CLou's Corner

Whimsical Women Show

2011-11-20T06:58:00.000-05:00

It was an awesome day! The morning started at 7:00 am, and 23 degrees felt a little chilly. But the sun came up, the people came out - a truly beautiful day!!

My number 1 helper!

Santa Towel - his beard is made from ribbon.

My headbands were sold out before noon! I'll definetly be making more!!

Painted Snowman Ornaments.

The happy shoppers, waiting for the show to open!

Happy shoppers, shopping in my booth!

New Headbands

2011-11-03T06:01:00.000-04:00

This week I have completed 36 new headbands. After a few trips back to the drawing table, I've perfected my pattern and tweeked the design and I am thrilled with the result. I've used a lot of different coordinating and contrasting color palettes of yummy fabrics. There are three different styles, but I've only taken pictures of one thus far.

Now, I'll tag them and get them packed for the show! And then - on to something else..... Stay tuned....

Snowman Tissue Case

2011-10-09T13:57:00.000-04:00

This week I made some Snowman Tissue Cases. I really like this pattern because it has a zipper to keep it closed. He holds a pack of purse sized Kleenex tissues perfectly snug!

Penguin Zipper Bag

2011-10-09T13:53:00.000-04:00

I just put the finishing touches on my new Penguin Zipper Bags. My Santa Zipper Bag now has a friend. I've made almost a dozen of these so far. He measures 4-1/2" wide x 6-3/4" high.

Hand Towel with Applique and Monogram

2011-07-31T18:22:00.000-04:00

I finished the Santa Zipper Bags today and have moved on to another project. I found a fun design for an appliqued Christmas ornament with a monogram. So, I tried it on a hand towel

Cantalopes from My Garden!

2011-07-22T09:14:00.001-04:00

After months of battling the ground hog and deer - I finally have something to harvest from my garden! I'm so proud of these cantalopes!! When we left for vacation a few weeks ago, my garden was full of beautiful tomato plants, pepper plants and two cantalope plants. Well, when we returned, the deer had eaten every leaf and bloom from the vegetable plants and had eaten all the leaves from the cantalope vines - but they left the cantalope melons alone - go figure. There are about eight more melons out there that need to ripen. I hope Mr. Groundhog doesn't come for dinner in the meantime.....

Monogrammed Key Chain

2011-07-20T08:10:00.000-04:00

I'm sharing something new! Monogrammed Key Chains.

I've kept with a black and white fabric palet and used pink and green thread.

Zipper Santa Case

2011-06-21T13:15:00.001-04:00

Something new that I am working on. I have one finished. I have 23 more cut out to sew. The first one was a little time consuming, so I will finish the ones that I have cut out, but I'm not sure that I will do more. Hopefully the next one will be a little quicker!

This is a closer view of his face and coat.
He measures 4"w x 6 3/4"h.

trying to post a video

2011-05-30T07:21:00.001-04:00

Last month my kids went zip lining. I'm just using this video to see how videos work on blogspot.

Monogrammed Socks

2011-04-27T11:04:00.000-04:00

Sheesh - where have I been? I have not posted to my blog in a long time! Ok, I'm back. Had a little crafting slump, but I'm back in the game.

I've tried something new - monogrammed socks with a ribbon ruffle on the cuff. So far I've tried two different sizes of childrens socks and they are turning out nicely.

Cross Body Bag

2011-01-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

Here is my completed project from yesterday - a cross body bag. It measures about 4-1/2 inches wide, 6-1/4 inches high. has a zipper, monogrammed initial and is quilted on the front and back. The strap measures 55 inches long and falls just under the hip area when worn across the body. I have another version of this pattern to make one that is a little larger, but that will have to wait, my sewing machine decided not to cooperate this morning and needs to go into the shop tomorrow.

A New Year, Finally Time to Sew

2011-01-08T05:22:00.000-05:00

This morning is the first time that I have turned on my sewing machine in 2011. I feel a bit rusty. I started a new project, but I don't have the right supplies to finish, so no pictures today. I'm making a monogrammed cross body bag. I think it will be cute and it is fun to make so far. I need some type of a ring to attach the strap, the ones I picked up for it are too large. Hopefully the kids will cooperate and I can make a quick run into Joann Fabric to find just the right ones. It's going to be a cold weekend, so I'd like to spend it inside sewing!

I'll be back with pictures when I have a completed project......

Our First Snow of the Season!

2010-12-04T19:28:00.000-05:00

The snow started to fall just before noon.

The kids were eager to get outside.

It started coming down and soon the ground was covered. We didn't get much more than just an inch.

Here are some views this evening from the deck.

Our Christmas lights look so pretty covered in snow.

Fun decorating

2010-11-29T05:03:00.000-05:00

Last weekend in our area the Festival of Lights began for the season. The kids and I decided to go on opening night. The light displays are generally the same each year, but definetly will put you into the mood for Christmas. We drove thru the park with our windows open and our Christmas music playing on the radio. About half way thru there is a place to stop and park. Here there is a gift shop that sells many crafts from local craft people. And outside a place to purchase hot chocolate and pre-assembled marshmellows on sticks to roast in the fire. Of course we made our marshmellow purchase and headed toward the fire.

Well, all the festivities put us into the decorating spirit. So, the next day, we put up our tree.

It was a very fun weekend!!

Santa Bag

2010-11-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

How cute is this?!

This is an "in the hoop" project that I made on my embroidery machine.

It measures about 4-1/2" wide by 7".

Fall Harvest Tablerunner

2010-10-11T08:44:00.000-04:00

It's done! This project started about 2-1/2 weeks ago as a set of placemats. But as time passed and each block was taking a bit of time to make, I decided to make the blocks into a tablerunner instead. I'm not sure how long this would stay nice after being put into the laundry and washed as often as placemats are, so I'm happy that I changed plans.

This is made from individual blocks made in several different styles: crazy quilted, appliquéd with stipple quilting in the background, quilted with embroidery and appliquéd with echo quilting in the background. The design is from Anita Goodesign, I think I purchased it last Fall.

Crazy Quilted

Stiple Quilted

Echo Quilted

Center is embroidered

Two New Quilts

2010-09-30T17:58:00.001-04:00

I have been working on these quilts for the past couple of weeks and thinking about them for several weeks before that. A cousin of ours had a baby girl a few weeks ago, and I wanted to make her something special. She also has a two year old son. I wanted a fabric that would coordinate together without being to matchy-matchy so I could create a quilt for each of them, the boy and the girl. I found some inspiration from Moda's Bakeshop website here . It was exactly what I was looking for. The fabric I used is the same as in the link, "Tweet, Tweet".

These will be packaged and sent on their journey to New Jersey tomorrow. I hope they are enjoyed for many years to come......

Monogrammed Eyeglass Case

2010-09-19T08:55:00.000-04:00

Something new that I'm working on - monogrammed eyeglass cases. They are fun, easy and quick to stitch together.

Creating a Topiary

2010-09-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

This morning I decided to play in the dirt alittle. I have a pot of ivy growing on the porch that has been doing nicely all summer. I transplanted it into a larger pot and added an inverted tomato cage, then wrapped it with a string of 100 count miniature clear Christmas lights. I started winding the ivy around the tomoato cage, it still has a ways to grow to get to the top. Hopefully with a little training and a lot of fertilizer it will make a nice lighted addition to the porch. If this works, I will add another pot to the other side of the front door.

Monogrammed Laptop Case

2010-08-20T15:13:00.000-04:00

My new adventure!

Here are the two laptop cases that I have monogrammed so far. The one with the zebra print is made of a neoprene material and the damask print is a quilted fabric lined with nylon. The cases are pre-made, I only monogrammed them.

The store owner and I are hoping these will be a big hit this Holiday season!

Rocket Launch on August 14, 2010 @ 7:07 am

2010-08-15T06:47:00.000-04:00

We have been in Florida on Holiday for the past 10 days. Yesterday morning my husband heard on the news that NASA was launching a rocket to put a satellite into orbit. So, we went into town where we thought we could get a good view.

We were once fortunate enough to be here at the time of a shuttle launch. This rocket wasn't as dramatic as that was, but still - it's not every day that you witness a rocket launch.

And, an alligator came by to see what we were doing....

Sewing Camp

2010-07-23T16:14:00.001-04:00

Last week my daughter went to Sewing Camp at our local sewing/quilt shop. She had a great time! At the end of the camp on Friday the girls put on a fashion show for us.

She made her top, shorts and bag. I am a proud Mommy!!

A Quilt for a Friend's Belated Birthday

2010-07-20T15:13:00.000-04:00

My good friend's birthday was in June, I usually make or embroider something for her. I have been stumped this year. So, I've decided to make her a quilt.

I started working on this quilt last week. It is made from one Charm Pack and a partial Jelly Roll. It is just the right size to cuddle under and watch television on the couch.

I laid it out on my design wall to make sure I didn't have too many of the same colors next to each other.

And today I was able to finish piecing it together and adding the borders.

I will have to wait a little longer to quilt it. My other machine is still in the shop and I don't have the correct foot for my sewing machine to do quilting. But that is ok, my friend is on her way to the beach for the next two weeks. I hope to have it completed by the time she returns.....

Making Quited Placemats Today...

2010-07-08T16:06:00.009-04:00

While doing a little blog surfing the other day, I found some Inspiration for a project. The instructions in the link are for a tablerunner, but I didn't want a tablerunner. So, some placemats were designed using the same process, just changing the size.

I started with a Moda Jelly Roll, in a cute pattern called "Recipe for Friendship" designed by Mary Engelbreit.

What is a Jelly Roll you ask?

A Jelly Roll consists of 40 strips of coordinating fabrics measuring 2-1/2" x 45".

I used 12 (cut into lengths of 14") of the 40 strips to make four placemats.

Cut a coordinating backing and piece of cotton batting. And then started sewing using the "quilt as you go" method.

I used nine strips for each placemat. Once finished sewing the strips, I trimmed the entire piece to the size I wanted my placemat to be, 18 x 13 (I used a placemat that I had as a size guide).

Next step was to make a binding. I used the same fabric that I used for the backing.

And because I used 12 different fabrics, each placemat is just a little different than the other, but still coordinating.

Some ornaments that I've been working on....

2010-07-05T06:06:00.001-04:00

These are some of the ornaments that I have been working on. They are called "free standing lace" and are made on my sewing machine. Very easy to do, but take a lot of time. But it is fun to see them come together.

2010-03-02T05:37:00.000-05:00

Front view of my snowman ornament.