Winner, Winner, chiken dinner!

Are you guys excited to find out who won  the Bella Pattern??? I know I am. I've asked Mr. Random to pick a number (no, he is not my boyfriend). I decided to embrace technology. And the winner is....

Number 5 is Carla G! Congrats Carla! You'll have to make a bag and then post it in Bonnie's Flickr so that we can see it :) I'll be sending you an email and an email to Bonnie so that she can send you the pattern.

I was so excited to use the number generator that I didn't look into how to paste it to my blog... And for some reason it wasn't letting me do the ctrl + prt sc and then paste it.. and then while I was trying to figure it out I moved away from the page. I tried to select it and paste it into word (before I figured out I didn't know what I was doing) and that is the result of that above, even though it looks like I just made it up, I didn't! I did draw the box around it though.

Thanks for playing ladies :)

Friday Finish!

Happy Friday! My finish for this week is this awesome neon chevron bag! Earlier in the year I wanted to make a new bag and I bought some heavier canvas type fabric but then never got around to making one. Then Dana of MADE posted some neon bags! I had to make one! I even had to make a trip to Joann's when it was about a million degrees out to get some webbing for the handles, now that is dedication!

 It's a terrible picture but you get the point.

I didn't really follow the tutorial as I already knew how to make a boxy bag (my Mama taught me) and I've done the freezer paper stencils before. I found a great printable chevron pattern HERE. I printed out two and then taped them together and traced it onto the freezer paper and cut it out. I bought regular acrylic paint and mixed it with fabric medium according to the bottle. I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I really like it and want to make another one :) Maybe a wallet or a zippered pouch to go along with it..The possibilities..

Bella Pouch pattern Review and Giveaway!

Happy Tuesday!I have something totally different today. Over the weekend Bonnie from Pink Stitches asked for volunteers to make, review, and then blog about her pattern for the super cute Bella pouch! I was all about it (of course). I mean really, like I was going to pass that up? I think not!

First of all, if you guys don't know Bonnie you are missing out. I made it easy to find her, just click that link up there (you know you want too!!) She even has an Etsy Shop! Where you can get some great stuff including the Bella Pattern.
So onto the good stuff! Here is my review of her lovely pattern.

This is what my finished pouch looks like.

Overall, this pattern was great. The pattern is in PDF form. It's 16 (!) pages. It has great color photos of each step. It's easy to read and understand the steps. You need to sew darts and curves. The darts are small and the curves are pretty easy so even if you have limited experience with them you should be OK.  It doesn't use very much fabric (a few fat quarters) or extras (which you could change, like I did, based on what you have). You could even make the bag bigger or smaller if you wanted. This is Bonnie's first pattern and I think she did a great job!!  I bet it would look cute made of patchwork too!

There were a few things that I did differently than stated in the pattern:

• Bonnie said it would be OK if I used one layer of batting if I wasn't going to use it for electronics, so I did. I also used one layer of fusible interfacing. I only had enough for one layer..plus fusible interfacing hates me!
• I made my pocket much smaller, and cut only one piece of fabric and folded it over and then sewed it. I made it smaller because it seemed like the size stated in the pattern was to big and I would have sewn over it when sewing the darts. 
• I basted my flap onto the bag before putting it all together. This way it won't wiggle around (which these things usually do for me).
• Sewed on both sides of my side tab and strap. 
• Made my strap with double fold bias tape because I wanted something different and didn't have any fabric that matched. I just folded it open, ironed it flat and refolded it so that both sides were the same (not one wider than the other as it usually is).
• Used a split ring in place of the D ring and lobster clasp (I didn't have either of these).
• Made my wrist strap 12" instead of 14". I have smallish hands and wrists so this was a better length for me.

Now on to the giveaway! I've never had a giveaway before! Up for grabs is one copy of the Bella Pouch Pattern. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Want to up your odds of winning??

• One extra entry for liking Bonnie on Facebook or following her with Google Friend Connect. Leave a comment telling me you did. This is one or the other so just tell me which one you did.
• One more extra entry for hearting her Etsy shop. Leave a comment letting me know if you did.

That's a total of THREE possible entries.

If you don't win, or just want to buy the pattern it's only $5.

• Fine Print: Giveaway will be open until 3PM CT, Tuesday, July 17, 2012. I'm going to have my boyfriend (who has never even looked at this blog, that I know of) pick a random number and that comment will win. Please (PLEASE) have a way for me to contact you!! Put your email in your comment if you aren't sure I can get to you through your profile. Good Luck!!!

Keepin' it clean!

Ok, so that title might be totally lame. I'm not really great at coming up with witty titles for my posts. Maybe in two days I'll come up with something better. A while back I got it in my head that I "needed" to make some napkins. I've never made them before, but they are just squares, how hard can they be. Well, they are not hard. I did make them harder (remember that I'm good at making things more difficult than they need to be) than they should have been because they "needed" to have mitered corners. I made 4 of them but I could only find 3 of them when I was getting ready to take the picture.

They are about 13" square. I bought the fabric from Walmart for $2 a yard. I thought it was ugly when I bought it but it looks better in smaller pieces. Guess I should have taken pictures of the mitered corners I slaved over, oh well.
I also made a veggie apron. We are growing beans, tomatoes, and watermelon (hopefully) this year. Most of the time when we pick we just shove stuff in our pockets or lift up the bottom on our shirts to hold all the veggies. Not this year! I made an apron to hold all my pickings!

 

I used this tutorial from Sew Mama Sew. Mine only has one big pocket on the front. I just picked my first bean from the garden tonight so I'm pretty excited to use it! 

I did get some sewing done this week, mostly because it has been very hot here. I'm talking over 100 degrees for the past 4 days! I'll post about what I made next time. Hope you all have a great weekend. We are having a family BBQ and it's going to cool down so I'm pretty excited!

Just a few things

I've added a button over there -> so that you can follow me on Pintrest. I've also become addicted to Instagram. So if you have Instagram I'm Miranda729 there! And if you don't have Instagram but still want to look at my stuff you can go to this site and search for me and find my pictures.
I haven't figured out the Facebook part of it yet and I might not hook them together because I go by my alter ego on FB. This is mostly so people can't look me up but I know none of you are creeps so I think it will be OK to share it's Brenda Ferguson, we can be friends if you want. That's all for now, it's nice to be back :)

Umm.. Hello!

Tap! Tap! Is this thing on?? Yeah it's been awhile.. I guess I just needed a break. I didn't turn the computer on for a whole month. To think there was a time when I thought I'd die with out it. So how's everyone? I've still been checking blogs and haunting the webs. I think I've had a long enough break. I've got a few things to show you all, that is, if you're still interested in seeing them :)
I'm planning on hooking my blog up with my Facebook, Pintrest and Instagram. Provided I can figure out how to do it. I guess if I can't my next post will be asking for help :)
So that's all for now. Thanks for sticking around!!!

I was featured!

Hey all! I know it's been like a week since my last post. I ended up working 2 extra days last week and then I was busy Friday and Saturday so I just never got around to posting anything. I don't have anything to post anyways so, you haven't missed much. I did get a new cell phone over the weekend. I'm all about getting a good deal and this one was on sale and I got a $50 Best Buy gift card sooo, I spent my afternoon getting all hooked up. Of course I need to make some kind of case for it so maybe I'll be able to get it done on Wednesday when I don't have to work. I also need to get cracking on a Valentine's Day present.
Head on over to Blue Bird Sews and link up your stuff to Eat, Grow, Sew. Maybe you'll get featured, like me! Thanks Kelly!!