Spending Time

Here in California, we often forget to slow down and actually spend time with our friends. On Saturday morning my husband and I spent about two hours at Starbucks visiting with another couple. They brought their new puppy. He's about six months old and they've had him since he was six weeks old. I didn't know that because we haven't spent much time with them since before Christmas. It was wonderful reconnecting with them and hearing what each of their three adult children are up to.

After that we dropped by another couple's house. They were having a garage sale so we spent about an hour visiting with them--in their garage, of course!! It was great catching up with them and two of their four adult children. These friends we do keep in contact with on a weekly basis, but it is always nice to drop in and visit with no reason other than to say "Hi".

Life seems to go at the speed of sound around here. I'm already feeling the pressure of Son and Daughter going to Fresno State at the end of August. And it's just now July. Stop, take a breath and enjoy the Fourth of July!! BBQ, swimming and fireworks!!

Feeling Crafty

So I was shopping for a summer purse on Thursday and couldn't find anything that I liked. I decided to look through my quilt fabrics and found a trio of sample pieces of toile that I bought on ebay at least 10 years ago.

Now, I have a problem with fabrics and papers that I love: If I use them, I won't have them to use!! It's a vicious cycle. I decided to go ahead and use a piece to see how I liked the fabric purse. I followed a tutorial by blogger Chocolate on my Cranium. Of course I made it my own, different handle, different sizes. I also had to make a seam on the bottom so that both scenes would be right side up.

I like the purse so far, but do wish I had had the fusible Pellon interfacing on hand to make it stiffer. and stand up on it's own. I'll try another one soon.