Two Bags Delivered

The whole time I’ve been testing crossbody bag patterns, I was thinking about the circus fabric my cousin gave me. I knew I wanted to make tote bags out of the elephant fabric, as there was much less of that fabric, and I needed to stretch it to make three bags. Hmmm, now that I’m looking at these two fabrics again, I don’t even know why I have envisioned it as circus fabric in my head. I don’t even know what to call it, but I sure love those colors! Anyway, I used the Tourist Tote Bag pattern from Sew … Continue reading

So Proud of Myself!

Every time we travel, the Jazzman forgets to take along a container (think: plastic grocery bag, shopping bag, cloth tote from car trunk for bagging groceries or one of the hundred or so Jan-crafted bags sitting around my sewing room!) in which to stash his dirty clothes before we head home. Every so often, I think I should make or buy him a bag for his laundry, and then once we’re back home and I’m in practice and performance mode, I forget all about it. This week I was busy with: 1) my cousin’s bags, making a false bottom for … Continue reading

A Sweet Blast from the Past

Back in the early 2000s, when my two grandbabies were born, I bought them each Barefoot Dreams Receiving Blankets from Nordstrom. These were the original Barefoot Dreams blankets. They were flannel on one side and a polyester satin on the other side. They were bound with satin piping, and my first babe loved to rub that satin while falling asleep. On the flannel side was a satin square, with the following words woven into the square: “Laugh With Me,” “Dream With Me,” “Grow With Me,” and “Cuddle With Me.” The receiving blankets measured 27″ x 36″. (How do I know … Continue reading

Two More Sidewinders

I wasn’t completely sold on the Sidewinder pattern that I made up for the Sew Sweetness Secret Santa exchange, but I had already cut the pattern out in another fabric, so went ahead and made it up, then made it up again. The third make was in a music-themed fabric, as I am a working musician. I thought I’d give it to one of the music professors I work with at Youngstown State University. But when it was all finished, on the morning I was taking my new half-sister (whom I discovered two-and-a-half years ago via Ancestry.com) to the Cleveland … Continue reading

Little Bags for Old Friends

In mid-March, I attended the 50th reunion of the Class of 1968 of Forest Lake Academy, near Apopka, FL (Orlando outskirts). I grew up in Orlando and attended Orlando Church School (now Orlando Junior Academy) from 1st through 8th grades, and Forest Lake Academy from 9th through the first six weeks of 12th grade, when I dropped out of high school and started college a semester early. I was a rather lost soul. It was the 60s. I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. For years I’ve attended the reunions of the Class of … Continue reading