Happy Thanksgiving & Jane Austen Book Bag

Happy Thanksgiving! Now that the day is over all I can say is "I'm full!" We had a nice family day, though fairly quiet as our Thanksgiving Day tends to be. Me, my hubbie and girls cooked and baked and then we all ate! Hope your day was filled with those you love and lots of good food!
I finished the Jane Austen Book Bag I made for Kaleigh for Christmas. It's cross-stitched on linen using the pattern from The Sampler Girl. I changed up the colors and added a zipper on the bag.

The bag is lined, too. I really like the Sampler Girl's patterns and will be buying more of them. She has a sale going on until Sunday. I'm trying very hard to be good but I just may have to give in and buy a thing or two! ;)

Busy Hands, Happy Heart

My girls are always trying to create things one way or another. Just for fun, I thought I'd post the picture Caressa (4) made of one of our cats. I'm not sure if you can see it, but she paid a lot of attention to detail...lol...

Kaleigh has been quite busy knitting and crocheting Christmas gifts. She made these cupcakes for Cassidy. A couple more still need to be beaded but they're pretty much done.

She made this doll for Caressa...

and this little purse for Kierra...

She even helped me with "work" knitting and made these up for an order. Kaleigh is just like me that she likes to keep her hands busy. She always has some knitting or crocheting in her busy hands during her 'down time'!

Fall Biscornu Completed!

It's finished! My plans for the other night went kabosh! The usual meeting place got changed and I ended up just going to my parent's house for a visit instead. Initially I was disappointed but my dad was so happy we dropped in that I'm glad we went there instead.

Anywho... I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish the Biscornu because I've never done one before. Looking at it, I couldn't quite figure out how to go about putting it together. One of my friends from the group sent me a link and what a great tutorial the person did.

I was able to follow her directions and pictures and it actually came out right on the first try. I was holding my breath at the end but it all lined up. Here is the link for the pattern for the top part of the biscornu: http://lhfinishttp://theflossbox.com/system/files/freebies/09/free-biscornu-32.pdf
Here is the link for the finishing instructions of a biscornu:
finishingschool.wordpress.com/biscornu-class/
This was such a fun project, I'd like to do more. I was thinking one for each season... we'll see.

Roses Zippered Work-Pouch and Fall Biscornu

My needlework guild meeting is Tuesday night and my needlework pouch was looking pretty shabby. Last night I decided to make a new one to bring my supplies in. I used the same pattern I always do found in Bend the Rules Sewing. I changed the size to better suit my needs. I had some pieces of ribbon, lace and buttons in my stash to use as embellishments.
This is the inside of the pouch. I've used this same fabric combination before when I made a rosary holder. I liked it so much I put away the little bit I had left (I think I only purchased a fat quarter of each, anyway) and was tickled when I found I had enough to make myself a needlework pouch. I had some pieces of ribbon, lace and buttons in my stash to use as embellishments. At least now I have something cute to carry my stuff in tomorrow night.

This is the front and back pieces I cross-stitched over the month. We'll be learning how to put together a biscornu. I've never made one before so this will be new for me. The acorn and leaf border is the back and the one with the green center is the front. Do you see the little acorn buttons? I'll put one on the back and possibly one on the front. We'll see. When it's completed, I'll take a pic to share. I'm looking forward to my meeting tomorrow night. It's with a great group of women and I always have a lot of fun!

Christmas Handbag for Mom

A new handbag was in order for Christmas gift-giving for my mom. I found the perfect fabric for her and I think, the perfect bag pattern. What do you think? I used the Bucket Bag tutorial from the Creative Little Daisy blog (see sidebar) and her directions were very clear. No rip-outs! A rarety for me! I used the tutorial from the Sew-Mama-Sew blog for inserting the magnetic closure. I was pretty worried about that as I've never done one before, but that turned out really easy. I still have a few more things to make in between knitting a few hats for orders. I've been keeping myself busy and out of trouble... how 'bout you? What are you all creating?