Piecemakers Donation

My last fabric stop in the States was in Southern California, Costa Mesa.  A shop called Piecemakers, I had heard about it from Madame Samm, she recommended getting a certain sized needle from them.  I went the day after Thanksgiving and when I arrived I was a little shocked.
There were MEN inside the fabric shop and people EATING cakes and drinking tea.  I must have just missed the party because a few musicians were leaving.  I thought I was in the wrong spot, but nope I saw fabric, so I forged right in.

I found the sale pile and picked up a few pieces then I also got some notions at really really good prices (for a different blog post).  When I went to the counter, she said "Oh I see you found our flat folds" (that was the fabric on sale of different yardages and a pinned note of the  price per piece)  I told her that I was going to use them charity quilts and she said "do they need to be square pieces of fabric".  This got me thinking that she had some round pieces for sale too and I was kinda like no, we use all different sizes and make blocks depending on what the queen bee of the month would like us to make.

So she showed me this big bag.

As big as a child in a stoller

She pulled the fabric out and inside was a mix match pile of fabrics, some of them cut in really funky shapes and stacked on top of each other like an Orange County rich Mama just cut into a big pile of fabric to make drama school outfits.

There is one piece that is about 10 yards long that was just cut into, it is green so I think it must have been used to make a tree.  Most of them are cut like this

with a pencil mark and following a line, this one is Halloween fabric.  Susie (the women who was showing me this) took most of the Halloween fabric and Christmas fabric out since I said we really don't celebrate those holidays in Europe.  But I still got a lot of it in the bag, or it would have been twice the size (my husband would have for sure have killed me if I wanted to put all of it in our luggage).

Look at what I still got, some sparklies.

Even a piece of fabric that I know since it was the first piece of fabric I ever used to make a dress for my daughter, my parents got it from JoAnn's so I even know the brand.

Here she is wearing it again this year at IKEA, it is a repurposed baby onsie turned into a tank dress, I just cut the snaps off of the bottom and sewed a piece of fabric around it.

 I made a pile of the ones cut WOF, they are all about 5 - 6"

The other pile I am slowly going through and ironing them and cutting them into manageable pieces, like I said one is at least 10 yards long.

I am working on it, to put together as little packages for my fellow European Siblings Together bee girls.
If you are in the Los Angelas area of Southern California then please make a stop at Piecemakers it is a fantastic shop.

Piecemakers Country Store
1720 Adams Ave.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Thank you so much Susie for donating this fabric to us!

Linking to Sunday Stash over at Finding Fifth.

Chocolate Covered Fireside Bowl Bag

I got my "Big City Bags" Book while in the States, it is written by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness.  I love her purse patterns so I just had to have the book.  I wasn't going to make anything till the start of New Year and then I saw the contest going on for Sew Mama Sew and I said "Hey I have 3 days, I can do it."  Plus if you know me, and if you don't you will learn I love a good Challenge.

I give you my version of the Fireside Bowl Bag, the first pattern in her book.

The white fabric with chocolate covered strawberries is "Chocoholic" designed for Exclusively Quilters and the black fabric is Studio 8 for Quilting Treasures.
The strap is Black Kona and the detail is Red Kona.

For the Interior I used the same black fabric as the exterior bottom.

I only did 1 pocket and since I only had 1 lobster claw I only used 1 on 1 side and sewed the strap in on the other.

Detail of sewed in strap side.

The making of this bag went super easy, I didn't have any deco-fuse fusible interfacing so my version is a little softer, and the fabrics made me crave a stop at my favorite coffee shop, so I took the bag along.

I drank my latte and the bag and I picked out some sweets, chocolate covered, of course.

There really is no front or back of this bag, they both look the same.

Oh and I added handles at the top, just for fun :)

Linking up to Mama Said Sew, Sew Sweetness Bag Contest (say that 5 times fast).

We are Back and December Goal

We arrived back in Greece yesterday, and I am already thinking of what to sew.
On the trip I took along my nephews messenger bags but never got to sew them together.  I did get a chance to purchase the interfacing that I needed to finish them.  But ended up bringing them back to Greece so I can sew them together, so I need to finish them up and send them before Christmas.

This is the N I did for my son

And now I will be doing the A, C and O.

Plus I need to make up for the Bees I missed in November both the European Siblings Together and the Get Your Hex on Bee, I didn't get done and I will need to work on the December bee projects too.

Linking to a Lovely Year of Finishes December Linky Party.