick it up...

Woozy from hit in the head so of course I slept off and on all evening, Greg called every hour just to make sure I was ok..so here I am at 1:00am wide awake trying to sleep..thought if I got up, made myself a hot chocolate I might be able to fall back asleep, if not, I'll have to entertain myself...

Trisha wish I had your peppermint to spice up my hot chocolate...

We'd make a good team....I have the peppermint but I am out of chocolate....

OMG Trisha you are as bad as I am..up late...guess there is the time difference though...

Just hemmed 2 pairs of track pants for Rita who makes sure the furries get out during the day...now I'm making a couple of those thread catcher's IF I can find material larger than fat quarters..

Want to share material as well as chocolate...lol

Betty, where do you buy the "bone ing" for those thread catchers?? is that what they call it??

can you post a pattern? I sure would like to make a few of those...

Me too. They sound like the perfect gift for a quilter. I am collecting several birthdays and those would be just right!!!!

Morning everyone! Betty please be careful, you falling and hurting your wrist, and now smacking your head. Oh I bet you have a good headache this morning? Make sure you have some tylenol with your coffee.
Trisha those cookies sounds good, do you have the recipe please. How much water do you add to the mix?
Have a good day everyone!

We have what's called 'Fabricland' and it's purchased there...not sure the yardage my swap bud Secret Santa sent but I just cut out and finished 3...

I've a few errand to run today if Fabricland is open I shall pick up boning and send it your way along with the plastic...

Mom called, I'm down here checking availability for rooms in Buffalo again, likely leave tomorrow and come back Thurs. or Friday so would be an excellent time to ship from your side of the border..lol..

Took photo's every step as I did above with the arm pocket pin cushion..will do what I have to get done and then will post them...

Yep..headache city last night but this morning just tender area.. I'm not accident prone am I????

Not you Betty!! Accidents just have a way of getting in front of you!!!
Please be careful in your travels this week and I hope you and Mom have a good time.
If you are not back in time - Happy New Year my friend......

Oh I'll be back by Thursday for sure, want to do some closet cleaning and a day or so of rest before returning to work Barb...

Ohhh my secret santa swap gave me lovely material, just perfect for these thread/scrap catchers...got 3 done, all promised, know that on weekends Fabricland doesn't open until noon, so going to wait and call, if it's open off I go to purchase more supplies...

For Christmas I got Fabricland/Canadian Tire and Home Depot cards to treat myself as well as cash..Fabricland voucher MUST be burning a hole in my pocket as my grandmother would say...lol

Forgot to show you the catchers...just need silica sand or similar to fill the bag and hand sew the grip onto it...

OK..just got back from town, managed to spend my voucher for Fabricland..lol..just knew I would..

Sooo starting my Dec. block once again, making packages for those who requested:

a- quilted look crochet afghan
b- kit (less the material) for the thread,scrap catcher...

Know you wanted the afghan and one or two kits for the catcher right Barb?

Quilter..think you wanted the afghan pattern???

Barefoot...you wanted the scrap/thread catcher ???

Trisha and Linda Kay, don't want to forget you 2...which did you want if any? let me know as I'm making up packages this evening for posting...

Got back from town, mom called and said she hoped I wasn't out getting travel insurance, her dog is vomitting all over so she'd have to wait to see how things go tonight..shaking my head here...called her back and no answer...

SOOOO if I don't cross the border I'll mail from here...

Let me know please

Betty I would love the instructions for both!

LK, not water! Just the mix, 2 eggs and the oil, then mix in the nuts, chocolate chips or what ever you decide to add to your particular mix.

Making an envelope for you Trisha...

TY:)

Betty, I would like the thread catcher please?
Thanks for the recipe Trisha, I will have to try that!
Betty, sure hope your Mom's dog is OK?

You all are as busy as I am, except my stuff at work isn't any fun. I so wanted to do the Secret Santa but with Dave losing his job I just couldn't. Boo. I am working on my embroidery again, so am going to get to that in a few minutes.

I have it!
Best of Today: So busy time went by fast
Worst of Today: So busy I didn't get a chance to check in
Learn: That I was so busy time went by fast but I didn't get to check in.

LOL

crissy, must be that time of year....I went through and repaired my favorite knitting bag, located most of my needles and good yarn... now I may have to go take a class again to remember how to knit...have a couple of half finished projects I would like to complete.

Shocked that Betty has no snow. We had our doors open today since it was warmer outside than in my house in the early part of the day. I am praying for rain or water rationing will take place and wreak havoc on my progress in the yard, especially with seedlings. Do any of you have seeds from Joe Pye Weed. I want to try winter sowing that plant this year. I never see it here, but it grows supposedly.

I pulled my tree down and boxed up the decorations but was babysitting today so did not haul it out to the shed. Am doing it again tomorrow so won't get it out until Wed.

I have to download the pictures that I have of the cuties patooties.

Pray for my son if you pray. For unspoken issues, one being anger. He went up for prayer at church yesterday, which is a miracle in itself. He needs a lot of direction in his life now or he will make choices that will not be able to be revoked potentially.

Hi Liz. Betty btw, I may not need the directions of the stones if I don't have them now or soon, because I am dropping, if possible, the membership in that gardenersindex.com, since I googled my name and all my stuff that I post on there, shows up on my name. I don't like that, they sell your info. grrrr!

Oh Dawn that's not good..don't think they do that at Daves' do you think? Hurry and download those photo's so I can see your 'angels'...you must have wished snow on me Dawn, got quite a bit yesterday, infact, plowman just did the drive and more to come...will add your son to my prayer list..at least he's taken the most important step...going to church...

Crissy, did you misplace your Victorian Santa clothing pieces? lol I'll check to see what I have here...

Listening to the news re Buffalo area and they have had a storm nearby if not in Buffalo..Debbie, can you confirm? Up and packed but calling for squalls here and I'm not up to driving in bad weather..newsman said in Buffalo, weather would improve tomorrow so think I'll tell mom if she is going that I'm putting it off till tomorrow..can't you tlel I'd rather just stay home, enjoy myself , maybe go look at flooring!!!

Yep, seems with the new year coming we're all looking for what is unfinished ..I want to re-organize my craft room and little computer room here, clean closets...seems unless I challenge myself by putting it on a 'to do' list it never gets done..do need help with the lifting of knitting machine and computer desk, maybe I'll call Greg over tonight..wouldn't take more than 1/2 hr. for him to do it..

Got my Dec. block cut..was going to sew but started to fade, thought I'd best wait till morning..did sit and make envelopes to send out to you today, the patterns, hoop, plastic etc. so the evening wasn't a total loss...

Will post instructions for the grab bag on this thread..that way both the arm chair pin cushion/holder and grab bag instructions are in same place, then I shall move us over..

Thread/scrap grab bag.....

Materials:

17" x 9" material of choice - main bag
17" x 9" plastic (which I'm sending you) used for liner
9" x 2 1/2" material of choice - straps (1 piece makes 2 straps)
7" x 5" material of choice - table weight bag
18" hoop
1 square of non slip grip (which I'm sending you)

Filler: either silica sand or fine cat litter (I used this yesterday and it worked perfectly and is easier to get)


Step 1:

Taking width ends sew to make a circular tube

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Sew bottom edge only

Now open the bag so that you are able to make pointed corner

I fold down the pointed section as shown and iron to make the pleat fold...then I sew perhaps 2 or 3 times to make it stronger...

This is what you should now have..both corners made..

On the material portion of the project I did NOT clip off the corners but on the plastic portion I did...

You now follow the same steps to create the plastic liner...
You can to eliminate bulk cut the corners off leaving about a 1/4" seam allowance

With your 9" x 2 1/2 piece of material..sew lengthwise

Invert material and cut in half...iron

you now have your 2 straps

With the piece of material which is 7" x 5" I fold in half, iron to create a fold line...on the open edge I place the 2 straps equally positioned on the 3 1/2 edge (you can either pin or machine stitch)

Now I sew around the entire piece leaving a 1 to 1 1/2 inch open gap where I can invert the piece and use it to later fill with cat litter (of course NOT used) lol

I clip the corners before inverting it and once it is inverted use scissor ends or similar to make sharp crisp corners...

You now have a piece that looks like this...

Forgot to take a photo and if you need one let me know and I'll add it..

ooooh did take photo's...

This is the one where I folded the 7" x 5" piece and positioned the 2 strap pieces...hard to see color on color but if you look closely to the bottom section you'll see the 2 straps...

This is what you have when it's sewn completely around leaving the opening for inverting and filling...

Now for placement...

Your printed bag should be open like this

you can see at this point I inserted the grab bag portion and the straps are sewn at the edge of the bag..do so on the seam portion side so that you don't end up with a seam in the front of your bag...

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Now insert the plastic bag, again make sure you put the seam on your plastic on the same side as the seam on your bag...

NOTE: you can see that both the bags show seams - wrong side showing ...

Sew around the bag leaving an opening for inverting..

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Invert...your project should look like this...

I used black thread, ONLY because it would show up on the photo's so you could follow the directions..on my other pieces I used white in the bobbin and green on the top so the seams would be as visible...

Now what I did was make sure both bags fit nicely and I made a seam not much more than 1/8th of an inch around the top to hold the plastic liner to the main bag still leaving about 1/2" inch opening...

DON'T go by the seam allowance here...I put it lower so you could see...1/8th is just fine...

This message was edited Dec 29, 2009 7:22 AM

Here's a better look at another that I did...this is what yours should look like

Now you can take your 'bone' and insert it keeping it next to your 1/8th seam...it will overlap slightly and that's what you want it to do...

If you feel you can't keep it to the top 1/8th seam then you can add pins to keep it in place....

Now as close to the bone, without sewing into the bone, make another seam...this time you can go around the bag in it's entirety....

You now can go to the 1/8th inch seam and sew the opening you had left open for inserting the 'bone'

Bag should look like this

Now it's time to put weight to your project...

I had a small funnel so it was easy to insert the funnel end into my bag and fill...don't overly fill or you'll never be able to hand sew your open end ...can also machine sew it as well...I took the easy way out and machine sewed because I didn't trust my hand sewing....lol

After you've tacked or sewn this weight bag closed, by hand I did sew the grip (you know the non-skid liner material) to the backside..

Photo really doesn't show it...