The Evelyn

I stumbled upon an awesome pattern from Chris W. Designs for a wonderfully professional looking handbag, the Evelyn!  Being that I love to try new techniques and further my knowledge of the craft, I purchased it.  I will admit that when I printed it out and first took a look, it was kind of intimidating!  It was a long, detailed pattern with LOTS of pieces.  So, I put it aside until a day came where I was feeling a little braver.  A couple of months later I saw a fabric from the Heirloom Collection from Joel Dewberry and knew it was time to break out that pattern and make a new bag! 
As with most things, once you actually get started it's not as difficult as you think it is going to be. Although, the first one I made (pictured above) did take SEVERAL hours - it was WELL worth it as I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bag! It is completely functional with 2 exterior elastic side pockets (where I keep my cell phone and keys for easy access), an exterior zippered pocket on the back,

an interior zippered pocket which also doubles as a regular open pocket, and there are also 3 more pockets on the inside - one of them a pen pocket!  I ended up getting a couple of orders for these :)  As my fiance' says they are sharp looking bags!

This is the second - also a fabric from the Joel Dewberry Collection! The orange and turquoise are fabulous together!!  My favorite color is orange by the way :)  I believe I could purchase almost the entire collection of the citrine palette! These fabrics are a pleasure to work with and have a wonderful weight and feel to them.

Cutting the bag takes a little over an hour, I would guess - considering you are not interrupted, which I have yet to experience :) But, so is the wonderful life of a mom! I wouldn't know what to do without hearing that sweet little voice call me 50 gazillion times a day.  It has 46 cut pieces including the outer fabric, lining fabric, fusible interfacing and fleece interfacing, plus the 5 rectangle rings, two zippers, two pieces of elastic, and the magnetic snap.

Christine's pattern is well written and easy to follow with plenty of pictures to help you along.  This bag has turned out great each time I have made it and is well worth the time that goes into it.  First, you make and attach the handles, snap, and back zippered pocket.

Next, comes the side elastic pockets for the outside of the bag- these have 5 pieces each!  The interfacing, side panel, 2 pieces for the pocket, and a piece of elastic. They def come in handy though!  I can drop my keys in one and don't have to search through my purse for them!  My cell stays in the other, and I never have to look for it either! Love these pockets!!

The part that always gets me is attaching the sides - it is kinda tricky, and I always stick myself with (at least) a couple of pins.  When pinned enough, it vaguely resembles a voodoo doll of sorts.  But, when carefully done, it turns out beautiful!

Then, it is time to assemble the interior of the bag which features a zippered pocket that also doubles as a regular pocket, a pen pocket, and two more regular pockets.  I love the extra detail that Christine wrote into these in the pattern.  The band at the top of the pockets and double stitching not only really set these apart but also make them extra durable!

With both the interior, flap and exterior complete, finally, you can put it all together.  The interior is interfaced with fleece which makes it sturdy but flexible and soft at the same time. The exterior is interfaced as well but with a slightly stiffer fusible interfacing.  I use Pellon Decor-Bond for this and the handles.  The Evelyn is made to hold up well for a very long time!

This awesome paisley fabric is from Hobby Lobby and was picked by a customer for a custom order.  The Evelyn does take quite a bit of time to complete but is well worth every minute!  In the end, you end up with a well constructed, heavy duty handbag that is sure to last.

I def plan to try more patterns from Christine at Chris W. Designs!  If you are interested in trying these for yourself, you can find her online at www.chriswdesigns.com  or on Etsy.  She also has a blog and a Facebook page!  You can find plenty of Joel Dewberry's fabric on Etsy at really good prices.

If you would like an Evelyn already made you can message me on my Facebook page or through Etsy.  I don't have these listed just yet in my shop but they are $50 and you can choose your fabric for a totally custom bag!


That's it for now :) Time to go sew!

T

Since there were several that wanted recipes I figured this would be the easiest way to share them!  I found these online although I forgot to write down the web addresses. 

The first recipe I tried was the Blondie Brownies with Maple Brown Sugar Sauce - It was AWESOME!!  I also made some Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream to go with it which topped it off perfectly!

Blondie Brownies

1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/8 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
8 ounces cream cheese softened
1/2 teaspoon maple extract

Directions:
Sift together sifted flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add chopped nuts.  Mix well and set aside.

Melt butter.  Add brown sugar and mix well.  Add egg and vanilla extract and blend well.  Add flour mixture a little at a time, mixing well.  Stir in white chocolate chips.  Spread into a 9" square pan.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until tester insterted in center comes out clean or with slightly fudgy looking crumbs.

Combine syrup and butter, cook over low heat until butter is melted.  Stir in brown sugar until dissolved.  Remove from heat and beat in cream cheese and maple extract until smooth.  Heat again either over low heat or in the microwave at short intervals to reach desired sauce consistency.

Serve sauce over warm brownies topped with vanilla ice cream.

Philadelphia Style Vanilla Ice Cream
From The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 c. Heavy Cream
1 c. whole milk
3/4 c. sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour 1 c. cream into med. saucepan add sugar and salt.  Scrape seeds from bean into saucepan and add the pod to the pot.  Warm over med. heat stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and add remaining milk, cream and vanilla extract.  Chill mixture in fridge thoroughly.  Remove vanilla pod before churning.

To freeze ice cream if you don't have an ice cream freezer:

1.  Prepare custard as directed including chill time
2.  Remove custard from fridge and stir with rubber spatula cover with air tight seal lid or plastic wrap and place in freezer for 2 hours.
3. Remove and beat with hand mixer; cover and freeze 2 more hours.
4.  Remove and beat with hand mixer; should be thick but too soft to scoop.  If not thick enough return and freeze.  Beat again.  Stir in any add ins.  Do not beat with mixer after add ins.
5.  Pour into plastic airtight freezer container leaving 1/2" space at top and freeze until firm.

Hope you enjoy!!
Tasha

Weekend of Stitches

The weekend started extremely dreary with lots of storms and rain so there wasn't much else to do besides be lazy or sew.  I managed to do a lot of both.  I started out with a few Easter basket orders on Saturday and ended up finally finishing my bedroom set on Sunday.  I had been procrastinating on the pillows and bed skirt to match the quilt I made a couple months ago.  The quilt is made entirely of fabrics from Amy Butler.  Her fabrics are always beautifully colored and the prints are classic!  The pattern is Playing it Retro from the October/November 2011 Quick Quilts magazine.  The pattern was for a lap size quilt so I added to it to make a full size bed quilt from it.  The appliqued circles and askew squares went perfectly with the fabrics.

I sent the quilt to Ms. Carrie in Georgia who quilted it with a lovely pumpkin seed design that framed the circles perfectly!  The border was quilted in a large floral pattern.  I had a white bed skirt that did not go with the cream in the quilt so I made a new one from the Morning Glory and Cherry Moon Dot fabrics.  I ended up having some left over scraps so I worked with those and made some accent pillows and pillow cases.

A while back while looking on Etsy I had seen a cute idea making wall art from bits of fabric and have been dying to try it out!  I took the now tiny scraps I had left and adheard them to a sheet of Heat N Bond and traced a petal pattern on the paper backing.  After cutting them out I randomly laid them out on a large piece of natural duck canvas and ironed them down.  Super easy and quick project and it turned out awesome!  I framed it in a 20" x 26" poster frame I bought at walmart for $20.

Turns out the dreary and cool weekend was a productive one after all.  We even managed to get a couple naps in!  When the sun did finally shine on Sunday, the guys took the new puppy, Ranger, on his first "adventure" looking for arrowheads at the deer plot where Chipper managed to fall in some water from Saturday's storms. Judging from how soaked and dirty he was when he showed up at the front door yelling for a towel, it must have been a large one!

Hopefully I will be able to get a few more orders done this week in between baseball practice, work, and all the other stuff that comes along!

I am lovin the cute new Easter baskets!  They are fun to make ;) This was a special order for my fiance's co-worker.

Tasha

Project Quilting 3: Challenge 1

I recently started reading a few quilting blogs to see what other quilters out there were up to and stumbled upon a blog that features a spin off of the show Project Runway.  After reading about Project Quilting and seeing that season 3 had just started I decided to go for it.  The first challenge was "Architectural Elements" which made church steeples pop into my head immediately!  Being from the South where churches are everywhere, it seemed only natural to turn such a beautiful sight into a quilt.  I love looking at the steeples and how they make for a beautiful skyline image.  I immediately started looking online for the right picture to inspire this quilt.  I found two that had elements that I loved. Then it was on to the fabric shop to pick out a few batiks that I thought would complete this project beautifully.

The first was a picture of a log cabin that had a wonderful cross shaped window on the front which I thought would transfer over and work great for supporting border blocks.

The second picture was of a beautiful steeple with a cross on the top which made a great center applique for the quilt.  I machine appliqued the fabric pieces together to create the church steeple in the center of the quilt.

I was thrilled to see the fabrics come together to give it almost a stained glass look!  The quilt finished out to be about 40" wide by 48" long. 

Since I was wanting to stretch the envelope a little with this project and try some things I had never done before, I loaded some quilting embroidery machine designs into my machine and quilted it with angels around the church and feather crosses around the border.

It was fun watching an inspiration take shape and form into something useful and beautiful! 



I am really looking forward to the next challenge but for now I am on to work on an apple core scrap quilt for my sister (I have acquired WAY to many scraps!)

Tasha