Mystery project :D

Today I started a Christmas present - it's bigger and more detailed than what I've done in a while.  There are 15 pattern pieces, plus some pieces cut by measurement - and I'm tracing each piece onto tissue paper (most are too big to photocopy) to preserve the original pattern :D  The project is an Oliver & S project - I hope it turns out well ... especially now that I've posted about it!  Tonight I drafted, cut out and assembled the first 4 pattern pieces.  I still have quite a way to go, lol, but so far so good!  :D

I also finished this little cutie (a Christmas gift, and being posted to the Happy Little Pouch Hop) and baked 4 1/2 dozen cookies for DS2 to take to work to share with his crew :)

Challenge completed - it's a DUMPLING!

Challenge extended and accepted here :D

I started my dumpling last night :)  I had a rough start - I made several dumb mistakes, and ended up having to froggy stitch the lining off of the bag and recut it, lol.  OOPS!

Basting the zipper to the curved bag, is quite tricky.  Getting both sides of the zipper pinned at exactly the right spot is pretty important to getting good results.

Happily, once the zipper is basted to the outside, the rest of the process is fairly easy - on the larger bag, anyways, lol.  I wouldn't attempt the small one - for my fiddly hands it would be an exercise in frustration :D  I think I'll enlarge the pattern by 15% (and maybe 25%) for future bags - I think that would make the bags easier to complete :)

Use LOTS of pins at this step and the rest will be a breeze :)  I actually added half a dozen more pins after I took this picture, lol.

I added ribbon tabs to make the bag easier to open :)

Close-up of the placement of the tabs :)

OOoooOO what's this?  A ravioli??!!

No - it's a DUMPLING!!  YAY!!! 5" wide x 2" deep x 4" tall :)

Thanks Val for the kick in the pants to try this bag, and thanks to Michelle for the *free* dumpling pattern!  I'll be posting this to the Happy Little Pouch Hop as my latest completion :)
 

Rub me for good luck :)

I found out today that I won 2 blog giveaways - it's my lucky day!  I'm having a fantastic time in the Happy Little Pouch Swap (thanks to the delightful Emily and Elaine), and I won a prize for Week 1 --- a gorgeous zipper bag pattern donated by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! -- isn't it cute?  Then I won a set of 6 Christmas notecards from a HandmadeMN giveaway --- the cards are designed by Lori Lee Sampson of Starglow Studio - thank you HandmadeMN and Lori - I'm looking forward to Chester coming to my house, lol!


I was downloading some photos tonight from the camera and while I was resizing/adjusting the colour, my fingers slipped on the keyboard and I learned something new, LOL.  Here are a few recent finishes - most of them are Christmas gifts!

In Color Order drawstring bags :)

Fall/pumpkin boxy handle bag and zipper bag - these bags were posted to the Happy Little Pouch Hop :)

Zipper pulls for the fall bags set

Close-up of one of the zipper pulls

Loralie pouch :)

Close-up of zipper pull :)

First Nadia bag :)

I'm participating in the Happy Little Pouch Hop for the next 2 weeks, so I got my butt in gear and tried a pattern I got a while ago - the Nadia bag, by IThinkSew.  I increased the size of the bag piece to 11" x 13" (instead of 10.5" X 12"), and constructed the handle a bit differently (one piece of fabric 3.5" x 8").  I would do the zipper install differently next time, and I zigzagged the seams inside instead of covering them with bias binding - the rest of the construction was pretty much as per the pattern.  It worked out quite well, IIDSSM!  A few more pics:

The completed 11" x 13" QAYG block

Close-up of the QAYG quilting

Completed bag

The Warm and Natural batting gives it just the right amount of body :)