Moving Away Gift for a Friend

My daughter's friend is moving a few hours away to live with her mom.  My daughter wanted to give her something as a moving away gift. She decided on a wristlet. Her friend loves John Deere and I found this pink John Deere print in my scraps. I had just enough to make this clutch.

I didn't have enough fabric to centre the John Deere symbol on the back and the front so I had to piece together the back to get two John Deere symbols. She loved this wristlet. My daughter also made her two collages of pictures her friend can hang on her wall in her new bedroom. There will still be lots of visits back home but it's not the same as being able to see one of your best friends nearly every day.

Diaper Clutch

This diaper clutch was made for a friend's friend. They knew they were having a boy so I got some great boy fabric from Country Quarter, my local quilting shop. My friend loved the clutch and changing pad and was excited to give this diaper clutch to her friend. This is a great shower gift or a welcoming baby gift. Moms are loving that they only have to grab a diaper and a small package of wipes to go to the park, shopping, etc. and they get to carry it in a great small bag. I wish I had one when my kids were in diapers.

Messenger Bag - Patchwork

Signed up for a bag swap awhile back. You had to list in the comments what type of bag you wanted to receive. My swap partner wanted a bag that had a strap long enough to cross-over the body. I knew I wanted to do a messenger style bag and searched out the fabric. I found this lovely yellow and orange striped fabric in the clearance section of our local Fabricland. I also bought some orange raw silk for lining. I had thought about doing a reverse applique for the flap of the bag, but remembered I had some really nice charm packages in my stash. Once I put the bag fabric with some of the charms I knew the flap would have to be patchwork. I love, love, love, love, love this bag so much and I don't really care for yellow. I asked my daughter for her opinion on what charm squares to use. She mentioned that she would like a patchwork bag too. That makes two of us! One for her is on my list and further down on the list - one for me. This bag would make a great Christmas or birthday gift too.

Grocery Bag

Signed up for a grocery bag swap. This is what I made my partner.

It's reversible.

Addicted to Making Bags?

If you are a regular reader of my blog it comes as no surprise that I love bags. I love making bags. When I have a few minutes I find myself thinking about what bag I want to make next and envision the fabric(s) I would use or find for the bag. I have ton of tutorials I've found on the internet to try out for bags - small, medium and large. When I need a pick me up, I look at the patterns and tutorials I have or look for new bag patterns and tutorials. I also check out my stash or go shopping for new fabric for bags. (My fabric addiction is a whole other post!)

My daughter's friend had her birthday party and I made her a Buttercup Bag. I love this pattern and it's just the right size for taking shopping. My daughter selected this fabric that was on the clearance decorator/drapery fabric table at Fabricland. The gift was well received and all the girls at the birthday party have requested a bag for their birthdays.
My daughter loves this fabric and has hinted around that she would like a bag made out of this fabric. Maybe she'll get one for Christmas or her birthday, or maybe I'll just have to make her one just because. Either way it will be a surprise. I think she might be a bagaholic in the making!

Tote Bag

I've been doing some swaps on Swap-Bot. This tote was made for one of the swaps. My swap partner likes blue. I thought this fabric was perfect for a tote. We had to include some items in the tote we thought our swap partner would like. I included some note cards, sticky notes, recipe cards and some scrapbooking items. I love tote bags and don't think you can ever have enough, especially handmade ones!

Bags for Teachers

I made a bag this year for my daughter's teacher. She is young and stylish and very keen. She is a fabulous teacher and my daughter really learned a lot in her class - academically, socially and personally. The fabric for this bag is a screenprinted canvas. The lining fabric was from my stash. I stole 2 buttons from my daughter's button collection for this bag.

Our oldest son was in Junior Kindergarten this year and I made a bag for his teacher as well. She has a very structured classroom. Unfotunately he will not be in her class next school year. I am hoping that the new teacher will have a similar structure to her class. He loves school and can read quite a few words already. I never thought he would like school - he's never been interested in reading or sitting for very long to colour, but school made him interested in these things. He is quite shy and he has improved so much socially.

For his teacher's bag I used some fabric from my stash that I used for a handbag on a previous post. The yellow buttons are from my button bag. The pattern is the Buttercup Bag available on Made by Rae.

Hobo Bag

My mom and dad went to Nashville for the CMT Music Festival yearlier this month. This year is their 40th wedding anniversary and it's something they've always wanted to do. I was planning to make this bag for Mother's Day, but just was too busy to get it done. I had it cut out a few weeks before Mother's Day. I sewed it up a few days before they left for their trip. I wanted my mom to have a stylish bag that would hold her things and still have room to stash a few things she might buy on her travels. I looked at a few tutorials on the web to get some ideas of what I wanted to do for this bag, but pretty much was confused. I knew how I wanted the bag to look, just didn't know how to go about doing it. It's not perfect, but my mom loved it (I think moms have to say they like things their kids give them though, don't you?).

The fabric for this bag is home decor weight. The outer fabric is Liz Clairbourne and the lining is a cotton canvas. Both of the these fabrics were on clearance for under $5 per metre.

This bag includes 2 inside pockets - a zippered pocket and a pocket for a cellphone and pen/small note pad etc. This was the first zippered pocket I've done. It ended up pretty bulky around the zipper closure. I think I just need more practice with that. I also used some cross stitch (maybe it's needlepoint? - I don't know I hate handsewing!) plastic in the bottom of the bag between the outer bag fabric and the lining. I was hoping it would give the bag a little stiffer bottom. It looked good with a few things in the bag. There are many things I would change if I make this bag again. I guess I should have made a muslin first, but I always feel that it's a waste of time to do that. I just want the pretty end result - I'm not very patient when it comes to sewing. Oh well my mom loved it and that's all that matters. But next time I may try a muslin first!

Another Charming Handbag

Sunday was my S-I-L's birthday. I made another bag for her this year. This time the Charming Handbag from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book. I did cheat and made it at the same time as I made the other Charming Handbag. The fabric is Amy Butler that I got last year and have been saving for a special project. The blue ribbon is some from my stash and the button is from my button jar. I love buttons and this one I think really completed this bag. I don't really like yellow and tried several different buttons, but the yellow really finished this bag off. I almost kept the bag for myself, but then realized if I gave it to my S-I-L I would be finished her gift over a month before her birthday! I love this bag and I think she really loved it too.

Birthday Zippered Pouches

A few weeks ago we had my daughter's birthday party with her friends. She wanted something different in the loot bags. So I whipped up some zippered pouches. Since she decided she wanted to do this a few days before the party and didn't really like what I had on hand for fabric a quick trip to Wal-Mart found the perfect fabric for 11 and 12 year old girls. This is an outdoor fabric, but it worked perfectly for these pouches. The lining was scrap pink canvas that I had in my stash. Each zippered pouch has a different ribbon and a different coloured zipper. There was handsewing involved in these babies - that is so not my thing. Next time I make a zippered pouch I'm going to have to come up with a way that won't have me hand-sewing.

My daughter loves penquins and we made up a penquin invitation that I got on the web somewhere. She wanted a penquin cake too. Not too hard to do. I made a 13" x 9" rectangle cake and an 8" x 8" square cake. Once the cakes were completely cooled I rounded the top and bottom of the 13" x 9" cake. I cut the 8" x 8" cake on the diagonal to make the flippers/fins, rounding the edges to make it more realistic. Then I made some chocolate icing and put some concentrated black colouring in the icing to make it more black than brown. I also made up some white icing and put a little of the white icing in seperate bowl so I could make an orange beak and feet. First I put the white icing on the belly of the penquin then put the black on the rest of the penguin. Next I used the white icing again to make the whites of the eyes and put black icing in the centre of the whites of the eyes. Then came a triangle shape for the beak and some feet. This cake was a hit and her friends were amazed that I made this cake. Over the years I've done a butterfly cake, Spongebob cake, a beach cake, tractor cake, Spiderman web cake, cow cake, construction cake, Bob the Builder cake and plain old chocolate layer cakes. This was one of the easiest cakes I've made.

Handmade Christmas - Part 5

This is the last of the Handmade Christmas posts.

Below is a picture of the bag I made for my daughter's BFF.

The rainboots fabric is from Hancock's of Paduca, purchased on clearance a year and a half ago. The stripe fabric on the handles is also the lining of the bag and came from Hancock's of Paduca as well. The pink dots fabric on the inside of the handles was also used for the inside pockets and is left over from a top made for my daughter in the spring.

I received two amazing gifts this year. The first is a photo album my daughter made for me with pictures of the kids, friends, family. She worked really hard on it and is very proud of herself. At one point she didn't know if she would get it finished in time, but she made it! This is a gift I will treasure for a lifetime.

The other amazing gift I received was a Serger (Janome 660D). I had looked at it the beginning of December and it was on sale for half price. I talked to my husband about buying it, but decided to wait, as I really didn't have to have it. Well I was surprised to open the box on Christmas morning! Even though we agreed to handmade gifts this year, I think I can over look the rule breaking, given that I can use the serger to make gifts - right? I do feel badly though because I stuck to the handmade rule and didn't spend that much money, but did put a lot of myself, time and effort into the gifts made for him.

Yet another bag and more finds!

This is the bag I made a few weeks ago for my daughter's friend's birthday. The denim is from the sale fabric I got a Fabricland. The front pocket is a scrap I won from http://sewchristine.blogspot.com/

This ribbon was found at the local Dollarama for $1 for each package. I love the colours!

Another Bag

This totebag was made for my daughter's friend's birthday. The pink fabric is from Fabricland and was on the clearance table last November. I had already made my daughter and my niece beach bags for Christmas last year from it. I still have a little bit left! The inside lining fabric is a green print that I found on sale at Wilton Creek Fabrics last December. I had used some of it to line my niece's beach bag and had just enough left to line this bag. I can't remember where the stripe fabric for the handles came from but I do know it was on clearance. And the green ribbon with the brown polkadots is from the packages of ribbon I found at Target.

My daughter's friend loved the bag and thanked me profusely for making the bag for her.

We are starting to plan the handmade Christmas items to give this year. Every year my daughter has given everyone we exchange gifts with something hand/homemade. We have decided this year that instead of buying for each other (in our little family/household) we will be making something. At first this was met with great apprehension from the oldest. After all what great thing can a four year old and two year old make her? I have reassured her that I will be lending a helping hand on this front. I have also reassured her that it is the thought that counts and that she will be surprised at how much more a handmade item is treasured.

I am also planning to give hand/homemade gifts to everyone this year, even if I am buying something there will be something hand/homemade with it.

Do you plan on giving hand/homemade items this year? If yes, what are you planning?

More Bags!

School finishes on Thursday, so I thought I should whip up something for my daughter's teachers. Both teachers love green and my daughter wanted to give them totebags. I swear she is getting just as addicted to bags as I am. She keeps going through my fabric stash saying you should make a bag out of this fabric or this fabric or this fabric, even though she knows I have other plans for the fabric. The fabric for the first bag (above) are both from Sew, Mama, Sew. The outside fabric for the second bag (below) is from Hancock's of Paducah. The inside fabric is a remnant from Fabricland.

Summery Apron and Owl Bag

This is the apron I made for my daughter's class play. She was cast as the mom. I love the flip-flop fabric. It's so summery. I knew I would use this apron after I made it for her. The fabrics are both from my stash - leftovers from other long ago projects.

Fnished this owl bag last night when I got home from work. This is from the Bend-the-Rules Sewing book by Amy Karol. The owl fabric I won on an e-bay auction last summer and it's lined with fabric I got from Sew, Mama, Sew. (love that website!) Took less than 2 hours to whip up from selecting fabric to cutting, seamfinishing and completion (with interuptions). I like how it turned out. My daughter is invited to a birthday party today. The birthday girl's favourite colour is purple. Hope she likes it as much as my daughter does.

First post

Here are some projects I worked on in April and May.

First is the Pleated Beauty Handbag made for the BTRS Swap (http://btrsswap.blogspot.com/) for my swap partner. The pattern is from the Bend-the-Rules Sewing book by Amy Karol. Both fabrics are from Fabricland. The second round is for placemats and napkins and the sign up just completed, but there is to be another swap round later.




The second bag I made was for my Mom for Mother's day. The green paisley I got from Hancock's of Paducah about a year ago on clearance. The brown is fabric I bought at Fabricland to make a dress for a wedding later this month, but I just had to use some for this purse!

This is the bag I made for my sister-in-law's birthday. I had started it a few days before her birthday thinking it would be done in time, but the boys ended up sick and it was late getting to her. Thank goodness she was understanding and she loves it.



That's all for now. I do have 5 projects cut out and two that I have been thinking about getting started on. 4 have to be done soon so hopefully I'll get everything done that I have planned for June. Now on to sewing......