Testing, testing, 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

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Another day, another ...

These last couple of weeks were pretty busy.  I had all three kids home on multiple, different days.  Mercifully they didn't share it with me :)  All that time did give me a chance to work on a project I've had in mind for a few weeks now.  This is one of the blocks I'm doing for a strip quilt ... if all goes well, I should be able to share a finished product in a coupla weeks.

Last Saturday I got to be the coach for the Battle of the Books team from Guy Lee Elementary that went to the regional competition.  I was asked by their real coach to fill in because of other responsibilities and I was thrilled to do it!  I love those kids!  They are awesome readers and super nice kids to boot.  No pics, since none of mine were there, but they did a super-fantastic job!  They had a really strong team and did their school (and me, and their families) proud!

These are the Churn Dash blocks that I did for the Stash bee this month.  They were fast to put together and I LOVE how they turned out.  I used some of my own favorite recently-used combos.

Finally, last but not least ... here is the sneak peak for my March additions to the MMMRR.  This person wanted rows that were holiday or season related.  With spring coming on in march, I found inspiration here.

I've got a couple of other things in the works, but the weather here is beautiful, so I think I will be shifting my emphasis to out-of-doors projects.  I'll only be sewing on my evenings when I'm not working and playing catch-up on inside chores ...

A Quick Update

Things are moving along at the Karr home.  The hard drive on the computer that I use died quite suddenly the day before Valentine's day.  In fact, I was adding the final pics to my round robin post when it went belly-up.  Needless to say, I freaked.  Thankfully I'm married to an awesome computer dude who regularly backs things up and he restored everything to one of the kids' computers which I have now taken over ...

While in transition, I finished my bee block and round robin addition for February...

Isn't Pippi cute?  I Think of Sarah every time I see it now--she's into braids and bandannas right now.  I've been teasing her that she looks more like a pirate, though :)

Here is my sneak peak for the MMMRR block from Feb.  I just finished the one for March, I'll post that soon.

This-is-so-COOL: Meet Chantal

I saw this bag on a linky party sometime early last year.  I was immediately in love!  I went to the site of origin and started following Geta.  She is an amazing designer and quilter.  I waited months until she published the pattern for the bag, then once I had it, it sat in my to-do pile for another coupla months.  It took a birthday party invite for Sarah to get me off my duff and actually make it.  And, of course, everyone knows it's just as easy to make one more while you're at it :)  Aren't they cute?

The lines and curves of Chantal are fresh and modern and oh, so versatile!  There are two pockets inside and the zippered pocket on the outside.   It is so easy to keep things organized with all those pockets!  There is also a magnetic snap for keeping that top opening closed.

I chose to quilt both bags because it said in the pattern that I wouldn't have to press them again after I washed them.  It took quite a bit of extra time, but I not only love the quilted look, but I also appreciate the wash-n-go feature :)

This small bag is for me.  It will be my to go sewing kit.  The original pattern did not include a zippered pocket for the small version, so I winged it, but it turned out to be the perfect size to fit my embroidery scissors and a small bin of pins.  Inside, I customized pockets for my marking pen, small quilter's rule, needles and thread.  I keep my projects in individual plastic bags, so all I need to do is grab and go.

The bigger black bag is for Sarah's friend.  I've never been very good at visualizing finished sizes; this turned out larger than I expected, yet exactly what the pattern said it would be.  I figure she can use it for sleepovers or a school bag.  The pockets are big enough to fit my cell phone (Galaxy 2), or a small notepad.  It would be a great way to keep track of smaller items like nail clippers or lipstick or keys, too.  We put another small gift bag inside filled with individual spa-type items.