England, Canada and New York............

I had a very busy week last week sewing, trying to get as much done as I could.  Since now we are into school summer vacation and gone are the days of sitting at the sewing machine and sewing the day away.  I will try to get some done, but it will be in between traveling with the boys.  We just came back from our first trip of the summer we went to Sudbury, Ontario.

I finished sewing 5 bags last week.  I used Lisa Lam's Compact Groceries Tote Pattern, I made a Beach Bag, and a Bag I call The New York Bag I got the tutorial from thimble.ca. www.thimble.ca. The fun thing with these bags is I used some themed fabrics England, Canada, and  New York.

I made four bags with 980 London Blocks, The Henley Studio, Makower UK. I used fabric that has Canada on it for the inside as the bag is reversible.  I really enjoy using Lisa's patterns.

I use a lot of outdoor fabrics as they hold up so well. This one is a heavy canvas that you would use in for making an awning.  I purchased rope that you would use for lines on your boat, so again it will hold up very well at the beach.  I want to make a few beach bags that are larger then this one. It hold a fair amount,  but I know you can never have a big enough one when you head to the beach.

I got the tutorial  for this bag that I call The New York Bag at www.thimble.ca. Laural wrote a great tutorial for it.  It is big, it should hold lots of stuff for the gym, beach or what ever. I added some grommets on the handle and the metal hardware to add some bling. This is a surprise bag for one of my friends, she heads to New York when ever she can.  It is fun coming up with different ways to change up patterns.

Strawberries Yummy

 

I have enjoyed picking Strawberries and Raspberries this week.  It has to be the best time of year, it ranks right up there with the first corn on the cob of the season.  I did see corn in the field but........the stalks are only about 5 inches tall so I think I will have to wait a bit for it.

I went Strawberry picking twice this week, in all I picked 20 litres of Strawberries and about 2 litres of Raspberries.  I have put about 15 litres into the freezer for the winter and the other ones have been eaten already or will be shortly.

I don't do anything exciting with them, like making Jam.  We just don't eat enough Jam in a year to use it up.  I use up the frozen fruit, making lots of yoghurt smoothies for the boys. ( OK I admit I will make myself some as well.) Of course I make fruit crumb with all the fruit as well, the Rhubarb was picked last mouth for it and I will get Blueberries in late July or August.  Nothing better on a cold winter night then a fruit crumb with all the fruit you picked in the summer. 

My bunnies have been still hopping around the yard, I like to see them around.  Except when I see them chewing on the fence that is around the vegetable garden.  The fencing wasn't something that it could chew through so we still have the vegetables in there.

I found some time this week to sew a bit too.  I got some Queen's Jubilee fabric, it is called London Blocks.   I have made one bag up already and I have 3 more to do.  They are a reversible shopping bag that can fold up  and be put in your purse.  The pattern is Lisa Lam's from her new book.

I have been missing my sewing.

I find it hard to believe that I haven't posted in over a month.  A lot has been going on here, and my time during the day to sew has all but disappeared. My DH tore his Achilles Tendon on April 2nd. So I have had to drive him where every he wants to go or needs to go. Driving him back and forth to work everyday, dropping him off first then to school to drop off the kids,  turning around and doing it over again at the end of the day. If things work out I only have to keep driving him around till the end of June.  That's life and hopefully things will change back to a normal pace soon.

When we were sitting in the Emerg after he did it, I asked him if he had already gotten me my Anniversary card as our anniversary is on the 3rd........nope so I guess your not taking me out to dinner either.............nope. I offered him a drive to the card shop, but he wasn't really able to get around so no card for me or him either. I forgot that I had bought him a card I found it about a week later. He thought it was a funny card. We did get out for dinner this month to celebrate, after 13 years of marriage and 20 years together we don't mind waiting for things like that.

I have also spent a lot of time on my flower gardens, getting them weeded and mulched for the summer, and working on all the other lawn care needed.  I built my first block wall around a vegetable garden.  Now my boys can grow vegetables with help from their Auntie.  I made the wall but Auntie had to work up the soil and add the new mulch and soil.  I couldn't have all the fun.  We still have to plant the pumpkins and bird house gourds this week.  It will be fun to watch everything grow.

Now all we have to do is keep out the squirrels, chipmunks and bunnies. Speaking of bunnies I found a nest of baby bunnies in my flower bed that I was weeding.  I will have to leave that bed for the time being until they leave.

I have been waiting for  Lisa  Lam's  new book to arrive.  I got the notice it was shipped on Sunday, I checked the tracking of it today and it said it was out for delivery.  I waited all day for it, checked again tonight it still says out for delivery but won't arrive till the 24th.  I'm use to it saying out for delivery on the day they will deliver it.  Oh well only two more days to wait.  I already have a long list of bags, purses to make.  So I better wait to look at the book.

I have posted some pictures of my garden at the present, hopefully by the weekend I will have everything mulch and weeded....expect where the bunnies are.  Just in time to come inside and get caught up on everything that has been piling up inside the house.

The start of the vegetable bed. Notice the level,  I used .

The wall completed, very happy as the stones are level the whole way around.

The boys very happy as the vegetables are in, and the fence is up too.

The baby bunnies are under all the fur, I could just see them moving.

This is one of the flower on my tree peony. Love them.

Carpet Bags

I made these bag a while ago.  I love making up my own designs for my Carpet Bags. I have an Reliable MSK 1541S walking foot machine.  It will sew through the carpets so easy, that way I can add leather to a bag with no problems.  I love to try sewing just about anything that will fit in the machine.  That way I can make one of a kind bags.  Looking for different carpets to sew is fun, the bags can look so different by how you sew the a carpet together.

The smaller carpet bag at the bottom I added leather handles to it, I used that one for my purse last fall.  I wish I would have picked up more of those carpets as the color was so nice and bright. It was a prefect size to carry around, not so big that you filled it with too much stuff.