Purse

I made a new one:

It's quite big-I like to have room for everything!  This side has two pleated pockets-one for keys, the other for my phone.

This side has two pockets, too.  The last purse I made, I didn't divide in two-it was one long pocket.  This time I sewed it down almost in half.  Now my Kindle Fire will fit on the outside as well as the inside.  Much happier with this than the long pocket.

There are pockets on both sides, one has three, the other has two.  My Kindle will fit in the larger of these two pockets, too.

 I found the fabric at Jo-Ann's on the clearance table.  It's a Christmas print, but I don't think it really looks like it.  I lined it with some sunflower fabric I've had for over 10 years.  I close it with a button and loop.  The last purse I made I used heavy interfacing throughout, but it just wasn't stable enough, kept collapsing into a lump.  So this one I used lightweight fleece.  And I interfaced the handles, something I didn't do with the other one.  I love the colors and I think I'll love carrying it around.

Productive

I've finally been able to get some sewing done.  First a tee out of a 1 yard remnant.  I had to fudge a bit with the neckband to have enough fabric (didn't quite cut it crossgrain) but it worked out okay.  Then I made a pleated skirt with a yoke to go with it.  Only thing was I wanted inverted pleats so they wouldn't bubble over my tummy, but I was working on the wrong side of the fabric and got it backwards.  I wasn't about to rip it out, so I'll just live with it.  I'm not normally not very comfortable with skirts this short, but I thought it might be a cool thing to wear in the summer.

I cut a strip crossgrain of the knit, fold and press, then sew into the neckline, stretching slightly.  I serge off the excess and then press the seam down and topstitch on the blouse side close to the band.

Then, in the process of some digging and cleaning, I found this blouse that I'd cut out a couple of years ago. (Don't judge me, sewers will understand, LOL!)  The pattern is from 1986, believe it or not, and this is the first time I've used it.  Not wild about women's blouse patterns.  Men's shirts are pretty straightforward, but women's shirts can take some strange turns, which this one did.

Alice's hips are slimmer than mine, and her shoulders are more rounded, but you get the idea.

Because I have the dressform, I was able to do some shaping on the collar and neck.  Made it a lot easier.

I got a corduroy dress/jumper done for Gracie, too, but I'm kind of hoping she'll model it for a photo,  If not, I'll show it on a hanger.  I want to make her a couple more outfits-tops and leggings-but I want to take some good measurements for the leggings, the girl is a bit hard to fit.  (Kinda like her Gramma!)

And I'm really ready for a new purse.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get one cut out.

Really hot here-100 degrees today.  A big fire started 30 miles south of here, in an area we camp at often.  I was in Bozeman tonight to meet a senator (yay!) and the plume was huge.  I hope it is controlled soon.

The bulk of the grandkids start school tomorrow.  I went to Back to School Night with them the other night-what fun!  And talk about deja vous-I walked into Syd and Gracie's 3rd grade classroom and was immediately transported back 55 years-it was MY 5th grade classroom!  Grace and Syd are in the same class-the principal called and asked if it would be okay.  Sam is bummed, he's in 2nd grade and is in another building.  Which is where I had my second deja vous experience.  I asked him to show me his classroom.  We trotted up the stairs and right into-my junior high library!  When I told the teacher, she was tickled.  She asked me why there was a window and door into the next room.  I had the answer-the other room was the study hall!  They were glad to have that information, although there are still a lot of locals around who should know that.  Great experience!

Big day-time for bed-here's to a good school year for the munchkins!

The Four S's

Stan, Steve, Syd and Sam went fishing today.  Our four S guys!  They had a great day!

Excited about the day!

Best buds-they are going to be inseparable growing up.

The catch-they each reeled one in.

I'm glad they had the chance to do a last fishing trip before school starts-a week from Wednesday already!

Birthday Sewing

Monday is Sam's 7th birthday and he is crazy about cars and racing.  He goes to the stock car races every Friday with his family and can rattle off names, stats and owners better than kids lots older than he is.  He especially loves it when his Uncle Steve is there because they really get into the game together.  Sam's mom and dad go just because they love him and want to encourage his interests, but Uncle Steve is an ally in the Friday night routine.

When they were staying with us a couple of weeks ago and I was sewing for Gracie, Sam spied a piece of race car print flannel.  He begged me to make him pajamas for his birthday.  I was noncommittal (tee hee!) but of course I made them.  Only thing was, it was the end of a bolt that I got a good price on but not enough for a top and bottom.  That's just fine with him-he only wears the bottoms-just like his 16 year old brothers.

I had seen a cute thing on Pinterest-a Matchbox car wallet.  It was for sale on Etsy and was really nice, but it only had places for cars on one side, so I set to work making one that would hold cars on both sides-a total of 8.  I had enough scraps from the pajama bottoms to make 2-one for Sam and one for Sydney-Stan's mom always said, probably in Dutch, "You can't make stepchildren!"

I bought 8 Matchbox cars and put them in the wallet.  Then yesterday I was walking through Walmart and spied this:

It was only five bucks so I've added it to the gift.

Eight nice compartments for cars.  Closed with my best friend, Velcro.

I can't wait til the kid see this!  He's going to love it!

What sold me was the tiny signs.  These are all Matchbox-sized cars.  His folks are going to be thrilled with 17 new Matchbox cars for the boy!

Sam's party request is a camping trip to Hyalite lake, a few miles from here.  Stan and I don't have a camper right now so we'll go up in the afternoon and come back home to sleep.  Gotta love an air bed and indoor plumbing!

Sandwich Wraps

I found a pattern on the Internet years ago, to make your own sandwich wraps so you don't have to put the plastic wrap in the landfill every time you pack your lunch.  I stored the idea in my head, thinking I would make some, maybe even enough to sell at craft shows.  Well, years have passed, I saw a similar idea on Pinterest, so I decided that now was the time.  I didn't like that the Pinterest pattern didn't have a lining to wipe clean or keep the sandwich fresh, so I cooked up my own pattern.

The horse print is Gracie's-she is nuts about horses.

Just the right size for a fat sandwich.

The wraps are fabric on the outside, vinyl inside-just wipe and go, or machine wash and dry flat.  I'm going to try to do a tutorial soon.

Wine, Aunt Grace, and Nail Polish

Monday when Gracie and I were in town, I picked up the cheapest red nail polish I could find.  Not for me, but for the hummingbirds.  We have two feeders-a bright red cheap plastic one and a really nice brass one that has a solar light.  But the flowers on the brass one weren't very bright:

Jim and Millie's family gave this to me for Mother's day.  Really cute but not very red.

Nice red.

It actually worked better than I expected!

 And now the hummingbirds are visiting BOTH feeders!

On a sad note, do you remember my story about Uncle George and Aunt Grace?  We got the call that Aunt Grace passed away yesterday morning.  She was a young 91-year-old, but life happens and people leave us.  We'll say our final goodby Saturday morning.

Our good friends, Wayne and Connie, came over to pick raspberries tonight, and they brought the bottle of wine they scored on their vacation to South Dakota.  I'm ashamed to say we polished that thing off in a hurry!  Very yummy-mostly rhubarb and a touch of raspberry.  A lovely cool evening on the deck with wine, snacks and good conversation.  Can't beat that.

They said the winery was right there, but they got this bottle at a gift shop.  If they'd bought it at the winery they would have had to buy a case.  Well, now we realize they should have gone with the case!