Whats in a Name & a bit of sewing

A while back I mentioned that I would actually be officially changing the name of this/my blog.  Well that has finally happened.  The name has been changed to a Paisley Sunflower.  You should still be redirected here from the old link,but if you are a follower you might want to use the new URL,or not.

The new header is still in the process of being designed,so that will be changed as soon as it is ready.  I hope that all of my wonderful followers decide to stay with me through this change,and the lack of posting lately.  The plan is to get back into a solid post once a week for sure and maybe twice a week depending on what I have to show you all.

What I have been working on recently…

The Oh Spit diaper bag from the Big-City bags book.  My friend likes patchwork so I incorporated a bit into the front pocket of the bag for her.

The lining with divided pockets attached.  One thing about this bag it has plenty of pockets,which is always a plus in my book!

All finished and ready to go!  It is now at its new home patiently awaiting the arrival of a new babe for its first use.

The Secret Tote Bag swap round 6 over on flickr is one of three swaps I joined recently.  This round was black and white with one other color.  There was no specific bag we were to make,just what our partner wanted or we picked.  For my partner I chose to make a Super Tote by Noodlehead.  As you can see the one other color I chose out of the three she listed was red.

A few extra little goodies to accompany the bag to its new home.

This morning it began its trip,hopefully to someone who will love it for a long time to come!  This was my first time making this pattern,I used my seam ripper a lot learned a lot so hopefully the next one will not require the use of the grim ripper ;).  The only real issue,other than those of my own making,was the thickness on the sides/gusset part of the bag.  Even thought I used a brand new leather needle to do the final top stitching it was a real fight with my machine to actually get it to sew over the thick gusset part.  Other than that this was a fun bag to sew up!

Guess it is high time I dusted off the ole blog!

Life has been busy lately and I have been taking a little blogging vacation…

Speaking of vacation,last month we were able to finally synchronize all our schedules!  Which meant that for the first time in between 3-4 years we got together with both Jolene and Gil at the same time.  Let me just say that made me one Happy Mama :)))  We got together in St. George UT,this photo is taken from the view on Watchman Trail in Zion National Park.  The Cherry on the top, we were also finally able to meet Carla,in person (the sweetie sitting next to Gil,his girlfriend)

As a parent one of my hopes was that my kids would grow into good caring adults.  It made me proud as throughout all our hikes,I watched Gil stop step off the trail and pick up a abandoned water bottle or other piece of trash,and place it into his backpack.

While in St. George Jolene and I spent a couple hours at Superior Threads Headquarters!  Upstairs is the fabric shop,while downstairs is this awesome warehouse filled with thread from small spools to very large cones.  As well as the offices of the administrative staff.

This is also where your online order is processed and shipped from.  All the clerks are so nice and helpful,even when you interrupt them time and again with just one more question :)

Gil and I at Fremont St in Vegas,I was so happy that he willingly posed for this shot with me!  Usually he manages to make a funny face just as the photo is snapped,but this time he didn't.

At the entrance to the container garden there is this giant praying mantis,it is very cool.  It also scared the crap out of me!  Gil and I were standing by the gate talking about it when all of a sudden it started spewing flames out of its antenni.

This is my latest bag,it is the Oh Spit Diaper bag,from the Big-City bags book by Sara Lawson.  This is  the exterior front of the bag.

The finished bag all packed up and ready to go off to its new home!

This is my second cross stitch,just finished this evening after work!  I have plans to incorporate it into a bag soon…

Sew Worth It

Circus,Circus

  You might be thinking that maybe the Circus has come to town,from this post title.  Well...it sorta has!

Recently I showed this photo of the pieces mostly cut for one of this months bag options for the Big-City bags SAL.

Just like with my HoneyMooners Suitcase I took some photos of the bag making process.  Both the exterior and interior pieces finished.

The zipper panels and side pieces all prepped/ready to be sewn to the the bag front/back pieces.

My pockets are almost never made the stated size in the pattern,because I like to customize them to my needs.

Although not called for in the pattern,a tab with a D-ring for clipping my keys onto.

Almost finished,just lacking having the lining sewn to the exterior.

A peek inside the finished Piccadilly bag.  Love the polka dots and that you can see just what you are looking for in the bag,due to the light colored interior.

Piccadilly Circus bag #2 all finished!  My plan was to gift this to either my niece or niece in-law...

and gift this one(Piccadilly Circus bag # 1) to the other...but I am really liking # 2 myself!  Oh Deer,better package it up quick and ship it off,before that happens ;).

This is a very roomy bag,in fact it is a bit larger than what I normally like to carry.  Other than that I really like this bag,especially since it snugs up under your arm!  Most bags with longer straps always end up sliding off my (sloped)shoulders,not so with this one.  So that is a big plus,for me anyway.

Of all the bags in the book,this is my second favorite,with the Chandelier Swing bag being my favorite.  You can see those here & here.  Now to see if I can get two of the Sound Check bag patterns sewn up before the end of the month...

Linking up here this week:

Fabric Frenzy

Mini Wonderland bag (99.9% finished)

In my last post I talked about the mini wonderland bag in progress.

Here it is all but finished!  We had thunder storms today,so it was inside photos or none at all.  The only thing left to do is attach the lining to the exterior.  I am debating on hand sewing or glueing it in.  The reason for the debate,well the opening is pretty small,which is going to make it a little difficult to hand sew...

One of the ends all pinned and ready to be sewn to the sides of the exterior of the bag.

Sewing one of the ends to the bag in progress.  When I set out to make this smaller version the thought of the size making sewing challenging did not occur to me.  Ha!  What was I thinking?  Yes that thought did occur to me several times while making this mini bag.

Which is why I made the decision to have a pocket on one end of the exterior of the bag instead of placing them inside.

Here is the mini with my original wonderland bag.  The addition of piping would have made this a true mini version.  However it still looks pretty cute!

One last photo of the end with the pocket.  I think the little girly girl who this is going to is going to love it,at least I hope she does!