Sun Lakes demo/trunk show

Well my crazy week continued, I tried to snap a couple photo's of our demo at Sun Lakes.  Couldn't really do it and take photo's so I just took a few when we got there.  Lots of ladies all milling around waiting for their meeting to get underway.  I think there had to end up being 100-150 ladies all in attendance.  They did their usual meeting things and then called Marti up to introduce the store and tell everyone about what ETC. is all about.  Then she introduced Barb and I.  Barb did a great job keeping them all engaged, they seemed very interested and had alot of questions. We had a few raffle prizes to hand out so 3 ladies won gift cards to ETC. so I hope they have fun shopping or taking a class!

We had lots and lots to show them of the classes we teach, we passed around alot of our samples and then did the demo on our Slice of Bali pattern that we did for the All Cut Up class.  We had done the demo at the store that morning for 28 gals that showed up.  It was the beginning of something new for ETC.  and it was great to see that many show up to see what we had going!  They all seemed to love seeing something fun to do with a 10 inch square, had lots of questions and loved seeing our project quilt and pillow. What a great way to Sew them together and chop them up and sew them back together, it was lots of fun. I hope we see some other quilts being made from the pattern!  Several all came prepared with their sewing machines and stayed to start their own project, we had to leave really fast after our demo ended tho to get to Sun Lakes in time so it'll be fun to see them all come in!  All Cut Up happens again next month, we'll be playing with 5 inch squares so you never know what we'll have up our sleeves!

Little Grandboys

Here's a few more cute photo's of my 2 littlest grand-boys I didn't get to post yet.  One day after Christmas I got to keep Noah for the afternoon while Jamie had some time off with her sister and family so of course we spent some time on a Christmas Quilt under the Christmas Tree....

 I got him here right before he rolled over! He's got his new pants on his Mommy found, big enough in the waste so he can sit comfortably....but way to long.  Noah we'll miss all that cute baby fat when you start running around and it disappears!  Such a cutie you are Noah!

 That same day in the morning Bode came to play with me too.  He has such fun outside now, loves wandering around checking things out!  Such a grin Bode!  You are loved!

Martinique Bag Class at ETC.

Barb and I taught our Martinique Bag pattern last week at ETC.  We had 11 come to class to make it!  Here is Denise's

 And Marti's, you should see the inside of hers, black and hot pink polka dots, it was the cutest thing!

 Julie with hers!  She said her friend at home in Ireland always checks to see what she's making on here so I'm glad she's found the link to see what fun we get in to!

 And Kathy's!  Several more I didn't get to photograph and a few still have handles to get on but they'll all be such fun bags!  And of course we've tweaked the pattern here and there so it was great to have so many come and make our bag!

Bruce and Vickie

Ken and I enjoyed a fun Sunday with Bruce and Vickie ( these are Jamie's parents)  We met at Joes Farm Grill for a wonderful lunch outside in this fantastic weather!  Then followed them out to see their new home under construction!  It's going to be so wonderful, can't wait to see it finished!  It's only about 15 minutes from our house so it'll be nice to have them on this side of the valley.  I can tell it'll be a wonderful home for them!

Slice of Bali.... All Cut Up

Here's this sneak peek at what our All Cut Up project is for Jan.  Barb and I will be doing our All Cut Up class this week and here is the finished sample. I brought it home to bind and have just loved looking at the georgous batiks in it.  The premise of this class is to give a demo to inspire on what the heck do you do with the precuts available on the market.  This months project will use a layer cake...10 inch squares of fabric packaged with 1 of each of 40 different fabrics.  We made ours out of this assortment of batiks that  will be available after the class.  We have the pattern written, and Barb came up with the great name for it as Slice of Bali. This is such a fun block to do you will just love it and it hardly takes any cutting, you sew a bit and slice it up.  So come and join us  on Wed. and see what you think!  

 A fast and fun way to build a quilt that looks hard but isn't!  For $2.50 you get the pattern, you get to listen and see how to make these fun blocks and then your $2.50 is applied to your purchase that day so how can you go wrong!  If you make quilts for donation or need one done fast, this one is for you!  I have one started at my house that I"ll show you soon, it's twin size and bright and fun!

So wish us luck as after we demo this at ETC. we are heading to Sunlakes to do a demo of this and trunk show to inspire all those ladies down there. I hear their group has between 100 and 200 members, yikes!  It'll be fun tho to show them all our Fun classes and Sew and Go projects. Marti and Julie from ETC will head down early to set up and take product down to sell and Barb and I will get there after the ETC. class. Just a little organization and coordination going on to pull it off! Wow how fun to get to share all the fun things we come up with for all the ladies at Sun Lakes!  Next month All Cut Up will be featuring what to do with 5 inch charm squares!

3 little boys come over to play...

My 3 little guys came by for an afternoon during their Christmas break.  We had fun picking grapefruit and oranges in the yard...

 Aiden with his new cub scout hat on... he's going to have a birthday this month....8 years old, oh my!

 Here's Ethan and Garrett...can you tell we had chocolate frosted donuts...with sprinkles!

Welcome Home Jeremy

Soooo Excited!  Jeremy is on his way here as we speak!  Yea, our youngest son home for a visit, January Christmas which we've just adapted too since he's been in the Air Force.  Wishing Jamie and Noah were coming along!  He'll be cramming as much as possible into his 5 day visit so we'll take whatever we get!!!! We'll kick it off with dinner for 25 tomorrow for a welcome home!  We are off to the airport, let the fun begin!!!!

Jeremy and I  Jan.2011 in the Caribbean

Buggy Barn Bunnies

Here's another look at our Buggy Barn Bunnies class coming up at Etc.  Again the iPhone photo was a bit rough so I'm posting it again... enjoy some details.  These guys were so much fun to do!

 If you've not tackled a buggy barn you'd enjoy this one for sure!  They are the most carefree quilts to make!

 When I chose my fabrics I picked out this border first....then later decided to miter it.

 These guys each have some personality, did you see the chocolate one in the first picture!

And here is Barb's version, bright and cute!  She found the perfect buttons for eyes in all the right colors! It looks like a big bright Easter egg!  Our class teaching this at Etc. is Feb. 3rd.  It'll be so much fun to see all the bunnies that day!

Jeremy and Noah

I took a few minutes the other night and hunted some photo's of my youngest son as a baby.  Jamie's Mom had asked if our little Noah looked like his Daddy....well, I'll let you decide.... here are Noah and Jeremy....

Do you think they are related????

Sew and Go Is back!

Sew and Go started out with a bang this week at ETC, we had 28 come to class and enjoy making our Hidden Pocket Bag.  

 They all came out so cute!

 It was so nice to see all our students back again after having no classes in December.

 We were just as excited as they were!  We'll be teaching this same project next Tuesday and then we'll have a different project for the last 2 Tuesdays in Jan.  And it's the coolest project....I'll be dropping hints in another week or so!!!!

 And here is our newest little student!  Angela was back after having her darling baby boy, he was so good, we are glad he's here so his Mommy can come and sew with us!

New Years Day

We enjoyed a wonderful relaxing time with Chris and MB and Bode on New Years Day.  MB cooked a wonderful dinner and we enjoyed appetizers sitting out on the patio watching Bode play.  Our weather couldn't have been nicer!  

 I got to watch Bode take his bath, what fun!  And no their water isn't normally that color...Grammy got him some bath colors in his stocking, so half was blue and half was purple and pretty soon it turned into this lovely color! 

 Grammy's little cutie at 18 months!

Martinique Bag

Well it's official, Barb and I officially introduced our pattern today at Etc.  After many hours we officially printed and produced this pattern for a purse that's been requested by many.  It's a fun purse to carry with lots of dividers and pockets and zippers, we've made our samples out of laminated cotton but this weekend I did one out of regular cotton fabric and it will soon be my favorite purse!  How fun to take them in to work today, show it in class and have 80% of them leave!  More are being printed tonight and our first official class to teach it is this coming Friday!  It was fun at Sew and Go this week as several students who purchased it were surprised we'd written it....wondering who is this....We decided to have it written by This Old Bag....yep that's us....we even had to autograph a few of them.  So after lots of hours, tons of text messages, emails flying back and forth, sewing another one...one more time, rereading it...one more time, changing things, reading it again, one more trip to the store for ink, it's here!  

The Martinique Bag!    Why the Martinique bag????  We both love the Caribbean and so we decided it should be named after one of the islands in the Caribbean!  And you can reach us at thisoldbags@gmail.com   

And there are more in the works so watch for more from 

This Old Bag!!!!