piece by piece

Did everyone have a good mothers day?  Mine was the best,because I found out that in November or December my first grandchild will be arriving!!!  So Exciting…

Of course I spent some time sewing as well.

This is my Manhattan Miss bag,Aprils bag of the month pattern which also includes a Mamma size.  If you just like to pack around the essentials this is the perfect size,the mamma holds more.  I was able to incorporate my recent cross stitch into the flap!

Directly under the flap is a slip pocket,perfect for my sunglasses/reading glasses,or something of similar size.  The pocket print comes off as yellowish,but actually matches the green in the cross stitch.

Inside,another slip pocket.  Of course you can customize it however you like,but since I wanted a fast finish,I did not add the zipper to the flap for that pocket or any other customizations of my own.  Next time…

A vintage paper pieced travel trailer/camper for my Pillow four Seasons Swap partner (on Flickr).  The pillow cover will measure 20x20 when finished.  My plan is to add aspen trees for a forest setting.

This round in Super Swaps (also on Flickr) the theme was thread catcher or table runner.  Tiny paper pieced geese in sun prints by Alison Glass.

Almost done with the geese,these took me around 8 hours from printing out the pattern to finishing the last section.  The smallest ones are four sections long,and the center larger one is three sections long.

The thread catcher in progress,just need to attach the bottom!

A peek inside.  I ran out of the quilters linen so am hoping that my partner won't mind the two strips of sun prints at the back.

Another quick finish!  Yesterday I whipped up this foot pedal mat,after seeing one over on FB last week.  It works like a charm to keep my foot pedal from running/sliding away from me while sewing!  It is a bit on the longish side,so if I were to make another one it would be a couple inches shorter.  All it took was a binding strip and some gripper or shelf liner,to make it stay put.

I joined IG a while back (just keep forgetting to mention it in a post)  you are welcome to follow me there.  I am @apaisleysunflower over there :).

Sew Worth It

Mama's got a new Bag!!!

Sorry for the rather long time between posts,but I seem to have misplaced my sewjo somewhere…I Really Need to find it as I have two swap items to get cracking sewing on Pronto!

Speaking of swaps,this is my Super Awesome tote bag received in round 6 of the Secret Tote Bag Swap!(over on Flickr)  Last time I showed you the bag made for my partner,btw she Loves it :)  I kind of cheated a bit when listing my three color preferences…because I listed green/aqua...

The top view,I am so in love with the jewel tone aqua prints that mamma fairy sews used!

I am not sure what pattern this bag is made from,but I Love love love all the pockets,there are 30 pockets in this bag!!!  Some are narrow and will be great for holding notions like marking pens,slim rulers,and such.  So a pocket for just about any notion you might have!

Check out the cute little dottie pincushion she made as one of my extras,it even fits around the narrow end of the ironing board. So I can switch it back and forth as needed.

The rest of my loot!  Isn't that little dumpling zippy pouch just adorable?!  The scissor lanyard coordinates perfectly with my cross stitch scissors,sweetness.  Some zippers,fabric,and an extra strap so the bag can be worn cross body style.  I was Sooo Spoiled :)


Sew Worth It

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

Random sewing & a Winner!!

For the first time this year there will be no quilt or quilt top in my post.  What?!!  No I am not done with quilts yet,just taking a little breather.  Okay,actually all this last week was spent cutting up scraps.  One tote done one to go(at a later date).

This is the latest pattern I tested for Jessica of Sweetbriar Sisters .  It is called Charming Chicks,the pattern includes the sweet little chick and the egg zipper pouch that holds it!  Just follow the link above to her shop to see all of her adorable patterns.

These are super adorable and perfect for Easter,so I will be making up a few more.  I just need to purchase some safety eyes as one great niece and one great nephew are still too little for googly eyes!

Yesterday I whipped up this sweet little swing bag.  It is actually my own version of The Emma Clutch I won the pattern way back in October and just now got around to trying it out.  The fabric used is some of my Nordika scraps,although the left side looks like two black squares that is not the case(just how the photo came out).  For me this was just too big for a clutch,so I turned it into a swing bag instead.

On the flap I used some bag bling purchased from Emmaline's Shop.  She has some pretty sweet Bling for bags that lets people know your item is handmade!

The Bag of the Month Club's January bag,the Companion Carpet Bag in progress.  The large silver piece is some more of Emmaline's bag bling.

All finished!  The making of this bag sure had its ups and downs.  The end bag is totally worth it though!

A look inside.  This was the first time using a tubular frame for me,surprisingly it was not one of the bumps along the way.

Another first in bag making,adding feet to a bag!  Which by the way is really quite easy.

So who is the winner of the Kona Color Card???

Chiska,Congratulations you are the winner of my old card!  I have emailed you for your snail mail info!

Thanks to everyone who entered,for your comments on my post :)!

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another finish & a Giveaway

In the blink of an eye it is March!  This year is just cruising right along,before you know it spring will have sprung!

However,it is not spring yet…

Cabin Fever is finished!  That makes this quilt finish #8 for 2015 :)

A few extra blocks and a little AMH Innocent Crush for the backside,and this one is a wrap!

Recently this Sweet pillow arrived in a squshie package from one of my Best Friends :)!  Also included in the package…

A new Kona Solids color card!!!  Thank You Jamie :)!  The card on the right is my old one with 243 colors on it.  So would you like to have my old Kona Color card?  Just let me know in your comment!  I will choose a winner and post who it is next Sunday.  Good Luck.

Sew Worth It

Sew the Library

No,I didn't fall off the earth,just blog land!  Sorry for the lack of posting lately but,in order to stay focused and stay productive it was necessary.

So,what has been keeping me busy…

quilt # 7 for this year!  This is my buzz saw quilt from The book Fabulously Fast Quilts by Amy Smart.  This is my second quilt from this book,although this one was not as fast as the butterfly effect quilt,it was still fairly fast to sew up.

For the back of this quilt I decided to pull out a few of the gothic windows blocks from w a y back in April 2012(my month in stash bee that year).  It felt great to be including these in a project finally!  You can see the quilt made from most of the blocks.

No photos outside today as it is a slushy/snowy mess,with more on the way.  I did not want to risk dragging or dropping this beauty in the slush.

Finished this quilt measures at 67 x 82,a little larger than the one in the book.  Simply because my borders are just a bit larger than the pattern called for.  Although there are more quilts in the book that I like,next month it is time to move on and sew from some other books/magazines in my sewing library.

Linking up with Weekend Doings this month for Sew the Library

*** Just a little note to my regular followers,you may or may not have noticed that my header is quite a bit different!  In the near future I will be changing my blog name and url.  The current header is temporary until I find someone to make me a professional one.  If you know anyone let me know!  More on this in a later post ***

Sew Worth It