Nini & The Sea: vacation

Today we're taking part in the See You In September Blog Hop! Thanks to Madame Sam and Shari for hosting and cheering for the hop! Let's get to it!

We had a busy and fun summer with a little bit of creating in between!

1. Surf Board Tote

I have a hard time carrying my surfboard comfortably! My arms are too short to carry it normally at my side, so I either end up carrying it on my head or with the board flat out to my side and one gust of wind and it's really hard to keep control of the board. So I decided to sew a Surf Board Tote!

I went to Hawaii more than a year ago and found a fun fabric shop in Lahaina on Maui. I picked up this cute vintage inspired hula girl print and was just waiting for the perfect project to use it. What's more perfect than a Surf Board Tote?!?!

I used duck cloth as the lining of the tote and the straps. The straps took a little engineering but I figured it out and the color is a good compliment to the Hawaii fabric!

Now I can carry my surfboard much easier! Surf's up!

Hello! Nini here!
Summer flew by for me...when we signed up for this blog hop I thought, oh good, pleeeeenty of time, and then BOOM it was September. As most of you know Chelsey and I went to France for two weeks, it was the best vacation (except learning to surf at the age of 49) I ever had. France has a special place in my heart and is on my "go back to" list!

Chelsey surfing in Biarritz, France. I am the adventurous one taking the pics. I have such a hard time convincing her to have fun!!

2. Drawstring Back Pack

With France kinda splitting up our Summer I didn't do much sewing, but I did want a good bag to carry through France that would hold my camera, and all the pertinent items you need when wandering. I wanted to keep my passport with me at all times so it needed to have zippered pockets that were secure so I didn't accidentally drop my passport while digging for my camera or wallet in a hurry.

I decided to make my own version, I ended up making a few prototypes before I had the right size bag and pockets for all my stuff. It was a good size, but with my camera being heavy and always towards the bottom I had trouble getting things out easily. It wanted to stay cinched closed and Chelsey had to hold the bottom of the bag up while I retrieved things out of it!! I will redesign this for future trips.

Chelsey, the backpack and I in the maze garden at Chateau de Chenonceau in the Loire Vally of France.

I stamped the feather and thistle on the bags using black acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium and foam stamps. The off white fabric is Osnaburg fabric, I love how full of texture it is. It worked great for this project, I wondered if the texture would distort the stamped image but it didn't.

3. My Gingham Project!!

I have this vintage tablecloth that I've been keeping for just the right project. I decided to cut it up and make placemats for my kitchen table with the gingham fabric, but when I got it all set up for the "before" pics I realized how cute it is and what a shame it would be to cut it up.

So I had a plan B! I kept it in tact and put a 4 inch gingham border all the way around it and use it as a table runner! I serged the gingham to the table cloth and used my rolled hem foot to finish off the gingham so there are no raw edges to fray. I love it, what do you think?

This gingham fabric is delicious....it was so nice to work with!

The serged edge is good for keeping the fabric from fraying.

Please hop by all our friends on the blog hop today! You won't believe all the inspiration you can gather! So glad you stopped by!

I Piece 2-Mary

Till We Quilt Again

Vroomans Quilts

Nini and the Sea - you are here!

Seams To Be Sew

My Quilting Journey

Go Make Something!

Nini & Chelsey

I made this red, white and blue flag out of scraps to hang outside for the summer. Summer holidays are all about patriotism and I just love a good flag waving tradition!

I wanted it to be rustic and tattered so I tore all the red and white strips from my scrap bag. A scrap using project is always good for me, I love the fact it was gonna be trash and I rescued it!

I am also a collector of yardsticks and rulers, so I made a sleeve to hang it just big enough for a piece of a yard stick. You could use a dowel or even twine fed through the sleeve. I had assistance from Mr. Nini for attaching it semi permanently to our porch railing.

I attached the fabric strips by putting a wide hem in the blue fabric's opposite end and cut slits in it, fed them from the back, tied a big knot in the top on the front side to give it that rustic look I like so much!!