Tote bag is finished

I am so excited that I decided to tackle another UFO in my stash!!
I finished the tote bag tonight, after 2 trips to Joannes to buy cording and buttons that could be covered. Covering the buttons was much easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part of this whole bag was turning the handles right side out. If anyone knows an easy way to turn tubes of fabric please let me know! I think the finished product is just beautiful! The lining is fabric covered with vinyl. I had never utilized this kind of product before but it was easy to machine stitch through.
Cant wait to carry this one shopping at quilt shop tomorrow.
Have a great weekend and sew away!

Making of a tote bag

My friend Julie gave me this kit years ago (you don't want to know how long honestly).
I would definitely categorize this as another UFO! I have never made a tote bag before but thought why not when I pulled this out yesterday.
So far I have one of the outside panels completed. I have not used decorative stitching with my sewing machine much before but I loved using it on this project.
It was fun to look at all the stitches I did not realize I had and play with them.
I am thinking a crazy quilt is in my future somewhere.
My sweet hubby is going to take me to the quilt shop later today since I still can not drive after my surgery. More time to sew sew sew.
Have a great saturday!

I love Circleeze

I do a lot of applique and absolutely do not like to applique circles because for me they end up square. I used Circleeze on this block and the berries look much better and round! I may actually get this quilt pieced together prior to the end of the year. I think the rest of tonight I am going to work on my grandma's flower garden and try to get one more block done. Next weekend I am taking an intermediate hand quilting class. I have not taken a quilting class in a few years and I am very excited about it and hope to learn some new tips.

Im back....

Hi all
I have not posted on here for greater than a week because I was in the hospital.
Back at home now getting better and four more weeks of sewing time yeah!!!
I finished another applique block last night pictured here. Starting the next one today. I have five more of these to go for this UFO from 2004. I hope to have the top together after I go to quilting retreat this fall. The next block has lots of berries so I am breaking out the circleze to do this next block. Appliquing tiny circles is intimidating for me!
Have a great day and get some stitching time in today!