Happy Canada Day (a little bit early...)

Happy Canada everyone! Well, really it is on Sunday, but am hoping not to be anywhere near a computer on Sunday. Today is the start of another long weekend, and I am heading to the lake.

I am so lucky to live in a country like Canada. And in recent months I have come to appreciate it even more. H.H. is originally from Colombia and has only been here approximately 5 years. Seeing my country through his eyes makes it even more special. He is now a Canadian citizen and is extremely proud of his new home. If you haven't been here, come visit some time!

More news - I have recently opened an Etsy shop (find the link on the left hand side of this page). There will be more items to come, I need to catch up on my sewing as I sold a lot of my stash at the craft show. I wasn't sure if I should mention it in my posts, because I don't want this blog to become all about the Etsy Shop and selling. On the other hand, I thought I should let everyone at least know that it's there. So if you would like to visit the shop, you are MORE than welcome.

On another note, it is Freebie Friday! Visit the Ottobre Design website to find all kinds of freebies. There are sewing patterns, embroidery templates, graphics, etc. My personal favorite is the donkey pattern. How often do you find a pattern for a stuffed Donkey. Not very often! And doesn't everyone need a stuffed Donkey in their lifetime? I think so.

The Day After...

Success! I am very proud of myself. The show went very well! I sold 4 "Sally" bags, one clutch purse and 4 headbands. Not bad for my first show! I had such a great time! It was so nice to meet all of the other vendors and talk about our hobbies, interests, etc. I also loved seeing what they were selling - some great stuff!


A few of the people selling around me had done "The Sassy Little Craft Show" Christmas last year, and they noted that the crowd was a lot bigger which makes sense. I hope to join the Christmas show this year. I have all kinds of winter bag ideas running through my head!


Thanks to my handsome H.H. for keeping me company (I didn't even tell him he had to - it was his idea!) and to my friend Stephanie for taking shift #2.

Freebie Friday

Alrighty - hold on to your hats cuz today marks the official start of Freebie Fridays! And if you don't have a hat to hold onto, don't worry you will soon with the help of this free hat pattern! I have wanted a hat like this for a while, I think it will be my next project. If you end up using this pattern, be sure to send me a picture of the finished product!

The picture above has nothing at all to do with this post - just didn't have a new picture to post today. These are some shoes that I sewed up the other day.....haha just kidding - these are some shoes that I bought a few weeks ago. I love the little bows.

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

Product!

Pictures of some of the things I am selling on Friday. Note to self - next time iron bags before taking pictures!

I've titled this style of bag "Sally" - I don't know why, I just think it looks like a bag that a "Sally" would wear.

It's going to be hard to let these go. I love them all!

This is a pile of headbands I made with some scraps of fabric. They are reversible.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

A Little Sewing Humor

This made me laugh - thought most of you may be able relate! (Note to H.H: This is what you have to look forward to!) Oh! and check this out:

The Sewing Song!

I talked to my Mom regarding my post from the other day about the Summer Dress pattern. She tells me that you actually buy the fabric already with the elastic in it. About 1/3 of the fabric has sheared elastic, while the rest is just regular fabric. I have never seen this before, but will definitely keep my eyes open for it. She said that the pattern would be VERY easy. She said it would take literally one hour to make! I'm going to make that dress gosh darn it!

New Fabric

Didn't get as much sewing done as I had planned last night. I was exhausted, so I just sat on the couch, ate popcorn and watched nothing in particular on TV. Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the lack of stimulating programs on television these days? Hmph!

Got some new fabric! Isn't it cool? I'm really excited about this stuff! I'm going to make something for myself with it. Where can you find it? Well, the salvage says the design is exclusive to "Fabricland" (<---- I just figured out how to link a word to a website, very exciting! Hooray for me!). I got it for 50% off!

This totally has nothing to do with today's topic, but do you know that since I have started riding my bike to work I have noticed something absolutely nuts? About 90% of the cars on the road in this city have only 1 person in each car (or shall I say SUV? Everyone seems to have one these days - that's a whole other topic!)! I don't understand why these people don't get out of their cars and take transit - I could understand it if it we lived in the country or the suburbs (well, sort of), but in a city of such density? I don't get it. When are these people going to come to their senses? Whew - had to get that out.

Still Learning

Happy Tuesday everyone. Can you believe we are midway through June already? Oi!

Above is a pretty picture for you. I went for a walk on Sunday specifically to take pictures and this is the only one that turned out.

On another note - I found this free pattern:

http://www.sewing.org/enthusiast/summer_sundress_skirt_bag.pdf

I love the dress! I believe they forgot to mention the elastic that is around the bodice of the dress...I mean - I think it's elastic? As I am a novice sewer, I don't even know what this effect is called and I certainly don't know how to do it. Can anyone shed some light? ~sigh~ I still have so many sewing skills to hone. I remember having a dress with this effect when I was a little girl. I'll have to ask my Mom. Mom?

I've decided to dedicate my Friday posts for the next few months to free sewing stuff I find on the web. Mostly patterns like the one above and any other free sewing treats I can find (have I mentioned that I am a frugal kind of gal?). Hmmm, what to call this new weekly installment? Freebie Fridays? Sounds good to me! So be it! Feel free to let me know where you have found free sewing treasures too - I welcome comments.

Stay tuned for Freebie Fridays!

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag!

Here is the bag I've been working on. It is made from an old Ikea duvet cover that I took home from the garage sale last weekend. I actually traded some old paperbacks for this fabric (thanks Bea!) - I think I got the better end of the deal.
Complete with inside pocket and a button closure.

What a beautiful weekend we are having here! Not a cloud in the sky today. I must log off now to enjoy it.

A Ramble...

As I do not have much to report today, this may be a rambling sort of post. To start, I want to share some things that I am excited about:

1) Wilco has a new album out (whoot-whoot for Wilco!) Click: http://wilcoworld.net/records/index.php

2) I now have 10 bags completed for the craft show. This is quite exciting, however; the fact that I need to make double or triple that amount by June 21st kind of takes all the fun out of it.

3) I have signed up for my first swap! http://greenbeanbaby.typepad.com/main/

4) It is now cherry season! Mmmmm.

The Perfect Weekend

Hope everyone finds themselves well today. I had such a nice weekend and have posted some pictures of it. H.H and I headed to my home town Friday night to visit friends and also to partake in the annual garage sale that they organise. As you can see, Friday night consisted of food and drink and great conversation. My friend Beatrice is such a great hostess!

We stayed overnight and woke up early (verrrry early) Saturday morning and set up for the sale. Overall it went quite well. We sold quite a bit! I made $23! Whoppee! I think others did better than I did, but hey - it's $23 dollars more than I had before!

We then stayed for a lovely lunch. A turkey cooked on the BBQ (I know, crazy! It was soooo good!) along with lots of fresh summer salads. Beatrice, you really outdid yourself. Thank you so much, we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

And finally, we headed over to visit my brother, sister-in-law and my nieces and had more good conversation and MORE food there (weekends with lots of food are welcome anytime in my book!)