Finished Product

Here's the finished bags that I sold to Tilley's.  I called one of the newspapers and asked how much it would be to run a little ad when it gets closer to summer.  It's $8 for a small box ad, but I'm just not sure I want to spend that much.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but once I factor in my materials, that 8 bucks cuts into my profit quite a bit.  That's if I only get one or two orders.  Now, if I thought I could get a bunch of orders from that $8 ad, I wouldn't hesitate.  Ah, decisions, decisions.

Delivered Order

Sunday afternoon I was able to deliver the two sets of bags for the corn toss game to the customer.  Since they will get a lot of use (the tavern has a league one night a week), the owner ordered another two pair for sometime in July!  I'm tickled at getting that order.

He also said he would put up a sign with my phone number and that I make bags for the corn toss game.  Hey, every little bit of business helps.  I'm happy about that.

What I should do is make up several sets, and not fill them yet, just to have on hand.  Then when people order them, they will be just about all ready.

Made homemade pizza yesterday for supper.  Ev didn't want me to cook tonight since we have a lot of leftovers.  I am going to make some lentil soup that I had planned on.  Promised Nick I would bring him some tomorrow.

44 More Days, But Who's Counting....

It's Monday morning and it has been a rough one so far.  Walked into a hornets nest (figuratively) at 8:00 a.m. at work.  Then when that settled down, went to read some info and found information I had previously missed that set my world back a few notches.  Don't want to get into it here, but suffice it to say, the Paducah trip cannot come soon enough.  And I may just forget my cell phone at home!

Using My Old Serger

This is my old serger.  I rarely use it, but it is nice to have.  It was new somewhere in the late 80's I think.  It still runs like a charm.  I would probably use it a bit more if it were not a three spool.  It doesn't have that extra line of straight stitching to hold pieces together.  The main purpose of this machine is to put an overlock stitch on a hem.  Which it does quite nicely.  It has the cutting blade to trim fabric as you go, too.

What I'm using it for now is to finish the edges on the corn toss bags.  They will take quite a beating and need to have plenty of reinforced edges.

The bags finish at 6" square, so I have cut strips of 6-1/2" canvas and am serging one edge.  Then I cut the canvas into squares and leave the opening to fill them on the serged edge.  Once I sew the other three edges, I serge them together and turn the bags right side out to be filled.

The red bags are waiting to be filled and the black, brown, and blue are ready to be sewn.

If I start using the serger more, such as for these projects, I think I may rearrange my sewing room.  The Bernina (that I never fell in love with) probably has not been used in years.  I may stash it under a table.  May replace it with the serger.  Still want to get that custom table made to put the 301 in.  Or, I could put the 301 in the table the Kenmore shown in the above picture is in.  Not in any hurry to do anything right now.  Maybe after Paducah I will get it all together... hahaha.

Ordered some quilty goodies online today.  I love getting packages in the mail.

Pretty Pieces

Didn't get upstairs anymore last night, but did go up for a while before work this morning.  I put the second star point on each piece, pressed them, and sewed them into rows.  Just have to sew a few more seams and I'll have four completed blocks.

Colorful Canvas

Here are the four colors of canvas I ordered for the corn toss bags.  That red is not quite as orangish as the picture looks and the brown is more brown than tan.  I think they will make good bags for the game.

The owner of Tilley's has a league in the spring and is the one who requested the bags.

As a side note - when I ordered this canvas, I got to thinking.  Is this the same canvas that people use to paint pictures on?  It wasn't terribly expensive and if a person had the ability to make the wood frame, they could really get some bang for their buck buying the canvas like this.  Yeah, sometimes I go off on tangents...  haha

Half Wonky

Twelve minutes of sewing this morning before work netted 16 pieces that were half star point blocks!  The still need to be pressed but this is a good start to pushing through and finishing making these blocks.

Nineteen blocks are completed and we were shooting for having 48, and those 16 pieces will be for 4 more blocks.  That will put me almost half way there.  I just need to keep plugging away.  If it were a little warmer outside, I would probably get more sewing done at night, but I just can't leave Addy outside for any great length of time with the temp so cold still.

A Tisket, A Tasket, Here's My Scrap Basket

It is difficult to judge size in a picture, but this basket is about 12" across and 5" deep.  It has quite a few bits and pieces in it.  This is where the scraps for the wonky stars are at the moment.

I have so many scraps, I think it's time to purge.  I sent Mary a box full last week, and I think I'm going to fill a box or two again and give them to her next month.  There are just too many for me to ever realistically use.

More Wonky Stars

While making the wonky star blocks for our swap is very fun, it was a bit time consuming because I would reach into the scrap tub, pick out a piece, cut it to how it would fit best, then sew it onto the foundation square.  I have cut the time in half by going through a bunch of scraps and cutting them to the approximate size needed and putting them in a basket next to the machine.  There's enough variety that I don't have to even look, I just grab and sew.

The blocks do force me to press in stages.  I have to press after each scrap is sewn, then again when the rows are sewn and finally when rows are sewn together.  They do look nice when done!

I also have 8 squares of red canvas ready to be made into bags for the corn toss game.  Ordered red, black, brown and blue canvas for two full sets of bags.  I'm thinking that I might get out the serger and serge the edges, just to give them a little more strength.  They do take a beating.

Paducah Is Getting Closer

Today I mailed a check to the hotel we are staying at for the balance of the room.  I wanted to get that out of the way.  It's kind of a mental thing.  The room is paid for so now all the money I save is for food and goodies!  Oh, and gas, but hopefully that won't be too bad because Mary and I split the cost on that.

50 more days!