sew (ha!) much to sew...

I discovered this weekend that I am a quilting loser.  Well, when it comes to MAMMOTH size quilts that is.  & when I say MAMMOTH size, I mean twin size.  I got the Lollies' quilts pieced together over the weekend & attempted the quilting on Sunday.  Good gracious, it was not happening.  I was so upset.  Even Jack looked at me w/ eyes saying "Give it up, Mom".

My dear friend & hired help, Kim, came to my rescue & is quilting them for me!  Oh my gosh, I can't even begin to tell you what a life saver this is for me- ESPECIALLY since I need them done by their party on Saturday!  Thank you, Kimbolene!!!  Don't worry, blogosphere, this will not be the end of my quilting- just the end of quilting items larger than baby blankets.  For now, anyway.  I already have plans on making throw pillow covers w/ pieced together fronts that are quilted for extra coziness.  I am going to use this tutorial by Ryan Walsh of I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts to get the sizing & flaps engineered correctly.  I think I might make my first pillow cover w/ shoofly blocks which I found over at amy a la mode's blog.  Super excited about that.  :)
To quench my sewing thirst during The Great Quilting Boycott of 2010, I decided to try my hand at making some tote bags. 

I made this small bag for my friend Cindy's birthday which is today.  I call this a Picnic for 1 bag because I think it's the perfect size for a water bottle, lunch, a book & sunglasses.  I hope you use it for it's intended purpose, Cindy!  :)

Some people put pennies in purses for good luck but this isn't a purse so I made a matching bookmark to go inside instead.

I had to try it out first.  I didn't think she'd mind...

I also made two large tote bags.

This is how they compare in size to the small bag-

All in all, it was a pretty productive sewing day even w/o the quilting.
OH!  I made banana bread too!  This is the easiest recipe in the world.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1.5 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 3 mashed bananas (or more if you really like bananas & want to use up all of the too ripe ones in the house)
• 1/2 cup of walnuts (optional)

Mix together.  Pour into a greased loaf pan (above ingredients yield 1 loaf of bread).  Cook at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes & let cool.  Enjoy!  :)