Ho Ho Ho --- covered now for May ;)

Thank goodness for deadlines - I tend to get things done last minute when there's a firm and definite deadline :)  Here are a couple of projects I finished this month that were planned for May's Ho Ho Ho linky party :D  The duffle bag got finished this morning, but the puppets were finished a while ago - I just hadn't gotten photographs :)  Both of these items are for Christmas gifts, so into the gift they're going :)

First up is a set of Old MacDonald puppets, plus the book I bought to go along with them :)  I'll do a drawstring bag (appliqued with farm bits and pieces) to hold the puppets.  I may also do a couple of finger puppets to go in the bag - and I was thinking I could maybe find a farm colouring book as well :)  The free tutorial is here :)

Next up is my newest completed Cargo Duffle bag :)  I took pictures outside this afternoon but it was so bright and sunny (YAY!) that the colour washed out.  I grabbed a couple more pics down here in the dungeon - the black background isn't faded like it is in these pictures - this is lovely Japanese canvas fabric but I'm an inept photographer :D

Here are some close-ups of the fun zipper pull I got on Ebay - it works perfectly with the bag - and both sides are perfect for the space/robot theme :)

[X] Cargo duffle gift #2 - completed :)
[X] Old MacDonald puppet gift set - completed :)

Posted to May's Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew linky party :)

May owls ... and things :)

One of my goals for May was to use up 5 owl charms I've had in stash for a while. Mission ... almost accomplished :D  I did get 5 bags done, but I still have one kitted to use the last charm - I had a brain fart and used a wood bead zipper pull for one, lol.   5/5 done ... but not quite as planned ;)

I got some flickies done for Nancy ...

15 flickies :D

... a humbug/triangle bag finished (for Blue Hills) ...

Ladybug humbug bag (pieces cut 5.5" x 10.5") - note the cute gold birdy zipper pull - a great find from Ebay :)

... a rocket drawstring bag completed (to go in my gift box) ...

Rocket drawstring bag

... two Pokemon bags finished for my neighbour's daughter and her BFF (note the zipper pull I used, indicative of the purpose for the bags :D) ...

Pokemon Shark Week Bags :D

... and last, but not least, another New to Me project - a "Jungle Jalopy" zipper pouch.  I simplified the pattern by putting the zipper in the middle of the back, instead of on the curved top.  I think it needs button tires, and I'm going to pick some up for the next bags :)  Posted to May's New to Me linky party :)

Jungle Jalopy :)

I still have a few projects in the pipes to work on in the next few days, but hubby and I are going to Pennsylvania on Friday for a few days, to visit Mickie and her delicious poodle Seamus, and hopefully her husband ... aka The Phantom :D My hubby suggested the visit 2 months ago so we got our passports renewed and we're heading out :D  There will be some time @ Joanns - guaranteed :D

Cargo Duffle #3 :D

Here's what I'm working on this month - the goal being for it to be completed in May.  It's going to be a Christmas gift.  It's a Cargo Duffle (a free pattern designed by Anna Noodlehead Graham) - I've made 2 already, and am FAR from finished with this great design, as I have fabrics picked out and zippers bought for several more of these bags :D  So far I have the front and back quilted and prepared, and will be working on the zipper gusset next :D

Cargo duffle under construction - this is a photo of the large charm I found in stash to use for a zipper pull on the bag.  I bought about 5 of these on Ebay a few years ago - isn't it adorable?!  It's not a tiny little thing - it's 2 1/4" tall x 1 1/4" wide - the duffle bag needs something substantial for the zipper pull, and this will be perfect. 

Here's the reverse of the charm - look how well it matches the design in the fabric! 

Here's a bigger photo of the fabric, quilted - it's a Japanese linen/canvas - I believe it's from Lecien.

Cloud zipper bag designed by Cloud 9 Fabrics :D

Here's a bag I forgot to post when I finished it - it's #10 in my 52 in 16 personal challenge - a cloud zipper bag designed by - who else - Cloud 9 Fabrics, lol!   This lil gal will be posted to Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me linky when it opens this month :)

What are YOU working on today? :)  I have ladies coming over tonight for a crafting evening ... which generally means that we're going to sit and talk and carry on and get very little actual crafting done - HA!!  :)  ETA, later in the evening:  yep very little crafting got done - we didn't even PRETEND to do any.  I did make Nancy put the zipper pulls on 14 "zipper by the yard" zippers (similar to this) I bought - 2 heads per tape - my fingers couldn't handle the work, but she did a great job, LOL.  Thanks Nanc!

Pink Tease - The Finale :)

Inspired by Anne's version @ Play Crafts, I whipped up this doxy bag :D   When I saw Anne's finish I fell in love with the idea :)   I have to boast ... when stitching sections of foundation pieced blocks together, sometimes your sections don't match perfectly.  In this instance, with the blocks positioned in opposite directions and with the areas to match not easy to access because of batting, I managed to literally (I measured!) come within 1/8" of a perfect join :)  I'm posting this to May's New to Me linky party :)

As Anne mentions in her post, the block is from a book called It's Raining Cats & Dogs, by Janet Kime.  Bag #13 of 52 in 16 is now complete, and I believe that there shall be some frontback cat bags forthcoming from the Dungeon of Sandra :D

Hehehe a freebie for your viewing and listening pleasure - I originally posted this in 2012 and just came across it again :)  Check out the other videos in the series - too funny :D

Pink Tease, part deux :D

Pink Tease, part 2 :D  

Yesterday I posted a teaser photo of a small project I have underway.  Here's the second part of the block - it didn't take me long to realize that I really should have drafted the entire block before stitching.  Between (enlarging the block by 50%) + (cutting the block in two [but not in half]) + (adding to the block size to frame it and make it bigger) - there was a definite need for pattern drafting before I started cutting and stitching :D   Valuable lesson learned!  I worked around the problems ... and hopefully tomorrow will have a finish to post :)

Pink Tease :D

Here's an in-progress picture of the project I'm working on today.  This is part of a new-to-me project - I've done lots of paper piecing before, but this project has a bit of a piecing "twist" to it.  I'm foundation piecing it - thanks to the lovely light table my hubby made for me it was easy enough to trace the pattern onto an old sheet, but the block construction and then it's insertion into the actual project, is something I haven't done before.  If it works, I can see at least one more application for it!  I'll post another picture when I get the other part of the block done ;)

Pink tease :)  BTW - the white foundation is showing in parts only because I left myself almost 1" borders, to allow lots of fudge (room for error and angles) when assembling the project :D  I didn't come up short anywhere - a common problem with paper piecing and angles, lol

On an unrelated note, who else uses the OneNote program?  I really just started using it a few days ago on my Win10 laptop - I didn't look into it until I got more comfortable with Windows 10, then decided to try it.  I like it!  I had to get a Microsoft account to use it, and then Microsoft hijacked my laptop signin and changed it from a password I had chosen ... to the Microsoft password.  It took me a couple of days to figure out how to undo that --- how about, Microsoft, we opt in instead of having to opt out, hmmmmmmmmmm?  Hijacking is rude! Now I sign in the way "I" want to, and I'm having fun playing with this program.  It's good for me because I can easily share information between my two laptops :)

How NOT to make a vinyl bag :)

I picked up some vinyl recently and decided to try out this new-to-me tutorial to make some drawstring bags.  It's helpful to read through the instructions and at least half-a$$edly follow them - who knew?!  If you don't, you may mis-cut one of the fabric pieces and end up with a misshaped miscreation that is literally and physically, trying to implode upon it's own self.  And it's doing it while leaning.  NOT pretty!  Top left you can see that the scale of the fabric/vinyl is off - that's because the fabric is cut to HALF of the correct height - that's where the problem began.  Because that piece wasn't tall enough, the bag wasn't able to draw together properly and the implosion began (bottom left and center).  Bottom right shows my fix - I cut off the mis-sized part, recut a new one in the right size, then stitched it back on ... resulting in the picture top right.  SUCCESS :D  It pays to pay attention to measurements, and bag #12 of 52 in 16 is completed :)