Emma Back Pack Tutorial

OK, Gang. Here is the Emma Back Pack Tutorial. Not too impressive huh? Well try here

I had to upload it to Flicker instead of here on Blogger. I think it is my system down here in the middle of lovely Australia. Have a GREAT time with it! The pocket is a teensy tiny log cabin quilt block. You can follow my guidelines or just go out on a limb do your own thing.

I can start a Flicker group if you like so you can share your pictures. I would LOVE to see them!

These tutorials are intended for personal use only. Have a blast and make something special from something important.

xo,

Tia

Thou Shall NOT Steal!

Something quite terrible has come to my attention, and I am downright furious about it. The three bags above were made by me about 2 years ago. They were some of my very first Hero bags. I remember the young widow coming to my door with her late husbands uniforms like it was yesterday. Her anguish was palpable. I can't even think of that moment without a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. She wanted 4 bags. 2 for her and 1 for her mother and another for her husbands mother. I made them and off they went to live up North. I have heard from her a couple times over the years, but this last time she wrote she told me that her mother-in-law's bag got stolen. I will be making her another to replace it, but I wanted to publicly berate the bandit who took the bag. You rotten human. Why didn't you just go break in her house and steal her baby pictures?

If any of you wonderful blog readers out there happen to see a "GEBUR" DCU Hero bag and it is not being carried by his widow or his mother in law, you have my permission and encouragement to give them the evil eye. I wouldn't approach them (well I would, but I am famous for charging in and attacking) because they are clearly big fat dirt bags and you don't need to associate with such dreadful lifeforms.

Now it could all have been very innocent and maybe the person suddenly thought their name was GEBUR. Or they found the bag and a struggling to find the proper owner. I hope this is the case. If it is, please email me and I will act as the middle woman getting the bag back into the correct hands. I will also be willing the forgive the real theif if they will come clean with this really bad sin.

My BFF V. Engle had one of her bags stolen last year too. She is at FT Bragg. It was a Becky messenger. I hope this is not a trend (I know 2 stolen bags do not equal a trend, but those are just 2 that I know about). You ladies be careful with your Camp Follower Bags! I can make them ugly if you want me to!

At any rate I feel better getting that off my chest. Go get um, glas! Grrrrr.

New Fabric

Isn't this stuff great?? I just love it. This fabric is hand screen printed here in Australia by an artist named Kristen Doran. You can find her at www.kristendoran.com or www.cheekybeaks.blogspot.com So much fun. I was reading Blosem and followed her links to discover this wonderful fabric.

I know exactly what I am going to do with these owls, but I just need the time to dedicate to it. It involves the blue linen behind (I dyed that....it is a great shade of sky blue, I should say Outback sky blue)
The birdys are cute too.
I love this print. Maybe it will go with the owls??

I wanted to experiment with a multiple picture post before I put the Emma back pack tutorial up. I don't want it to be backwards like the lunch sack one was...ok here we go.

Emma Back Pack Tutorial coming soon!

Hey there everyone. I am getting ready to post a tutorial on the Emma Back Pack. It is a variation of the "lunch Sack Tutorial". So go get your drawstring uniform pants ready and think of some wild fabric combos to put together and when you see me next we will be sewing! If you want I can do a Flicker Group and you can post your Bags for the world to see and love!

Cheers!
Tia

My week, so far

This is where I have been spending my week....cutting and sewing and cutting and ripping off patches and resewing the patches and sewing some more and just making the most enormous mess! We rearranged our house Monday, and now I get to spred out a bit more. Maybe I will make some curtains and just close them when people come over. Most of our guests know that is not really a dirty mess...just a fabric mess. And I say Martha Stewart will not be stopping by to check out my sewing area, so what the heck!

Oh and I have been trying to get hold of some of you. PLEASE check your spam folders. Sadly that is where my emails go sometiems;o( Oh well, for some of your bags I am at a stand still, I can't go on without your input! Or I can, but you may HATE what I do. I hope not, but I want to be sure. I just want you happy with your bags.

I was being watched by these guys and their family this morning. The bird feeder was out and they were pateintly waiting for their refill. When I went out there were about 15 of them. Sitting on the fence and phone lines. I like these guys. They are ver patient and dignified. Much better than the cockatoos that swarm by the hundreds and devour our bird seed...pigs. It never fails to amaze me. Living out in the middle of the desert where the landscape is so alien to see the beautiful birds. There are tons of bugs and nasty things for them to eat, so I guess it makes sense, but they are so lovely.

This was dinner last night. Yep that is heaps of greese and salt, but holy moly that is some good eating! 3 baramundies and 4 Morton Bay Bugs. For those of you not familiar with bugs, they are like small lobster. They are wonderful grilled, but fried in a light tempura batter...oh my goodness! Crazy good. We got them over at East Side Fish and Chips. FOr those of you here or who have been here, you will probably know it. Obviously this is a once in a rare while treat. We went last night because it was so hot there was no way I was turning on the oven. Today is going to be even more hot. You know it is hot when your sweat just evoporates off your skin. Out AC in the old truck just can't keep up, so we roll down the windows and get blasted with dusty hot air on the way to and from school. We all have our water, but it is hard to keep up with hydration. Golly it is hot here. I thought the heat was on the way out....but I was so WRONG. It will be about 115 F today. I will be inside sewing;o)

This is the book I have been reading. The APO man gave it to me. Good heaven, these guys are really the elite of the elite. I just hope they are all having lots and lots of babies so we can keep their superior warrior DNA in the gene pool. I would of course lend my womb to the cause, but I don't think my husband would be too hot on that issue;o) On that note I will sign off and take the tribe to school. I will be sewing all day today and try to get some bags out in the mail!

Cheers ya'll!
Tia

ps. Emma is doing so well with her little pink hearing aides and FM system. She says that her teacher has so much to say! I guess she didn't know she was talking before. Poor little girl!

weddings and quilts

Here is my Sew mama sew quilt along dissapearing 9 patch quilt. I added a boarder to make it big enough to be a lap quilt. I also decided to give it a little "theme". I wanted it to look like the sun in a kids drawing. It is just so hot here. Ok, well one of my husbands soldiers got married last night to a friend of mine. I kept meaning to make them something, but the bags kept getting further and further behind, so I put off my gift making. Well, yesterday was coming up fast! I had to do something! I went to our lovely little strange KMART and looked around. I just couldn't give any of that junk as a gift, so I returned to my little studio and made some changes to my quilt top and quilted it up. Both bride and groom are from large cities (Long Island and Philly) and are now here in one of the smallest towns....so I gave them my "Summer in the City" quilt.

I wanted the quilting to look like heat waves...swirling and radiating. Like a mirage in the distance. I used a wool batting that I realy liked, but it was so strange and lumpy in places. My daughter said she didn't think the bride would like the quilt because it smelled just too funny. Yeah, the wool did smell, well wooly. But after it's wash it crinkled up so nice and didn't stink anymore. I think it turned out lovely. I think I will keep a spare quilt top on hand from now on, just for times when a gift is needed. The wedding was lovely. It was out at the Desert park and began right as the sun dipped below the west McDonalds. Very nice.

The heat has broken! I have always been an autumn gal. I just love it when the weather begins to cool and there is a slight nip in the air. Makes me think of cinnimon apples and pumpkin soup. Well, the weather has finally broken. I was driving to school Friday to drop the kids off and was thinking to myself, "wow I need to bring a sweater Monday" When I got home I looked to see how "cold" it was...89F that is really not too cold, is it? My blood has just thinned so much living here in the heat. Camping is going to be interesting this year, but I am sure we will still give it a shot.

Flashy pink hearing aides

View from the front
Side without the FM reciever. Can you see the sparkles in the center part?


Side with FM reciever. The white piece at the bottom is the reciever for her teacher's microphone. Some of you know my little girl has a bit of a hearing impairment. When we moved to the middle of Australia we really had no idea how wonderful the hearing care was here. It is just phenominal. Emma just got her brand new hearing aides for school use. She got to pick the color and of course selected hot pink with glitter. They really are lovely hearing aides. She has worn hearing aides since she was 2 and a half and this is the FIRST set that has been specially calibrated for her. I wore the mike last night while Emma and I made soup for dinner, I think that is the first time I have ever spoken to my child (and she heard what I was saying) with a normal speaking voice. Her little face was so lit up at being given this tiny gift of hearing. This morning she couldn't get to class fast enough so she could finally listen to her teacher. 3 moms have called me today to tell me the difference they see in Emma. How she has been sitting with a look of wonder on her face while her teacher speaks. It is the tiny things that bring such massive blessings into our lives. Thank you Australian Hearing!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! My husband made it in just fine, so that is my valentine. OK, I was preparing my taxes last night and noticed how long I have had some of your tops. Where on Earth has the time gone? I sew constantly and still I am barely making a dent in the stack. If you feel I have had plenty of time to make your bag and you want your uniform and money back, Please just ask and I will send it back to you. Happily. I am not holding your uniforms hostage, I will liberate them. Now, if I have already cut them that is a different story. I really am sewing like a woman possessed and I am doing all I can to get your bags into your hot little hands. On my Honor I declare it! Just let me know. No hard feelings. Now I had prefer to sew for you than someone else...but I understand I have had some uniforms for a LONG LONG LONG time. I knew I was backed up, but I had no idea it was this bad. PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!

Emma lost her first tooth last night. Literally lost her tooth. She worked for about 1.5 hours pulling it and when she finally got the bloody little nub out she came running down the hall and dropped it. We looked and looked all over the floor in my bedroom. She was sobbing, she just knew the tooth fairy was not coming. She was doomed. Well we finally found it. The tiny thing had pounced into the bathroom. The tooth Fairy came! Yahoo!

Cheers!
Tia

Fun pockets and quick quilts

This lap quilt is made from a charm pack in the pattern named dissapearing 9 patch or Magic 9 patch. I have lots of little charm packs, I just dig them. One of the best marketing ideas Moda Fabric has ever come up with. This is a tiny tiny town in the middle of Australia and the fabric selection just stinks and is insanely expensive. For the most part I do not even go to the fabric shop. The lady who owns it is so mean. She wouldn't even talk to me until I brought my Berninas in to be serviced then she saw what I had and all but fell over herself to sell me a Horn Sewing Cabnet. Anyway...I love the charm packs because it is like holding an entire fabric collection. I can select which prints I want to order in yardage and use later in bags and quilts....but I have a bunch of them. What to do with them??? Well how about make little lap quilts? I have made several, but this one was so darn fast. Unbelivably fast. I think I will aplique some circles on the lower corner just to give it some spunk. We will see. I like hand apliqueing these days. Gives me a chance to sit down after the kids have gone to bed. Typically I do not sit during the day. I am always standing at the cutting table or cooking in the kitchen or pressing pieces of bags. It is nice to put my feet up and rest from time to time. Rest but still do something. I can't do nothing. When I finish this one I will list it in my shop. Maybe it can go to a good home.

This is the pocket in the latest Cathy bag I am working on. I just love it so much. It is a tiny quilt inside her bag. I love the DCU and dark blues and aquas. It reminds me of a very stormy beach at dusk. The middle of the block is linen that I dyed myself. I dye fabric outside these days. Second migrane I have ever had after my fabric dying class taught me that lesson.

I am poping up all over the Internet lately. Wow, I am flattered. Thanks so much. Sew mama Sew has one of my bags and diaper pads up for their Quilt month. Thanks! What a surprise. Shelagh over at Une Petite Etoile has just sent me a big box of scraps from her lovely studio. I will be using that fabric for my Hero Quilt cause. Thank you Shelagh! Westminster Fabric gave me a massive donation last month. Now... to figure out how to claim all these blessings on my 1040 tax documents! Oh Lonnie! Why can't we still live across from one another? (Lonnie was my Tax goddess last year).

Update on the bird man. He was in my backyard (yep, inside the fence) filming the mating Cuckos the other day. It is all just too weird to be alarming anymore. All three of my kids were getting to look through the camera at the figs since their racket runied the love making mood of the Channel Billed Cuckos and they took off for a more quiet enviornment. I will be so happy for my husband to be home again. I am horribly out of practice with this single mom gig. I know I have only done it for a month, and my husband was just in Denver not driving up and down Route Irish in Baghdad, but man it has been a challenge. My heart goes out to you who are having to deal with the 15 month deployments. My husband just did the 12 month ones. That was horrible, but 15 months? yuck! I made a quilt at Christmas for a man who was on his 5th deployment...I can't even imagine how stressed his wife and children must be not to mention him!

Ok, dinner is almost ready. Wish my husband luck on his 14 hour flight tonight and I hope he makes the connection in Sydney. I miss him.

Maybe my email is better...

Hi everyone...wow, kinda stinks for one's email to be down the first week of one's brand new site. Oh well, if it can go wrong it will happen to me. What the heck. OK...so if you have tried to email me in the past week and I have not returned your email...PLEASE resend or email me again. Hopefully everything will be good to hook now. Marnie fixed it, I think...I am not getting the emails I send myself, but I seem to be getting a couple from others. Thanks to those of you who have been helping me out! I would treat you to a kangaroo sausage tomorrow if you felt up to some "bush tucker" as my daughter calls it. Although I don't think sausage is really bush tucker...that is really more along the lines of grubs, seeds and roots, but we can go out and dig those up too if that is your speed. My head feels like it is packed full of cotton balls, so I am off to be with my herbal tea.

xo
Tia

Is my email still dorked up?

Have any of you been emailing me? I normally have zillions of messages in the mornings, but this morning only 6. Then I hear from Tif, and she has been having her emails rejected. What the heck?! Grrrrrrr. If you are trying to get hold of me try....

e2momma@yahoo.com

or

rangercurtis@bigpond.com

until I can figure out what is going on with my email. How bizarre.

Please don't give up on me! I love you all and I will happily spend my morning coffee time emailing you! I have 3 sick kids with sore throats and snot dribbling out of their little noses, and toss some fevers on top of the fun and I guess we have a sick day. Yippee. Since I don't have to rush to school, I made muffins. They are really super dooper (glazed orange muffins) I added some fresh butter, and man o man....crazy good. I got that book for my husband's Valentine....but he is not here, so I decided to break it in. So darn good. We love soup, and this is the best of cook books! I ordered it from Amazon, so you can too! That Crescent Dragonwagon (what an awesome name!) is one great little cook.

Speaking of names, wouldn't that one be great to wear on your uniform....I would love to make a DRAGONWAGON bag. Cool. At my ROTC summer camp there was a fellow there with the name OUTLAW that is a pretty cool one too. Now there were some pretty unfortunate ones too. I won't list them, you know who you are. Ok...gotta go get the kids ready for their Doc Appt.

xo,

Tia

the Waifs

Today I got a treat at the APO....my Amazon order! Happy day! My neighbor loves the Waifs and when we would get together to BBQ she and my husband would break out the guitars and she loved singing covers for the Waifs. Well, I am not a musical lady. I like to listen, but I don't sing So, I loved listening to Glinda sing and my husband play, and her favorite song was "Bridal Train". It is about the Australian War Brides from WWII. Well, I have finally heard the real version and it is just wonderful! The Waifs sound like a mixture of Dixie Chicks, 10,000 maniacs and kinda a bit of Stevie Nicks...Great sound, kinda bluesy. Very soothing yet peppy. Check out the hyperlinks...you can even listen to samples on Amazon.

I also got Last Minute Fabric Gifts...I was really expecting wonderful stuff since I am CRAZY about Last Minute Patchwork and quilted Gifts it looks ok...I will give a couple projects a shot, but if you are in the market for a great sewing inspiration book definatly check out the latter (LMPAQG). The kids got a wonderful illustrated bible (The Lion Illustrated Bible for Children) the illustrations are so lovely and the storeis are brief, all 3 of my little guys enjoyed their story time this evening...oh and I also got Far and Away. My favorite Tom Cruise movie...from before he turned oddball. I am reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" that is a super good read, thanks Kerri for reccomending it. You know I love your taste in books!

We also had an insane dust storm today. Dust....superfine, everywhere. An Outback Sciracco. Ok, I am beat. I am off to bed, S.W. your quilt, bag and diaper pad will be airborne tomorrow. Hopefully I can get Hunt and Profitt finished as well. I will try my best!

ps, sorry if there are mis-spellings in this post, for some reason my spell check won't activate.

oh there I am....

Emily at Joyful Abode did a little posting on my Creative Space. Oh la la...no TV, sorry gals, I am not that special. http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/02/05/creative-spaces-5-tia-curtis/

that is the link to go see where I make your bags and quilts. She should have a picture up of the table now...that is what it looks like when I am really sewing my fanny off...well I didn't want to look messy. It is organized mess, most is batting and extra uniform. I do keep the bits for ladies who are return customers, and yes, normally I do know the uniforms apart...traces of where the patches were and all that. I just got a Marine desert BDU....that is the coolest darn uniform. What a sensible design. The Marines do have the best uniforms. Did you know that a Marine took me to my high school Jr/Sr in Honduras? Yep...Mike the Marine. I selected him from the embassy line up. What a fine specimen. I had the best date at the prom and my dad secured him for me. I prefer my husband of course to him, but at the time...wow. What 15 year old girngo would want to go to the dance with the most handsome other gringo in the capital of Honduras?

I am still expirmenting with the multiple pictures...but when I do figure it out watchout! Ok...we are running late to school (as usual) I think the kids are all getting ready to flare up in "the funk" after their first week back at school they have all shared their germs. Ethan (the middle man) just demonstrated a right proper snot rocket, his dad would be so proud. I am pretty revolted.

Cheers!

Tia

Sew mama sew quilt month

If you would like to learn a bit about quilting the Sew mama Sew blog has a great thing going this month. It is Quilt month for them. They have some great special guests (Denyse Schmidt, Jennifer of Moving hands ((she has pictures up of the Toyko Quilt show, if you are hard up for inspiration look at her pictures and you will have inspiration of years)) and Gina of Quilters Buzz to name a few). The block above is named Dissapearing 9 patch. I followed their super easy tutorial and had it finished in about 10 minutes (I had an interruption to make a peanut butter and honey sandwitch) Really fun. The fabric I used for the block was Summer in the City caram pack. If you are a fabric-aholic like me you may have trouble resisting charm packs. I have tons of them but don't know what the heck to do with them. Well I will be using the summer in the city charm pack for this simple pattern....but wouldn't it look great with just solids, think about how it would look with just Shot Cottons? I wish I didn't have so darn much on my plate. Wasn't I going to simplify my life this year? Oh well, busy as ever and I am going to be putting some sewing and quilting classes together for some local ladies and their daughters...why not add something else to my list? It will be fun though!

My New site is up and at it!

Hi there everyone! My new site is up and at it! Go over and give it a peek and let me know if you find any dead ends of things you think I need to add. I LOVE feedback.

www.campfollowerbags.com

There will be a blog on that site ONLY dedicated to bag production. Who I am on....how it is going pictures of the process....bla bla bla. The bird man may make an appearence from time to time...who knows what will happen. He likes to turn up at about 0600 when I am stumbeling into the kitchen trying to make my coffee. He had prefer it if I would turn my AC off so he can hear the bird a little better. Yeah...he has got to be a wacko if he expects me to leave my AC off it 108-115 F weather. The mysterious love songs of the Channel Billed Cucko will have to remain a mystery if he wants me to sweat in my home. Forget that.

Rules for the bag competition....I am still working on them. I want to make another bag and wallet for the loot. I will do that Saturday. This week I am trying to get a big shipment out to my fine patient ladies!

XO
Tia

Free Bag...

My new, flashy updated website will be up this week! To celebrate this happy occasion I am going to be giving away some pretty cool stuff (well I think it is some pretty cool stuff) One of which is the bag above. It's name is Ripple Purse. I have to think how I am going to give things away....I think it will be a writing contest. You will have to write (in the comment section) why you want a bag or one of the other goodies. Your written communication skills will get you something pretty special. Oh, I am going to be featured on Joyful Abode on the 5th of Feburary for her special on Creative Spaces. If you feel like finding out a bit more about me and my sewing area, take a peek.

Now some bad news...Something is horribly wrong with my email....I am getting emails from you, but my replies are not going out to you! I SWEAR I am not ignoring you....Something is dorked up with stupid Bigpond and my emails are not going out. PLEASE be patient, I love you all and I am up to my neck in uniforms and fabric and thread and a new website....and I am trying to email you....and I am not getting through! I am just going to sit down and cry for a bit....ok I am all better (just kidding, I am not really crying just frustrated. I am sure my handy husband could figure out what the heck is going on...but he is in the Mother Land, not so handy at the moment.) I will post here to the ladies I have fabric questions about on your bags....

Please contact me at your earliest convience!

J. Howe

J. Hunt

G. Preston

M. Dielmann

Your stuff is all nicely cut and ready...just naked. I want to make sure you like what I have selected before I cut the fabric. Check your Spam folders maybe...they are big emails.

Ok, back to the bags I know what fabric to use!

xo

Tia