Do you remember those Capri Sun purses from about 10 years ago?  They were a popular fad on eBay from what I hear.   Along those same lines of sewing with recycled packaging, I give you the Starbucks Wallet.

I made this small bifold credit card wallet out of the 1 lb bag of coffee beans.  Of course, I had cut the bag shorter while using it for my coffee before I had decided on sewing with it.   …planning ahead? what planning ahead?…    I think I’ll have to try it again, when I have a “full size” bag to work with.

If you like the idea and want to try it out yourself, note that you CANNOT iron this packaging.  I did try on a tiny test piece and it curled up quickly.  Thank goodness it was a low heat iron and didn’t melt into my ironing board or iron.  That would have been a crazy hot mess.

Next time I’ll plan the logo positioning a little better and try harder to get that “stay fresh” plastic circle thingy out of the way in a less wasteful manner.  All in all, pretty fun idea to make.  Who knew a mild coffee addiction would turn out inspirational???

screen shot from allfreesewing.com

I’m happy to report that my FREE FREE FREE Beach Bag pattern is an Easy Breezy Cover Girl over at AllFreeSewing.com.  They really have a zillion links over there for all sorts of projects.  If you haven’t tried it out, you should click on through.

And of course, if you are gearing up for the beach, pool or lake- I have a great HUMONGOUS  free bag pattern for you.

Moving.  Staging.  Decorating.  It all rolls into one.  Anyone selling a house knows about all the little “fix-ups” you do to get the house ready to list… and of course, anyone who has sold a house knows about the “Why didn’t we do this when we lived here?” feeling, once the fix-ups are complete.  Well, my friends, this is one of those fix ups.

After viewing a dozen homes in San Antonio, preparing for our move this summer,  I noticed that some of the sellers had covered their cords for lamps or appliances in the living area.  Maybe it is a trend I’m missing.  Well… not any more!

I have looked at that black crazy cord for about two years now.  My wall in the living room is a very pale blue.  Thanks to KONA’s amazing color selection, my cord is now enjoying an exact match blue cover.  It is like a super fashionable shirt for the cord.  Is it perfect, no, but I don’t even notice it any more.  Of course, ideally, the plug would be behind the tv, but we are not rewiring the house right before we leave.  For now, this is a good fix that isn’t too terribly detracting.

The cover was very easy to make.  It is a rectangle, 6″ x 22″ – in my case,  hemmed on each short end.  The rectangle is then sewn right sides together using a 1/4″ seam allowance, along the length.  Turn the tube right side out and put the cord through it.  If you don’t sew, I think you could still make this project using something like StitchWitchery adhesive to hold the cord cover shape in place.

Incidentally,  does anyone need a home in the Wichita KS area, near McConnell AFB?  ((wink wink nudge nudge))

Prom and wedding season is in full swing.  Well, I suppose prom is over since school is almost out … Anywhoo- here’s another altered tuxedo shirt for a June wedding.  I can only imagine the “I’m soooo HOT” pick up lines this groom’s man will have with all those peppers all over his shirt.  Good times!

And I can probably show you the quilting from my current secret projects.  This one above is a computer guided pantograph design, done by Evelyn.  Get this, though, she first stitched in “ghost shapes” in the background of the quilt.  Those ghost shapes are octagons in a slightly different color thread.  She then went over the whole design with the continuous line pantograph quilting.  Pretty neat idea, right?  I’ve never considered double quilting a project, but when you see the whole quilt top (much later) it will make great sense.

Since Evelyn does computer guided longarm work, she can make perfect circles on a quilt.  I’m just beside myself happy with that.  I love how it turned out on the finished project and highly recommend it to anyone who is just about fed up with circle rulers.

The above quilting is also done by Evelyn, on the computerized HandiQuilter.  This pantograph was a more squared off design, similar to the quilting design used on another secret sewing quilt.  The beautiful Pure Elements solid fabrics (above) and the Oval Elements fabrics (Below- quilt back) were generously provided by Art Gallery Fabrics.  They are so great to work with.

It dawned on me that I CAN show you the quilt backs on my current secret projects.  I was going crazy through the stash to build this big queen size quilt back.  I thought this would make quite a dent in my “oranges” but no- I must sew more before I can purchase any more orange fabric.  =)

Once that above quilt was done, it seemed like a good idea to make another queen sized quilt (same pattern on the front) with creams and tans.  Here’s the back of that beauty.

I just picked the quilts up from my local longarm quilter, Evelyn on Tuesday.  If you need to get a hold of me, I’ll be in Binding-ville for the foreseeable future.

In keeping with my “work like crazy but cannot show you anything” theme of the month, I thought I’d go ahead and get a small peek for you.  Here’s a couple bindings from 3 big projects.  One is a silk table runner (above).  It turned out very lovely.

This quilt (above), I call my Stop Light quilt, though there is no green or yellow in the design.  The quilt is primarily black and white and bound in white.  Do you ever bind quilts in light colors?  I generally do not, but it turned out pretty fun.  Of course, I went back to dark binding on the next quilt. (below)

And lastly, this fun quilt is also black and white with some serious lime green solid.  Wait ’til you see these.  I hope you’ll love them.  That will be later though.

All three quilted projects in this post were quilted by Colleen.  She did a great job and turned them around in record time.  THANKS!!!

The whole quilt and pattern are set for publication in April 2013.  That’s all I can say.    I can tell you, though, that when it is revealed, I think you are going to really like it.

The beautiful soft white fabric is Art Gallery Fabric’s Pure Elements.  The orange and red, which you can see, are Kona Solids.  Are there other colors, yes.  Can I tell you what they are … nope.  It looks like 90 degree angles in there.  Sure, can I tell you what they are or how big this “part” of the quilt is in real life … nope.

Check out that machine quilting. Finally something I can share everything about!!!  My machine quilter in Wichita Kansas, Evelyn, did an amazing job with her computer guided HandiQuilter long-arm.  It is really the coolest thing ever to see a computer completely drive such a big quilting machine.  I know there is alot that goes into running, owning, and maintaining a long arm, but that computer makes it look deceptively easy.  Evelyn is the owner and chief over at CelebrityQuilting.com  The all-over square panto is a digital design, Karen’s Modern Squares is by one of the designers on IntelligentQuilting.com.

Oh my goodness.  I tell you what….  We are moving to San Antonio TEXAS!!!  The move will be sometime mid summer, so watch the blog for all the updates.  Business will continue, like normal- which is why it is great to have an internet based, work-from-home career.  Of course, I really thought Wichita would be our last stop, but as it turns out I was slightly, really wrong.  We are moving with the military.  For those of you keeping count- that will be 7 cities in 14 years.  On a related note, anyone need a lovely house in Andover KS?