The Polka Dot Debutante

Now that Christmas has passed, I can post pictures of some of the gifts I made this year. I made a bunch of heavy duty tote bags for people to take to the grocery store. They are made of bark cloth or upholstery fabric with interfacing added for more durability. They have fake leather corners and are lined as well. I just wish I had kept one for myself. The other big project this year was making fabric trivets and luggage tags. There is a new book out there called "Floorcloths! Fabric Decoupaged Floorcloths - No - Sew - Fun" by Ellen Highsmith Silver and you use the same method for trivets and luggage tags as you do for the floorcloths. My friend Tamara was making a bunch for a boutique and so we decided to do it together. It was a lot of fun, just time consuming as there are many steps. Here are some pix.

I've been sewing tons lately and it's been fun. Can't remember when I've had this much time to just sew what I want. No deadlines, no long-arm commitments, it's wonderful.
This is a shirt I made (for me!) from one of the Amy Butler patterns. It's called the Anna tunic.

I really like how the top turned out and plan on wearing it if we ever get summer around here this year.

These are the new pillows I made for the guest bedroom.

Art school daughter is living here this summer, but after she goes back to college in the fall, it will be our guest room. I'll probably whip up a quilt using the large floral pillow fabric and lots of brown and turquoise. Something simple like Valori Wells' Olive Rose pattern. I'll have to make it bigger than hers but the quilt is just a series of 20" blocks and so is easily enlarged. Of course that means I'll have to paint the walls a new color because then the blues won't match. Oh what we get ourselves into!

I've been finishing some projects and just want to share the results. I made a new bag using Amy Butler's Frenchy Bag pattern. I used this awesome decorator fabric I bought about a year ago and paired it with a stripe I had and I love the result. I think I'll take it with me up to Sister's next week.

The other project was to recover the bench in our living room. I've been looking for the right fabric for about a month now and finally found it last week. The guy who works in the drapery department at Mill End suggested shantung for the piping and it looks great. I picked gold instead of black so it wouldn't be so strong, and I love how it turned out.

This is the final report from Sisters. You are not going to believe it but between the four of us, we made 28 bags and 2 aprons! Yes, we are incredible, thank you, thank you, and we had tons of fun doing it all. One of us would try a new pattern and then the other three would have to make one too. And then there were the many variations that had to be tried. It was a feeding frenzy!
We also managed to walk to town every day, spend an afternoon in Bend, do two great hikes, and cook great food every day as well. I love the Sisters area so much. It has the best quilt store ever, The Stitchin' Post, beautiful scenery, and great weather. I didn't want to come home, well except to see that sweetheart of mine.

The Loot

My fellow bag ladies: Vivienne, Sue and Jennifer

And from Friday's hike, this is North Matthieu Lake

Heading back from the Lake on the Pacific Crest Trail with Mt. Washington in the background.