{Sew} Small, {Sew} Strong

Do you remember the first fabby bag my best friend, Jenn, who works her magic with fabric & thread gave me?  I still use it for shopping, crafty playtime with friends, and even as an overnight bag when I turn in my Grown Up Card for a night.

Wee girl, my Princess, who loves all things creative & crafty (not to mention, anything that even resembles a purse!) mentioned that she would love a bag like Mama's to put her goldfish in when we head out for errands. 

And Auntie Jenn totally came through!  Princess' bags are significantly smaller, measuring (approx.) 9"x9"x4"...the perfect size for her to carry on her arm or shoulder.  And they are just as sturdy as Mama's bag, a la Jenn, with the straps wrapping all the way under the bags.

These bags aren't just for shopping!  Every week when Princess heads out to Grammie's for dance class, she packs her leotard & tights in there.  She's so proud to have her own bags, for her own 'stuff'.

I tried a few times, different locations, different lighting, but it was a challenge to pick up the subtly colored patterns...pale pink & white.  The first bag is a floral pattern, which shows up pretty well.  But, the second one is stars and moons, which I'm sorry that I was not able to capture the best.  (All pictures are clickable to enlarge.)

I must admit, I do love Saturdays!  Its my morning to sleep in....a pattern left over from the days of kidlets being babes and waking all hours of the night (a pattern that I have no intention of breaking anytime soon!).  I feel like Saturday mornings recharge me.  Its not just the bit of extra sleep, its waking to quiet, to no hungry tummies, no school lunch waiting to be made, no clock ticking, urging us out the door.  Its like a deep, fresh breath.

What recharges you?

{Sew} Surprised!

Last week, when I relinquished my Grown Up Card and visited my sweet friend Jenn, she loaned me a quilted bag that she'd sewn to carry home the first three Harry Potter books that she was loaning my son to read.  She loaned it to me.

Fast forward to this last Saturday when three fabby friends who are also Aunties & Uncle to my kidlets came up for a BBQ....Jenn being one of those Aunties.

We had a great time!  Hubby Q'd up some ribs (after they slow roasted in the oven) using our favorite organic GF/CF no sugar added BBQ sauce, I made a delish GF/CF macaroni salad* that I found thanks to a gluten free blogger on Twitter (that little birdie of a site is growing on me!), Jenn made a yummy green salad (with romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beets, avocado, green onion, and olives), and Monique & Matt brought some garlic bread and a special margarita recipe for the adults. 

We finished off the night with the exhausted kidlets finally in bed, the men, boys, goodness!, men chuckling like they were years younger (that's a nice way to say it, right?! :>) at some YouTube videos and us girls, okay women (somehow that always sounds weird to me when I'm with my friends from my teen years....probably because we've been known to regress when we're together! :>) chatting it up in the living room and checking out Monique's recent scrapbook (she's the one who started me scrapping all those years ago!).

When we were walking our three friends out to their car, apparently, Jenn turned to my Hubby and said, "Shhhhhh!!!!", pointing to her fabby quilted bag that she loaned me last week.  Seriously......loaned it!!

Look at that sweet little pocket on the front!!

Here it is!!  Isn't it cute?!  I think so.

Just as cute from the back.

Oh my goodness!!  That turquoise stitching tickles...such a happy detail!

It gets better.  On the inside there are pockets.  And polkas.

On one side its a full pocket.  And on the other side, she split it vertically.  Not only did she split the whole pocket vertically for divided storage, but she also sewed a higher bottom on one side that is just perfect to slip a cell phone into....now, how genius is that?! :>

And then, THEN, I try to give her this sweetly sewn bag she's made and loaned me to take back home with her.  She just smiles, gives me a hug and says, "You're welcome."

"What?!"  And thinking, no way, I try to give it back to her again.  She's not having any of it.  Jenn tells me that she's been looking for a good home for it.  Apparently, she thinks its happy here in my home.  I know I'm happy to see it smiling at me.  But, I'm even happier to know that it was stitched and sewn by my friend.

Am I a lucky gal, or what?!

What has made you feel lucky lately?

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*  Only adjustments made to make the gluten free recipe casein free as well were to use salami that is not only gluten free, but casein, nitrites, msg, antibiotic, and preservative free (Applegate Farms) and to omit the optional Parmesan cheese.  We also used fresh minced garlic & shallots instead of dried for the dressing.  The whole thing is delish and since we doubled the recipe, we're still enjoying it!

Look what followed me home!

This lovely, beautiful piece of crafty joy has been on my wishlist for awhile now. And when Hubby suggested that I go pick something out for myself for my birthday, I knew exactly what would be coming home with me! Now, I just need to some pretty little bits to run through her!

So, I bought her for what she can DO, right?! But, once I took her out of her packaging, I started looking at her and saw the two little bits o' bling on her front.....I got excited. And then when I noticed the larger piece on her handle, I had to share.....but, I didn't neccessarily share my joy with the right person.... Hubby was in the room with me, the kidlets were already in bed (I should have waited until I could show my wee daughter, who gets uber excited at all things pink and sparkly!), and so I bubbled on about how cool my lovely new tool is and look!, there's bling on her!! His response? To smack himself on the forehead and reply, "TOOLS are Not Supposed to have bling on them!!!" I just laughed and continued on with my own personal Happy Dance! :>

But, wait! There's more! In my birthday trip to the Walt Disney Family Museum post, I mentioned that my friend Jenn is creatively talented too (she sews, quilts, & does needle work) and that she sent me home with one of her creations.

I'd been eyeing one of her utility/shopping bags for awhile now. I have about a dozen (mostly from Trader Joe's) already. But, none are as fabulously chic, practical, and as super strong as hers are. I paid her (another) compliment on it and next thing I knew, she had taken it off the hook with her other (also fabulously chic) bags and handed it to me! She's creatively talented and plenty generous...thank you, Jenn!


The uber cool fabric she got at SCRAP, in San Francisco. I cannot wait to go with her sometime soon! What is also really cool is that the straps she's sewn onto the bag, go all the way around the bag, from the top, stitched down the sides, under the bottom of the bag, and back up again, making it extremely sturdy and able to hold a lot. And because the straps are long enough, its really easy to carry, even when loaded because it can just be slung onto your shoulder (instead of pinching your fingers to a bright pink, like many of my reusable grocery bags do).


I broke this gorgeous bag in with a trip to JoAnns with Jenn. And since I was with my great friend who sews, my bag was filled with my purchases, which were all fabric and a few patterns. I have a wonderful sewing machine, but other than some very square items with nothing more that a straight stitch involved, I haven't used it a lot. I really want to correct that and learn to sew.............MUCH better and more than I do now. But, in the meantime, the fabrics I picked up all have papercraft projects calling out to me! Maybe I'll have to use one of them for the current Everything But The Kitchen Sink challenge, calling for.....fabric! :>

Today is the last day to enter my Birthday Blog Giveaway for a Papertrey Ink gift certificate! Just as a reminder, here are the deets:

"Since the whole month of February is a celebratory month for me, I am leaving the giveaway open for the whole month for you. Every comment made on my posts in February, starting with this one, will give you an entry in the drawing for the PTI $25 gift certificate. If you like my blog, I would love for you to follow me, but it is not a requirement. And if you blog about the giveaway, you will get an additional three entries (either leave me the link in your comment or you can email me). "

I hope you all are having a fantastic weekend! The sun is back out here and Hubby is going to BBQ tonight! One kidlet is in 'imagination land' doing a Space Police mission' (aka playing with Legos) and the other is wearing her apron & chef's hat and whipping up a delish (pretend) pineapple, onion, peach, and cauliflower soup. What's shaped up this weekend for you?