The Long Weekend Blog Hop

Image courtesy of Amy Butler Designs

When my friend Lori asked if I'd like to co-host a blog hop on making Amy Butler's iconic Weekender Bag, there really wasn't anything to say except yes. We both had seen several new versions of the bag popping up here and there online lately, so we were both getting the urge to make one of our own. The bag has a reputation for being incredibly challenging yet still doable, and with the holidays coming up and possible travel in the works, what better time to take the Weekender challenge?

And so we welcome you to The Long Weekend. We've rounded up a group of bloggers who will each show you their own version of the bag and give you a few tips for making it yourself. At the end of the hop we'll let you link up your own bags for a chance to win some pretty fabulous prizes from our sponsors.

Here's the schedule:

October 15: Kick Off Day!! 

     Lori Hartman at Lori H. Designs/Gypsy Girl Fat Quarter Bundle 

     Heidi Staples at Fabric Mutt/$20 Pink Chalk Fabric Giveaway

October 22: Debbie Jeske at A Quilter's Table/Cameo Fat Quarter Bundle

October 29: Beth at Plum and June/Two assorted Fat Eighth Bundles - Pink Castle Fabrics

November 5: Jenelle at Echinops and Aster/$25 Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway

November 9: Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts

November 10: Courtney @ Mon Petit Lyons

November 11: Sarah @ Bluprint Textiles

November12: Leanne @ She Can Quilt

November 13: Lori @ Lori H. Designs

November 14: Heidi @ Fabric Mutt

November 15: Taryn @ Pixels to Patchwork

November 16 - 18: Project Link-up at Lori H. Designs

November 19: Prize Drawings Announced

If you'd like to buy a pattern of your own, Pink Castle Fabrics has some for sale here.  They also have been so incredibly generous to offer 15% off anything in their shop when you use the code LONGWEEKEND15.  The code is good until November 19th, so start shopping now!

Here are a few more of our fabulous sponsors! Check out their shops when you're looking for supplies to make your Weekender.

 

 

 

 

 

And if you're looking for more online shops where you can purchase your pattern or zipper -- you know, just in case anyone sells out -- we've done the legwork for you already. Check out the list below: 

Patterns
Jimmy Beans Wool
Harts Fabric
Quilt Home
Amazon
Emerald City Fabrics
Gobstock
All Brands
Ebay
Purse Patterns
Royal Yarns International
Arts Crafts USA
The Dizzy Daizy
Sew Thankful
The Cotton Patch
Etsy
Christa Quilts
Banberry Place
Alewives
A Joyful Soul Fabrics
The Quilt Asylum

Zippers
(remember that you can use either a 30 inch non-separating zipper or a 32+ inch separating zipper)
Seattle Fabrics
Custom Zips
Joann’s
Zipper Stop

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS FOR ENTERING!***

But what's an event kick-off without a giveaway?

Pink Chalk Fabrics is offering a $20 gift certificate to one lucky winner. You have two chances to enter:

1) Leave me a comment -- any comment!
2) Leave me one more comment letting me know that you spread the word about The Long Weekend through your choice of social media: Twitter, Facebook, a blog post, etc.

I'll post a winner on Friday. Entries are open to everyone -- just make sure that you have an email address in your comment if you're a no-reply blogger, or I'll have to pick another winner. Be sure to stop by Lori's blog too for another fantastic giveaway!

Would you like to join us? Grab the button below and hop on board!

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Vintage Holiday Quilt Along Party!

I can hardly believe that we've arrived at the end of the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along! I want to thank Camille for allowing us to use her beautiful pattern, and the Fat Quarter Shop for providing us with some wonderful prizes along the way. Most of all, I want to thank all of you for your excitement and encouragement as we've worked on these quilts together. This has been such a great experience, and I've loved sewing along with you!

Our party begins today and ends at midnight PST on Thursday night. If you've made a finished product using the blocks from the pattern -- quilt, table runners, tree skirt, etc. -- add it to the link-up below! I'll post our two winners on Friday. The gorgeous fat quarter bundles you see above are being donated by the fine folks at the Fat Quarter Shop. I do love that Vintage Modern collection!

And if you're itching to join another sew along now that we've finished this one, come back to visit tomorrow. I'll have all the details and two giveaways waiting for you...

Happy

When Jennifer first posted about her Scrappy Stash QAL, I knew I would be joining her. I've had scraps piling up for a while now, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. I absolutely love log cabins, and these are so fun to make -- a wonderful way to relax in the evenings.

Today is the first rainy day we've had in what seems like forever. The girls and I just spent a few minutes standing in the front doorway, breathing in that familiar smell of wet leaves. I'm so happy that fall has finally arrived.

What are you happy about today?

Vintage Holiday QAL Week 10: Binding

First, I want to thank you all for your sweet words about yesterday's post. You have given me so much encouragement, and I'm so grateful. Thank you, my friends.

Next I want to say -- hallelujah, it's done!! I have never taken so long to finish a quilt before, and seeing this one complete gave me such a thrill.

I bound it in a red print which adds a nice little burst of color all the way around the quilt and matches perfectly with the red flowers in the blue print I used for the border on the front.

Since my little Bear has been needing a new quilt for her larger bed, I decided to offer this one to her if she was interested. She was absolutely overjoyed. In fact, I could hardly carry the quilt to her bed this evening because she was walking along next to me trying to gather it in her arms and give it kisses. I honestly don't know if anyone loves my quilts more than my daughters do.

So here we are at the final week! Wrap up those quilts and get ready to link up your big finish some time between next Monday and Friday. The wonderful people at Fat Quarter Shop have given me two beautiful fat quarter bundles of Vintage Modern to give away to two of you who link up. You won't want to miss out!

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday and the Let's Get Acquainted Monday Link-up.

Breathe

So remember when I said that I was struggling with an unknown illness last week? What was masquerading as some sort of flu bug appears to be a simple case of utter physical exhaustion. Between caring for my three daughters, home schooling, cleaning, cooking, running errands, blogging, and sewing -- and all on six hours of sleep or (often) less per night -- I have discovered that my rope does indeed have an end to it. It appears that something is going to have to give, and that "something" will probably be a bit of my sewing and blogging.

I have always been the sort of person who throws herself completely into things, and once in a while I throw myself a little further in than I should. It's the perfectionist in me. Sewing has been such a joy for me, but the more I do, the more I want to do, and it's amazing how fast it all piles up. There are always at least ten events happening at any time online, and I want to join every one of them. Before I know it, I'm scrambling every night to finish another project, another blog post. And then there are all the blog posts that I need to read before bed so that I don't have ninety messages waiting for me in Google Reader the next morning. Meanwhile I struggle to give my family the love and attention that they need and keep up with the endless piles of laundry and dishes -- well, you get the idea. It's all about priorities, and I'm starting to get the feeling that I've mixed something up somewhere.

My sudden crash this week has been a wake up call for me. Reading Katie's post last night was another nudge in that direction. And then my father surprised me by sitting down with me as an ambassador for the family this afternoon and saying, "We love you and we're proud of you, but you're doing too much." As hard as it is for me to admit it, he's right. And just to make sure that I don't weasel out of it, I want to let all of you know it too. I'll still be sewing and blogging here every week, just a little less often. You have all been such a blessing to me this year -- more than you will ever know. I love sewing and sharing with you, but I've found that I really do need to slow down and take time to breathe.

After talking with my dad for a while, I went downstairs to find the rest of the family. I hugged my husband. I played with my dogs. I taught my girls how to make gingerbread.

It was the best afternoon I've spent in a long time.

Travellin' Pic-Stitch Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Travellin' Pic-Stitch Blog Hop -- my thanks to Laura at Quokka Quilts and Katy at The Littlest Thistle for letting me play along!

While I enjoy sewing, my husband's passion is gardening, and there's nothing he loves more than a visit to one of the many garden spots we have here in Southern California. A few weeks ago we took the girls to the Fullerton Arboretum, and while they had fun inspecting a small grove of fruit trees, I wandered around taking pictures...

Near the Pond

Desert Garden

Turtle By the Waterfall

It was a hard decision, but I finally chose the waterfall, a sight you can see as you cross a little bridge into the park. Look closely at the rock in the middle of the water at the bottom -- there's a turtle sunning himself in the 107 degree heat that plagued us that afternoon. Needless to say, it wasn't a long visit that day...

Here's the color palette generated by the Palette Builder at Play Crafts -- a genius tool, if there ever was one. I love that combination of colors on the right...so restful.

I started out with a pretty large stack of prints, which I narrowed down to a smaller selection, and even one of these got tossed out by the time I was finished.

Katy's Spring Carnival block was the source of my pattern pieces, and after playing around with them for a few days, I came up with this design which I'm calling "Turtle Cove."

I like the way the center of the block suggests the shape of a turtle, and I love the text prints scattered throughout the entire piece. That bird cage at the top is one of my favorites.

A pillow cover seemed like the best place for this block to land, and I put one together a few days ago, after which it was quickly hijacked by my three daughters who insisted that they each get a turn to snuggle with it. Obviously I need to do this more often.

Do stop by Pins and Bobbins to see Chelsea's sweet tea towel design from yesterday, and visit Erin at Missy Mac Creations tomorrow for Donktober madness, this time with a Travellin' Pic-Stitch spin.

You can read up on all the details of the blog hop here, including the list of amazing sponsors who are making all this possible. Remember that you too can join in on the fun if you link up a block of your own on November 30th.

Enjoy your weekend!

Chicopee Corduroy Bag

There is something wonderful about making a project from a pattern for the second time. For one thing, the pattern pieces are already cut out. It's also fun to re-imagine a piece in different prints and notions, and you can fix any little glitches you noticed the first time around.

I made my first version of the Melford Messenger Bag pattern by Charlie's Aunt last June, and it turned out to be one of the best bags I've ever owned -- home sewn or store bought. When I started thinking about making another bag for the fall, I just couldn't think of any other pattern I would enjoy using more.

I saw Denyse Schmidt's beautiful new line of Chicopee corduroy last month, and I knew that I wanted to use it for this project. It took me a while to settle on a combination that I liked, but I finally decided on her Simple Plaid Red -- which is really more of a light tangerine color -- for the outside and Frame Natural from Echino's linen Decoro collection for the inside.

I love the way these two prints look together. The Echino has a wonderful vintage look to it, while the velvety soft Chicopee looks modern and retro at the same time. This time I reinforced the inside pocket with two sets of stitches, since it started coming loose in my other purse last month. I decided to make the outside pocket entirely out of the exterior fabric this time, and I like seeing the purse in one unbroken line without the accent of another print.

I've been saving these leather buttons for my next purse, and I'm loving the chocolate brown against the orange fabric -- so fall. Rather than place one of the buttons on the body of the bag, as the pattern suggests, this time I sewed all three onto the flap.

I am absolutely crazy about this bag. I've been under the weather for the past few days with some unknown bug, but I'm hoping to be done with it soon so I can take this purse out over the weekend and have some fun...

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.