Spring is here!

Wish the trees in our area looked like this;

We need some COLOR around here in spring. I mean other than brown.
Tutorial/pattern for the card can be found at mmmcrafts.
I printed out the pattern and then traced it with my light box onto the card I wanted to use. I colored the tree trunk and stitch marks with marker and I wrote my own sentiment.

I'll be back soon with the finished costume from my March goals. I don't know if I'll get to the Verna quilt or not this month. sigh...

Praises - we got a great tax refund, totally unexpected. It has come in handy for the totally unexpected car repairs that have come up. College girl is home on her spring break and it is wonderful to have her here.

Prayers - still waiting for the final say on the real estate deal. Friday is the deadline for the buyer. Praying that she does want the house/property.

Back in the good ol' days

Okay, now I KNOW some of these zippers are old. Look at the price tag on this one;

Gemco. Anyone heard of Gemco? I'm going to guess that Des and Corrie have. Gemco was a membership store in southern CA in the 70's. See what a nice discount they gave me? The zipper was .45 to begin with but at GEMCO you only had to pay .36. Plus tax. Of course. THIRTY SIX cents for a zipper! I am pretty sure that you can't buy zippers for .36 now. Well maybe at the second hand store.


Even more unbelievable than a thirty six cent zipper...are you sitting down??


I USED IT!! uh huh, I installed a zipper! This was such a big deal that I had a 'reveal' for my hubby and son. I told my son he might want to sit down ahead of time. I mean to tell you, that boy is almost 6'7" and that is a lot of boy to fall over and I didn't want that on my hands. Let's just say they were impressed. VERY impressed.

Following are many pictures of said zipper, for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy.


'borrowed' hubby's credit cards for this picture ;)

I can hardly wait to see what college girl has to say about this!

Finally, the outside view. Sadly you can't see the zipper from here. This is to go with my new purse. Verna fabric by Kate Spain for Moda and some Amy Butler Lotus Dots.


KOIN KEEPER pattern by This & That. Instructions were easy to follow. Hardest part of the entire wallet was turning it right side out. Yes, that was harder than installing the zipper. I will be making more of these (have you SEEN the pile of zippers that I have???).

Praise - for the Godly men of our church and their willingness to lead.

Prayers - for those same men, for their faith and commitment to the Lord to stay strong.

Do zippers go bad??

You know, I was going to change my header photo. I was ready to admit that although it is still winter by the calendar we are well on our way into spring (or brown, as I like to call it). I even suggested to hubby that maybe he should take the studded tires off of my vehicle. Then I looked at the forecast for this coming week. SNOW!!! It probably won't amount to much at all down here but up on the ski mountain it will help them last a few more weeks. I may be the only person in the county that is excited about the arrival of snow this late in the season. So be it. The header photo stays for another week at least.

I have been looking at tutorials all over blogland for cute little bags. Pencil bags, make-up bags, what-not bags. I want to make some. I have zipper phobia. Well not so much zipper phobia but 'putting in a zipper' phobia. Most of these tutorials have great pictures and explanations of just how to do the zipper part. I decided I needed to jump in and give it a try. When my fabric obsession was for clothing and not quilting I amassed quite the collection - fabric, buttons, threads, patterns and yes, even zippers. The pieces that would have required zippers would have been taken to my mom. She was my go-to for zipper application. My mother has been gone for nine years now. I haven't bought a zipper in at least nine years. But like a good fabric collector, you KNOW I still have it all. Finding it is another issue. While all of the fabric, packed into boxes, was moved into this house (as opposed to the insulated mega garage at the previous house)some of the boxes remained in the shop. I knew just which box I was looking for and I sent my son out to the shop to find it. I said there is a label on the box and it says among other things, 'silly notions'. He wasn't gone long and this is what he returned with;

He couldn't believe that I remembered what the label on the box said. It had been years ago that I put that label on there. Well I had seen it every time I went to look through the boxes. Looking for a certain piece of fabric. Or a pattern.

I knew there were some zippers in that box. I wouldn't have to go buy a zipper to make a cute little pouch purse. I certainly would not need to buy any fabric for said pouch purse. ;)

Here are the zippers that were in the box.

What size do you want? What color would you like? Yeah. It is sickness I tell ya.
How could someone with zipper phobia have so many zippers??

So my question. Do zippers go bad?? Or is it safe to use one, or maybe even two, to try to get over the zipper phobia and make a pouch purse? I think I'm going to risk it.

Praise - Winter isn't over and there is SNOW on the way!!

Prayers - for the house inspection that will be done later this week, that all will go well for both parties.

A Pressing matter

I finally got around to covering and using this so I thought I would show you. I guess it was about a year ago that I was in a JoAnn's fabric in a town in the middle of nowhere. My hubby and son were waiting in the car while I shopped but then my son came in to look for some foam. When he found me I was standing and looking at a sleeve ironing board and clutching my 40% off coupon. He asked me what I wanted that for and I explained that so many times, when sewing purses or other smaller items the full size board doesn't work. He looked over the sleeve board and declared that he could make one of those for me. SWEET! I could use the 40% off coupon for something else! He borrowed a measuring tape from the store cutting table and took measurements and wrote them down. Not long after we got home he went to work and made the board for me. Then it sat. For a very long time. He even brought the staple gun in from the shop so that I could cover it with fabric. I got some Insul-Bright to cover it with and there it sat. Well for some reason, TODAY was the day to cover the board and properly use it (I had used it a few times without any sort of cover on it).



I covered it with some chambray fabric I had on hand. I know so many of you cover your boards with a designer print but I just can't bring myself to 'waste' that much pretty fabric on something like a board cover. I got it covered AND I even used it today!! I can't wait to show my son.

This is what I was using the board for;


Two different views because the lighting was different and I think the pleats showed up better in one.

A purse for ME! It is the first purse that I have made for myself (which is kind of pathetic if you knew how many purses I have made). Fabrics - VERNA by Kate Spain for Moda. Pattern - The Chemisette Handbag by Craft Apple. Liked the pattern,instructions were straightforward. I did think the bag was going to be bigger from the photo on the pattern cover but I actually prefer the size it is to what I thought it would be. I would move the magnetic clasp down a bit next time so that I could top stitch along the front and back edges (tried twice and un-stitched it and gave up) and I would probably make the handles a bit longer. This is my first finish for March. WOO HOO!!

Praise - for a little baby girl that joined our church family last night, Lydia.

Prayers - for the family with the new baby, that mom would be feeling herself again soon and that they all make the adjustments needed to welcome the little bundle of pink into their family.

March Projects TO DO

These are the projects that I want to get done this month. The first one MUST get done this month. Joining in with the


just makes it a bit easier.
This is the one I MUST get done - a costume for the Easter production at church. I am making a long robe/gown out of the black and a vest (mid-thigh length) out of the gold. This is for a gentleman who will be playing the part of a judge.


This is for a small quilt, like seen on Kate Spain's blog. I am hoping to give it to my mother-in-law to use as a lap quilt.


Finally - the Chemisette Handbag by Craft Apple in some Verna fabrics. I got this all cut out last month but then realized I didn't have any fusible interfacing on hand. Have that now and would like to get this finished. A purse for ME!


Praise - one of the many counteroffers has been accepted!!!

Prayers - for all of the ducks to be lined up to make the house sale actually happen. Closing date should be April 13th.