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!!!!

Noah in the cradle...

While Noah was here he had a brief little time to get to lay in the family cradle.  My Dad built this cradle in 1976 when I was expecting my first born.  He made it for my sister and I for our children and now all of their grandchildren have gotten to use it at some point.  It's funny as babies have come along it's gone from house to house... So nice to have one more place that is safe to lay baby down in bedrooms or family rooms.

 Under the mattress is an engraved plaque from when it was made, since then they've added each baby with their names and  birth dates to it. I was going to post it and thought twice about that with the info that is on it, but if you ever want to see it, it's really quite neat to see, such a wonderful family heirloom being passed around.... It's going to Chris and MB's house next :-)

All Cut Up

Just wanted to show you something that is coming up at ETC.   Barb and I have a new Inspiration class we are doing for the store.  It's called All Cut Up.  Soooo all cut up was not all cut up so I've spent a few extra hours at work making sure we are ready for you all to come!  It's the 2nd wed. of Jan and will be once a month, each time something new!  It's all about what you do with the precuts that are out there that we all love to buy and what to do with them.  Once a month you'll come and we'll have a new pattern for you using a precut of some sort...jelly roll, charm squares or layer cakes, a project done out of the pattern for you to see. We'll be able to give you all the tips and tricks of making it since we already made it and have it all figured out.  You never know what it might be tho, some projects are quilts but some will be smaller things so it won't be a huge project each month.  The best part is it's only $2.50 !  Yep, how can you go wrong!  You'll get the pattern and then whatever you buy that day, your $2.50 is applied back towards your purchase so essentially it's a free class!  So here is your sneak peak at the fabrics we have prepped that our sample is made out of.....hint #1, it's using a layer cake ( 10 inch squares...yep I've been doing a bunch of cutting once we had the sample done...and they are all in the sample)  hint #2, they are georgous batiks, but actually any layer cake will work nicely.  You will absolutely love how this project goes together too, ok I'm not going to give it away, so come and check out the fun we'll be having at All Cut Up!  We had so much fun making the sample up at work that I"m dying to get in my sewing room and make one now too!

Teacher sign....all the fun for the next 4 months at ETC.

So at work I have a frame that is all mine behind the register to fill with whatever I like for my classes, I've changed how it looks a few times, this last time I left the background and have foam core behind the pieced fabric background and then I took tacks and made them cute with buttons and things, that way I can just change the classes each quarter as the new calendar comes out.  So I brought it home last week to get it all updated for the new year and got everything listed to add all my new classes at ETC. that are coming up...it sort of made my head swim... then I realized I even forgot one! But then I got all excited about all the fun things that have been in the plans for months now.  We are always trying to stay quite a few months out with our plans for ordering/designing and kit making.  Yep it's crazy but what fun to come up with so many fun things for everyone else to enjoy....I try and choose my classes wisely....things I want to do!  So to start out the new year, here's a peek at what's just coming up in the next 4 months in my life!  I wish all the samples were done, patterns written, class sheets done....but it's getting close, Like Barb says, not in the boat yet, still hanging on the edge...maybe one foot is flopped in!...but we'll get there cuz guess what ...it's time to start thinking about all the fun we'll have ready for you for summer! Yikes!  Happy New year!