My Wool Sewing Case..

 In 2010 I discovered Wool Crazy by JoAnn Mulally.  I convinced three other friends to participate in a wool round robin.  At the time a lot of people were making their projects into pincushions.  I decided to make mine into a sewing case.  The first one I made has a Summer theme to it and has "Leave Room in the Garden for the Fairies to Dance."

Case opened up with a few necessary sewing supplies.

 View from the bottom.

 The second one I made I did all the stitching on the top myself.  Winter theme for a Winter born baby!

 Snowflakes inside.  Stitched on the side it says "Snowflakes are Angel Kisses."

 Signed bottom.

I can't figure out how to load a pd f link for you to print so I scanned my Word document and made it a jpeg.  You should be able to right mouse click on the images and print them off.

If you do make one I'd love to see a photo of it and please give me credit for the instructions. If you have a blog please link it to this page for others to enjoy.

I just realized this is my 401 post, a gift for you to enjoy!

On the road again to San Diego, Coronado, Thousand Oaks.

The Country Loft in La Mesa is a lovely house that has been converted into an amazing space.  Even the back garden and garage have hidden gems.  I came upon this shop several years ago and then discovered JoAnn Mullay and her association with the shop.

 

The shop is just filled with fabrics and beautiful samples of dolls, quilts, stitchery along with antiques and gift items.http://www.cloft.com/

 Everywhere you look there is something to admire and desire. 

 One room beckons you to come to the next, but tread slowly so you don't miss a thing.

 JoAnn has just released a new book called Folk Branches, it combines the same design in stitching and fabric, wool or cotton your choice. http://www.jampatterns.com/

 Her sister Kathy was busy hanging samples and JoAnn was expected in about an hour to teach a class.

 

The book is a keeper, try and get a copy if you can.  Please check out JoAnn's blog http://www.woolcrazy-jam.blogspot.com/

 The book is a keeper, try and get a copy if you can. Go to JoAnn's blog

 Afterwards we went to the Del Coronado hotel and had a walk and enjoyed an ice cream cone on the sun deck.

 This iconic hotel was featured in Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis.

 It is truly a lovely place to visit, relax and enjoy the view for awhile.

 The Del Coronado Hotel, a real beauty.

 Walk along the beach and enjoy the sites.

 Mom sitting and enjoying the sun, the sea and the breezes.

 A closer view of the beach.

 Back at our hotel in San Diego the sun breaking through the clouds.

 Filippi's Pizza Grotto one of our favourite places to visit in Little Italy, first night we had pasta the second night we had pizza.  Leftovers for breakfast the next day.

 We headed north along 101 and then I-5 until we crossed over to Malibu.  Saw a sign on the side of the road saying Thousand Oaks 14 miles and decided to check out Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Shop that is currently being featured in Better Homes and Garden's Quilt Sampler Magazine.

 They have some wonderful samples and inspiration all over the shop.

 This is a large bright shop with very helpful staff.

 Love that basket quilt.

 Wonderful samples all around the shop.

 This mini quilt was hanging in the rest room!

 Lots of wool samples and beautiful wool for sale.

 When you go to Southern California check them out. http://www.cottonandchocolate.com/

Update on Debbie's Wool Crazy Pincushion

Hi, remember the friends that did the wool crazy round robin with me last fall?  Well Debbie has finished off the piece that you last saw below.

 She decided to remove some of the buttons that she had originally on her piece and add some wool work.  She then made it into a very large pincushion that she stuffed with fiber fill and then around the outside crushed walnut shells to make it not too heavy.

 Here is a closer look at her section.

 Ethel did the witch on the broomstick.

 Sandi did the witch's boot with candy corn, crow and spider.

I added the skeleton tree, black cat along with the crescent moon pumpkin.  It is a lovely piece that I'm sure she will enjoy for many years to come.

Nice to see the finished project Debbie!

Wool Crazy piece is finished!

I finally finished my wool crazy piece.  It started because of another piece I was working on and decided to combine the two together.  This is an overall picture of the full piece.

 Here is the top third of the piece.  My initials are in the top right corner and the date is found under the tree.

 I managed to put a little something in for all the seasons.  A lot of the designs are my own, some are adapted from JoAnn Mulaly's Wool Crazy book.

 We had an early snowfall in November that inspired this row of houses.

 Fall is one of my favourite times of year, I love the oranges, reds and purples you can find.

 I often photograph flowers and bees always seem to enter the pictures.

 Sunflowers are another flower I enjoy photographing.

 Whenever I make something my signature logo is a moon and star with shh along with the year the piece was made. 

 We have gorgeous cherry blossoms all over the city and I enjoy driving around and checking them out.

 You may have noticed the snowflake button in the middle of the tree...that is because this piece all folds up and is fact a Huswif Sewing case.

 The interior was designed by Kaaren Johnston at The Painted Quilt.  You can find the pattern for this at  http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-friday-freebie-12.html

I made mine a bit wider than Kaaren's and did not curve the top as she did.  I added the second tulip shape to hold a needle threader.  There are two pockets to hold other goodies that you may need for your projects.

Fall "Break"

Unexpectedly I'm having a Fall "Break"; on October 12th I got up from my computer and my left foot had fallen asleep.  I put it down twice and took a step.  Unfortunately I didn't plant it correctly and broke my fifth metatarsal bone and was in a cast for two weeks.  I then progressed to this lovely black "space boot" but am not able to go to work.  As a result I've been able to do a lot of hand stitching.

 You might remember the wool crazy round robin pin cushion top I shared with you.  Well I decided to put around the side of it the following. "Leave room in the garden for the fairies to dance."  Then after adding the top to the sides I started a new project.

 My friend Rita was a great help to me in the early days of my broken foot, so I made this small garden themed pin cushion for her as a thank you.

 Rita helped make my condo more crutch safe as I couldn't weight bear for the first two weeks after my break.

 Then I started work on the Winter themed pin cushion I was going to make while working on the round robins.

 I finally decided to make my "pin cushion" into a sewing case. I hand stitched the zipper in.

 I did manage to get to my sewing machine to sew the lining bottom to the sides, but everything else is hand stitched.  By luck one of the donut bobbin holders fits perfectly along with a little fairy tin that I keep my Clover applique pins in.  I put some batting in the lid to stick pins and needles in along with some in the sides to make them stand up when the case is open.

 I decided to make a second sewing case with the winter piece.

 As you can see I happened to have this snowflake fabric to make a seasonal lining.  The outside reads "Snowflakes are Angel Kisses."

 I was on a roll, so I made myself an Autumn themed pin cushion that is filled with crushed walnut shells.

 During the Falloween Blog hop I found this pumpkin pin cushion and leaf needle keeper by Terri Degenkolb at Whimsical Quilts.  Her blog from October 3rd is where you get a copy of the pattern. http://whimsicals.typepad.com

 I've also been working on my long narrow crazy quilt piece.  I'm not saying what it will become yet.  But I've been having fun designing patterns to fit the patches.  The house just grew out of what I had pieced.

 I've had some fun with flower designs and am planning on stitching them later tonight maybe.

So you can see I've been keeping busy despite my broken foot!