Finally - a New to Me project :D

I try to participate in Fiona's monthly New to Me linky party, but haven't had a new to me item in months - until today!  As soon as I saw this bag posted at the designer's site, I knew it was a Must Do, and today I Must Did :)  I actually cut out 3 of them using 3 prints in the same line of fabric, so I'll end up with 3 bags, each a bit different.  For today, though, I'm happy to have the first one ready to post to November's New to Me - Fiona I finally made it to your party - where do I leave my coat, and where are the snackies??!!  ;)

 Presenting ... Tiny Bag #1, designed by Caroline at SewCanShe.com :)  It's a quick project, and very small.  I generally use WOWFIHOTSMAAGT (width of whatever foot I have on the sewing machine at any given time) for  a seam allowance, so my bag may be a bit smaller than the original.  Mine measures about 8" wide x 4.5" tall x 3.5" wide :)  Aren't the straps adorable?  Tutorial is here :)

 Here's a side view showing that the boxed corners and the side of the front pocket.  There's a pocket inside as well :)

Not surprisingly, I have pirate charms for the zipper pull - I bought them on Ebay a while ago to use on these pirate prints.  I still have more bags kitted ready to sew, and each of them will have a pirate zipper pull because that's how I rock :D 

Since I had time to myself today I got cracking on a Christmas gift - this wallet is part of the gift.  I've made several of these for gifts and to donate to the counselling center - the pattern is quick to make up, and very practical, with lots of pockets (including a zippered pocket - very important for holding coins!).  Tutorial is here :)


Here's the inside of the wallet - zippered pocket on the left, credit card pockets on the right, slidey-in pockets behind the actual pockets and a money pocket behind all of those pockets - lots of storage ;) 

I didn't have a small train charm for the zipper pull, so I used a gear charm :D  It's nice and flat so it sits well in the wallet :)

A few days ago I whipped up a couple of Magic Pouches to finish off some fabric remnants (the pink bags).

Today I finished up the last one I had kitted - the blue/purple bird print.  3 Magic Pouches to add to my completed list, and all of them are going to the counselling center.  Bonus for me, the Tiny Bag and the 3 Magic Pouches all qualify for Patty's Bag It, and I'm headed over there in a minute to upload a picture :D  Turn on the porchlight, Patty - I'm headed your way!  ;)

'tis the season ... part 2 :D

Well - I got laundry sorted and started, unloaded the dishwasher, made a pan of gingerbread cookie squares, made a pan of simple scalloped potatoes to go in the oven soon, texted back and forth with my SIL, and did some tidying.  What I thought could be done in an hour, took me twice that long, lol.  It doesn't often happen that things get done faster than expected - they tend to take longer!  And life goes on, and we're having scalloped potatoes for supper tonight so YUM :)

Here's the other set of bags I recently completed - these ones too, are from fabric from a friend, but these were quicky projects without a lot of extra bling - I just wanted to get them finished and sent to the counselling center.

Two floral zipper pouches :)

Close-up of the embellishment and zipper pull on bag #1 ... buttons from stash on the contrast band, and a bronze flower for the pull :)  It's quilted with soft golden yellow embroidery thread :D

The second bag is quilted with the same embroidery thread, and embellished with a fabric yoyo and button, and a little birdy zipper pull :)

Bags 3 and 4 are small pouches sized to use up the last bits of the floral fabric.

These ones are embellished with a heart and a flower zipper pull :)

Done and done - a bit of fabric and zipper stash used, 4 more bags done for the counselling center, and 4 more bags that qualify for Patty's Bag It for 2017 :)  Oh yes - and did I mention - scalloped potatoes for supper tonight - LOL!!  (No wonder I'm not skinny - I'm literally sitting here thinking about those cheesey oniony potatoes!)

'tis the season ...

... to be sewing!  And I have been doing so, between appointments and outings and visits from our boys and aquafit :)  Speaking of visits, I had to tear up the stairs to answer the doorbell just now - in time for the lovely UPS delivery man to hand me off a package - I didn't open it yet but judging by the weight of the box, it's my vitamins from Costco, haha.  There's another parcel coming from them as well, but I think it was coming from a far off distribution center (Calgary, I believe) so it'll take an extra day or two.  Are these cute or what?!! BTW - does it make your day when the delivery man is friendly and has a smile on his face?  It makes mine for sure :)

And back to our post in progress ... aka our irregularly scheduled post :D  Here are some of the bags I've finished lately - as per usual, I notice no dent in fabric or zipper stash - c'est la vie ;)  These 2 are going to the counselling center :)

Floral zipper bags from some scraps a friend gave me a LONG time ago :D

One of the bags is embellished with buttons - can you see all 7 of them? :)

The 2nd bag is embellished with beads and a button.  Most of the beads are a bit bigger than seed beads and I couldn't get a good close-up of them, but there are 7 beads and a button blinging this bag :D

Acrylic teardrop charm for one zipper pull ...

... and a (faux) (and large!  1 1/2" in diameter!  I even remember where I got it - on clearance at a Joanns near Bradenton, FLA several years ago, while shopping with my SIL :D) Mother of Pearl charm :)

The reverse of the bags, showing the cotton labels I added :)

Handmade #1 ...

... and Handmade #2 :)

Blogger won't let me add any more pictures to this post, so I'll do a 2nd one (in a little bit - I need to get supper and laundry underway first) to satisfy their whims ;)  These 2 bags are being posted to Elm Street Quilts Bag It for 2017 - hi Patty! 

Floral and teacups fabric = no more :D

I've used up the last of the pretty floral and teacups fabrics that my friends Mickie and Carol gifted to me when I visited them in August :)  These 3 bags qualify for Bag It 2017 - hi Patty! :)




I ended up making 10 bags with this collection of prints, and all of them are going to the counselling center.  Mickie, Carol - thank you, and I hope you like how your gift ended up :D 

More stash sewing - I used up these 2m cuts of fabric for a set of pillowcases for the counselling center :)  I have more fabric picked out for stash busting pillowcase creating purposes ... as well, and also along the lines of stash sewing, I'm working on a Christmas gift project that should use up a few meters of stash.   It involves zippers.  SURPRISE!  :D  Details to follow at a time and place TBD ;)  So far, flamingos and dinosaurs and doggos* and sharks are involved ... and I think some mice will be joining in for fun :D

*BTW - speaking of doggos, have you seen the We Rate Dogs site on Twitter?  I don't Twitter but I get occasional updates about funny posts, so I hop over to check things out.  This compilation arrived this morning and made me laugh ... the Iraqi Speed Kangaroo is particularly funny :D  If you have a few spare minutes and could use a laugh, check it out (NAYY) :)

7 of 20 denims - I had some fun :D

Another pair of kids jeans has now been turned into zipper bags ... all of these will be going to Blue Hills :)  They also count as a 6 pack for Patty's Bag It 2017 :)  I used labels, tags, waistband elastic and pockets from this pair, along with bits and pieces that didn't get used up with previous pairs - I keep everything in a shoe box so I don't misplace or mix anything up :D

Zippy embellished with ribbon, a 3D button, a crab charm (LOL) and several jeans tags :D 

 I embellished this one with blue ribbon, a pocket (you can see on the front and back where the pocket had been paintstakingly removed for reuse :D), a mermaid charm and a size tag.  This zipper pouch is a size 14 - HA!

I've been working with fabrics that had been gifted to me by my friends Mickie and Carol during a visit to Pennsylvania this summer.  The teacup applique was a scrap in a collection of floral/teacup prints.  I embellished it with an Old Navy jeans tag, a pocket, and a bird zipper pull :D

More fabric from Mickie & Carol!  I embellished this pouch with a sweet purple floral strip, some buttons, an acrylic bead zipper pull and a little cotton tag :)

The roses and teacup charm appliqued on this pouch was from Mickie and Carol :)  I also added a mouse zipper pull and several tags - the Smile one is a direct order for the recipient to smile about the tag above it :D

Bicycle pouch!  I quilted this one with variegated fabric, added a Smile tag and a bicycle zipper pull :)

I still have 13 pairs of jeans to work through - they're currently stuffed in a plastic shopping bin that's under the table I'm typing at - I'm kicking it with my slippered foot right now because it's in my way :D 

Current count of completions from the jeans:  8 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 7 + 6 + 6 = 45 :)
Updated Bag It 2017 count = 33! 

Bags, but not Bag It bags. Oh - and other things :)

Lost in the depths of the interwebs - these are finishes from the summer - August and September.  Some of them may have been finished within the Bag It 2017 timeframe, but I didn't keep track of the dates so I'm not going to enter any of them.  Better safe (and following rules) than sorry (and cheating!) :)  The bags did have happy endings though - most were donated, and the ones that weren't donated, were gifted :)

Some more of my Magic Pouches - the skeletons, flamingoes and one of the race car bags are being donated to Blue Hills ... the bird bag and one of the car bags are gifts :)

Pirate pillowcases (were donated)

Pirate zipper pouches (were donated)

Hehehe a close-up of the skull zipper charm I used for these pirate pouches :D

Two Magic Pouches - frogs (the fabric is quite stunning in person - really rich looking) and the last racecars pouch I finished from the fat quarters from Sew Sisters.  These were all donated :)

Boxy bag and Art Case (donated)

The art case was inspired by one I saw online (I don't even remember where) - I modified it to work with school suplies (pencil crayons etc.).   It has 4 pockets (3 regular, and one zippered) and was shipped off to Blue Hills where I hope it was gifted after someone tucks some art supplies inside :)  I bought some during the back to school sales but I ended up giving them to some sweetie neighbour kiddos and all I have left is crayons, lol.

A bloggy buddy gave me a bag of scraps - I'm embarrassed to say that it had to have been several years ago - maybe 3 or 4?  I finally dug the bag out and used everything up (except for a few tiny pieces, which then went into my scrap bins).  Here we have a regular zippy bag, a Bella clutch (top right - my first one!), and a humbug/triangle type bag (front).  

More scrappy bags - a regular zippy and a flex frame bag :)  It really shouldn't take years to finish up fabric that was gifted - I did have good intentions, but my execution was pretty slow!

Denim finishes from the summer (#'s 5 and 6 of 20)

Oh my - it seems like so long ago that I was taking pictures outside on the clothesline in the summer - I can't believe it's November already!  At least we haven't had snow yet :D  These groupings are from pairs 5 and 6 of the 20 pairs of jeans I'm upcycling :D  (None of them  count for Bag It as they were completed prior to the event starting)

Pair #5 of 20 - 5 bags and 2 wallets = 7 items completed of the 5th pair of jeans -  they've already been sent to the counselling center (except the boxy bag, which wasn't up to snuff imho :D).

Regular zippies

More regular zippies - in the one on the right you can see where the original jeans pocket was removed so I could reuse it, lol.  The back has the same dark pocket shaped spot :D

Superhero (lining fabric) wallets from this tutorial :) 

Denim boxy bag - I used the technique here to create a boxy bag with no raw edges inside.  It did NOT go well.  It worked, but was really fiddly (frustrating!), and the lining is all lumpy and bumpy and doesn't seat well.  It doesn't look horrible - it just doesn't look as nice as I want my bags to look.  This one isn't even going to get donated to Blue Hills - it's headed to the thrift store - hopefully a non-sewer won't mind the kerfluffley lining :D

Next up - 6 of 20 - 6 completions - 5 bags and one apron :D

3 earbud pouches and 2 zippies :D

Close-up of the cute zipper pull on one of the bags - it's probably a character from Disney or ?? but I'm not familiar with all the new shows so I don't know what his or her name is :D  Note the size tag beside it, salvaged from the jeans, lol.

The last item finished from the 6th pair of jeans is the apron second last from the right - the one with the blue/yellow/black Batman pocket :)   This picture may already have been posted in the summer so sorry if it's a repeat - I guess I didn't get a solo picture of the apron for the denim project - mea culpa :D

Current count for denim completions:  8 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 7 + 6 = 39 finishes from 6 pairs of jeans :D

4 of 20 - more denim completions :D

These bags were completed in July so they don't count for Bag It - I took the pictures a while ago, but wasn't organized enough to get them posted.  These were simple and quick finishes, and have already been shipped to the counselling center.  See the clips in the photos?  Those are jumbo clips (a no name version of the Wonder Clips) that I got from Amazon a while ago - they're longer than the Wonder Clips, which is making them very useful for assorted and sundry tasks in the sewing room :)  They even have a tiny hole in the back at the top, which means I can hang them from a pin on my design wall, and use them as a clip!  (Thanks to my friend Nancy for pointing that out - I hadn't realized until she told me :D)

(A running total of the jeans upcycle finishes = 8 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 26 finishes from 4 pairs :D)